Finland + Italy 08/19 – PowerPark + Särkänniemi by Mega-Lite

Trip plans to Finland and Italy had been drawn up and forgotten several times over the last few years. There was also something more exciting to do, but when those other plans came and went, it was inevitable where we’d end up. So in Summer 2019, we figured we’d knock off both in one mega trip to Finland and Italy.

Our story begins with a flight to Finland with Norwegian. We arrived late at night, collected our hire car and then collapsed at the hotel.

Day 1

Before waking up extremely early for the long drive to PowerPark.

PowerPark

Located within PowerPark is PowerLand, an amusement park with an interesting selection of rides.

Junker

The first on our list was Junker, the park’s Gerstlauer Infinity coaster. This would be the 3rd Infinity for me in just 2 months, after Fury and Mystic, and I was hoping it would continue their trend of being awesome. It did.

An always surprisingly intense launch sends you flying into a wonderful layout full of strong airtime moments and intense inversions. Junker was awesome and is easily my favourite of the launched Infinity coasters.

Neo’s Twister

A Fabbri spinner, made slightly less dull by each of the coaster cars having anime characters on them. We spent the entire queue hoping we got the pretty girl and not the creepy old man.

Thunderbird

With Troy reminding me that GCI can make quality coasters, it was time to add another to my collection, fingers crossed this one isn’t boring. But then it kind of was…

Thunderbird is fine, if totally forgettable. Heartline asked me on the brakes if I preferred this or Thunderhead and I had no idea what Thunderhead was at the time. That is the level of forgettable these GCIs are. For the record, Thunderbird is slightly better than Thunderhead because it didn’t give me a headache.

Cobra

Time to quick fire tick off the park’s final creds, starting with their Vekoma Boomerang.

Mine Train

Then their Zamperla kiddy coaster.

Joyride

Ending with a lap on their L&T Compact Coaster. The only thing I enjoyed about this was that we were riding an exact clone later on the trip and this made me excited for what was coming.

Then it was time for a few more laps of Junker before we left the park for another long drive.

I enjoyed my short visit to PowerPark but I fully accept that without Junker it wouldn’t have been worth the epic drive to get there.

Särkänniemi

A park name I’d heard said hundreds of times, now I can finally say I’ve been.

You can call it sleep deprivation all you want, but there was something special about just being in Särkänniemi. I’m putting it down to the park’s visuals, with it’s fantastic location on the water, massive observation tower and the way all the attractions are squeezed into this tiny city park.

Tornado

First up was the park’s star attraction, Tornado, one of only two Intamin SLCs in the World.

My experience with the other Intamin SLC, also named Tornado, wasn’t a positive one, thankfully though this Tornado is much better.

Firstly it needs to be mentioned just how cool the ride’s station is. Built inside of a massive man-made cave, it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

Then there’s the ride’s setting, built around and on top of the park’s log flume, with sections underground, a section in the car park and parts buried in trees. Tornado goes everywhere and it really adds character to the ride.

The ride itself is good fun, miles better than a Vekoma SLC, just don’t for a second think it’ll be as good as a B&M Invert.

I apologise for the lack of pictures from here on out, I was half asleep and forgot.

Vauhtimato

A Tivoli small, poorly themed to Angry Birds, fair enough.

Hype

My 3rd Premier Sky Rocket 2 and probably the best example yet. It didn’t have comfort collars and it didn’t try to break my spine, yes my criteria for being the best is low. I will say though, the launches on these things are pretty insane, the rest I could live without.

Trombi

I know you’re meant to hate Volares but I just find them hilarious, even more so when I’m falling asleep. Yes they are pretty messed up, but me and Heartline just spent the entire ride laughing until it hurt while all manner of awful things occured. With the right company, Volares are good fun, sue me.

MotoGee

Talking of good fun, MotoGee, the park’s Zamperla Moto Coaster, was not.

Half Pipe

I was kind of nervous before my first Intamin Half Pipe. Heartline told me his last experience with one was awful and I’d read several people describe them as terrifying. Thankfully it wasn’t either of those things, it was just pointless. The best part of the whole experience was reading “STAN ELRIS” written on the queueline fencing.

With the park complete, we went for a couple more rides on Tornado. Then Heartline and his wife went up the observation tower. I assumed it was included in park entry and was too cheap to pay the up charge.

After one final short drive we got to our hotel for the night and I crashed hard. Thanks to late opening tomorrow we were more than able to catch up on sleep though.

Thanks for reading, click here for the next part of my report, 2 days of Linnanmäki, riding the fantastic Taiga.