Norway 08/23 – Tusenfryd

Back down Oslo way it was time for our supposed revenge with spite: the dragon legend. Things looked rough on arrival as we were directed into an overflow car park I never knew existed before, though actually ended up closer to the gates than the regular car park, with less stairs and better views of the rides, so bonus.

Day 3 (still) – Tusenfryd

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Season passes slowly starting to pay off now, for the wrong reasons, we slid in up that classic escalator and headed straight for the main event.

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#1 HuriHuri had a bit of a queue, but geography. It’s an underwhelming little spinner type thing that is at least custom or unique, for now, I think.

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A touch of rain filled the air as we headed to the actual main event. Will this thing cease operation for the weather again? Better not. Things got ominous with breakdown announcements and operational delays the instant we entered the queue, getting more than a little wet now. Thankfully they fixed whatever teething troubles were going down and after a few overly low capacity cycles we were primed and ready.

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Or was I ready? #2 Storm – The Dragon Legend kicks more ass than perhaps it would suggest. It begins with no more than a trundle of a forwards launch and up an incline that has nothing to offer yet, but the backwards part of the triple launch sequence has a surprise kick to it and then, if seated towards the rear of the train, the last inversion has some wicked hangtime to offer. Lap bars, lap bars, lap bars. For some reason I didn’t think Gerstlauer would do it for this, they make all the difference.

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The layout proper is short and sweet of course, but each of the three inversion shapings have decent forces to offer and the airtime hill is pretty great. There’s a bit of positive imperfection and character to it that I found too – in the most positive-heavy parts of track, a solid moment of being forced into the seat suddenly turns into an amusing rattle as though it can’t quite handle it.

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Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it, and couldn’t help but think that I’d like to see more of this style of attraction, but longer. There’s still an opening for this type of invert to become a gamechanger in the market right now, with Intamin still sleeping on it since Duelling Dragons Someone put some money down, these things have potential.

The rest of the visit didn’t go so well, in true Tusenfryd style. Was spited the dark ride for the third time on the bounce.

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Thundercoaster was walk on and I was looking forward to getting reacquainted with the somewhat sleeper hit of a revamped Vekoma woodie. Though they’ve obviously done some retracking recently, it was riding hilariously poorly in the back row, with everyone up in front being visibly assaulted through any high force moments. The vibration was so bad to the point of blurring vision at times, but otherwise not detrimental to health like some woodies can be to me. The good parts were still there in principle, it’s a decent layout, but they were so sapped of energy from the carnage that it was all a bit of a shame.

As was the fact that they broke Speed Monster before we got round to reacquainting with that one too. It never reopened either, so closed the day with a few more flights on the dragon. Some success I guess, but perhaps I can never truly complete this park.

Day 4


Norway 08/23 – Hunderfossen Eventyrpark

That wasn’t much of an installment, so let’s go again.

Next it was a long morning drive to Norway, a little more off the beaten track than usual – they have more than one amusement park you know. Hunderfossen had intrigued me for quite some time though it is often the victim of being left off an itinerary for ‘better things’, on paper.

Day 3 – Hunderfossen Eventyrpark

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Up in the scenic hills there’s a pleasant natural beauty to the place. The location on the side of a valley gives this ever present view of the greenery on the far side, on this day coupled with some moody clouds. You could believe that trolls lived here.

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First attraction on the agenda was the new-ish #1 Fyr & Flamme. The name alone sealed the deal for me, with the train design being the cherry on top. It’s very nicely presented, the titular characters appear to be stars of a kids TV show and while the coaster completes its two lap circuit, guests waiting in the station are treated to a little video sequence and accompanying music.

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Intrigue got the better of us next, with that age old question of ‘is it a dark ride?’ A highly themed barn scene stood separately to an animatronic farm show.

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Beyond that was a tractor ride, Traktorbanen, with some outdoor decorations, stopping points and what turned out to be three separate ‘indoor scenes’, in which a projected video would play, telling a story of a rooster tracking down his chicks.

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In summary, yes.

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The moment we’d all been waiting for was further along the bottom of the park. #2 Il Tempo Extra Gigante is one of those names you just have to have in your coaster collection. The fact that the train looks ridiculous only enhances that. The only downside is that it’s a Force One clone, but at least it was riding better than the OG counterpart these days.

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I had been rather excited to try the award winning simulator Reodor Felgen’s Hyperakselerator, from what little I had learnt about it beforehand. A short queueline full of curious contraptions on posters leads to an elaborate pre-show room. Various farm-inspired gadgets adorn the walls and ceiling and these are all linked together in a mousetrap-type sequence. These sheep eat from the tubes, something spins, something inflates, you get the picture. Meanwhile on screen, another set of animated TV characters including Mr. ReFe himself talk about some invention they’ve got going on. Soon enough it’s time to hop aboard.

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As with the coasters, they’ve gone above and beyond with the presentation of the ride vehicles here, which look rather fantastic. The big red button is used at one point in proceedings, though sad to say the simulator itself is a bit something and nothing. Some things felt a little off, exaggerated happenings on screen far outweighed the overly timid range of movements of the vehicle making it harder than usual to suspend the disbelief. Beyond that the perspective was a little confusing. The implication surely is that the guests are riding the contraption itself, but you’re also following one of the/the contraption on screen as though you’re more of a fly on the wall, or a floating third person camera. This is most notable when the vehicle up in front gets perilously suspended on a frozen cliff edge and you just sort of slide around to the side of them, and then turn to face them, unphased. Hard to describe in words really, but it confused me.

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Talking of things that were a little off, how’s about a wax museum with Hitler looking shiftily through a window?

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Not to worry, you can’t go wrong with a ride name like Trollfallet. This impressive and elaborate building can be entered in the upper regions via a little forest walkthrough.

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A pre-show room and further indoor walkthrough, with highlights like these little rats appearing, set a fairytale scene before boarding a small drop tower in the dark. As the ride reaches its summit, a lit scene of a princess at a spinning wheel slides into view. You’ve come to save her, but hall of the mountain king, here comes the troll. Drop.

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Silly, but effective. And I think this picture alone speaks a thousand words.

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Also housed in the depths of the same building is a trackless Sally dark ride I’d never heard of being talked about before, Eventyrslottet.

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It takes a lengthy trip through very many individual fairytales, ranging from castles to villages to troll caves.

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It runs rather slow to fit all the storytelling in though, being narrated in the local tongue, this meant it lacked a certain dynamic for ourselves at the very least.

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We only learnt after the fact that you can apparently slip the operator a fiver and have it put in English. Oh well.

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Though a more relaxed pace than usual in such a pleasant environment, time was a-ticking and there was one more attraction on the list left to tick off. Is it a dark ride?

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The new for 2023 4D Musikkfabrikken houses an elaborate pre-show featuring a self-playing piano positioned against a projection and made to look like these elf things are virtuosos, with one more bumbling one causing shenanigans in the background.

Inside the cinema itself, things get more than a little confusing this time. An animated baby introduces us to a world where music and rhythm are seen as wisps of colour, before the video changes to an actual human experiencing the same phenomenon while washing dishes in an industrial kitchen. They break the dishes, get fired and depressed, walk home in the rain, catch the eye of a girl on rollerskates, go to bed, get up, find a magical factory outside their house, enter said factory and get sucked into the machinery, conduct an orchestra a la Philharmagic (with all them colours again), meet the girl again who works there or something, get given a lab coat. Dance number. Fin.
In summary, no.

Had some pizza in a decent food establishment near the entrance before hitting the road. A mixed bag in the end, but I enjoyed the place for the character and charm, the creds, and the troll. Worth a look for sure.

Day 3 cont.


Norway 05/23 – TusenFryd

After two fulfilling days of action, it was time to head back up to Oslo and put in our courtesy visit to TusenFryd. Sure, the new coaster wasn’t ready for us yet, but there were still 2 new creds and a new dark ride to be had, along with the need to pick up our as yet redundant season passes.

On route, it began to drizzle, putting a further dampener on proceedings. The website was checked and found to have a notice up now saying ‘due to extreme weather conditions, some attractions will be unavailable’. Huh. 10°C and drizzle passes for extreme in Norway? I thought better of them.

As the journey continued it began to snow. The temperature dropped to single figures, and then plummeted further still. Ok, I’ll give it to them now.
As such, we pulled into the car park with very little hopes of achieving anything. There was a surprising turnout of cars, given what we already knew to be the case – some dedication against the extreme weather.

Day 3 – TusenFryd

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While we queued to collect the passes, an announcement was made and the gates were open. We headed up the escalator steeped in coaster track, through the OG Norwegian loop, of a closed ride.
The only ride in the entire establishment that was open was the log flume.

Already cold, wet and miserable, we opted to sit out on that delight and head towards the downhill region of the park, an area that had been cruelly closed on our last visit back in Halloween 2018. It was closed off with a sign informing us that there would be a 20 minute wait before we could proceed further.

We waited it out, with nothing better to do, and the internet already informing us of the impending disappointments lying in wait at the bottom. Sure enough a cheery staff member arrived to unleash us, and one other group towards…

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#1 Supersplash. Yes, the only ride we managed on this visit was this. The dark ride was inexplicably closed (for weather?), as were all the legit coasters, leaving only the water rides in action. Somewhat more annoyingly, Spite – the Dragon was testing in the background all morning, not that it would ever operate in these conditions it seems.

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Not so sure about the super, but here’s the splash. And a +1.

Thus, our visit came to a close. We camped out in the car park again for shelter, to assess the options and determine whether anything would improve. As it stood, there was still another potential +1 in HuriHuri, but the motivation was low to sit it out for potentially the rest of the day. We clearly have to come back some other time anyway, and probably this year while the passes are hot. It’s gonna be an expensive spite.

Instead we took a drive into Oslo to see some of the city and get some decent food. The weather did cheer up from here, so who knows what happened back at the park. Things got a little dicey as I trundled down some tram tracks, not 100% certain that I was supposed to, and then a policeman on a bike blocked the way and came over for a chat. Oh no.

He was very friendly and only there to inform us that the road up ahead was closed, asking where we were headed. We were then pointed in the direction of a nearby car park and continued on our merry way.

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On foot, we got caught up in the midst of a Mayday parade, hence the road closure. I’ve only learnt that this was what it was after the fact, at the time just being very confused by an extended series of colourful and peaceful protests, marching bands and all, for and against just about anything you could possibly imagine.

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After our sustenance was obtained, they all eventually dissipated this way, leaving a mostly unobstructed whistle-stop tour of some sights.

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But I’m still waiting on a real live moose encounter.

Airport time, job done. Clearly I won’t be bothering with a map and stuff on this one.
Not the best of successes, a +2 for the weekend that was meant to be a +4 (and a dark ride), but hey, Liseberg.

I’ll be back momentarily with another, bigger weekender.


Norway + Sweden 10/18 – Tusenfryd

Is everybody in?

Day 1 – TusenFryd

Been thinking how to fit this place in for a long time – dedicated trip? Nah, not worth it. Ferry from Denmark? Nah, bit mad. One way car hire from Sweden? £400… You what?
Hang on, it’s only a 3 hour drive from Gothenburg. Easy.

Arrived in the car park to confused teenage staff staring and not talking or directing. It wasn’t until the end of our visit that we discovered we were supposed to show them our parking ticket on arrival.

With no clear instruction, we had parked up and put the ticket on the dash instead, narrowly avoiding reversing off a cliff. Parking sensors won’t save you now.

A bit of a queue had formed at the entrance. I like the framing of Speed Monster here, plain escalators must have looked pretty bad before it was built. Discussed how cool an entrance it would be if they announced the park opening as a train launched. Wishful thinking.

#1 Thundercoaster

Headed to the Vekoma woodie first, with a rough idea that it got the bigger queues, due to only owning one train.
Didn’t know that one train was a Timberliner though, so that got me excited again. What hurt Loup Garou most for me was the uncomfortable restraints (Robin Hood just sucks regardless).

Well there we go, set complete.
It didn’t do much on the first go. Had an amusing shake throughout that drowned out any other feeling.

Gave it a second chance later on and things had greatly improved. Some proper out of the seat moments, occasional rather than constant, but much more in line what I’ve come to expect sitting in one of those trains. It’s the unsuspecting hills that do it. Ones that don’t look much as you approach, they hide under the structure, but then they get much steeper than they should. Great stuff.

Walked back over to Speed Monster. Worryingly hadn’t seen it move since our arrival, even though there were people in the station. Joined the queue. Engineer standing on the track, staring at the brakes. Staff clearing out the queue.
It’s Intamin, what can you do?

#2 Loopen

Here comes the Loopen. The Norwegian coaster scene was perfectly summed up by the glum expressions on the faces of guests returning to the station on this beast. I’ve never done this ‘travelling’ layout before, so that was a novelty at least.

The gate to the Western Expressen area was closed while they faffed with Virtual Reality headsets. A crowd was gathered, clearly excited.
For some strange reason they weren’t riding this while they waited, even though it was right next to them.

#3 Dvergbanen

One of those rides I look at online and think I might not even get in it, but looks can be deceiving as there was room to spare with 2 adults in the car.

Wanted to head down to the Viking area for the next cred, the dark ride and the Hafema rapids that I was really looking forward to. But it was all closed, cheers for that.
It’s Parque Reunidos, what can you do?

#4 Western Expressen

At least the other cred had now opened. Standard Vekoma junior, not much to look at.
They’ve split the queue in two and run one train with VR as Steampunk Hunters and one without as vanilla Western Expressen.

Did both for the hell of it. VR was quite hilarious. It includes an interactive part on the lift at the start and on the brake run where you can shoot some robot bugs by aiming your face at them, which I thought was brilliant. The headset itself was probably the most user friendly I’ve come across, particularly with headphones being involved. The movement synced terribly with the ride until the end of the lift, but then it was fine and tons of crazy visuals were going on – some woman on a hover board, mine shafts and volcanos. Losing the plot as always.

Did Nightmare, which was great. Who remembers the short lived Vengeance at the London Dungeons? It’s that ride system, but much more mental. Themed to zombies and filming? in a very confusing and comedic fashion.
It might just be a really self aware ride, but not understanding it I don’t know if it’s a joke or not. You can’t tell if you’re meant to be shooting half the time and whether it’s actually doing anything. Several of the scenes have the ‘shootees’ just standing there looking at you for a good 15 seconds before deciding to come at you. It does has the moment of of bringing up scores halfway through to show who’s doing well and who needs to play catchup, but all the pictures are unrecognisable and you’re losing to characters that aren’t real. Some other great effects in there too. Loved it.

Back over to camp out Speed Monster. Oh good, it’s fixed.

#5 Speed Monster

It looked cool, but I wasn’t expecting much from it. Intamin, restraints, all that business.

Really surprised me how good it was, so there is still hope for these sorts of things.

You can feel the launch end abruptly before the end of the flat section, which added a bit of character.

Norway’s Norwegian Loop is a fun start, Sweden did it better though.

Got a good air time hill and two more twisty ones in there as the train winds its way back down the station, one of which seems to overcompensate itself in banking and then adjusts awkwardly afterwards, with a rather amusing sensation.

Most importantly the restraints didn’t really hurt it at all. More great stuff.

Went to have a pizza at this point and ended up waiting 2 hours for it. Everyone was kicking off about how slow the shop was being and they all had a fancy phone app to tell them when their meals were ready, while we were the only people on the day given the old fashioned lump of plastic that buzzes, not knowing if it was ever even going to work.
It’s Parque Reunidos, what can you do?

It bugs me to no end that we didn’t manage to finish the place due to closures, but that’s become a tradition for us at every park in this chain now. It does have some quality rides, but can’t see myself busting to go back there and finish it for a long time.
Never know, they might get something new one day…

So that monumental waste of time for food cut down on our re-ride opportunities, also irked me massively because I could physically feel each second eating into our time at Liseberg. And that’s just not acceptable. Got a couple more laps in and hit the road.

Liseberg

Only park in the world I get giddy with excitement to return to and it really showed here. Was my third visit and it just gets better every time. Went straight to the bae (Helix) and it’s still the best thing ever by a significant margin, 600 creds later. Also previewed the brand new #6 Valkyria and it was really impressive, more details tomorrow.
Oh, what a wonderful night it was.

Day 2