This weekend I went on a two-day trip to Stockholm to collect some more coaster credits at Gröna Lund. It has been decades since I last visited and I only have one coaster credit from there, Jetline, which was recently removed due to the recent fatal accident it had.
In the time since I last was there, Gröna Lund has gained several coasters so riding them all will put me in a good position to get my first ton-up, 100 coasters ridden, during my upcoming ECC trips to Finland and Poland this year.
I got up at a pretty early hour (not as bad as when I did my my one-day trip to ride Wildfire at Kolmården) to catch a very comfortable train ride to Stockholm. I made it to Gröna Lund with a pretty decent amount of time before they opened for the day. As it turned out this was the first open day of the season, something I completely missed when I planned my trip.
The Credit Chaser’s Dilemma
Every coaster you ride counts. This includes kiddie coasters, of which Gröna Lund has two. I was chatting with a friend of mine, also a coaster enthusiast, what the optimal plan would be - get the kiddie coasters out of the way first or catch an early ride on the proper coasters before the queues start filling up? The mental image of a 2 meter tall man, waiting before park opening, unlimited express-queue wristband equipped, dashing to be first in the queue for Tuff-Tuff Tåget is a pretty silly one. Yet this was what I planned on doing.
However, the entrance gate I queued for led into the main park area, away from the kiddie coasters so I ended up doing the proper coasters first, starting out with park’s signature ride.
Monster
It should be made clear from the start, Gröna Lund is not a big place. Space is at a premium. Fitting a B&M Suspended Coaster in such a small footprint is extremely ambitious and they pull it off well. All the close encounters with nearby buildings and walkways really make the ride a great experience and it works even better due to it being suspended. A curving first drop takes you through a nicely paced sequence of rolls and immelmanns and tight maneuvers. A nice pop of airtime after flying through a building, followed by a long turn into the downhill brake run to the underground station, itself a really cool feature and space-saving measure.
Monster manages to do a lot under space constraints, but those constraints can also be felt in that the run time is not super long and it is limited in the sensations it can offer. The sightseeing elements of it, flying among the nearby buildings and rides make up for it though.
Insane
“Fun” I sent to my coaster enthusiast friend, accompanied by a photo of the ride itself. “Oh boy, one of those. Is it as rough as the others?” was the reply.
Insane is one of 6 Intamin Zac Spin coasters in the world, but currently the only operating XL version of the model with the second clone of it in storage in Canada. I enjoyed my ride on it! It left a good first impression. After the fact, I realized that the reason for this was likely because the weight distribution during my ride was really lopsided. As a result, it spun around heartily, always somehow aligning itself to let the seat and backrest catch the g-forces and giving us a nice backwards flip at the final bend before the brake run. Sure, it was a bit rough. I banged my leg against something under the seat and I discovered a small cut on my hand afterward, though whether Insane caused it or something else I do not know.
I rode it again later and I fully understood the reason for my friend’s question. I was basically given the inverse of the first ride. This time, all the forces were concentrated either to my shoulders or my abdomen through the overhead restraints. This is how I discovered that the fly button on my hiking pants protrudes a fair bit and sure does hurt when a multiple of your body weight is placed on top of it.
I did not ride it a third time.
Kvasten
A nice modern Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster providing nice views of the park as it flies around in its small footprint. I kind of feel like they did not manage to figure out the banking during the curve after the first drop and the articulated arms that the seats are suspended from do not compensate for this. Some nice g-forces at the final helix.
It shows off the layout of Twister really nicely, which got me excited to ride it next. You can also spot a remnant track piece from Jetline where it emerges from the tunnel after its first drop.
Twister
It was closed! I was super sad about this because it looked like an absolute airtime and whiplash machine when seen from Kvasten. I guess there is always next year. Plus, next year the new coaster Fenix will open, taking up the footprint of Jetline as well as the renovated Vilda Musen. So there will be 3 more credits to collect in Gröna Lund.
Tuff-Tuff Tåget
Kiddie coaster #1. Like riding the baggage conveyors at the airport. Credit collected, next.
Nyckelpigan
Kiddie coaster #2. Had to contort my legs to get the lap-bar closed. Credit collected, done.
Off to Norrköping
I wanted to go ride Wildfire again, since I’m already in that part of the country. So after Gröna Lund I hopped on a train to Norrköping and stayed the night at a hostel. The day after, I went out to Kolmården. Since I had a lot of time to spare this time I could also take some time to look at the animals and ride the cable car safari. Still, Wildfire is the main reason I went and it is as fun as ever. Because of the season being so early, the queue was non-existent. While the dolphin show was on, there were so few visitors around that I and 4 others could ride it back-to-back 5 times without having to get out of the train.
It did seem a bit sluggish though, likely owing to how cold the weather still was and that the train was never more than half-full.
Thoughts
This was my first time planning a personal coaster trip involving an overnight stay and I’m really happy with how it worked out. I think I screwed up a bit on two points. First of all I severely underestimated how cold the weather would be so I was freezing a fair bit during the evenings. I also overestimated how much time I would really feel like spending at Kolmården so I ended up having a lot of waiting in Norrköping to do. Turns out Norrköping’s restaurant selection is pretty scarce on a Sunday evening too.
Next up is an ECC tour at the end of June where we will ride every operating coaster in Finland! Super looking forward to it!
Take care,
rykarn