Date:7/13/2024-7/24/2024
Destination: Sweden, Denmark
Goal: Coasters and Culture in Sweden and Denmark
Distance: 4286 Miles
Means of Travel: Flight, Train, Ferry, Bus
Potential Credits: 34
I had set an alarm for an hour, was not sleeping at all, which was frustrating considering the extreme state of sleep deprivation and jet lag I was in. I wasn't able to sleep, so I decided to just scroll that alarm to 30 minutes just to try...but I didn't undo the hour alarm on my iPhone app. Next thing I know, I hear an alarm, I'm sound asleep like a baby in the world's worst bed, white noise drowning out all the sounds of hostel life, still a little damp from my shower because it's Sweden and it's humid and there's no AC, I managed to sleep and I felt a fair bit better! I could've slept longer if I wanted to, but that would've made the jet lag worse.
Oh. And it was a beautiful day. Gröna Lund needs me.
Dag 1
I stepped off that boat, feeling oddly refreshed, not tired anymore, and ready to take on Stockholm. It was so liberating being able to just unpack my camera bag, lightening it to just what I would need for the day, and just walk into a beautiful city like Stockholm whenever I wanted.
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| Image Description: Across water, the tip of an island has a very tight, compact amusement park. Several tower rides rise into the sky, roller coaster track in many colors crisscrosses one another. A spinning chairswing ride sits in front of it all on a pier. |
After a stroll across a pedestrian bridge, I found myself in Old Town (pictured), where you catch the ferry at Slussen to head to the island of Djurgårten, where many of Stockholm's attractions are, Gröna Lund included. The island was once a hunting ground for royalty, the word djur even means animal, now they've built museums and an amusement park and other attractions there. The park is now one of them.
It can't be overstated how extra the ride up to Gröna Lund is. You're on a boat cruising through Stockholm harbor, you can already see all the tower rides sticking up out of the trees, and then all of a sudden this beautiful, colorful knot of organized chaos comes out of nowhere. It's almost like those cartoon theme park scenes with twenty rides superimposed on each other, each moving differently, but in real life.
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| Image Description: A dark, menacing roller coaster wraps the view of a white tower capped by a ribbed sphere of gold. |
The entrance is right next to the ferry terminal, so I was able to just head on in quickly and go right for my first overseas credit: Monster!
Monster's queue goes up the stairs...then down the stairs...then further down the stairs to an underground station. There's a haunted house theme present, and while it may not be a huge deal, it is well done and looks good. One thing I did notice, though, was that upon unloading, the automated spiel calls this, "King of Roller Coasters."
Back at home, I'm maybe a bigger fan of Great Bear than most. This feels like an updated, better version of Great Bear, and man did they get this thing tight! The whole ride you feel like you're going to smash into whatever's in front of you. The elements are very tight and snappy, the visuals are insane, and it's every bit as smooth as Banshee or Alpengeist. This is classic B&M invert modernized in a way that's better and smoother, definitely the best one out there.
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| Image Description: Across water, several boats are moored at the base of a cliff. A small complex of harbor buildings can be seen to the left, while a red two-story home sits atop the cliff. |
I did some walking around next. Took everything in, looked at what was there, the whole nine yards. The park is basically a chaotic figure eight with a second upstairs layer that I hadn't yet gotten to. One edge of the park was this really nice boardwalk-looking thing, with great views of Stockholm.
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| Image Description: A traditional wooden Swedish building, with an ornately spired tower of wood planks and scalloped orange shingles, has a weather vane atop it. A length of red inverted coaster track leaves the building into a lift. |
Nej, Kvasten ! Not a surprise, I had checked Queue-Times on my walk over to ensure it wasn't hour waits for everything and had seen it would be a manageable day to ride everything, but the original family coaster from which Freedom Flyer is cloned was closed and stays closed. Which is a shame because the station building is cool and the one in Florida is good fun, would have loved to ride it amid this chaotic knot of coasters.
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| Image Description: Across a body of water, a rocky island has a red castle tower flying a blue and yellow Swedish flag. To the left, a sailboat with two masts is moored at the island. In the background, a section of Stockholm can be seen atop a cliff, with a large black dome on a cream-colored building rising over it. |
The views from this park are nothing short of incredible. Stockholm is beautiful, and this park is in a gorgeous location that lets you experience that in a very unique way. This is the island of Skeppsholmen, kind of an iconic sight from Stockholm's Djurgården ferry.
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| Image Description: A black and white photo of a small wooden coaster, with the drop and curve to the left facing the camera. Two truss-like towers rise into a cloudy sky behind it, one is topped with a shiny sun decoration. |
I went to try and ride Twister, knowing it's the iffiest credit to get at Gröna Lund. Today it was operating on one train, but by the time I got over there it was down for mechanical.
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| Image Description: A hand holds up a Heineken-branded cup of beer. In the background are several tower rides and roller coasters. |
By now, I hadn't eaten since I was on the airplane, so I looked around and find of all things a burger place. So I get a burger and Heineken and eat it out on the estuary with a nice look at Twister. It was pretty damn good, it was one of those smashed burgers with the crispy edges.
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| Image Description: Amid a chaotic blue support structure, yellow track twists around. Over a hill goes a yellow coaster car with a cartoon mouse on the front. In the background, two tower rides and a blue roller coaster rise into the sky. |
Vilde Mussen was the next plan, which used one of my Lightning Passes or whatever Gröna Lund calls them due to its low capacity. And honestly? This would kick off another long trend of Scandinavia having my favorites for coaster types, because this Wild Mouse is actually really cool and rides well. I got airtime on the two hills!
I like Wave Swingers. Yes it's the same flat ride everywhere more or less, but I wanted to ride this one because it went out over the water. And, you guessed it, new favorite Wave Swinger beating out Halloswings!
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| Image Description: At the edge of a boardwalk overlooking water, a white and purple roller coaster folds over and under itself in a wall-like structure. A single car suspending seat sets over either side of the track goes down a dip. At the base, irregularly shaped white and green buildings mark the entrance to the ride. A black roller coaster twists in the background. |
Albert Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. Well, despite my slew of mental health issues, I am not insane, and I did not expect different results. Aptly-named Insane is the OG Green Lantern: First Flight, which had its way with me on Vegas-LA 2014. Ride op didn't smash my leg half in and half out of the restraint this time, but that last dip I flipped and got all the blood pulled to my head. I was redding out, I was seeing floaters, and it ruined an otherwise redeeming ride on this. TBH, if it becomes too much to deal with maintenance-wise, I'd like to see Gröna just pull the plug on it and swap it with an S&S Sansei Free Spin. Those are way better.
Come laugh at my expense!
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| Image Description: From the control booth of a blue locomotive, a green and yellow pterodactyl with female-presenting breasts and genitals drives the train. |
Needing a break, I went to Blå Tåget, which in English means Dinosaur Vag & Ptiddies: The Ride. Or maybe it means Blue Train, what the hell should I know I don't speak good Swedish. This is a classic haunted house, one where you sit in a little buggy and ride around in the dark as animatronics jump-scare you. Some of the scenes were probably too graphic for the States, like a creepy nurse with a needle or a guy that gets run over by the buggy. It's even got vibrating seats and a Tesla coil! How can you not like the farting toilet monster???
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| Image Description: A curved roof with ornate rib supports holds up red and white letters decorated with incandescent bulbs, reading "TWISTER." A white truss tower rises into the sky in the background, capped off by a golden spherical spire flying a blue and yellow Sweden pennant. A hill of wooden coaster track can be seen on the right, supported by white iron truss supports. |
I was able to get on Twister next, so I was opportunistic and did that.
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| Image Description: A white wire low zone fence hangs from it a red frame depicting a collage of different roller coasters. |
Ahh, I love the queue for this! The theme is that it's a roller coaster, simple but I like roller coasters. There were photos of roller coasters from around the world displayed in the cattlepen, as well as a TV running ads for Wildfire (Parks & Resorts Scandinavia owns both this park and Kolmarden). Slow wait, but nothing really gets super super slammed here, so they were able to deal with it.
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| Image Description: A wooden roller coaster with red handrails and white steel truss supports. A red train full of riders flies over the hill. The track is strung with incandescent string lights. |
That's awesome! Twister on the surface looks like another smaller Gravity Group like Kentucky Flyer, but make no mistake, it's in the big leagues. When I spoke to Michael Graham, he said they mostly try to go the family route with their rides with a few exceptions (Hades 360, Mine Blower), this feels more like the coasters where exceptions were made.
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| Image Description: A wooden roller coaster sends a red train down the drop. |
Those rises and falls are pretty sharp, and getting pulled down any of these drops in the back is going to get you out of your seat pretty good. And at the end of the ride there's this dip into a turn that's absolutely bonkers, like a "blink and you miss it" WTF moment.
Walking around, I saw a line for Pop Expressen empty, knowing that's a ride you aren't supposed to miss here I jumped on it...and was not prepared to run into Avicii's music in the wild. He's one of my favorite artists ever, his death absolutely tore me up as someone with my own mental health problems, and being here in his home country hearing his music hit really hard. It made me so happy to see the people in his hometown still rocking out to Without You. Sadly, the ride before us got Avicii, we got Nicki Minaj, but it was the most fun I'd had with Nicki Minaj. Pop Expressen is crazy! You're twisting side to side, spinning around, there's disco lights flashing every color, and music.
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| Image Description: Jarrett stands in front of a tall tower. Off to the side, a robot toy holds a sign reading "FRITT FALL." |
Went for Fritt Fall next, not usually a drop tower guy but I wanted to experience the view from this one and it was on The Amazing Race at one point, so there was that. I filmed both rides I got on it because the first time there were annoying kids asking for my YouTube because they saw the GoPro. But this drop tower is great! Nice and thrilling when you get up there, the drop is nice and smooth, but the real draw here is the view. The view this ride provides of downtown Stockholm is nothing short of incredible!
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| Image Description: A red kiddie coaster has a red train with two large cartoon ladybug eyes, and a leaf at the mouth. |
With us burning time (but not daylight, no nighttime for Stockholm), I went over to the other side of the park to knock out the two kiddie coasters because I'm a credit wore. Started with Nyckelpigan, with a name that means Ladybug in Swedish, and was pleasantly surprised to see it has the same trains as the old school Rollercoaster Tycoon mini steel coaster. Not my first Zierer Tivoli coaster but it rides okay, I'll take this over a Zamperla Death Machine.
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| Image Description: A sign attached to a wire fence reads "TUFF-TUFF TÅGET" with a little cartoon smiling train on tracks. |
However, I enjoyed the other one a lot more. Tuff-Tuff Tåget, whose name means Choo Choo Train, has a little wild mouse-esque zigzag layout. It reminded me of that god awful kiddie Arrow mine train at SFOT but not horrible. The station even had a cute little whistle on a cord you could pull.
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| Image Description: A black inverted coaster twists around itself in a knot, with Insane's wall-like layout to the left. |
With Gröna Lund cleaned out, the night was down to rerides. The decision was made to circle back to Monster, my first overseas credit, and experience it in the back. Personally, I think sitting in the back kills half the magic this ride has of flinging you around an already busy tangle of park. It's still fun, but the whip and the forces you get in the back are just as present in the front, and it has the added visuals. So yeah, King of Roller Coasters is a front seat ride.
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| Image Description: Sun sets across water, casting an orange reflection in the rippling surface and lighting up the sky orange behind the silouhette of a European city. A seagull flies to the upper right. |
The sun was going down and I was getting tired, so I elected to finish out here and get back to the hostel.
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| Image Description: A wooden coaster with two lengths of track curves to the left. Over top of them, a length of blue steel track with one support makes the same curve up higher off the ground. |
When I had initially planned this Sweden thing, one of the coasters I had heard was good here was Jetline. That's been closed since last year due to a fatal accident, and was awaiting demolition. So not going to lie, this did have a bit of "Kings Island 2008" energy with the park's baddest coaster just standing there ominously not operating.
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| Image Description: A wooden roller coaster flies over a hill into the sunset. |
I had time for a few more spins on Twister next, so that was how I closed out my night. And let me tell you: this thing is gorgeous at sunset. You've got the ride's chaser lights, sun setting over beautiful Stockholm as you race around the tightly coiled layout, out there on the waters of Sweden's capital, an absolutely amazing experience unlike anything you would ever get in the States.
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| Image Description: A sign reads "TWISTER" in red and white letters studded with lightbulbs over an ornate curved roof. The coaster goes down the drop in the background, with two tower rides and a swing ride visible in the background. |
Gröna Lund is a nice park. Nothing in their lineup is going to shake up a top ten of several hundred coasters, but the park is nice, the rides are enjoyable, it has a unique vibe you don't see every day, their supporting lineup of non-coasters has good things like Blå Tåget and its central location in Stockholm with views of this incredible city makes it a can't-miss stop for any adventurer in Sweden. And while I enjoyed all of their coasters, be it Monster's near misses or Vilde Mussen's brilliant integration with the rest of the park, I think I'm going to go with my usual coaster taste and pick Twister as my favorite thing here. It feels like a bridge between Kentucky Flyer and Hades 360, probably the biggest "crowd pleaser" Gravity Group, and I'm so glad it was running when I came.
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| Image Description: A blue-gray cloudy sky overcasts a brightly illuminated amusement park on a waterfront. |
The minimal sleep I was running on was catching up to me, no use waiting for night rides in a country where it doesn't get dark until midnight in the summer, so I split and caught the ferry back to Slussen. Tried to get some merch on the way out but Gröna Lund is apparently the worst park for merchandise, all they have branded that I saw were lanyards and for some reason, not even for the best coaster there. So I got a generic one and a Monster one.
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| Image Description: A dim, cloudy sky over Stockholm across the water, with two church spires rising out of blocks of European buildings. Red and white buoys float in the harbor. |
This is how dark Stockholm is at 10 pm. Absolutely no night rides, and honestly pretty weird in the eyes of someone who doesn't share their home with polar bears and the northern lights.
Getting back to the hostel, I found myself totally alone again. Asking the front desk where everyone was, they said one gentleman would be there late but they wouldn't wake me. So I MacGyvered another shower out of their crappy setup and went to sleep. At 2 am, a gentleman named Jason who was my dad's age showed up (this woke me up), got his shit situated, and I slept through most of it. I was able to use my sleep medication and white noise to sleep mostly okay, jet lag and all. "Interesting place," he asked as he sat down on the prison-like bed. "Does it get any better?"
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| Image Description: A small log cabin with grass growing on the roof has a wooden palisade fence outside of it, with a tall yellow grass crop growing inside its perimeter. Trees surround the cottage. |
UP NEXT: Stockholm is calling! My culture day in this beautiful city takes me to Old Town, Skansen Outdoor Museum, dinner fit for a Viking, and a big beautiful ship that sank 20 minutes into her maiden voyage.
