Not really going to go into a full trip report of the three days recently spent at Liseberg, however there are certainly some points for the Halloween event to mention, alongside the two latest additions to the park since my last visit and also
that modification to a certain favourite coaster of mine.
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It was pleasantly surprising to see how much effort is put into dressing Liseberg for Halloween. Already oozing with charm and a humble grandeur in daily operations for the main part of the season, Liseberg's Halloween attire for the most part is done in such a manner that compliments these appearances without going into overkill. The main pathways through the centre of the park and at the top of the hill are flanked by copious amounts of pumpkins, some arranged into more prominent and intricate displays. The highlight for me however could be found situated between Rabbit Land and the harbour area; a beautiful autumnal suspended umbrella display that if captured from the correct angle (something I regrettably failed to do) could be mistaken for a stock photo on a Windows screensaver.
Then there's the scare zones which can be found outside Hotel Gasten and also in the Myths and Legends area. A bog standard horror circus theme resides by Hotel Gasten, with clown archways on either side of the bridge over from the harbour area. There are some rather horrific yet convincing themed figures of clowns positioned around the area, adding to the suspense when actors enter the zone later in the day.
The absolute pinnacle of this area however is the outcome of Fairy Tale Castle's ride vehicles. It was a nice touch to encounter one when we first checked in to our hotel earlier in the afternoon, then made more hilarious by the fact the park have just dumped the rest into the waterway and plugged them with smoke machines:
The zombie scare zone nestled between Balder, Loke and Valkyria however is totally misplaced. The contradiction between the simplistic Norse mythology theming and a junk yard of wrecked vehicles, a graffiti ridden bus and scatterings of barbed wire fencing was jarring to say the least. Despite this, the scare zone really comes into its own at night. The amount of smoke behind the fencing can easily hide actors, particularly in the bus, allowing them to appear and disappear for scares with relative ease. The atmosphere at night was superb, and the sheer number of actors made the experience all the better.
Staying on the subject of Halloween leads quite nicely into the scare mazes. The usually up-charged Hotel Gasten is included in the rides and scare maze ticket, continuing to delight with its stunning set pieces. On the whole the maze remains the same as it operates throughout the main season with no noticeable changes made for Halloween; a slight shame as it feels as though perhaps an extra actor or two throughout to heighten the usual atmosphere would not have gone amiss.
Situated in the rafters of Gasten is Vinden (wind). The experience begins with a construction site lift to the top of the building; an unusual method of starting a scare maze it has to be said. This leads to a brief batching queue in the engineering plant of the hotel, but then winds up into what I perceived as some form of orphanage. The stark contrast in theming and atmosphere from the very beginning of the maze is mismatched into the second half, particularly when you add the elevator beginning into the mix. Vinden however came across as the master maze of generating an atmosphere. Scare mazes really don't tend to do much other than small jump scares for me anymore, however this maze had no difficulty at instilling a tense apprehension throughout.
Over in the Norse junkyard is Zombies, situated under the Kanonen/Valkyria concrete shelf. This maze appeared to make use of an already existing office block utilised by the park, although it wouldn't have surprised me if this was not the case and was entirely just theming utilised for Halloween. The sheer amount of theming also gave the actors an abundance of places to hide or climb atop, with next to no actor run-throughs to detract from the experience.
The final maze, The Experiment, put a stop to the delightful night time views of Gothenburg from Atmos Fear by utilising the queue line. Once again, Liseberg have certainly not scrimped out on theming for this maze with the familiar Atmos Fear queue line becoming almost unrecognisable. It would have been great for the maze to utilise the ride loading area in a similar fashion to Project 42 at Towers, but given the gondola was hoisted to the top of the tower on Monday when the park was closed, there will be some reason or another this is not feasible. Due to the constraints of the space, The Experiment felt much shorter than the others and also seemed to be down on actors in comparison.
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Alongside the mazes, scare zones and additional theming, Liseberg have hired the services of 'Shocker', an excellent travelling ghost train which is situated by the event stage near the entrance. I'd never heard of or encountered Shocker before; a series of prison cell cars traversing a heavily themed layout ranging in a plethora of scenes, each involving some form of major animatronic. Rather than trundling through poorly lit black corridors with occasional props, Shocker makes use of plunging you into total darkness, and then illuminating each scene or occurrence on exactly the right cue to maximise the jump scare elements it offers. Hopefully the opportunity to ride it again in the future arises.
On the whole I was pleasantly surprised by Liseberg's Halloween offering. Having done Scarefest the weekend before certainly helped, as Liseberg have demonstrated a perfect cocktail of excellent theming mixed with atmosphere and a generous dashing of varied actors. The Experiment may be a little underwhelming when stacked up against the other mazes, with the Zombies scare zone also standing as a total thematic clash against its surroundings, but these shortfalls are the only tiny niggles with what was a superb Halloween atmosphere generated across the park.
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Outside of Liseberg's Halloween event, there have been two major new additions since my last visit in 2016. Having chickened out of Spin Spider at Tusenfryd two years previous, I was determined to give its Swedish cousin a go and see what all the fuss is about. Within the first few seconds of the cycle, Loke makes its predecessor in the form of Spin Rock feel hugely irrelevant. The park weren't understating themselves in the marketing for this ride by stating it appears to be smashing into the side of Balder, as the rush of power surging towards the towering wooden curve is quite the exhilarating experience.
Loke 'smashing' into Balder.
Suspended well over 100ft above the river on the opposite side gives the sense of height a somewhat terrifying feel, whilst the ride cycle itself regardless of queue length is the perfect duration to satisfy and thrill. I certainly won't be objecting to any parks opting to remove the smaller models for this much larger goliath anytime soon.
Then there's the park's largest investment since 2014. As much as we all mocked Kanonen by laughing at the pitiful attempts to crest its top hat, the concept of such a small yet fun launched coaster is something that more smaller parks should deploy. The ride did exactly what it said on the tin, but the arrival of Helix was clearly the nail in the coffin for Kanonen.
On our Behind the Scenes/Q&A back in 2016, we were told that the park were looking at a B&M Invert or RMC (to pop Kolmarden's bubble to some extent) to replace it. Whilst the RMC was never to emerge, the concept of working with B&M stuck. Whilst an invert never came to be, Liseberg opted to replace Kanonen with Valkyria, the new 154ft tall dive coaster.
There's no questioning the shroud of doubt and apprehension regarding this ride, particularly those of us who have been disappointed by Baron 1898's layout and the abysmal snoozefest that is Krake. The worries for this ride heightened during the summer, after those who had been on the newest American incarnation in the form of Valravn claimed the vest restraints spoiled the experience. With a rather rocky construction period, my personal hopes for Valkyria were next to none.
The first thing to note about Valkyria is the sheer presence. A towering golden structure standing out clearly across Liseberg; one of the first visible structures when seen from the E20 at the side of the park. No matter where you are inside, glimpses of Valkyria are almost impossible to avoid. It takes centre stage and hogs the spotlight from the plethora of Liseberg's strengthened and highly re-rideable lineup.
Valkyria's station and queue line theming are the final spots of icing on the two year transformation of Balder's abode to become a land dedicated to Norse mythology. Situated atop a rocky flight of stairs, the station building is much more dominant and imposing than the former occupant, with the finer details clearly implemented by meticulous research or a passion for the mythology. The queue line itself in areas however is somewhat bland, resembling The Smiler's concrete pit, just without the hellish diseases. No larger attempts have been made to hide the concrete shelf that Kanonen originally sat on, which almost becomes somewhat of a memorial nod at the conclusion of the ride.
The inside of the station isn't as detailed as I had initially expected either, however there are some delightful projections displayed across the walls and the large lighting beacon suspended from the roof above the batching area.
When it comes to the trains themselves, I've ridden more B&M coasters with the original OTSR's than I have with the newer ones with the vests, with only two flyers and two wing coasters to compare. However one of my biggest personal grits with Swarm and Flug is the vests tightening around the ride layouts. Mercifully, Valkyria is the second of B&M's newer coasters after Fenix to be rid of the auto-tightening. Taking a leaf out of Vekoma's book with their new generation trains, Valkyria's vests are snug yet flexible, allowing room to manoeuvre. For good reason towards the latter end of the layout, they are also much needed.
The ride opens with a swift ascent to the top of the lift hill, offering a unique view of Liseberg that has simply been unobtainable up until now. Whilst Atmosfear, Helix and Aerospin offer superb views of the park from the mountain, Valkyria gives the lower park views their time to shine, albeit not for very long. The corner from the lift hill to the drop is carried out at quite a swift speed before a harsh braking onto the drop. Unlike the other dive coasters I've ridden, Valkyria seems to hold you at the top for quite a lengthy amount of time. It's during this moment that the first drop looks much larger than it does from the ground, dropping into the pit of misery and despair from a construction point of view after the many issues they seemed to have clearing it.
The non-tightening vest restraints make Valkyria's first drop punchy and giving much more freedom than any other dive coaster. The transition at the bottom grows more intense as the day progresses, whilst it was an enjoyable surprise to find out just how fast Valkyria tackles the immelmann element. The speed can be conveyed from the ground, with our group remarking on how quick it looked compared to our expectations. The overbank snap over the river is also delightfully fun particularly on the edge seats, leading into the zero g roll which further emphasises how great the end of row seats are. Passing through the Fairy Tale Castle graveyard in a swooping curve leads back to the river, with the ride gracefully bowing out on a rather long and hang-time inducing heartline roll before arriving back at the brakes. The brake run is situated over the most glaring un-themed concrete section of the ride, allowing for clear memories of Kanonen's presence on the same concrete shelf. In fact, Valkyria's final turn into the station follows almost exactly the same path as the retired Intamin launch coaster.
Over our three days, we had plenty of re-rides on Valkyria: front row, middle row, back row, day, night, middle seats, edge seats. Almost every possible combination was ticked off to give the most varying ride experiences which ultimately draw to one conclusion.
Valkyria is the best dive coaster in Europe.
Whilst I've yet to experience OTBH at Gardaland, Valkyria finally seems to have delivered what B&M's smaller dive coasters set out to do. It's a perfect blend of imposing through height, a majestic and eye-catching colour scheme married with an excellent first drop and a collection of enjoyable, snappy elements conducted at a superb pace. Baron's theming is a scapegoat for the mediocre ride it offers, whilst Krake is a dull and shambolic steaming turd; both rides conveying dead spots and a sense of lacking something when arriving back at the respective stations. Yet my first ride on Valkyria brought back memories of riding Wodan for the first time. It thoroughly surprised me at the pace it carries out its layout, demanding I return for more upon exiting at the station.
It's certainly not the best coaster in the park, in fact not even the second best. The issue that Liseberg now has it that every coaster built from here on in will be done so in the shadow of 2014. Whilst Valkyria feels like a much safer and firm development which was built to replace a redundant launch coaster and complement the new area at the same time, it alongside Liseberg's future developments still have a lot to live up to.
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On my previous visits to Liseberg, I've always laughed at the fact Balder was once considered the best wooden roller coaster on the planet by the awards. Yet four years after my first ride on it, and two years since my last, I finally discovered why it once had this regard and also how to experience it.
For some reason or another on this trip, the staff (across all rides for that matter) seemed to have very little regard for restraint checks. Lisebergbanan had hosts simply blinking at lapbars to check they were closed, with several of the flat rides including Jukebox also having the same. Balder for the first time on my visits to the park had staff in this calibre, measly poking at my lapbar allowing me to get a variation of looseness. In fact on some rides, I needn't have bothered.
With rides on occasion whereby another person could have comfortably fit between myself and the lapbar, Balder finally demonstrated what made it originally regarded so highly. Brutally bonkers air time.
On some rides I was simply able to float down the first drop; no feet touching the floor and my posterior clearly raised from the seat. Every air time hill was attempting to eject me at various speeds and heights, from out of the ride area through to the opposite side of the planet. One ride in particular consisted of Rowe and Cheese bellowing in laughter at my sheer terror from how brutal the air time was. Boring corners? A necessary breather!
Once a Balder sceptic, now a complete Balder fanboy.
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My first visit to Liseberg in 2014 saw me leave with a new favourite roller coaster. Our 3/4 one day visit in 2016 with the addition of a tunnel and two seconds of ride duration knocked off by a kick of speed further confirmed why Liseberg was home to my number one ride on the planet. Helix with its flowing track across the mountain, heart thumping soundtrack and the night time views gave me a roller coaster experience that to this very day, none have come close to matching.
Fast forward to this trip however and my passion for this ride has been somewhat torn. But how? It still rides exactly the same, sounds exactly the same, feels exactly the same? To what extent can a park alter a roller coaster to not quite tear it from the number one position, but do enough permanent damage to easily sway this particularly with a coming States trip next year?
Helix's throughputs were never a match for the mighty 'Banan down the mountain, but when it first opened Helix made no issue of chewing through guests. This time however was different. When we first ascended up the mountain to ride on this trip, we were met with virtually no queue. Jokingly powering into the queue line to catch up on the two year gap of getting in relentless re-rides of my favourite coaster, a gleeing smile and also the enjoyment of being able to see Kim have her first ride on it and share that experience. The queue line soundtrack a welcoming score to return to, surging through the lack of guests and up into the station platform.
The best part of Helix's soundtrack for me can be found in the station. There's nothing perhaps as euphoric as climbing into the station when the soundtrack has just reset, thumping out as the train dispatches out down the hillside accompanied by the traditional Mack sound of dispatch clattering.
Not this time however. The volume has been reduced, meaning your bones no longer rattle in time to the beat. To make matters worse, in regular intervals the soundtrack is now cut out by not one, not two or three, but four safety announcements.
The addition of seat belts to Helix has spiralled the ride into a world of woe; not only does it ruin the carefully crafted and stylised atmosphere, but it slows the throughput to the extent that a third train is not necessary at all on the ride layout. Two announcements are played during boarding, one in Swedish and one in English reminding guests to secure the new addition. Having been retrofitted to the ride cars, the seat belts are incredibly clumsy and time consuming to secure, particularly if a previous guest is much larger and requires it to be as loose and long as possible. Once the staff have done a seat belt check, two more announcements are played in the respective languages to inform guests to pull down the restraints. Without prior knowledge, I pulled my restraint down directly over the seat belt. Not only did this leave an incredibly uncomfortable ride on the crotch with the buckle digging in throughout, but it also meant that as soon as restraints come back up in the station, not a single person is able to dart off the train immediately.
Following rides allowed me to counter this by pulling the seat belt above where the restraint comes down, meaning much speedier exits off the train. But this counts for nothing, as there will always be guests who leave their buckles under the restraints and the slow double checks will always have an impact. As a result, an advertised 10 minute wait for the ride on our final day turned into almost 40 minutes, especially as one train had to be taken off due to a wheel defect.
Whilst the seat belts don't compromise the ride experience itself, the painstakingly slower dispatch procedures and the additional announcements have shattered the awesome experience that the park so carefully and remarkably delivered in the years during construction and following on from opening. Helix is no longer the pinnacle all-round experience that I first fell in love with back in 2014, all in the name of health and safety. Whilst the other coasters in the park continue to benefit from swift dispatches due to minimal checks, Helix seems to have almost been operated on by a Merlinesque H&S vampire team. A crying shame as a ride which was as close to perfect as could be has been cruelly and mercilessly scarred for no apparent reason.
All in all, a great return trip and also a wonderful first time experience of Liseberg in its Halloween spirit. The park continues to offer a charm and re-rideable line up that has been complemented well by both Loke and Valkyria. Whilst Helix may have been dampened by the safety announcements cutting through the awesome soundtrack and the much slower throughputs, it still remains a remarkable piece of roller coaster engineering.
Then these guests are [CENSORED] morons.
