Sam
TS Member
A couple of years ago, I posted on TTF about a little park in Norway called Tusenfryd...
When I posted that in 2012, I didn't think it likely that I'd go to the park - not in the following ten years anyway. But last Friday, Tusenfryd was exactly where I found myself, after taking a 20-minute bus ride from the centre of Oslo where I was taking a city break weekend with my friend Tim. It was odd to be at a park that had held a special intrigue with me for a while, despite it not having the fire-power of the boy boy European parks. I think we all have little parks around the world that we have taken a shine to, without ever having step foot in, for no better reason than because they look appealing.
To be honest, re-reading my 2012 post the night before I went to the park, I wasn't expecting much. None of the coasters really jumped out at me, there isn't much 'theming' to speak of, and the other rides looked a bit lacklustre. Either way, ratcheting up a new Intamin launch coaster (especially one with an esoteric layout) is always a draw, as is ticking off one of the rarest Mack credits in western Europe. I was also curious to compare it with the only other Parques Reunidos property I've step foot in, Germany's Movie Park, which embodied the struggle between small park charm and ambitions for bigger, more corporate offerings.
Arriving at Tusenfryd is a painless experience - it's obvious that the site was selected for a 1988 opening with nakedly commercial interests in mind, as the park is a 20 minute bus ride away from down-town Oslo, Europe's fastest expanding city. The entrance to the park, nestled on the side of a mountain amid a vast Norwegian forest, is the epitome of charm. It's nice to think that it evolved this way but it almost certainly didn't - the neat interlock and symmetry of the entrance pavilion with the escalators up to the park and Speed Monster's 'Norwegian Loop' imply that this was all carefully planned, probably opening with the Intamin launcher in 2006.
The duel set of escalators that bookend the beginning and end of your day are the park's first really clever move. They create a portal in which you leave behind your everyday life at the gate and transition into this place of fun and rustic nostalgia for a few hours. Obviously, it's a very cheap and home-made take on the idea that Disney use spectacularly at 'Main Street, U.S.A.' but it's surprising effective - once you're in the park, you quite easily forget the car park and the major highway that runs right past the front door.
Speed Monster
The ride that immediately appeals for obvious reasons is the aforementioned Speed Monster, a cheeky little Intamin Accelerator from 2006 with a layout unconventional enough to earn a place beside Rita as one of the Swiss company's least formulaic coasters. While the presentation is in many ways quite beautiful - the long, slim layout strings along a hillside, threatening to dive over the edge at any moment - I could do without the attempt at theming. If you're not going to do something well, don't bother at all - that'd be a good motto for this park to abide by.
Of course, being an Accelerator, it is almost legally obliged to have a race car theme. Yes, the pretty little trains are dolled up to look vehicular, but once you've seen that and the vroom vroom! dispatch and launch audio, the concept runs out of steam. Sad little plastic chequered flags littering the launch-track seem to wonder what their purpose is. The problem with the theme is not just the lack of execution, but the original idea itself. Formula One is lazy, and has seemingly very little connection to the park or to the country. Oslo hasn't hosted a Grand Prix since 1950. This ride could be Formula One themed anywhere, on any continent. Why not a more culturally cohesive theme, like an explosion in a Norwegian lumber mill, or in one of the country's many illicit 'moonshine' home brew basements? While the blue track of the ride compliments the austere green pines beautifully, the metallic silver station is ugly, and is crying out to be a log cabin instead.
The ride itself is nothing to write home about, but is good, solid fun. As expected, the launch isn't very powerful (somewhere slightly north of Blue Fire on the intensity thermometer) but the 'Norwegian Loop' is great - it's not a faceripper, but has a wonderfully natural and flowing feel to it. Thundering underneath and overhead people gawping on the escalator is very cool. It's just a sensitively designed, well-engineered, pleasant element to pass through.
The ride then hits its only real dead spot - an uneventful turnaround followed by a long, shallow and boring curved descent. This should be an inversion of some sort. But we're back to the action after not too long, with a nippy little pop of airtime as we thread the loop. The best bit of the ride comes next: two back-to-back S-bend hills that both offer two more pops of airtime as well as sprightly flips from side to side. These improve on the design of 2005's Rita, though I can't pin down why - think more of EGF's 'flip turn'. With a burst of exuberant spirit still needing to be let out, the ride enters a final corkscrew for good measure, a reasonably forceful little flip that leaves a good taste in the mouth as you hit the brakes.
Speed Monster is not going to set the world on fire, or reinvent the wheel, although from certain angles it is one of the greatest coasters visually anywhere in the world. I do have reservations both about the choice and the delivery of theme - if only it had been built by post-Thor's Hammer Tusenfryd, it might have got the treatment it deserves. Still, it fits the bill perfectly - a sprightly family-thrill coaster with enough intensity that adults won't come away disappointed, and it serves the function of a signature coaster better than almost any other.
Loopen
Across the midway is what was the park's only big coaster for a shocking thirteen years, it's Vekoma MK-1200 / Tornado 'Loopen'. When arriving at the station, we were told in incomprehensible Norwegian that the ride was currently experiencing problems. The speaker, one of two hosts, was like out of a blissful dream, the sort of man that every gay man and straight woman envisages when they hear the word Scandinavia. He was blond, of course, and tall, with a beautifully soft face and perfectly symmetrical features. He had a boyish, naive charm to him, but the hint of muscle tone below his carefree t-shirt hinted a the strength of a man. He was probably called Magnus, or Ygnve or Jonas or something equally heavenly.
When we rode later, I said hello to him, and upon realising that we were probably the only non-Norwegians in the park that day, his face broke into a smile among the most beautiful I've ever seen. Young Norwegians love a chance to practice their impeccable English. His eyes were blue like the sky that day, and seemed to pierce you like a dagger when he spoke to you directly - but this wound bore no pain. I waved at him as I ascended the lifthill, and he waved back and grinned, revelling in the flirting from the English boys. He waved again on the brake run, and I think it was at that point that my heart burst into a thousand pieces, each glowing with unconditional love for this northern European demi-god.
Thundercoaster
Despite hearing great things about this ride, my expectations were still set no higher than lukewarm, perhaps because my faith in Vekoma trying their hand at anything but mine trains and madhouses is so non-existent. The combination of the words Vekoma - Dutch stalwarts of headbanging - and woodie is enough to make even the most rugged enthusiast think twice about their lunch. Here's the twist: it's a Vekoma, but it's really, really great. Not great for a Vekoma, but properly great in its own right. This thing is facing down a few GCIs in my ranking - that's how great it is.
Although you hear murmurings of its high quality, I suspect the very low numbers of international enthusiasts who have made it to this park gives this ride its status as one of Europe's undiscovered true gems. Here's why; first, the trains. Forget your perceptions of Vekoma trains being coffins on wheels. These trains look and feel very similar to Millennium Flyers and they ride nearly as well. Comfortable, plush seating, with minimal clutter all around you allows a free, liberating ride, like you get with the MillFlys. The restraints are also good, giving a fair amount of leeway, and the ride staff are hardly overzealous.
When I posted that in 2012, I didn't think it likely that I'd go to the park - not in the following ten years anyway. But last Friday, Tusenfryd was exactly where I found myself, after taking a 20-minute bus ride from the centre of Oslo where I was taking a city break weekend with my friend Tim. It was odd to be at a park that had held a special intrigue with me for a while, despite it not having the fire-power of the boy boy European parks. I think we all have little parks around the world that we have taken a shine to, without ever having step foot in, for no better reason than because they look appealing.
To be honest, re-reading my 2012 post the night before I went to the park, I wasn't expecting much. None of the coasters really jumped out at me, there isn't much 'theming' to speak of, and the other rides looked a bit lacklustre. Either way, ratcheting up a new Intamin launch coaster (especially one with an esoteric layout) is always a draw, as is ticking off one of the rarest Mack credits in western Europe. I was also curious to compare it with the only other Parques Reunidos property I've step foot in, Germany's Movie Park, which embodied the struggle between small park charm and ambitions for bigger, more corporate offerings.
Arriving at Tusenfryd is a painless experience - it's obvious that the site was selected for a 1988 opening with nakedly commercial interests in mind, as the park is a 20 minute bus ride away from down-town Oslo, Europe's fastest expanding city. The entrance to the park, nestled on the side of a mountain amid a vast Norwegian forest, is the epitome of charm. It's nice to think that it evolved this way but it almost certainly didn't - the neat interlock and symmetry of the entrance pavilion with the escalators up to the park and Speed Monster's 'Norwegian Loop' imply that this was all carefully planned, probably opening with the Intamin launcher in 2006.
The duel set of escalators that bookend the beginning and end of your day are the park's first really clever move. They create a portal in which you leave behind your everyday life at the gate and transition into this place of fun and rustic nostalgia for a few hours. Obviously, it's a very cheap and home-made take on the idea that Disney use spectacularly at 'Main Street, U.S.A.' but it's surprising effective - once you're in the park, you quite easily forget the car park and the major highway that runs right past the front door.
Speed Monster
The ride that immediately appeals for obvious reasons is the aforementioned Speed Monster, a cheeky little Intamin Accelerator from 2006 with a layout unconventional enough to earn a place beside Rita as one of the Swiss company's least formulaic coasters. While the presentation is in many ways quite beautiful - the long, slim layout strings along a hillside, threatening to dive over the edge at any moment - I could do without the attempt at theming. If you're not going to do something well, don't bother at all - that'd be a good motto for this park to abide by.
Of course, being an Accelerator, it is almost legally obliged to have a race car theme. Yes, the pretty little trains are dolled up to look vehicular, but once you've seen that and the vroom vroom! dispatch and launch audio, the concept runs out of steam. Sad little plastic chequered flags littering the launch-track seem to wonder what their purpose is. The problem with the theme is not just the lack of execution, but the original idea itself. Formula One is lazy, and has seemingly very little connection to the park or to the country. Oslo hasn't hosted a Grand Prix since 1950. This ride could be Formula One themed anywhere, on any continent. Why not a more culturally cohesive theme, like an explosion in a Norwegian lumber mill, or in one of the country's many illicit 'moonshine' home brew basements? While the blue track of the ride compliments the austere green pines beautifully, the metallic silver station is ugly, and is crying out to be a log cabin instead.
The ride itself is nothing to write home about, but is good, solid fun. As expected, the launch isn't very powerful (somewhere slightly north of Blue Fire on the intensity thermometer) but the 'Norwegian Loop' is great - it's not a faceripper, but has a wonderfully natural and flowing feel to it. Thundering underneath and overhead people gawping on the escalator is very cool. It's just a sensitively designed, well-engineered, pleasant element to pass through.
The ride then hits its only real dead spot - an uneventful turnaround followed by a long, shallow and boring curved descent. This should be an inversion of some sort. But we're back to the action after not too long, with a nippy little pop of airtime as we thread the loop. The best bit of the ride comes next: two back-to-back S-bend hills that both offer two more pops of airtime as well as sprightly flips from side to side. These improve on the design of 2005's Rita, though I can't pin down why - think more of EGF's 'flip turn'. With a burst of exuberant spirit still needing to be let out, the ride enters a final corkscrew for good measure, a reasonably forceful little flip that leaves a good taste in the mouth as you hit the brakes.
Speed Monster is not going to set the world on fire, or reinvent the wheel, although from certain angles it is one of the greatest coasters visually anywhere in the world. I do have reservations both about the choice and the delivery of theme - if only it had been built by post-Thor's Hammer Tusenfryd, it might have got the treatment it deserves. Still, it fits the bill perfectly - a sprightly family-thrill coaster with enough intensity that adults won't come away disappointed, and it serves the function of a signature coaster better than almost any other.
Loopen
Across the midway is what was the park's only big coaster for a shocking thirteen years, it's Vekoma MK-1200 / Tornado 'Loopen'. When arriving at the station, we were told in incomprehensible Norwegian that the ride was currently experiencing problems. The speaker, one of two hosts, was like out of a blissful dream, the sort of man that every gay man and straight woman envisages when they hear the word Scandinavia. He was blond, of course, and tall, with a beautifully soft face and perfectly symmetrical features. He had a boyish, naive charm to him, but the hint of muscle tone below his carefree t-shirt hinted a the strength of a man. He was probably called Magnus, or Ygnve or Jonas or something equally heavenly.
When we rode later, I said hello to him, and upon realising that we were probably the only non-Norwegians in the park that day, his face broke into a smile among the most beautiful I've ever seen. Young Norwegians love a chance to practice their impeccable English. His eyes were blue like the sky that day, and seemed to pierce you like a dagger when he spoke to you directly - but this wound bore no pain. I waved at him as I ascended the lifthill, and he waved back and grinned, revelling in the flirting from the English boys. He waved again on the brake run, and I think it was at that point that my heart burst into a thousand pieces, each glowing with unconditional love for this northern European demi-god.
Thundercoaster
Despite hearing great things about this ride, my expectations were still set no higher than lukewarm, perhaps because my faith in Vekoma trying their hand at anything but mine trains and madhouses is so non-existent. The combination of the words Vekoma - Dutch stalwarts of headbanging - and woodie is enough to make even the most rugged enthusiast think twice about their lunch. Here's the twist: it's a Vekoma, but it's really, really great. Not great for a Vekoma, but properly great in its own right. This thing is facing down a few GCIs in my ranking - that's how great it is.
Although you hear murmurings of its high quality, I suspect the very low numbers of international enthusiasts who have made it to this park gives this ride its status as one of Europe's undiscovered true gems. Here's why; first, the trains. Forget your perceptions of Vekoma trains being coffins on wheels. These trains look and feel very similar to Millennium Flyers and they ride nearly as well. Comfortable, plush seating, with minimal clutter all around you allows a free, liberating ride, like you get with the MillFlys. The restraints are also good, giving a fair amount of leeway, and the ride staff are hardly overzealous.
