Sweden: Part 2 - Gröna Lund

[ThomVD]

I haven't finished my Finland report yet, but I'm currently in the mood for writing a report of this trip, probably because it's still fresh in my memory. I was actually going to save a trip to Sweden for 2016 because of Wildfire, but I decided I miss the country too much to not visit. With multiple places to stay for free, it would be a relatively cheap trip anyway. This time I visited my Swedish friend Ingrid.

Part 1: Stockholm Culture

I flew to Stockholm from Amsterdam Schiphol with SAS, which has some really cheap flights for people below the age of 25. The best thing about the flight was leaving a rainy and grey Netherlands, ascending above the clouds, and then seeing the clouds suddenly disappear once we approached Sweden. I landed in a super sunny and gorgeous Stockholm. I met up with Ingrid and we spent the rest of the day hanging around in the city, though we saved the proper touristing for the next day.

So a day later it was time to explore Stockholm. Since Ingrid had work until mid-afternoon, I was on my own at first. I had no concrete plans on what to do, except for the fact that I HAD to visit the Vasa Museum at some point. I started out at the Slussen station, which led to a bridge which has a view over the sea and Gröna Lund. The weather just couldn't be more gorgeous. My first stop would be the island of Gamla Stan, which literally translates to Old Town.

Gröna Lund looming in the distance.

Gamla Stan

Gamla Stan is probably the most tourist-y area in entire Stockholm, but for good reason. It has to be one of the best preserved medieval areas in any city that I've visited. It's incredibly lovely, with loads of little cafés and shops. It was never too crowded, even though some alleys were quite narrow.

My signposts during exploration of cities is always big buildings, which usually ends up being churches. In this case there was quite a big church in the middle of Gamla Stan as well.

I had a look inside; it basically looks like most other churches.

I got a drink at a nice little cafe in one of the main streets, and then I moved on towards Riddarholmen, which is a little island connected to Gamla Stan. It had a church.

And this building, which I'm not sure what it even is.

You also got nice views of Gamla Stan.

Once you cross Riddarholmen you get back to the sea, with one of the most iconic buildings of Stockholm; the city hall.

I didn't bother walking that direction yet, as I didn't want to stray too far away from the island with the Vasa Museet. So I turned back through Gamla Stan and walked past the water for a bit more.

Apparently the building in the middle is Stockholm's most expensive hotel.

That boat is actually also a hotel!

I just love the areas near the sea. You get beautiful views, and I just love the entire harbour atmosphere with all the boats leaving and arriving. It gave me such a feeling of freedom and relaxation, especially with the beautiful sunshine.

My next stop was a park somewhere in the city center called Kungsträdgården. It was very quiet and lovely. Perfect place to sit down for a bit after a lot of walking.

Moving on, I got a really good view over Gröna Lund in the distance. I just love the location in the middle of the city <3

Then I found myself on the long boulevard of Strandvägen, a really stunning and fancy street across the sea-side. Such a lively area.

There are also plenty of piers and places where you can sit by the water.

Crossing the bridge, I arrived at Djurgården, which is one of the biggest islands of Stockholm and home to the Vasa Museum, Gröna Lund, open air museum Skansen, ABBA Museum and a lot of nature.

I'm not a big Museum person, so I didn't bother with most of them during this trip, but there are quite a few good looking ones in this area.

Nordic Museum.

This was my stop, the Vasa Museum. I've heard so many great things about it, so I had to try it.

I'll have to say that the first impressions were quite good. Seeing the massive ship with all of its detail was actually quite impressive.

I did get bored after half an hour though, so I left quite early and got some food in the restaurant in the same building. It had fab views over the sea and Gröna Lund!

Then I moved on towards Gröna Lund. I found this on the way.

Arrived at the park, but we had planned to go the next day so I didn't go in just yet. It was great to be back though, especially with MUCH better weather. Since I had infinite public transport all week, I took the ferry from Gröna Lund/Djurgården back to Slussen. It was amazing <3

Ingrid was done by now, so we met up and went back to Kungsträdgården to relax for a bit longer. It was really nice and the weather was still perfect.

Then a friend of her called Olivia joined us and we strolled around the city a bit more. It was such a nice relaxing evening wandering around the beautiful city and talking about all sorts of things. It is amazing how good the English of basically all Swedes is. Swedish people are amazing <3

Such an amazing day. I'm usually not a huge fan of big cities, but Stockholm is one of my favourite places I've been to so far. It's gorgeous, with its architecture, nature and setting. The atmosphere is just so lovely and relaxed, it's never too crowded and it always feels safe. Swedish people are incredibly friendly. Even the layout of the city is quite easy to grasp, probably because it consists of quite a lot of islands in the sea connected by bridges, dividing the city into multiple areas. This way you can just get familiar with each area which makes it a lot less daunting than one massive maze of streets.

Next up is a beautiful day in Gröna Lund.

 

[Darren B]

Re: Sweden: Part 1 - Stockholm Culture

You're a legitimate man whore! Women hanging off you everywhere.

Hope there's more culture in part 2. I mean, this is CoasterForce. We need more trip reports that focus on medieval castles and churches.

 

[ThomVD]

Re: Sweden: Part 1 - Stockholm Culture

Don't you worry, next part will feature your fave amusement park and future parts will contain more Swedish women :wink:

 

[davidm]

Re: Sweden: Part 1 - Stockholm Culture

Some very nice pics there Thom, good work.

 

[Ben]

Re: Sweden: Part 1 - Stockholm Culture

Stockholm is absolutely lovely, one of my favourite cities <3

It's not 'big' though it's like a postage stamp

 

[ThomVD]

Re: Sweden: Part 1 - Stockholm Culture

^^ Thanks! That's a big compliment coming from you!

^ Yeah, I meant relatively big, compared to smaller villages which I usually prefer over major cities. Obviously Stockholm is a lot smaller than most big European capitals (which is probably one of the reasons why I love the city so much!).

 

[ThomVD]

Re: Sweden: Part 1 - Stockholm Culture

Part 2: Gröna Lund

I was really looking forward to going back to this park. Last year I had such a great time here despite the poor weather, and with the weather being gorgeous for this day, I couldn't be more excited. Ingrid had work again so would join me about an hour after the opening. I went in myself to get a couple of the rides done that she didn't feel like doing anyway.

One of my fave things about Gröna Lund is the fact that you get to the park by ferry. No park I've visited builds up the excitement and anticipation better than this one. Slowly drifting towards the park, you could hear plenty of screaming, cheering and rides going around.

When I arrived at the park it was quite crowded at the ticket booths. Took me a while to finally get my wristband. I was really getting scared of massive crowds and long queues, so I planned to get the low capacity rides done right away. First up was Vilda Musen, which had a 20 min queue. I remember enjoying it last time for the unique layout, near-misses and the nice location. My opinion hadn't changed. It's good fun, I'd say it's my fave Gerst bobsled along with G'Sengte Sau, and better than Van Helsing's Factory and Heiße Fahrt.

Such an amazing mess of coaster track <3

Another coaster that usually has quite a long queue is Kvasten, so I did that next. Queue-time board said 30 mins but I'm sure it took less. I queued for the front seat, but for some reason the trains had to be filled up completely before they would dispatch it. One of the operators asked me if I wanted to fill up the back seat, and promised I would get a front seat ride immediately after that. Yes please! So I got two rides in a row on it. I really like Kvasten. It's a gentle but smooth and fun family coaster and it actually has some theming. As with all rides in Gröna Lund, it had plenty of near misses, interaction and nice views.

I had a little bit more time before Ingrid joined me, so I went ahead and got myself one of the missing creds. Tuff Tuff Tåget (Choo Choo Train) was the name. It's a Zamperla mini mouse and it was one of the more dull kiddie creds I've done, but still +1.

Ingrid and I met up at the fountain between Kvasten and Fritt Fall. The latter was the first ride we'd do together. Last time I missed Fritt Fall because my friend Emelie wasn't a big fan of drop towers and I didn't want to ride it alone. We opted for the stand-up tilt side. I loved it. Such an excellent drop tower. This one does pretty much everything better than other similar drop towers. It has a great view, an intimidating height, a great forceful drop and the tilt thing added extra suspense to the whole thing.

(because of the lack of photos I took, I'll use a wikipedia or the Gröna Lund website for some of the rides that I didn't have any photos of)

Wikipedia

We started realising that there were hardly any queues, which made our mood a lot better. Nearly everything was a walk-on despite the gorgeous weather. Next up we did Blå Tåget, which also had a 0 min queue. Ingrid said she remembered the ride being really lame, but that was ages ago. I think it had a recent refurb? Because like last year it was absolutely amazing! And she was surprised as well. We both loved it and were just giggling the whole way through. It just throws all of the effects at you at a great pace, it's brilliant <3

Time for a coaster then. It was time to get my other cred. One that spited me last year. Insane is a massive love/hate coaster for people. Ingrid loves it, but I'd heard so many horror stories on CF as well. Either way, I went in with an open mind. The capacity is horrendously vile, just like the one in Finland, but at least this time it didn't have a queue. The ride itself was fun enough actually. I loved the location of the ride, because it really feels like you're going to plunge into the water at some points. It does throw you around a little, but it was nothing painful. Fun, decent ride, just like Kirnu in Finland, but with a nicer location. We both had a smile on our face when we hit the brakes, which is what matters in the end.

We went for a ride on Jetline next, once again a walk on. We rode the front row first. Jetline is just such a simple but amazingly FUN coaster. It hardly does anything, but it never fails to make me laugh and have a brilliant time with friends. It's so simple, that the coaster itself doesn't distract from the fun you are having on it, if that makes sense. The first drop into the tunnel and the steep twisty drop are two standout parts.

We loved it so much that we immediately ran back on and did the back row. It was just as good. Usually the non-enthusiast people I go with are just so slow and complete burdens and I always have to wait for them all the time. Not Ingrid though, she was so fast that even I could hardly keep up with her pace. The queues were all so short that we spent more time climbing the queue-line fences as fast as we could, than we did actually queuing <3

We quickly got some Fish 'n Chips and ate it by the water overlooking the harbours of Stockholm. We also took a selfie which also pointed out what our next ride would be.

I was really looking forward to get back on Twister because I adored it last time around. In the queue-line Ingrid pointed at one of the photos hanging there which had Blue Fire and Wodan on it. I just went "been there, done that, got the creds" . The most amusing thing while queuing (for 5 minutes), was that everytime when the restraints locked, the speaker said "Nu kan du..." plus some instructions on that you can pull your restraint towards you now. But for some reason the "Nu kan" bit kept repeating, which made it sound like someone was saying a very naughty Dutch word (Neuken) repeatedly. I was just laughing there and nobody understood why.

As for Twister, it's still great fun. We rode it in the front row first and it has some great pops of airtime in many places of the ride. The pacing could be better, but as a whole the coaster is just so enjoyable, and it being next to the water makes it even better. I quite like the Timberliner trains as well, even if they look a bit silly. It packs a great punch for such a small woodie.

Right next to Twister was another ride that I loved last year. S&S combo tower Katapulten. It was my first proper free fall experience, so I thought it was going to be really underwhelming now. It really wasn't! The drop is surprisingly good for an S&S, and the length and view makes it better than most other drop towers. It is just so awesome <3

We rode Insane again, which was a bit vile now. Maybe it was because of more unbalanced cars, but it did throw me around quite a bit and I started to see why some people hate it so much.

Another ride that I hadn't done before was Eclipse. It always intrigued me though, because Stockholm is so beautiful and I'd love to see it from above. We walked straight on and it was as fab as I imagined. Both seeing the park underneath you, and the view over the sea and the city were breathtaking. Easily the best starflyer I've done so far. It seems to be a trend that any mediocre rides can be made a hundred times better just by placing it in Gröna Lund, because the location and interaction improve it significantly.

From the official Gröna Lund website

Ingrid wanted to get some donuts so I went ahead and got some too. She described them as "so incredibly gross that they're delicious" and there was no better way to describe them. They had way too much sugar on them, but it was just such a guilty pleasure. I did start to feel a little nauseous afterwards, but it was worth it. We sat down at the boardwalk area next to the sea, overlooking the most gorgeous sunset. We were both commenting on how amazing the day has been so far. I wanted to make a shot of Katapulten + Jetline/Vilda Musen, but because I had my selfie-mode still on, I suddenly saw a nice shot for a selfie here, which turned out to be this one:

We also overlooked the beautiful chairswing built on a pier. We took some photos and then got on, which ended up being one the nicest and most beautiful rides of the trip. It was just so stunning 'flying' over the water and seeing Stockholm coloured gold by the sunset. We were just "wow-ing" all the way through. Can't believe something as simple as a chairswing can provide such a beautiful experience. We were the only ones on it, and I think the ride op realised how much we were enjoying it, because she kept the ride going for ages <3 I think a photo does more justice than words in this case.

We re-rode Twister in the back seat, which was great fun and the view when coming up the lift was gorgeous! We also rode Katapulten again, and like the other two rides, the sunset truly enhanced the experience. On top of that, we had a quick go on Jetline which was as awesome as it always is. Not many coasters provide such a consistent fun experience.

We walked past Flygande Mattan, which is the park's flying carpet ride. It is just so intense for some weird reason. One of the most thrilling rides at the park. We really had to hold on for our lives and were "holy sh*t-ing" during the entire duration of the ride. It was both disgusting and hilarious fun.

We made our way to Pop Expressen, which is still easily the best breakdance I've done. It has such a long and intense program, and the lights and music make it extra fab. We both absolutely loved it. Unlike other breakdances I've done, it sometimes even did a triple spin!

Official Gröna Lund website

On the opposite side of that square is Lustiga Huset, the park's fun house. The highlight was watching people struggling so badly to climb the initial moving stairs. Ingrid and I were just laughing all the time. It was hilarious how badly people failed. One guy even gave up on the steps and just tried to pull himself up from the railings. God, how hysterically we laughed <3 I still really like the fun house. It's not one of my favourites, but it's very good and ends with the fab slide. We tried to find our photo afterwards; it had plenty of photos with people on it, and then one which didn't have anyone on it because it was taken too early/late. That one was obviously ours :--D

Official Gröna Lund website

It was starting to get darker. We got another ride on Insane which was much less vile this time around. It was really fun actually. We then walked past the water and got a night ride or two on Twister. It's so pretty at night. It has lights all around it and it's just SO enjoyable. There was hardly anybody in the park anymore. We also got a night ride on Jetline <3

Then there's another thing which I have been wanting to do for a while. A ride on Eclipse in the dark. It was even more breathtakingly beautiful than I could've imagined. Seeing the park and city all lit up and the rides going around and around. God, it was just the best thing ever! Because of the wind I got teary eyes, but I joked to Ingrid that it was so gorgeous that I was crying

We ran to Insane again and got another decent ride on it. It really started to grow on me the more we rode. We ran for a quick last ride on the nearby Pop Expressen and then it was time to end this amazing day. Getting back to the city by ferry was just such a sad moment. To see the park all lit up, slowly drifting away from you after having such a nice day there. Definitely one of my favourite parks <3

As for the day, it was just brilliant. There are days with great weather, with short queues, with awesome company, with night-time hours, at great parks. And then there are days like this which has all of that combined in one amazing package. Easily the best park day of the season for me, if not one of the best park days I've ever had.

Thanks for reading! The next day we'd make our way to Liseberg.

 

[Gavin]

Gronalund, for me, is a prime example of how your opinions on a park can totally change based on how you're feeling at the time, people you're with etc.

The first time I went, I didn't think a lot of it other than the location, but I was tired, hungover, just not in the mood at all and it was really busy.

Going a couple of years ago with CF changed my opinion of the place and I really liked it, despite there being nothing new since I'd been before - well, the starflyer but it was down.

I hadn't rated Twister at all after the 2/3 rides I'd had before, especially hating the trains, but I think that's because I was getting stapled every time. I really enjoyed it when we whored it and now, after having ridden a few more, really like the Timberliners as well.

There's nothing particularly stand-out about the place, but as a whole it works. It's definitely up there with the best city parks.