Finland Coaster Tour 2012

[TheCoasterCruiser]

Hi, and thank you for clicking on my thread!

As the title says this is a trip report of me and my friend's coaster trip in Finland.
From today (24/7) to 27/7 me and my friend will be touring Finland visiting the biggest theme parks in the country. Including PowerPark, Särkännemi and Linnanmaki.

This is the biggest coaster trip I've been on to date, and I'm very excited about it.
Hope you'll enjoy the reading, pictures and videos.

Day 1

Today is our first day of our tour, and my friend (Lars) and me started the trip by getting driven to the Airport by my sweet sister. From there, we where pretty much left over to our fantastic planning.

Now, this is the first time I travel alone with a friend by air, so this and the whole airport check in thing was quite exciting for me.
And I'm happy to say that it all went absolutely flawless, very easy. Well, I knew it wasn't hard at all, but I didn't expect it to be so easy.

So we headed further in to what is a quite huge airport, got security checked, drank a cola, and found our gate.

;-D

After a little wait, we boarded the plane and soon we were on route to Vaasa, Finland, in this Boeing 717.

After a 1 h and 45 min flight we arrived at one of the smaller airports of the world...
And after another flawless procedure of getting our luggage, we went and waited for the 'car-rental-guy' to show up.

After a half hour he showed up and guided us to this car.

Looks good!

10 minutes of driving and we were at our first hotel, located in the centrum of Vaasa.

Doesn't look too bad.

Cool little feature.

After we had checked out the lovely hotel room, we went to check out the city of Vaasa.

Random useless info - The city have a population 59.000.

We were pretty starving, so went to get a bit of an early dinner (5pm)

And now were just chilling at the hotel room, Lars is just on FB and I'm keeping myself entertained with this TR


Thank you very much for reading! - I really appreciate it, leave a comment if you want

Tomorrow is PowerPark!

 

[davidm]

Hmmm Haribo......

OK, you have my interest... keep it up!

 

[Nic]

At first, I thought that said "Welcome, Overlord Lars!" which clearly would've been much better

Oh, and "Scottish" Haribo? WTF?! lol!

 

[peep]

Nice start to the PTR. Hehe, I really like getting welcomed into the hotel room by a message on the TV (I'm so sad).

Look forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

 

[Ian]

Cool - I'm edging towards a Finland trip next year so I'm going to follow this one with great interest!

 

[Nic]

^EasyJet have just stopped flying there like last month, so it's not as cheap as it used to be </3

</hijack>

 

[Ben]

and my friend (Lars)

Did he and his other friends, Lars and Lars, fund this trip by selling a bus to drag queens?

I <3 Finland.

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

Cool - I'm edging towards a Finland trip next year so I'm going to follow this one with great interest!

Nice, thank you!

and my friend (Lars)

Did he and his other friends, Lars and Lars, fund this trip by selling a bus to drag queens?

I <3 Finland.

Sorry, I don't get the joke
- And I think Finland is pretty nice so far too.

Day 2

So day two is up a little late today, hope you'll bear with me.

Today started out with excellent breakfast at our hotel. Well, despite the little incident where I filled my cup with some kind of fluid from an 'out of order' juice machine... Didn't taste good...
Anyways, we packed our bags, checked out and then we were off to PowerPark!

Yay, we're on our way to the first park of the trip!

It's always something special when seeing a park for the first time in the distance, and PowerPark was no exception!
Especially from the parking lot you can actually see just about every ride in the park!

Got our wristbands, now we're good to go!

To get from the parking lot to the park you cross this bridge over this river.

I spot a spinning coaster.

Welcome to PowerPark!

We'll start out with this Vekoma Boomerang.
Now, this was actually my very first Vekoma Boomerang and I must say that I can't see why people don't like them, I thought it was a fun ride, not as rough as i thought. - But just a fun coaster, nothing special.

And then there was this one. An 'OK' ride, if a bit short.

I like how a part of the pathways winds through a little wood.

What's in here?

A kiddie coaster!!
Not even smooth..

Zamperla track..

Looks nice.

This Moser Rides Drop Tower was actually surprisingly good!

See, this is quite cool, you can choose to take a slow viewing ride or a fast drop ride.
I guess it can create a couple of capacity issues though...

That's just cute.

This park had some nice theming on some of the rides.

My now favorite flat ride! - Such smooth and varied movements!
Damn it's good!

Next up was Neo's Twister, a ok spinning coaster with a few painful spots.

Neo's Twister Pov!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUsXo34qlh8&feature=plcp[/youtube]

Ok let's go this way!

And now Thunderbird! - My very first GCI Coaster!

(Divine Music)

Yep, it's GCI!

So what do I think of it? - Well, I got a little dissappointed, - i think that is partly because of all the hyping GCI coasters gets.
But, I think it's an awesome ride nonetheless, and the front seat was quite amazing also!

Thunderbird Pov!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBqN2v15pow&feature=context-chv[/youtube]

New flume ride construction pictures.

This was just another fun ride.

I personally love this picture!

A 'hidden mickey'! :-b

Look how artistic I am ;-b

Park pathway

It's a really nice and clean park.

<3

A GoKart Race Track that we didn't try.
I've heard it's a cool experience, but we really just wanted to enjoy the amusement park instead.

Goodbye PowerPark, thanks for an really good day!

Our next hotel was located by the station of Tampere city, which is Finland's third biggest city.

This was a brand new hotel.
- In fact so new that the illustration of the hotel on our reservation was a concept art!

VERY, fancy.

I guess pink is the theme here!

Tampere city.

Here we go again -.-



Thanks for watching and reading! :-D - Next up: Särkäniemmi!

 

[owentaylor121]

Power Park looks like a really good park, I had never heard of it before. Great trip report.

 

[Gavin]

Tampere is lovely. Have a proper look around (follow the canal/river between the north and south lakes - the south lake is really nice) instead of just hunting out another McDonalds.

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

Tampere is lovely. Have a proper look around (follow the canal/river between the north and south lakes - the south lake is really nice) instead of just hunting out another McDonalds.

I have to tell you that we arrived in Tampere at 10 PM, then we checked in, and then we where starving and went eating on McDonalds as that was the only place we bothered. There wouldn't be any time to check out the city.

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

Sorry for the long delay of day 3, but I haven't really had the time and didn't really feel it.
But now I'm here and gonna bring to you, day 3 of my Finland Coaster Tour. - Consisting of Pictures, Reviews and Pov's!

- Enjoy!

Day 3

Todays park is located by the huge lake in the city of Tampere, it is, 'Särkänniemi'.

After our quick checkout of the fancy hotel, we were off to the park which I'm not gonna spell one more time.

The park was located by the water which made for a really nice view while approaching the park.

After one of the most ridiculous walks from one of the most ridiculous parking lots we brought our tickets to the park. Notice that there is not really any queue, I think they had like 12 ticket booths open. Really nice.

One more wristband for my collection!

Were inside the park, and let's start by walking this way!

Intamin Half-Pipe ahead!

This was actually the very first of it's kind when it opened.

Let's hear it for some big ass footers!

Half-Pipe was actually a pretty surprising coaster. - Cool little LSM launches and nice airtime!
Not really any queue here either!

Half Pipe Pov
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9FUkYKYsY[/youtube]

Let's explore more of the park.

More silver Intamin sexyness can be found in this section of the park.

Cool water thing doing it's thing!

Looks good!

Final turn.

Tornado is a good ride. But nothing too special in my opinion, it's actually also a little rough in some spots.
The inversion through the station was awesomely unique though.
But overall just a really mediocre ride!

Tornado Pov
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhbdsL7RKcU&list=UULe7a9-uaV6ozJR9mZq0GAg&index=0&feature=plcp[/youtube]

Next up was Trombi.

I had heard some bad things about this ride type so i didn't expect much.

And I can safely say that Trombi wasn't anything I would ride again. Nothing more needs to be said really.

What a nice sight.

I found the crowds!

And a kiddie coaster with some nice green paint. Just a standard Zierer Tivoli Coaster.

The Angry Birds Land was pretty nicely done. But for us it was just a shortcut to the other end of the park, a very crowded shortcut!

Playing area.

And, FIRE!

An ok ride. If a bit boring.

This looks welcoming.

Moto Gee which is a Zamperla Moto Coaster, is a model that I had been looking forward to ride. Mainly because I really like the look of the ride and how compact and 'cute' it is.
So I got a bit dissappointed discovering how rough it was :-(
The GP seemed to love it though.
- I gave it a second chance later in the day and it is a fairly fun coaster, but nothing special at all!

It was interesting how some of the rides was on the edge by the water.

Moto Gee Station.

Now let's have some Pizza Buffet by the water!

Next up was this Schwarzkopf coaster.

Another ok ride. Had some noticeable kicks in spots, but overall a fun ride that has a surprising length.

Didn't ride this, which is a shame as I loved the one at Hansa Park!

My first Take Off ride. Another 'ok' experience that I'm sure they'll do much better at the german fairs!

They also had this Zamperla Disc'O Coaster.

Which had a lovely location right by the water!
I liked how you kinda got 'pulled' over the middle hill, and how you felt like you were hanging right above the water at certain moments.

A tall tower in the middle of the park which is home to a restaurant.

We did take a lap on their rafting ride, - one of the more boring rafting rides really.
Well, maybe we were just unlucky.

Funny looking Colas that actually tasted pretty good.

Goodbye finish park in Tampere. - We had a great day, and the weather was nice, maybe a bit too hot though.

Time to check out another finish supermarket.

They had BonBonLand candy here!


That was it for day 3, hope you liked it and stay tuned for the final day of the trip at Linnanmäki!

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

Great report! I really want to go to Finland!

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

Great report! I really want to go to Finland!

Thank you!
Well I can only recommend it, it's a really nice tour taking those 3 biggest parks in Finland.

 

[TilenB]

Cool
My mom has been to Särkaniemi, but in september all the rides were already closed, only the tower was open for visitors. She isn't a theme park fan anyway

PS: I have to do this trip one time

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

^ Wow didn't know they'd close that early!

And it's a really nice trip with some good parks! - Lots of different coaster types.

 

[Martyn B]

Nice reports, I've enjoyed reading it so far. Looks like a fun little trip.

Good POV's too!

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

^ Thank you, It was indeed a fun trip.

I'm happy you like my videos!

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

Day 4

Okay, it's day 4, and if there is one thing I've learned from these coaster-trips, then it is to go early to bed! - But I almost always end up going to bed late as pictures and video uploads keep me busy for the night.

But no matter how tired I am waking up, I always wake up and get all fresh when I see the first glimpse of the theme park we're heading to!

So today was 'Linnanmäki' our last park of the tour!

The last hotel of our trip appeared to be just as awesome as the other ones!

I'm awake, I'm awake!

Looking badass and all with those wristbands!

Here's 'Kirnu' - and Intamin ZacSpin Coaster.

We had been looking forward to this one.

And it was actually pretty good, - a little short, but good. The drops especially where exciting.
I would love to ride the bigger model with bigger drops. Otherwise, high quality ride and a really cool coaster type that gives you a unique ride-experience!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7126w156hc[/youtube]

Next up was 'Tulireki', a Mack E-motion Coaster, which meant the train was doing some small moves here and there, - nothing spectactular at all.

It was a bit rough too. Not quite a good ride.

Look how small the park map is.

Now lets ride 'Vonkaputous'.

A smooth water coaster from Premier Rides that got you soaked!

Salama is a Spinning Coaster from Maurer Söhne.
And what a smooth and enjoyable ride that is! - Really liked it! Nothing more needs to be said.

Imagine the evacuation process here.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlJkPwEkqaE[/youtube]

One of the most intense flat rides I've ridden, maybe a bit too intense, it hurt a little.

Linnanmäki is situated on a cliff/mountain thing in the middle of the city. (Think Liseberg)
Looks good!

Topspin with 5 spins if i remember correctly.
Not exactly much, but the best I've ridden.

A walkthrough 3D haunted house. Very different experience.

Ride-wise this is the best polyp I've ridden, but when it comes to the overall experience, the one at Bakken is the winner for me.

Credit-whoring. Not even sure if this is a credit?!

This is a copy of Bakkens old 'Rutschebanen' - and it's actually better than the one at Bakken, but when Bakken's still had those old trains that one was better!

Here's Ukko, a ride we also had been looking forward to.

Nice ride, with some good forces and sensations but it was rough enough to ruin it for me, such a shame. And it's only 1 and half year old.

Just to end this Tour positive, - Kirnu is still amazing!


Thanks for reading and watching I really appreciate it.

 

[TilenB]

^ Wow didn't know they'd close that early!

And it's a really nice trip with some good parks! - Lots of different coaster types.

During the week they are closed (at least they were 10 years ago), but probably the park was open during the weekend