Richard Bannister

This coaster trip has been more draining for me than any I've ever done before, and to be completely honest I'm not entirely sure why. I've survived far crazier schedules without feeling anything like as tired as I did today. The real culprit, I think, was the ferry crossing on Sunday night, with its five hours of interrupted sleep. Either way, the proximity of the hotel to the park proved to be a complete godsend; I made my way back to the hotel for two hours relaxation in the middle of the day and that helped recharge the batteries.

My first trip to Liseberg in over two years opened with several circuits on Lisebergbanan. The ride hasn't changed in the slightest from how it was on my last visit, from the wonderfully smooth race around its terrain to the simulated car crash experienced on the brake run. I'd forgotten about the latter on my first ride, and, in three words, it bloody hurt. Riders should be warned much sooner than they are to brace for impact. If ever there was a case for retrofitting magnetic brake fins to an older coaster, this is it. It was interesting to hear Tony comment that this ride really didn't do much for him, considering it an oversized family coaster. It just goes to show that people like different things in their thrill rides.

After making a quick stop to finally tick off the Cirkusexpressen (#1007) credit, we made our way to the two signature coasters at the park. The newer of the two, Kanonen, has become rather violent, to the point that once was enough. Conversely, Balder felt weaker than I remembered, though we were on one of the first trains of the morning. By the early evening the speed had picked up a bit, but it still wasn't the manic ride that I remembered from my last visit.

With a whole day in a park that was actually open to the public there was ample time to try out the other rides in the park that I'd never gotten around to. An almost complete escape on the Kallerado rapids was compensated for by an utter drenching on the FlumeRide, though the latter was probably because we had four people in the boat. The Hotel Gasten has to rank as one of the best haunted walkthroughs out there, albeit it wasn't as scary as it might have been. The two tower rides were running well, as was the SpinRock frisbee ride, in this case a Zamperla model. Unfortunately the new attraction for this year, an S&S swing ride by the name of Uppswinget, was out of commission; perhaps I'll get to ride it on my next visit.