Aerial Antics: Liseberg

Hope you ran out and bought a plane ticket for this week's Aerial Antics - we're off to Gothenburg, Sweden!

Like so many European parks, Liseberg has a long history and has survived to become one of Scandinavia's most popular amusement centers. The park itself features several attractions on a large hill on one side of the park, from which Liseberg takes its name. The original owner's wife was named Lisa, and he named the hill "Lisa's Mountain" in her honor, which translates to Liseberg. How cute!

Love stories aside, here's the hill I'm speaking of. It's dotted with several unique rides. The white coaster that winds all over it is Lisebergbanan, a custom designed Schwarzkopf ride that's rather long at over 5,000 ft. There's also two S&S tower rides up there, Uppskjutet, which is a Space Shot, and Hojdskracken, a Turbo Drop.

The S&S fun does not stop there, as toward the top of the photo you can see Uppswinget, a large park model Screamin' Swing. Throw on a Ferris Wheel, Pirate Ship, and one of the longest Flume's I've ever seen and you've got one fun looking hill!

Hi, I'm Balder and I've been consistently ranked one of the best wooden coasters in the world since I opened in 2003. I'm a pre-fab Intamin thriller, and I'm often complimented on my generous curves and steep inclines. I'm looking for riders who enjoy insane amounts of airtime, quick directional changes, and the general feeling of being out of control. If interested, simply fly to Sweden and take a spin on me! Just promise to bring Mike with you.

Intamin made a return to the park in 2005 to build Kanonen - a super small but intense looking accelerator coaster. It launches at a (comparatively) slow 46 m.p.h. and then the train hops up the cutest little dwarf Top Hat I've ever seen. From there the track twists in such a manner that I can't believe there are proper clearances at times, but all is well at the end of each day. And check out that line in the photo! Yikes!

If you'd like to fly around Liseberg and check things out for yourself, here's a link.