One more long morning drive took us back over to the far side of Sweden, primed and ready for some final creds and a quick escape from Stockholm again. Day 4 – Furuvik Furuvik was the name of the game, somewhat poorly represented by its photos of concrete and rides from most trip planning resources, when in fact it’s more of a zoo with an amusement section. We had been wondering what could justify it costing more than Kolmården. The opening stroll is rather pleasant before you hit said amusement section if you head in the right direction. The Dragon wasn’t quite ready for us yet, so ended up ..read more

Back down Oslo way it was time for our supposed revenge with spite: the dragon legend. Things looked rough on arrival as we were directed into an overflow car park I never knew existed before, though actually ended up closer to the gates than the regular car park, with less stairs and better views of the rides, so bonus. Day 3 (still) – Tusenfryd Season passes slowly starting to pay off now, for the wrong reasons, we slid in up that classic escalator and headed straight for the main event. #1 HuriHuri had a bit of a queue, but geography. It’s an underwhelming little spinner type thing that i ..read more

That wasn’t much of an installment, so let’s go again. Next it was a long morning drive to Norway, a little more off the beaten track than usual – they have more than one amusement park you know. Hunderfossen had intrigued me for quite some time though it is often the victim of being left off an itinerary for ‘better things’, on paper. Day 3 – Hunderfossen Eventyrpark Up in the scenic hills there’s a pleasant natural beauty to the place. The location on the side of a valley gives this ever present view of the greenery on the far side, on this day coupled with some moody clouds. You could bel ..read more

For logistical reasons we spent the whole of the next day giving courtesy to Kolmården. Don’t have a whole lot to say on the matter as there was nothing new on offer, and I’m not sure it was justified given the original spiteful saga back in opening year, but RMC right? I guess. Day 2 – Kolmården Well first up we were spited out of a discount promised by their out of date website, no biggie. Most of the animals were hiding along the legendary long walk to the back of the park, but we saw the red panda so that was enough to keep me happy. Donkey? Soon enough it was Wildfire time. Eh. I was ..read more

The Scandi season is a harsh mistress. Time had flown since our frozen and failed attempt at Tusenfryd earlier in the year, and suddenly there was very little opportunity left to make it right. Not having enough faith in the revenge target being a strong enough headline act however, the horizons were broadened in light of other newness further afield. Needs to be worth the faff after all. As such we landed in Stockholm one early afternoon and took a leisurely drive in our freely upgraded Citroen (?) down to the city centre. Gröna Lund recommends this big underground car park not too far away ..read more

Time to tidy up. Having seen all there was to see at Six Flags Over Texas we headed out into the city, to a cred that had been spotted by the side of the road the night before. No new discovery or anything exciting, the various internet tools were well aware of its existence (except Captain Coaster), I just hadn’t planned on being done here so early. Alley Cats The establishment in question was a beautifully air-conned arcade and bowling alley, but that was besides the point. Outside, the spirit of the #8 Rattler lives on in an SBF spinner. Unlike our friend Frankie and his mine train, this ..read more

Upon arrival in Oklahoma City, the ‘too hot to theme park’ heat had finally caught up with us. It had been ranging from pleasant to bearable thus far but, as is inevitable in this part of the world, with operating calendars only 2 months long, weather reports started announcing record highs and it got more than a little sticky. Not too concerning for the first item on the agenda though Day 13 – Frontier City Again more pleasant than I had imagined, for whatever reason. Something about looking at lacklustre lineups on RCDB sometimes makes you think something else must be lacking too. It all l ..read more

Having headed back into Mississippi the night before, the next state line took us over into Arkansas. It was the worst drive of the entire trip traffic wise, for some reason. Felt like the middle of nowhere and yet everyone was heading on that road to nowhere. Luckily it didn’t matter too much as there’s only one park here. And what a park. Day 12 – Magic Springs The car park looked surprisingly busy for what it was however, including several coaches. This was mostly due to the water park thankfully and didn’t impede our progress in the slightest, though it did cause other inconveniences. Fi ..read more

Having had all the big hitters back to back for a few days, the pace of the trip inevitably had to change a bit. We had ended up staying just over the border in North Carolina, having learnt on route that Gatlinburg = bad. The only place in America where seemingly all parking is a $20 day rate – no use when you just want to grab some food passing through. And then there’s no civilisation for the next hour of mountain roads. With a lot of states converging in this vicinity, it was then back through some of Tennessee and then no more than a mile over the line before winding up in Georgia again ..read more

Something else opened up recently right? Yes, a mere 9 hours away by car was our old friend Dollywood, with the added convenience of pointing ourselves back in the direction of Texas. We’ve strayed as far as we dare on this adventure. Sadly Dolly doesn’t offer any form of sweet start, and in order to have made the most out of a 2-day visit we would have had to have pushed stupidly hard on the journey. Not worth it. And so, on arrival in Pigeon Forge after yet another long and uneventful drive, the only thing to do was pick up a cred of some, any description. Ideally the cheapest possible ..read more