originally posted on 7/21/2023
Photo: Courtesy of Vekoma. View full-sized image.
When talking about international destinations, most American coaster fans aren’t familiar with Furuvik. Hard pressed, the average ACEer would have a difficult time picking which country it is in. The answer to that is Sweden (Gävle).
Furuvik has been around for more than a century. It opened in 1900. In that time, a handful of coasters in the park have come and gone.
A Schwarzkopf Jet Star 2 known as Rocket was retired at the end of the 2021 season. Taking its place at the back of the park is the largest custom-designed steel coaster in which Furuvik has invested. The new ride is called Lightning.
Lightning replaced Rocket, a Jet Star 2 that previously operated as Black Hole at Alton Towers (Alton, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom).
Photos: Courtesy of Vekoma. View full-sized image.
Operated by Parks and Resorts Scandinavia, Furuvik turned once again to Vekoma for this new installation. Its previous purchase, Fireball, was a Vekoma family boomerang coaster. Lightning provides a larger ride experience and gives the park something it has never had — a launch.
Make no mistake, it is still a coaster everyone in the family can enjoy, but for a park of Furuvik’s size, it is a major investment.
The park’s second coaster project with Vekoma following 2017’s installation of Fireball, Lightning is the park’s largest to date.
Photo: Courtesy of Vekoma. View full-sized image.
The train is very stylized. It has a steampunk/retro locomotive look, which is very sharp.
Much like the thrills on Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood (Pigeon Forge, Tennessee), Lightning doesn’t feature big drops or steep dives. It’s all about curves and direction changes.
Photo: Courtesy of Furuvik. View full-sized image.
Lightning eschews large, dramatic drops and instead focuses on quick directional changes.
Photo: Courtesy of Furuvik. View full-sized image.
Furuvik has opted to do something interesting, though. The track length is 1,411 feet, but the ride experience is double that. After the first circuit, the train rushes through the station and hits the launch track again, sending it a second time around. The top speed is 47 mph.
According to Vekoma: “We decided to design our new Family Launch Coaster with the option to have a second round on the ride with an on-the-fly launch. The operator can decide by a key switch on the control panel to run the ride with a single or double lap. The benefit of this double lap cycle is that we can offer the riders two completely different launches, one from standstill and one on-the-fly. Further, with the high pacing of the ride, the double lap cycle would only sacrifice 190 passengers per hour, going from 750 pph (people per hour) to 560 pph. This combined with the fact that the ride experience with a double lap is 860 meter long, the client at Furuvik decided that he would run the ride standard in a double lap mode.”
Lightning’s steampunk-themed train traverses the coaster’s layout specifically designed to allow the ride operator to decide between single- and double-lap operations, creating the possibility of two different ride experiences.
Photo: Courtesy of Vekoma. View full-sized image.
The train seats 20 passengers.
Along with the two Vekoma coasters, Furuvik also offers Draken, a Zierer Force One children’s coaster.
— Tim Baldwin, ACE News
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