OK man, let’s wrap up Liseberg so we can move on to the next before my old lady brain completely stops spitting out the facts.
After our lovely day carousing around Gothenburg, we went back to the hotel for relaxing time (see: Henry immediately took a nap while Chooch and I went gallivanting around the hotel) and then returned to Liseberg around 6:30 for dinner and to get some more rides in before ERT on Balder started at 11PM.
We had originally planned to eat at the very first restaurant we came upon because the menu outside had veg options but when we got inside and were seated, the actual menu was different and the veggie burger wasn’t on it. I was under the impression that this is what Chooch wanted, that it was a deal-breaker, so I thanked the server and said we would need to go somewhere else.
BOY HOWDY, this set Chooch off, injected not just one bee but a whole goddamn HIVE of bees straight into his bonnet and now I was suddenly Enemy #1 because I EMBARRASSED THEM, and HE NEVER SAID HE WOULDN’T EAT ANYTHING ELSE.
Mmm, ok. Have you met Chooch? MR. FUCKING PARTICULAR? So now he was pissed at me and I was retaliatory pissed off at HIM. 90% of our fights: over food / college shit / the state of his room. It’s so dumb. Literally, what a waste of time.
Henry was caught in the middle, trying to diffuse the dynamite we seemingly had shoved up our asses.
My favorite part was when we were like this:
Collectively: BITCH BITCH BITCH *SCOWL* BITCH BITCH FUCK OFF
*Sees Robert & Dawn approach, puts on BIG FAKE SMILES*
Collectively: OH HELLO!!! *prays we’re playing the role of Happy Family believably*
But then, you know what? Something came over me and I dropped the charade. “WE ARE CURRENTLY FIGHTING WITH EACH OTHER OVER WHERE TO EAT DINNER” because we had spent hours upon hours with these people at this point, might as well keep it real, you know?
“People are going to remember us as ‘that family who was always fighting,'” I added, with a self-deprecating chuckle.
“Look,” Robert said, “you should hear us at night when we’re back at the hotel.” Dawn nodded in agreement. “We get it!”
It was such a nice, real moment, you know?? They suggested the place they just dined at, but it was pretty much all seafood so that did us no good.
We ended up at Spokbaren Gasten, which was the sister restaurant to the haunted house! It was sat right at the end of the exit of the haunt, how convenient!
Chooch got “non-alcoholic” wine, so basically grape juice. He said it was OK. I think I got a cider and Henry got a local beer. It took a reallllly long time for our food to come out so they comped our drinks, which was very nice.
Not gonna lie though, the food was pretty effing good. While we were eating, Tim and a bunch of other Coaster Crew guys came in and claimed the tables behind us. Tim came over and talked to us for a good bit and it is honestly what I remember more than the food itself – the good conversation with Tim. It was like our first REAL TALK and I loved it. I wish anyone who is reading this could meet Tim. If you are a fan of riding roller coasters, you should seriously consider joining Coaster Crew. Annual memberships are not very pricey (I want to say our family membership is like $50??) and you can attend fun events with super amazing people. This was our first time meeting Tim in person but I could tell by comments online that he is sincerely beloved in the coaster community, and, once meeting him, I very quickly understood why. Patient, funny, caring, attentive, knowledgeable – he’s the kind of person you want on your team, you know?
So, I’m looking at this picture of my food and all I can think about is Tim leaning on the railing next to us and asking us about our lives back home, etc.
After dinner, we went on the Lisebergjoulet – the Liseberg Ferris Wheel. WHAT AMAZING VIEWS.
When I say the wheel was “off the beaten path…” It was like we weren’t even in the park anymore, but some type of nature preserve! The path wound up the hillside and was completely hidden from the rest of the park. You couldn’t even see any of the rides.
After this, Chooch and Henry rode the drop tower with Pam, Kevin, and Johnny. I almost always sit out when it comes to drop towers, and this one was no exception. I just really don’t enjoy them! Anyway, Chooch bullied me about it afterward and tried to make me jealous that I missed riding something with Pam. He also said that Kevin had a very high-pitched scream and that it was jarring.
Pam and Kevin both had decided to opt out on Balder ERT since they gotten enough rides on it during regular park hours. So after the drop tower, they both planning on calling it a night. However! Johnny had given us the scoop that if you ride the little boats near the entrance, you get an actual license at the end. I didn’t really understand what that meant, but I was sold and apparently so was Kevin because he stopped to ride them before retreating to the hotel for the night:
Chooch and I were soooo giddy on these boats. We somehow caught up to Kevin and kept bumping into the back of him, so finally he turned around and yelled, “These aren’t bumper boats!” and that just made us crack up even harder. Chooch and I can be the ultimate pests when we buddy up.
But dude! Johnny wasn’t kidding – there are these machines at the exit where you put in your name, it takes your picture, and shoots out a license. I am obsessed with it. I actually forgot that it was in my wallet and saw it the other night when I was at dinner with some work friends and I tried to get them to look at it but they ignored me. Story of my life. I will strive to be more exciting so that I can captivate an audience.
Played more candy roulette, rode the best pendulum ride of my life (it was also apparently the first one I’ve ridden by Intamin so I guess that’s the difference), rode some flat ride that looked super thrilling and daunting from the ground, but was actually pretty tame, went back to the hotel lobby for ICE CREAM, got a final ride on VALKYRIA, and then joined the group at the entrance of Balder for an hour of insanity!
We stayed for the full hour and the energy was sizzling, man. It was electric! Everyone was chanting BALDER BALDER BALDER, the ride ops were hopping on with us, they were BARELY pushing down the restraints so we’d get max airtime – I was in love with everyone on this night. My face hurt from smiling and my throat hurt from screaming! These rides on Balder were by far the best that we had during our time there. I was mildy underwhelmed when we rode it on the first day, but no – this is a back row night-ride coaster through-and-through.
Chooch never left his seat in the second row – people just kept rotating out with him. I got to ride with him once and he was like, “Be prepared to be annoyed” because the one girl who hated me also was staying in the same seat with her friend and Chooch said they were being so obnoxious but clearly not enough to get him to change seats, lol!
Since the park was officially closed, we got to leave through a restricted, employee’s only area that took us under the track of Valkyria! This is also where Chooch realized that he left his backpack in the cubby in Balder’s station, so he had to run back. I was like, “Give me the room key, I’m not dealing with this” LOL and sent Henry off with him.
Luckily, Chooch said that Eric and Marie were actually still in the park so they didn’t have to actually open a gate up for him or anything, THANK GOD. I would have been so embarrassed if Tim had to get involved! But Chooch said that when they got to Balder, the ride crew was walking out, having just shut everything down for the night, and one of them had his backpack slung over their shoulder.
Anyway, it was well after midnight at this point and we had a 6AM bus call in the morning so that was concerning. Tim was VERY CLEAR that we were going to be on a tight schedule and therefore would be waiting for NO ONE. I guess there had been instances on past trips where people were late getting to the bus and it screwed everything up for everyone, so Tim was trying hard to not let that happen again.
(It didn’t! This isn’t a cliffhanger, lol.)
Anyway, I spliced all of my Liseberg videos into one comprehensive wrap-up and will post it here FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. I should have been doing this with my videos from every park. Sigh.