06-10 Skara Sommarland Amusement Park

Downstairs to breakfast. We are on the second floor so it's a short walk to breakfast. They have the usual European setup only on a small scale. Little containers with spoons you scope out your cereal. They had five kinds for cereal plus oatmeal, the normal selection of breads, croissants and such, a spread of meats and cheeses, yogurt, hot items included mushy scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and broccoli. A very good variety for a small hotel.

We walk over to the bus station at 8:15. It's a two block walk. We are able to buy tickets on the bus with our credit card. Bus leaves at 8:35. We arrive at Skara Sommerland at 10:00.

The first of their 3 coasters we visit is closed. Ok, let's do the bumper cars. We walk past the closed coaster again and it’s still closed.

We head to another area of the park where there are two coasters next to each other. One of them is not running and a boom truck is there with a worker fixing something. This is not a good sign.

Now on to the coaster we came here for, a cool albatross-themed, hanging coaster called Tranan. We rode once on each side.

This ride is amazing. It's a very cool coaster to watch. You hang in a swinging car and the bird thing reminds me of Wilbur in The Rescuers Down Under. Well, first you’re flying and then the next thing you know he's flying upside down and you’re on the opposite side of the track - WOW.

Too bad this coaster isn't longer. You sit up high because the sides are so low and you are only held in by a seat belt. So we really have a sense of “I better hang on”.

It's a very fun coaster to watch. People put their hands up but when they get to that whip in the turn, they go grabbing for something to hang in to. The other fun part to watch is when the albatross bird turns over and the coaster cars switch sides.

Next we have some lunch. Good thing we choose to eat early, because there is a really large group of kids coming in here soon. The lady had the tables already saved for them to eat together. Since we came early we have a quiet, leisurely, relaxing lunch watching the coaster. Fun. And the burger was good too - bonus.

We had our coats off for lunch, but it looked like the skies were going to open up and pour at any minute so we headed back to the Tranan and rode four more times with no line since it was now just after noon and everybody was eating. (I love when plans work out). And no rain.

The 3rd of the their 3 coasters, the Spinning Mouse coaster, Spinner, was still not running. So we walked around the go cart track and back by the water ski pull place, through the water park, back to the first coaster and it still is not running.

So we watch Newton, a log flume in a whale ride. Now the coaster is running but no riders yet. Pat rides Rodeo cow/bull themed spinning ride, not Karen.

Coaster, Gruvbanan, is running, but no riders.

So we head over to the train for a ride around the perimeter of the park.

As we pass the Spinner coaster we see it is finally open. This is basically a Wild Mouse coaster track, but the twist is that the coaster car spins round and round as is goes around the track.

So we came for three coasters and we were very close to only getting one. At least the one we got to ride was the main one we came here to ride. But now at the last minute we get two out of three.

We check the third coaster and it’s still not going.

Film the cool coaster a little more, then go to catch the 3:05 bus back to Skovde. We had the choice of 3:05 or 5:05 to get back to the hotel. We left the park at 2:40 and walked 10 minutes out to the bus stop just outside the park property.

This park was small with lots of open area, grassy areas, and nice flowers.

Their water park was smaller than Silverwoods. The wave pool was way in the back with green grass to sit in. When you were at the end away from the sound of the wave machine it was nice, Just the sounds of the waves, because it was away from all the noise of the park and the water park.

They had some nice slides but no lazy river.

We get back to our hotel about 3:45. After some chill time we looked at tomorrow's park, Liseberg, and made a plan. They have a wait-time app, but it's all in Swedish, so will see how helpful that is. They also have an online special; if you buy your tickets online you get three fast passes. Well, we would love to, but their site won't accept our American credit card. Most will, but we've also had trouble getting train tickets on line.

Went to dinner downstairs in the hotel at 6pm. Had tomato soup, roasted potatoes and some stew that wasn't warm enough. Plenty to eat, but Karen wasn't a fan of the soup.

Back to the room to relax and get set for tomorrow. We have a train ride, a check in at the hotel in Gothenburg, and then a full day at Sweden’s largest amusement park, Liseberg.