Liseberg swings into summer with all-new ride model
Swedish theme park Liseberg today christened its new, first-of-its-kind thrill ride for 2026.
Liseberg's Stormvåg, or Storm Wave in English, is the first installation of an Art Engineering Wild Swing XL. Think of it as a family top spin ride that does not go fully upside down.
With theming inspired by the Swedish coast, Stormvåg entered service today after Port of Gothenburg Port Officer Kristina Karlsson broke a sugar "glass" bottle on the ride's entryway to christen the attraction.
Photos courtesy Liseberg
Stormvåg stands over 47 feet tall and carries 24 passengers on multiple swings during the ride. Passengers must be at least four years old and 95 cm (just over 37 inches) tall.
Stormvåg
"We are so happy that Stormvåg has finally arrived at Liseberg," Project Lead Emelie Spelmans said. "We started back in September, and hearing the joyful screams from guests today is incredibly rewarding. In many ways, it feels like Stormvåg has always belonged here and is a perfect complement to the rest of the park."
Other attraction openings
In other attraction opening news for this month, Blackpool's Pleasure Beach will open its new swing ride, Aviktas, one week from today, on May 21. That one will be Britain's largest Intamin Gyro Swing.
In the United States, Kentucky Kingdom is debuting Flying Fox, its new Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster, in two weeks, on May 28.
Finally, Walt Disney World will open several new and reimagined attractions on May 26, including Soarin' Across America at EPCOT, Bluey's Wild World at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets and Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live! at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
For my weekly update of theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekend newsletter.
Replies (3)
@AngryDuck - The word is that Expedition Nightflight is still a long way off from its debut. Observers have noted that the building has not been fully closed in, presumably to allow for heavy equipment to enter the building, and large set pieces have been spotted in the staging area. While it sounds like the track has been completed, there's still a lot of work to do to complete the attraction and then all the time it will take to test, which will probably be longer than normal given this is just the second installation of this ride system in the world. People that have been closely following the progress of this attraction are predicting that the ride won't be open until July at the earliest.
I'm more interested in F&FHD at USH since we have a trip planned in a month, and things have gone eerily quiet on that project. It was looking like they would be able to at least to a soft open by Memorial Day, but there's been no indication from Universal that they're even ready to let team members ride the coaster.
For other announced projects in the US, Verbolten: Forbidden Turn sounds like it's pretty close with an anticipated announcement from the park very soon. BGW has been heavily promoting the reimagined coaster in the market, and is giving Members free Quick Queue passes for the ride as part of their rewards program, so I expect that to debut before the end of the month. SFGAdv is having a big media event today for "Project Purple/Phantom Spire" and are also inviting media to tour the new Boardwalk area that is still under construction. Based on recent photos of the area, they look to be at least a month or more away from being able to open that area - I'd guess they're aiming for July 4 for that project. Tormenta at SFoT looked like it was heading towards a May opening when trains arrived on site back in March. However, they just demobilized the crane at the project site and have not started testing the coaster yet, so you'd have to think the record breaking dive machine is not opening until mid-June at the earliest.
@Russel thanks for the headsup! That's the attraction I'm most anticipating this year, and will be a great addition to the park. Dollywood is such a great park but needs more family rides, and it seems like management understands that too.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
Any word on Dollywood's Expedition Nightflight?