Speed Monster is a 2006 Intamin Accelerator Coaster at Tusenfryd in Norway. This was the park's third thrill coaster and their first modern, steel thrill coaster and greatly helped diversify the park's line-up. Our first ride on this was on a cold, icy morning in October to kick off our day at this Norwegian hillside park, which felt appropriate as this is the park's icon.

A Norwegian Icon

While Speed Monster might not be the best rollercoaster in Norway, or even at Tusenfryd, it's certainly the most iconic and picturesque. The ride is located on the side of a hill with the station and launch track being open - and fully exposed - to the surrounding area, offering many great views of the ride's signature moments and even from the nearby restaurant you can enjoy your burger and fries while watching people flying down the launch track on Speed Monster. The ride also proudly greets guests on the escalators that take guests to and from the entrance, as they traverse through the ride's signature inversion, the 'Norwegian loop' (And yes, that is why it's called that). Speed Monster is a very pretty ride, posing its best moments to the park guests, naturally drawing them towards it.

Dynamic & Smooth

The two main strengths of Speed Monster are its dynamic layout, variation of elements and its smooth ride experience. While the ride does use the old Intamin restraints with hard over-the-shoulder restraints, it doesn't really hurt the ride as it rides very smoothly and overall, it's a very comfortable ride. The layout is also quite strong as you get treated to a variation of forces like floaty inversions, some strong positive G's, some whippy directional changes and even a few moments of airtime. None of the forces are particularly powerful, except for some of the positive forces, but there are plenty of different kinds of sensations to keep you engaged as you fly around the Norwegian hillside.

Low-Speed Monster

Ironically enough, the ride's biggest shortcomings are its initial launch and sensation of speed (or lack thereof). The launch is decent but it's definitely one of the weakest launches for its model type and it doesn't really utilize the potential of the very powerful hydraulic launch system. The ride also only goes just about 56 mph which is quite slow for a launched thrill coaster. Luckily, the ride's layout is designed very well and it doesn't feel particularly slow as you ride it, but for a hydraulic launch coaster by Intamin, called Speed Monster no less, we do find it slightly disappointing that the ride doesn't do better in the speed department.

A Poor Man's Helix

When you really think about it, Speed Monster is actually quite comparable to the big Mack Launch coaster at Sweden's Liseberg, Helix. Both rides are terrain-based launch coasters, situated at the side of a hill, both have inversions and offer a dynamic layout with a good variation of forces. However, Helix is much bigger and better in pretty much every aspect than Speed Monster, hence the title of this section. This doesn't mean that Speed Monster isn't a solid ride and a good time, and honestly, being compared to a masterpiece like Helix is a form of compliment in its own right.

Conclusion

We like Speed Monster. It's a fun and dynamic ride, offering a smooth ride experience with plenty of different sensations, though given its model type and name, we do wish they would have created a more intense - and faster - ride, better utilizing the powerful hydraulic launch system it's equipped with as well as the hilly terrain the ride is located on. However, if you're looking for an approachable and smooth launch coaster with a beautiful location, Speed Monster is your ride.

Back