The Experience
Introduction
Tornado is a 2009 Intamin Spinning coaster at Bakken. To say that this is an odd coaster, would be an understatement and how exactly a ride like this came to be, will remain a mystery, but we're thankful that it did because Tornado is one of the most unique coasters on the planet and offers one of the most divisive ride experiences out there.
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Tornado sits in a sizeable and colorful building in the middle of the park. Tornados and vortex-like things are planted throughout and visually, it's quite striking. However, the facade of Tornado doesn't really tell you much about what type of ride this is. The coaster only appear twice, going at a moderate speed and you would be well in your right calling this, just another family coaster but if that's what you take with you on this ride, you're in for a wild surprise. Arguable the most intense right to not have the "Extreme" tag on RCDB, this ride is only a family coaster by its stats, not by its ride experience.
Lifthill Launch and Karate Chops
The most iconic part of this ride, is its begining where, after turning left out of the station, you begin descending this rather small lifthill, before all of a sudden, speeding up in the middle of it. The lifthill then levels out but the lift continues on the straight section, once again speeding up to what feels like a proper launch at this point. The coaster then throws you straight into a twisted drop while already spinning, a moment that has been described as one of the most intense and violent moments on any rollercoaster. It's an experience some love (us) while some hate. The forces you experience at this specific point is crazy and its a sensation you will be hard-pressed to find anywhere else than on this little coaster in Denmark. It's a huge rush but you will most likely slam your head against the vest restraint (thank god it's just a vest) and depending on how tall you are, Tornado will either karate chop your ear, chin or neck.
The Tornado you don't see
Aside from the crazy initial section, Tornado very much does have more to offer though the part of the ride you don't see, inside the large building, is not nearly as exciting as the parts you do see. Tornado can spin quite a lot and it has some extremely angled half-helixes but the middle trim does zap quite a lot of its power and the intensity drops dramatically. It's not a particularly well paced ride either and is very uneven balanced between one of the most intense moments ever and the somewhat slow and occasionally forceful ride that follows. But there is one way to change all of this...
And then there's Boostmode
Tornado is kind of like that pretentious foreign art-house film your friend keeps telling you about, where "you haven't seen it until you've seen it twice". For Tornado this translates to "you haven't ridden Tornado until you've ridden it in boost mode". "Boost mode" (sometimes also called "speed mode" or "acceleration mode") is a configuration the ride has where it essentially speeds up the lifthill cables and disable the trims. The ride employees will usually accompany this by giving your ride vehicle a big spin as you leave the station. These three things combined transforms the ride from a forceful and violent coaster to something truly devilish. The already crazy and intense beginning of the ride becomes something almost physically overwhelming and the much tamer middle section of the ride now actually packs a punch as well. The before mentioned pacing problems disappear as you not only go much faster through the layout but you will most likely also spin like a top, turning the ride into one chaotic fever dream. In this mode, Tornado turn from the pretentious foreign movie into one of those grim and truly disturbing movies that you swear you'll never watch again. But you will...and you should.
Conclusion
Is Tornado a good ride? Yes. Is it a bad ride? Probably. The ride is already a flawed gem when it's running regularly and in boost-mode, all of its strengths and flaws become amplified. However, after all is said and done, we can't help but to love this thing for daring to do what no other ride has done and probably will never do, in the future, by delivering a truly crazy ride experience and somehow still offering you an option to turn up the intensity even further. Keep doing you, Tornado.
Gallery
Tornado Gallery
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Strengths & Weaknesses
| Crazy Start to the ride | |
| Boost Mode is downright Insane | |
| Often spins a lot | |
| Neck Chopper | |
| Very Inconsistent |
Information
Technical Specs
Specifications
Sit DownSpinningCustomLaunched LiftSemi Enclosed
TypeSteel
Length1122,0 ft
Height39,4 ft
Speed31,7 mph
Inversions0
G-Force3,5 G
Duration90 sec
Notes
We consider Tornado a launch coaster despite not using traditional launch technologies.