Thunderbird at PowerLand in Kauhava, Finland holds the distinction as the northernmost
wooden roller coaster in the world.
Thunderbird is PowerLand’s only wooden roller coaster and further, it’s one of only two
wood coasters in all of Finland.
This Great Coasters International creation is the layout that was cloned for Six Flags
St. Louis’s American Thunder, but is the original better?
Find out in this review of Thunderbird.
I previously made a review for American Thunder.
In that review, I noted that my 2018 rides were significantly better than my 2020 rides.
My 2018 rides had good airtime start to finish.
My 2020 rides felt slow and the airtime was far less pronounced.
So I was curious how Thunderbird would run given that it has the same layout.
Thunderbird opened in 2006 as GCI’s first wooden roller coaster in Europe.
The coaster is towards the back edge of the park and it features an 82 foot or 25 meter
tall lift, a top speed of 48 mph or 77 kph, and a total track length of 2713 feet or 827
meters.
Therse are pretty pedestrian stats for a wooden roller coaster, but this was a significant
addition for both PowerLand and Finland.
PowerLand opened in 2002.
Their first two coasters were cheap, off-the-shelf models.
But they made a splash with their third coaster in Thunderbird.
This custom layout signaled that PowerLand was about to become a mainstay in Finland’s
relative small amusement industry.
Thunderbird looks great.
The brown wooden structure looks aesthetically pleasing with the sea of hills.
And it has a commanding presence adjacent to the midway.
The trains feature vibrant tie-die paint schemes.
I thought the color choice was a tad overboard, but they definitely standout against the track.
Along with the coaster itself, you have a wonderful entrance sign with this bird atop
a waterfall.
And then the station is themed to an American train station.
But there isn’t much else to see along the course.
Thunderbird is quite possibly the highest capacity coaster at PowerLand, featuring 2
Millennium Flyer trains that each seat 24 riders.
These are the older generation Millennium Flyers with the super cushiony seats and standard
T-bar restraint.
As with the other GCIs, I recommend holding your restraint up after the employees check
it.
Otherwise it will continuously ratchet downwards throughout the coaster.
Thunderbird begins with a u-turn out of the station and then you ascend the lift.
Once at the top, you plunge to the left down the 80 foot or 24 meter tall first drop.
This drop doesn’t offer any airtime, but it does offer some nice laterals towards the
back of the train.
The pullout from this drop is rather bumpy.
And it made me nervous if the entire coaster would be rough, but thankfully this was the
only shaky spot.
The rest of the coaster was very smooth.
The first turnaround is one of the highlights on the ride.
Those towards the front get a good pop of airtime entering the element while those in
the back get some good floater airtime coming down.
Then comes the highlight of the ride, the speed hill that dives under the ride’s structure.
Not only does this moment deliver an awesome headchopper, but you get some sustained floater
airtime, which is relatively rare on a GCI.
This speed hill is immediately followed by this low, high speed turn that delivers a
quick jolt of laterals and then you rise into the second turnaround.
This one offers ok laterals throughout the train and a decent pop of airtime on the descent
for those in the back.
Thunderbird then traverses this L-turn that hugs the lift hill and those up front get
a tiny pop of airtime entering the element.
Then everyone gets some weak floater airtime on the small bunny hill that follows, but
that will be the last airtime moment of the ride.
At this point, Thunderbird dies.
You rumble around this dull third turnaround and then traverse four small bunny hills.
These bunny hills look ripe with airtime, but you’re not traveling fast enough to
come out of your seat at all.
At least American Thunder in 2020 offered small pops of airtime on these hills.
That’s followed by a slow final turnaround and then you hop into the brake run, ending
the ride on a whimper.
Thunderbird starts strong, but it feels like it loses a ton of speed after the second turnaround
and the airtime disappears as a result.
It felt even weaker than American Thunder in 2020, which is widely regarded as the worst
year for that coaster.
And the day I rode Thunderbird had temperatures in the low 70s, which is pretty good for northern
Finland.
So what would I rate Thunderbird?
I would give this coaster a 6 out of 10.
It’s the best wood coaster in Finland and it’s a fairly enjoyable coaster between
the solid start and smoothness.
The second half is a disappointment.
If I caught this ride on a bad day, I’d love to hear down in the comments.
As a result, I think this is a low tier GCI but it does compliment PowerLand’s steel
coasters well.
So those are my thoughts on Thunderbird, Europe’s first GCI.
What are your thoughts on this coaster or American Thunder?
I would love to hear your thoughts down in the comments.
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