Taiga is the premier roller coaster at Linnanmaki in Helsinki, Finland.
This Intamin LSM launch coaster worked wonders for Linnanmaki. For years, this popular theme park had
a middling coaster lineup, but Taiga finally gave Linnanmaki the signature coaster they deserved.
But how does it compare to the other world-class coasters out there? In this review,
I will discuss Taiga and explain why this coaster should be on every enthusiast’s radar.
Linnanmaki is a super compact park in the heart of Helsinki. The park is located on a hillside
and occupies just 19 acres. This presents a lot of challenges for the park when
they add new attractions. Since the park is fully developed, they often
need to remove an attraction to add a new one. And in the case of Taiga, Vonkaputous was removed
after the 2017 season. Vonkaputous was the second and final Premier Rides liquid coaster ever built.
The coaster had many of the same issues as the prototype liquid coaster,
which was none other than Silver Dollar City’s ill-fated Buzzsaw Falls.
Vonkaputous had awful capacity to begin with, but the ride often could only run one car due
to sensor issues. The ride also had high operating costs and countless technical
issues. In the ride’s final year, Vonkaputous was only open for 1/3 of Linnanmaki’s season.
The park needed an upgrade. And they most certainly got one in Taiga.
The coaster was built on the site of the former water coaster and it’s a really neat location.
Taiga is located atop a steep hill. Not only does this offer breathtaking views of the
downtown metropolis, but it also creates a really unique layout that constantly changes elevation.
You get these sudden speed boosts at random points in the layout as you plunge down the hillside.
And since Intamin had so little land to work with, Taiga has a ton of near-misses. It’s impressive
how Intamin was able to cram Finland’s tallest and fastest coaster with 3622 feet or 1104 meters
of track in such a small footprint. They did this by having Taiga cross over itself countless times
and also have the coaster travel over both the midway and other attractions.
This makes an already intense layout even better because the near-misses accentuate the speed
and offer visuals you rarely get on a coaster of this caliber.
Taiga has many similarities to Liseberg’s Helix in terms of its layout, placement, and interactions.
Taiga’s entrance is located across from Linnanmaki’s ticket booths. Linnanmaki sees over
1 million visitors per year and considering Taiga is the park’s star attraction, its no surprise
this coaster generates the longest lines in the park. I visited on a summer weekday and Taiga
had 45-60 minute waits most of the day. This was with 2 train operation and reasonable dispatches.
The crew usually had the next train ready to go shortly after the prior train hit the brakes.
The biggest delay was if there was a guest who struggled to fit,
which seemed to happened every few trains. And most positively, there were no delays due to
downtime. I spent parts of two days at Linnanmki and I never saw Taiga go down once for weather
or mechanical issues. The Intamin hydraulic launch coasters and some of their early LSM
launch coasters are notorious for their downtime, but their most recent LSM coasters seem to be
quite reliable. Just look at Velocicoaster at Islands of Adventure for more evidence.
Taiga’s queue line is pretty neat. It’s themed to a nesting eagle
and there are several subtle thematic touches in both the queue line and station.
And that’s also paired with a solid IMAScore soundtrack as well. However, if you want to
board Taiga immediately, you have the option to purchase a skip-the-line pass for Taiga.
This is the only ride at Linnanmaki that offers this and it costs 9 Euros per ride. You go up a
special entrance and board the next train. And you also get your choice of seats too.
In terms of seat selection, I was torn between the front and back, so I split my rides evenly.
I thought the inversions were a little better up front and you had the superior sense of
speed there. The back offered stronger airtime. So I recommend trying both!
Taiga’s trains are another strength of the ride. They are the same trains Intamin has been
using on their most recent launch coasters. And I love these trains. The elevated seats
give the seats a floorless feel and the higher center of gravity makes the turns more intense.
And then the lap bars are among the most comfortable of any coaster.
There are no seatbelts and the lap bars contour perfectly to the thighs of riders.
They will rest snugly on your thighs, but your entire upper body is free
so you have no trouble experiencing the coaster’s airtime and laterals in full.
The trains also look cool with the orange bird lead car and lights. The trains really pop
against the sleek sky blue track. I love the overall aesthetic of this coaster.
Once dispatched, Taiga slowly rolls out of the station and suddenly engages the first launch.
While the second launch is what gives Taiga it top speed, I actually prefer the first launch.
The initial launch track is unbelievably short so this initial launch packs a wallop. You really
get yanked forwards. And it also helps there is no countdown or warning when the launch will engage.
It feels a bit more powerful than the initial launch on Velocicoaster for comparison.
You then traverse the first of four inversions, a zero-G winder. And it’s my favorite element on
the coaster. This element is taken super slowly and the funky profiling yields several seconds
of hangtime. As opposed to most zero-G rolls that are elongated at the apex,
Taiga’s zero-G winder has a super sharp crest. You are flipped to the side at the
apex and the flip itself occurs on the descent. The entrance into this element gives a bizarre
upside-down pop of airtime up front and then you get some glorious hangtime. Seats towards the back
get just the hangtime. This element offers some of the most sustained hangtime of any coaster
and it’s made even better by the fact you’re staring down the hillside while inverted.
You then navigate this banked turn that dives even further down the hillside. The snap into this
turn produces some weak floater airtime, but even better is the pullout from this element. It offers
some powerful positive Gs and I greyed out on each ride. It’s shocking how forceful this turn is.
You then climb up the hill, traversing this elongated S-hill. This element pairs decent
laterals and a tiny pinch of floater airtime. You then navigate this S-bend and 180 degree turn
towards the launch track. And these are easily the worst elements on the ride. Not only are they
rather slow and forceless, but they also have a rattle. As a whole Taiga is extremely smooth,
but these turns and another section of s-bends I’ll touch on in a bit shake the train.
It didn’t cause any pain thanks to the super comfortable restraints, but the tracking stood
out against an otherwise glossy smooth coaster. The second launch is where Taiga hits its top
speed of 66 mph or 106 kph. I didn’t think this launch had the same power as the second launches
on Taron or Velocicoaster, but it’s decent and you definitely feel the speed build up.
You’re then ascend the ride’s top hat, where you’re brought to the ride’s highest point of
171 feet or 52 meters. The view of Helsinki is incredible because of the top hat’s positioning.
It’s just a shame you don’t have more time to take in the view! The entrance and exit from this
top hat pulls some solid positive Gs. And then you also get some great airtime over the top.
The airtime wasn’t as strong as I expected up front, it was decent sustained floater airtime.
But the back delivered. There, I got solid sustained ejector airtime
paired with wild laterals on the descent. The drop is only 105 feet or 32 meters tall
since you pullout atop the Pikajuna powered coaster and then navigate this giant zero-G
stall over Tulireki. This is another wow moment between the incredible visuals and forces.
This stall felt similar to the one on Six Flags Great America’s Goliath. You had a few seconds
of wonderful hangtime and a snappy twist out of the element that produced some good laterals.
Unlike the top hat, the stall drops you all the way down the hillside. The pullout blasts you with
positive Gs and then you navigate a speed hill. You take this hill at a blistering pace and it
provides a great pop of ejector airtime. You then fly through an Immelmann.
3 of the 4 inversions on Taiga are world-class. This one is just ok. You get some decent Gs
into the element, but the flip itself and subsequent drop only offer some faint laterals.
The subsequent turn offers another dose of positive Gs
and then you careen over this speedy S-hill. This is one of the craziest elements on the ride,
as it offers a very strong pop of ejector airtime with top-notch laterals.
Intamin is the master of snappy transitions and this element showcases that perfectly.
You then navigate this super tight turn above the station that again pulls some strong positive Gs.
Taiga then has this elevated s-bend that rides similarly to the one in the first half.
It’s not particularly forceful, has a shuffle to it, and offers a quick break from the action.
But you rapidly twist down and to the left off this s-bend,
diving back down the hillside. This drop is very sudden and the whip on this element is incredible.
Especially in the back. You get some insane laterals with a pop of ejector airtime there.
Taiga then climbs back up the hillside for the last time. You navigate this bunny hill that
banks to the left on the descent. Those up front get decent floater airtime while those in the back
get a decent ejector pop. You then twist to the left and navigate the final inversion,
this awesome barrel roll. The train is ferociously whipped through the element, which
treats riders to some forceful hangtime. Taiga then navigates one last moderately forceful turn
and then hops into the brake run, giving riders one last weak pop of airtime.
Taiga’s biggest strength is its pacing. Intamin LSM launch coasters usually excel in this area,
but Taiga goes above and beyond. This coaster has barely any dead spots
outside of those two sections of s-bends. So what would I rate Taiga? I would give this
coaster a 9.5 out of 10. This is the best coaster in all of Finland. The ride’s mix of airtime,
hangtime, laterals, and positive Gs is something few coasters can match. Taiga offers a little
bit of everything and it excels in pretty much every area. Pair that with near-perfect pacing,
engaging transitions, and beautiful visuals and you have a truly world-class coaster.
Compared to the other Intamin launch coasters I’ve ridden, Velocicoaster is king.
But I’d take Taiga over the others, including rides like Maverick, Formula Rossa, iSpeed,
and Taron. That is how good Taiga is. Taiga alone is worth a trip to Linnanmaki.
So those are my thoughts on Taiga, the Intamin LSM coaster at Linnanmaki. What are your thoughts
on this mutli-launch coaster? How do you think it compares to Intamin’s other launch coasters?
I would love to hear your thoughts about this coaster down in the comments.
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