The Gröna Lund amusement park in Stockholm is already teeming with visitors within minutes of opening.
The middle of the amusement park, where the Jetline roller coaster stood before it was closed following the fatal accident in 2023, is now dominated by scaffolding.
Here, a new attraction is emerging, a so-called dark ride, where visitors experience a combination of games and rides, receive missions and become part of the story.
Visitors will be able to go down into Gröna Lund's archives and use a laser gun to target objects from our amusement park's history, in vehicles powered by radar positioning without rails, says Jakob Fagerström, creative director at Parks and Resorts, Gröna Lund's parent company.
Attract a wider audience
The goal of the more than SEK 200 million investment, planned to open in 2027, is not to replace Jetline.
The idea is instead to create an experience that attracts both children and adults, with the possibility of staying open year-round, says Jan Eriksson.
On the compact site of the amusement park, every square meter is important and should generate maximum benefit, or rather pleasure.
Aiming for pre-pandemic numbers
The new attraction is part of the amusement park's attempt to return to the record years before the pandemic.
In recent years, Gröna Lund's finances have been on something of a roller coaster: a loss in 2020, some recovery, a loss in 2023 and then a profit again. Last year, Gröna Lund ended in the black with around 1.2 million visitors.
"We aim to grow a little this year, then we will be back where we were before the pandemic. Now we are where we were in the gap between the pandemic and 2023," says Jan Eriksson.
Facts: Roller coaster of profit and loss
In 2020, Gröna Lund, which accounts for half of Parks and Resorts' turnover, made a loss of SEK 137 million.
In 2022, Parks and Resorts made a profit of SEK 44 million. Gröna Lund made a loss of SEK 8.4 million.
In 2023, the Jetline roller coaster derailed. A woman in her 30s died and nine people were injured.
That year, Gröna Lund made a loss of SEK 177 million and turnover plummeted by 30 percent. The number of guests fell to 877,000 compared to 1.3 million visitors the year before.
The following year, 2024, the trend reversed. Gröna Lund had a turnover of SEK 723 million and a profit of SEK 10 million.
Last year, turnover was approximately at the same level, SEK 719.5 million, with a profit of SEK 51.3 million.
Parks and Resorts plans an 8,000-square-meter extension to the amusement park's current parking area. The area will accommodate a new amusement park section with architecture inspired by the Stockholm World Exhibition of 1897.
Sources: TT, Gröna Lund and Parks and Resorts.
