''Thor's Hammer'' is a motion-based 3D dark ride at the

Tusenfryd Tusenfryd (lit. "Thousand Joys", also Common Daisy) is an amusement park at Vinterbro, Norway. The park is located 20 kilometers south of Oslo. Two of the longest motorway corridors in Norway, E6 and E18, meet nearby ''Tusenfryd'' and the park ...

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Themed after

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

, the ride combines motion-based ride vehicles by

ETF Ride Systems ETF Ride Systems is a Dutch manufacturer of amusement ride systems. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by the ETF Group. The company has manufactured both tracked and trackless systems for both dark and outdoor rides. History ETF Ride Systems ...

with 3D projections and physical scenery by

P&P Projects P&P Projects is an international company that first started as a one-man business in Asten, Netherlands making space models and that now specializes in projects for the leisure industry. The company has been constructing and decorating projects for ...

. The ride opened in June 2013 as a replacement for the Vikingtoktet motion simulator attraction which closed five years prior. Aside from a 3D cinema, ''Thor's Hammer'' is the only dark ride at Tusenfryd. It was nominated for a European Star Award in 2013.

History

In late 2008, Tusenfryd closed its Vikingtoktet

motion simulator A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that creates the feelings of being in a real motion environment. In a simulator, the movement is synchronised with a visual display of the outside world (OTW) scene. Motion platforms can provi ...

attraction which was located inside a cave. With a indoor area now vacant, park officials spent two years planning what a replacement attraction might be. In October 2012, Project Mjølner was announced by the park. Mjølner is the hammer of

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

, the

Norse god In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature, ...

of thunder.

was contracted to design and build the ride, with a motion-based ride system being developed by

. After eight months of design and construction, ''Thor's Hammer'' officially opened to the public on June 22, 2013. Aside from the park's

Alterface Alterface Projects is a manufacturer of interactive and media-based attractions, offering interactive technologies and turnkey solutions. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Belgium, Europe, Alterface operates globally, having a US office and ...

3D Cinema, Nightmare, ''Thor's Hammer'' is Tusenfryd's only dark ride.

Experience

Riders enter a cave to join the queue for ''Thor's Hammer''. Once riders have boarded a vehicle it departs the station. It navigates along a track through eleven scenes consisting of physical scenery and ten 3D screens. Pieces of physical scenery are distributed between the 3D screens to minimise the effects of transitting between the screens. The ride's story is a prequel to the Norwegian mythological story

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (; non, Ragnarǫk) is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disasters, and the submers ...

, a battle where Thor and his half-brother

Loki Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mentioned as a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Na ...

are killed. Riders are tasked to retrieve Thor's hammer, which Loki has stolen. Throughout the ride, other mythological beings including Fenrir, a monstrous wolf; Surtr, a giant; and Jörmungandr, a sea serpent make appearances. One cycle of the ride lasts approximately four minutes.

Ride system

The ride system used on ''Thor's Hammer'' is a first-of-its-kind system developed by

. At the 2012 IAAPA Trade Show in Orlando, Florida, ETF showcased a prototype trackless motion-based ride system, confirming a track-based version would be installed at Tusenfryd. The eleven six-seater vehicles on ''Thor's Hammer'' each feature two

degrees of freedom Degrees of freedom (often abbreviated df or DOF) refers to the number of independent variables or parameters of a thermodynamic system. In various scientific fields, the word "freedom" is used to describe the limits to which physical movement or ...

: pitching and rolling. The vehicles can travel at a top speed of , spin at a rate of 10

revolutions per minute Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

, and tilt plus or minus 8°. P&P Projects' Philipp van Stratum compares the ride system to that of ''

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (also known as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man: The Ride in Universal Studios Japan) is a motion-based 3D dark ride at the Islands of Adventure, Orlando and Universal Studios Japan, Osaka theme parks, ...

''. At the time of the ride's installation in 1999, the cost of such a system would be prohibitive for most parks. He states, "the falling price of technology has made these kinds of attractions much more affordable and we can confirm that the budget for Tusenfryd is a fraction of what was paid for Spider-Man all those years ago; however we have still aim to put the bar very high." Ruud Koppens of ETF Ride Systems has echoed this sentiment.

Reception

In 2013, ''Thor's Hammer'' was nominated for an IAAPA-presented European Star Award for best dark ride. The ride got second place after Etnaland's '' Haunted School'' won the category.

References

External links