''Thor's Hammer'' is a motion-based 3D

dark ride A dark ride—or ghost train when horror themed—is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain Animatronics, animation, sound, music and Special effect#Live spe ...

at the

Tusenfryd Tusenfryd (lit. "Thousand Joys", also Bellis perennis, 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, European route E6, E6 and European ...

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

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. 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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, 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 provid ...

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 ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, 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 g ...

, the

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

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

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. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Belgium, Europe. Alterface has a U.S. office and branches in Beijing and Xiamen, China. They create attract ...

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, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...

, a battle where Thor and his half-brother

Loki Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...

are killed. Riders are tasked to retrieve Thor's hammer, which Loki has stolen. Throughout the ride, other mythological beings including

Fenrir Fenrir (Old Norse 'fen-dweller')Orchard (1997:42). or Fenrisúlfr (Old Norse "Fenrir's wolf", often translated "Fenris-wolf"),Simek (2007:81). also referred to as Hróðvitnir (Old Norse "fame-wolf")Simek (2007:160). and Vánagandr (Old Nors ...

, a monstrous wolf;

Surtr In Norse mythology, Surtr (Old Norse "black"Orchard (1997:154). or more narrowly "swart",Simek (2007:303–304) Surtur in modern Icelandic language, Icelandic), also sometimes written Surt in English, is a jötunn; he is the greatest of the fire ...

, a giant; and

Jörmungandr In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr (, see Etymology), also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent (, "worm of Midgard"), is an unfathomably large and monstrous sea serpent or worm who dwells in the world sea, encircling the Earth ( Midga ...

, 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 The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) represents over 6,000 amusement-industry members in more than 100 countries worldwide and operates several global attractions-industry trade shows. Its annual IAAPA Expo in ...

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 In many scientific fields, the degrees of freedom of a system is the number of parameters of the system that may vary independently. For example, a point in the plane has two degrees of freedom for translation: its two coordinates; a non-infinite ...

: 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 r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 de ...

, 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 is a 3D motion simulator and dark ride located at Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. Based on the Marvel Comics superhero Spid ...

''. 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

-presented European Star Award for best dark ride. The ride got second place after Etnaland's '' Haunted School'' won the category.

References

External links