Liseberg | Luna | Vekoma Family Boomerang | 2023

[cookie]

I sincerely hope I am wrong. The render looks like something out of Planet Coaster. But on the other hand I can't ignore that Lisebergsbanan is not there. Afterall, that is the ride which will have most interaction with Luna, not Flume Ride.

Looking at this layout from earlier:

The main point of interaction is the station building. Otherwise they don't cross one another. It's seen running along Helix's second boost launch at one point, which one figure would've been represented in the POV also, but it isn't. Is Helix getting torn out? I doubt it.

And the animation is so jank it isn't even accurate location-wise. FlumeRide is seen wrapping around Luna's station building, which makes no sense if one looks at the layout schematic.

I think this is just a case of Occam's Razor: It's not there because they didn't bother to render it. Earlier concept arts show Lisebergbanan running above Luna's station, so Luna has never been intended to replace it.

I also can't ignore that Lisebergsbanan and Luna have the same thrill level and kind of overlap.

I didn't know Liseberg operated on Highlander rules. I guess two of the park's three extreme coasters are also getting taken out soon.

Lisebergsbanan is still a popular coaster but it never has the hour long queues it used to have before Helix opened. Luna will further pull from it's appeal as it targets the same crowd.

Helix is drawing people away because the park's attendance hasn't increased to make up for it. And it's still one of the most attended rides every time I go to the park. Why take it out if your replacement is just going to have horrendous capacity? Luna is going to get awful lines simply by the nature of it being a shuttle coaster.

 

[Christian]

I agree that I'm paranoid. I'm just a tad worried to loose one of my favourite coasters, litteraly 500m from where I live. Lisebergsbanan has tremendous sentimental value to me, it was my first major coaster.

 

[Christian]

Work has restarted on Luna. Equipment, multiple diggers and materials are back. (A Helix train is in the inverted top hat in the picture)


The Balder crane has been removed. All floodlights seem to be back. It looks ready to go. I think it will probably open for Halloween.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

First track piece has arrived onsite for the station/lift hill;


Source

Meanwhile here's a look at station progress beneath the Lisebergbanan;

 

[TheTalbotHound]

A second piece of track has arrived on site. I'm guessing it's the part of the lift hill that goes over the path.

 

[cookie]

Not sure how I feel about that pale blue. None of Liseberg’s major coasters really pop in color, so I was hoping for a thicker shade with this one. Should blend in nicely with the sky on a clear day, I guess.

 

[TheTalbotHound]

Not sure how I feel about that pale blue. None of Liseberg’s major coasters really pop in color, so I was hoping for a thicker shade with this one. Should blend in nicely with the sky on a clear day, I guess.

I'm not sure how many other choices there would be to make the ride colour fit into the Luna Park area during the daytime. The main arms on Tempus are a similar colour.

 

[Christian]

I like the colour scheme. It fits in perfectly with the classy old time feel of the Luna Park area. Liseberg isn't a park with flashy colours and I love it that way.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

Looks slow....
*ducks for cover*

Like the colour scheme but hate family boomerangs. Still nice to see one of my fave parks getting new stuff.

 

[TheTalbotHound]

Source

Track has started going up.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Balder will be reopening on Friday as Liseberg kicks off its Halloween season. If @Christian is correct then they should have the all clear to close Lisebergbanan.

 

[Christian]

Balder will be reopening on Friday as Liseberg kicks off its Halloween season. If @Christian is correct then they should have the all clear to close Lisebergbanan.

Indeed it will reopen and I will be there. The final cost for the retracking was 40 million SEK (€ 3,700,000). Seems pretty cheap if you ask me, if these are the prices I think even Six Flags would pay it for El Toro.

Regarding Lisebergsbanan, closing is not announced yet and not all the track for Luna has arrived. I'm predicting that it wont close this Friday. Instead they will keep it open all november as long as the park only operates on weekends. When serious construction starts on Luna then it might close. It is a massive safety hazard for the workers, illegal by Swedish employment law.

Or maybe I am wrong? Luna is not such a big ride and maybe they will be able to finish it in the weekdays (when park is closed) of November and October and the 4 closed months from January to April. After all, Lisebergsbanan is one of two major coaster operating for Christmas, closing it will not not be popular unless they open something else, like Balder.

I am leaning more towards the latter idea. The luna station is essentially a glorified shed with an outdoor queue and the track is only 242m. The concrete work is mostly done. Erecting that track shouldn't take more than 4 months. When the park was open daily then all work stopped but as soon as the park only operates on weekends work has resumed. Luna can probably be built without closing Lisebergsbanan. Although, no work can take place while Lisebergsbanan operates!

 

[CSLKennyNI]

Yeah this should not take much time to install at all. Raik took about a couple weeks if I remember correctly.

 

[Christian]

Just got off one of the first Balder rides. So far opinions are mixed. It is slower than before and the average ejector it used to have has been converted into excellent floater. It's almost like a B&M hyper but better. Right now Valkyria and Lisebergsbanan are lots more forcefull, not to mention Helix which is a beast in comparison. I hope it matures with time. While I don't think it will get much better today I hope it will run like before by next summer. Operations are also stupidly slow. It takes them 5-10 minutes to dispatch a train with 10 ride operators. Expedition GeForce (similar restraints) could dispatch in 1-2 minutes with 2 operators.

Edit: After 1 hour and 5 rides later it has massively warmed up. While not exactly as good as before, it's certainly getting there. Ejector is back! On a warm summer day it will be absolutely hauling. Operations have also dramatically improved after 1 hour of practise.

Edit 2: After 2 hours and 10 rides on Balder, it is running just like before. I hope it will be even more intense on a warmer day.

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

^ What an emotional roller coaster.
Glad to hear that though! Was a bit sad about how Colossos rode after the re-track (haven't ridden it since spring 2019).

 

[Peet]

Edit: After 1 hour and 5 rides later it has massively warmed up. While not exactly as good as before, it's certainly getting there. Ejector is back! On a warm summer day it will be absolutely hauling. Operations have also dramatically improved after 1 hour of practise.

Edit 2: After 2 hours and 10 rides on Balder, it is running just like before. I hope it will be even more intense on a warmer day.

How was it after 3 hours and 15 rides?

 

[Christian]

How was it after 3 hours and 15 rides?

Didn't get that far sadly. Balder started to get crowded and I had done my rides for the day. Instead choose to enjoy the other coasters which all had significantly shorter lines. The shorter coaster lines are mostly due to the mazes but Balder also churns through riders like crazy.

Speaking about other coasters. Luna is progressing quite quickly. The viewing/sitting area at the top of the hill is now closed and serves as builder areas.


Only the Luna track within the station has arrived and been installed. There is no more track on the site or storage parking lot. This is probably due to them needing to start work on the station and being unable to install track when the roof is built.


In the above image you also see how incredibly close Lisebergsbanan is. Both going above and by the side. From a good friend of mine working with this, I have been told that there are no plans to close Lisebergsbanan and construction will be able to take place when the park is closed. My rumour was wrong! This friend also explained that the 10 ride ops on Blader was because of staff training, should normally only be 5 for that ride.

Most Luna footers except for the ones exactly within Luna Park itself are mostly done and ready for track instalation.


It also looks like the main drop will be exactly over the path at the back of the park. There are footers on either side.

 

[Hutch]

Just got off one of the first Balder rides. So far opinions are mixed. It is slower than before and the average ejector it used to have has been converted into excellent floater. It's almost like a B&M hyper but better. Right now Valkyria and Lisebergsbanan are lots more forcefull, not to mention Helix which is a beast in comparison. I hope it matures with time. While I don't think it will get much better today I hope it will run like before by next summer. Operations are also stupidly slow. It takes them 5-10 minutes to dispatch a train with 10 ride operators. Expedition GeForce (similar restraints) could dispatch in 1-2 minutes with 2 operators.

Edit: After 1 hour and 5 rides later it has massively warmed up. While not exactly as good as before, it's certainly getting there. Ejector is back! On a warm summer day it will be absolutely hauling. Operations have also dramatically improved after 1 hour of practise.

Edit 2: After 2 hours and 10 rides on Balder, it is running just like before. I hope it will be even more intense on a warmer day.

How is the smoothness of Balder now? And how does it compare to how it ran before? I was super impressed with how smooth Colossos is (I'm assuming they had the same extensive retrack operation). And if it's "just a few mill," Six Flags better take notice and fix El Toro.

 

[Christian]

How is the smoothness of Balder now? And how does it compare to how it ran before? I was super impressed with how smooth Colossos is (I'm assuming they had the same extensive retrack operation). And if it's "just a few mill," Six Flags better take notice and fix El Toro.

Balder is as smooth as butter. It has never been a rough ride, but, of course it did age a bit over the years. Now it feels like a brand new woodie.

 

[TheTalbotHound]

Station construction is progressing relatively fast. You can already sort of see the shape shown in the renders. Didn't see any more track pieces here or in the car park though.