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Liseberg: General Discussion

One of the main problems with fully extinguishing the fire is likely to be because the large main hall structure is still standing, but at great risk of collapse, so the fire officers probably cannot actually get in there to fully extinguish the fires and are having to dampen it all from the outside. It may well have been easier for them if it did just all collapse.

I say that with no firefighting knowledge mind!
 
One of the main problems with fully extinguishing the fire is likely to be because the large main hall structure is still standing, but at great risk of collapse, so the fire officers probably cannot actually get in there to fully extinguish the fires and are having to dampen it all from the outside. It may well have been easier for them if it did just all collapse.

I say that with no firefighting knowledge mind!
Think usually in this situation the fire crews would demolish the structure themselves but as there's a missing person they can't do that.
 
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I'm going to Liseberg at the start of June for the first time. I'm going to have two potentially three full days at the park. I'm looking for any tips or must dos whilst I'm there from people who've been :))
 
I'm going to Liseberg at the start of June for the first time. I'm going to have two potentially three full days at the park. I'm looking for any tips or must dos whilst I'm there from people who've been :))
Simply put - everything. Do everything. The park and virtually all its rides and attractions are just great fun with so much re-rideability across the board.

Two days is plenty of time to cover the park fully; three days may be borderline excessive. The one thing to definitely point out to experience however, as it can sometimes easily be overlooked by the unsuspecting, is the Gasten Ghost Hotel.

Enjoy.
 
Such sad and devastating news. I imagined this would be the case but hoped otherwise.

Absolutely devastating for his family, friends and colleagues.
 
The park have confirmed in a new press release that their ambition is to rebuild the water park.


Would be nice if they added a memorial plaque for the deceased construction worker (RIP).
 
It’s tragic that this fire led to the loss of a life, truly awful for the person’s family, friends and everyone at Liseberg.

I’m not too surprised that they’ve decided they want to rebuild Oceana. It was such a big part of their long term strategy along with the Grand Curiosa Hotel. Normally when you come to rebuild something lost by fire you might make changes to update thing etc. (like at EP), but with this not even being finished they may just build it again as it was.
 


Andreas Andersen has dropped a message to all on Liseberg's YT channel. Please click the Subtitle box on the video for the English translation.
 
The park reopened last weekend for the summer season and it seems the flume ride is still operating, despite previously being announced that it would close at the end of the 2023 season. Unsure if it will operate all season though.

I also read that the helix trains were given a full refurbishment over winter which has included brand new wheel bogies on all trains. The result apparently is much smoother ride without the Mack rattle it had developed over the last 10 years, with one review I read saying it felt like a brand new coaster.

Looking forward to my first visit at the end of May.
 
On 20th April, EFN Ekonomikanalen uploaded Christer El-Mochantaf's interview and Oceana walk around with Andreas Andersen. I've included the translated transcript below, with a few minor edits, if anyone would prefer to read it.



Transcript
Andreas: I will always remember that. I still feel it. I have to be honest and say that. Especially since we lost a colleague. It was a very dark day for everyone who works at Liseberg. I was on my way to work. I had left my dog at the dog daycare in Torslanda. When I was in the car, I could see the smoke coming from Hisingen. It became very clear that this was serious. The entire crisis management was gathered in my office. We watched the fire at Oceana. It was very... It was... It was tough. It is a project that we have been working on for ten years. Of course I want to finish it. I want to finish it. I firmly believe in the project and really hope that we will succeed.

Christer: What will be the biggest challenge?

Andreas: It is a funding issue that we have to deal with. I think we will work it out. We have good insurance. But it is also not an easy project to complete. We have to rethink a number of areas. Above all, we must also be patient. But I think we will make it.

Christer: Do you feel supported by management?

Andreas: Absolutely. A glimmer of light in all the darkness has been that we have had an incredibly good collaboration with everyone who helped both in the days after the fire with NCC but also with our owners. We have had a lot of support.

You can see that this entire part of the building [Oceana's right side] is undamaged*. This is where many of the technical parts of the facility are located. Although there is damage to the swimming facility itself so large parts of Oceana are actually underground. It is a very large basement. There is very little damage to the pool area. There are three things that must be replaced. The roof structure. The roof construction with the glulam arches. The black roof [the black tower] also needs to be replaced. Then there are all the slides, both outdoors and indoors. Those are the three primary things.

Much of the facility actually remains. The damage is less than we thought. Although there are large values after all, it is positive that it is possible to complete the project if that's what we want.

Christer: You are aware that it will potentially be so. Haven't you made a decision there yet?

Andreas: We haven't made a decision yet. But we are investigating the conditions to complete it. We work with NCC, the architect and other consultants to create a basis so that we can make decisions about reconstruction.

Christer: Can you see how big the loss is financially for a fire like this?

Andreas: The damage currently amounts to approximately SEK 480 million. But that's an early estimate. It may be a little less or a little more.

Christer: What are the factors that influence whether you should build it or not?

Andreas: Of course, the economy, but also the project-related conditions. It is about what we need to change and that we need to rethink certain parts. But it feels like there are good conditions for completion You can also say that the journey to a finished project is a little shorter than we might have thought in the days after the fire.

Christer: Have you gotten any clarity on how the fire started?

Andreas: We actually don't have that. A number of investigations are ongoing in parallel. But we don't actually know the cause of the fire itself. There are some theories. It is likely that it is a work step that has gone wrong. But nothing is confirmed yet.

Christer: You had also expected that this would mean visitors all year round. How do you make up for it? How do you work to maintain it?

Andreas: That is a good question. The idea was that we would open Oceana in June. Oceana is an important element in Liseberg as a destination. Oceana is important to the hotel we are sitting in here. It is also important for the tourism industry in Gothenburg. It was an experience that would strengthen us during the off-season, in the winter when the park is not open. Now it's getting late. We have to rethink a little and be a little more creative. We have to find other things to do until we have an Oceana, that is.

Christer: How do they think about the fact that you lost a person here and about what has happened? What kind of reactions do you get as CEO?

Andreas: It has been very tough for the organization [losing Patrik Gilholm, construction manager]. He was a dear and valued colleague with whom many have worked for a long time. Everyone who works at Liseberg has been greatly affected but above all, it is a terrible situation for his family. We think about them the most. In the last two months, we have thought mostly about them.

Christer: What do you think when you look out at this? Is it still hard?

Andreas: I still think it's hard. I have to be honest and say that. We were so close to completing the project. At the same time, I also believe that as CEO you would like to clean up and build and finish. Of course I get those kinds of feelings too when I watch Oceana today.

Christer: Do you ever doubt that it will work?

Andreas: No never. We will fix this too.

*Here is (or was) the Oceana floor plan as shown in Attraction Source's Grand Curiosa Hotel & Room Tour video, for reference.

Oceana plan.png
 
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For info for anyone visiting Liseberg soon, Version 10.1.6 of the app on iPhone (latest as of today) will not allow you to use virtual queuing in English. It’s a bug in this version the park are aware of. You need to download the Swedish language and set the app to use Swedish.

On the positive it’s been glorious weather in Sweden and on my visit (first time) on Thursday everything was walk on. I used the virtual queuing to save walking distance only!
 
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Had my first ever first to Liseberg last week, including stopping 3 nights at Liseberg Grand Curiosa Hotel.

As has been mentioned getting to the park from the airport was super easy using the bus. The park opening hrs of 3-10pm on the Thursday and Friday also worked well allowing time to explore Gothenburg in the morning/early afternoon.

The hotel was excellent and was a great price as booked last September for only £334 for 3 nights. Plus BA return flights for £35 each using Avios points. I thought the park was fantastic and even when the park felt busy ride queues were not particularly long. Operations were generally excellent on most rides and the large amount of flat rides really helped soak up queues. In fact the rides on top of the hill in Luna park, Inc Luna never seemed to be busy with queues generally less than 10 mins often near walk on.

I thought the 5 main coasters where all excellent (did not ride the two kids coasters as have no interest in counting credits). Helix was my fav at the park, it does still has a rattle, although this seemed to vary so could be different trains or position sat in. But overall a fantastic coaster from start to finish, particular the two large air time hills, with the one after the second launch being particular great. I still prefer velicoaster at IOA and possible Taron over Helix but it certainly up there as a great coaster.

Balder was also good and great airtime and very smooth, perhaps not as good as I had expected from what I have read over the years but still really enjoyed. Luna the best version of the Verona boomerangs I have done. The free virtual queue system is also great and used loads over the couple of days we had in the park, never used the standard queues for Helix, Balder or Loki amongst others.

Loki is such a great flat ride and by far my favourite flat ride I have done. More parks need these from Intamin, this large model would be perfect at Thorpe. The intamin giro drop was the only closed ride but expected that as it’s been closed for a number of weeks.

Food and drink was reasonably priced and much better value than Merlin parks and the Buffet dinner at the hotel which had one evening was particularly good value at around £21.50 compared to the buffet prices at Europa park and Phantasialand. Although didn’t have the fast food style burger meals in the park or similar they worked out about £7.40 (burger, fries and drink). The options we had at the Italian restaurant and the fish and chip restaurant worked out at about £12.

Overall as with the other European parks I have visited it is well presented and looked after and miles ahead of what we see at UK parks. I am glad to have been able to visit some of these European parks over past few years (inc phantasia land, Europa, Efteling and walibi Belgium, plus previous visits to port Aventura). As with some of the other European parks I have visited I will definitely return.
 
I am currently outside helix typing this lol

I love this park and can echo pretty much everything that has been said here

However did anyone else have to deal with annoying teenagers, particularly in the helix queue? everytime we went to ride it we had to deal with people screaming and shouting whist also banging all of the metal queue line structure which is very loud and annoying

leaning into thorpe park clientele territory
 
Didn’t notice an issue at Helix, but then only ever used the virtual queue. there were lots of team groups but though. They were certainly lively at the wheel of fortune games!
see i like the virtual queue but found it hard to get slots - the timings would be in like 2 hours time when the actual ride was like 10 mins queue, is it always like that?
 
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