Balder (roller coaster)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Balder

Location	Liseberg
Type	Wood
Status	Open
Opened	April 12, 2003
Manufacturer	Intamin AG
Designer	Werner Stengel
Model	Wooden Coaster (Prefabricated Track)
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	118 feet (36 m)
Length	3,510.5 feet (1,070 m)
Max speed	55.9 mile per hour (90 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	2:08
Max Vertical Angle	70 degrees
Capacity	1149 riders per hour
Cost	100,000,000 SEK
Balder at RCDB
Pictures of Balder at RCDB

Balder is a wooden roller coaster at the Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg, Sweden. It opened in 2003 and was an instant success. Balder has twice, 2003 and 2005, been voted Best Wooden Tracked Roller Coaster in the world in a major international poll - not because it is the biggest or fastest roller coaster, but because of the high percentage of "air time" during the ride.

Balder is very different from a traditional wooden roller coaster because it is a prefabricated wooden roller coaster. This means that instead of trackers cutting, shaping, and laying down the track on site by hand, the track is laser cut in a factory. This means that the track is manufactured to a higher degree of precision than could ever be achieved by hand. The track is also made so that it snaps together like Lego pieces. The track also is made of more layers of wood that are tightly bonded together instead of nailed together by hand like a traditional wooden roller coaster. This has three major benefits, two being to the park and the other being to the riders.

The "Plug and Play" aspect of the coaster speeds construction of the coaster since track does not have to be completely manufactured on site. In addition, because of the speed of construction, the costs of building the coaster are lowered due to less manhours spent on the construction. The riders benefit from a coaster, that while being wooden, is near steel smooth. However, some roller coaster enthusiasts may find that aspect to take away from the ride since it would not have the same character as a traditional wooden roller coaster. Two other prefabricated wooden roller coasters currently exist, Colossos at Heide Park and El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure.