Busch Gardens Williamsburg Wins Approval for 315 Foot Tall New Attraction

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has received approval to build a 315 foot tall attraction, according to news reports.  The local county's Board of Supervisors approval a height limit waiver to allow the attraction to be built, which the theme park applied for just recently.

There's no word on what the new ride will be, though there are a limited amount of attractions out there that reach heights of 315 feet.  Naturally a roller coaster comes to mind, though coasters of that size are quite costly and might not be a part of SeaWorld Entertainment's current plans.  The park already has a free fall, so that leaves other tall structures, for example a swing ride, as more likely possibilities.

© Google Maps

The planning documents that the park submitted when requesting the height waiver only give a few clues about the project.  First, the approximate location of the ride is shown, just South of the Fiesta Italy themed area, in a currently open area (see map above).  The documents also refer to the project as "Busch Gardens Madrid."  Spain has been a long rumored addition as a themed land, but has never come to fruition.  That begs the question of whether the land will finally be built, but it could also just be the park's name for a singular new ride that's meant to throw us all off.

The park has three years to build the attraction from the approval of the height waiver, and has already announced a new virtual reality simulator experience for 2018, so the earliest this ride will open is 2019, it would seem.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg's current tallest ride is Mach Tower, the 246 foot tall free fall ride added to the park in 2011.