Showing posts with label Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Show all posts

Sunday, January 8, 2023

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Has Permanently Closed Mach Tower

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has closed their free-fall attraction, Mach Tower, for good as of today. The park announced the closure some time ago so visitors could try to get in one last plunge, but that isn't happening today (the ride's final day) as the park is closed due to weather. The blue tower first opened at the theme park in its at-the-time renovated Oktoberfest area in 2011.

Mach Tower stood 238 feet tall and carried 30 riders at a time in a circular car on the tower. It was created by Moser Rides and had some interesting effects when it opened including on-board music that was themed to the experience and rumbling seats that were fairly unsettling. However, Mach Tower didn't work well and suffered from much downtime, sometimes for extended periods. The rumors of the ride's removal started last summer already.

The park didn't give a very clear reason for the ride's removal, just stating that "after review and consideration of overall guest satisfaction, we have made the decision to close Mäch Tower permanently." Considering the ride didn't work reliably and probably had a substantial maintenance budget, it is not surprising to see the tower get the axe from the park's line up.

Meanwhile Busch Gardens Williamsburg is excited to be opening DarKoaster this summer, a brand new enclosed roller coaster.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

DarKoaster: Escape The Storm Indoor Family Coaster Opening at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 2023

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has announced an exciting new indoor family roller coaster, named DarKoaster: Escape The Storm, set to open in 2023. Located within the park's Oktoberfest area, DarKoaster will utilize the building that housed Curse of DarKastle, a 4-D simulator ride, from 2005 until 2017.

The new attraction continues the story line of the original DarKastle ride: "King Ludwig’s abandoned fortress resurfaces as strange weather patterns have been recorded near the cursed castle grounds. Only the bravest souls will embark on snowmobiles in this dark expedition to discover the mysterious phenomenon. A supernatural force is imminent as explorers discover that they are evading more than just a raging storm."

The park is calling the ride the first of its kind indoor straddle coaster, featuring Intamin's jet-ski (in this case snowmobile) type cars with a lower 48 inch height requirement. The ride will feature 4 launches, a top speed of 36 miles per hour and over 2,400 feet of track. The below animation shows the vehicles interacting with set pieces located within the building, which already kept its outdoor theming in tact from the earlier ride it housed.

Busch Gardens Williamburg's description of the ride also notes that the vehicles will "change course" when the weather causes an issue, which is believed to be a switch track that will allow the train to follow the ride's layout a second time as a surprise.

The ride's track is actually already completed inside the building, and the park gave a tour today with some photos from which featured here and here. The theming elements have yet to be added, but it already looks like a fun and bad and cold weather friendly addition to the park.

Monday, January 24, 2022

Busch Gardens Williamsburg to Open Pantheon March 25th

Looks like yesterday's post was just a day too early to include Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Pantheon, as the theme park announced today that the highly anticipated roller coaster will open to guests starting March 25th.

Billed as the world's fastest multi-launch roller coaster, the Intamin designed thrill machine will utilize multiple LSM launches to send the trains to a maximum speed of 73 miles per hour. The unique design will start with a launch that throws trains through an inversion before they meander over to the multi-pass launch, both forwards and backwards, that rockets riders up a giant top hat. With a 95 degree drop and two inversions included, Pantheon is sure to be on the bucket list of coaster fans around the globe.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is following the path of the SeaWorld Entertainment parks we reported on yesterday, and will start to give pass members rides on Pantheon as soon as March 4th. The park has the detailed schedule of preview dates available on the ride's website. Can't wait to hear how that crazy outward banked hill is!

Sunday, October 17, 2021

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Announces New Waterpark Additions Across the Country

There are a slew of new additions coming to several SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment properties next year, as a series of announcements over the park week have shown. Up first is Water Country USA, located near Busch Gardens Williamsburg, which will debut Aquazoid Amped in May 2022. The park has been working on the park's large family raft ride, Aquazoid, for some time now and we've been expecting a renovated version to debut soon.

The Amped part of the slide reflects changes to the experience, which will now include a "full sensory immersive ride experience including an all-new special effects show, pulse-pounding music and dynamic lighting effects. Riders plunge down 864 feet of fully enclosed twisting tube at speeds of 20 feet per second on this iconic attraction with vibrant new enhancements. With a variety of light shows, each ride could be different than the last."

Aquatica Orlando will be renovating one of its most popular slides, Dolphin Plunge, and debuting it as Reef Plunge in March of 2022. The new version of the duel body slides will feature "eye-catching translucent cutouts and rings" as riders slide down 330 and through a dynamic animal habitat. The new habitat will feature commerson's dolphins, leopard sharks, sardines and a "variety of other cold-water fish."

Aquatica Orlando is making other improvement in addition of Reef Plunge, including "the addition of over 1,000 loungers and beach chairs with increased shade for comfort and two food and beverage additions: a quick-service pizza place and a brand-new beach bar in addition to upgrades to the popular Banana Beach Cookout. Multiple attractions will also receive upgrades, including enhancements to several water slides."

Aquatica San Antonio, located next door to SeaWorld San Antonio, will debut a new slide tower named Riptide Race in 2022. The attraction looks similar to, or clone of, the slide tower of the same name that opened at Aquatica Orlando this year. The tower features two separate tube slides that run right next to each other, with open cutout sections that show who's winning the race to the finish.

Riptide Race will start atop a 51 foot tower, and each raft can seat two sliders at a time. There are both enclosed and open sections during the 565 feet of slide. The water ride will be the first of its kind in the San Antonio market and is expected to open in March of 2022.

Finally, Adventure Island, located near Busch Gardens Tampa, will debut two new attractions and other renovations in 2022. Up first is Rapids Racer, which looks like it's the same dueling waterslide addition going into Aquatica San Antonio. It looks to have a different color scheme, though! The park will also renovate their family raft ride, similar to Water Country USA, to create Wahoo! Remix. The new slide will feature "synchronized light and sound elements," making formerly dark tunnels "glow and groove" as rafts pass through them.

Adventure Island will also built the Hang Ten Tiki Bar next year, offering up plenty of adult beverages to park goers. The water park is also now staying open year round with heated pools.

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Goes Year Round with New Winter Weekends + Mardi Gras Events

Busch Gardens has taken the plunge into being open year-round with the introduction of two new limited time events that will keep the park open during January and February. Up first is Winter Weekends, which will start on January 15th, and run that Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then again the following weekend - ending on Sunday January 24th.

The new event is designed to continue the celebration of the beauty of the holiday season and will feature plenty of decorative lights, but also plenty of rides, attractions and more. Another major feature of the event will be the ability to see special animals that are not normally at the park, including an alligator, lemur and even a baby kangaroo. There will also be special fireworks on Saturday evenings. The park will have plenty of rides open during Winter Weekends as well, including Alpengeist, Verbolten and InvadR.

Following right after and starting on January 29th, Busch Gardens Williamsburg will hold an all new Mardi Gras event. The new celebration will run through February 28th and be followed by the park's St. Patrick's Day Celebration.

During the Mardi Gras event the park will feature 8 decorated themed areas along with special food, beverage, live entertainment and more. There will be a similar list of rides open to visitors as during the Wild Weekends, so you can get plenty of more coaster rides in! More detail on Mardi Gras will be added as the start of the event approaches.

So now we've seen both Six Flags and Busch Entertainment moving more of their parks into year round operations using special events, I guess it's officially a trend now. A smart one, in my opinion. With limited operations and the pandemic still not under control, it's a great way to stretch out the season and provide their guests with even more value than ever before - at least from a season pass perspective.

Friday, November 6, 2020

'Tis The Season for Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Christmas Celebration

Busch Gardens Williamsburg will continue their operations into the winter months with their Christmas Celebration event, the park has announced. The holiday cheer-fest will start on November 13th and run select nights and days through January 3rd.

The limited capacity event will offer plenty of family fun with a significant portion of the theme park operating. These areas include England, Scotland, Ireland, France, New France, Germany, Oktoberfest and Sesame Street Forest of Fun. The park will be covered in twinkling lights, there will be plenty of festive food offerings, shopping and live entertainment too. Plus, special activities such as a Gingerbread Scavenger Hunt, a meet and greet with Frosty and photos with Santa will be available.

For ride lovers, there will be a total of 15 rides and attractions operating during Christmas Celebration. These include InvadR, Alpengeist, Verbolten and Grover's Alpine Express along with plenty of flat rides and kiddie rides.

There will be different sessions on some days as with past events this year at the park. Some days only have an evening session from 5pm to 10 pm, but others have an additional session from 10am to 3pm. Reservations are required for a visit. The park recently benefited from having their maximum capacity increased from 1,000 guests per session to an amount based on a percent of theoretical capacity, which the park estimates raises the amount to 4,000 or so.

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Busch Gardens to Launch Halloween Harvest Starting October 1st

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is rolling right along with their special event series, proving that they can keep their guests engaged and interested even during these unprecedented times.

The park is still only allowed to host no more than 1,000 people at a time, but that hasn't stopped it from already hosting several special events, and now they've announced their latest: Halloween Harvest. The park is celebrating daytime family fun and even some creepy chills at night in their latest event. During Halloween Harvest the park will open limited sections including Italy, Fest Italia, Oktoberfest, Ireland, Scotland and Sesame Street Forest of Fun.

There will be plenty of fall activities, a selection of thrill and tame rides open (a total of 15), tons of food and beverage treats and more. This is also the first time that Sesame Street Forest of Fun will be open this year, a large children's area - plus one of the activities listed is contactless trick-or-treating!

Since the event is called Halloween Harvest it only makes sense to have a little spooky involved, right? Busch Gardens Williamsburg will feature "roaming Ghouls & Goblins in select areas of the park," however there are no official scare zones or haunted houses. Sounds like just a taste of a normal Halloween event, but I have no doubt that people will still enjoy it.

A significant change from the park's past events this year is the addition of a third time slot during Halloween Harvest - but only on Saturdays. Past events only had two different times to visit throughout the day. On Saturdays the park will have Halloween Harvest sessions from 10 am until 2 pm, 3 pm to 7 pm and again from 8 pm until 12 am. The roaming ghouls will be out from 5 pm until 9 pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays and from 8 pm until 12 am on Saturdays.

Reservations and ticket purchases already went on sale for Halloween Harvest, which starts October 1st, and it looks like Saturday slots are already sold out! But watch for cancellations and the like. If you're interested in going check out the park's website for more information.

Saturday, August 29, 2020

Busch Gardens Williamsburg to Keep the Fun Going with Taste of Busch Gardens Event

Busch Gardens Williamsburg may have some strict capacity limitations during the pandemic, however they have found success in opening just a part of the park for special events. Their latest is Taste of Busch Gardens, which will see an expanded offering of food, beverage and attractions starting on September 2nd.

The park will be opening up again for a "delicious culinary fusion of Food & Wine Festival fan favorites, new twists on traditional park entrées, plus wine tastings and specialty beverages not normally served in the park." During the event there a total of 15 new food items to try, including many other beverages like beers, wines and specialty drinks.

During Taste of Busch Gardens, the park will open six of their themed areas including Oktoberfest, Rhinefeld, Ireland, Scotland, France and New France. This means that more of the park will be open to explore than during their first (and current) special event, Coasters & Craft Brews.

Those looking for rides will be happy to see some new attractions on the list for this event. Scheduled to be operating will be Verbolten, Alpengeist, Griffon, InvadR, Der Wirblewind, Kinder Karussel, Le Scoot, Finnegan’s Flyer and Der Roto Baron.

Taste of Busch Gardens will also expanded operating days, running Wednesday through Sunday each week with the last day being September 27th. Wednesdays and Thursdays will have one block open for reservations, from 5 pm until 9 pm, Friday - Sunday (plus Labor Day) will also have an 11 am through 3 pm block as well.

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Busch Gardens Williamsburg to Reopen August 5th for Coasters and Craft Brews Event

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has found a unique way to still open this summer while adhering to Virginia's order of only having 1,000 people at the park at any time. Starting August 5th the park will be open to guests, but in a limited fashion to hold a new Coasters and Craft Brews event.

The park will feature the outdoor event in only some of the park's themed areas including Ireland, Scotland, France and New France. Several of the park's large roller coasters, including Loch Ness Monster, Griffon, and InvadR will be open along with Le Catapult and Finnegan's Flyer. The park will also offer a "variety of craft and local brews, savory BBQ cuisine, and more food and beverage options that will be available for purchase at select dining locations." Several of the park's retail locations will also be open during the event.

It is almost like a combination of the special event that Knott's Berry Farm has found success with, only with a handful of rides open as well.

Reservations will be required for the event and the park will follow all social distancing and sanitization efforts that other SeaWorld Parks have put into place.

The event starts on August 5th as a preview day for season members only, then it will run for two weeks Thursday through Sunday. Thursday look to feature one reservation for a 5 pm to 9 pm slot, while Fridays through Sundays have two: 11 am to 3 pm and 5 pm until 9 pm. With limited amounts of the park open it makes sense to get two different sets of guests into the park at different times of the day.

The park's calendar is showing plenty of operating days in September all the way through December, however it is unclear exactly how the park will operate at that time, or if it is even accurate.

It is nice to see the park think outside the box in order to give visitors a fun experience that's within their limitations, hopefully it is a success for them.

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Kings Dominion to Stay Closed in 2020?

The Governor of Virginia has only allowed entertainment facilities such as Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Kings Dominion to open with a maximum of 1,000 visitors in the state's 3rd phase of reopening.

While it is good that the parks are able to open, they're not able to make it financially worthwhile at a maximum of 1,000 visitors per day, and as such do not appear to plan to reopen this year.

This article gives a nice summary of what has transpired so far, and the leader of Busch Gardens Williamsburg has been outspoken about wanting theme park capacity lifted to 5,000 to 7,000 people per day. The park has been trying to work with the Governor's office to get the visitor limit lifted, but with no luck so far.

The park has stated that they have a very detailed COVID-19 related operating plan ready to go, and that in some ways they're not that different from Virginia Beach, which has been allowed to open. Another part of their argument is that the size of the parks make it such that people are easily distanced apart.

We will have to keep tabs on the story, but at this point we're already in July and these parks would need at least a couple weeks (or more) to get ready if they were allowed to open. Plus, in different parts of the country the COVID-19 cases are rising fast, which might not help their case either.

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

SeaWorld Entertainment Showing Signs of Delaying 2020 Rides Until 2021

We haven't had a good confirmation yet from most of the SeaWorld Entertainment parks about whether or not they would still be opening their new-for-2020 rides this year, or pushing them back until 2021. This is of course with the exception of the Texas Stingray at SeaWorld San Antonio, which has already opened.

Some recent developments have me thinking they are looking to open the new rides (most of which are roller coasters) next year.

Social media has been buzzing the last couple days with news of a multitude of liens being placed on the company, many of which are coming out of Florida. The liens are being placed by contractors and other vendors that have done work for the company but not been paid for it, some have even escalated into lawsuits against SeaWorld.

The Orlando Sentinel has published a story on the liens, which they report total $16 million in Orange County, Florida alone. They include Rocky Mountain Construction still being owed $3.5 million for Iron Gwazi, and Premier Rides owed $2.7 million for Ice Breaker. Out in California they have been sued for non-payment of work done for SeaWorld San Diego's new Emperor dive coaster. I have not heard of any recent news related to Pantheon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, though I've also not seen any parks in Virginia be allowed to reopen or even set a date to reopen.

It sounds like although SeaWorld Entertainment technically has the funds to pay these bills, they're holding off until the parks open and they start to generate revenue again. At least they try to politely say that in the Sentinel story. However, that's a hard financial crush on all the vendors who still have to make ends meet and employ good people regardless - hopefully the company makes this right, and soon.

But the point of all that is that the parks that have reopened, like SeaWorld Orlando, are not showing any progress on these new for 2020 rides and if the vendors aren't being paid you can be sure they're not showing up to help, either.

As such it feels like the rides that were supposed to all be open by now very well may be new for 2021 rides, or at the least open much later in this year. While all the new rides are exciting to have at the parks, that would probably sadly include Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa, easily one of the most anticipated new coasters of the year.

Honestly, the delay makes sense. With attendance levels still capped for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19, it makes no sense to open a ride that is built to draw in tons and tons of visitors. There's really no bang for the park's buck in that sense... however it doesn't justify not paying the companies who helped create it.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Pantheon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg Inching Closer to Opening

Pantheon, Busch Garden Williamsburg's latest multi-launch roller coaster is getting closer to opening with two recent major milestones.

First, seen above, the park announced that the last track piece for Pantheon was put into place, meaning the ride is now full circuit. Pantheon features 3,328 feet of track with two launch sections, featuring a top speed of 73 miles per hour.

The coaster's trains also have arrived and already have been installed on the track, and don't they look pretty! Pantheon will utilize two trains, each with 5 cars of 4 passengers each. The trains feature a colorful front piece that fits with the ride's theme within the Fiesta Italia section of the park.

The trains feature over the head restraints that do not block the riders' views at all, instead fitting snugly over their lap. Pantheon features some extreme elements such as a large top hat, a heavily outward banked turn, a dive stall and a wave turn.

Pantheon is slated to open this Spring at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Pantheon Coaster Looking Mighty Fine in New Photos

The layout of Busch Gardens Williamsburg's new multi-launch roller coaster, Pantheon, is getting close to the final stages of construction. The park has steadily worked through the month of December, adding both track and supports for visitors to gawk at during the park's holiday celebration.

The photo up top is one of the park's official ones, showing off the ride's top hat element, which is followed by a very steep dive down toward the river below - also the ride's longest drop at around 180 feet.

CHECK OUT THE BANKING ON THIS ELEMENT! It's absolutely insane looking! There are a lot of reasons to look forward to #BGWPantheon, but we expect this hill to become a thing of legend. pic.twitter.com/DtJKcxTt7O
— BGWFans.com (@BGWFans) January 3, 2020

Thanks (as always) to BGWFans for their excellent coverage of Pantheon construction we have a bunch of new photos of the coaster's rather extreme looking outwardly banked turn. While we've seen outwardly banked turns on many rides in recent years, especially those on RMC rides, other manufacturers have been slower to hit quite such extreme angles as we see here. This giant turn is located just after the ride's drop (seen in the photo up top) and the trains should be moving at a nice clip through here. I can only imagine the forces riders will experience as they soar over this peak!

BGWFans has plenty of additional photos of Pantheon work, including the supports that are now up for the ride's final two elements, both looks rather twisty in their own right. Check it out here!

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has called on Intamin to build Pantheon

BUSCH GARDENS REVEALS PLANS FOR NEW, RECORD-BREAKING ROLLER COASTER

Pantheon, Fastest Multi-launch Coaster in North America debuts in 2020

WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia (July 30, 2019) – Today, Busch Gardens® Williamsburg announced exciting details about Pantheon®, a record-breaking multi-launch coaster set to open in 2020. Featuring a total of four launches, this coaster located in the park’s Festa Italia village will reach a top speed of 72.5 mph, making it the fastest multi-launch coaster in North America.

The new Pantheon combines the might of five Roman gods in one record breaking display of strength, speed and power, including forward and backward launches, two inversions and a 95-degree drop. The gods reinforce the theming of the new coaster and illustrate some of the thrilling elements for brave riders.

“Pantheon is going to be non-stop action for riders. We’ve designed it so that the experience is changing all the time and will keep riders wondering what’s next,” said Larry Giles, Senior Director, Design & Engineering. “Multiple launches, speed changes, a sharp drop and backwards acceleration are just a few of Pantheon’s one-of-a kind traits,” added Giles.

The 2020 opening of this attraction will headline another exciting season at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, which has been named the “World’s Most Beautiful Theme Park” by the National Amusement Park Historical Association for 29 consecutive years and one of 2019 Best Amusement Parks by USA Today 10BEST. From its thrilling roller coasters, world-class dining options and kid-friendly attractions, Busch Gardens offers fun for the whole family.

PANTHEON RIDE STATS

TYPE OF RIDE: Multi-launch coaster (Fastest in North America)
SPECIAL FEATURES:

95° drop
Two inversions
Four launches

Launch 1 speed: 36 mph
Launch 2 speed: 50 mph
Launch 2 speed (backward): 61 mph
Launch 3 speed: 67 mph

TRACK LENGTH: 3,328 feet
MAXIMUM SPEED: 72.5 mph
MAXIMUM HEIGHT: 180 feet
RIDE DURATION: Two minutes
SEATS/TRAIN: Two trains, 20 riders per train
LOCATION: Busch Gardens’ Festa Italia
RIDE MANUFACTURER: Intamin Worldwide
RIDE OPEN DATE: Spring, 2020

Here are some construction photos from 9/14/2019

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Building Pantheon at Super Speedy Pace

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is assembling Pantheon, the park's new for 2020 Intamin launched coaster, faster than any major steel coaster in recent memory. The park seems to be taking full advantage of the beautiful fall weather to get a lot of track and supports up before winter sets in. The photos in this post were released by the park on social media, and give us a wonderful look at Pantheon's progress from about a week ago.

Up top is the ride's first inversion, which dives down the hill below grade before swooping back up to the main launch area for the coaster. An initial launch will take place after some curvy track out of the station which will get the trains through the twisting corkscrew inversion.

With the corkscrew seen in the background of this photo, the foreground is showing off the start of the spike tower that will be used in the launches. The train will navigate the vertical tower as each launch gives it more momentum. Only some of the supports were up in this view, and I suspected a much more robust tower to be installed next.

But then BGW Fans surprised us with this post, which shows the vertical track stretching into the sky unsupported for quite a distance. It looks almost scary, though we've seen plenty of Intamin rides have track stretch upward with little support... but also some of them got reinforcements later.

Here's the #BGWPantheon construction view you've all been waiting for—the last aerial of the year from Apollo's Chariot! Thanks to @JohnsonDylon for going out to @BuschGardensVA to capture it for us! pic.twitter.com/AZqKXqfnZl
— BGWFans.com (@BGWFans) October 26, 2019

BGW Fans also shared this money shot of the Pantheon construction from above, giving us the best look yet at the ride's progress! It's going to be a rather pretty ride, especially considering the support and track colors. Eventually there will be much more track filling up this field, at least two segments will be high above the ground. You can just see the start of one of those parts, the ride's top hat, going up over on the left.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Shares Views of Pantheon Construction + Track Arrives

There's a lot of really cool roller coasters opening in North America in 2020, certainly near the top of the list will be Pantheon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The massive launch coaster, created by Intamin, was announced during the summer and since then construction has kicked into high gear at the award winning theme park.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has started to share photos of the work site, which takes full advantage of the park's hills and valleys. The above photo is looking down at the worksite by the Rhine River, which Pantheon will swoop toward at two points in the layout. Looks like some seriously deep foundations are starting to be created here.

Back up toward the top of the work site, with Tempesto looming in the background, there are plenty of footers already completed. Pantheon will feature multiple launches with a maximum speed of almost 73 miles per hour. The layout features both forward and backward launches and heights of up to 178 feet above the ground.

The park is also proud to show off some of the Pantheon track that recently arrived at the park. With track arriving and many footers already complete, perhaps vertical construction isn't too far off? The track is a pretty gold color, though the lighting in these photos isn't the best.

Maybe it's more of a yellow, I'm sure that additional photos in the future will give us a better idea. Some of this track looks like it could be for the station area, which is usually one of the first parts of a coaster to go up. Hopefully the park gives us more views of Pantheon construction again soon!

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Pantheon Blasts Into Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 2020

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has revealed the details for Pantheon, the park's new for 2020 multi-launch Intamin roller coaster.

Themed around ancient gods including Minerva, Pluto, Mercury, Neptune and Jupiter, the ride is being billed as "North America's fastest multi-launch coaster" with a top speed of 72.5 miles per hour. The ride will be located as a part of Fiesta Italia and have a maximum height of 180 feet above the ground, which I believe is when the ride drops down toward the Rhine River.

This layout was provided by the park and while it's not the most clear due to the colors, you can get an idea of Pantheon's layout. The ride starts with a 36 mile per hour launch up into a twisted inversion that drops down into a tight helix. Trains then head past a switch track to another launch, at 50 miles per hour, climbing up a giant top hat, only to fall back and be launched backward at 61 miles per hour.

The trains climb another giant vertical spike, eventually falling down and being launched a 4th time at 67 miles per hour, up over the twisting top hat and then down a 95 degree drop toward the river. The rest of the layout includes over banked turns and an inverted air-time hill, the ride's 2nd and final inversion.

BGW Fans reports that the ride is 3,328 feet long, or around 4,200 feet long if you count the track that is moved over more than once. Pantheon will have two trains, each seating 20 riders at a time.

There is no official point of view video out just yet, but Busch Gardens Williamsburg did release this teaser video for the ride's announcement:

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Teasing Theme of 2020 New Coaster

At this point, the exact plans for Busch Gardens Williamsburg's 2020 new coaster are not much of a secret, unless of course you've purposely ignored all the coverage of them (click here for those spoilers if you like). That doesn't mean that we know exactly everything about the new ride, such as its official name and theme.

To that end, the theme park has been teasing about the attraction, with one of the biggest reveals seen up top - and that's the announcement date of 7/30/19. Just three weeks from today!

There have been three teasers so far, each featuring a short phrase about a mythological god (and planet, by chance), all with ties to Roman history. Fitting since the ride is expected to become a part of the Italian themed section of the park. The above teaser states "rise with the power of Neptune’s trident and plunge deep into the raging sea," for instance.

Each of the teasers feature a flag with a logo that's related to the mythological god being named, but not much else. All of the descriptions, like "run messages to the gods on Mercury’s lightning fast wings" and "escape Pluto’s twisted Underworld and be immortalized in the garden of the gods" elicit the idea of a fast and twisting ride, which certainly seems like exactly what is on the way.

With various gods being referenced one would think the ride's name would be all encompassing of mythology in general, but that remains to be seen. They could take a left turn and keep naming planets, for all we know! Make sure to follow the park's socials for more clues before the announcement at the end of the month!

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Cutback Water Coaster Now Open at Water Country USA

Water Country USA, located just down the road from Busch Gardens Williamsburg, has premiered their brand new Cutback Water Coaster to excited park visitors. According to the park the attraction is the first RocketBLAST style water coaster located on the East Coast and a first for the state of Virginia.

The slide utilizes four person rafts to slide both down and up over a 856 foot long course. The course features several dark tunnels along with five massive wide-open saucer shaped high speed downward turns. The ride is decked out in bright colors including blue, teal, orange, yellow and white. The movements mimic those of a traditional roller coaster, with Cutback Water Coaster reaching speeds of 35 feet per second.

"I'm certainly a big fan of traditional roller coasters especially the ones at our sister park, Busch Gardens, and to finally have a water coaster of our own at Water Country USA is a big deal," said Philip Boykin, leader of park operations at Water Country USA. "This thrilling water coaster has it all, from speeds of a roller coaster to refreshing splashes of a water slide," said Suzy Cheely, senior leader of design and engineering at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA. "Our guests are going to love this ride."

Are you ready for a ride? If so, click play below!

Monday, February 11, 2019

New Plans Show Massive Coaster Headed to Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 2020

According to new plans located by BGWFans, the above open area within Busch Gardens Williamsburg will look very different in 2020. The space, located adjacent to the Italy themed section of the park, has been rumored to be the location of a big new roller coaster for almost two years now.

BGWFans, was able to find some plans that were submitted to local planning authorities, and share the results of their analysis. This link will get you to their story, but here's a front page shot from their social media feed:

BREAKING: Newly-filed site plans suggest that #ProjectMadrid is an enormous, full-circuit, multi-launch coaster featuring a spike approaching 315' tall and a astonishing drop down to @BuschGardensVA's Rhine River. Full story: https://t.co/EPUFYhRR5Y #BGWProject2020 pic.twitter.com/dZ4DnRSWxK
— BGWFans.com (@BGWFans) February 9, 2019

As you can see, the site was able to locate some blueprints that reveal plans for footings that give a general layout of the new coaster. The good news is that it looks to match up to the images that were leaked last fall.

The ride appears to use a launch to perform an initial swoop down toward the Rhine River in what would be the bottom right of the aerial up top. The ride will have a second launch after that which will make use of switch-track to allows trains to be launched up a high point, then go backwards up a spike, then full blast launch one more time and up a top hat or similar element.

Then comes what looks like a massive drop down toward the river which could involve some serious elevation change and speed. The leaked images show a big fan turn afterward to burn off some of that speed, and BGWFans' layout shows some more twists and turns on the way back to the station.

Obviously this is all very preliminary but it's very encouraging, and looks like a thrilling attraction is on the way!

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