Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

^What he said.

 

And let me clarify a bit. While on the tour, I basically just asked him how much he was authorized to tell us about the new coaster for next year. He said, "Well, Verbolten is the name, and everything you've seen leaked on sites like Screamscape and BGWfans is accurate." And I asked him, "So Verbolten IS the name?" and he said, without hesitation, "Yes, unless they change it at the last second similar to the way Cheetah Hunt or Griffon were." (I guess Griffon was originally intended to be named "Phoenix")

 

The guy wasn't some random park employee spouting off information, he's someone who does these tours on a regular basis and probably has a lot of access to information. From working in parks, I can tell you that it's not even remotely far fetched that he has plenty of information about Verbolten.

 

The last few tidbits he told us about it was that "it will be a multi-launch family coaster, designed that way to fill the void left by Big Bad Wolf," and that "what happens in the building is what will set it apart from everything else in the country." He clarified by saying that what has been speculated so far is true (referring to the drop section), and that there's going to be a lot more that happens in there, as well.

 

Believe me, don't believe me, that's exactly what he said. There are several members on here that will confirm it.

Is that Josh as in the one who does the coaster insider tours too? From Wisconson? If so, I just met him this past saturday on the coaster insider tour.

^Yes, he's one of the main tour guides.

I'm not doubting what was said, but I have a very hard time believing that a tour guide has access to that sort of information. The poll including the name Verbolten was sent out months before the theming documents were leaked which included a ton of signage for the name Elementum. Looking at what happened to Griffon and Cheetah Hunt though, I imagine neither Verbolten or Elementum will end up being the ride's actual name.

In other news, you can check out some interesting pictures taken from inside the Busch Gardens Williamsburg "Boneyard" here. They include a Big Bad Wolf car and a few Le Mans cars.

^Not sure that pictures taken while sneaking into restricted areas are really going to be lauded around here.

I'm not doubting what was said, but I have a very hard time believing that a tour guide has access to that sort of information. The poll including the name Verbolten was sent out months before the theming documents were leaked which included a ton of signage for the name Elementum. Looking at what happened to Griffon and Cheetah Hunt though, I imagine neither Verbolten or Elementum will end up being the ride's actual name.

After working many years now with liars I have become pretty good at reading peoples faces whether they are lying or not. Our tour guide sure didn't look like he was making it up to us. He answered Steve's question without any hesitation.

I'm not doubting what was said, but I have a very hard time believing that a tour guide has access to that sort of information. The poll including the name Verbolten was sent out months before the theming documents were leaked which included a ton of signage for the name Elementum. Looking at what happened to Griffon and Cheetah Hunt though, I imagine neither Verbolten or Elementum will end up being the ride's actual name.

 

 

After working many years now with liars I have become pretty good at reading peoples faces whether they are lying or not. Our tour guide sure didn't look like he was making it up to us. He answered Steve's question without any hesitation.

"Verbolten" is what Josh said. We shall see.

Ok guys here is yet another Verbolten drawing by me. My scanner does not pick up color that well, so it looks better in person. Anyways:

Verbolten sketch.

TPR Day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Yes, Robb and Elissa may be cavorting about Japan, showing people a great time, but before they headed east, they set up an excellent day for TPR members at Busch Gardens on Sunday, June 19--a very nice way to round out a park-and-coaster weekend in Virginia (Kings Dominion held its annual Hurlfest the day before). So, a nice, exclusive group of TPR members showed up bright and early in the park's England parking lot for a morning ERT session on Griffon and Alpengeist, followed by a great backstage tour of DarKastle, Alpengeist, and Europe in the Air tailored especially for us. Yes, we got to walk the entire track of DarKastle and be the first riders that day, check out Alpengeist's maintenance bay and fondle some coaster parts, and watch people being bounced around Europe from the safety of the ride's control room (and get bounced around ourselves).

Participants received a meal voucher and an option to purchase a second, along with Quick Queue, and were free to enjoy their day--until 9:00 that night, when we had an awesome hour on Apollo's Chariot all to ourselves! (Well, if you don't count the ride crew, that is.)

Everyone had a great time--especially on the tour. Thank you Busch Gardens for being such excellent hosts!

Here's a look at TPR Day.

Having trouble waking up? Well, BGW has a cure for that! (Sorry that the pictures are a bit dark--it was quite overcast that morning.)

Make that two cures.

Here's a peek at what goes on before the park opens to the public.

I see you TPR people! Even in those dark clouds you can't hide from me!

Exclusive Splash Time!

Exclusive Save-Me-Jeebus Time!

Now this is what I call an ERT session.

Yep--no waiting! Pick your seat and hang on!

ERT ended at 10:00, and the tour started at 10:10. First stop: Curse of DarKastle's maintenance bay.

Meet Josh and Brandon--two excellent guides!

Beware King Ludwig's Open Pit of Bloody Terror!

We learned all the secrets of DarKastle. Did you know that King Ludwig may have been insane, but he was a terrific dancer?

"Look into my eyes . . ."

Uh oh! Looks like two Golden Sleighs are going to face off in a Bavarian Death Match!

This little board monitors where each sleigh is located when the ride is in operation.

Here's a more "low-tech" device--each sleigh has its own board to keep track of what work had been done on it.

Aghh! More scary hypnotic eyes in Ludwig's library!

TPR members believe that reading is FUNdamental.

The books bear the names of people who have worked on DarKastle--or maybe they're just Ludwig's victims.

Even when you're walking through DarKastle, it's hard to tell which way is up.

Look out! That building is falling on you!

These evil-looking trees were actually sculpted at BGW--not made elsewhere and installed. They look freaky even without the show lighting.

This is a rear-projection screen, . . .

. . . which would make these, well, rear projectors, I guess.

The backside of air cannons.

The frontside of air cannons.

The brain of DarKastle.

It's interesting how this prop railing blends seamlessly with the projected railing that breaks and nearly "falls" on you during the ride.

More scary trees!

The DarKastle crew--they do Ludwig's bidding!

"Must . . . do . . . what . . . Ludwig . . . says . . ."

Here's the control room between the loading and unloading stations.

Next stop, Alpengeist. This is the head of the well that supplies the water for all the park's water rides. The coaster maintenance bay had to be built to accomodate it.

It's low bridge in the Alpengeist maintenance bay.

"What am I bid for this lovely coaster wheel?"

"Oh god! It's so heavy!"

After a rousing game of "Pass the Coaster Wheel," we headed off to Europe in the Air, the park's flight simulator.

Look at those people bouncing around, being relieved of all their change!

"Heh, heh! Bouncing people are funny!" Did you know that Europe in the Air was programmed using a joystick? They also programmed the sleighs in DarKastle that way. And people used to say that playing Nintendo was a waste of time.

"Hmm--if I had that joystick, I'd give those people a ride they'd never forget!"

It's dark, and the park's closed--but our time isn't over yet!

Everybody ready for some nighttime ERT on Apollo's Chariot?

My god! Where did everybody go? Apollo must've eaten them! (Actually, the park has a "ride twice, then wait one train" policy during ERT.)

Even the amazing ride crew got ERT!

This was definitely a great way to end a great day! Thank you, Busch Gardens!

Aww, I wish I was able to go. But I couldn't since it was on Fathers Day! Sounds like a lot of fun and those trains sure are empty!

That really was a great event! The backstage tour was one of the coolest things I've done at a park, and the ERT really was "exclusive".

It was definitely a fun day all around, even if I was half asleep for it!

And Chuck, the wheel wasn't THAT heavy.

I guess on Que here's a video I whipped together. I had to be the one person who videotaped everything we did. Except for the Apollo's Chariot ERT because I left early due to the humidity and motion sickness getting to me. I should have just thrown up and I would have been better, but nope. At least I got to see some great shows, hang out with some great people and eat some great food. The YouTube embedding wouldn't work for me, so here's the link.

MOD EDIT: Fixed the embedding for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGoNCSqvk1s

Looks like a great day with a nice small group. If I hadn't just been to the park a few weeks ago, I would have probably tried to make this trip.

On a side note... yay Pittsburgh!

Chuck - great trip report! I so wish I could have gone. The backstage tour of Darkcastle looks awesome! Hopefully I'll make it out to the Burg sometime next year. Thanks for representing TPR!

Looks like it was a great event! Another winner from TPR!

Thank you Mod for fixing the embedding. Yeah, I had a rough time driving to Williamsburg, so I was happy to be back home. I wish I had more of a plan when I started to film at the park, but I really didn't have one, so I made the video more of a personal narrative than anything (hence the shots of me driving). I hope you guys liked it.

BGW is such a beautiful park and they get, like, a gajillion thumbs up for installing a major, and awesome, dark ride! (Big shout-out to Super 78!)

That is some pretty spectacular ERT!

This was my 2nd TPR event(this was my boyfriend's 5th or 6th event). We really enjoyed it. Thanks!

I'm glad everyone had a great time--it was good meeting you all, too.

ERT on Apollo's Chariot was definitely amazing. Kind of sorry I didn't pony up the $$$ for the backstage tours...

It looks like that was a great event! Thanks for posting pics.

The FUNdamentals line made me groan, but I also laughed at it haha.

Great TR, looks like you had a great time!

Quick Mach Tower note, the catch car was sitting at the top of the tower all day today and people were walking in and out of the construction area (could it be a sign that something's going on back there?)

Verbolten area is pretty barren so let's hope some nice theming is going to go back there.

The park is hoping the ride is operational by about mid-July *crosses fingers*.

In other news, I don't like the cuckoo clock facade on the Festhaus, even though it's been up there for weeks. There's just something that feels weird about it. Heck, I feel a lot of the Illuminights decorations feel weird and kinda take away from the park's atmosphere. I did get a cool button though!

^Wasn't the cuckoo clock part of the original decorations on the front of the building?

Was at the park today, nice afternoon with short lines.

My update about the park is.... nobody cares about Mach Tower and 2012 will feature Giant A$$ Crater: The Ride! The Verbolten 'hole' in the ground is massive.