KDcoasterMAN

^No. Yellow was still hibernating.

Just got back from opening day. The opening this morning was unreal. The line filled the queue and went down the bridge to Italy when the ride opened this morning. The wait for most of the day was around 1 hour. The shortest I saw was about 45 mins but it quickly caught up. I got 3 rides in on it today, great as usual. Good luck tomorrow for whoever is going.

being 6' 4 1/2", I'm slightly worried.....

^^ I'm heading to the park on Friday and expecting pretty long lines. Saturday will be tremendously ridiculous!

^ I've been looking at photos when Big Bad Wolf opened and the ride had very little tree coverage, at least compared to its last season. The trees are starting to really come in around Griffon too.

If you look closely at the monitors in the station there's one labeled "Guntercam" and it's sort of a "Blair Witch" first person shot of someone wandering around, you can see their feet from time to time. I guess Gunter is currently out wandering in the Black Forest. Good find! I guess your right Chuck, they may make an appearance at the media day.

The POVs don't capture half of what you see inside... And it's way mor impressive in person. Not as impressive as I was expecting, but still quite impressive. I agree 100%. The ride requires the rider to look at things flying past him on all sides. EDIT: I've been looking at photos that I've taken as far back as 2009/2010 and finding the changes to the Oktoberfest area are astounding, not only did Busch add too thrilling rides in Mach Tower and Verbolten, the additional structures and the Beer and Pretzel shop, were pretty crucial to the overall transformation. The pathways are significantly wider, and for good reason. With the rumors of a possible Festhaus renovation and a possible Germany train station, the area is definitely going to need it.

Gunter is no where to be seen.... ...... His office is empty with his experiments and kameras looking into the depths of the forest.

Many park employees told me yesterday that the park plans to have Verbolten open all weekend forbidding malfunction, If your not doing anything, Its a beautiful day to take a ride through the Black Forest, if I should say so myself. I'll be back on the 18th.

Hey everyone, Got word today about 1pm that the park was soft opening Verbolten! drove down the the park and got to the ride by 2:30pm. I was welcomed by a screaming blue train, roaring down the Rhine River drop with many happy, elated riders! The "new" Oktoberfest area, envisioned with new, games, pavilions, eateries, and Mach Tower, along with Verbolten, has transformed this once old style part of the park, into a lively fun environment. The area was packed with people as many were sitting and gazing at the new operating attractions. I walked past the wrecked red Porche which was emanating an engine revving noise. I immediately entered the queue line and began waiting. The first part of the queue line brings you through Gerta's Visitor Center, a razzle-dazzle theme filled with German propaganda, art and lots of gnomes.... Gerta speaks to the guest through a television behind the counter of her ticket booth. The open air vision center has many things to keep your attention while waiting. Later towards the end of the queue, the line winds quickly through Gunter's office (who is seems to be missing), which features many TV "kameras" focused on points in the Black Forest which Gunter has apparent interest. Many of the videos on these "kameras" are very interest and fun to watch. The Station is well theme and often throws out many references including to the coaster's company of production (Have fun trying to find it ). The dual loading of lanes A and B keep the wait times low. (for my five times in line 25mins, 30mins, 40mins, 30mins, and 65 min (explain the last one in a minute)). At first when I arrived, the attends were assigning rows for every guest, but towards the end, were allowing everyone to choose their own seats. The theming in the station is superb! The trains. wow. The trains up close truly look like real cars and the seats are roomy and comfortable. The lap bars are also comfortable and very large guest friendly. I am glad to see Zierer going all out for this coaster in regards of their trains. When it comes to the coaster experience, I would like to allow everyone to experience the ride for themselves. I really don't want to spoil anything. All I will say about the dark ride section is the level of theming is beyond my expectations, though still very "Busch Garden-esque." I won't explain what "Busch Garden-esque" means.... The coaster has some rattling I would compare to Dominator's B&M rattle but otherwise its a rather smooth ride. Its has some intense turn which I was somewhat unprepared for. The helix upon first ride I felt pressed to nickname for time being as the "helix of almost death." As a family coaster.... I would not say its for younger audiences, its 48 inch height limit fits the age of lowest riders. Middle school age. The coaster ran flawlessly until about 5:30 when it had a short downtime which added around 30 mins to my wait time. The ride ops were professional but seem a little confused at some moments with their new ride. A little happy moment happened when a couple got engaged right before the train dispatched. quite a magical moment! wish I had a camera. Overall: Coaster Experience: 7 out of 10

June 10th is a big Graduation Day for many high school students in the Virginia Area. I would guess that the park would have moderate crowds. If I had to guess lines... I would say Apollo at its peak would maintain a 40 minute to an hour wait. Griffon's line never gets over 45 mins on crowded days especially when running three trains. Aplingeist is always of worry, on slightly busy days the line can run through half its switch backs and get at least an hour. Loch Ness is always a must ride, but by midday dues its slightly slower operations it can happen across a 30 min to hour line. My recommendation. Get your coaster riding in by noon and then take in the scenery of the park, go to Festhaus, go ride DarKastle, see the Celtic Fyre show... Lines after noon are rather lengthy until around 430 to 5. As said above, the enigma is how is the opening of Verbolten going to after those lines? toss a coin cause I cant predict that. The coaster is said to be able to churn through 2400 riders an hour which is not too bad. It will have 5 trains running and each cycle is around 90 seconds (rumored, I do not know). Its line could be 2 hours, it could 30 mins. won't know until opening weekend.

I'll be there bright and early on the 18th.

Stopped by the park on Friday for a few hours, took a lot of photos, will try and post a few soon. Seeing Verbolten for the first time surpassed my expectation. The themeing around the site is exceptional! All of the photos do not do the ride any justice. It is a lot larger in person. And the intricate look of the ride makes me excited for whats inside of the show building.

I'll be at the park tomorrow, will come back with a trip report and Verbolten update (crossed fingers for ride testing)

Kings Dominion - 2007-2010

^^ Though it would be nice to have nice new trains, its not really necessary when the park owns four Arrow trains (three original trains and one from python) in great condition. The ride really isn't rough enough to really need the restraints. Anyway, I like that pop of airtime after the first loop that the current restraints allow

^^ Volcano's third train was sent back to the manufacturer if I am correct.

Almost like a blizzard beach except with a Southern motif hopefully! Exciting news

I vote that jcrouse be declared the winner. the only problem I have with his design would be that the "login, register" should be toward the top of the page, like above the FB,Twiiter, Youtube, etc icons

I agree with Elissa that the top of David's is great as it is, the only change I would ask for would be to see again what a drop down menu on yours looks like. Also, Though I like DKR's newest, I still feel with the two extra boxes at the bottom gives a slight cluttered feel. I would like to see in the Bar that says "All Updates, Official TPR Updates" "Video of the Day" and "Annoucements" should be added Also, is the Annoucement "text" above the large image a scrolling text? EDIT: Even though nobody's gonna like my opinion, bgwfans.com new home page is probably on of the better homepages I have seen.

The costs of keeping BGW open during the winter months probably outweighs the profits. I doubt many people want to go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg when its 20 degrees or below and not Christmas. Christmastown has its own draw, people come for the environment not the normal park experience. Unless BGW finds a new ways to get the GP through the front door while making a profit then theirs a different story. BGT is in a warmer climate which hosts tourists all year round. Though Williamsburg has its dray year round (CW), I cannot see BGW being able to make the park year round. Honestly, they do a great job having the park open as it is, only closed about 4 months (November, January-March) out of the year isn't too bad.

Was anybody's first reaction to the reconverted BBW drop footers like this. "DUDE! Those things are ridiculousness massive." Thanks for the update Chuck.

At least we now know how forceful the drop will be.

The actual even building structure is going to be massive! And when it come to the outdoor track color, I noticed that the indoor track section ended right where it will go go outdoors, my guess is that track is not on site yet or footers near by are not complete. If I were to guess where the next track will go in, it would be in the station. here is a tentative schedule that was 'leaked' According to this we won't see any more track erection until after 11/1/11. And it also says building erection starts Tuesday. Let's see how quick it goes up....

^You'll get a nice view, especially if you go to bitten directly at 6pm. I wish I had done that before the sunset. You can see allot more from there.