Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

[Homeboy23]

^ Page 160

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

^Well he means what kind of preliminary testing issue was it. Oh and I drew this during study block...

Sketch of Mach Tower

[esvadj]

Here is the OFFICIAL Mach Tower commercial, little better quality

 

 

 

soon my pretty, soon ....

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

Sorry when I posted the commercial for mach tower it was off my video camera cause it was not on youtube so I could not share. Thanks

[CorkscrewFoley]

I'm a bit out of the loop, but who's the manufacturer for Mach Tower?

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

Moser Rides, based in Italy.

[CorkscrewFoley]

^Oh...Thanks.

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

Anytime.

[braztaz]

I always thought that BGW made the worst commercials. But the ride will be fun, no doubt.

[CorkscrewFoley]

Yeah, wasn't exactly a spectacular commercial, but it sure as hell beats the Ride Warriors commercials that Cedar Fair crap out.

[kingadam719]

Has anyone else noticed the fact that Mach Tower seems to be getting thicker now? The cranes have been up all week now and it looks as if the tower is receiving numerous new pieces, which started from the top (earlier this week) and working their way down the whole tower. Looks as if they are giving it another layer, yet the catch car is still going up and down (still without theming). Odd right?

[Visioneer]

What happens when you plan a grand opening, without soft openings, for the big weekend start of the summer?

 

SEE: Cheetah Hunt opening day delay

 

I mentioned about Mach's delayed opening. I see a lot of possible excuses why, but in reality, it's the new school of some theme park owners. SeaWorld parks are different than when under AB. I'll keep stressing that.

 

We can pretend or make excuses (e.g. holiday events, new tech, etc.), but some parks just don't have this problem. BGW never had this problem before. I rode Alp and Apollo on their seasons respective opening weekends.

 

Thanks @jarmor for seeing this along with adding "it's a drop tower." My thoughts exactly. We have few true theme parks in the U.S. versus International gems. Call me critical, but I love these former-AB parks and I hate to see what may be happening.

[cfc]

^Hmm--I wouldn't say that BGW has "never" had this problem before. I rarely attend a ride's opening day, but I made an exception for Curse of DarKastle. I waited three and a half hours (lots of technical problems), while the park handed out free water bottles to those in line. Even then, the ride still had sound issues, which were tweaked and resolved a week later. When I left after my ride, the line for DarKastle ran all the way down to Alpengeist.

 

Granted, DarKastle is a more complex attraction than Mach Tower--as is Cheetah Hunt.

[er111a]

^

You also have to consider the "surprises" no one yet knows what they are and those very well could be more complex than we even know

[Saldek]

Here's a video of Mach Tower testing in the park today.

 

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

^Thanks for the video! And does anyone know why it is not rotating on the way up? I am guessing it's because it is still in testing. Can't wait for full on testing.

[Expoman]

Thanks for that video. I have been waiting to see Mach Tower testing ever since I heard the announcement last year. The ride looks amazing. I am very impressed with Moser with the design of the tower. People are being way too cynical about the new ownership of Busch Gardens. I understand that we are not in the glory days of the Anheuser Busch ownership, but people need to realize that The Blackstone Group is investing big bucks into the parks. Cheetah Hunt down in Tampa looks amazing, and I can only hope for the 2012 coaster here in Williamsburg can match Cheetah Hunt. I am still a little worried about Zierer designing the coaster, but I will not judge till I ride the coaster. I still don't even now if the whole Zierer thing is written in stone yet. I have been reading into www.BGWfans.com a little too much lately, and I appreciate their enthusiasm for the future of Busch Gardens. I guess I am a little paranoid about Zierer because of the problems back in the early 1990's when Busch went with Arrow instead of B & M to design Drachen Fire, and Busch Gardens Tampa went with B & M for Kumba. Since Cheetah Hunt was designed by Intamin I thought for sure that the 2012 coaster would also be designed by the same company. I love Intamin, and I have been craving more Intamin goodness ever since I rode Intimidator 305 last year at KD. As for Mach Tower I remember being turned off by Moser because I really didn't know their resume, but I feel like Moser has done a fabulous job with Mach Tower. Hopefully if Zierer is designing the coaster they will come through with a classic attraction. Zierer is a German manufacturer, and usually most German made products are very well designed. When a park dismantles the ride that turned me on to roller coasters I want a replacement that is going to rival the Wolf. The Big Bad Wolf was my first roller coaster at the age of 6, and I will never forget that moment in my life. Kudos to Busch for Mach Tower, I think it is going to be an excellent addition to a park that really needs some thrill rides other than the coasters. All I can say is Oktoberfest is gonna be something else in 2012, and will be one of the most electrifying areas of the park. I will be at the park on Monday, and can't wait to get my first real glimpse at Mach Tower.

[netdvn]

BGW Weekend report...

 

Mach Tower was testing on and off literally all day yesterday. I saw no testing today though. The ride moves VERY slowly up the tower and the catch car moves very slowly down. When the car reaches the top, it basically just sat there for a few minutes. Because this is just testing, I'm pretty sure everything will be a bit sped up once the ride opens in order to keep capacity high for the ride. No rotating car like the commercial though :\

 

The catch car decoration looks great!

 

I mentioned about Mach's delayed opening. I see a lot of possible excuses why, but in reality, it's the new school of some theme park owners. SeaWorld parks are different than when under AB. I'll keep stressing that.

The parks may be a little different under a new name, but BGW is still a wonderful park. BGW had less than a month to not only build the ride, but test it, have it pass inspections, fix all the bugs in the ride, test it with people on the ride, and plan for a grand opening. I'd say BGW handled this whole situation extremely well. On top of that, Blackstone is really investing far more capital in their parks and if you really look at the companies Blackstone is leaning to for their new rides (Mack, Moser, Intamin, Zierer), you can tell that they're taking more risks with building their new rides.

 

We can pretend or make excuses (e.g. holiday events, new tech, etc.), but some parks just don't have this problem. BGW never had this problem before. I rode Alp and Apollo on their seasons respective opening weekends.

I'd say 99% of all theme parks in the world face this problem with their new rides. Griffon literally broke down every other day during it's first few weeks of operation, combined with one train operations, and 2 hour + waits (and that's a B&M coaster at an AB park). Seeing this is brand new technology Moser and BGW are working with (this is only Moser's second major drop tower) there's gonna be major problems. Couple that with the typical new ride problems and I'm pretty sure BGW pushed back the opening date for a good reason.

 

- In a nutshell, I'd rather have a delayed opening and a ride in (almost) perfect operating order for the grand opening over an on time opening plagued with breakdowns and complaints, especially for a ride like Mach Tower.

[darrylcthemaster]

sorry you guys i had to make a new TPR account because my old one's user name and password could not be recovered

 

but anyway

 

today the mach tower tested there rotating feature on the tower today. it still lifted slowly but the rotation was very fast and noticeable. the drop really drew a crowd because you can hear the carriage pick up speed from the other side of the park. literally the whole park was interested in watching it.

 

as far as the surprise. ive managed to talk to an employee eating a funnel cake on their lunch brake he told me that they've had some problems filling the pneumatics with air for the seats. ... . so i am assuming that they will vibrate significantly at the top. and i was also told that the carriage fully equipped weighs 2.35 tons

 

i have a video but its crappy quality and i think ins in the wrong format so i have to convert it its gonna take some time

 

 

heres is an old test video showing a drop but no rotation

 

[CardCraze]

as far as the surprise. ive managed to talk to an employee eating a funnel cake on their lunch brake he told me that they've had some problems filling the pneumatics with air for the seats. ... . so i am assuming that they will vibrate significantly at the top. and i was also told that the carriage fully equipped weighs 2.35 tons

 

Did you confirm this with the Dippin' Dots guy?

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

Major win^

[Drachen77]

I just went here on Sunday for the first time this year. Park is still looking fantastic and the new Oktoberfest area looks nice. I had a pretzel and beer from the new shop and both were fantastic. I had a plain jumbo pretzel but can't remember exactly what type of beer I had, it was a craft wheat beer though. It was pretty good and reminded me of when I lived in Germany. They weren't doing anything with Mach Tower but it looks pretty amazing. A very different type of ride for Williamsburg.

 

The longest line we stood in was Curse of DarKastle, about 40 minutes. Now that I've been to Islands of Adventure, I see why people think Spiderman is better. DarKastle just doesn't have as much action as Spiderman. DarKastle is still a ton of fun but just isn't quite as good as Spiderman.

 

As I've gotten older Loch Ness continues to be more painful every year. I have some issues with my lower back and most coasters don't bother me expect Stand-Ups. However, on Loch Ness I can really feel the pain as my back compresses through the loops. I don't want to, but I may have to start sitting it out.

 

Trapper's Smokehouse was as good as ever. I have a tradition of buying a keychain from every themepark I go to and I need a new one for BGW now that Big Bad Wolf has retired. I prefer to get ones with the coasters on it but they didn't have any good ones. Bummer.

[Gerstlauer1]

This park looks awesome!

[Vigil]

Did the park say when the ride is supposed to open? Is it just an "as soon as possible" type deal. I am planning on going sometime in the next few weeks, but I don't want to go until after it opens.

[netdvn]

Opening has been pushed back two weeks from Memorial weekend.