Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

[dragonskeep]

We had a pretty good shake many years ago in Ohio. It was cool and scary, reminds you real quick that the rock we live on is alive

[Saldek]

Update from the park...

 

Busch Gardens

All of our attractions have reopened. Thank you for your patience while we inspected them after the earthquake.

[Toro#1]

unbelievable, I was at the park yesterday and had a wonderful day, pretty eerie that I was there just a day before this!

 

On the note of Mach Tower, I got on it yesterday and had a fun ride. It's not the best, the effect at the top was quite lame and the drop, while very quick (and some say pointless) was fun, I was most thankful that the breaks worked , overall a nice addition because they needed a bigger flat to go with Darkastle

[T-BONDIcoasterkid]

Felt a pretty signifigant shake down in Virginia Beach too.

[bejackso]

my quick TR from this past sat 08/20:

 

get to the park around 10:30, head straight to mach tower. only waited about 15 min or so. the red/blue/green/yellow loading system is cool and efficient, but the taped-out areas in the queue line have to be temporary because they were getting all torn up/stepped on. the ride itself was better than i expected, but still not as good as the drop tower at KD. breakdown:

 

good: music on the way up, theming, rotating on the way up, placement in the park, color system for quick loading, drop was longer than i thought it would be given how high the brakes come up on the tower

bad: vibrating seats right before the freefall (kinda cheesy and also lets you know right when you're going to drop), the rotating on the way up is inconsistent in the vertical direction as well as the spinning direction, drop still isn't long enough

 

got a good view of the construction on verboten (see pic for sign posted near bumper cars, confirmed name seems to be verboten) seems to be coming along nicely, esp the event building. they've cleared significantly back into the drachen fire area. installing a train station back there would be a GREAT idea, because the quickest way to get to the germany section of the park currently is.........walking.

 

lastly, i could NOT get over how EMPTY the park was this past sat. great weather (sunny and 80 or 85), weekend, day after mach tower official opening, and nearly all the rides were walk-ons. it was truly bizarre. the pic i uploaded is the queue line for griffon at about 2pm on a SATURDAY. unreal.

verboten - official name

griffon queue line at 2pm on saturday

[coasterfreak101]

I wasn't sure whether it would be Verboten ("Forbidden") or Verbolten, which is sort of a play on the word to combine the ideas of "forbidden" and "speed." I'm still curious though - just because the sign didn't have the "l" doesn't mean that the ride name won't! After all, the construction zone is certainly forbidden.

[Schotcher]

Yeah what's up with Griffon usually it's a walk into the station but now the line goes into the second room. Griffon ride ops are very slow this year IMO. Anyone else think that?

[coasterfreak101]

I never understood how Griffon runs three trains and has a hard time sending one out before the first returns to the station, while some SheiKra videos show five (?) trains running with one dropping as the next is halfway up the lift hill.

[CoasterLover]

Shiekra loads and checks two trains at the same time, so once one train clears the lift, the second train is already out of the station and heading up the lift (much like how Maverick at Cedar Point loads two trains and the second waits at the bottom of the lift until the first train clears the block). Griffon loads one train at a time, so when the first train is on the way up the lift, the second train still needs to park, unload, reload, and check before it can dispatch.

[paiging_jen]

I never understood how Griffon runs three trains and has a hard time sending one out before the first returns to the station, while some SheiKra videos show five (?) trains running with one dropping as the next is halfway up the lift hill.

 

I would be ecstatic if I saw SheiKra operating that fast. It may have in the past, but I haven't seen anything close to that in my many visits over the last year.

 

I can't say much about recent operations at BGW, but the limited times I've been the Griffon crew was on top of their game. I hate to hear that may not be the case recently.

[Schotcher]

I can't say much about recent operations at BGW, but the limited times I've been the Griffon crew was on top of their game. I hate to hear that may not be the case recently.

 

Yeah I go every year been riding Griffon every year since it opened. Usually they are VERY good at loading, very fast, swift, and chill. But this year they were awful. I usually give the Griffon crew a 9/10. This year I give em a 4/10.

[kingadam719]

^^ That is not the confirmed "official" name yet. Go on google translate and "Zutritt Verboten" means "Access Forbidden" or pretty much just saying don't go in there, but in German.

[Schotcher]

^ And also Zierer is a German company so probably some Zierer engineers out there to oversee everything.

[Skycoastin Steve]

I can't say much about recent operations at BGW, but the limited times I've been the Griffon crew was on top of their game. I hate to hear that may not be the case recently.

 

Yeah I go every year been riding Griffon every year since it opened. Usually they are VERY good at loading, very fast, swift, and chill. But this year they were awful. I usually give the Griffon crew a 9/10. This year I give em a 4/10.

 

Um, no. Griffon's crew has been very, very good all year. This is a video I shot in the spring where they have two operators and still get the train out right as the train behind it is pulling in, and that was honestly one of the slowest dispatches they had that day.

 

 

Sheikra's crew has never been good. Ever. Griffon and Sheikra's crews are complete, polar opposites of one another. I literally avoid riding Sheikra because of how bad that crew is, because I know how long I'll have to wait if I get in line.

[Schotcher]

When I was there it was awful. Line was longer than usual. It took a solid 2-3 minutes from when people boarded to when the gates opened. Much too long. Occasionally the train would move to far forward for the floors to come up and they would have to wait until the other train got up the lift till they could pull it back. My harness wasn't checked once. My seatbelt wasn't checked once.

 

I don't mean to bitch about all this, but to be honest IMO that's a pretty lousy ride op crew. That's just me.

 

I've never had any problem with Griffon till now. Maybe it was just a bad day

[cfc]

I've never had any problem with Griffon till now. Maybe it was just a bad day

 

I haven't seen any problems with the Griffon crew this season, but "off days" happen.

[bejackso]

ok, nm about the official name being verboten.

 

i was pleased to see nessie, griffon, apollo, and alpie all running 3 trains this past saturday with pretty efficient loading/unloading. you wont see that at six flags

[netdvn]

the rotating on the way up is inconsistent in the vertical direction as well as the spinning direction, drop still isn't long enough

 

I've never had problems with the rotation/drop. You can barely feel the brakes slowing down until you reach close to the bottom of the tower. The spinning only really happens on the set of brakes and doesn't let up until you pass them.

 

lastly, i could NOT get over how EMPTY the park was this past sat. great weather (sunny and 80 or 85), weekend, day after mach tower official opening, and nearly all the rides were walk-ons. it was truly bizarre. the pic i uploaded is the queue line for griffon at about 2pm on a SATURDAY. unreal.

 

Crowds really don't start picking up until around 4-5. Even on a busy day like July 4th weekend. All the Season Passholders come in around that time as well as all the vacationers that want to get some rides in before the next day.

[coasterfreak101]

^^Nessie was running three trains?? I didn't even know that still happened. Do they ever manage to loop them at the same time anymore?

[cfc]

^Double looping hasn't happened in years, to the best of my knowledge.

Edited August 24, 2011 by cfc

[SKULLY]

^Double looping hasn't happened in years, to the best of my knowledge.

 

The park employees always told me it was due to possible objects, accidentally and intentionally, falling from one train to another. They mentioned releasing each train as early as the system would allow to induce double looping but the spacing was simply increased just enough to where one train would be exiting one loop just prior to the other starting. I remember seeing just how close they would get but it wasn't quite there. This was in the early to mid 2000's but I would imagine that nothing has changed. It's a shame that they won't just add some sort of nets within the structure as even the park used to promote those images to no end.

[harper83087]

I can't say much about recent operations at BGW, but the limited times I've been the Griffon crew was on top of their game. I hate to hear that may not be the case recently.

 

Yeah I go every year been riding Griffon every year since it opened. Usually they are VERY good at loading, very fast, swift, and chill. But this year they were awful. I usually give the Griffon crew a 9/10. This year I give em a 4/10.

 

Um, no. Griffon's crew has been very, very good all year. This is a video I shot in the spring where they have two operators and still get the train out right as the train behind it is pulling in, and that was honestly one of the slowest dispatches they had that day.

 

 

I'll say he is efficient, checking pretty much 20 seats to her 10 and she had empty seats. Watching this though made me want to get back there and ride this, still haven't been on a DM. I love the look of those super wide trians.

[Skycoastin Steve]

^She also had three empty seats in the front row that she had to lock and buckle the seat belt for. They were pretty even most of that day.

[CardCraze]

Suspicion, darkness and mind-numbing fear surround the “Bitten” house which is set in Eastern Europe in the late 1800s. Full of legends and lore of vampires and the undead that preyed on the innocent, this manor sits by the road upon which all travelers must pass but few return.

 

Looks like Bitten is the 4th confirmed Maze, and the 2nd returning from last year.

 

In an unrelated note, Hurricane irene is bearing down and making a close call for Virginia. The Outer Banks have began evacuating, and while latest forecast tracks would spare BGW the brunt of the storm, it's certainly going to be a weekend to avoid the park.

 

[Synshine]

^Double looping hasn't happened in years, to the best of my knowledge.

 

 

I've been on it when it did, but it's been at least 10 years since.