Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

[cfc]

^The removal is actually supposed to finished within the next three to four months. Makes no sense to have it sitting there for two months with no dismantling.

 

Where did you hear this? (Just curious.) I suppose they could do some of the work Monday-Thursday during HOS.

[bgeguy]

In the press release FAQ, it mentions that guests will be able to see the dismantling process.

[bpmitchell]

Here are some pix from today on my time at the park for a few hrs. The park was very quiet and hardly anybody there. Davinci Cradle and Corkscrew hill are temporarily closed, I do not know why. Ireland is already decorated in pumpkins and little overhead tents throughout Ireland are to be seen. *Each photo is watermarked "Behind The Thrills" to prevent piracy of photos to other sites, I share my photos with sites and do not wish for them to be pirated to other sites, if you wish to use one of my photos for your site, please contact me. Each photo is property of Behind The Thrills and is for sharing to others on this site in TRs or other threads.*

 

Photos:

What are these tents for?

Big pumpkin in Ireland

Busch Gardens loves this fencing game of theirs

queue line is fenced in

big sign is gone

The entrance is fenced off

Waste money to put up anniversary plaques only to take them down a short time later

Nobody here today, it is closed, ugh

Almost like out of a movie, where is everybody?

I miss this ride

Empty station house

RIP BBW

Advertisement for howloscream

Graveyard in the area

Decorations

Some of the howloscream decorations going up by Drachen Fire area

[griffon]

Thanks for the picture update, I was wondering how they would seal off that area. Are all 3 trains still in the transfer area?

[bpmitchell]

1 train is at the bottom of the 2nd lift, 1 is in the maintenance bay and the other is there by the station.

[Ziggy Stardust]

This is fairly random. But has anybody else noticed what looks like a face at BGE's exit gate?

See it?

[cfc]

^I believe that it represents as eagle (as in the Busch eagle).

 

Does sort of look like as evil face, I guess.

[deathbydinn]

I still haven't truly accepted that it's closed. I never got on it and ever since I first saw I wanted to ride it more than any other coaster. There was just something about it that I loved. Hopefully whatever takes it's place will be just as good as everyone says BBW was.

[bpmitchell]

I still haven't truly accepted that it's closed. I never got on it and ever since I first saw I wanted to ride it more than any other coaster. There was just something about it that I loved. Hopefully whatever takes it's place will be just as good as everyone says BBW was.

 

I had tears in my eyes yesterday when I walked by the ride area. It is hard to accept the fact that the ride is permanently closed and will be dismantled.

[astromattical]

My wife and I recently moved back to the area from Maryland and visited the park yesterday - got annual passes! The park wasn't crowded at all, and I got on Griffin in about 5 minutes. We made it a short day having got there at about 1:30 and just saw a few shows with the animal stuff they had going on (which was awesome).

 

I have been out of the theme park loop (no pun intended) for years now after having been totally into it for a while and being a member of ACE. I had no idea about BBW, even after walking past it! Another classic gone...I just hope Nessie sticks around.

 

This is my first post - and I will pretty much only be going to BGW with the exception of some Orlando, FL parks around Christmas. You'll see me here often!

[KDCOASTERFAN]

I still haven't truly accepted that it's closed. I never got on it and ever since I first saw I wanted to ride it more than any other coaster. There was just something about it that I loved. Hopefully whatever takes it's place will be just as good as everyone says BBW was.

 

First DF & now BBW,I'm sure that nessie is soon to follow as BGW is just on a hate/hate relationship with Arrow these days.When DF was yanked the excuse(more like the lie) given was that ridership suffered due to poor engineering of the ride when it was really due to poor placement & now the excuse(or lie) given in the case of BBW is that they need the space for a new ride when the DF site has PLENTY of space to build a decent sized coaster alone.

[KPfreak519]

I still haven't truly accepted that it's closed. I never got on it and ever since I first saw I wanted to ride it more than any other coaster. There was just something about it that I loved. Hopefully whatever takes it's place will be just as good as everyone says BBW was.

 

First DF & now BBW,I'm sure that nessie is soon to follow as BGW is just on a hate/hate relationship with Arrow these days.When DF was yanked the excuse(more like the lie) given was that ridership suffered due to poor engineering of the ride when it was really due to poor placement & now the excuse(or lie) given in the case of BBW is that they need the space for a new ride when the DF site has PLENTY of space to build a decent sized coaster alone.

 

Umm, no. They have said several times BBW "reached the end of its service life" and was "too costly to maintain." NOWHERE have they said they were removing it because they need space for a new ride; although they have said they will REPLACE BBW with a new ride, they did not say this was the reason for its removal.

[astromattical]

I'm under the impression that a coaster isn't going there - an entirely new section is being planned (according to some of the numerous and varied rumors out there). It sucks, but I'm sure it's not just an anti-Arrow thing going on. If BBW is at the end of its service life as initially stated by Arrow (25 years), then it is simply time for BBW to go (can you imagine the legal implications if something went wrong after the service life came and went?).

 

Unfortunately, coasters do NOT last forever and the added costs of maintaining them beyond their service life is not a reasonable option given the economy, and again, not to even begin getting into the legal aspects.

[cfc]

I've never bought the "poor placement" argument when it come to Drachen Fire. Busch has been running Howl-o-Scream mazes in DF's old station and barn for years, and no one has a problem finding those.

 

It was rough, people came off with bruises and headaches (me among them), and it got a bad reputation as a result.

[astromattical]

Unfortunately, with DF - the people who didn't get "injured" on the ride (myself included, after literally hundreds of rides on it over several years) did not complain for they had nothing to complain about. I'm sure that the amount of people who never once got hurt outnumbered the people who did.

 

It is what it is, and I am thankful that I did get to ride it as much as I did while it was around. I remember staying on it from 8PM-10PM without having to get off on numerous occasions - at worse moving to another car.

 

Having said that, I agree that the poor location argument is unfounded. I, nor anyone else I know, ever had trouble finding it. I believe it was a matter that too many complaints were received about injuries, and it got to a point where it was becoming too great of a liability for the park.

[Miltonmx]

Maybe I understand the "end of its service life".

 

The track is more like the used on the Schwarzkopf coasters. The sum of the coaster type + Age + steel oxidation + stress on the track, gives as a result a short life period of the coaster. I don´t know if its expensive a replacement of a track segment, but surely it is.

 

Now The Big Bad Wolf is under construcction on the coaster heaven!!

 

I hope that Nessy stands for many more years with us.

[KDCOASTERFAN]

Maybe I understand the "end of its service life".

 

The track is more like the used on the Schwarzkopf coasters. The sum of the coaster type + Age + steel oxidation + stress on the track, gives as a result a short life period of the coaster. I don´t know if its expensive a replacement of a track segment, but surely it is.

 

Now The Big Bad Wolf is under construcction on the coaster heaven!!

 

I hope that Nessy stands for many more years with us.

 

That's the thing:Nessie is some 31 years old as of now so shouldn't it have passed the end of it's "service life" long before BBW even did? Both rides are made of steel after all & the track requires the same basic maintenance such as paint on a regular basis to help slow down oxidation but the park simply didn't want to put forth the cap ex to maintain it any further & chose the easier option....to just get rid of it.

[B-RadG]

^Last I checked, Loch Ness Monster wasn't slinging a train that can swing around at 50 mph over tight turns and quick banking changes that yank on the track and supports. Loch Ness Monster is a much more conventional coaster that requires little maintenance, is good on parts, and doesn't put too much stress on the track. By that logic, Corkscrew at CP and VF, Carolina Cyclone, Demon (CGA/SFGAM), Dragon Fire, Dragon Mountain, and DL's Viper would be gone by now because they're all older. But they're sit-down coasters that have been tried & proven reliable, Big Bad Wolf was one of those things they were still trying to get right. Bat was the initial prototype, that went after two years. Big Bad Wolf was the second prototype, and it lasted 25 years, which is pretty darn good.

[KPfreak519]

Maybe I understand the "end of its service life".

 

The track is more like the used on the Schwarzkopf coasters. The sum of the coaster type + Age + steel oxidation + stress on the track, gives as a result a short life period of the coaster. I don´t know if its expensive a replacement of a track segment, but surely it is.

 

Now The Big Bad Wolf is under construcction on the coaster heaven!!

 

I hope that Nessy stands for many more years with us.

 

That's the thing:Nessie is some 31 years old as of now so shouldn't it have passed the end of it's "service life" long before BBW even did? Both rides are made of steel after all & the track requires the same basic maintenance such as paint on a regular basis to help slow down oxidation but the park simply didn't want to put forth the cap ex to maintain it any further & chose the easier option....to just get rid of it.

 

Just because Nessie is older then BBW doesnt have to mean anything. Im no engineer but I am positive the constant swinging of BBW's trains puts A LOT more stress on both the trains and track of BBW then Nessie's trains put on it; meaning BGE has probably dumped A LOT of money into maintaining BBW over the years; basically BBW wears away at a much faster rate than Nessie does.

[snowboard83]

I'm under the impression that a coaster isn't going there - an entirely new section is being planned (according to some of the numerous and varied rumors out there). It sucks, but I'm sure it's not just an anti-Arrow thing going on. If BBW is at the end of its service life as initially stated by Arrow (25 years), then it is simply time for BBW to go (can you imagine the legal implications if something went wrong after the service life came and went?).

 

Unfortunately, coasters do NOT last forever and the added costs of maintaining them beyond their service life is not a reasonable option given the economy, and again, not to even begin getting into the legal aspects.

 

Does anyone actually know if Arrow, or any coaster manufacturer for that matter, gave/give their coasters an End of Service Life date?

 

I did some thinking today about the wolf, and one day when I was at the park I asked a maintainence guy about the wolf, and he stated that the park could no longer get parts for it. I thought this was bologna because there are other suspendeds in the world, however an extremely important aspect of the wolf was indeed unique; ITS BRAKES. The ride was a very unusual mix of traditional Arrow brakes and a very unusual different brake system that may have been a prototype for Arrow suspendeds themselves after the Bat brake fiasco. Could that be a big part of the reason? Hmmm.

 

Speaking of The Bat, does anyone know where to find a picture of The Bats' brakes anyhow? Have never seen them, and am very curious.[/b]

[Spideyfreak]

http://rcdb.com/627.htm?p=4444

 

They are just traditional Arrow brakes. And they gripped on the part of the car that swings? That just looks like a disaster. I can only imagine the stress the chassis went under!

[snowboard83]

^^^oh wow, duh, forgot to check rcdb out lol, thanks friendly neighborhood spidey

[Spideyfreak]

^Everybody gets one.

[Homeboy23]

That's the thing:Nessie is some 31 years old as of now so shouldn't it have passed the end of it's "service life" long before BBW even did? Both rides are made of steel after all & the track requires the same basic maintenance such as paint on a regular basis to help slow down oxidation but the park simply didn't want to put forth the cap ex to maintain it any further & chose the easier option....to just get rid of it.

 

You believe that.

 

Anyway, it is sad to see it gone but I can't wait to see what replaces it. Either a ride or new land.

[cfc]

The Bats' brakes

 

Aren't those on the Batmobile: "Robin! The Joker has tampered with the Batbrakes!"

 

BBW was a very expensive ride to maintain, and it beat itself up every day it ran. Yes, Nessie is older, but it is a more "conventional" ride. Plus, I think that Nessie really is the park's "iconic" attraction (more so than the Wolf).