Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

[robbalvey]

^Tempesto was great. The only hinderance was capacity, but BGW is really deserted lately during the weeks, so I dont think that it is an issue anymore.

Has it really been a issue? I mean, I really didn't hear that many people waiting in super long lines for it.

 

It rarely exceeds 45 minutes. The ops on the ride are terrific.

And that's VERY reasonable for the park's "new ride" - one that many people claimed would have such low capacity that the line would be HOURS long!

[CPmillenia94]

The crew on tempesto was fantastic when I was there. The line was short and they were still dispatching in 30 seconds.

[Jcoaster]

^Tempesto was great. The only hinderance was capacity, but BGW is really deserted lately during the weeks, so I dont think that it is an issue anymore.

Has it really been a issue? I mean, I really didn't hear that many people waiting in super long lines for it.

 

It rarely exceeds 45 minutes. The ops on the ride are terrific.

And that's VERY reasonable for the park's "new ride" - one that many people claimed would have such low capacity that the line would be HOURS long!

 

My favorite complaint when it was being installed was how it was going to be "out of place" or "ruin the aesthetics of Apollo's Chariot" or some other made up complaint. When I went there in June and finally saw it looked absolutely fine. I actually think it makes the Festa Italia section looked better. It was nicely place inbetween two things like a booth or show at an actually festival.

[RollerManic]

^Tempesto was great. The only hinderance was capacity, but BGW is really deserted lately during the weeks, so I dont think that it is an issue anymore.

Has it really been a issue? I mean, I really didn't hear that many people waiting in super long lines for it.

 

It rarely exceeds 45 minutes. The ops on the ride are terrific.

And that's VERY reasonable for the park's "new ride" - one that many people claimed would have such low capacity that the line would be HOURS long!

 

I meant "issue" as in complaint. So yes, it has never been an issue.

[cfc]

I went over to the park today for a wee bit of coaster riding and to check out nay Howl-o-Scream prep that may be going on. I imagine that the HOS gears will kick into high following Labor Day, but here's a look at what I found.

Oh, were they now?

So far, the HOS prep isn't very intrusive.

Spot the Dark Butterfly of Horror!

So far, crows have taken residence at Cutthroat Cove. No sign of any scalawags or n'er-do-wells yet.

The new Lumberhacks maze is supposed to be in the woods behind Verbolten.

Looks like something new has been built.

I assume this is for Lumberhacks (but I could be mistaken).

I wonder if the old Drachen Fire barn is going to house at least some of Lumberhacks. There have been mazes there in the past.

Bitten's Bloodsuckers have already started moving into the old Drachen Fire Station--or did they ever leave?

Hmm--I think this is part of the new Cornered maze. Root of All Evil was here in the past.

The Grim Reaper is waiting to be installed in front of the Catacombs in France. Dude looks a bit lonesome.

But he has a few Hell Beasts to keep him company.

More Catacombs prep. I rather like this maze (good atmosphere) but it's been here a long time--only Bitten is older.

Looks like the German villagers are wasting no time getting ready for Vampire Point.

"Ven monsters is loose, boards must be tight."

It's always Howl-o-Scream at DarKastle.

A ghost from BGW's past that you can still ride in Mexico.

My guess is that after Bier Fest, this bar will morph into the Casket Club for HOS.

For all you Drachen Fire fans out there. I'm not one of you, but I mean no disrespect.

I wonder what they've "Unearthed" so far?

Looks like they found an ancient snack-cake wrapper.

And for all you Questor fans (this was the best ride they ever had in the Europe in the Air building).

May as well end with a coaster shot. Thanks for reading.

[DJeXeL]

Such a beautiful park. Can't wait to make it back.

[chickenbowl]

Is this park ever going to build a wooden coaster? Now that RMC has proved it can build a smooth and quiet wooden coaster, do you guys think it's possible that we may see a custom topper track RMC in 2017 or 2018? The parks landscape would be perfect for a terrain RMC in my opinion!

[mike541x]

Great update, Chuck. I'm hoping to make it out to HOS this year.

 

Is this park ever going to build a wooden coaster? Now that RMC has proved it can build a smooth and quiet wooden coaster, do you guys think it's possible that we may see a custom topper track RMC in 2017 or 2018? The parks landscape would be perfect for a terrain RMC in my opinion!

 

I agree. I'd love to see an RMC at this park, it would fit perfectly with the park's line up.

[Superbatboy]

An RMC would be perfect at this park, well at any park for that matter

[njcoasterguy34]

I'd like to see an Intamin pre-fab.

[cfc]

An RMC would be perfect at this park, well at any park for that matter

 

I'd like to see an Intamin pre-fab.

 

Either (or both) of these would be nice.

 

As for me, I'm looking forward to Howl-o-Scream at the moment.

[Jcoaster]

An Intamin Pre-Fab would look nice in Drachen Fires old footprint. Just wishful thinking though.

[TyRush]

A wooden coaster is something BGW could definitely benefit from. Are there any noise restrictions?

[Jcoaster]

A wooden coaster is something BGW could definitely benefit from. Are there any noise restrictions?

 

Kingsmill. Both Intamin pre-fabs and RMC's are significantly quieter than traditional wood coasters.

[TB305]

Unfortunately, Larry Giles hates Intamin. We won't be getting a prefab. Ever.

[cfc]

^I wonder what he thinks of Moser?

[TB305]

He thinks he got a Tempest out of their lawsuit!

[gilly_bob]

Well I finally ended up going to the park this weekend for the first time and it was probably the best decision I have made in a long time. My friend and I left Pennsylvania around 8pm on Saturday night and drove a little north of Richmond and stayed at a hotel for the night. We left the hotel a little before 9am and got to the park around 10:15am. I have been to both Sea World Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa and wasn't too impressed with these parks, but upon entering the park I was completely blown away with how different the Williamsburg park was going to be! I love the height check stations disguised as phone booths! We ran straight for Tempesto to get it out of the way since it was low capacity. The line was about 60 people deep and we waiting about 10 minutes. The operators moved very quickly to get trains dispatched. I thought the ride was fun and was glad to knock one of these Premier creations off of my list, but I wouldn't run to reride it. The public RAVED about this ride all day though.

 

From here we hit Apollo's Chariot in the back. This ride was fun, but it isn't as intense as I was hoping. After Apollo we headed towards Verbolten, but I wanted to ride Davinci's Cradle after missing Buzzsaw at SFNE. This ride was run and looked to have a more tame cycle than the one at SFNE, but I'm glad I finally got to ride one of these flying carpet rides.

 

We hit Verbolten in the Back of the Green train. The ride was a lot of fun, but it was very rattle heavy after the show building. Great fun and the building caught my friend by surprise

 

Next we hit MachTower and had a nice view of all of the Howl o Scream props being built and staged in the fenced off Areas. We hit Verbolten again in the middle of the train with no wait and then we decided it was time to have a Pretzel.

 

After this we headed to Alpengeist which had our longest wait of the day because somebody decided to have too much beer before riding and spew it all over the station. We were in row 5 and I thought this ride was great and really wanted to ride it in the front. We decided to come back later when the line was shorter and wait for the front.

 

After this we rode Le Scoot with a 20 minute wait and then headed towards Griffon. We ended up in the third row and we both enjoyed this ride tremendously. After this we ran to Loch Ness Monster where I had my clavicles destroyed by the restraint since I'm 6'3", but I really enjoyed the theming and the charm to the ride. After this we decided to hit Pompeii twice which was a lot of fun and try Roman Rapids, but the line for the rapids wasn't moving so we decided on lunch.

 

After lunch we took the train back to the back side of the park and did some shopping and hit Griffon in the front which was absolutely incredible. It was about 3:30pm at this point so we decided to do the wine tasting in France which resulted in us doing the tasting in Germany and England as well. After that we decided a glass of wine would be great and then we rerode Verbolten and Mach Tower a little tipsy They were both great fun. After both of those we decided on a pretzel and a beer and ventured to Alpengeist which we rode in the front with a one train wait. This ride is AMAZING. The elements, the speed, and height are crazy. I will easily put this over Banshee as my favorite invert!

 

Following Alpengeist we rode Le Scoot twice in a row and then ran to Griffon at 7:45p with no wait. We rushed off the ride and ran to Ireland to catch the last showing of Celtic Fyre for the day. After the show we ran to Loch Ness for a night ride, Griffon for two night rides, and then over to Alpengeist in the back row for 3 rides in a ROW! On the third ride we were treated to the fireworks show going up the lift.

 

After the ride we watched the end of the fireworks show, hit Mach Tower again, and then rode Verbolten in the dark. Verbolten is a completely different ride in the dark!

After verbolten it was about 9:54. From Verbolten we SPRINTED (just like all of the BGW advertisements) over to Appolo's Chariot to get the last two rides of the night in the back row! This ride was also much better at night.

 

Needless to say I was very impressed with this park and their commitment to their guests. Every employee was friendly and willing to help. One thing I really liked was the headsets the operators had on allowed them to communicate without having all of the guests hear their conversations. Six Flags America could benefit from this so I don't have to hear Darnell complaining that he can't put his two weeks notice in because McDonalds won't hire him back over the microphone on Roar (This happened at my last visit to SFA) I think we encountered one rude employee and she was the tram driver yelling at people walking in front of the tram so I don't blame her.

 

Yesterday 8/31 we went to Water Country USA. It was drizzling when we arrived at 10:15am and continued to do so until about noon. The park was not crowded and what could have been a miserable day for guests and operators was not. All of the operators were very pleasant and ready to make a conversation with you. The park was great and we were fortunate enough to ride everything multiple times with minimal waits. We ended up leaving at 1:30pm which got us back into Pennsylvania at 6:30. Callosal Curl was a lot of fun and unexpected since it was my first wave wall slide like this.

 

I unfortunately took very few and very POOR quality pictures or I would post them. I smell a return visit happening next year for sure!

[cfc]

After this we headed to Alpengeist which had our longest wait of the day because somebody decided to have too much beer before riding and spew it all over the station.

 

I walked into the station shortly after this incident.

[Philrad71]

^ & ^^Hmmm...I wonder how Bier Fest will be then?

 

Speaking of which, I just got our discount Club TPR tix bought and printed for our visit to check out said Bier Fest on the 12th...can't wait!

 

Edit: Just saw the revamped beer list on their website. My local beer, Southern Tier will be represented with their awesome IPA - YAY!

 

Also like how they put Bud Lite down as a "Crisp & Fruity Bier" - probably because they didn't have a section for "Crap Bier"?

From BGE website

[cfc]

^O'Connor's Great Dismal Black IPA is good stuff.

[Guy T. Koepp]

WHAT?!

 

No Coors Light?!

 

Looks like I'll just have to hop on the Closest Carnival Death Trap and get my real bier fix.

[RollerManic]

A wooden coaster is something BGW could definitely benefit from. Are there any noise restrictions?

 

Kingsmill. Both Intamin pre-fabs and RMC's are significantly quieter than traditional wood coasters.

 

Not at all true for El Toro...

 

Extreme negative gs + lots of friction = distinct, beautiful sounds

[Philrad71]

^O'Connor's Great Dismal Black IPA is good stuff.

 

Being a huge IPA fan, I will have to try that one...thanks, Chuck!

[Jcoaster]

A wooden coaster is something BGW could definitely benefit from. Are there any noise restrictions?

 

Kingsmill. Both Intamin pre-fabs and RMC's are significantly quieter than traditional wood coasters.

 

Not at all true for El Toro...

 

Extreme negative gs + lots of friction = distinct, beautiful sounds

 

They are still considerably more quiet than traditional wood coasters