Busch Gardens Williamsburg: General Discussion

[BigAl]

I noticed there wasn't a topic for this park and BGWFans have released images of Verbolten's front and rear lights now working, so I thought I'd start a topic with them:

It has finally happened. After months and months of waiting, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has finally managed to get headlights and tail lights working on all of Verbolten’s trains. As some of you may remember, when Verbolten had its soft opening back in May of last year, the blue train had working headlights. Well, the following weekend (the ride’s grand opening) they had gone dark. Since then, we kept hearing whispers that they were on thier way but never saw any evidence of it. Well, as of the last few weeks of Christmas Town, they’re all working.

Now, the obvious question: Do they actually change the ride experience?

Put simply: Unless you’re in the very front row, not at all. When navigating through the curves leading up to the event building (the darkest section of the ride’s course doing Christmas Town) the only notable difference is the reflection of the lights off the track about 5 feet in front of the train. If you weren’t looking for it on-ride, you probably wouldn’t even notice that there’s light coming off the front-end. Somewhere inside the first launch tunnel, the headlights turn off leaving riders to experience the event building in complete darkness. After the drop-track as the engine noises begin to play, the headlights flash on and the train dips down into the second launch. That is, by far, the most notable aspect of the headlights from an on-ride point of view. Seeing those headlights come back on after surviving a trip through the Black Forest is a very neat effect. Following the 2nd launch, the headlights are more or less completely unnoticeable though I do look forward to experiencing the headlights alongside the fog they pump into the Rhine River drop area during Howl-O-Scream. It should make for a splendid effect.

With all that said about the on-ride experience, the effect the headlights have on the off-ride experience should also be noted. As you may expect, they look fantastic. In the past, after dark, you would hardly see Verbolten’s course from the Rhine River bridge. After the recent addition however, each passing Verbolten train catches your eye as it plunges off of the bridge and then swerves through the trees as it heads towards the brake run. It really does give the ride that nighttime curb appeal that it had formerly been lacking. Anyway, below is a short video showing them in use. Enjoy!

Verbolten: Now with Headlights!



I think it looks excellent. It's still no Big Bad Wolf though, mind. :/

 

[Rob]

Ah glad to see that they have got them sorted! They probably don't add much to the on ride experience but I'm sure that they look great off ride and it is a really nice little touch.

As most of you know, I absolutley love this park, it's stunning. There is a wonderful mix of themig, beatuty and thrills. I can't wait to go back one day and experience Verbolten!

 

[Sam]

Still can't believe they knocked down Big Bad Wolf to build this crap.

 

[Rob]

Still can't believe they knocked down Big Bad Wolf to build this crap.

Oi! Verbolten FTW!

 

[BigAl]

In an attempt to bulk-up this topic, I'll add this update here, even though this applies to both Busch Gardens Williamsburg Busch Gardens Florida!



An update from BGWFans has revealed that the Busch Gardens parks will be getting nice new logos:

With the upcoming IPO on the horizon, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment has chosen to assign new logos to both Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Busch Gardens Tampa. The new branding was first spotted by Newsie on the official filing papers for the chain’s IPO. A few days later, Party Rocker spotted the new logo on the upcoming version of Busch Gardens Tampa’s Fun Card which I have included below.

Since then, I’ve received a copy of a letter that went out to employees announcing the change and describing the new logo as well as the reasoning behind it. A copy of said letter can be found below.

Some nice subtle changes.

 

[Rob]

Oh god no! I do not like that at all, well it's nice enough but it's nowhere near as good as the current logo. It just seems a bit bland in comparison. The Coaster Tree is a nice idea, but I don't know, it just doesn't seem right.

Also this now makes all of my BGW merch out of date, this is bad!!

 

[Benzin]

The font isn't much different by looks of things...

Simplistic logos are the trend though... Not that it looks anything like a coaster tree mind...

 

[LiamC]

They look awful in my opinion haha. So cheap looking and lazy, not a fan. I don't really think there was anything wrong with their current one either tbh.

 

[Sam]

That logo's horrible, it looks like the logo of an corporate printing solutions company or something.

 

[Alastair]

I like the coaster tree and frankly to me the "new font" looks pretty much the same as the old one.

 

[Ian]

I see that logo and all I can think of is Haven

Horrible! I much prefer the old simple text.

 

[BigAl]

BGW Fans have posted about Le Scoot getting the lift hill replaced in an article here.

 

[BigAl]

BGW Fans is reporting that a new show is in order for the park:

Das Festhaus Will House Two Shows for 2013

A This is Oktoberfest-Style Show Is Returning To Das Festhaus for 2013
It’s true. After last year’s horrifically disappointing debut of Entwined, it was clear to everyone that major changes needed to take place. Well, today, we can finally share what we’ve been told to expect in 2013. Before continuing, a huge thanks goes out to Glissade13 who was able to corroborate what we’d been told. We wouldn’t be releasing what we know as soon as we are if it hadn’t have been for Glissade13′s post. Anyway, here’s what we can say:

1) A classic, This is Oktoberfest-style show is planned to return to the park sometime in 2013. I’m not sure if we’re looking at an opening day premier or a late Spring debut similar to Entwined’s last year.

2) I don’t believe a final name has been selected as of yet. With that said, I’ve heard both This is Oktoberfest and Roll Out The Barrel have been tossed around as options. For anyone who doesn’t know the origins of the name Roll Out The Barrel, it was the name of the planned This is Oktoberfest replacement that was ultimately replaced by Entwined.

3) As the title of this section would imply, Entwined will be returning in 2013. In fact, Entwined will be sharing Das Festhaus with this new show. The details are a bit lacking at the moment, but it seems that Entwined will be playing during the day with the new Oktoberfest show taking over in the late afternoon.

Entwined Is Still Getting a 2nd Chance
Fortunately, all hope for Entwined is not lost. I’ve been told that the park has brought in a good amount of outside talent in hopes that they can clean up the show. With that said, everything I’ve been told says that the majority of time, effort, and money is going into the new This is Oktoberfest-style show.

There's also this underneath that article:

New Boneyard Pictures

An anonymous user who goes by the name HOSBGWFAN has posted two new pictures showing a Big Bad Wolf car and a few Le Mans cars sitting in the park’s boneyard. It really is a shame to see them sitting out in the elements like this.

Full quality, unwatermarked versions of the pictures above can be found on our forums, here. Thanks for posting them HOSBGWFAN!

And finally:

Ticket Booth Construction Has Begun

As rumored, the park has removed the left-most ticket booth in order to make room for a new entrance archway. Sadly, because getting proper pictures is impossible without trespassing, we don’t have any evidence to show you. For more information on what all is happening, you can check out this post.

 

[BigAl]

From Screamscape:

2014 - New Land / New Coaster - Rumor - (4/8/13) With BGW adding nothing new in 2013, this begs the question about just what they may be planning for 2014 then. Historically, whenever BGW seemed to skip adding a new attraction in any given year, they usually had something quite good in the works for the following year.
For example, the park added nothing in 2004, but added Curse of DarKastle in 2005. They followed this up with nothing in 2006, but added Griffon in 2007, then taking 2008 off, but adding the new Sesame Street land in 2009.
Whatever they have planned, the former Drachen Fire site is very likely to be the location of choice. There has been a lot of speculation for what may come to this site as well over the years, including rumors of an expansion to the Oktoberfest area, or possibly used for a new themed country… with Spain being heavily rumored in past years. A new train depot here along the existing tracks is almost a given at this point, as well as a new roller coaster. One old the older rumors, going along with the Spain rumor, indicated that a wooden coaster, the park’s first, could be chosen for the site as well.
While these older rumors have faded while the park spent the last two years transforming the old Big Bad Wolf site into Verbolten, I do have to wonder if they are ready for a new coaster…. Especially a wooden one given the problems the Tampa park seems to have been having over the past few years with their single wooden coaster, Gwazi. This is one reason I bring all this up again… because half of Gwazi sits closed, and the rumors coming from people in Florida indicate that Gwazi’s unused trains could be sent to Williamsburg for an unknown future ride. There is also a very hot new trend in the industry right now… a lot of parks are wanting to try out a wooden coaster with an inversion.
There are 3 opening in 2013 alone… two from Rocky Mountain Coasters (Outlaw Run & Iron Rattler) and the conversion of Hades into Hades 360 from Gravity Group. At IAAPA 2012 in a few interviews with Great Coasters (who built Gwazi and it’s fairly new Millenium Flyer trains) they also claimed that they have been ready to build an inversion on one of their wooden coasters as well for years. Could BGW be the first ones to take GCI up on that claim? Time will tell… there are no new rumors from Williamsburg indicating anything just yet… so for now consider this my own bit of speculation on what we could see in 2014. (If I were calling the shots, I know I’d do it…)

Well at least one of the two Busch parks has some good news.



I still can't forgive them for replacing Big Bad Wolf though. :I

 

[BigAl]

According to a report on BGWFans, Busch Gardens have closed their 'Europe in the Air' ride (opened in 2010) and the ride will not be reopening this season.

Screamscape had this to say about the recent moves and cuts being made by both of the Busch Gardens parks and the SeaWorld parks:

This is extremely odd to see a move like this take place just days away from the extremely busy long July 4th holiday weekend. But unfortunately we've seen a lot of very odd moves from the SeaWorld Parks as of late. Frequent BGW guests already know about the cutbacks to the park's evening entertainment package. We've seen BGT cut back their late Friday and Saturday night hours just 3 weeks after announcing them in the first place, on top of leaving half of Gwazi closed for almost a year now. Then SeaWorld Orlando opted to cancel their big firework/water fountain/projection night spectacular show on the lake entirely this summer, replacing it with a very brief fireworks finale at the end of Shamu Rocks.
Mix this in with other reports and some complaints and it seems clear that the SeaWorld parks chain appears to have kicked off a possible chain-wide series of budget cuts that will affect each park in different ways. It isn't clear if this is an early reaction to possible lower than projected park attendance figures. Of course, this could also be an "I told you so" moment when I warned everyone that SeaWorld Parks going through with an IPO and being forced to respond to shareholder whims would only bring bad news to the chain. Previously the SeaWorld parks were protected somewhat from the chaotic nature of the stock market by being just one segment of a larger company... both as being fully owned by Blackstone and before that as part of the Anheuser-Busch Company who's primary income generator was beer sales. Back then an off year at the theme parks was barely noticed compared to the Budwesier sales report figures. Now they've got nowhere to hide... and if budget cuts are coming right as we begin peak summer season, this doesn't bode well for the rest of the year, or for any capital projects yet to be finalized.
Back to the Wiliamsburg park, it is unknown if we will see Europe In The Air return in 2014, or if the park may opt to simply close it down entirely for the next several years as a cost saving measure, much like they did when King Arthur's Challenge was closed only a few years after it opened in 1996 due to being very unpopular with the guests. The park then let the simulator ride sit empty and closed for several years until reinventing it as Corkscrew Hill in 2001.

 

[Rob]

That is very concerning news. Sure the ride is nothing special but it is still a major attraction. I hope there aren't too many more cuts for what is a brilliant theme park.

 

[AstroDan]

Blackstone need returns on their investments, don't we know...

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Sam]

General Park News - (7/15/13) It looks like I was wrong about Busch Gardens Williamsburg being the last of the former Busch parks to still show Pirates 4D. According to Screamscape sources the Williamsburg park also quietly closed Pirates 4D in late June, news that was likely overshadowed by the unexpected closure of Europe in the Air a few days later.
The closure of Pirates 4D was confirmed by a report at BGWFans on June 26th. The lobby of the Globe Theater has been opened up to be used as a nice air-conditioned seating area for the nearby eateries. I had previously heard this was the last year for Pirates 4D as the theater will become home to some kind of new live performer show in 2014… maybe even a copy of the Madagascar Live show… but that is just a guess on my part for now. I just didn’t expect Pirates 4D to shut down so early in the season.

BGW in dire straits...?

 

[Ted]

A Madagascar 4D would look so place at a European themed park.

 

[Benzin]

Madagashcar Live? At BGW?

Dire, dire times if true... When I visited their shows were pretty damn awesome...