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Busch Gardens Williamsburg: General Discussion

MakoMania said:
The park just filed permits for modifications to the ride's indoor mountain building. This comes alongside new track that has been seen heading to the park.
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That's great! This is an iconic coaster which should be preserved.
 
The refurb of Loch Ness Monster has now been confirmed. It will re-open in 2024 as Loch Ness Monster: The Legend Lives On. BGWFans have posted a summary of what is going to be done:



It is so pleasing that the future of this coaster has been secured!
 
This is a good thing no doubt but why all of a sudden has it become the trend to refurbish / rebuild coasters. Don't get me wrong in all for a lot of the ones done. But it does make me think, is there a lack of talent in the industry, or have we peaked in terms of creativeness
 
Jb85 said:
This is a good thing no doubt but why all of a sudden has it become the trend to refurbish / rebuild coasters. Don't get me wrong in all for a lot of the ones done. But it does make me think, is there a lack of talent in the industry, or have we peaked in terms of creativeness
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BGW is a different park to BG Tampa - BGW is about the experience, it is such a stunning park. I have little doubt if it was in Tampa they would have removed it and went for some sort of fad they could use as a headliner.

Loch Ness Monster is such an iconic coaster , the theme is perfect and as is the location. For me, it was a particularly 'enjoyable' ride in terms of comfort (very Arrow-eske), but one I would be very pleased to go back and re-ride.... if that makes sense!?
 
I think it depends on the coaster. Things like Nemesis and Loch Ness Monster are iconic to their respective parks, and it makes more sense for the parks to preserve them for the next 30 years or so than to get rid and put in something that would ultimately not be as iconic.

Those interlocking loops on Nessie are almost the symbol of BGW, losing them would be a travesty.
 
Rob said:
I think it depends on the coaster. Things like Nemesis and Loch Ness Monster are iconic to their respective parks, and it makes more sense for the parks to preserve them for the next 30 years or so than to get rid and put in something that would ultimately not be as iconic.

Those interlocking loops on Nessie are almost the symbol of BGW, losing them would be a travesty.
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Didn’t stop them from scrapping Big Bad Wolf.
 
I'd argue that Nessie is/was more iconic for BGW than Big Bad Wolf, although I am gutted that I did never get to ride the latter. Different circumstances also, Big Bad Wolf was a coaster type unique to Arrow which made maintenance more difficult after they went bankrupt in 2002, whereas Loch Ness Monster is much more similar to coasters from other manufacturers (B&M actually took the coaster under their wings following Arrow's demise and helped install system with new sensors etc.).
 
Rob said:
Looks like BGW have submitted plans for a new attraction on the former Drachen Fire site, requesting a height waiver of 355ft:



One to keep an eye on!
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That definitely sounds exciting! BGW has definitely improved in terms of attractions in the past few years.
 
BGWFans have completed their comprehensive analysis of the plans, and they believe the park’s next coaster will be a B&M Family Invert with 2 lift hills:



Much more detail in the article linked to in the above Tweet. I’m kinda disappointed, as I was expecting another major thrill coaster. But I can see how a family coaster does make sense for the park. I just hope it’s better than InvadR!
 
Just finished reading the article, certainly a major change of plans after the drachen spire plans, and even the rumoured RMC plans from not that long ago.
Certainly seems like a chainwide policy of family coasters looking at the 2024 additions at Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando.
 
What on earth is going on at BGW!?



This is not a good look at all. Fair enough, issues on a "new" coaster and structural issues with another probably can't be helped. But water rides and your newest coaster only open at weekends? Madness!
 
Hopefully they make a better attempt at theming it than they have done with Pantheon!

And hopefully they get their ship in order when it comes to operations. Ride operations across the park last week were some of the worst I have ever seen first hand at any theme park I have visited.

Constantly dealing with guests boarding trains from the exit side of platforms, whether than be for quick queue or RAP. You had staff dealing with paperwork when they should have been loading trains!
 
Rob said:
Hopefully they make a better attempt at theming it than they have done with Pantheon!

And hopefully they get their ship in order when it comes to operations. Ride operations across the park last week were some of the worst I have ever seen first hand at any theme park I have visited.

Constantly dealing with guests boarding trains from the exit side of platforms, whether than be for quick queue or RAP. You had staff dealing with paperwork when they should have been loading trains!
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At least they weren’t operating rides for like, idk, 4 hours out of an 11 hour day. Oh wait…
 
Rob said:
And hopefully they get their ship in order when it comes to operations. Ride operations across the park last week were some of the worst I have ever seen first hand at any theme park I have visited.
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The Tampa park is the same based on my last couple of experiences. Sheikra for example was on 3 trains but had 2 stacked on the brake run as dispatches were taking around 5 minutes (they even have screens in some stations showing the timing of dispatch which is even more baffling).

I can only think this is done to create a 'longer' standby queue to sell more quick queue passes. I did purchase quick queue on my last visit but the awful operations meant the wait was still 20 min+ from station merge points.
 
I can’t say I’m massively surprised to hear that Busch Gardens Williamsburg has weaker operations. From my experiences at Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando last June, I would not have said that those parks had operations to write home about, by any stretch.

I saw Kumba at Busch on 1 train (albeit it was admittedly walk on), I saw Kraken at SeaWorld parking in the station for 3 minutes at a time and stacking on 2 trains, I saw Manta at SeaWorld religiously stacking on 2 trains and 1 station, I saw Pipeline at SeaWorld doing 4-5 minute dispatches, I saw Iron Gwazi at Busch doing 3+ minute dispatches… I wouldn’t have said the operations were overly great, although the rides admittedly never had overly long queues.

I’m surprised to hear about a high volume of Fastrack and RAP, however, as this isn’t something I really remember from the Florida parks. RAP in particular is something I’ve only ever seen in notable quantities at the UK Merlin parks, so I’m surprised to hear of Busch having high volumes of RAP. I don’t remember seeing any dedicated RAP entrances at the Florida SeaWorld parks like there are at the Merlin parks, anyhow.
 
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