Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

I'm quite happy that they didn't just build a clone of a ride they have somewhere else. Verbolten is unique and a lot of fun--but they need to get the kinks worked out (with the help of Zierer).

You can do all the pre-testing you want--the true test is when you finally put butts in the seats.

[TXman308I teach at the school of donkey!]

Do we know the reason why Verbolten keeps breaking down so much, or do we have no idea whatsoever?

While Verbolten has experienced quite an amount of downtime (which I find rather rediculous), it's still doing better than its piece of crap neighbor Mach Tower did last year...

I give BGW credit for giving these smaller companies (Moser and Zierer) a chance, but it seems like they have had tons of troubles.

Williamsburg seems like they have had an ongoing problem with choosing the correct manufacturer for quite some time. Choose one company to build Drachen Fire, not 2. Use a proven drop tower company like Intamin, not someone new. Use a company with proven drop and launch technology, like Intamin for Verbolten, not someone new. I was there last Monday and I was so disappointed Mach Tower and especially Verbolten were both down. Had I known that, I may not have gone. Verbolten opened before X flight and Skyrush and both of those have been open when I have gone this year. As an outsider who only gets to Busch once every few years, this park badly needs more to do. It needs to catch up to Tampa. Having these 3 rides, plus the mouse that got sent away would help a lot.

^Does BGW really need to "catch up to Tampa"? Remember, BGW is a seasonal park (despite the introduction of Christmas Town), and the only real competition it has in the state is Kings Dominion (and the two parks tend to complement each other). BGW seems to please its audience pretty well; Tampa needs to do more to better compete with the Orlando parks (and has been pretty successful at it).

And I'm quite happy to have "traded" the Wilde Maus for Curse of DarKastle, an attraction that's unique for this region (as is Verbolten, for that matter).

[BeemerBoyWDW Monorail Fanatic]

The "Year of Zeirer" is starting to seem like the "Summer of George."

^More like the "Summer of DarKastle," which had plenty of issues during its first season, too.

I didn't know about the trade for DarKastle, so yes that was a good one. Does DarKastle still have problems? My second trip on it had several things missing that were in the first trip.
Busch spent a ridiculous $54 million on Verbolten, which seems way more than Intamin would have charged. Thirteen at Alton towers only cost $15 million. It's also been open around 10 weeks when I went. It would have been one thing to be shut down for a couple of hours or so, but not at least 2 days straight.
I had a great time at Busch. But 4 of the other people I went with will probably never be there again and Verbolten was something we all were looking very forward to riding.
I still would like to see one more major attraction added there soon, whether it be another coaster or especially a dark ride. There have been rumors of another dark ride and year round operation on BGW fans.

^DarKastle went through a rehab last year, so it's doing quite well. Verbolten, according to what the park said at media day, is now the park's most complex attraction.

[Geauga DogThe only thing better than a naked woman is a naked donkey!]

Over the years that I've found and looked at who all the different ride manufacturers were and what they offer I always wonder why some parks go with certain companies over others for their new rides. I'm sure price has something to do with it but I also figure it's a chance for a new or lesser known company to finally get some attention they might not otherwise get.

I sort of thought it was strange BGW went with Moser for Mach Tower over Intamin but I thought it was a great move, despite the problems with Verbolten, that Zierer finally got the opportunity to get away from its Tivoli coaster image and join the big boys. It's nice to finally have a company that could easily stand along with Intamin and B&M (though they have a little ways to go to reach that pinnacle).

I only got to ride Verbolten three times when I was there a few weeks ago and thought it was a very good ride, definitely on the border line of family coaster. Very smooth, two nice launches with a hint of intensity, and a surprisingly potent freefall track section in darkness. I hope we'll see more Zierer coasters in the future.

Price is a big reason why I wonder why Busch went with Zierer. Had they gone with a proven Intamin design, it likely would have been less than $20 million for the coaster, plus something extra for the themeing. It seems to me that Busch got ripped off. They payed way too much and got a product that has too many problems. I don't know how much the themeing cost for Verbolten, but $10 million can buy a lot. So how much did Busch pay for just the coaster? They spent $54 million.