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Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

P. 467: Media Town Hall Report

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I still find this to be one of the most confusing and odd situations with marketing I have experienced. But OK, what ever, tempesto looks nice. I don't necessarily feel it was appropriate for BGW, but it should be enjoyable if in the area.

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Speaking of Tempesto . . .

 

Busch Gardens Passholder Preview Day 2015

Springtime in Williamsburg. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and Busch Gardens is ready for a new season. And, at long last, we will have our answer to a long debated question. I am referring to, of course, . . .

 

the refurbished restrooms at the Festhaus! Yes, new tile, fresh paint, and Dyson Airblade hand dryers! O joyous day!

 

Well, as important as infrastructure is, I guess more people are wondering whether they will finally admit that the big new structure in Festa Italia actually exists. They were having some fun with this right before rope drop this morning: "Are you folks excited about the new ride we can't talk about?" (Yes, a cast member actually said this.)

 

Well, talk about it they did during a brief presentation at the restaurant in San Marco. Carl Lum, the park's president, and Larry Giles, attractions, did finally spill the beans about Tempesto, the park's new ride for 2015, which will open on April 25. The new Premier coaster even has a back story. Famed Italian daredevil Tempesto visited Busch Gardens, and left behind his "greatest stunt" to challenge future daredevils at the park. In fact, the park will be sponsoring a contest for passholders to see who will be the first 500 daredevils to take on Tempesto (details to come later).

 

Many of you have probably already seen the "leaked" Web page with the ride's vital statistics--which is now "official." Larry Giles promised that this "154-foot high-speed inversion" ride would be "the most intense ride in the park." Based on my experience with Premier rides, I think he's probably right. They were testing the ride a bit today, too--just "rocking" it back and forth.

 

So, besides Tempesto and the spiffy new Festhaus toilets, what else is going on in 2015? The park is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and there will be signs all over the place telling the park's history (for example, marking where old rides used to be). There's a new ice cream parlor in France with a greatly expanded menu and Ghirardelli chocolate (this is nearly as exciting as Tempesto ). And, of course, let's not forget the new booths at the Food and Wine Festival (French Quarter and Far East). No details on Howl-o-Scream or Christmas Town yet, although Carl did mention that the latter event was a huge success last year. The Festhaus's two shows, Entwined and This is Oktoberfest, are being replaced with something called Roll Out the Barrel. Speaking of Germany, the park will be holding a German beer tasting event this fall, too (I'm sure this will interest many TPR members--they know who they are).

 

Let's take a look at Passholder Preview Day.

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What's that hiding behind Apollo's Chariot?

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Happy 40th Anniversary, Busch Gardens!

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There was quite a crowd waiting to see the presentation in San Marco. They opened Forest of Fun a bit early (at least there were people riding the Elmo's Spire frog-hopper).

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Hmm--a mystery basket.

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Carl Lum joked around with the crowd: "It's a cellphone tower, not a ride!"

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But Larry Giles set everything straight.

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They also threw 40th-anniversary t shirts into the crowd. They had the logos of old attractions, such as the Big Bad Wolf, printed on them.

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And we got free gelato--yay!

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So, what about this Tempesto character?

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He seems to be a very mysterious figure . . .

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. . . much like the Ghost Rider.

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Construction walls are still up.

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You can see what appears to be an entrance plaza with a flag pole from Apollo's Chariot. The whole area should be very nice once they've finished it. In addition, the nose cone for the train hasn't been attached yet (it was sitting in the station).

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Tempesto has the power to make the sun explode!

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If you have some rosary beads, you might be clutching them very tightly at this point.

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I'm rather fond of non-inverting loops. Nice to see one in Williamsburg.

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That looks so wrong--yet so right.

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Larry Giles promised that you'll be terrified here . . .

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. . . especially if you're in the front row.

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This ride does seem to have its share of "OMG" and "WTF" moments.

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What if you're not daring enough for Tempesto's intensity?

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Well, there's always Verbolten, which is plenty intense itself.

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Easter eggs? Mad King Ludwig will be displeased!

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Griffon doing its thing.

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"Tempesto? Who is this upstart? The Loch Ness Monster will not yield!"

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"Don't mind Nessie, Tempesto. She's kind of old and grouchy."

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You could take a nice, relaxing boat or train ride . . .

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. . . oh, screw that! ;)

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I didn't try the new ice-cream parlor today, but it drew a pretty good crowd.

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Looks nice inside, too. There's extra seating out back (none inside). The sundae menu looked very enticing, and I'll definitely try it later this season--like maybe next week. ;)

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Bye bye, old ice-cream shop. I wonder what will move in there?

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Of course, you might want to have your ice cream after riding Griffon

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Well, see you later, Tempesto.

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Looking forward to feeling that intense launch in April.

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"Hello? I'm here, too. Hello?"

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"Yes, I, the Escape from Pompeii, exist as well!"

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Can Tempesto do this? I think not!"

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Time to head home via England.

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I'm sure they'll find plenty of daredevils.

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Tempesto says, "Y'all come in April." Only he says it in Italian ("Venite tutti"). Thanks for reading.

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Thanks for the photos, they're well done. Tempesto looks nice out of context, but the last shot of it crowding Apollo's lift makes me cringe - I fail to understand why this was the prime location to plop down a ride clone with a diminutive footprint. Excuse me while I pray for a fresh coat of paint on Apollo's Chariot.

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April 25th opening? Hmmm, Well I plan on being there Friday the 24th. Maybe there will be a soft opening? Has Busch ever done this?

 

Almost never.

 

^I think Tempesto fits in pretty well where it is (I'm curious to see the ride's entrance plaza when they finish it). I agree that Apollo's Chariot could use a fresh coat of paint, though.

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Thanks for the update as always, Chuck!

 

Put me in the category that isn't fond of Tempesto's location - it just makes the 'most beautiful park in the world' look like a Six Flags from the parking lot with coasters stacked on top of each other.

 

However, hopefully Tempesto will bring a repaint for Apollo's Chariot and a whole refresh for the Fiesta Italia area as it has really needed a general spruce up lately.

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Only had a short time to take pix in Festa. Ride looks fantastic in person.

 

The park's repainted a lot of the murals and fixed the Rhinefeld clock up. The Bistro Ice Cream shop looks amazing too. Looks like the park is taking a few notes out of KD40's playbook.

 

Do you have what it takes to challenge the daredevil's new creation?

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Park is reusing the Dasher's Diner billboard for the 40th.

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Shiny

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Different angle

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From the ice cream shop

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The banners look a little too tiny for their own good

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Daredevils wanted

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The queue line is just behind this wall.

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I've never been to BGW so I can't really speak on if Tempesto really fits in, but I do really like the color scheme, although it seems like it would've made more sense to have blue supports and orange track. Unless the park's goal was to make it stand out as much as possible. I do like the logo as well, and the name is started to grow on me.

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...it seems like it would've made more sense to have blue supports and orange track

 

Hmmm, you may be right. I think that would have complimented Apollo better, but perhaps they didn't want to venture into Goliath/Titan/Rougarou territory. Maybe it isn't quite such a visual assault in person.

 

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Most of the people at Passholder Preview seemed pretty excited about Tempesto, and I didn't hear any complaints about the color scheme. The name (when it was first leaked) never bothered me either, and the back story was a nice touch.

 

They need to offer some sort of "pasta with Tempesto" at Food and Wine, or I'll be mildly disappointed.

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Speaking of Tempesto . . .

 

Busch Gardens Passholder Preview Day 2015

 

The Festhaus's two shows, Entwined and This is Oktoberfest, are being replaced with something called Roll Out the Barrel.

 

On the bright side they are FINALLY closing that train wreck Entwined and I REALLY hope the new Festhaus show celebrates the heritage and pure fun that This is Oktoberfest was. However, since the majority of the Entertainment staff was laid off a few months ago, I am not holding my breath.

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Speaking of Tempesto . . .

 

Busch Gardens Passholder Preview Day 2015

 

The Festhaus's two shows, Entwined and This is Oktoberfest, are being replaced with something called Roll Out the Barrel.

 

On the bright side they are FINALLY closing that train wreck Entwined and I REALLY hope the new Festhaus show celebrates the heritage and pure fun that This is Oktoberfest was. However, since the majority of the Entertainment staff was laid off a few months ago, I am not holding my breath.

 

Entwined, in either of its iterations, was pretty bad, and the abbreviated This is Oktoberfest they offered in the evenings wasn't exactly pulling people in. The park did redeem itself a bit with Monster Stomp on Ripper Row at Howl-o-Scream and Scrooge No More during Christmas Town (London Rocks wasn't bad, either). I did think it was interesting that what appears to be a new show in the Festhaus wasn't even mentioned during the presentation.

Edited by cfc
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Wow, looks a lot better than I thought it would. Hopefully the landscape will pull everything together. I'm not sure how big of a problem the capacity will be. How crowded does the park get anyway? CP is able to get away with Wicked Twister, so it seems like a less crowded park could get away with this.

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Wow, looks a lot better than I thought it would. Hopefully the landscape will pull everything together. I'm not sure how big of a problem the capacity will be. How crowded does the park get anyway? CP is able to get away with Wicked Twister, so it seems like a less crowded park could get away with this.

From my experience, while BGW isn't nearly as consistently crowded as Cedar Point, it can still draw some large crowds on busier days. Keep in mind, however, that Cedar Point has almost three times as many coasters as BGW, and Wicked Twister probably isn't even in the top third in popularity at the park. Its train also carries almost twice as many riders as Tempesto's.

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Wow, looks a lot better than I thought it would. Hopefully the landscape will pull everything together. I'm not sure how big of a problem the capacity will be. How crowded does the park get anyway? CP is able to get away with Wicked Twister, so it seems like a less crowded park could get away with this.

From my experience, while BGW isn't nearly as consistently crowded as Cedar Point, it can still draw some large crowds on busier days. Keep in mind, however, that Cedar Point has almost three times as many coasters as BGW, and Wicked Twister probably isn't even in the top third in popularity at the park. Its train also carries almost twice as many riders as Tempesto's.

 

Wicked Twister used to be my go to coaster at Cedar Point. Never had a line so you could ride it over and over again. Adding GateKeeper, and the continued improvements of that midway have changed that. Still not hugely popular, but no longer a walk on. Back when Cedar Point used to give those front of the line passes, I was marathoning Wicked Twister with my cousin when it broke down. They gave everyone in line those passes, and we got to bypass an almost two hour wait at Millennium Force. All for a walk on.

 

As for Tempesto, it looks a lot better than I thought it would. I'm sure it's going to be a fun ride, but the line is going to be brutal.

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^But will Tempesto's line be as brutal as the line at the new ice cream parlor?

 

http://instantrimshot.com/index.php?sound=rimshot&play=true

 

I've spoken my peace about Tempesto, and putting my optimist goggles on, perhaps in a couple of years things will normalize and capacity won't be such a nightmare once Manby realizes what this park truly needs is an RMC woodie. Should I start a letter-writing campaign?

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