BGW 2017: Coaster Announced; YOU Choose the Name

[bkroz]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

 

For a few weeks now, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has been teasing its 2017 addition. Obviously that's fairly unusual since the 2016 season hasn't even begun yet! Fans have been going crazy. The new ride is confirmed to be placed in the park's New France (aka Canada) section.

 

Given the relationship we've seen between Tampa and Williamsburg parks in the past where they recieve complimentary rides a year apart (ShieKra and Griffon, Montu and Alpengeist, Kumba and Drachen Fire, Cheetah Hunt and Verbolten), the expectation was that the 2017 attraction in Virginia would be a Mack spinning family coaster – the counterpart to Florida's Cobra's Curse opening this year. And a spinning family coaster would be easy enough to theme to a Canadian logging outpost, right?

 

But after lots of digging and analysis, BGWFans.com seems to have uncovered that the new addition for 2017 will be... 

 

...A wooden coaster!

 

This would be big news since the ONLY wooden roller coaster in the SeaWorld Parks chain was Gwazi. It's often cited that SeaWorld Parks' inexperience with wooden coasters is what led to the rapid and crippling deterioration of Gwazi, which is now gone. Fans are supposing it'll be a GCI woodie. If it's true, it's VERY surprising. But a Prowler-esque coaster through New France would be a very cool idea.

 

In SeaWorld Parks' recent tradition of pairing coasters with animal exhibits, I hoped that this New France coaster would include a moose exhibit because that just sounds awesome. But if it really is a woodie, that may be prohibitive in terms of having animals nearby.

 

What do you think? Also, obviously don't read on if you don't want possible spoilers. 

[Steph88]

I think a wooden coaster in Virginia will fare much better than a wooden coaster in Florida mainly due to climate. Didn't the humidity and rain cause a lot of the issues with Gwazi over time? Or am I completely off? I thought I heard someone mention that on here before.

 

I love the moose exhibit idea!

 

(I'd do the spoiler tag thing but I don't know how.)

[MDMC01]

Spoiler tag is created by going

when editing in HTML mode (flicking the light on/off)

 

EDIT: Whoops, so I guess I accidentally made an actual spoiler tag- it's ([spoiler-end bracket|bracket-/spoiler]) and flicking the light on/off for HTML mode

 

Hope this works instead of auto-correcting itself 

[TombRaiderFTW]

If this is legitimate, I think Busch Gardens Williamsburg is officially officially my favorite park. The place was near perfect in my head, but it really needed a wooden coaster to contrast with all that steel. And now it will have that. The wood coaster purist in me hopes this isn't an RMC in disguise, but even then, it'll likely be a phenomenal ride. Fingers crossed for a GCI, though--I feel like they'd fit BGW's style better than any other wood coaster manufacturer out there right now. I'm hesitant to believe it will be a GCI because of the Gwazi saga, but I'm still hoping. Regardless of manufacturer, I'm especially excited to see how this ride will be themed.

 

Of all the areas of the park to get a wooden coaster, New France is the absolute best choice, in my opinion. BGW is truly one of the only parks I've ever been to that has more or less remained true to its original vision from day one. And it's been done fairly well, too. I wish more parks were like that.

[bkroz]

Quality over quantity. That's always been Busch Gardens' tagline in my head. I'd rather have "the best" than "the most / tallest / fastest/ steepest / longest / meanest / most upsy-downsy-spins-a-roundsy." Busch Gardens Williamsburg has always just been a class act to me. Quality over quantity. 

 

Tempesto tested it. It doesn't fit the park's very specific, thoughtful, intentional atmosphere. It's a fine ride and I absolutely enjoy it, but not something I think the park needed. Like you said, Busch Gardens has stayed remarkably true to its vision, and Tempesto was out of sync. 

 

I'm eager to see how this develops. 

 

I warned in the original post so I don't think we need to use them here, but spoilers can be placed between the tags:

[spoiler] [/spoiler]

You can post code by using the "< >" button in the editing panel. 

[MDMC01]

<quoted text>

You can post code by using the "< >" button in the editing panel. 

Ah, good to know; thanks bkroz!

[TombRaiderFTW]

bkroz: I have a bittersweet opinion of Tempesto.

 

As a ride, I love it. It's the only shuttle-like coaster (although it's a complete circuit) I'd honestly wait an hour for. It's so much fun. I enjoyed the multiple launches way more than I thought I would, and there's airtime, hangtime, and quick banking. I wish Invertigo could have been something like that.

 

As a component of Festa Italia... Nope. To me, Festa Italia was already BGW's weakest themed area, and adding a motorcycle stunt-themed coaster to it did no favors. What theming is there is brightly colored, which is what the sun-faded canopies of FI needed, but it is what it is for all the wrong reasons. Or so I think, anyway. Marco Polo didn't actually find an Italian motorcycle daredevil during his travels, right? It's been a while since I took a history class.

 

I'd almost rather see San Marco and Festa Italia connected at the end near the bridge to Oktoberfest and have Festa Italia take on an old-world Italy look, not unlike Da Vinci's Garden of Inventions. Or make it into a Greek hamlet, even. Leave Apollo's Chariot as it is, theme Tempesto to Mercury (or Hermes), and make La Cucina into an intricate marble garden on Mount Olympus inset with hundreds of flowers, where you can taste the food of the gods (i.e., offer a variety of Greek food.) And also build a copy of Poseidon's Fury and get rid of that very out-of-place basketball game. The problem with theming an area to a party celebrating Marco Polo's return home, in my opinion, is that there has to be a party for it to seem like a party. Right now, there's an obviously Italian area (San Marco) and "that other" Italian area (Festa Italia) that is Italy but with... uh, tents and roller coasters. It feels like there could be some live entertainment aspect to the area like a parade or show that would actually be a celebration. (I don't know if that sort of thing is sustainable long-term, and Tempesto has a very different theme from the rest of the area. So, I'd rather see it get a different identity than just adding a parade to what's there.) It's not unlike trying to continually dedicate a section of a theme park to "the future"--it seems like it needs constant attention to keep its definition. But that's me.

 

I feel like both Tempesto and Verbolten were Carl Lum's first steps in taking the park from The Old Country to something like a hip look at modern European culture. I feel towards those what I feel towards virtual reality goggles on coasters: the idea behind them is great--and I adore Verbolten--but I don't feel like they should be used where they are. Based on the fact that the park has allegedly cancelled London Rocks and planned a Three Musketeers nighttime show in France/Aquitaine, it sounds like the new park manager and entertainment manager have the right idea, as far as I'm concerned.

 

Which does make me wonder what the final theme of this alleged wooden coaster would be. It's late enough in the game that it's obvious that this ride was planned under Carl Lum, but I don't know if it's too late to make a theme change. I suppose we'll find out this summer. Here's hoping it's not themed to Justin Trudeau eating poutine or something.

 

Also, BGWFans has just confirmed that the new ride is, without a doubt, a Great Coasters International product. Yay!

[The Interpreter]

Justin Bieber dipping cocaine?

Confused Terpster.

[bkroz]

The good thing is, at least as far as I can see, Tempesto DID drop the overt motorcycle / motocross theming and styling before it was built. (Concept art and leaked ride renderings had literal motorcycle silhouettes.) It's still much more modern than the rest of the park, but it's not 21st century. More like an old world Italian carnival. Remember that its codename was Diavolo. Now we know why: the real 1902 stunt performer of that name.

 

 

End of the day, that's no excuse. And you're right about Verbolten. "The Old Country" certainly doesn't make you think of German roadsters. But at least Verbolten has an air of myth and legend and cultural Oktoberfest celebration. Ah well.

 

I also think Festa Italia could / should become Greece. Just depends on what management deems worthwhile. Truthfully, that area is pretty well filled now. If a switch to Greece was going to happen, it probably would've alongside Tempesto as happened to Oktoberfest and Verbolten. Still, there's precedent – Ireland originally was a second English hamlet! Art imitates life... And 100 years ago, too.

[homestar92]

Did somebody imply a moose-themed ride might be coming?
 

Sorry, but the bar's been set pretty high. There's another park up in New York with a Moose-themed ride which is simply top-notch, and for reasons that I can't fully explain, is among my favorite rides:

 

 - homestar92, who you probably think is kidding...

[bkroz]

Officially announced a few minutes ago at a Member Preview Day.

 

All new wooden coaster by GCI, 74 foot drop into a ravine, almost 50 miles per hour. The theme is Viking invading New France.

 

https://seaworldparks.com/en/buschgardens-williamsburg/pages/project2017?from=Top_Nav

 

The world's first crowd-sourced roller coaster, fans will pick the name. 

 

You can vote once per day until April 1.

• Viking Raider
• Invadr
• Battle Klash

None of them are terrible names (unlike when surveys for Verbolten offered Black Forest Turbo, Verbolten, or Autobahn Express), but you all know I LOVE a motif in my parks. Tempesto, Griffon, Verbolten, Alpengeist... I gotta go for the one-word name with a foreign feel. Invadr fits right in. 

 

The teaser trailer mentions that you can "attack with the Vikings or protect the village" which seems very dueling / racing coaster-y (see Gwazi) but the one piece of concept art shown is clearly a single track. Which kinda stinks, 'cause dueling would've been a cool avenue to take. But, a very cool addition. Can't wait to see more. 

[MDMC01]

Viking Rader and Invadr sound the coolest; Invadr sounds new-millennium and edgy. It the end of the day, I'll vote for Invadr. Also, I couldn't help but think this coaster will have a VR component based on the "attack with the Vikings or protect the village" quote in the video. 

 

EDIT: I voted for Invadr! 

[bkroz]

Good choice. Haha!

 

Remember that you can vote once a day until April 1. I'm going to try to make a point of it because, y'know, this thing is likely to last a while and I'd like it to be named what I want it to be named. Is that rude? Hah!

[thekidd33]

This looks like a great addition! Much more thought out than Tempesto was.

[rcwizard13]

I love this concept and I voted for Invadr but why not Invader?

[RollerNut]

Did somebody imply a moose-themed ride might be coming?

Sorry, but the bar's been set pretty high. There's another park up in New York with a Moose-themed ride which is simply top-notch, and for reasons that I can't fully explain, is among my favorite rides:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Somk2F5SrYw

- homestar92, who you probably think is kidding...

Oh my Skytower! What twisted donkey came up with that ride.

[KI Guy]

I love this concept and I voted for Invadr but why not Invader?

Maybe that's the Norse way to spell it?

[Magenta Lizard]

They used runes for writing back around the time of the Vikings, so anything would be a transliteration (nor would "invader" or "invadr" likely mean anything in their language). It does appear that leaving out the "e" on words that end in "er" in modern English is the convention used for such transliteration tho. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Old_Norse_origin

I'm not a real fan of any of the names personally.

[TheBEASTunchained]

One "small" step for BGW hopefully equates to one "large" step in the rest of the American sector of the industry.......Hint...Hint....I'm looking at you Kings Island.....

[McSalsa]

It is good to see a new true (not prefab or RMC) wooden coaster being built in this day and age when most parks seem to want to demolish or RMC them. Also I am for the Invadr name of the 3 choices. It is also should give BGW yet another world-class ride of a type that they needed.

[calakapepe]

Aside from the fact that prefab woodies are still wooden. They may not be hand crafted on site but steel coasters were still steel when they moved away from on-site crafting, and wooden coasters (Intamin) are still wooden, despite being made off site with computer precision.

It's a matter of materials, not method, that makes a wooden coaster wooden, no?

A classic/tranditional wooden coaster, it is not.

[McSalsa]

^
That is true- but we have not seen a new prefab woodie in the United States since 2006, so El Toro remains the lone coaster in that class for now in North America. And I do consider it a wooden coaster. It's these new RMC's where most of the track is actually steel where it gets funky.

 

To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing a few more giant wooden monsters like El Toro get built in North America (they would "fit" in a lot of parks including KI), but I kind of understand why...(Intamin's current rep in the US and their apparently steep price tags).

[Hoeter]

My vote was for Invadr.

 

Good to see a GCI being built instead of an RMC for once!

[MrBestDayEver]

NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH RMC. NEED MORE RMC. EVERYONE NEED RMC. 

 

Good move for Busch though. I love me a good GCI woodie and I think it'll be a good fit for Busch. I hope they go to town with the viking theme because they really have the potential for a big winner. 

 

Me might plan me another trip to Busch Europe soon... 

[westcoaster]

Great addition

[Nick_Plummer]

Looking at some of those stats...only 48 mph? The Racer is 53 mph. 

[thekidd33]

I got the feeling this is aimed at families more than hard core thrill seekers, so the 48 mph seems reasonable.

[bkroz]

Not to mention that according to BGWfans.com, that section of the park has a 60 foot height limit. They're already digging 20 feet into the ground to support the ride's drop! 

[CoasterOhio]

I think a lot of people are voting for InvadR, it is the more interesting name around. I personally like it. 

[bkroz]

It just makes sense! Alpengeist, Tempesto, Verbolten, Invadr. 

But then again: Gwazi, ShieKra, Kumba, Montu... Cheetah Hunt? Cobra's Curse?