BGW expansion means "new" coaster for BGT

With Jeff @ IAAPA I wasn't sure when he'd submit my news item, so until he does the entire article can be seen here.

Here's the meat of the article:

By April Taylor
Daily Press

Published November 21, 2003

Officials at the Anheuser-Busch theme park won't say exactly what it will be, but filings with the county planning office shows that it's big, 40,000 square feet; tall, almost 80 feet; and will be a "ride experience."

To make room for the new addition, one of the theme park's kiddie coasters, the "Wilde Maus," is heading south. The Wilde Maus, a roller coaster that imitates the jerky, quick motions of a mouse going through a maze, moves to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

Busch Gardens won't say whether thrill seekers can expect a new heart-pumping ride like Alpengeist, or a theater-like attraction such as R.L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse, which debuted in 2003 and uses 4-D visuals to simulate motion and other special effects to supply other sensory experiences.

*** Edited 11/21/2003 8:14:53 PM UTC by Mamoosh***

Somehow I get the feeling this isn't going to spawn a Wilde Maus love thread...

Colin D., wondering if Drachen Fire's old plot will be the location of the new "ride experience."

MMM.... suddenly I'm dreaming of a Dark Ride/Coaster hybrid with Dragon animatronics.

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ThemeDesigner said:
MMM.... suddenly I'm dreaming of a Dark Ride/Coaster hybrid with Dragon animatronics.

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With a Puff the Magic Dragon theme?

I dunno - Wild Maus was the first mouse of that type I ever rode, and I remember laughing all the way through it.

I located this about a James City County Planning commission hearing on December 8th:

Click here. *** Edited 11/22/2003 3:51:16 AM UTC by Chitown***

Wilde Maus is the only mouse I've ridden, and I laughed up until the brakes started slamming the car to a complete stop before every drop. Then I booed lustily. ;)

Now Busch joins in the ride rotation program?!

I wouldn´t call a Wild Mouse a Kiddie Coaster in the first place and with rides like Alpie, Nessie, Wolfie and Apollie I would guess that a Mouse is really something for the whole family to enjoy.

I never get it when parks brake a mouse to death. It is perfectly safe and perfectly funny to experience an unbraked mouse ride.

Well there you go. Those of you complaining about a new Tampa coaster can pipe down. :)

Well fiddly dee, I never expected that one. Seems like BGT is turning into a family park while BGW is their spawn for thrills. Who knows, that may have been their plan all along and I was just oblivious.

Thats awesome...im excited for BGW. I cant wait to found out what this "ride expierence" is!!

*starts Chant*

Wooden coaster! Wooden Coaster!......

You know I thought something was up with BGW's Wild maus coaster when I looked at a brochure that featured a park map & the ride was no longer pictured there.

It seems that it's going to BGT huh? well they havn't gotten a coaster since Gwazi in 99 so I guess they're about due for one.

I wouldn't really count on anything big going to BGW as a replacement though the space occupied by Wild maus was so compact that not much could fit there,I can be wrong though as BGW does have a rather good way of using the terrain to their advantage when planning a new ride.

Im glad to see BGW getting someting new, just to bad that i might have missed it by a year.
But i guess i will have another coaster to ride when i visit BGT next Dec.
But BGW did need a new attraction, just too bad they couldnt have done it without remiving an existing atraction.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!! WOOHOOO!! WOODIE!!! I hope its a german themed ride. Maybe a bobsled? Bustin the old school? Impulse?

A 40,000 Sq Ft. building doesn't sound like something a woody would ideally fit into. A compact steel coaster, perhaps? Maybe another family ride of some kind to replace the mouse?

I would LOVE to see a dark ride and/or coaster of some kind, but BGW seems to me to be a show park of sorts. I forsee some kind of show.

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Antuan said:
Seems like BGT is turning into a family park while BGW is their spawn for thrills.

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How do you figure...the last "thrill ride" that BGW received was in 1999, just like BGT. BGT will now get the Wild Maus which isn't a thrill ride, but we don't even know what the BGW ride is yet. They referred to it as a "ride experience"...that doesn't necessarily mean a thrill ride.

I agree with Dexter that it probably isn't a woodie, especially if it is in that area of the park. Also the fact that they are applying for permit to build a 40,000 square foot "building" would make me believe it's not a wooden coaster. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say something like a dark ride/coaster combo...maybe even a water coaster...but that's just a guess.

I don't think it would be a show since they refer to it as a "ride experience"...although they could incorporate some live human action in with the ride experience. Only time will tell.

All that I can say for sure is that I can't wait to see what BGW has up their sleeves this time.

Sean

WHHYYYY does the Virginia park get a new "experience" when I went just last summer and will likely never visit again until I'm out of college (or until Grandma wants to brush up on on the finer points of the history of Williamsburg).

And what's this about my first park getting a Wild Mouse? Just build a B&M Hyper (thinkin' of a Sahara themed hyper, talk about camelbacks eh?)

Oh, and speaking of Alpengeist, the ONLY B&M head banger baby, oh yeah!

After attending this weeks IAAPA convention here in Orlando I have seen a wooden coaster that would fit very nicely in a 40,000 square foot building.

Gravity Grouper out of Ohio has a small wooden family coaster based on the lost coaster technology they have come up with....

Even though for the kids and families getting rid of a "smaller" coaster at BGW is a downfall....replacing it with this great design from the Gravity Group would be almost perfect.

Indoor woodie? Sounds like a big stretch. I'd be surprised if it were a coaster at all. It's a "ride experience." Sounds like a simulator with a partial walk-through to me.