BGW Petitions for a 150 ft. Tall Ride.

Ride will be in the Festa Italia section. My guess is that it will be a coaster?

Found this from BGW fans.

It would be nice if BGW built a Rocky Mountain coaster, but I kind of feel that they need a large looping coaster: a Wing-rider?

What are your thoughts?

I would love to see a nice wooden coaster at the park, as I feel that's the biggest omission the park has. I think between Loch Ness, Alpengeist and Griffon, the 'looping coaster' void is quite full. Perhaps this is not even a coaster at all? Maybe it could be an S&S Screamin' swing or Huss Giant Frisbee. It will definitely be interesting to watch this thing unfold.

I don't see them buying a screaming swing because they are a maintenance nightmare (see CP's Skyhawk). The park needs a good woodie which they lack and IMO their coaster line up is lacking big time. The best steel in the park is Lochness with the others being ok rides at best.

And here I was, thinking I was the only one who felt that way about BGW's coasters. Loch Ness is my favorite in the park as well. I consider the others..except Verbolten, which I have yet to ride...to be inferior examples of their respective "genres."

Sucks

I always considered Apollo to be a top-tier B&M hyper...

Nessie could be great - again....with the tunnel rethemed.

I disagree I think BGW has a great lineup. It would of course be better with an RMC in the mix, but if it is a coaster it might also be a wing rider or something else altogether.

I've only been on Sheikra, dive coaster wise, but I don't see how Griffon could be that much better or worse than others. I loved me some Apollo the one day I rode it in 2002, and I think Alpie is at least above average for inverts. I actually found Nessie to be fairly boring.

I think the steel rides at BGW are just fine, a decent mix and unique, fun layouts. If I had to pick one to quarrel about it would be Loch Ness Monster. While thrilling and innovative back in the day I see all kinds of Arrow wrongness now, particularly that strange little lift toward the end. Totally interruptive and a mood killer. I don't need to see it go, or anything, but if I'm there and there's any kind of line I give it a pass.

I'm not going to get too excited about a 150 foot project... yet. Festa Italia is the land o flats over there with a big coaster already. It's long and narrow and is bordered by the raft ride and animal habitats at the far end and either train tracks on one side or Apollo and park entrance on the other. In other words, I don't see much room for a coaster. Offhand I'd guess a thrill flat of some kind or maybe a ferris wheel.

I've always envisioned the perfect spot for BGW's wooden ride as the space between Ireland and France. Festivals are staged there, there's a rescue pet show, and the eagle sanctuary. The space where the old monorail station was could be used as a platform and the terrain around there is wooded with valleys and other suitable terrain.

These are just some thoughts, I don't know the park like the back of my hand and I may be wrong about available space. I just know what I envision when I walk throught.

RCMAC said:

Festa Italia is the land o flats over there

No you're thinking of San Marco, which is where the Da Vinci's garden with all the flats is. Festa Italia just has the rapids, apollo, and tea cups. Although there is basically no difference between these two italian themes.

No, I'm familiar with the difference. And Festa Italia started out with more flats than they have now, I guess. There are the tea cups and a Himalaya which are still there, the scrambler, which came from Ireland and now lives in New France, a Sea Storm which sadly was removed for the entrance to Apollo, and a couple of kiddies. The Garden of Invention has 3 flats and a couple of kiddies and is themed to look like DaVinci contraptions, not a festival. It's all Italy. Whatever.

I'm not a huge flat fan, but that Sea Storm was fun as hell.

Then there was Gladiator's Gauntlet, a ride that looked nuts from the ground, but was anything but while riding it. Anyone remember where that was? I want to say it was also in San Marco, but I can't picture it.

Gladiator's Gauntlet was a Vekoma "Canyon Trip". The ride was spectacular to look at, but was totally boring to ride. Duller than the "Quake" at the old Ky Kingdom (Waikiki Wave), but different as the seats faced inward like a typical Pirate Ship ride, and the seating compartments moved forward and backwards as the booms/arms diverged.

I believe that it was located behind where the yellow rectangle object is in this map from 1987. The ride opened in 1988, but I can't find a map from that year. I know that ride was to the immediate left upon entering the "Festa Italia" section.

http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/1987/bgw1987.html

I think BGW has one of the best coaster lineups out there. All in all I'd take it over BGT, at least. Apollo is my second favorite B&M hyper only behind Goliath at SFOG.

I think a wingrider would be a cool addition and a new type of ride for the mid-atlantic area.

I have to agree. They succeed at taking a ride "type" and putting forth something that's top-tier. It may not be the best, per se (depending on your definition), but very well done.

Having just said that, I would take Big Bad Wolf over Verbolten any day. Something about that ride just seems to have missed the mark.

Nobody would mistake me for a steel coaster guy, but BGW's lineup is good enough to get me there more often than any other park, 3 or 4 times a year. Of course, the rest of the park is lovely so that helps a lot.

I adore every coaster there, except for LNM which gets a pass thanks to the charm/nostalgia factor. LNM usually gets 2 or 3 rides per year for me, but all the other major coasters I will happily power ride all day given the chance. I do agree that a few things in Verbolten's execution could have been much better, but it's still plenty fun to me.

Oh it's certainly fun, I was just expecting something a bit more thrilling/breath-taking. Had my expectations been a little closer to reality it would have left a better impression. The interior theming on the inside of the building seemed a bit...well...cheaply done, and is really the only part of the ride (albeit a pretty major one considering) that I was unimpressed with. It looked like a local elementary school put the props together as an art project.

The problem with the theming in the show building is that you are moving too fast to really take it in. Having been in the building with the lights on, I can tell you there are a lot of things that you don't notice while flying by.

Is it Disney or Universal level theming? No, but there is a lot in there.

As a family ride, I love Verbolten. Not too thrilling, but a lot of fun.

Zach, out of curiosity, what am I missing as i whizz by?

All I remember are some black-light-glowing trees (that looked like they were cut out of cardboard) and some red eyes which were nice...the sound effects were great.

I agree 100% about the family ride aspect; it's certainly a home-run in that department. All the theming around and outside the ride are Disney-level in my opinion.