Gladiators Gauntlet @ BGW

I remember this ride at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (and another one used to be in Wildwood under the name Cayon Trip) but I can't find ANY info on it, anywhere! I went in 1991 or so and they took it down not too long after.

Does anyone have pictures, or any info on it (who made it, if theres any others around, etc) . Hell, a ride account would help too.

For people that don't know this was like a Waikiki Wave (a Top Spin that can rotate both arms in different directions) ride except the gondola would split in half at certain parts. You also sat facing inward as opposed to Top Spin and WW where you face outward. It was really odd and made a horrible noise.

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"Mikey: Oh you idiot you put it on wrong!

Brand: If God make it that way you'd be pi**ing in your face!" -The Goonies

The only thing I know about them is that they were both Vekoma Canyon Trips.

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--Maddie--
What do I Listen-To?
Hot stuff.
*** This post was edited by Chernabog 10/19/2003 11:05:18 PM ***

whoa wait, it's made by Vekoma? That explains it's uncanny resemblace to Waikiki Wave. But what was with that car splitting function? Thats just weird lol.

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"Mikey: Oh you idiot you put it on wrong!

Brand: If God make it that way you'd be pi**ing in your face!" -The Goonies

From what I understand it was removed because it looked to threatening to attract enough riders.

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"The Mountain Slidewinder. Voted The #1 Non-Rollercoaster Ride in America Amusement Business Magazine, 1991"

I'll agree with that. The most memorable thing about it was the horrible screeching sound it made. That was threatening too, it's was like a demon scream lol.

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"Mikey: Oh you idiot you put it on wrong!

Brand: If God make it that way you'd be pi**ing in your face!" -The Goonies

I can't vouch for the previous statement, but a "little" ride called Apollo's Chariot also threatened its presence from what I understand. I rode Canyon Trip at Wildwood when I was a youngster, but I don't remember a whole lot about it, except for the seats splitting apart. My friend who rode Gladiator's Gauntlet said it wasn't much to write home about.
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Did anyone ever bother trying out the seats on the KMG Tango? And if so, were they male?

Gladiator's Gauntlet had far too much bark and no bite. I remember being slightly nervous while waiting in line for it--the thing looked pretty intense (and I had never ridden a ride that was even remotely simiar to it). However, I also remember having a 'that's it?' moment after riding it.

There was one aspect that terrified me, though (at first): my OTSR did not remain closed during the ride. It had about a foot of play, and I had to bear-hug it to keep it closed. Fortunately, the ride, vanilla as it was, never came close to rotating even 90 degrees, much less inverting altogether.

Intamin Fan - I'm not sure how Apollo's Chariot would have anything to do with GG's removal, since it was gone a good 6 or 7 years before AC's arrival, if I remember correctly.

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-Mike Buscema

'No matter how skilled the designer is, every time we push the envelope we learn new things about coaster design.' --Dana Morgan
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You know what ride is like GG? Surf Dance. Surf Dance doesn't go upsidedown and it moves in a similar fashion, only it doesn't split apart. BTW I thougt GG had lapbars.

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"Mikey: Oh you idiot you put it on wrong!

Brand: If God make it that way you'd be pi**ing in your face!" -The Goonies

I have a question now about the splitting function for the people that rode it.

When the gondola split aprat were the now 2 gondolas able to swing in different directions from each other?

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"Mikey: Oh you idiot you put it on wrong!

Brand: If God make it that way you'd be pi**ing in your face!" -The Goonies

In a sense yes they were able to swing in different directions. However they never really came apart. It was more the gondola stretched. I agree that it looked pretty cool. But by today's thrill standards it would probably be pretty lame.

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Zero G Thrills - Moved and Improved

Best way to describe Gladiator's Gauntlet (which had a very odd "zebra-like" color scheme) is to picture a giant Taffy Pull machine. That's exactly the way the ride worked. You really weren't "swinging away" from the opposite part of the boat. You more or less slid away from and then back towards those sitting across from you. I liked the ride... and also thought BGW had the best Mack Sea Storm ride ever, and now both are gone. I guess Apollo was a better choice anyhow!

ray p.

ProgRay said:
[...]BGW had the best Mack Sea Storm ride ever[...]

ProgRay - Thank you. You inadvertantly answered a question I'd had for some years now (obviously it wasn't a major priority to find out, because I never actually asked ;) ). I'd been wanting to know what kind of ride that was. While I'm not normally a fan of flat rides, and even less a fan of flat rides that travel in a fast, circular motion, BGW's Sea Storm was a ride I thoroughly enjoyed. Do you happen to remember what it was named?

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-Mike Buscema

'No matter how skilled the designer is, every time we push the envelope we learn new things about coaster design.' --Dana Morgan
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Sea Dragon.

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--Maddie--
What do I Listen-To?
Hot stuff.

Thanks, Maddie. That was certainly anticlimactic. ;)

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-Mike Buscema

'No matter how skilled the designer is, every time we push the envelope we learn new things about coaster design.' --Dana Morgan
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The BGW Sea Dragon was awesome for two reasons (in my opinion... whatever that may be worth!). 1- The theming was exceptional. Whereas SFDL's Raging Seas was dirty and had cars roped off with towels, BGW took great care of this ride and the fountain in the middle was a very nice touch. And 2- the ride cycle was the best of any Sea Storm ride I have ridden. It went forwards for a while, then everyone shifted backwards, then half went forwards and the other remained backwards, then everyone switched, and finally, all the boats revolved sideways (facing in towards the center). I have said this before- I really wish there were more of these rides out there. They are an absolute blast and a nice ride that isn't too vicious so that the whole family can enjoy it.

ray p. (who finds it odd that there are 3 Sea Storms within a 2 hr. drive- SFDL, Marineland, and PCW... yet there are no others that I know of in the U.S!)

I had a chance to ride this puppy and I agree with most of the previous posts that it looked great, but didn't deliver much.

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"I go out at 3 o' clock for a quart of milk and come home to my son treating his body like an amusement park!" - Estelle Costanza

Yea if it were faster it would have delivered on the thrills, Also I think that maybe if riders had squirt guns to blast the riders on the other side it would have been fun

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JOHN

http://www.ultimate-thrills.co.uk/images/camelot-therack.jpg

here I finally found a pic of it. This is at Camelot park in UK and it's called "The Rack".

I found a better picture of it but I can't link it because it's on Coassterforce (it just turns in a bunch of *****'s)

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"Mikey: Oh you idiot you put it on wrong!

Brand: If God make it that way you'd be pi**ing in your face!" -The Goonies

It's too bad that Coasterfarce doesn't know what they're talking about.

They steal their content from everyone else, so you'd think that they're capable of figuring out that it's *not* a Mondial Supernova.

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--Maddie--
What do I Listen-To?
Hot stuff.
*** This post was edited by Chernabog 10/20/2003 8:38:29 PM ***

Well I could see where they made the mistake. The two look very similar and have the same type of movement.

Cforce isn't that bad if you ask me.

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"Mikey: Oh you idiot you put it on wrong!

Brand: If God make it that way you'd be pi**ing in your face!" -The Goonies