Nice sign of spring: Griffon's trackwork is complete

http://www.bgescape.com/Gallery/thumbnails.php?album=31

Just in case you guys didn't see, the good folks over at this website have posted some aerial pics that are 100% drool-worthy. That bunny hop before the splashdown makes my teeth sweat.

The off season's almost over, fellow buzzers. Nice to see all most major US coasters on a decent schedule this year. Might just be because SF isn't building anything, though. ;)

Great pictures. There's going to be some fantasic views from the skyride as it goes right through the middle of Griffon! I don't like how it looks like half of the splash pool is sort of hidden under other track and supports, but I am definetly digging the bunny hop.

Wow, what awesome placement of a ride yet again BGW.

I cant believe that already awesome view of nessie's loops and alpie's cobra roll will now include a blue immelman now. It will be an awesome site to see.

Im sure Griffon will be a quality ride, and seems to fit in very well at the park. I expect my 2007 visit to be a special one.

I'll be making a trip to BGE thi summer as well and hope to get a chance to ride it. Judging by the pictures, it looks like a somewhat small footprint for the ride and no underground tunnel either. Unless they have some other ideas.

I cant wait to go there this summer and finally get my one hundredth roller coaster at 15, but I am thinking that Griffon has a very ugly shad of like bluish gray sort of thing but that wont take away from the thrill and that bunny hop looks awsome.

The only thing I find odd (probably due to lack of space) is the second Immelman going in the same direction as the first one. I guess that the sensation will still be different in that element, but it would be nice for inside/outside passengers to have roll in both directions during the ride.

That bunny hop looks great, especially with the slight change of direction. This will certainly be a great moment with those massive cars!

I could not agree more there Matt. Astonishing layout, superb location and no less then brilliant to look at.

The coaster season is not very far away and I want to get excited about the upcoming attractions.

I would have to say this ride has been placed in a fantastic location to complement an already world class theme park. Expect this park to be packed full of people this season. Thanks for starting the thread, I like to enjoy the impressive photos with others and not just myself. Very nice!

Call me crazy but Griffon looks and sounds like it's going to be another "forceless" B&M bore.

Where is the creativity? The second half is a repeat of the first half. It's been a while since B&M has produced a WOW coaster, and Griffon doesn't seem to WOW so far! Granted none of us have been on the coaster yet, and I haven't even been on a B&M Dive Coaster, but I'm finding it hard to get excited about Griffon. (Speaking Only For Myself)

What Busch Gardens really needed was something creative, unique, and entertaining.

Kurse Of Dark Castle is and was probably the biggest flop in theme park history. They dumped several more million on top of the initial 25,000,000 in 2006 to make the ride "more exciting and entertaining". They struck out, guest are STILL leaving the ride even more confused and saying what the heck was that all about.

How many more morbid rides can we expect from Busch Gardens Europe? Corkscrew Hill, The Haunted Lighthouse, The Kurse Of Dark Kastle, and now Griffon all have dark themes. How about something with a happy, positive, colorful theme, rather than being hunted down through a haunted moseleum, watching kids try to talk one another into commiting suicide, or being attacked and almost cooked to death by witches and trolls.

I love Busch Gardens just as much as the rest of you. Seeing as how I live 10 minutes from the park in Newport News, VA Griffon will most likely become my 327th coaster.

I just wanna see more focus on a total theme park experience and less focus on beer promotion, and dark confusing themes.

Drachen Fire was the last creative attempt Busch Gardens Europe made.

I guess BGE is MORE park I need to get to this summer. That looks SICK!

Maybe I'm missing something, what part of Griffon's theme is "dark" ?

OMG, Griffon has the same ending as Sheikra. SUXORS!!11

Come on now, Virginia/Florida, they are two very different places. If it works there it will work here.

These rides look interesting and knowing it's a B&M, I know it will ride well and be fun.

As for 2007, CP (my homepark) has really taken all the hype. Maverick should be a great ride.

Does anyone know when they plan on opening the ride?

Its very much like SheiKra.

By the way does anyone know if they are putting a pathway under the water element. SheiKra does and I know that is one of the thing people like to do is get soaked then walk around in their soggy clothes to show that they were under it.

Did anyone else notice in the preview mix the ride sends up 3 streams of water instead of 1. Thats very peculiar. *** Edited 2/21/2007 10:14:10 PM UTC by Sheikrafanatic***

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Airromeo4Ever said:... blahblah.. negativity... blahblah...

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I'm glad you don't like the park because it makes my waits shorter.

Airromeo

If I were you, I'd throw the towel in and never ride another coaster again. If there are only two state of the art dive coasters built on the entire planet with the exception of dive machine, oblivion and you are completely turned off by the ride before it's even complete................um
you oviously dont like coasters. I don't even understand how you can say a forceless B&M. Were I come from, that ride would pack some serious punch behind it.

Thats all.

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Airromeo4Ever said:Drachen Fire was the last creative attempt Busch Gardens Europe made.

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And it's still delighting riders 15 years later! Oh...wait.... ;)

Bottomline:

B&M coasters are crowd pleasing, great capacity, and reliable rides.

The Busch parks know this and is why they keep installing them.

Nuff' said.

It looks amazing. Anyone know of a ballpark date set for opening aside from "late spring"?

The only thing that bothers me as a person who looks to go there this year, is these pictures are making my eyes play tricks on me. I want to know where alpengeist and griffon are. The color schemes are very similar to each other, its hard to differentiate the two in the photos. It seems like it wills take up little space, considering it seems to wrap around itself, but that could be very entertaining to say the least. And the floorless aspect ups the anti i cant wait to ride this coaster!

^I agree on the color thing. It's not hugely bothersome but I'm sure quite a few color schemes were considered.