Busch Gardens Archives

May 2, 2022November 28, 2022

The New Coaster Wars: Busch Gardens’ PANTHEON and IRON GWAZI as a Case Study on a Changing Coaster Era

A new era of the “Coaster Wars” is upon us… but it looks a whole lot different than the one you’re used to.

In the evolving industry of thrill rides, something has changed… With records broken and re-broken, ceilings shattered, and park lineups packed with giant coasters, the age of being the “biggest,” “fastest,” and “tallest” has turned out to be pretty unsustainable. Instead, a new model is emerging – one where parks compete not with each other, but with themselves, looking for custom, personality-packed rides that can be beautifully integrated into their parks existing collections, history, and legends…

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.

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November 28, 2020June 3, 2022

Inverted. Stand-Up. Flying. Diving. Wing. Here’s What Legendary Coaster Manufacturer B&M is Doing Next…

Founded in 1987 by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, B&M today is one of the world’s most respected roller coaster design & manufacturing films, supplying headlining attractions to amusement parks across the globe. In fact, you’d be hard off to find a major, thrill-focused coaster park in the United States (or elsewhere, for that matter) that doesn’t have at least one B&M creation among its lineup…! No, really… Try to think of one…

If you’re not sure, just venture into the rabbit hole of your friendly, neighborhood park’s unofficial fansite discussion board; scour RCDB; or more to the point, visit a park with a seasoned coaster enthusiast. Without fail, a coaster geek can spot a B&M a mile away thanks to unmistakable signs: rounded support columns; four-abreast trains; signature “pre-drops” before the biggie meant to relieve stress on chain lifts; buttery track transitions; signature maneuvers like wing-overs, dive loops, Immelmans, and cobra rolls… once you know how to spot them, B&Ms are everywhere.

In part, the proliferation of B&M rides around the world is thanks to the firm’s apparent three-word mantra: reliability, reliability, reliability. A designer who knows how far to push the limits (and what lines not to cross compared to, say, their nearest competitors, Intamin), B&M rides are trustworthy crowd-pleasers and people-eaters. But the spread of B&M coasters is also due to their part in the epic “Coaster Wars” of the ‘90s and early 2000s, when parks were willing to spend big to prototype B&M’s cutting-edge, record-breaking ride systems that would earn parks attendance, awards, and acclaim.

The breakneck pace of innovation and the thirst for record-breaking has (mostly) quelled. The primary competitors in the “Coaster Wars” – Six Flags and Cedar Fair – have since noticed that in their two decades of bigger-taller-faster obsession, they might’ve accidentally forgotten to invest in anything but thrill rides, leading to a significant slowdown in coaster construction throughout the 2010s and a needed shift toward flat rides, dark rides, and entertainment. But now, a new patent suggests that B&M may be ready for a comeback…

Today, we’ll tour through the major reinventions of the roller coaster pioneered by B&M over its thirty year history, watching as they reposition, reorient, and remake riders’ roles in thrill rides. Think you know what B&M might have planned next? We bet you’ll be surprised…

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June 20, 2020February 21, 2021

Europe in the Air: Why Busch Gardens’ Soarin’ Rip-Off Didn’t Exactly Take Off…

What does it feel like to fly?

Humans have spent much of their modern history trying to take to the skies, and for nearly as long, theme parks have sought to create the seemingly impossible sensation of soaring. From the gentle charm of sailing over London on Peter Pan’s Flight to the breathless, tear-jerking wonder of AVATAR Flight of Passage, engineers have come a long way in granting humanity the power of flight. But once in a while, they get it wrong.

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June 19, 2020August 16, 2021

Drachen Fire: A Wild Ride Aboard Busch Gardens’ Nightmare Franken-Coaster

Imagine a roller coaster so rough, its first riders told the news that they’d “need a new spine” afterwards. Imagine that the feedback on this multi-million dollar roller coaster was so consistantly negative that engineers literally rebuilt a section of track just to try to save the ride from being universally despised. Imagine that despite all their best efforts, the park determined that there was quite literally nothing that could be done to save the ride, tearing it down after just a few years.

It may sound surreal, but this almost-unbelievable tale is only the start of our story today as we explore one of the most short-lived and poorly-received roller coasters ever and the scar it left on one of the world’s most beautiful parks.

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May 19, 2020August 16, 2021

Big Bad Wolf: The Classic Coaster That Huffed, Puffed, and Blew a Generation Away

Granny, what big eyes you have… What big teeth you have… What big drops you have! Once upon a time, a legend lived in the darkest woods of Williamsburg… Like the fairy tales carried from the Old Country, the legend that lurked in the misty, moonlit forests of Virginia is today spoken about like a myth, surviving only by the stories whispered from one generation to the next. But trust anyone who grew up calling “the world’s most beautiful theme park” home: the Big Bad Wolf was real.

You’ve been part of our Lost Legends series, where we dive deep into forgotten attractions to immortalize their stories. We’ve set out to capture the truth behind the tales – how they were born, what they were like, and why they’re gone today. It’s your comments and memories that keep Alien Encounter, TOMB RAIDER: The Ride, VOLCANO: The Blast Coaster, and Son of Beast alive, to name just a few.

Image: Joel Rogers, via CoasterGallery.com (Used with permission)

Gazing up at this ferocious family coaster, you might’ve been among the generations of riders who called the Big Bad Wolf their first “big” coaster; those who recognize it as the ride that would kick start a quarter-century of thrill seekers before disappearing at the height of its popularity. This spectacular, suspended swinging coaster helped redefine what a family coaster could be, thrilling young and old as it raced through the woods of Virginia “at the speed of fright.” And today, its legend lived on…

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