You may have heard recently from other news sources about popular theme park, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, filing for a height waiver. They applied for the waiver back in June, however it has been gaining a lot of publicity due to a future meeting with the county to discuss the permit. Several news sites have published articles about this, but are reporting the waiver is for a “300+ foot tall roller coaster.”
Allow me to clarify the situation for you.
The fact is, we don’t know what kind of attraction is coming. Nowhere on the permit is a roller coaster mentioned. Many are jumping the gun and assuming they’re planning a roller coaster. If built, it would be the tallest coaster at the park, the tallest coaster in the state, and make Virginia the only state in the world to be home to two ‘giga’ coasters. Sounds pretty good, right?
Intimidator 305, the current tallest coaster in Virginia, located at Kings Dominion
Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem too likely. As a Virginia resident, I would love to see another 300 foot coaster an hour from my house. There’s a couple of problems with this. The first is, of course, money. Busch Gardens’ parent company, SeaWorld Entertainment, is currently having some financial issues. Though the two Busch parks in Williamsburg and Tampa remain some of their highest grossing properties, it wouldn’t make sense to drop 25 plus million dollars into a single ride, when they just received a decent amount of new capital. There’s still several other parks in the chain that need new rides, too!
Busch Gardens Williamsburg opened their first ever wooden roller coaster, InvadR, earlier this year, which has received positive reviews. The ride is a family coaster, and a much needed addition to the park. Just two years earlier, they opened Tempesto, a multi-launch thrill coaster. Next year, the park will debut the first ever Virtual Reality attraction of its kind. When you look at all of these together, the park has had a pretty good past few years.
InvadR, new for 2017
Here’s another issue. Variety. A park like Busch Gardens has to appeal to a wide audience, ranging from young kids, to teens, to parents, to grandparents. This means having more than just roller coasters in your park. If they continued to build three roller coasters in only 5 years, by nature they are focusing on a certain demographic. Yes, InvadR is geared towards families, but every park knows that you have to build more than just roller coasters to be successful. Having more than one ‘type’ of attraction is critical.
Currently, the tallest ride at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is Mäch Tower, a 246 foot tall drop tower. This is one of the only thrill rides in the park that is not a roller coaster. Most large scale amusement parks have more than one thrill ride, commonly referred to as ‘flat rides.’ What Busch Gardens really lacks is a star flyer.
SkyScreamer, a funtime star flyer at Six Flags Great Adventure
These attractions are a big kids version of the popular swing ride found at almost every amusement park in the world. They take riders up to heights ranging from 100 feet, to 400 feet, giving a sensational view of the surrounding area.
Because Busch Gardens lacks an observation tower and a star flyer, there is no real way for guests to see the park from an extreme height without hopping on one of their roller coasters. The permit was filed for a 315 foot tall attraction, which could easily be directed towards a star flyer, and not a roller coaster.
The last piece of information I’ll add in is the proposed area. The permit was filed with the word ‘Madrid’ attached. Each area of Busch Gardens is themed to a different country, but one area they do not have is Spain. Could this alone mean the park is planning on adding a new themed land?
If said land was constructed, it would be located near Italy, where a decent amount of space is available. Enough for a new land, for sure. And with every new country, there has to be some sort of ‘marquee’ ride, no? How about the tallest ride in Virginia, a 315 foot tall swing ride?
Apollo’s Chariot, one of the signature rides at Busch Gardens
A giga coaster here isn’t impossible. It just seems unlikely to open in conjunction with a new land, as the costs would simply be too much. A star flyer would not only be a better fit, but it would give the park a much needed ride, for a lower cost.
It pains me that several news sites have confused ‘amusement ride’ with ‘roller coaster.’ If the new ride ends up not being a roller coaster, the public will be left disappointed. I think no matter what is coming, the ride will be great. Busch Gardens has done some amazing attractions in the past, and I know they’ll continue to deliver.
-Taylor