Busch Gardens Williamsburg confirms Verbolten for 2012

September 18, 2011, 2:27 PM · Busch Gardens Williamsburg confirmed this weekend what we told you in April: Verbolten will be the name for the new multi-launch coaster that the Virginia theme park will debut next year.

Park officials confirmed the news during the passholder preview for Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens on Saturday morning. Park visitors who scan in-park QR codes can get additional information about the coaster, which is tipped to be built by German manufacturer Zierer.

Replies (7)

September 18, 2011 at 3:27 PM · I'm wondering why they choose not to go with Intamin. Was there a problem with Cheetah Hunt and/or dispute with Intamin? Curious as they put a B&M Dive Machine clone for the last addition and Verbolten is essentially the same type of coaster as Cheetah Hunt.
September 18, 2011 at 4:24 PM · I'm going in Late March, so I doubt it will be open by then.
September 18, 2011 at 7:05 PM · I hope they will do a launch into a drop to the river.
September 18, 2011 at 8:25 PM · I was in the park today. It looks like they might be using some of the Big Bad Wolfs supports. I could be wrong though.
It also looked liked it will go out over the water. I'm excited about the new coaster.
September 19, 2011 at 3:58 AM · They confirmed in the pass member event that the coaster will have the same final drop to the Rhine river that Big Bad Wolf had as well as a similar "S" curve back to the station.
September 19, 2011 at 10:39 AM · Nigel, Honestly the only similarity to cheetah hunt is going to be that it launches. There is a very large event building that the coaster will be going into. Only 2 launches. Lap bar restraints (48" ride height). And it follows the same path the Big Bad Wolf took as it dove toward the Rhine River, but from a little bit higher up.

I'm also curious why they didn't go with Intamin, but from what I understand Larry Giles still doesn't like Intamin since they used them for Pompeii, which has to be the ride with the most downtime in the park. This should be the highest profile coaster that Zierer has done.

There looks to be a huge focus on theming here. The released concept art makes the queue building interior remind me of Expedition Everest's queue. i.e. "Going on a tour, beware of [insert bad guy here]" with lots of theming in the queue.

September 19, 2011 at 5:35 PM · The word is the ride is not a copy of Cheetah Hunt, but instead will be similar to Th13teen at Alton Towers, also partially-owned by Blackstone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oaTCppHeN4

This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Park tickets

Weekly newsletter

New attraction reviews

News archive