Roses and Rollercoasters

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has something for everyone. My mother, for example, loves the shows, architecture, gardens, as do I.  As kid, I once brought a sketch pad and spent hours in San Marco's Pompeii-style gardens sketching the statuary.

However, my delicate-lover-of-art-and-roses phase gradually transitioned into a yeah-cool-gardens-now-show-me-the-roller-coasters frenzy.

The Gardens boast fantastic roller coasters, ranging from the smooth and soaring Apollo's Chariot to the wild Alpengeist and record-breaking Griffon. Busch Gardens not only has something for everyone, but also something for whatever phase in life you're going through. My Irish dance craze was (is) easily met at Killarney.

Anyway, returning to coasters, I cannot wait to ride Verbolten, due to open in Germany in Spring 2012! BGW's official site describes the coaster as "an all-new multi-launch, indoor/outdoor roller coaster."  The storyline involves a German tourist car going out of control in the "verboten" (German for forbidden) Black Forest. I don't know any more about the concept, but I can say one thing: by altering "verboten" to "verbolten," BGW more than hints at the roller coaster's speed. The coaster also, wisely, maintains the plummet off the cliff towards the Rhine--one of the most distintive features of the Big Bad Wolf, which Verbolten is replacing.
The Big Bad Wolf had many of devoted fans (including yours truly), and it will be missed. As TheUltimateRollerCoster.com reported when Wolf closed in 2009:

The Big Bad Wolf is notable since it's the world's first suspended coaster and is credited with taking roller coaster design to a new level when it opened in 1984. Since its debut more than 29 million guests have ridden this roller coaster.
Besides its signature drop over a cliff above the Rhine River, one of the best attributes of The Big Bad Wolf is its 42-inch height requirement, which is six inches less than most comparable roller coasters its size. As a result The Big Bad Wolf has many fans — young and old alike — who often cite it as their introduction to the coaster experience. 

In fact, it was the only roller coaster I could ever get my mom to ride--it was just so much fun, even she forgot how much she hated coasters! Verbolten, Mama better like.

About Verbolten: BGW's official website describes the coaster as "an all-new multi-launch, indoor/outdoor roller coaster."  The storyline involves a German tourist car going out of control in the "verboten" (German for forbidden) Black Forest. And by altering "verboten" to "verbolten," BGW more than hints at the roller coaster's speed.

Check out BGW's official site for a really cool teaser video, a making-of video, and a lot more!