[DISCLAIMER] I am going to do something rarely done on the internet: Tell the truth. The truth is that I did NOT hear this first hand, but rather second hand, a day or so after the following discussion. At BEST, this is completely true. It does make sense to me, so I don't see why I shouldn't mention it on this site. At WORST, it is a theory concocted by either my former coworker or someone he knew/talked to. This story seems too detailed to me to be a lie made up on a whim. You can make your own opinion based on the evidence I provide, however, I will not be changing my mind based on what someone on the internet says. This story involves people, myself included, who at the time were employed by Busch Gardens Williamsburg in various capacities. Therefore, I will only be describing the roles that these people were in at the time and will not be posting any names or any other identifying information of these people. That said, let's begin.[/END DISCLAIMER]
Backstory: I was made aware of this information about this time, three years ago, while I worked at the park in a supervisory role, from my coworker, an intern at the park. Both of us in Park Ops. He told me that he heard this from the VP of Park Ops at the time, who he had more access to as an intern than I, or other supervisors at my level had. He simply asked the VP "Why does Busch not have any other Intamin rides newer past 1995 and why does BGT have an Intamin coaster and we do not?" After all, there are loads of rumors why, from Larry Giles just hates them, to Intamin botched Pompeii. Anyways, he responded with (roughly) the following story.
All of this started as a petty feud between Busch Gardens and... Kings Dominion. The two parks have always been at odds, given their proximity to each other. Keep in mind the roller coaster race of the 1990's, so both parks wanted to undermine the other to gain an edge. This being the case, Busch Gardens is looking for a new kind of ride to add to their lineup and they go to manufacturer B&M (Most of you probably all know that already). What you might not know is that in order to stick it to Kings Dominion, they have B&M sign an exclusivity contract when they are starting the Alpengeist project to (and this is important) not be able to build and open any new ride from the contract's signing until after, drumroll please, December 31, 2019, and within a radius of 61.25 miles, the exact distance from the center of Busch Gardens to the outer most edge of KD's property. Effectively, this stops KD from building a B&M ride for 24 or so years. This is why KD does not have a B&M coaster, other than Dominator, which was originally built in Ohio and transplanted to KD upon CF closing that park. [Speculation Break] This seems to be as to why KD had Intamin build their inverted coaster, all the rage of parks in the 90's.[/End Speculation] Of course, KD was not very happy with this, so they decided that they would make their next coaster manufacturer sign a similar agreement. The next ride that they put in was Intamin, for Volcano. Busch had stayed away from Intamin at the time since they were not (and still not really) known for their reliability. Keep in mind that back then, AB was running the parks a lot more like the Disney parks, requiring perfection at every level, including ride reliability. B&M was barred from building at KD until almost now and Intamin was barred from Busch too. Now, the contract are expiring and BGW is finally able to get an Intamin, which means that I am just waiting for KD to finally announce a B&M.
Now I have not worked at the park since that season, but I would like to mix in another speculation. I would not be surprised if KD started this all over again with RMC and Twisted Timbers, so I would not be surprised if BGW does not see an RMC for quite some time. We'll see what happens if that is the case and BGW decides to retaliate.
Hope you enjoyed that and again, this might be true, it may not be, but it makes a lot of sense to me and I hope it does to you too. Again, I have been sitting on this info for three years debating when I should share and I had decided on the day the BGW announces an Intamin, just to make sure I had the dates right. When I first heard this, I mentioned to my coworker that I wouldn't be surprised to see BGW open an Intamin in 2020 He agreed and I guess we were right to say that. Now to why BGW doesn't have a coaster/ride over 300'? I have absolutely no idea. B&M has made them for years, so have others. Maybe 2021.
Now, I should probably get back to work.
Backstory: I was made aware of this information about this time, three years ago, while I worked at the park in a supervisory role, from my coworker, an intern at the park. Both of us in Park Ops. He told me that he heard this from the VP of Park Ops at the time, who he had more access to as an intern than I, or other supervisors at my level had. He simply asked the VP "Why does Busch not have any other Intamin rides newer past 1995 and why does BGT have an Intamin coaster and we do not?" After all, there are loads of rumors why, from Larry Giles just hates them, to Intamin botched Pompeii. Anyways, he responded with (roughly) the following story.
All of this started as a petty feud between Busch Gardens and... Kings Dominion. The two parks have always been at odds, given their proximity to each other. Keep in mind the roller coaster race of the 1990's, so both parks wanted to undermine the other to gain an edge. This being the case, Busch Gardens is looking for a new kind of ride to add to their lineup and they go to manufacturer B&M (Most of you probably all know that already). What you might not know is that in order to stick it to Kings Dominion, they have B&M sign an exclusivity contract when they are starting the Alpengeist project to (and this is important) not be able to build and open any new ride from the contract's signing until after, drumroll please, December 31, 2019, and within a radius of 61.25 miles, the exact distance from the center of Busch Gardens to the outer most edge of KD's property. Effectively, this stops KD from building a B&M ride for 24 or so years. This is why KD does not have a B&M coaster, other than Dominator, which was originally built in Ohio and transplanted to KD upon CF closing that park. [Speculation Break] This seems to be as to why KD had Intamin build their inverted coaster, all the rage of parks in the 90's.[/End Speculation] Of course, KD was not very happy with this, so they decided that they would make their next coaster manufacturer sign a similar agreement. The next ride that they put in was Intamin, for Volcano. Busch had stayed away from Intamin at the time since they were not (and still not really) known for their reliability. Keep in mind that back then, AB was running the parks a lot more like the Disney parks, requiring perfection at every level, including ride reliability. B&M was barred from building at KD until almost now and Intamin was barred from Busch too. Now, the contract are expiring and BGW is finally able to get an Intamin, which means that I am just waiting for KD to finally announce a B&M.
Now I have not worked at the park since that season, but I would like to mix in another speculation. I would not be surprised if KD started this all over again with RMC and Twisted Timbers, so I would not be surprised if BGW does not see an RMC for quite some time. We'll see what happens if that is the case and BGW decides to retaliate.
Hope you enjoyed that and again, this might be true, it may not be, but it makes a lot of sense to me and I hope it does to you too. Again, I have been sitting on this info for three years debating when I should share and I had decided on the day the BGW announces an Intamin, just to make sure I had the dates right. When I first heard this, I mentioned to my coworker that I wouldn't be surprised to see BGW open an Intamin in 2020 He agreed and I guess we were right to say that. Now to why BGW doesn't have a coaster/ride over 300'? I have absolutely no idea. B&M has made them for years, so have others. Maybe 2021.
Now, I should probably get back to work.
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