To me, “theming” doesn’t have to mean elaborate show buildings and special effects. It just has to mean a deliberate attempt by the park to establish a setting for the coaster, to spark the imagination and explain “why” we’re riding.
Nessie, Alpengeist, even to some extent InvadR do this with well thought out queues that tell us the time and the place for what we’re experiencing. With Nessie, we know from the expedition props and sets that we’re going on a journey in Loch Ness in search of the monster. With Alpengeist, we can tell we’re venturing onto a ski lift in the snowy Alps where something has gone wrong. With InvadR, we know some dramatic battle has taken place as Vikings have invaded the trapper’s village (though I’d argue InvadR doesn’t do a great job of translating the “Viking battle” into explaining why we’re careening around a coaster track).
Even Tempesto, minimal though its theme may be, tells us a clear story and sets the scene: we’re daredevils at an Italian carnival about to go across a crazy bike stunt course. The posters in the queue, carnival tent station, and wooden loop at the entrance are all it takes to convey this.
A coaster like Griffon isn’t particularly well themed, but it’s well integrated into the park, and I think that’s what many people are really missing with Pantheon when they say it lacks theming. It has a nice station and queue house that looks like a little French cottage, complete with “Aquitaine”-branded barrels. The ride is nicely woven into the larger Aquitaine area and landscaping. The addition of griffin footprints near the splashdown helps too. It’s easy to understand the premise: we’re riding on the wings of a griffin as it dives down and terrorizes an old French village.
Certainly, the coaster that lacks the most in the theming department besides Pantheon is Apollo. But there, at the very least there’s an explanation given for our ride. We’re supposed to be literally riding with Apollo on his chariot as he takes his voyage to the sun. With this simple premise, at the very least the ride sparks our imagination and give us a clue to why we’re soaring up and down in the sky above Festa Italia.
With Pantheon, none of that is present. Obviously, the queue has basically no theming. It also has basically no integration into the park. And importantly, even unlike Apollo, there’s no explanation given for why we’re strapped into a little train and careening around a coaster track. They tried to force some idea that the different elements of the layout correspond to different Roman gods, but what does that mean? With Nessie, I can pretend I’m riding a sea serpent. With Alpengeist, I’m on an out of control ski lift. On Tempesto, I’m on a stunt bike. There’s nothing like that that the park even attempted to offer for Pantheon. So it’s impossible to imagine yourself as doing anything other than riding a roller coaster through a field.
To me, what makes BGW coasters special is their way of sparking the imagination and bringing to life some experience related to the myths and monsters of Europe, if even just in our own minds. Since the park made not even the slightest attempt to do so with Pantheon, Pantheon fails on every point in this regard.
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