Busch Gardens Williamsburg Project 2024: Loch Ness Monster Renovation
- Thread starter Zachary
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Two questions:
1. Does premier rides oversee track replacement or an external company?
2. Are we expecting a track repaint for older section?
1. Does premier rides oversee track replacement or an external company?
2. Are we expecting a track repaint for older section?
Are we for certain there is zero chance any of the banking will be adjusted at all? All of the missing pieces of track are in areas that were most janky. I feel like they could use existing footers too even if the banking would be slightly different.
Answer for #1. I don't see any involvement with Premier besides track manufacture.
Answer for #2. Yes.
The only part that was banked that is being replaced is the transition out of the tunnel into lift 2 trims. I'm nearly certain the new track is identical to the old. There isn't much room to make changes with the existing supports over the pipeline.
However, I did hear the loop profiling got "fixed" a little bit.
Does anyone know exactly how the 900 feet were decided on, was it feel, was it visible wear, was it some kinda computer level calculation? I have wonder how they decided sense they made the 900 feet of track announcement, especially after the years of the common talk of the “arrow transitions” it doesn’t really seem like they were addressed.
They spent a lot of time mapping and examining track I imagine some of it was visually found and decided on and some of it had to do with computer modeling and calculations.
How many more years is the remaining track expected to last? I assume the rest will need to be replaced as well in some number of years.
Presumably they've concluded that, at least for the track in the tunnel, they have a long while. Hard to imagine they'd reinvest significantly into the current tunnel structure if they only had a handful of years left before having to bulldoze the structure to replace the track inside. Presumably the station track, prelift, and lift 1 are all notably less wear-heavy than the tunnel track so they may be on a similar timeline?
I think the turn over Land of the Dragons and the turns after the two pre-drops are the big question marks in my mind. Those are areas they could turn around and do pretty quickly though assuming this phase goes well.
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Every time I go through the cave, my head "calculates" that it's being banged. It doesn't have any time left. I don't know why these people don't just ride the ride before retracking it.
The purpose for the retracking isn't particularly for guest comfort. Although it should be a nice side effect on the new track, I hope.
I like the jostling inside the tunnel. Since it’s in the dark (so there’s no visual reference for how fast you’re moving) and the train moves at a pretty constant speed downhill with minimal acceleration, the jostling adds some interesting movement to the experience inside the tunnel. It’s not like it’s rough — it’s gentle, unexpected rocking and bumping — and it makes the tunnel more fun, in my opinion.
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The bumps and jolts on Lochness give the ride it's character. Big part of the charm imo
Seeing coaster track being welded together in 2023 is absolutely wild. You gotta give huge props to BGW for funding this true-to-1978 labor of love.
Highly likely this was the cheapest way to do it and not just for nostalgia.
Oh I 100% agree. I wasn’t saying that they were doing it to appease fans or literally to be true to history — but the fact that they essentially dusted off the 1978 playbook to restore the coaster to exactly the way it was then, is amazing in itself.
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