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Looks like they'd only do it if they got a local health care group to sponsor it.
Well they are not just going to post signs for the sake of it. Unless they are part of something that brings revenue, there is no reason to waste time and money on things they can't use to bring more people into the park. If Sentara or Riverside wanted to sponsor something in the park, I'm sure they would do it.
 
Well they are not just going to post signs for the sake of it. Unless they are part of something that brings revenue, there is no reason to waste time and money on things they can't use to bring more people into the park. If Sentara or Riverside wanted to sponsor something in the park, I'm sure they would do it.

Counterpoint: didn't they go through the effort of posting signage for park history as part of the 40th anniversary season?
 
Counterpoint: didn't they go through the effort of posting signage for park history as part of the 40th anniversary season?
Yes… because it was part of observing the park’s milestone anniversary, which is both more meaningful to the park’s identity and more marketable than walking path signage.

I do like the idea of having a marked walking path through the park. Small return but low cost, and people love to gravitate toward a sign with walking mileage on it. More challenging terrain than Tampa, that’s for sure.
 
A few years back, SeaWorld brought penguins to Busch Gardens for Christmas Town and put them backstage at the Royal Palace Theater in France. I thought that was a pretty neat seasonal attraction for CT. For some people I visited with, it was the highlight of their visit.

This past CT walking around Pompeii all lit up for Polar Pathway, I thought it would be a good idea if they brought back the penguins and put them in the maze area in the Pompeii show building. It'd be like the penguins are in the giant iceberg and guests get even more upclose and personal with the impressive display of lights on Pompeii. There is TONS of space in there for tanks and an indoor walkthrough attraction for CT. If they got creative with it, they could leave a Howl-o-Scream maze intact and still have room for this.
 
Along with this I wonder if it could be possible for the park to use the splash pool area right after the drop for a large, open swimming area for penguins. Block off the pool after the drop and block it off before the return turn, take the lights out and fill it with water. They'd also have to block off areas out of the water to keep the penguins in. Then you'd have a large open area to view them along the path and the covered overlook. It would allow for both and indoor and outdoor viewing at Pompeii.
 
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As it was brought up in the BfE thread, I had a thought on how that whole side of Killarney could be rebuilt:

Retain the facades but demolish all buildings on the right side of the path as you're heading to the wildlife preserve - Both the restaurant/pub, simulator buildings (entrance/exit pathways, show building), and Castle O'Sullivan.

Starting at the pub/restaurant/simulator entrance - the restaurant is now combined into the same building as the pub.

Starting from the bridge, you'll come across a new fire pit and outdoor seating area including your regular chairs and tables plus Adirondack chairs and the appropriate sized side tables. The vined pergola can be retained. Past that is a space that can become a full open-air bar in warm temperatures but otherwise can be an outdoor food and beverage pickup window otherwise. Next to this facing the path is an entrance into the pub area - likely where the pathway in front of the simulator entrance currently exists. The outdoor bar is actually the other side of the indoor bar. Just past that and further into the building are food serving lines - potentially set up like Marco Polo's though with online/app pre-ordering and payment in mind. At this point, you'd run into the existing pub space, which would be expanded a bit and have a small stage added that can also serve as additional seating. The existing bathrooms would be removed and reoriented towards the main pathway with an entrance on both the pub and pathway sides.

The pathway where the existing restroom access is would be added to the building - it would be the attraction entrance area. Right now I don't have a strong concept for such an attraction though I think the mood is right for a true dark ride of some sort - mix of live props, screens, etc that can and should be updated as time goes on. The attraction would take most of the existing CoS and simulator building spaces but would use a virtual queue system to prevent large lines.
 
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So I made the offhand comment that Pantheons site should have been used for a woodie and it got me thinking about something else, and that is does the DF sight have to be for a Giga.

How can BGW maximize its space, its empty plots, and space outside the current edges of the park to do something.

So I ponder….what if? On a few spots:

What if?….BGW uses CoS for the queue line for a B&W Giga coaster -
DF could have a spiritual successor in Ireland/Killarney. Using cues from both DF and BfE, tell the story of how a dragon, who once terrorized the foothills of the Alps in Germany was banished in an epic fight. That dragon flew all the way to Ireland and laid dormant for all these years. But then something magical happened. Addie found the dragon, reawakening the sleeping beast to bust through to spread his wings in free space.

As you loop through CoS you see the story of this and on the backside the build out an extended roof for the station. Lift hill runs parallel to the England lot along with the drop. The ride rises once more to a turn at the end of the lot and traverses a course much like Fury out along the road before returning.

This would give BGW almost a continued ribbon of coaster dominating the entrance skyline of Apollo and what I’m dubbing - “Drachen Rising”. The ride uses an unused space, gives the park what it wants, and gives them something really different than the Giga up the road.

What if?….The simulator bays got used for a madhouse.

I think this one is more straight forward. Use the simulators to tell the tale of Merlin and a trip to Ireland and how his one visit to a local pub surrounded the area with magic, and this pub is at the root of all the magical beings in Ireland. This ties it nicely to the rides history (Corkscrew and BfE) as well as ties it to the other rides (FF and DR proposed above).

Additionally this makes this hamlet a very thrills based hamlet. I think it would be good for the park to do something like that where one area is dedicated to thrills and an older audience.

What if?….Drachen Fires plot gets used for a second BGW woodie.

This is one I’ve hoped for for some time. A very twister GCI that’s constantly on top of itself. Use the plot, helixes, and a little space outside of it to constantly loop around. My added bonus would to be when the train feels like it losses momentum to drop along the River, run beside it a bit, and return to the top and the brake run. Think of a cross of Hersheys Wildcat and Lake Compounces Boulder Dash.

Because of that you don’t need much more than a 100-110’ lift and a 95 foot drop. I know this sounds redundant with Invadr but no park has ever been ruined by having multiple reridable woodies.

This ride would give homage to Big Bad Wolf, just simply calling this Beowulf in a nod to both the history of Germany and the park. And here’s where I get super meta with it: just co-op BBW’s story but rather than being a wolf that goes to a town, you are transformed to a wolf in an epic battle in the early days of Germany.

I’m sure along the way that I will either edit this or expand on it (the madhouse was a last second add) but this is a start for how I see BGW could better use its current and defunct spaces for rides it seemingly wants and ones I would love to see.
 
Anything that is potentially visible or audible within the surrounding communities will likely undergo massive county scrutiny during the planning process, as we saw with the backlash to the DF designs.

Not saying they couldn't make it happen, but it's not like KD up the road where there's nothing but a truck stop and farm land nearby to disturb. So my guess is that will continue to be a large limiting factor alongside the pipeline for any large rides like a giga.

However, I really like the true woody idea - a classic custom layout, not an RMC hybrid (as much as I like those) with the full intensity the park would be looking for in a high thrills ride. It's also good because they have their family 'woody' (hybrid since it uses steel supports) already, meaning a regular would be a good step up.
 
It’d be a dream to have a woodie that feels as long as mystic Timbers or the the voyage. If invader was a bit longer or had better tree coverage, I could easily see it being my favorite over Apollo’s or LNM.
 
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Anything that is potentially visible or audible within the surrounding communities will likely undergo massive county scrutiny during the planning process, as we saw with the backlash to the DF designs.

Not saying they couldn't make it happen, but it's not like KD up the road where there's nothing but a truck stop and farm land nearby to disturb. So my guess is that will continue to be a large limiting factor alongside the pipeline for any large rides like a giga.

However, I really like the true woody idea - a classic custom layout, not an RMC hybrid (as much as I like those) with the full intensity the park would be looking for in a high thrills ride. It's also good because they have their family 'woody' (hybrid since it uses steel supports) already, meaning a regular would be a good step up.
Any word on what is happening with Roman Rapids? If that doesn't reopen, that is another space where something could be put in. Heck, it could even be intertwined with Pantheon.
 
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Any word on what is happening with Roman Rapids? If that doesn't reopen, that is another space where something could be put in. Heck, it could even be intertwined with Pantheon.

No idea one way or the other but if it intertwined with anything it'd likely be AC given that's where the current ride path is.
 
I always thought a single rail coaster out of/by CoS would be a pretty cool spot weaving with the foliage and the pond between Ireland, England, and England's parking lot so that it's mostly behind buildings. Could call it Wail of the Banshee (since banshee proper is taken) or something Irish themed. Relatively inexpensive compared to some other items they have planned.

I'm certainly no engineer so I have no idea how even remotely feasible something like that would be, but I always thought that was a cool space where you could get some height without building incredibly tall with the valleys.
 
Saw this and was reminded of the dragon's lair S&S tower concept (from before they rethemed the Hastings area?). If they want a thrill flat, they could do far worse than this (assuming they get the theming right).

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