Da Vinci's Cradle

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The first entry in this thread is a WikiPost. As such, it can be edited by anyone with the appropriate permissions.

Manufacturer
Zierer

Model
Flying Carpet

Hamlet
San Marco (Italy)

Debut
1983

Closure
2022

Riders Per Cycle
40



Da Vinci's Cradle was a Zierer Flying Carpet flat ride located in the Da Vinci's Garden of Inventions area of Busch Gardens Williamsburg's San Marco hamlet. It debuted in 1983. After an extended closure, Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced on April 26, 2022 that Da Vinci's Cradle would be removed. Its final operating day is unknown.


Marketing Materials​


Ride Footage​

 
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Very hopeful that whatever comes next attempts to reuse the old theming, with some slight touch-ups, as this attraction was arguably the most themed flat in the entire park. It will be interesting to see what replaces this as the plot of land is relatively narrow and backs up to a service road.

While this is entirely unrelated, and probably not the most appropriate place, Zierer did just release concept art for a new age Flying Carpet style attraction last week known as Ellipse Flyer.
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This would be a fairly different ride experience from Da Vinci's Cradle and still somewhat honor the legacy of what came before it. Italy is lacking a true "thrill" attraction and it seems nearly every major hamlet now has one outside of England and Wild Reserve. This would be a happy medium between a family and thrill attraction, while still being very unique to the park and region as a whole.
 

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I for one won't miss Da Vinci's Cradle (always felt like it was about to fall apart to me), but it is sad to see the park lose a ride. I hope they replace it and maintain the theming of the area.
 
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Alpentheon said:
It’s sad seeing this ride go but exited to see what replaces it.. I will miss the sound it made when you came over the bridge to Italy 😭❤️ It was my first ever ride at Busch gardens and turned me into the enthusiast I am today.
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Da Vinci’s Cradle’s airy, mechanical whooshing sound was definitely THE most iconic sound of any ride at the park. Thanks for pointing that out; I will really miss hearing that sound whenever I’m in Da Vinci’s Garden.
 
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Mushroom said:
Da Vinci’s Cradle’s airy, mechanical whooshing sound was definitely THE most iconic sound of any ride at the park. Thanks for pointing that out; I will really miss hearing that sound whenever I’m in Da Vinci’s Garden.
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truth!! it could be heard pretty far away but much more.. elegant then a sound like alpies lift LOL
 
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Simple. Just E stop the ride instantly in midair, then casually stroll into the kill zone and glue an upside-down bucket to the platform to contain the fountain.

Tell everyone to keep their feet up so they don't harm the bucket, and then restart the ride. Done.

Alternately, just design it however Tivoli Gardens did it.
 
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Unpopular opinion (sorry, not sorry) but I've been going to BGW since I was a kid, first time was the year when they were building Nessie! And, I never once rode Da Vinci's Cradle. Not gonna miss it, buh bye!

That said, I'm sorry for those of you who did love the ride. I was so sad when BBW was removed... and I actually LOVED Drachen Fire (even though it caused head and neck aches!)
 
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There have been so many new developments and concepts for flat rides over the last few years, it is exciting to think about what could replace such an iconic flat ride like this. Like many others I think this would be a great spot for a new Zamperla flat.

With that being said another thought is they could use the space to improve accessibility to “Festa Italia” section. Currently you can only access this part via the one bridge and this section now holds 3 major roller coasters in addition to Roman rapids, several other flat rides, and other small attractions and stores. Anyone who has visited over the past few years knows how crowded this section gets. I think they would still put a flat ride in to offset the closure of Da Vinci’s Cradle, but they might use the opportunity to reconfigure and improve accessibility to that section of the park.
 
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halfabee said:
Would love to see this replace it someday:
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Rode this a while ago. And while I enjoyed it a lot if feels very different from Cradle. This has huge counterweights so it seems to move more smoothly or at a more continuous speed whereas Cradle and MarineLand's Flying Dragon have tiny counterweights, so they REALLY speed up when falling and slow down going over the top. And speaking of Flying Dragon at MarineLand, it didn't open at all last year but that may have been pandemic related. That park opens in three weeks so we'll see if it reopens.
 
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Jdpfan89 said:
There have been so many new developments and concepts for flat rides over the last few years, it is exciting to think about what could replace such an iconic flat ride like this. Like many others I think this would be a great spot for a new Zamperla flat.

With that being said another thought is they could use the space to improve accessibility to “Festa Italia” section. Currently you can only access this part via the one bridge and this section now holds 3 major roller coasters in addition to Roman rapids, several other flat rides, and other small attractions and stores. Anyone who has visited over the past few years knows how crowded this section gets. I think they would still put a flat ride in to offset the closure of Da Vinci’s Cradle, but they might use the opportunity to reconfigure and improve accessibility to that section of the park.
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Removal of the cradle gives them a good opportunity to do some earth moving and build a bridge to Pantheon with an access tunnel for vehicles to Marco Polo's backarea.
 
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Would a bridge from Da Vinci’s Cradle’s plot to Pantheon even be that useful? On the San Marco side, that plot isn’t very far from the existing bridge — it’s literally a 30 second walk from Da Vinci’s Cradle to the current Festa bridge. And Pantheon is more or less in the “front” half of Festa anyway, just a short walk down from where the existing Festa bridge lets off.

It would be a different story if there could be a bridge that connects to, say, the Roman Rapids end of Festa (which of course isn’t possible), or if the bridge connected to the far end of San Marco like near the far-facing end of Il Teatro by the Ponte de Accordo bridge. But adding a second bridge so close to the original bridge, which connects to roughly the same points, just feels valueless, at least compared to the investment that would be required. Most of Festa would still be a dead end not accessed by either bridge, and except for the absolute busiest days during HOS and CT, I’ve never seen Festa’s single bridge as a problem from a crowd flow perspective.
 
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Additionally, the pipeline presents enormous construction issues. It would take a lot of reworking to make another bridge now that Pantheon has been built.

I think a Garden of Inventions to Pantheon to Roman Rapids connection was always the "most right" solution. Now that the bridge has been built behind Turkish Delight though, I struggle to imagine any additional connections taking place.
 
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Yea, a connection there wouldn’t be great, however, (and excuse the not knowing the HOS names) they could use the path back by Roman Rapids, so a little something where that haunt is, have a surface level train crossing, and loop to the man Panteon plaza. Doesn’t fix the Festa dead end, but it at least creates a little loop back there.
 
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The first entry in this thread is a WikiPost. As such, it can be edited by anyone with the appropriate permissions.
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