With the recent resurgence in focus on Drachen Spire and specifically, after reading this post by @AIR, I wanted to take a stab at addressing some of the issues with utilizing Festhaus Park for a major addition to Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
In my mind, there are four major issues that, optimally, would all be addressed either before or alongside the debut of a major new draw in Festhaus Park.
I'm going to start at the top left with the Das Festhaus plaza area. I've cut the planter across from Der Autobahn back pretty significantly to open up a more direct path to the side of Das Festhaus. This makes the Festhaus Park pathway clearly visible to anyone walking up to Das Festhaus from either the DarKastle side or the Verbolten side of the Oktoberfest hamlet. Similarly, I've cut back the planter between Der Autobahn and Das Festhaus as well—both to improve sightlines and to widen the entrance to the Festhaus Park path.
As a side effect to the plaza widening, I was able to shift the center area to align it directly with the middle of Das Festhaus. Though this symmetry doesn't matter much normally, it would do a ton to improve the look of this area during Christmas Town when the tree is in place. Plus, this new, larger plaza will better accommodate the crowds that typically pack this area during special events.
Moving on to the path back to Festhaus Park, I've re-added the planter along the side of Das Festhaus. I'm not entirely sure when exactly this was removed, but it was within the last handful of years. If guests are going to frequent this area, a small, decretive treeline is an absolute must to hide the side of Das Festhaus. I considered more innovative solutions for this area—including a small gift shop or a long, indoor/outdoor beer garden-esque bar, but for now I settled on the planter as the easiest, most straightforward solution.
Halfway down the path to Das Festhaus, I have the focal point of this project: A 48 passenger Zamperla Endeavour named Das Spinnrad. A video of one of these attractions in action can be found below.
Why a Zamperla Endeavour? Why Das Spinnrad? Well, it's themed to Rumpelstiltskin—specifically the spinning wheel that Rumpelstiltskin uses to spin straw into gold. Das Spinnrad translates to "the spinning wheel"—both the most iconic item in the Rumpelstiltskin story and a direct description of a Zamperla Endeavour. Now, being a flat ride, I don't believe any significant thematic investment really needs to occur here, but some storybook-style signs in the queue retelling the Rumpelstiltskin story alongside a thematic paint job for the ride should do the job nicely. I envision the main ride structure being painted various different shades of browns to give it a wooden-contraption-like look with the outer loop of the attraction (read: the ride vehicles), painted gold. Ideally, the outer loop would also receive a nice, yellow lighting kit to draw eyes and foot traffic from Okterberfest at night as well.
This ride, pictured essentially to scale in my concept map above, fits beautifully over what is currently the front portion of the picnic area. In fact, it fits so well on the site that the second of the front-most two picnic pavilions can be repurposed into a queue shelter for the attraction. With the addition of a back wall on the existing structure and some privacy fences along the rear of the site, this would provide a nice separation between the picnic area and park. Between the noise of the ride, the ambient music in the area, and Drachen Spire nearby, any noise coming from whatever party is occurring in the picnic area should become a nonissue from the Festhaus Park pathway.
Even better, this attraction is placed in such a way as to be visible as it's cycling from the plaza in front of Das Festhaus. The kineticism visible down this pathway would go a long way towards drawing people back to what would otherwise seem like a boring, empty corner of the park.
Now I suppose I should address the picnic area. Yes, I'm stealing the front two buildings (pictured above). To compensate for this loss, I would extend the back section of the picnic area (pictured below) further back behind Das Festhaus. I'd also suggest that it may be a good opportunity to consider a larger, more weatherproof, possibly even climate-controllable structure for group dining usage as well. I figure that hosting group events could help draw some off-season traffic during the colder months.
Aside from some other very minor path changes, everything else that's depicted in my concept are really just things that BGW already has in the works—namely the new special event space across the railroad tracks and, obviously, the addition of Drachen Spire which justifies all of this work to begin with.
By adding a ride at the halfway point between the entrance to the Festhaus Park pathway and Drachen Spire, this plan minimizes the vacant, empty space guests would need to traverse to access Festhaus Park. Due to Das Spinnrad's placement, it is directly visible at the end of a pathway that can be seen from in front of Das Festhaus. By shifting the picnic area further back behind Das Festhaus, this plan also minimizes the potential visual and noise intrusions of the picnic area into normal guest areas of the park. Though this doesn't solve the dead end issue, it does serve to add another sizable draw to the space—effectively further justifying the existence of the dead end.
Anyway, let me know what you think!
Oh, and if you like this concept, make sure you check out my last pitch for a new Zamperla flat ride addition to Busch Gardens Williamsburg as well:
parkfans.net
In my mind, there are four major issues that, optimally, would all be addressed either before or alongside the debut of a major new draw in Festhaus Park.
- Accessing the site requires a lengthy walk through an essentially vacant area of the park.
- The pathway back to Festhaus Park isn't intuitive within the structure of Busch Gardens Williamsburg's existing layout and guests will likely struggle to find a way back to whatever is built there.
- Without more than one means of accessing the area, any Festhaus Park attraction will inevitably be located at the end of a tremendously long spur from the main park layout.
- The pathway back to Festhaus Park requires that guests walk alongside backstage areas and a picnic area that frequently hosts private—sometimes loud—group events. This isn't good for guests or for groups.
I'm going to start at the top left with the Das Festhaus plaza area. I've cut the planter across from Der Autobahn back pretty significantly to open up a more direct path to the side of Das Festhaus. This makes the Festhaus Park pathway clearly visible to anyone walking up to Das Festhaus from either the DarKastle side or the Verbolten side of the Oktoberfest hamlet. Similarly, I've cut back the planter between Der Autobahn and Das Festhaus as well—both to improve sightlines and to widen the entrance to the Festhaus Park path.
As a side effect to the plaza widening, I was able to shift the center area to align it directly with the middle of Das Festhaus. Though this symmetry doesn't matter much normally, it would do a ton to improve the look of this area during Christmas Town when the tree is in place. Plus, this new, larger plaza will better accommodate the crowds that typically pack this area during special events.
Moving on to the path back to Festhaus Park, I've re-added the planter along the side of Das Festhaus. I'm not entirely sure when exactly this was removed, but it was within the last handful of years. If guests are going to frequent this area, a small, decretive treeline is an absolute must to hide the side of Das Festhaus. I considered more innovative solutions for this area—including a small gift shop or a long, indoor/outdoor beer garden-esque bar, but for now I settled on the planter as the easiest, most straightforward solution.
Halfway down the path to Das Festhaus, I have the focal point of this project: A 48 passenger Zamperla Endeavour named Das Spinnrad. A video of one of these attractions in action can be found below.
Why a Zamperla Endeavour? Why Das Spinnrad? Well, it's themed to Rumpelstiltskin—specifically the spinning wheel that Rumpelstiltskin uses to spin straw into gold. Das Spinnrad translates to "the spinning wheel"—both the most iconic item in the Rumpelstiltskin story and a direct description of a Zamperla Endeavour. Now, being a flat ride, I don't believe any significant thematic investment really needs to occur here, but some storybook-style signs in the queue retelling the Rumpelstiltskin story alongside a thematic paint job for the ride should do the job nicely. I envision the main ride structure being painted various different shades of browns to give it a wooden-contraption-like look with the outer loop of the attraction (read: the ride vehicles), painted gold. Ideally, the outer loop would also receive a nice, yellow lighting kit to draw eyes and foot traffic from Okterberfest at night as well.
This ride, pictured essentially to scale in my concept map above, fits beautifully over what is currently the front portion of the picnic area. In fact, it fits so well on the site that the second of the front-most two picnic pavilions can be repurposed into a queue shelter for the attraction. With the addition of a back wall on the existing structure and some privacy fences along the rear of the site, this would provide a nice separation between the picnic area and park. Between the noise of the ride, the ambient music in the area, and Drachen Spire nearby, any noise coming from whatever party is occurring in the picnic area should become a nonissue from the Festhaus Park pathway.
Even better, this attraction is placed in such a way as to be visible as it's cycling from the plaza in front of Das Festhaus. The kineticism visible down this pathway would go a long way towards drawing people back to what would otherwise seem like a boring, empty corner of the park.
Now I suppose I should address the picnic area. Yes, I'm stealing the front two buildings (pictured above). To compensate for this loss, I would extend the back section of the picnic area (pictured below) further back behind Das Festhaus. I'd also suggest that it may be a good opportunity to consider a larger, more weatherproof, possibly even climate-controllable structure for group dining usage as well. I figure that hosting group events could help draw some off-season traffic during the colder months.
Aside from some other very minor path changes, everything else that's depicted in my concept are really just things that BGW already has in the works—namely the new special event space across the railroad tracks and, obviously, the addition of Drachen Spire which justifies all of this work to begin with.
By adding a ride at the halfway point between the entrance to the Festhaus Park pathway and Drachen Spire, this plan minimizes the vacant, empty space guests would need to traverse to access Festhaus Park. Due to Das Spinnrad's placement, it is directly visible at the end of a pathway that can be seen from in front of Das Festhaus. By shifting the picnic area further back behind Das Festhaus, this plan also minimizes the potential visual and noise intrusions of the picnic area into normal guest areas of the park. Though this doesn't solve the dead end issue, it does serve to add another sizable draw to the space—effectively further justifying the existence of the dead end.
Anyway, let me know what you think!
Oh, and if you like this concept, make sure you check out my last pitch for a new Zamperla flat ride addition to Busch Gardens Williamsburg as well:
ZeitMaschine: Clock-Themed Zamperla NebulaZ in Rhinefeld
I was gonna write up something more complete, but after losing all of my work once, I'm feeling sorta demotivated so... Welcome to the cliffnotes version! Huge thanks to @Thomas for the initial idea and both @Mushroom and @Thomas for a ton of brainstorming and input. So, what do we want...
parkfans.net
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