Festa Italia Renovation/Retheme

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OutlawStar

OutlawStar

May 2, 2012
17
3
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Richmond
Hello Everyone,
With the refurbishment of Oktoberfest nearly complete I can't help but notice that other areas of the of the park are in need of some love. I think Festa Italia is the most likely candidate as it has really drifted away from Busch Gardens core over the years.

What are everyone's thoughts on a total retheme of Festa Italia; not just sprucing it up with some paint. I'm thinking everything in Festa, minus Apollo, should be pulled out and discarded and the entire area themed to ancient Greece. Apollo was also a Greek god and would fit great in a Greek hamlet. The queue and station could be made to look like a temple the rest of the area could be designed to look like an ancient Mediterranean village. It could even be expanded further into the open land behind Roman Rapids. Busch could really do a lot with the theme and area with other Greek gods getting some rides.

What do you think?

New in 2015! Our New Hamlet Delphi, Greece!
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RE: Future of Festa

Roman Rapids will never be removed, it is a classic white water rafting ride that can get extremely busy during most of the Virginia summers. Also, Apollo was not just a Greek god, the Greeks and Romans shared some of the god names and Apollo was the same god in both religions and cultures.

Festa could just use some sprucing up, it really doesn't need to be re-themed entirely and with Apollo, it is very specific to the area unless they did Greece and in that case, they would need to have more than just a small bridge and train station to handle crowds in that area.
 
RE: Future of Festa

Absolutely no getting rid of Roman Rapids!
That ride is so backed up all the time in the Summer. I worship that ride in the summer! :p
I agree Party Rocker, BG will not get rid of that ride until the very distant future, or until the terrible day it dies.
And, just asking, why is there a French flag next to a thread about Festa?:p
 
RE: Future of Festa

Actually Apollo was a Greek God, there wasn't a true Roman equivalent. The Romans began reffering to him as Pheobus in late Roman times. And Roman Rapids sucks. I garentee you it's on the chopping block in the future.

PS I like your idea Outlaw
 
RE: Future of Festa

I like it. It always makes me laugh and is a great hot summer afternoon ride.
 
RE: Future of Festa

coasternd said:
Actually Apollo was a Greek God, there wasn't a true Roman equivalent. The Romans began reffering to him as Pheobus in late Roman times.
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Actually, they always worshiped him. It's true that they called him Pheobus (and Pheobus Apollo) later on, but that doesn't mean he disappeared in between; it has to do with some of the complexities of the different roles of gods in the religion. In fact, there were temple's built for Apollo throughout the Roman Empire most notably in Pompeii (which relevant to another thread on this board, had a large sun dial!) and Rome. Apollo was also the patron god of the Augustus, the first emperor of Rome.

With that said, it'd make a re-theme to Greece easy. I'd take anything less gaudy (I think it could stay "A celebration of Marco Polo's Journey" but a festive take on a real village, like Oktoberfest, rather than a temporary-looking carnival). If it were my choice to consider ideas for a re-theme and the next country, I'd make festa more Roman influenced sort of like Pompeii, but maybe not an archeological site, with ruins and what not. But I like the idea of Greece too so I'd add a sort of Greek "seaside" village. I think it would go really well behind San Marco sort of looking across towards Verbolten. Perhaps then build a path between Festa and Greece which goes through the pastures there, perhaps adding sheep since they are common in that area. Also, perhaps a few vineyards to close out the look there (I know it's historically a beer park, you can leave this out if you want). However, wine is important through Greece/Italy and there are vines that can thrive in Williamsburg.

Basic influence for construction (Santorini, Greece):
Ia_Santorini-2009-1.JPG


I'd also like to know why you're saying Roman Rapids is so high on the chopping block. It's pretty darn popular. Nonsensical guessing? Low Capacity?
 
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RE: Future of Festa

If it were re-themed as Greece think of the awesome food! That pic is kinda what I was thinking too and the hill along the Rhine could look like that. I think the lose of so many trees to pull off the theme would be unacceptable to environmental regulators.

The Greek theming that could be added to Apollo would be fantastic, a Parthanon-like structure at the end of the "Out and Back" or what ever they think the Temple of Apollo once looked like. There could even be a new show venue with the recreation of a Greek Theater.

As far as the Rapids go, I'm sure its on a limited life time expectancy report someone desk. If the rumors of year-round operations is true then the rides usefulness becomes very limited and it is sitting on very valuable land.
***But I don't want to hijack this thread with Roman Rapids

A Greek re-theme has tons of potential.
 
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RE: Future of Festa

The only Reason Roman Rapids will go anytime soon is if it becomes a major maintenance problem. I dont want Festa to be rethemed, but it could use something new. Unless I'm missing something Appollo was the last new thing in any of the Italy's, that was over 10 years ago.
 
RE: Future of Festa

Alpenscoot said:
The only Reason Roman Rapids will go anytime soon is if it becomes a major maintenance problem. I dont want Festa to be rethemed, but it could use something new. Unless I'm missing something Appollo was the last new thing in any of the Italy's, that was over 10 years ago.
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Agreed. I don't think Roman Rapids will remove anytime soon, since the parts are still available from Intamin. All Festa needs to be done is some TLC, I this maintenance.
 
RE: Future of Festa

Just going to leave this here...
Sam Weaver: Where do you see the park’s next expansion being?
Carl Lum: We are going to start focusing on making other countries better, similar to the Oktoberfest revamp.
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Source: http://www.coaster-net.com/blogs/239-verbolten-media-day/
 
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RE: Future of Festa

Basically go around the whole park revamping everything country by country. Our job is to find out the order in which countries they are going in.
 
RE: Future of Festa

If any water ride at BGW is on the chopping block, Le Scoot seems to be the most likely contender (unless Busch pulls a Hersheypark on us and removes the rapids first before the flume, which I doubt will happen at this point in time).

While a Greek retheme has potential, but I don't think BGW is gonna go with a full-fledged overhaul unless the park decides to close off Festa for a year to do a full overhaul. That would cut the park off to two major attractions. The solution to that seems to be placing construction walls everywhere the way Disney did it with Carsland and Universal did with Potter.

Oktoberfest's "retheme" was really just repainting some structures, adding some props, and maypole show/roaming bands outside of the new rides/attractions. My guess is Festa's will be the same, but on a slightly larger scale.
 
RE: Future of Festa

netdvn said:
If any water ride at BGW is on the chopping block, Le Scoot seems to be the most likely contender (unless Busch pulls a Hersheypark on us and removes the rapids first before the flume, which I doubt will happen at this point in time).
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I often see longer lines for Le Scoot than for Roman Rapids. Additionally, I don't see much potential use for the land Le Scoot is sitting on.
 
RE: Future of Festa

Annie Porter said:
It didn't take a year to redo Hastings into Ireland.
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Consider the fact that most of the original buildings were removed, relocated, or freshly built. They slightly change the tops of the castle bits for a ruin look, added vines, and repainted the area. To be honest, it isn't much different. Yes, it didn't take longer than Oktoberfest's redo but you have to consider the amount of work done did not change the basic layout of the area and was a bit more than Oktoberfest's. I could see them removing and rebuilding buildings in Festa and changing the layout.
 
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RE: Future of Festa

Swiftman said:
netdvn said:
If any water ride at BGW is on the chopping block, Le Scoot seems to be the most likely contender (unless Busch pulls a Hersheypark on us and removes the rapids first before the flume, which I doubt will happen at this point in time).
Click to expand...

I often see longer lines for Le Scoot than for Roman Rapids. Additionally, I don't see much potential use for the land Le Scoot is sitting on.
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With a little bulldozing, you might be able to fit a medium-sized water coaster (San Diego Journey to Atlantis) on that site. A splash battle could work as well, although the terrain could provide for some trouble.

As for popularity. It doesn't really matter how popular the ride is. Lately it seems that the older maintenance heavy rides seem to be phased out for newer stuff, especially rides involving water (White Water Landing, Log Jammer, Jaws). It wouldn't surprise me to see Le Scoot leave in the coming years.
 
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