Griffon

[horsesboy]

Wasps are a perennial and industry-wide problem.  There are several discussions about it, but I think this is probably the most useful post.

Yup and BGW has it easy compared to many other parks like Dollywood.

KD was horrible this year I don't know what caused it to be so much worse then past years but they were all over the park.

 

[MAZ]

I agree. Bees at KD for the last month have been absolutely relentless. Climbing Dominator's lift hill revealed multiples tiny swarms every 6 feet, all the way up, attached to the railings on both sides. I remember thinking, if this things goes kaput, I'm gonna be helpless against these guys.

 

[Nicole]

May I recommend this conversation be moved to the Bug Thread?

 

[spacemtfan]

I write on Park Vault and I just published an article that I think will interest you: Dive Coasters.

I talk about how the first Dive Coaster at Alton Towers came about and all the installations that followed it, including Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

http://parkvault.net/2018/02/28/dive-coasters-in-england-and-taiwan-part-3-of-our-steepest-coaster/

 

[Franco]

I think we should all be grateful that the two best coasters in the park (AC and Griffon, in my opinion) naturally have such great capacity. It was stack city on Griffon today while only running two trains and the line still didn't really get worse than 40 minutes on what was a pretty busy day. I know that there are a lot of new people getting familiar with rides and systems around this time of the year, but it's annoying to see such a languid pace from the crew. It doesn't even project any sense of enthusiasm. They were doing a pretty good job over at Apollo, though.

 

[Peej1212]

I think we should all be grateful that the two best coasters in the park (AC and Griffon, in my opinion) naturally have such great capacity.  It was stack city on Griffon today while only running two trains and the line still didn't really get worse than 40 minutes on what was a pretty busy day.  

yea i agree those two have a good capacity. Normally when we go (which is later in season FYI) the line moves pretty quickly. 40 mins really isnt bad on a busy day.

 

[BGW Family]

More archives. Old BGEscape videos for Griffon's announcement.

Dropbox

 

[Zachary]

Thanks for the excellent Griffon content, @BGW Family! You've inspired me.

I don't know if this has been posted before, but I figure tossing it up on the BGWFans YouTube channel makes sense. Here's a (very low quality) official recording of the press conference from Griffon's media day:

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[CastleOSullivan]

The one that BGWFamily posted was in my top most-missed videos from BGEscape. I miss the dramatic announcements from days of old. Now if only I could find the Christmas Town media presentation.

My favorite part of the video Zachary posted is Donnie Mills saying "Ready to dive?!"

 

[horsesboy]

Griffin is down for today and I am hearing possibly longer but haven't heard any rumors on cause. Anyone else hearing anything? Of course I am pretty sure someone will report some sort of fire or destroyed footer or other life threatening disaster shortly given the wild rumors that have circulated this year.

 

[GrandpaD]

It just went back up. No idea what the repair could have been.

 

[horsesboy]

Great to know when I was by about an hr ago the people maining the bridge said she was down for the day. Usually they will just tell you they don't know unless they been told something specific.

 

[Zachary]

A well-placed source close to Griffon's maintenance team (physically close—like working at the Dippin' Dots cart across the path, close) says one of Griffon's trains burst into flames and, to avoid bad press, the park covered it in a tarp in the maintenance shed. The park reopened the ride immediately without alerting authorities to avoid tipping anyone off regarding the dangerous, life-threatening problems currently facing the ride.

Oh, also, somehow Busch Gardens is committing insurance fraud through all of this... And all of Griffon's footers have massive cracks in them. The ride is doomed. BGW is just trying to delay the inevitable.

/sarcasm

 

[Mushroom]

I heard Griffon is being melted down to be turned into supports for Drachen Fire.

 

[GrandpaD]

A well-placed source close to Griffon's maintenance team (physically close—like working at the Dippin' Dots cart across the path, close) says one of Griffon's trains burst into flames and, to avoid bad press, the park covered it in a tarp in the maintenance shed.
/sarcasm

I'm beginning to think the Dippin Dots guy is a reincarnation of Johnny the Shoeshine Boy in Police Squad!

 

[Gavin]

Oh hell naw.

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[Nicole]

Nope.

An extra 45 minutes at the top of Griffon would be a nightmare for me.

 

[Zimmy]

Oh man, the cool stuff never happens to me.

 

[whanna]

It’s neat that park operations get to practice evacuation training regularly with the insider tour. Reverse evac training, but practice with the plates, harnesses, etc nonetheless.

 

[enaosaka]

Anyone else think that this ride's starting to show its age? When I rode it 3x in a row last Thursday, there were some parts at the end that were a slight headbanger and there might've been a slight B&M rattle to it that I couldn't notice. I even got a slight headache during the third time (then again, I rode in the back. Plus, the park was mostly empty that day, so there was almost no line for most of the rides I rode there, including Griffon). This was just my experience, tho. Idk abt y'all.