Mäch Tower

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Manufacturer
Moser's Rides

Model
Gravity Tower

Hamlet
Oktoberfest (Germany)

Opening Date
August 18th, 2011

Closing Date
January 8th, 2023

Attraction Height
240ft

Duration
About 90 Seconds

Riders Per Cycle
30

Height Requirement
48in



Mäch Tower was a Moser's Rides Gravity Tower located in the Oktoberfest section of Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Originally planned to debut in the spring alongside Beste Brezeln und Bier and numerous other alterations to the Oktoberfest hamlet, Mäch Tower faced months of delays throughout the first half of 2011. Ultimately, the attraction did not open to the public until August 18th, 2011.

Mach Tower was typically converted into an observation tower named Nächt Tower for the park's annual holiday event, Christmas Town.

On December 16, 2022 it was announced by the park that Mäch Tower would close on January 8th, 2023. The ride did not operate in it's typical Nächt Tower mode in 2022, in order to have final sendoffs in the normal drop tower mode.

When it debuted, Mäch Tower featured an onboard audio system which would play music throughout the ride's ascent and a seat vibration effect that would trigger immediately before the drop. A POV featuring the on-ride audio can be found below.

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Direct Link to Embedded Media Source


Sources:
  1. Mäch Tower Announcement Press Release
  2. Official Statement Regarding Opening Delays
  3. "Waiting for the Mach Tower to Drop" via The Virginian-Pilot
  4. "Busch Gardens opens towering drop ride after 3-month delay" via The Virginian-Pilot
  5. First Ride Video & Opening Day Photos via BGWFans
  6. Early Mäch Tower Ride Impressions via Theme Park Insider
 
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rvadude85 said:
I think it's safe to assume that when the park reopens on 1/27 that we will likely see a construction fence around the former Mach Tower area, in addition to the pathway leading to Italy Bridge. Very curious on what they will do with the site while plans are still developing for a potential replacement.
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Dining area....
 
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Ice said:
I'm still pulling for Zach's beer garden concept. They just need more space dedicated to food and drink with how crowded the park runs now.
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It only helps though if they actually open it! If they opened and fully staffed all there food and beverage venues there wouldn't be the BS we've been dealing with for 2 seasons now.
 
Not to start an entirely off topic discussion in this thread (hell this will probably get moved) but I'm hoping with their current philosophy towards dining and drinks and whatnot they can actually implement something extremely low maintenance for them to keep open with an opportunity to ground up create a dining space post-covid.

That self-service beer system they test ran at HoS would be a great thing to implement in a beer garden, or at least one of the equivalent techs out there. You basically need one or two cashiers to sell the cups (unless you even automate this and make it kiosks that can activate the chips after scanning an ID) and then people can serve themselves from a seasonally rotating tap area. Essentially takes less people to run than Brauhaus but has significantly more foot traffic and a much higher throughput with the efficiency of the self service. There is no reason they would ever want this closed and it would be super nice for people to easily access beer, which too often I've found a strangely difficult task. Blow down the wall to the pretzel shop and make it food only, you'll see the efficiency of getting snacks there go up as well. Whole space could turn into an absolute cash cow. Much higher return than another goofy flat ride.
 
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Ice said:
Not to start an entirely off topic discussion in this thread (hell this will probably get moved) but I'm hoping with their current philosophy towards dining and drinks and whatnot they can actually implement something extremely low maintenance for them to keep open with an opportunity to ground up create a dining space post-covid.

That self-service beer system they test ran at HoS would be a great thing to implement in a beer garden, or at least one of the equivalent techs out there. You basically need one or two cashiers to sell the cups (unless you even automate this and make it kiosks that can activate the chips after scanning an ID) and then people can serve themselves from a seasonally rotating tap area. Essentially takes less people to run than Brauhaus but has significantly more foot traffic and a much higher throughput with the efficiency of the self service. There is no reason they would ever want this closed and it would be super nice for people to easily access beer, which too often I've found a strangely difficult task. Blow down the wall to the pretzel shop and make it food only, you'll see the efficiency of getting snacks there go up as well. Whole space could turn into an absolute cash cow. Much higher return than another goofy flat ride.
Click to expand...

While that makes sense, they'll probably pinch pennies when it comes time to pay someone to clean up and stock the place - if it's selling well, chances are the cashiers can only do so much.

Doesn't ABC law require ABC managers wherever alcohol is sold in Virginia? If so, guessing that'll limit the options on reducing staffing.
 
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Whatever goes here needs to have a restroom. It's a long walk with a ton of foot traffic between Marco Polo's and the Festhaus. I was always surprised they didn't do this when Oktoberfest was renovated back in the day.
 
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I guess it depends on where the pipes are laid - if they're not super close and/or requires pathways to be replaced, the cost justification alone is enough to think current management won't go for it.

However, maybe with the pathway blocked for bridge work anyways, they could refresh the area and expand the pretzel stand to include restrooms?
 
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Jonesta6 said:
I guess it depends on where the pipes are laid - if they're not super close and/or requires pathways to be replaced, the cost justification alone is enough to think current management won't go for it.

However, maybe with the pathway blocked for bridge work anyways, they could refresh the area and expand the pretzel stand to include restrooms?
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Pipes have to run to the Pretzel place so it wouldn't be that hard to extend the line down to the site if there wasn't one already located in the area.
 
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Maybe, but it's dependent on required pipe sizes.

My guess is that the pipes placed for pretzels probably don't have the additional capacity needed for water/sewer that a restroom would generate, as there wasn't any established facilities or plans for them when it was built.
 
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