One of the many things I love about Pantheon, and I'm not sure if they designed it this way on purpose, is that they left room for expansion around it. A lot of people have wanted Spain at Busch Gardens but I've wanted Greece for awhile. Now that Pantheon occupies the field, I thought it'd be a little easier to create a concept for a new area having some boundaries rather than a blank slate.
In essence, what I've done below, is laid out Pantheon and the 50' Colonial Pipeline buffer roughly where it is and placed a Greek village about the same size as San Marco within. This also allows a new thrill factor for riders on Pantheon as well as guests on the ground with the ride flying all around them. But of course, appropriate building architecture and landscaping would all be included with much more detail than I'm providing here. This is more of a general idea and overview.
Concept Overview
Red - Colonial Pipeline Buffer
Dark Gray - Service roads
Light Gray - Pedestrian Path
Black - Borders
Green - Gardens (Vineyard)
Orange and White - Pantheon
Dark Blue - Pantheon Station
Light Blue - Fountain
Yellow - Buildings and breezeways
San Marco side Italy Connection
This is the only remaining spot to connect to San Marco and I don't believe it would look too bad. The way I have it here, is a small set of steps with a ramp next to it and then a bridge headed straight for Pantheon's massive outer banked turn. I think it would be quite the greeting entering the new hamlet from this side. On the other side of the bridge, a plaza underneath the outer bank and its supports with buildings and perhaps a few planters for existing trees or new gardens. Here, guests can choose a variety of directions, some headed into a maze of Greek buildings, others headed toward Pantheon or the Rhine.
Greece Village (Village name TBD)
Here, I have an overview of what it could look like. I wanted to focus on having a maze of tiered buildings with steps and ramps headed down the hill to give it that waterfront port type of feel. At the bottom, what could be a seating area provides a fantastic view of Pantheon's top hat, the Rhine River, and the train trestle. At the top, a large fountain. I feel like that is something Busch Gardens is missing is a truly amazing fountain. Where I have it is the blue circle in the picture below and it would create a "Candymonium around the Kisses Fountain" moment for Pantheon.
Crossing underneath Pantheon again (the inverted airtime hill and swing launch hill) gets you to the new ride plaza with a gift shop. Where I've placed this really wouldn't require any moving of buildings for the queue (the queue and exit where the orange arrow is). Pantheon's queue is already fairly minimalistic and I don't believe would be a problem to move. This also gives the opportunity for the park to theme the queue into the new village.
Festa Italia side Italy Connection
Here, crossing under Pantheon's wall stall brings you into a winding path by a small vineyard. I thought perhaps guests could walk through the vineyard too if desired. Other rides or buildings could occupy the space but I thought this would be a nice buffer between the chaos of Festa Italia and the new Greek area. Once through there, a bridge about the same length as the other Festa bridge would take you back into Festa Italia by Roman Rapids and Trade Winds hereby creating a small Italy-Greece loop.
In order to accomplish this, the animals currently in the fields would likely have to be moved to Festhaus Park or perhaps a new clearing between the railroad and boneyard. Also the bridge over the Festa Train Station would be taken out and replaced with gardens.
Apologies for more crude drawings... but I hope I got my idea across.
In essence, what I've done below, is laid out Pantheon and the 50' Colonial Pipeline buffer roughly where it is and placed a Greek village about the same size as San Marco within. This also allows a new thrill factor for riders on Pantheon as well as guests on the ground with the ride flying all around them. But of course, appropriate building architecture and landscaping would all be included with much more detail than I'm providing here. This is more of a general idea and overview.
Concept Overview
Red - Colonial Pipeline Buffer
Dark Gray - Service roads
Light Gray - Pedestrian Path
Black - Borders
Green - Gardens (Vineyard)
Orange and White - Pantheon
Dark Blue - Pantheon Station
Light Blue - Fountain
Yellow - Buildings and breezeways
San Marco side Italy Connection
This is the only remaining spot to connect to San Marco and I don't believe it would look too bad. The way I have it here, is a small set of steps with a ramp next to it and then a bridge headed straight for Pantheon's massive outer banked turn. I think it would be quite the greeting entering the new hamlet from this side. On the other side of the bridge, a plaza underneath the outer bank and its supports with buildings and perhaps a few planters for existing trees or new gardens. Here, guests can choose a variety of directions, some headed into a maze of Greek buildings, others headed toward Pantheon or the Rhine.
Greece Village (Village name TBD)
Here, I have an overview of what it could look like. I wanted to focus on having a maze of tiered buildings with steps and ramps headed down the hill to give it that waterfront port type of feel. At the bottom, what could be a seating area provides a fantastic view of Pantheon's top hat, the Rhine River, and the train trestle. At the top, a large fountain. I feel like that is something Busch Gardens is missing is a truly amazing fountain. Where I have it is the blue circle in the picture below and it would create a "Candymonium around the Kisses Fountain" moment for Pantheon.
Crossing underneath Pantheon again (the inverted airtime hill and swing launch hill) gets you to the new ride plaza with a gift shop. Where I've placed this really wouldn't require any moving of buildings for the queue (the queue and exit where the orange arrow is). Pantheon's queue is already fairly minimalistic and I don't believe would be a problem to move. This also gives the opportunity for the park to theme the queue into the new village.
Festa Italia side Italy Connection
Here, crossing under Pantheon's wall stall brings you into a winding path by a small vineyard. I thought perhaps guests could walk through the vineyard too if desired. Other rides or buildings could occupy the space but I thought this would be a nice buffer between the chaos of Festa Italia and the new Greek area. Once through there, a bridge about the same length as the other Festa bridge would take you back into Festa Italia by Roman Rapids and Trade Winds hereby creating a small Italy-Greece loop.
In order to accomplish this, the animals currently in the fields would likely have to be moved to Festhaus Park or perhaps a new clearing between the railroad and boneyard. Also the bridge over the Festa Train Station would be taken out and replaced with gardens.
Apologies for more crude drawings... but I hope I got my idea across.
