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Jul 7, 2017
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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

MapExport Greece.jpg


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.

MapExport Italy Bridge.jpg


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.

MapExport Greek Village.jpg


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.

MapExport Festa-Greek Bridge.jpg

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.
 
Thank you! I'll continue to look over it and develop for fun. The way it stands now, it's not really practical business-wise because there are no rides being added with it. There's no return for a multi-million dollar addition like this. I do believe a large flat ride of some sort should be added with this. Also, after posting the layout, I thought a small theater (Shenanigans Theater size) would be better than the vineyard garden I had drawn.

Like I said, I'll continue to do some research and develop a Greek hamlet that would fit at Busch Gardens. Thanks for the positive responses!
 
Thank you! I'll continue to look over it and develop for fun. The way it stands now, it's not really practical business-wise because there are no rides being added with it. There's no return for a multi-million dollar addition like this. I do believe a large flat ride of some sort should be added with this. Also, after posting the layout, I thought a small theater (Shenanigans Theater size) would be better than the vineyard garden I had drawn.

Like I said, I'll continue to do some research and develop a Greek hamlet that would fit at Busch Gardens. Thanks for the positive responses!
This is a great idea however how would it tie in with Pantheon. Pantheon is Roman right? Hence why it's surrounding areas of Festa Italia and Marco Polo's make sense? The surrounding areas probably helped fuel the name for the coaster too. I'm just assuming this and it's just an opinion but i don't see how a Greek theme would work. I'm all for new areas of the park though! The layout is pretty darn awesome and precise!
 
20211101_153430.jpg

Just a small concept sketch I drew up on my day off. I think I like the amount of buildings and the placement of them here. They consist of Mediterranean style, Greek architecture shops, small snack venues (like Pigs in a Kilt in Scotland), and a waterfront restaurant that has yet to be named. The restaurant overlooks the Rhine River and train trestle framed by Pantheon's beyond vertical drop. Due to the terrain drop, the restaurant also has a balcony which can be accessed from inside the building and a lower deck with outdoor seating.

For the fountain at the top of the village, I've surrounded it with 5 large columns that are statues of the 5 gods Pantheon features. If you were to stand looking at the columns, the vertical spike would be behind it along with the swooping turn surrounding the new plaza.
 
Looks great!

Why not keep it in Italy instead of Greece? I understand what a pantheon is-Greek word for All Gods. But The Pantheon, the temple structure to the Gods, that the ride is named for and placed in is in Rome. It’s still there today. Why not keep the theming Roman?
 
With Busch’s level of effort I’m sure whether it was Greek or Roman buildings the only differentiating feature would be the cheesy mispronounced/spelled writing on the signs. That’s to say it could be Greek or Roman easily
 
Looks great!

Why not keep it in Italy instead of Greece? I understand what a pantheon is-Greek word for All Gods. But The Pantheon, the temple structure to the Gods, that the ride is named for and placed in is in Rome. It’s still there today. Why not keep the theming Roman?

I‘m pretty sure it is not named for the building.
 
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I have a more detailed update to this concept:

Overview Greece (2).png

Now that Pantheon is built and shown on satellite imagery, I am able to better draw out how I want all aspects of this new nameless Busch Gardens Greek village to be. Overall, what I have shown above, is a layout in which a main larger path (22' wide) through the center of the village and Pantheon allows decent flow for guests to complete the small loop on this side of the park. Splitting off of that are several narrower (12' wide at the smallest) alleyways allowing guests to explore the maze of buildings on either side leading to various merchandise/food shops. All paths generally slope downwards toward the restaurant and the Rhine River, mimicking the sloped streets of real Mediterranean Greek villages. Building architecture I am envisioning keeping somewhat plain, sort of like the Aquitaine village: steep metal rooves and stucco walls. Where the color and detail comes in, will be in pieces like bright window boxes and shutters, bright flowers in pots and growing up walls, tile floors, murals and artwork on the walls.

From San Marco, guests would cross a 200' long encompassed arbor bridge through the woods. (like the arbor at Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens Tampa by SheiKra). Once emerging into the Greek Village from this side, guests are greeted by the massive outerbank turn on Pantheon as well as paths I would like to see landscaped as a vineyard. Vines and flowers growing up the supports of Pantheon and in planters in this small path would be diverse from the maze of buildings and several paths to choose from ahead.

Restaurant Greece (2).png

The Southernmost building, above, is the restaurant of this hamlet a little smaller than Marco Polo's Marketplace, but this building is two stories. The rear of the building features an indoor dome for air conditioned seating with large windows on the upper deck. Below, is an open air patio for additional seating. Steps are located inside to go down to the lower deck along with the ramp to the west. This lower deck area is about 12-14' below the entrance to the building. This allows for a very unique experience at a theme park with this entire eating area overlooking the Rhine River and being framed by two of the largest elements on Pantheon. The kitchen, serving area and backstage are located to the right of the dome structure with additional indoor seating being at the left of the dome.

The large building just to the Northeast of the restaurant I'm envisioning being a small family-friendly dark ride of some sort. First thing that came to my mind was an indoor theater playing an interactive movie. (Maybe like Pirates 4D but about Greek/Roman gods?) That's probably not too appealing to most of us but I felt the need to add an attraction to be more marketable to the masses. The building adjacent, is just a large shop with entrances on the narrow and large midway.

Fountain Greecwe (2).png

Above, is the 40' diameter circular fountain plaza creating what is like the Candymonium around the fountain idea for me. Around the plaza are the statues of Minerva, Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto which are the 5 gods Pantheon is "themed" after. These are also at a low part for the ride, creating a near-miss element for Pantheon. The building just South of the fountain is the restrooms for the village, men on one side, women on the other with a large breezeway connecting the two. Adjacent are more shops on narrow midways. The passage through Pantheon is just to the East of this part of the village.

Festa Side Greece (2).png

The passage through Pantheon incorporates the entrance to the ride as well. The path goes under the highest point of the swing launch hill and the wall stall, ride plaza being between. The sign for the ride would just be repurposed, as well as the sword on the Festa side of the bridge. Both would be moved over here, as theming for the ride. The exit of the ride is rerouted to the existing queue line and a new entrance structure would be built over the queue. A new locker/photos building is featured opposite the entrance in the plaza. A small bit of path and a 20' wide bridge (very similar to the existing Festa-Italy Bridge) takes guests over the service road and railroad.

Hope you all enjoy looking over this! It is a lot of fun to design and imagine how all the sightlines would be like when standing inside. I think I want to see if a Roman Rapids renovation would be worth looking into as "the attraction" that gets marketed with this new village.
 
Took me a moment to see that the darker grey path, not given a border, would be an extension of the existing service road - therefore this area could be properly serviced during operating hours.

I like the vision - curious what your thoughts on shops should be. Perhaps the upper floor of the restaurant could also include a deck with some of it under the roof and can be enclosed in wet or cool weather. Maybe include a bar specializing in Greek wine, beer, and spirits such as Ouzo.
 
I've been thinking about this concept a little more lately and thought I'd throw an idea out there: How out of place would it look to add a recreation of a seaside port/waterfront in place of the majority of the buildings and the fountain? Would it be too out of place for something like BGW?

What I'm thinking is something very similar to SeaWorld Orlando's front entrance. Simulated waves and clear water to imitate the Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps a couple of boats and a dock placed in the water with picnic tables along the path by the water. It would also differentiate this proposed hamlet from San Marco. I'd keep the main eating venue and some shops but the north side of the main center path would be the simulated sea that Pantheon would fly around

I like the idea of something waterfront being that it's Greece and all, but didn't want to use the Rhine as that bit of the lake is heavily visible where Pantheon's drop is and I did not want this to be visible from elsewhere in the park.
 
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