Being that I have been back in the wooded area myself, I am honestly quite astounded that they actually have room, but I guess plans don't lie.
It will be an extremely tight squeeze and I am not sure what the park is trying to plan out exactly. I would have tried putting the ride back near the old Howl-o-Scream maze is, that way they can expand Festa and also lure people down further into the hamlet.
I also can not believe they are willing to get rid of Splashus Maximus. That games makes thousands on any given sunny hot day. I do suppose a new ride would be open more time out of the year and something like this ride would bring in more attendance, but still they are literally getting rid of an extremely popular late spring/summer game that can bring in lots of money.
Also, I can see why they would choose that location because it really is the only place in Festa that they can put anything without having to expand beyond Roman Rapids.
As much as people disapprove of the ride because it is mainly a clone and in an awkward location, I honestly think the ride will be a great addition to help diversify the lineup of coasters they have and plus as others have mentioned it looks like people will really enjoy the ride.
Could they have chosen something better? Yes. Will this turn out a complete failure? Probably not.
redheadtanman said:
Although this is very out of character for Busch Gardens, I feel that this might be a surprising draw to come to Busch. I only say this because this ride can only be found on the west coast in the USA. I'm very skeptical why they would place this in festa Italia when it's already so crowded, as this has been mentioned. My thoughts is that since the land is pretty flat in festa Italia and not much excavating or land development needs to be done, then maybe this is settlement money for the Mach tower incident. According to some sources online the discovery kingdom coaster was valued at 6 million, not sure if this is relatively cheap or not ? This is why I think that they chose this site since it would minimize development cost and maximize their budget for the ride.
In conclusion, although it's very out of place, it looks really fun !
Festa Italia is not flat. In fact the entire arcade in Festa is not actually sitting on level ground. It is essentially a deck. The pathways maybe level but especially in that area from the pathway to Apollo's Chariot is a relatively steep decline. Also, getting rid of those trees might be costly.
