Project 2017: InvadR

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RE: Project 2017

My youngest just hit 42" and all last summer he begged to ride both EITA and Pompeii. And, all summer, I promised him he'll be able to ride both next year.

I really hope BGW doesn't turn me into a liar!

That said, I would vote for a combination of a log flume and coaster to replace Pompeii. Six Flags America had one until 5 years ago. It can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfM-QbV5ltk

The coaster aspect can be seen at 2:15 - 2:55. I believe that originally, this ride's coaster portion was going to be significantly longer, before budget cuts changed the ride design. It also originally included a place for the boat to turn around mid-ride, so you rode the second half backwards. That is why the drop tower (hey, see the word "drop" there?) has this weird turning mechanism. It was designed so you'd go up the hill backwards, and then it'd turn you the other way from what you see in the video, so you'd go down the hill forwards.

The BGW version I would love to see would be at 50% to 75% coaster.
 
RE: Project 2017

Sounds kinda like journey to Atlantis, which would be an awesome replacement for escape from pompeii. Problem is you would still have a seasonal/maintenance intensive ride.
 
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RE: Project 2017

Pretzel Kaiser said:
What if the apparent success of Tempesto just means that the park will be getting more of that model?  England will have "Galestorm", Germany will have "Der Tempest", and France will have "Le Wind".
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The new American Pavilion will host it and it will be called Chicago :)
 
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RE: Project 2017

kmccarthy27 said:
Pretzel Kaiser said:
What if the apparent success of Tempesto just means that the park will be getting more of that model?  England will have "Galestorm", Germany will have "Der Tempest", and France will have "Le Wind".
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The new American Pavilion will host it and it will be called Chicago :)
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This is just too much!
 
RE: Project 2017

tursiops said:
Sounds kinda like journey to Atlantis, which would be an awesome replacement for escape from pompeii. Problem is you would still have a seasonal/maintenance intensive ride.
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I kind of think of Pompeii as a simplified/drastically cut version of Atlantis. The ride at Six Flags America was more like Le Scoot in the way the boats went down the stream.

Yeah, I get the seasonal/maintenance issues. That's why the ride at Six Flags was taken down, despite it being very popular. But, as I said originally, it would be my wish. I know it won't happen.
 
RE: Project 2017

PrincessArlenasDad said:
My youngest just hit 42" and all last summer he begged to ride both EITA and Pompeii. And, all summer, I promised him he'll be able to ride both next year.

I really hope BGW doesn't turn me into a liar!
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I wouldn't worry about Pompeii being removed for this new attraction. We haven't even seen any JCC Planning Commission filings for this ride yet.
 
RE: Project 2017

I don't think Pompeii is going anywhere soon, it's still a fairly well-regarded attraction (though $$$ to keep). I think enough people in charge at Busch see it as a useful asset many months of the year as a water ride, then during Howl-O-Scream as a scare attraction (at least a few years, I remember) plus it has major visual presence for Christmas Town.

EiTA is a stone storage depot that happens to have a simulator inside. That's a different story.
 
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RE: Project 2017

Thomas said:
Another benefit to removing Pompeii is widening that horrible pathway...
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It was really strange walking past Escape from Pompeii when we were there. I didn't feel like it tied into anything really. It was almost off on a corner by itself. To me it didn't integrate very well with the area. Water rides like this feel like they are becoming a thing of the past too. Diamond Falls at KD was removed also to move on to other rides.
 
RE: Project 2017

I'm not sure if this has been brought up yet or if this has anything to do with "Project 2017" but there is no current park map on Busch Gardens Williamsburg's website. It's under Park Info on Tampa's website but not under Williamsburg. I might be crazy or they are just updating it or something.
 
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RE: Project 2017

strycker said:
Water rides like this feel like they are becoming a thing of the past too.  Diamond Falls at KD was removed also to move on to other rides.
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These Shoot the Chute rides are still pretty popular on a global scale and most of the big Cedar Fair parks have ones that are still operating. Tidal Force at Hersheypark can have really long lines all day during the summer. Diamond Falls was put in nasty Lake Charles so it was destined to have a short life.

These rides tend to be low maintenance but the ones that seem to have the most issues with reliability and safety are the Intamin ones, which is of course the manufacturer of Pompeii.
 
RE: Project 2017

Evilpeach2 said:
I'm not sure if this has been brought up yet or if this has anything to do with "Project 2017" but there is no current park map on Busch Gardens Williamsburg's website.  It's under Park Info on Tampa's website but not under Williamsburg.  I might be crazy or they are just updating it or something.
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I would not put too much thought into this... anomaly. The BGW website is not known for its... robustness.

Unagi said:
These rides tend to be low maintenance but the ones that seem to have the most issues with reliability and safety are the Intamin ones, which is of course the manufacturer of Pompeii.
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How many iterations of the boats did they go through before they got them, "right?"
 
RE: Project 2017

OK I can put and end to some of this.  Sources that I have have told me that their sources have told them that it is a major coaster and that it will be going in on the Drachen Fire site.  Now while this may sound like a rumor this is an info chain that has been reliable in the past and I know who the source of the info for my source is and know that they are in a good position to know what is going on.  I mean who doesn't trust the dip N dots sales people.
 
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RE: Project 2017

I'm going to assume this is all leading us to Scott's return in 2017. "Drop", of course, would refer to the massive drop in quality that the park would immediately suffer.

It all makes sense now!
 
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RE: Project 2017

I would be happy if the new ride does indeed go where drachen fire was. That's a large piece of underutilized land that would not require clearing a lot of trees. It would impact some special events, but that's easier to work around.
 
RE: Project 2017

The question I have at this point are.
1. Have there been any back room talks with JCC that the park has a good deal of confidence that they will get approval for the coaster.
2. What formakes of steel coaster will this be because I see no chance in hell of a woody going that close to KM.
3. Did last year's balloon test have anything to do with this.
4. When will we see it made official? Could we see something on passholder's day that only 47 days away seems about the right amount of time for something to be said.
 
RE: Project 2017

halfabee said:
Ages ago, Arrow had a piece of Loch Ness Monster print marketing which detailed their need to cross the pipeline's right of way with the ride.  Arrow's solution was to engineer a custom truss to span the pipeline without dropping any footers within the excluded area (somewhere near the ride's mid-course block brake, I believe).  Probably a more impressive solution in the days when everything was calculated by hand, and steel coaster footers were much closer together and less individually monstrous than with more contemporary B&M fare (e.g. Hersheypark's Great Bear, holy smoke).

Some thoughts -- wild speculation -- about locating a roller coaster in Pompeii's current spot:

- It could explain the earlier-than-expected PR efforts, as the project schedule would require closing/removing a major ride before prepping the site for new construction.
- Pompeii is, as far as I can tell, a huge and expensive pain in the ass to operate and maintain.  It has so many things that are resource-intensive and trouble-prone to move and control: water, fire, massive ventilation, heavy vehicles, big doors, other gadgets... it hits almost every source of headache, and then it's a custom one-off Intamin system on top of all that.  I like the ride, but if it disappears I completely get it. I suspect maintenance budgets are under more downward pressure currently than during the '90s or '00s, and that likely makes for some easy targets.
- If the video's juicy bits are anything more than false leads... A lift starting in Pompeii's location could drop into a long linear clearing in that steep ravine between LNM and the bulk of San Marco.  It's not hard to imagine a(nother!) big inversion near the water to reverse direction and return the ride uphill for a ton of fun in the existing cleared footprint of Pompeii.
- Visibility of the ride structure from the parking lot would be outstanding, yet the lift could face away from the lots, so riders get a great extended view of the park itself -- instead of the Apollo lift experience of seeing all the arriving vehicles that got to the park later than you did.

All worthless speculation, certain to be ridiculed and proved hopelessly incorrect in the coming months.  But at least now it is out of my brain.
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I literally just imagined Mako. Name it Icarus or somethin'.

^And to your question - this is the most intriguing part of all of this - nothing has surfaced with the Planning Commission. Either behind the scenes talks have been had (which isn't completely legal, by the way) or the park thinks whatever is going in doesn't pose a major risk of backlash or contentious deliberation.

I haven't thought about the ravine between San Marco and Nessie for YEARS but honestly I could see something happening. Besides, Matthew and I wouldn't complain too much since a major portion of that ravine is just kudzu.
 
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