Project 2022: Pantheon

[GrandpaD]

I got to say it, that picture looks like a bad photoshop of what someone thinks BGW looks like from the Italy bridge with a modified resized overlay of this:

OMG! That's it! 100% confirmed! Be still my beating heart! Soaring with Drachen!*

*The preceding is a paid political announcement from the Committee Against Old Salts Wanting a Giga.

 

[madmax]

I don't believe I've ever expressed a desire for a traditional giga. In fact, a while back, I actually questioned the logic of a traditional giga strictly on a marketing basis. BGW (IMHO) doesn't need one to stay competitive. They do need something totally unique as they've done historically. Yes, I heard a brief rumor of a T-Rex giga but my "guesstament" is it'll be SwD.

BUT this concept art does NOTHING to absolutely confirm an SwD will be built. It's not a "family coaster". The location of the major elements depicted in the art don't correlate with what we do know has been officially approved. It's obviously a concept...maybe even one shown in the private JCC Supervisor's meeting

I'd love for an SwD to be built more than any other speculation that's reared its head in this thread and other sites. But to emphatically state this artwork confirms it is reminiscent of little Natalie Wood whispering "I believe...I believe".

I mean Lightning Rod was marketed as a “family coaster”. It doesn’t inherently mean small tame roller coaster.

 

[Franco]

This is a very disappointing development as far as I'm concerned. The enthusiast in me would love a giga at BGW. Soaring With Dragon is an interesting ride, and a definite upgrade over a normal shuttle coaster, but I don't think it's a great fit at BGW. The first part of the ride is very similar to Tempesto, a ride I have no great love for, which also wouldn't be too far from this expansion. The rest of the layout doesn't really do anything too exciting. SWD solves part of the capacity problem for a normal shuttle coaster, but with trains of only 20 riders, unless these trains are larger, the capacity is still far from great. I also find it odd that the slide labels this a family thrill coaster. 77 'MPH and a height of 200 feet would scare off a fair bit of kids, I'd think. I also really think a family thrill coaster is not the addition BGW needs. The last few coasters added to the park have been Verbolten, Tempesto, and Invadr, all family thrill rides to varying degrees. This park hasn't gotten a solid thrill coaster since Griffon in 2007, and it needs a new one.

 

[madmax]

Like I said this guy leaked the Diagon Alley and Furt 325 plans, so there is reason to believe him.

 

[madmax]

This is a very disappointing development as far as I'm concerned. The enthusiast in me would love a giga at BGW. Soaring With Dragon is an interesting ride, and a definite upgrade over a normal shuttle coaster, but I don't think it's a great fit at BGW. The first part of the ride is very similar to Tempesto, a ride I have no great love for, which also wouldn't be too far from this expansion. The rest of the layout doesn't really do anything too exciting. SWD solves part of the capacity problem for a normal shuttle coaster, but with trains of only 20 riders, unless these trains are larger, the capacity is still far from great. I also find it odd that the slide labels this a family thrill coaster. 77 'MPH and a height of 200 feet would scare off a fair bit of kids, I'd think. I also really think a family thrill coaster is not the addition BGW needs. The last few coasters added to the park have been Verbolten, Tempesto, and Invadr, all family thrill rides to varying degrees. This park hasn't gotten a solid thrill coaster since Griffon in 2007, and it needs a new one.

To be fair most gigas don’t have crazy elements and actually have layouts similar to SWD.

 

[Gavin]

My biggest issue with the whole thing is the supposed height requirement. 54” is in no way a family coaster.

 

[madmax]

Also, I don’t think bad spelling or wording makes it fake. They would damn sure double check everything if they were to put out an intentional decoy. It sounds more like bad translation or communication.

 

[804Shawn]

I would be very disappointed if BGW received a coaster like this...I agree with Franco, it doesn't really fit with this park...It looks like something that belongs in a Six Flags Park

 

[DolphinzRock]

Like I said this guy leaked the Diagon Alley and Furt 325 plans, so there is reason to believe him.

Just because there's reason to believe him, that doesn't mean you have to shove what you think the right answer is down our throats.

 

[warfelg]

Also, I don’t think bad spelling or wording makes it fake. They would damn sure double check everything if they were to put out an intentional decoy. It sounds more like bad translation or communication.

That's absolutely what makes my incredibly skeptical. If you are making an official presentation, internally or externally, you better make sure your spelling, wording, and grammar are perfect.

 

[madmax]

Soarin With Dragon has a capacity of 1300 rph. I don’t see how it’s a bad fit.

 

[madmax]

That's absolutely what makes my incredibly skeptical. If you are making an official presentation, internally or externally, you better make sure your spelling, wording, and grammar are perfect.

I’m actually skeptical about some of the description. The concept picture and general idea is what I fully believe.

 

[GrandpaD]

This is a very disappointing development as far as I'm concerned. The enthusiast in me would love a giga at BGW. Soaring With Dragon is an interesting ride, and a definite upgrade over a normal shuttle coaster, but I don't think it's a great fit at BGW. The first part of the ride is very similar to Tempesto, a ride I have no great love for, which also wouldn't be too far from this expansion. The rest of the layout doesn't really do anything too exciting. SWD solves part of the capacity problem for a normal shuttle coaster, but with trains of only 20 riders, unless these trains are larger, the capacity is still far from great. I also find it odd that the slide labels this a family thrill coaster. 77 'MPH and a height of 200 feet would scare off a fair bit of kids, I'd think. I also really think a family thrill coaster is not the addition BGW needs. The last few coasters added to the park have been Verbolten, Tempesto, and Invadr, all family thrill rides to varying degrees. This park hasn't gotten a solid thrill coaster since Griffon in 2007, and it needs a new one.

First off, ”family" is obviously misnomer. And, after viewing various videos, I wouldn't consider SwD a "family thrill ride", especially at 76mph. SwD is 2 years old. Thus, I'd anticipate improvements with the launch mechanism so it might be able to increase it's 1,300 an hour capacity with larger trains. I also would hope that BGW would take advantage of the terrain for the circuit run, including that river drop. A review I read concurred with your viewpoint the circuit run needs some improvement. Maybe they also add a few more invertions.

That said, IF THIS IS IT, I think it's a great for BGW. It follows their track record of historical, unique coasters. The park doesn't need (as someone said) "a bigger Apollo".

 

[warfelg]

I’m actually skeptical about some of the description. The concept picture and general idea is what I fully believe.

1) That's kinda contradictory.

2) As I posted earlier, that's literally a picture of SwD resized and with an element taken out. The image used in the BGT slide is a concept picture of Steel Vengeance. The SWO picture is another concept picture of some other coaster (I'm working on figuring out which one). The SWSD picture is the companies concept picture with Electric Eel's coloring. Either this was the worlds laziest concept slideshow or there's something fishy going on here.

 

[Franco]

I don't want a bigger Apollo. I'm admittedly a huge B&M fanboy, but I wouldn't want a B&M giga installed at BGW. Someone further up was mentioning how different Intimidator and Fury are at Carowinds, but frankly as soon as Fury opened, I haven't had much interest in Intimidator; they're similar enough and Fury is bigger and better. I'd love a speedy giga from a different manufacturer that featured different elements than Apollo and the rest of BGW's coaster lineup. I also don't think it's that historical. It's unique enough in that you can only point to one other coaster that is pretty much exactly the same, but it still isn't a great addition for this park in my opinion.

Soaring With Dragon may have a max capacity of 1300 riders/hr, but with the way ride ops tend to go at BGW, they'll hover around 1000 realistically, which is not bad, but a far cry from what Apollo and Alpie are capable of.

 

[warfelg]

I don't want a bigger Apollo. I'm admittedly a huge B&M fanboy, but I wouldn't want a B&M giga installed at BGW. Someone further up was mentioning how different Intimidator and Fury are at Carowinds, but frankly as soon as Fury opened, I haven't had much interest in Intimidator; they're similar enough and Fury is bigger and better. I'd love a speedy giga from a different manufacturer that featured different elements than Apollo and the rest of BGW's coaster lineup. I also don't think it's that historical. It's unique enough in that you can only point to one other coaster that is pretty much exactly the same, but it still isn't a great addition for this park in my opinion.

Soaring With Dragon may have a max capacity of 1300 riders/hr, but with the way ride ops tend to go at BGW, they'll hover around 1000 realistically, which is not bad, but a far cry from what Apollo and Alpie are capable of.

That's a personal opinion to like one more than the other, but they are way different. I'm sure if you asked an engineer they could explain better than me, but B&M Hypers have parabolic shaped hills, while their giga's have flatter hills that are more 'speed hill' elements. They are wildly different sensations.

 

[Zachary]

I was going to (and probably will soon) write more about this leak, but for now...

Anyone who thinks the fact that @AmusementLeaks published these slides boosts their credibility needs to do some digging into the history of that account.

I remember when the account showed up and posted a ton of blueprints (mainly Universal and Disney stuff). Most of those tweets seem to have been deleted now, but a lot of what the account shared was pretty old.

Hell, look up the plans for Disney's Wilderness Way Resort. The account posted them right alongside a bunch of actual news but that project had been shelved long prior.

@AmusementLeaks seems to recklessly posts raw content with no context and no actual knowledge.

Could these still be real? Sure. But anyone who cites @AmusementLeaks as some sort of authoritative source needs reevaluate the situation.

 

[warfelg]

Anyone who thinks the fact that @AmusementLeaks published these slides boosts their credibility needs to do some digging into the history of that account.

I remember when the account showed up and posted a ton of blueprints (mainly Universal and Disney stuff). Most of those tweets seem to have been deleted now, but a lot of what the account shared was pretty old.

I swear I remember a few years ago them doing something with plans for another park. Posted about a huge expansion, then it was shot down, and they took them away but left the news posts.

EDIT:
I'm trying to remember if it was the Disney project you mentioned or the reported project of Hershey doing away with their backstage/employee parking for a big expansion.

There's a guy that does sports 'reporting' and does something similar where he posts like 20 'headlines' a day, and gets rid of the ones that don't end up happening so he looks to be always right. That way when he posts a rumor, people think he's good at breaking news because you never see the fake reports.

 

[Franco]

That's a personal opinion to like one more than the other, but they are way different. I'm sure if you asked an engineer they could explain better than me, but B&M Hypers have parabolic shaped hills, while their giga's have flatter hills that are more 'speed hill' elements. They are wildly different sensations.

Trust me, I understand the differences between the airtime camelback heavy layout of Intimidator and the lower to the ground speed and quick turn focused layout of Fury. I think it's fair to say, though, that the appeal of Intimidator is greatly reduced after riding Fury. Sure, there are different elements to enjoy on Intimidator, but those are going to be more closely noticed by the enthusiast crowd. Fury was the lion's share of a 50 million dollar investment. I just don't think that's worth the differences in engineering between those rides. I think a different manufacturer could bring enough of a new feel to the table.

Anyway, we'll still have to see what happens. There's still most likely a lot of time before we get some more concrete info.

 

[warfelg]

This isn't the place to talk about it, but I haven't seen the appeal of CWIntimi effected that much. B&M did it themselves with that V shaped seating and different restraints.