Between the rain, snow, wind and low temperatures I wonder if it will run at all Saturday/Sunday.
So much for me free ride
So much for me free ride
Project 2022: Pantheon
- Thread starter Shane
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Yeah, as bad as the 2hr wait to ride was on Sunday with the winds, it wasn’t hard to wait given the temps. We drove 2.5hrs and decided on Sunday given the early forecast for this weekend.Between the rain, snow, wind and low temperatures I wonder if it will run at all Saturday/Sunday.
So much for me free ride
Weather Channel is showing lows in the 50s both Saturday and Sunday with about a 50/50 chance of rain each day. Those should be runnable conditions but who knows.Between the rain, snow, wind and low temperatures I wonder if it will run at all Saturday/Sunday.
So much for me free ride
The National Weather Service is way less optimistic there.
Guess I'll check closer to the weekend and see if anything changes.
quite a difference between forecasts there. Guess with weather as usual we have to wait until it happens
Yep that what I am seeing now to amazing how things change in a short amount of time.
This is Virginia- expect changes in weather like mood swings.
When can we expect your audit report?
Idk I have a lot of clients, Busch Gardens was slow in getting me the testing materials. I literally sent open items for 2 years and they sent nothing back until last Friday.
In an effort to procrastinate some documentation at work, I will issue my audit report on Pantheon:
Obviously most longtime posters here have been following Pantheons development since 2017 when @Zachary first published the article when BGW performed their height test not long after opening InvadR. I love BGW I've been going since 7 and as I've become a relatively seasoned thoosie over the years I've come to realize BGW is a park with a lot of "good" coasters. Don't get me wrong I love Apollo's Chariot, Griffon, Alpengeist, and Verbolten those are great rides but as you get around to more parks you start to realize BGW was kinda behind on building these new innovative rides with outward bank hills, stalls, and other elements. This felt like a hole in BGWs largely stacked line up of coasters.
In 2010 I rode Storm Runner for the first time and quickly determined that I absolutely love Intamin launch coasters and deeply wanted one of those to come to Virginia as while yes, we did have Volcano and it was a great unique attraction, subsequent to the launch the rides layout kinda died out on intensity which is fine not every ride has to be batsh*t bananas, whereas Storm Runner while short has the goods. So I have to admit I was rather deeply excited to learn about Pantheon as we discovered it was a new generation intamin launch coaster.
After 5 years of tracking the development and waiting 2 additional painfully slow years while the world fell (is continuing to)apart Pantheon finally opened last Friday and I convinced my stressed out bosses to let me bail on work early to go ride. It was cold as we know but I was just thrilled to finally walk into BGW knowing Pantheon was open and available to ride. I went to the park several times last season and looking at what is clearly going to be the best coaster in the park sit there for the whole year was getting very old. I'm rather cynical when good things are withheld from people for Shareholder purposes (I consider 2021 withholding to be for that purpose and 2020 to be for COVID) This was compounded further by my visits to SWO and BGT late last summer where I had to take a nice look at Iron Gwazi and Ice Breaker. I will note that my VelociCoaster ride did make me a lot more excited for Pantheon due to the design similarities on that trip. Didn't think I would ride VelociCoaster before Pantheon but here we are.
Anyway arriving at the ride you cross the bridge, and I admit I used to not really bat an eye at the "cow pastures" comments but then I crossed the bridge, smelled manure and saw ACTUAL COWS to the left and I was like "ah yes, now I see." Anyway yeah I admit the ride aesthetically is as barebones as possible. There's a cool entrance sign and everything else looks like it was from Hypersonic XLC at KD. I ultimately decided in my mind I didn't think the difference from Apollo's Chariot was material and Festa Italia is pretty generic as is possibly the most generic section of Busch Gardens Williamsburg by far and I don't think there's an easy comparison for any other village in the park. The coaster itself looks very cool with the gold and white paint scheme and the trains look great as well.
As for the ride where you harness the speed and strength of five roman gods it's fantastic. The trains are very comfortable, they are similar to the VelociCoaster trains albeit slightly different it seems like the profiling might be a bit lower in the seats. The launch into the Zero-G Winder is great has a decent punch on it. The winder itself has solid hangtime and then I generally thought the turns and outward bank turns were pretty decently fun heading into the swing launch. The initial launch on the swing launch is more of just a minor boost. The hill in the middle gave me 0 airtime on the first pass. The ride up to this point is fairly easy going but once you start falling backwards on the top hat, that's when Pantehon ramps things up hard. The strength and speed of the five Roman gods begins to be on full display here. The launch at the bottom boosts the hell out of the train over that small airtime hill and I cannot express this enough that airtime is VIOLENT. You will get blasted up going backwards over that hill.
I will note especially for taller folks (I'm 74.5 inches) be careful on the backwards launch as we came out of the hill on one of my six laps on Pantheon I accidentally got like flung back on the torso going into the second backwards launch and kinda hit my head a little on the headrest but it was fine. Just be advised I would recommend leaning forward and holding that position on that sequence or some form of defensive riding to avoid that specific thing happening to you.
The second launch basically blasts you backwards up the spike and that spike is huge you really get a grasp of how tall it is in the back row. Definitely a great moment holding position on the spike for a few seconds weightless. Then Pantheon just gets wild, the airtime hill between the launches is just ridiculous on the third pass and I get a decent pop of air hitting the top of the top hat. Somebody noted in a review that the drop from the top hat has "skyrush level ejector air in the back row" which personally I didn't find it close to that type of airtime. You do get airtime but certainly don't expect "skyrush level" I would say this could be different on a day where the temps are higher but not quite sure yet. The drop is very fun and the steepness is certainly felt. A welcome drop in VA. The outerbank hill is very fun, it's rather floaty and I think as the night went on and Pantheon picked up speed it became faster and more enjoyable. Not quite the highlight it looked like it would be honestly but it's still very enjoyable. We will see how that shakes out in the summertime. Next you sweep to the right into the stall, I don't find the feelings on the stall to be materially different from VelociCoaster but it is definitely more sustained maybe a second or so longer. The headchoppers here are really cool. I really like the one under the drop but I have to admit it kinda is not as cool knowing it's potentially the reason anybody over 6'4 can't ride. The ride then sweeps left to go into the final wave turn which I thought was cool and a great way to wrap up the ride with a solid element.
Pantheon is the best roller coaster at BGW and it's not close. I rank it as my #5 overall it could go to #4 this weekend if I decide I like it more than Twisted Timbers (I305 is my #7) which I consider relatively unlikely. I prefer VelociCoaster to it but I don't think that's the fairest comparison I mean that ride is just covered with Comcast money and Pantheon is a big piece of gold and white steel in a field, I also consider VelociCoaster to have a more "complete" layout and nothing quite hits the Mosasaurus Roll for me in batsh*t insanity on Pantheon, the small ejector hill in the launch section maybe is a comparable moment but it doesn't really matter how much you like VelociCoaster in comparison at the end of the day, don't let that ride with different circumstances impact your enjoyment of Pantheon.
Management letter comments:
-no theming
-smells
-preview setup was kinda silly initially
-don't make us wait 2 years for a completely built coaster, wtf SeaWorld
-76 inch height max is lame, but notably Superman at SFA has a 76 inch max as well so it's not that uncommon.
EDIT: One quick note! Night rides are great! Pitch black out there!
In my opinion Pantheon slaps and if you like roller coasters especially launch coasters go give it a ride. Great job on the coaster itself Intamin! Bad job on a lot of other intangibles SeaWorld but you paid for Pantheon so whatever.
Obviously most longtime posters here have been following Pantheons development since 2017 when @Zachary first published the article when BGW performed their height test not long after opening InvadR. I love BGW I've been going since 7 and as I've become a relatively seasoned thoosie over the years I've come to realize BGW is a park with a lot of "good" coasters. Don't get me wrong I love Apollo's Chariot, Griffon, Alpengeist, and Verbolten those are great rides but as you get around to more parks you start to realize BGW was kinda behind on building these new innovative rides with outward bank hills, stalls, and other elements. This felt like a hole in BGWs largely stacked line up of coasters.
In 2010 I rode Storm Runner for the first time and quickly determined that I absolutely love Intamin launch coasters and deeply wanted one of those to come to Virginia as while yes, we did have Volcano and it was a great unique attraction, subsequent to the launch the rides layout kinda died out on intensity which is fine not every ride has to be batsh*t bananas, whereas Storm Runner while short has the goods. So I have to admit I was rather deeply excited to learn about Pantheon as we discovered it was a new generation intamin launch coaster.
After 5 years of tracking the development and waiting 2 additional painfully slow years while the world fell (is continuing to)apart Pantheon finally opened last Friday and I convinced my stressed out bosses to let me bail on work early to go ride. It was cold as we know but I was just thrilled to finally walk into BGW knowing Pantheon was open and available to ride. I went to the park several times last season and looking at what is clearly going to be the best coaster in the park sit there for the whole year was getting very old. I'm rather cynical when good things are withheld from people for Shareholder purposes (I consider 2021 withholding to be for that purpose and 2020 to be for COVID) This was compounded further by my visits to SWO and BGT late last summer where I had to take a nice look at Iron Gwazi and Ice Breaker. I will note that my VelociCoaster ride did make me a lot more excited for Pantheon due to the design similarities on that trip. Didn't think I would ride VelociCoaster before Pantheon but here we are.
Anyway arriving at the ride you cross the bridge, and I admit I used to not really bat an eye at the "cow pastures" comments but then I crossed the bridge, smelled manure and saw ACTUAL COWS to the left and I was like "ah yes, now I see." Anyway yeah I admit the ride aesthetically is as barebones as possible. There's a cool entrance sign and everything else looks like it was from Hypersonic XLC at KD. I ultimately decided in my mind I didn't think the difference from Apollo's Chariot was material and Festa Italia is pretty generic as is possibly the most generic section of Busch Gardens Williamsburg by far and I don't think there's an easy comparison for any other village in the park. The coaster itself looks very cool with the gold and white paint scheme and the trains look great as well.
As for the ride where you harness the speed and strength of five roman gods it's fantastic. The trains are very comfortable, they are similar to the VelociCoaster trains albeit slightly different it seems like the profiling might be a bit lower in the seats. The launch into the Zero-G Winder is great has a decent punch on it. The winder itself has solid hangtime and then I generally thought the turns and outward bank turns were pretty decently fun heading into the swing launch. The initial launch on the swing launch is more of just a minor boost. The hill in the middle gave me 0 airtime on the first pass. The ride up to this point is fairly easy going but once you start falling backwards on the top hat, that's when Pantehon ramps things up hard. The strength and speed of the five Roman gods begins to be on full display here. The launch at the bottom boosts the hell out of the train over that small airtime hill and I cannot express this enough that airtime is VIOLENT. You will get blasted up going backwards over that hill.
I will note especially for taller folks (I'm 74.5 inches) be careful on the backwards launch as we came out of the hill on one of my six laps on Pantheon I accidentally got like flung back on the torso going into the second backwards launch and kinda hit my head a little on the headrest but it was fine. Just be advised I would recommend leaning forward and holding that position on that sequence or some form of defensive riding to avoid that specific thing happening to you.
The second launch basically blasts you backwards up the spike and that spike is huge you really get a grasp of how tall it is in the back row. Definitely a great moment holding position on the spike for a few seconds weightless. Then Pantheon just gets wild, the airtime hill between the launches is just ridiculous on the third pass and I get a decent pop of air hitting the top of the top hat. Somebody noted in a review that the drop from the top hat has "skyrush level ejector air in the back row" which personally I didn't find it close to that type of airtime. You do get airtime but certainly don't expect "skyrush level" I would say this could be different on a day where the temps are higher but not quite sure yet. The drop is very fun and the steepness is certainly felt. A welcome drop in VA. The outerbank hill is very fun, it's rather floaty and I think as the night went on and Pantheon picked up speed it became faster and more enjoyable. Not quite the highlight it looked like it would be honestly but it's still very enjoyable. We will see how that shakes out in the summertime. Next you sweep to the right into the stall, I don't find the feelings on the stall to be materially different from VelociCoaster but it is definitely more sustained maybe a second or so longer. The headchoppers here are really cool. I really like the one under the drop but I have to admit it kinda is not as cool knowing it's potentially the reason anybody over 6'4 can't ride. The ride then sweeps left to go into the final wave turn which I thought was cool and a great way to wrap up the ride with a solid element.
Pantheon is the best roller coaster at BGW and it's not close. I rank it as my #5 overall it could go to #4 this weekend if I decide I like it more than Twisted Timbers (I305 is my #7) which I consider relatively unlikely. I prefer VelociCoaster to it but I don't think that's the fairest comparison I mean that ride is just covered with Comcast money and Pantheon is a big piece of gold and white steel in a field, I also consider VelociCoaster to have a more "complete" layout and nothing quite hits the Mosasaurus Roll for me in batsh*t insanity on Pantheon, the small ejector hill in the launch section maybe is a comparable moment but it doesn't really matter how much you like VelociCoaster in comparison at the end of the day, don't let that ride with different circumstances impact your enjoyment of Pantheon.
Management letter comments:
-no theming
-smells
-preview setup was kinda silly initially
-don't make us wait 2 years for a completely built coaster, wtf SeaWorld
-76 inch height max is lame, but notably Superman at SFA has a 76 inch max as well so it's not that uncommon.
EDIT: One quick note! Night rides are great! Pitch black out there!
In my opinion Pantheon slaps and if you like roller coasters especially launch coasters go give it a ride. Great job on the coaster itself Intamin! Bad job on a lot of other intangibles SeaWorld but you paid for Pantheon so whatever.
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May I ask for someone to get a force graph on Pantheon using the Ride Forces app? I'd be very interested to see front and back, then we'd also have something solid to which we can compare summer rides.
The problem with Ride Forces on my watch is it says you should hold your hand steady (i.e. hold on) for the most accurate results. Which I just can't do on a coaster. Those hands are going up and it's hard to hold the steady like that. I can't help it.
lol I feel you. I figure someone will be able to stabilize their phone enough in their pocket so they don’t have to worry about it and will get decent enough results
This was in row 9
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Guessing the lowest G-force reading is the bunny hill on the launch? That's some serious ejector compared to the rest of BGW's coasters.
Nah it’s the drop off the tophat, they’re close but the tophat is a bit stronger. Thank you for sharing @Coasternerd!
One thing I notice is the hill on the main launch sequence gets about .3G, -.9G, and -.95G on the 3 passes, but Toutatis was advertised as having been designed for 0G, -1G, and -1.2. Based on Intamin's video Toutatis was also supposed to have a bigger dip before that hill, but either way I'm surprised they went weaker on Pantheon's main launch hill instead of the same force. Of course, it may be running slower than design speed as people have guessed. As awesome as that sequence is now based on my outside perception and the reviews I've ridden, I think a change from .3G to 0G on that first pass would make a huge difference.
One thing I notice is the hill on the main launch sequence gets about .3G, -.9G, and -.95G on the 3 passes, but Toutatis was advertised as having been designed for 0G, -1G, and -1.2. Based on Intamin's video Toutatis was also supposed to have a bigger dip before that hill, but either way I'm surprised they went weaker on Pantheon's main launch hill instead of the same force. Of course, it may be running slower than design speed as people have guessed. As awesome as that sequence is now based on my outside perception and the reviews I've ridden, I think a change from .3G to 0G on that first pass would make a huge difference.
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