3 million for a theming refresh is awesome. I’m expecting screens for the drop track, but I would love some sort of physical prop jump scare at the end. Like the Indiana Jones boulder or Dinosaur’s Carnotaurus
Project 2026: Verbolten: Forbidden Turn
- Thread starter Le Moose
- Start date
For anyone wondering, the theming budget for Loch Ness Monster was way more than 3 million. (Total including all structural modifications to the tunnel and the track replacement and construction along with theming was around 10 million. Believe it or not, most of it was theming.)
I'm not sure on how far they're going with this but I assume it's mostly going to be in the FX building with bits and pieces to change the queue and station. So, hopefully they come up with something decent in the building hoping most of that money gets allocated to that.
I'm not sure on how far they're going with this but I assume it's mostly going to be in the FX building with bits and pieces to change the queue and station. So, hopefully they come up with something decent in the building hoping most of that money gets allocated to that.
Hopefully a lot can be done within the budget. It's not like the have to build/rebuild things to make it happen like they did with LNM. I certainly wish they could do things outside as well as in, but a show building that isn't pitch black would be nice.
Why cant they paint Verbolten's show building to match the backside of Der Autobahn or maybe even some kind of barn like structure? Or better yet paint all the original Wolf village buildings on it. Make the thing a giant village mural down to the arch the train dove through and even the lone Anton Schwarkopf light pole too!
Because a paintjob that massive and detailed would probably cost millions on a building thats almost impossible to even see untill winter
Yup. They would be better off planting creeping ivy or something like that.
This is either being marketed so dogshit or genius. In my eyes is trash. Literally driving down the road today on the radio I hear word for word "Busch gardens is unveiling a brand new roller coaster (talks about the theme) then goes on to say get your current rides on verbolten as by next year this new attraction is replacing it. I think that's a TERRIBLE way to look at this and I can see the "GP" now freaking out and thinking Verbolten is being completely torn down, but I know before the town hall meeting BGW themselves was calling it a new attraction so whatever I guess. Whatever sells
I thought the ad on the billboard entering Festa Italia is hilariously lazy. It’s just the Verbolten logo and a tiny “Forbidden Turn” subtitle below it. Doesn’t say anything about being a revamped ride or what it actually is. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was an old Verbolten ad from 2011 that they put up by mistake.
If that $3 million project budget includes marketing, I’ll gladly take some shitty ads and have more money go to the revamp itself
This just triggered a thought (well this thread and some bourbon)…why didn’t we ever get VRBolten??? A fully immersive trip through through the Black Forest
TheCoasterNerd
Previously known as @coasters_bgw
I'm SO glad we didn't get that. I hate VR coasters
I haven't personally experienced a vr coaster but a fully immersive verbolten would be cool
Or VRBOlten - a perfect opportunity for a sponsorship from Vrbo.
I've probably ridden more coasters with VR than the vast majority of thoosies (I managed six different coasters during that fad that I remember off the top of my head) and I sincerely do not believe anyone has solved the issues facing the idea—particuarly on more forceful attractions.
The best coaster I ever experienced with VR was when Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot Orlando briefly offered it—not because it really added anything compelling to the experience, but just because it functioned and the coaster was forceless enough not to make wearing a big headset a headache.
At some point someone will solve the headset weight and comfort issues on big, forceful rides, but then they'll need to explain why using VR on such expensive, already-appealing ride hardware makes sense when they could just use VR in an intense simulator like Mission Space to much the same effect with much less difficulty and far lower costs.
Kraken with VR was the best of the major, intense coasters I experienced VR on by a longshot, but it was still far from what I'd consider to be a great experience—and I don't miss it for a second now that it's (long) gone. Whatever you gain in visuals (really not THAT much honestly), you lose FAR more in no longer really feeling like you're soaring a hundred feet in the air—looping and spinning around way above the ground.
One day there will be a legitimately very good, mass-market VR coaster I'm sure, but I doubt it will be a retrofit and I doubt it will come first from anyone but the likes of Disney or Universal.
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TheCoasterNerd
Previously known as @coasters_bgw
Mind Eraser VR was the first and only ride I did at SFA that day...
I would think AR instead of VR could do wonders with a mix of physical sets.
I sorta hate the Mario Kart AR darkride at Epic Universe to be honest. I definitely see the potential, but implementations with even the highest of budgets and the most talented of teams have been rough thus far in my opinion.
Sidenote: Between bashing VR on coasters and AR on darkrides, you may think I'm just down on the space broadly, but that is very much not the case. Though implementation was rough, I think, conceptually, theater-sim-based VR like Battle for Eire should already be very achievable and could be used to create excellent results. I was also probably one of the foremost evangelists for The Void (RIP, king) and own a headset of my own at home. VR and AR will become a major element of theme parks and the attractions inside of them at some point—I guarantee it—but the attempts we've seen thus far have been riddled with issues and need a considerable amount of development and refinement before costs begin to drop low enough for "normal parks" to even begin thinking about experimenting with the technology again in my opinion.