The Big Bad Wolf

[Hoopla]

So, while browsing the Interweb, I found this article about the lawsuit from that worker who was killed by one of BBW's trains:

NEWS


Busch Named In Suit

By MARY DUAN Daily Press | August 12, 1993

The family of a Busch Gardens worker who died after being struck by a roller coaster at the amusement park has sued Busch Entertainment Corp., alleging the company recklessly and negligently caused the man's death. The suit filed Aug. 2 in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court asks for $8 million for the family of George H. "Pop" Brown. Brown, a 63-year-old groundsman for Busch Gardens contractor International Service System, was hit in the head by the third car on the Big Bad Wolf roller coaster on May 1. He died from his injuries May 3. The widower lived in Newport News with one of his three sons and had worked for nearly 40 years as a mechanical engineer.

Article from http://articles.dailypress.com/keyword/roller-coaster/featured/3

 

[Hoopla]

An old overhead picture of BBW I found on my phone:

 

[Zachary]

I got a good laugh out of this one. Turns out the construction of The Big Bad Wolf was started illegally and the park ended up being fined for it by the county.

 

[BGW Family]

Photos from BGE for the Media in 2004.

 

[kenwa]

Lol at the 3rd pic! There is something very wrong with it but I like the idea of having a few extra friends come along.

 

[Zachary]

Ha! Good eye! Strange effect going on right there.

 

[MAZ]

I have an interesting take on this coaster. I grew up at Kings Dominion, beginning my adventures at the age of 2 (1978) with my first coaster being the classic Scooby Doo woody. I lived in this park throughout my adolescence. It was literally 8 miles down the road. My 1st time going upside down on a coaster however, was not at KD, nor was it at BGW.(since I had never been) It was 1992 at Darien Lake in NY on a steel beast named 'Viper'. I only rode it once and have not ridden it since. It did however, generate a genuine love of steel roller coasters for me. I was invited by another couple and my 'future' wife to visit BGW the summer of 1999 and of course I was interested because I had never been! (and I liked the girl ) I was 23. We rode all of the coasters in the park with Apollos Chariot being the latest and greatest. It was a lazy weekday with low crowds and we rode everything once. Except for the BBW! We rode it 4 times and it was absolutely the coolest, most unique feeling coaster I have ever been on. For years I remember wanting to return and put myself in that coaster again. It was only 60 miles away! Just like everybody else in their early 20's at the time, I was always broke. 2 months ago and 10 years of marriage later, with a darling little 3 year old named Nora, We returned to visit Christmas Town 2013. My wife and I rode Verbolten for the 1st time and my 1st thought was 'WOW, what a cool coaster" and my 2nd thought was, "This was no where near as good as what it replaced" I guess I'll have to travel to Kings Island for the BAT, to get that swinging sensation once again, before they shut that one down too! After 35 years of season passes to KD, We have our first season passes to BGW this year and I cant wait! (We have KD passes too though. And always will )
Looking forward to my 1st ride on Griffon!

 

[BBW]

Thank you for your wonderful post, Mazakman!  Hitting the "thanks" button just wasn't enough for me, and I had to comment as well!

Nothing is like the Wolf for me.  Agree that the swinging sensation was amazing.  I also loved the immersive aspects of the themeing and the two phases of the ride -- the village was so neat and detailed.  Then after the village a quick breather -- then ANOTHER lift hill -- and then the wonderful drop to the Rhine and that last set of curves. 

Part roller coaster and part themed ride -- uniquely wonderful.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

Going through the village was probably my favorite part. I especially loved it at night, because you could see the candles and the windows. If you went during Howl-O-Scream, you would often see fog drifting over from the old Drachen Fire area. It really made you feel like you were alone in the forest. That was just a feeling like none other. The close proximity to the trees always amazed me. I know that they basically knew the ride envelope, and then some landscapers would ride the ride and literally stick their hand out at the side, and if their hand got anywhere near a tree, they knew that they needed to trim it back a little. That is something that the park just does not do anymore. The only reason that Alpengeist and Apollo's Chariot have so many trees, is because Busch Gardens asked B&M to design the ride around the trees. It's obvious that Larry Giles does not like working with trees too much, which is evident from his first big project, Festa Italia. What I wonder, is how can you possibly work at the world's most beautiful themepark and not like designing around trees. August Busch was so obsessed over keeping trees that he ordered specific trees to never be cut down, and one of those trees is the tree that they saved in front of the station.

 

[James]

I don't think Larry Giles hates trees. I'm willing to bet he's just not the type of guy that's going to plan his designs around existing one. Even though Festa is a little scarce on trees. It does have plenty of younger ones in the area. Same goes for Griffon and Verbolten.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

^I think you're right, James. He just doesn't go out of his way to keep only a single tree. He is very innovative, and I am glad that he decided to pay homage to Big Bad Wolf.
On another topic, I wonder what the difference would have been if Schwarzkopf finished the ride. I have seen pictures of their beta cars, but that's all I know. The track also have the same layout, and when Arrow Dynamics was contracted to build it, they reused a lot of the footers that were already in place. Because they were setback so much bye Schwarzkopf going out of business, they had to do a lot more demolition to the area than they wanted to, and the theming of the village was slightly cut back. I wish someone had some pictures of the individual buildings in the village. That would be very cool to see.

 

[BGW Family]

Individual building shots would be excellent. Perhaps there are some that will surface one day. ACN has a couple of shots that show a few of the buildings HERE.

Edit: Every time I look at photos of BBW, I am reminded of what a damn fine ride it was. VB is just a facade placed on it's grave.

 

[BGW Family]

Photos of BBW in 2011 at National Roller Coaster Museum from Jakizle at TPR. We have got to make a trip to this place one day.

 

[greengiant]

Actually Larry has been pretty good in working with the existing trees. The rides are developed with little regard to existing trees and mainly in regard to the topography. In working around mature trees the root system is impacted tremendously with grade changes and heavy equipment and saving them is near impossible. Floyd Hahn was the lead engineer for Festa and a year later for Rapids. Many trees were left after construction on the island for the rapids and removed at great expense the ensuing years due to the damage from construction. Mr. Busch and "St. Louis" put a major emphasis on keeping trees and it was done as a major point, as this is one thing that separates BGW from parks that are built in a bean field and then landscaped. Alpengeist and Apollos Chariot were able to save more trees because the track is above the tree height for much of the ride. The ride envelope is carefully maintained to ensure that trees cannot fall on the track, either in high speed or low speed areas. Yes landscape personnel do go through the envelopes on a regular basis and check for clearance, though not by sticking their hands out.

 

[I305Evan]

Ah.... those photos reminding me of my visit to Dollywood 2 years ago and got to see some parts of the Wolf. Thanks for sharing those images!

 

[ToddF]

 

[Peter R.]

That great and all Todd but where the multi angle edited POV...

 

[Shane]

....I want one.

 

[Nora]

Todd, I went into give you more rep for that work of art that touches my heart.. but I have already maxed out praises I can give you. Just know if there was +50- it would be yours right now. You have made my night good sir.

 

[Mushroom]

Just know if there was +50-

I hear there's a certain Zachary who could fix you up with that.