Verbolten

Manufacturer

ZIERER

Model

Elevated Seating Coaster w/ Vertical Drop Element

Hamlet

Oktoberfest (Germany)

Official Opening

May 18, 2012

Soft Opening

May 11, 2012

Tallest Drop

88ft

Top Speed

53mph

Inversion Count

0

Launch Segments

2

Riders Per Train

16

Number of Trains

5

Height Requirement

48in

Verbolten is an indoor/outdoor ZIERER Elevated Seating Coaster that features a Vertical Drop Element. It officially opened in mid-May 2012 on the site formally occupied by the Arrow Suspended Coaster, Big Bad Wolf.

Videos​

Development Documentary​

• From Dreams to Screams: Verbolten by Devin Olson

Ride Recordings​

On-Ride Videos​

• Opening Year POV (Storm Sequence)
• Opening Year POV (Spirit Sequence)
• Opening Year POV (Wolves Sequence)
• Spring 2019 Lights-On POV
• 2012/2019 Side-by-Side POV

Backstage Footage​

• Verbolten Control Booth Screens

 

[UncleDuncan]

#ImWithVerbolten

 

[SLC Headache]

I may be biased because I was on opening crew for the ride and operated it for another year after, but I love Verbolten. It fills its purpose well as a family coaster accessible to everyone, yet its thrilling and intense enough that it satisfies thrillseekers as well.

...

Its a ride that fits the demographic of a family coaster that's not only accessible to everyone, but also thrilling and intense enough that it satisfies thrillseekers. I'd still rank it with some of the better launch coasters like Cheetah Hunt and Storm Runner.

I see it as the opposite, an unhappy medium. What family coaster features such crushing (and drawn-out) laterals, and tearing ejector airtime on the drop? It blows InvadR out of the water. Meanwhile, it's the only representative of the Blitz-style multi-launch coaster in the Mid-Atlantic, and it doesn't look like it matches Cheetah Hunt's intensity.

Leaves the kids scared senseless, and the thrill-seekers wanting. If they had committed to either mildness or intensity and excelling at either - in other words, giving us either a Firechaser Express or a Maverick, it would be much better received.

 

[Nicole]

I don't think it is fair to make a broad statement about how children respond to Bolt.  As I have said previously, my impression is that regardless of age, people's responses and tolerances vary wildly.  I have known kids who love all coasters, other that are intimidated by a variety of factors from visuals to forces.  I have specifically known many children who love Bolt.

 

[warfelg]

I’m a bit time thrill seeker and I love Bolt. I think those lateral forces are second to only I-305 on everything I’ve been on from as far north as Boulderdash down to Fury. It’s a very different type of thrill that I haven’t experienced on much else outside of USO Mummy. It doesn’t rely on big steep drops, big airtime hills, or pure speed. It uses lateral forces and the easement of surprise to its benefit.

 

[SLC Headache]

I305's turns are highly banked, and have a greater sense of power and speed. The restraints are also much more restrictive and cushion the whipping transitions to make them comfortable and enjoyable.

Verbolten's turns would be much more comparable to Wild One's ending helix - barely banked and delivering insane laterals. But Wild One's ending helix is just the right length and pacing, and feels alive, vs. how mechanical and controlled those turns feel on Verbolten. Griiiiiind-pop-griiiiiind-POP-griiiind.

I get what they are going for here, but it doesn't feel well-executed.

 

[warfelg]

Well.....I305's turns aren't highly banked to have a greater sense of power and speed, they're highly banked because physically they have to with the speed it carries.

Verbolten is far slower, and on a slower ride you create the sense of greater speed by having less banking in the turns. Horizontal G-forces create the illusion of speed as opposed to the vertical G-forces, which create airtime and pressure.

The best example I can put here is Apollo's turn around. If you watch off ride it's not particularly moving fast. Now on the ride it feels much faster because of the forces acting on you.

As for the restraints, that's an eye of the beholder thing. I personally don't like I305's restraints even though I understand why they are that way. And I love Bolts restraints. It allows me to move and be tossed with the car/train. I love a ride that feels very open.

So what you're talking about here is an opinion that open cars, less intrusive restraints, and lateral forces are bad. That doesn't mean that the ride is bad though.

 

[SLC Headache]

So what you're talking about here is an opinion that open cars, less intrusive restraints, and lateral forces are bad.  That doesn't mean that the ride is bad though.

Verbolten's lap bar is pretty tight from what I remember. If you can't slide in your seat because of tight restraints, and have no support up top (whether it's from a vest or the wall of the seat), those laterals go straight to the spine.

It's still better than having your body stopped by your head / neck hitting an OTSR. Was the Big Bad Wolf a neck-chopper in its final days? (Ninja had the OTSRs, so were they on all Arrow suspended vehicles?)

 

[Thomas]

 

[phareous]

As of now, the event building is completely empty aside from smaller, standalone set pieces and whatever lighting was left behind. All of the larger backdrops and blackout curtains (they are interconnected) that the set mainly consisted of have been removed. The remaining set only consists of the arches after the launch, the moon box, and the arches around the drop track section. It really looks a lot like Flight of Fear now- in that it’s a mostly-empty warehouse building.

Oh my God...I thought people just meant some of the lights didn't work. They gutted it? Why?

 

[warfelg]

Verbolten's lap bar is pretty tight from what I remember. If you can't slide in your seat because of tight restraints, and have no support up top (whether it's from a vest or the wall of the seat), those laterals go straight to the spine.

It's still better than having your body stopped by your head / neck hitting an OTSR. Was the Big Bad Wolf a neck-chopper in its final days? (Ninja had the OTSRs, so were they on all Arrow suspended vehicles?)

So it's an issue of how the bar fits on you, not something they should trash the ride over. I don't have that same issue. I fit snugly in the seat with no pinch. Personally, with a bad back (very very bad I should add), I don't have those 'laterals go straight to the spine' issues. Alpie to me is the worst one in the park. It allows no movement and is rough, so without being able to move my spine, my back just screams. But Apollo, Invadr, Bolt, being able to move my upper body allows me to control the movement. (I want to add I'm a very "top heavy" person)

So really I think your taking your issue with the ride to a bit of an extreme in terms of what it does to you and what it should mean for the ride.

 

[SLC Headache]

^That could be it. I'm a smaller guy and closer to bottom heavy. Small enough to wiggle about in PTC trains and close Arrow OTSRs all the way. I get stapled by this, and also RMC and GCI trains. Though I expect a wooden coaster to throw me around and fault it when it doesn't.

I'm advocating for modifying before scrapping at this point. The last thing SWP&E needs is to scrap another ride so soon (Gwazi being their Son of Beast already). It's just a ride with an identity crisis.

 

[halfabee]

Out of curiosity: When some of you good folks talk about this incredible airtime, are you referring to the drop track or the final drop over the Rhine?

To me, that final drop is absolutely dull in any seat. It's reasonably fast and the view is terrific -- but it fails to deliver that visceral stomach-in-your-throat float afforded by Apollo, Nessie, and even the back seat of InvadR.

 

[SLC Headache]

There is a lot of pull on the main drop. It has almost as much acceleration as the launches, and since it's downwards, some of that pull becomes airtime.

 

[bill s]

My problem with Verbolten is I find the specific spots where BBW was strongest to be rather weak, and that BBW had severe pacing problems which they copied instead of using technology to fix. Yes there was a certain anticipation to the second lift, but having a lift that takes as long to climb as the whole rest of the ride is long right in the middle of the ride is not a good thing. Verb's drop track is a neat gimmick and pretty intense but again having a stop right in the middle is just awkward pacing -- I think it does guarantee uniqueness because I can't see many copies of it for sure. Meanwhile, using launches it could have changed speed controllably without actual gaps or stops.

I can't believe anyone says the drop is intense or the turn over the Rhine is too strong. The following curves are very strong although I think what makes them seem possibly too much is the quick transitions which might could be a tad better done. The braking on the "bridge" is totally ineffective as theming and just more bad pacing, but unfortunately the last 2 curves would need to be changed to accommodate taking that brake out (or a trim between curves, worse). I don't think there'd be a ride structure issue, people break easier than rides. But while the end could be improved, I'm not sure it makes that much difference. The curve over the river is still cool if you don't compare it. It almost seems impossible that the drop and curve was sort of intense on BBW. But BBW was very weak and would have been lame except for the crazy swinging changing everything, it had to be. I don't know how to make a conventional coaster feel that out of control short of extreme intensity.

I see how they tried to make more than just a coaster and it somewhat works, but as a cost-return investment it only could be considered successful due to the difficulty of adding anything really different. I mean sure it's not as good as a big B&M but they already had some and it does add more than just another one would. Sort of. At any rate i don't see it leaving anytime soon, and yet it is old enough that improvements have diminishing returns.

RE: BBW's OTSRs, they were never a problem just boneheadedly stupid.

 

[netdvn]

I see it as the opposite, an unhappy medium. What family coaster features such crushing (and drawn-out) laterals, and tearing ejector airtime on the drop? It blows InvadR out of the water. Meanwhile, it's the only representative of the Blitz-style multi-launch coaster in the Mid-Atlantic, and it doesn't look like it matches Cheetah Hunt's intensity.

Expedition Everest is rather intense in the backwards section. Especially in the back rows.
Revenge of the Mummy has two solid pops of ejector and is rather intense
Stunt Coaster has that helix. The ride doesn't seem very fast but the helix is definitely forceful.
Cheetah Hunt has its share of ejector moments. While the ride overall isn't as intense, it does deliver more air than Bolt does.
Same with Space Mountain. Especially in the back rows, you can get some really great pops of ejector
Rip Ride Rockit easily has the best airtime in all of Florida and is technically considered a family coaster.

Verbolten doesn't really have that much air to begin with aside from the first drop going into the helix and a pop in the drop track segment.

Family coasters are called that because they appeal to a wide range of people and people of all ages can ride. Verbolten definitely fits the bill for a coaster that does that.

 

[SLC Headache]

The following curves are very strong although I think what makes them seem possibly too much is the quick transitions which might could be a tad better done.

Maybe that's what I dislike and find so mechanical about those turns.

The transitions are much more abrupt than was possible with swinging cars. Granted, it's not the same level of jerking that the turn into the MCBR or the cobra roll on Alpengeist delivers (actually most B&M inverts seem to be about whipping harder than natural swinging would ever deliver), but if these maneuvers were performed with OTSRs, I guarantee it would have had headbanging.

At least the second jerk delivers some airtime, even half-hearted as it is, something a suspended coaster would never be able to deliver well.

I admire that they attempted to bring the ferocity of a multi-launch to a "family" coaster, precisely pummeling you with every maneuver, but it's just not comfortable without soft vests to cushion those quick directional changes.


On a positive note, the drop track is somehow a better drop ride than Mach Tower, though a lot of that is due to Mach Tower being terrible.

And on a negative note, I wonder how much better SWP&E's financials would be if this thing was never built.

 

[Pat]

Today while in line for verbolten the train came in, seemed to stop short, and they couldn't unload the guests. While stuck with all three trains full of guests in the station, maintenance showed up and announced they needed to roll the first train backwards. The train began rolling backwards on the track and rolled back into the train behind it, lightly, but you could tell it definitely did hit the train (red train rolled into blue train). While it didn't seem like a hard hit, it clearly did unnerve passengers on both trains. Was defining something strange to see, and the employees in the station seemed not to know what to say to the people stuck in the trains as this was happening.

 

[phareous]

Sounds like a major screw up by maintenance to me

 

[Coaster Takes]

Today while in line for verbolten the train came in, seemed to stop short, and they couldn't unload the guests. While stuck with all three trains full of guests in the station, maintenance showed up and announced they needed to roll the first train backwards. The train began rolling backwards on the track and rolled back into the train behind it, lightly, but you could tell it definitely did hit the train (red train rolled into blue train). While it didn't seem like a hard hit, it clearly did unnerve passengers on both trains. Was defining something strange to see, and the employees in the station seemed not to know what to say to the people stuck in the trains as this was happening.

I was in the station while it occurred. Usually they can easily reset the ride and it’ll roll back into its rightful place, but this was certainly interesting. I’ve never seen a “collision”, so this was definitely a first. Little did most of them know that there are bumpers on the front and back of each train.

 

[phareous]

Yes but I don't think those bumpers are ever meant to be used like that