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

 

[SLC Headache]

I rode BBW in 2003, and 1990. Now I wasn't a coaster person at all in the 90's but my age then certainly played into it. In 03 I was like "oh cool scenery, nice ride, I like what's at Hershey much better". Bolt I enjoy much more as an actual ride experience, but the package is a drop down.

And I'm a person that should love BBW more than anyone. BBW was 4 months 1 day older than me. From my first ride I felt a personal connection because it was my age. But man, even in 03 that last drop was becoming really shakey.

Likewise, Vortex CW opened in my birth year, and was pretty shaky when I finally made it out to ride it (a detail I left out in my glowing reviews of it).

I don't think Volcano was an adequate replacment for Smurf Mountain.

It's a real sidegrade. Looking at the KD Lost World rides, they looked to be perfect complements to the coasters.

 

[Zachary]

Look. I'm not trying to be rude, but you can't assess attractions through POVs. There are a million nuances that will never be captured in on-ride videos. That's just a fact.

Ride coasters and compare your experiences on those coasters. If you are constantly comparing rides against your impressions of what other rides are in theory, you're going to hate a lot of coasters that don't deserve it.

 

[SLC Headache]

Look. I'm not trying to be rude, but you can't assess attractions through POVs. There are a million nuances that will never be captured in on-ride videos. That's just a fact.

With defunct rides, POVs are the best I can go by. Heck, it works with rides that have lost/changed theming. I looked up an older POV of Verbolten and it did look better.

Ride coasters and compare your experiences on those coasters. If you are constantly comparing rides against your impressions of what other rides are in theory, you're going to hate a lot of coasters that don't deserve it.

But that's part of what I've been trying to do with my travels. Backlot CW showed me that a Backlot could be weaker than this.

 

[Nicole]

It is fine to investigate rides by watching their POVs. You might even make some assessments about what they might feel like without really experiencing them in person. That said, in my opinion, it is essential to remember how much you miss by only seeing a video, and recognize that there is no way to understand fully the real, physical experience without riding it yourself.

By extension, I find it completely illogical to try to attempt to compare coasters you have not personally experienced. Instead, perhaps, it would more intellectually honest to focus on analyzing things about which you have more complete data.

 

[Unagi]

I find it completely illogical to try to attempt to compare coasters you have not personally experienced. Instead, perhaps, it would more intellectually honest to focus on analyzing things about which you have more complete data.

This right here.

It is absolutely pointless to compare coasters you haven't physically ridden. And even more so when you're using a POV of a ride you've never been on to one that you have.

 

[Zimmy]

When watching a video only one might assume that the drop on Nessie is nothing special especially when compared to other coasters in the park. one can not appreciate the perfection of that drop (from the back seat of course) unless you actually ride it.

 

[SLC Headache]

As discussion of this coaster popped up recently in the Sesame Place Williamsburg thread, and as I have a new opinion of this ride after recent travels...

I really was too harsh on Verbolten. Maverick, of all coasters, helped me come around on this. Previously, I thought Verbolten's second half was just a weak tribute to the Wolf ending, lifeless without the swinging that Ninja and Vortex showed me. But Maverick's second half reminded me of Verbolten's (just much more intense, more fleshed out, and better landscaped) - powerful launch only to bleed that speed, and slamming turns punctuated by whip transitions over water. Everything a blitz-style coaster could want.

I will begrudgingly appreciate Verbolten as the only blitz-style coaster in the region until/unless Carowinds 2019 is a regular Mack Multi-Launch and not a spinner. I will also appreciate it for being ahead of its time - not until 2019 will there be another highly themed blitz-style coaster with a drop track (Harry Potter).

Maybe then BGW wouldn't feel this overwhelming urge every year to add something that is "both thrilling and good for the family" and we can just get these rides at their full potential.

Think about it for a second. What if Bolt was built with 0 consideration of being a family coaster. Would've been possibly one of the best coasters around here, Volcano level.

They had to hold back, because losing the Big Bad Wolf left the park without a beginners' coaster. But Verbolten still packs enough of a punch to scare a coaster beginner senseless, and not until InvadR would they have a coaster of appropriate intensity for the beginners. If they had used the Drachen plot, so the Wolf could have lived on, they wouldn't have had to compromise.

The drop track, as well as concealing it with a big show building, erased a lot of the advantages of a blitz coaster: nonstop pacing and tearing through terrain.

In the end, it's still BGW's weakest link. It's still welcome as a blitz-style coaster, but it's a weak example of the genre.


Side note: I wore a Big Bad Wolf shirt to Cedar Point, and then saw a guy on a Segway by the beach with a Verbolten shirt.

 

[Ryan]

This is one of the most unique coasters on the continent. The theming is incredible mixed with the drop track and accelerated sections make it truly incredible

 

[Icer]

I agree the theming is great, and was an excellent effort.

I just wish Zierer did better with the coaster portion, as the rattle it has developed is a strong turn off.

 

[SLC Headache]

I agree the theming is great, and was an excellent effort.

I just wish Zierer did better with the coaster portion, as the rattle it has developed is a strong turn off.

If only the entire ride theming was done as well as the station/queue. Having ridden Mystic Timbers, another ride with automotive-style ride vehicles into a supernatural forest, since my last post here, I have to say The Shed, and the real forest, are both better than Verbolten's show building.

Zierer really had their track and trains pushed too far beyond their limits. They've never done any coaster as intense outside of their tower coasters. Did BGW ask for a more intense coaster, or did Zierer decide to make the coaster more intense?

 

[Icer]

All I think is that if it wasn't for Giles this would've been an Intamin, as it should've been for it to be a truly masterful ride.

Verbolten is good. If Intamin made it, and made it well, it easily could be the best coaster in the park.

 

[snowman6996]

Verboten had some new changes. The on ride video has been taken out. Also some new lighting "screens" were added inside the show building. There are 2 right as you enter the drop track. I saw larger wolf eyes on it.

 

[warfelg]

We could talk Verbolten until we're blue in the face, but I think it's an unfair comparison to what we might/will see with MMXX. In regards to theming, an Alpengeist, Copperhead Strike, Twisted Timbers level makes more viable sense.

Face it, Verbolten was so far over budget it's amazing those involved were still employed. A very similar ride (Alton Towers "Thirteen") opened a few years previous at a cost of less than a third of BGW's effort. (@warfelg I've heard $54m more often). And they didn't reuse many of the same footers. You have to wonder, in the design/build timeline, when was Blackstone's budget point of no return..."we gotta build it now, we've spent too much already".

As I've expressed previously, MMXX's theming doesn't necessarily have to "tell a story" which might translate into more expensive decor, etc. If it's a Roman God name, a Roman ruins presentation might be well suited and cost a lot less. Just do something to take it a few levels above a "parking lot coaster".

So I’m bringing the convo over here because I think it is an interesting one to have.

So regarding the cost of Bolt, there’s two things to consider: all in cost and ride cost.

You brought up the cost of thirteen being mich lower and that might be a half truth. From all my research, this big price tag to Bolt seems to include a whole lot more than the coaster itself.

Some considerations of what that price includes:
1) The removal of BBW. That’s a biggie. They couldn’t just rip it out. They had to be extremely careful at points to not damage footers that got reused.

2) Theming removal. BBW was really well themed and taking that out played into the cost.

3) Terraforming. Bolt was actually one of the largest coaster terraforming costs in the north east until Skyrush. That is very expensive.

4) Station and queue renovation. This cost is very underrated IMO.

5) Pouring a pad as opposed to footers. This is a huge cost. Pouring footers is cheap compared to the cost of pouring a pad.

I think all of that really is the “hidden costs” of Bolt that people ignore. The ride alone without the event building and put on an already flat part of land would have been about $20-25mil in my estimation.

 

[BGWnut]

I completely agree with you. I also think that some of the costs of the overall area revamp are lumped in as well. One thing that I'm not understanding is where people get the idea that it was way over budget. As far as I know the final costs came to about what was expected. It might have been a little bit more but not excessively.

 

[GrandpaD]

I'm not sure what construction entailed for for Thirteen. I've read it replaced a corkscrew coaster, so they would have incurred some of the costs you mentioned for Bolt. But 3 times the cost?

In a sense, this was Drachen Fire redux. Find another company to copy a style of another. Intamin built Thirteen. BGW hired basically a kiddie coaster company to copy it.

 

[SLC Headache]

I'm not sure what construction entailed for for Thirteen. I've read it replaced a corkscrew coaster, so they would have incurred some of the costs you mentioned for Bolt. But 3 times the cost?

The Vekoma Corkscrew at Alton Towers was a portable model unlike the Arrow Corkscrews.

In a sense, this was Drachen Fire redux. Find another company to copy a style of another. Intamin built Thirteen. BGW hired basically a kiddie coaster company to copy it.

Zierer had Wicked at Lagoon (not a kiddie coaster) under their belt before taking on Verbolten. But yeah, that has little individual ride cars, not a heavy train pounding the track at every turn.

 

[warfelg]

I'm not sure what construction entailed for for Thirteen. I've read it replaced a corkscrew coaster, so they would have incurred some of the costs you mentioned for Bolt. But 3 times the cost?

Absolutely. Thirteen is a tire drive lift not launched coster. So there's cost element number 1 that is HUGE. 2, corkscrew was on a flat piece of land (most of T is flat) so there was minimal terraforming. 3, they tore down corkscrew's station rather than retrofitting it to work with the new coaster, again much cheaper. 4, 13 is about 400 feet shorter. 5, there was MUCH less land clearing involved with Thirteen. 6, there's no big show building element with Thirteen. 7, Thirteen DOES NOT reuse footers from corkscrew.

Those are all costs you are severely underrating.

In a sense, this was Drachen Fire redux. Find another company to copy a style of another. Intamin built Thirteen. BGW hired basically a kiddie coaster company to copy it.

I find this to be a very off base thing to say. DF was certainly BGW's fault. Saying they did the same thing with Bolt is a big accusation to make. Again with all my research, it sounds like Zierer was the choice from the start. Zierer is VERY underrated as a coaster builder. And if you are looking for a family thrill coaster, would you rather have a high intensity company overdo it; or a family oriented coaster company be at the helm?

 

[GrandpaD]

Lol, I said basically. I guess they had a good working relationship with Grover. Lol

I just can't conceive them thinking they were going to get a good ROI if it was budgeted at $54m. Goliath, as an example, opened the same year at soonest half the cost.

@warfelg I was typing as your post was appearing. I see your points.

 

[warfelg]

1) Which Goliath? 2) If you are talking the hybrid one, yes it cost a lot less because it only partially tore down a coster.

Again, there's no comparison for VBolt's cost until we know what the all in cost for Hagrid's is from the removal of DD's to opening. And even then it's not a fair comparison because Hagrid's is much more intricately themed than Bolt. Bolt is such a unique coaster in that way. Comparing it to the costs of other coasters that are no way similar in the construction process is not a fair shake at BGW.

Did they possibly misjudge how much more it would cost to retrofit the old footers compared to the ecological impact study of redoing the footers? Possibly. Very likely. Maybe there was something with that particular area that they didn't want to go into redoing footers in water. Maybe something happened when building Aplie or Griff that made them pick this route. But I'm telling you, if the all in cost from shutting down BBW to opening Bolt was $54m, there is a 0% chance that cost was all coaster, and I would be willing to bet less than half of it was the coster itself and more than half was removing BBW, retrofitting the station, retrofitting reused footers, terraforming, building pad, building, tree removal, and theming.

 

[GrandpaD]

Again, I see your points. Regardless of where the money went, I believe the ROI was/is horrible. In regards to Universal, I have to believe they'll see a sizeable uptick in attendance to justify whatever it costs. They're coattailing a huge worldwide franchise and entire themed area.

But, until we (unlikely) get into the minds, budgets, spreadsheets, etc. any discussion is purely conjecture and opinion. It's a great ride, but my personal opinion is it was a bad decision at the time.