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

 

[snowman6996]

Have you asked the operator nicely to turn the lights on in the show building?

 

[ControlsEE]

Have you asked the operator nicely to turn the lights on in the show building?

They will not. Trust me, I've tried. The only time I have ever seen that building's lights on was during a 2012 Verbolten Tour (Back when they had a tour just for Verbolten) and weather shut the ride down while we were in the building.

 

[snowman6996]

Whenever its time for a good referb on Verbolten, they should put in video screens on both sides of the drop track, sorta like Cooperhead Strike. They could have a short chase scene with the wolf, or spirit before the drop. But then again, they have a hard time now changing a light bulb on the wolf eyes when it goes out.

 

[warfelg]

I'm afraid Bolt is likely a bit down the list for getting its work. Seems like it's EfP's/Apollo's year. I think that the coming years would be RR's, Alpie, Griff, The Gardens. That's ride area's. Don't forget MMXX, Project 2020/2021. And food area wise, Trappers and Festhaus could use some TLC.

If it were my call I would do:
-2020 RR and the Gardens first. Basically get all of FI done in the same timeframe with the opening of MMXX.
-2021 Alpie all alone. Give yourself a down year after a big year.
-2022 Griff and Trappers. Like the idea with FI, just do the whole area that's close to each other at all the same time.
-2023 Bolt and Festhaus. I think the current project 2021 (?) would be more likely to open up in this year, and with all the increased foot traffic that would come to this area, both the Haus and Bolt are going to see extra guests. The Haus because people will want a break area. So revamped show, retouched paint, all new looking food service area. Bolt's bound to see overflow riders from whatever 2021 is, so making that ride get it's refurb all done will make it appealing enough to take on the extra riders.

 

[phareous]

Look at this description. It is a shame they didn't implement all of this (or at least, didn't implement it well):

Along a double figure-eight track, riders will encounter a falling tree struck by lightning, a set of fiery eyes and an illustration of the Spirit of the Forest before diving into a 720-degree vortex encircling a creepy tree and a low-hanging moon.

After passing under tree branches that look like a skeleton's hands, the train will come to an abrupt stop just short of a gaping hole in the wall. Just when the riders feel safe, the train will drop on a free-fall platform (similar to the elevator effect on the Thirteen coaster at Alton Towers in Britain) before continuing on the journey outside the building.

https://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-verbolten-busch-gardens-coaster-09201119-story.html

 

[SLC Headache]

Look at this description. It is a shame they didn't implement all of this (or at least, didn't implement it well):



https://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-verbolten-busch-gardens-coaster-09201119-story.html

I've been changing my tune on this ride - from wanting it gone, to wanting it to be improved. The potential is there. If the theming really was as good as the article described - and if the outdoor half was toned down - I would be saying "Big Bad What?"

(Also, there they go again calling it a family coaster. 53 MPH and an 88 foot drop is more than Icon and Copperhead Strike which were not marketed as family coasters, and the drop track is as intense as an inversion.)

That video a few pages back was pretty bad, but the theming wasn't even that good when new, this is the very first reply:

A quote from the Wiki: "Things go wrong when you make a wrong turn and enter the mysterious Black Forest."

But you don't enter the Black Forest. You enter a large green metal warehouse.

I have hope they will properly fill the show building. Big Bad Wolf's village started as facades if I read right, and they only built the proper buildings because they could be seen from Drachen Fire.

 

[warfelg]

(Also, there they go again calling it a family coaster. 53 MPH and an 88 foot drop is more than Icon and Copperhead Strike which were not marketed as family coasters, and the drop track is as intense as an inversion.)

14 more feet than Invadr and 5 more MPH. I guess Invadr isn't a family coaster either.

 

[SLC Headache]

14 more feet than Invadr and 5 more MPH. I guess Invadr isn't a family coaster either.

Launch coasters pack much more of a punch than equivalent lift hill coasters, and the drop track is equivalent to an inversion in intensity.

If Verbolten had a properly themed show building and the ending was toned down, it'd be the best in its class, looking very favorable compared to Slinky Dog Dash or Firechaser Express.

 

[phareous]

What do you mean by ending toned down? Do you mean the drop track? Because the bridge/drop to the river seems pretty tame to me compared to Big bad Wolf. I know it follows the same path, but it doesn't feel the same at all and since you're on top of the track and not under it, you don't even get that close to the water either

 

[SLC Headache]

What do you mean by ending toned down? Do you mean the drop track? Because the bridge/drop to the river seems pretty tame to me compared to Big bad Wolf. I know it follows the same path, but it doesn't feel the same at all and since you're on top of the track and not under it, you don't even get that close to the water either

Toned down = weaken the launch and lower the hill.

Being on top of the track means the turns are tighter and the laterals are stronger.

 

[warfelg]

Launch coasters pack much more of a punch than equivalent lift hill coasters, and the drop track is equivalent to an inversion in intensity.

First half isn't true. The angle of acceleration is different, doesn't mean it's accelerating any faster. 9.4 m/s^2 is a lot more than you think. I want to see data that shows a drop track is as intense through g meters and force vectors. We've done this before. Intensity is a person by person thing. That drop track falls at a rate the same as the initial drop on a lift coaster. Can only drop at the speed gravity allows.

 

[phareous]

Well I still stand by my opinion...the ending seems a bit tame to me. I know its launched, but otherwise it is nothing special. The hill on Lochness is a lot worse. Yeah I know its not a family coaster, but I don't think Verbolten is either considering the "supposedly" scary elements to it. You're not going to take a little kid on this thing unless you have a long conversation to them about it being in the dark, having the drop, etc.

EDIT: I'm not a fan of the abrupt breaking at the end though...would be nice if they could soften that a bit

 

[Zachary]

For the record, literally all of this was there when the ride first opened.

Along a double figure-eight track, riders will encounter a falling tree struck by lightning, a set of fiery eyes and an illustration of the Spirit of the Forest before diving into a 720-degree vortex encircling a creepy tree and a low-hanging moon.

After passing under tree branches that look like a skeleton's hands, the train will come to an abrupt stop just short of a gaping hole in the wall. Just when the riders feel safe, the train will drop on a free-fall platform (similar to the elevator effect on the Thirteen coaster at Alton Towers in Britain) before continuing on the journey outside the building.

PS: I still love that article. The LA Times is the biggest publication BGWFans as been featured in as far as I know. We piqued early. ?

 

[GotsFancyPants]

Rode Verbolten today. The lights are all over the place in the showbuilding and light up the warehouse way too much. As usual, the sheets are still easily seen too. The moon was lit up way to early and I could see the projector, but I was happy the full set of mcbr leaves were on for the first time in years.

 

[Ryan]

Idea! Rip out all of the theming inside of the showroom and put screens!

 

[DRIFT]

or maybe instead,refurbish it,just a few enchantments and upgrades will do the trick,i can see walls and floor very easily.But NO screens,it would kill the feeling of the ride in my opinion.

 

[Ryan]

I was thinking sorta mystic timbers

 

[Ziva]

Has anyone ever taken a g-force meter with them on vbolt? Was having a conversation today about the the forces and we couldn't find any numbers quoted anywhere.

I was also really curious about this question, so my rad husband set up a g-force recorder on his (properly secured) phone during a ride this weekend, and we got some data! In short, the maximum Gs are about 3.8!

For more fine grained detail, this particular recorder breaks the Gs down by axis, so x is forward (acceleration), y is up/down (vertical), z is side-to-side (lateral). The most Gs are present in the x axis due to the launches. I've attached some simple graphs of the recording; the messiness at the beginning and end are due to securing the phone, but aside from that you can see some pretty clear patterns! Both launches show up as spikes on x, the first at ~85200 ms and the second at ~162867 ms. There are some changes in elevation shown on the y, but the spike at about 148667 ms seems to be the drop in the show building (the maximum y G-force at -1.5). The final drop seems to be somewhere around -1 -- relatively mild all told. I think the Z is a little harder to interpret, but it shows a lot of activity between the launches, with some of those lateral Gs in the show building as strong as -3! There's also a little bit of lat G after the final drop probably due to the swoop down over the Rhine.

Caveat: this is based on the gyroscopes in the phone so it's not as accurate as an actual professional g-meter, but hopefully some of y'all are also big data nerds and find this interesting!

 

[UncleDuncan]

That's dedication.

 

[Jahrules]

Super awesome. Your data seems in line with my thoughts; that verbolten pulls harder Gs than Alpengeist (which they tout as 3.6 Gs).

Maybe they don't mention the G's because it's supposed to be a family coaster; but it's pulling Gs right up there with the best!

Of course every seat is a bit different and the axis of force depends on how the phone was sitting (attached flush with a flat surface being the ideal; though completely impractical for a rider).. but still very interesting info.