Verbolten

Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!
Status
The first entry in this thread is a WikiPost. As such, it can be edited by anyone with the appropriate permissions.

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​

Ride Recordings​

On-Ride Videos​

Backstage Footage​

 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: Zachary, Coasternerd and Julia
Click to expand...
Well, if Zierer came into the bidding process with known constraints thinking they could get away with it and clearly didn't, then I'd think it's a them problem and not a park constraints issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlpenChariot and SLC Headache
Jonesta6 said:
Well, if Zierer came into the bidding process with known constraints thinking they could get away with it and clearly didn't, then I'd think it's a them problem and not a park constraints issue.
Click to expand...
At the end of the day this could have happened with any manufacturer that won the bid. They built a great ride with, IMHO, some of the best trains and only a single section has a rattle which I've not even found to be terrible. I don't understand why this ride is looked at as an example of failure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlpenChariot, Ziva and DrunkenCronuts
CoasterTalkBob said:
At the end of the day this could have happened with any manufacturer that won the bid. They built a great ride with, IMHO, some of the best trains and only a single section has a rattle which I've not even found to be terrible. I don't understand why this ride is looked at as an example of failure.
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm in no way saying the ride sucks - I enjoy it.

I'm referring more specifically to ride issues that stemmed by design/engineering based on constraints placed by the park - if any manufacturer bids on a project with known constraints believing their solution would mitigate any issues arising from them, but then misses the mark, then the constraints aren't as big a factor as the manufacturer's confidence.

TLDR; don't oversell and underdeliver.

However, for VB specifically - at this point, if think it's highly unlikely any issue that's developed is caused by design/engineering defects and more to do with park maintenance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CoasterTalkBob
Jonesta6 said:
However, for VB specifically - at this point, if think it's highly unlikely any issue that's developed is caused by design/engineering defects and more to do with park maintenance.
Click to expand...
This is where I think most of the issues are coming from as well. My previous comments were more "thought experiment" than anything. I honestly think that lots of manufacturers get unfair heat for things like rattles when the majority of those rattles are likely the result of park maintenance (such as not changing wheels enough or even letting trains sit too long and getting flat spots).
 
Zachary said:
This is really BGW's fault, not Zierer's. BGW REQUIRED the design to reuse Big Bad Wolf's footers and original Rhine drop path. If you think about how a suspended coaster is supported for just a fraction of a second, you can immediately understand why that's such an absurd position. It was likely a physical impossibility for Zierer to design something much better given the constraints BGW placed on that section of the project.

Zierer is responsible for the ride's rattle which I definitely do think is worthy of criticism. Just don't judge Zierer for any of the layout work past the bridge—they were just following instructions. The parts of the layout where Zierer actually was more in charge (the event building especially) show how great they really are at this stuff.
Click to expand...
I mentioned this in an earlier post and someone questioned why a swinging train would be any different from a fixed train. Having cars that swing makes sense for snappy transitions but when you have fixed cars on the same path all those forces are absorbed by the train and passengers. They definitely should have put in new footers and track to smooth out the bottom area and then have it rejoin the original layout further up the hill.

I'm not sure what the manufacturer could have done with the trains to mitigate the rattle given the track layout.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SLC Headache
EdK said:
I mentioned this in an earlier post and someone questioned why a swinging train would be any different from a fixed train. Having cars that swing makes sense for snappy transitions but when you have fixed cars on the same path all those forces are absorbed by the train and passengers. They definitely should have put in new footers and track to smooth out the bottom area and then have it rejoin the original layout further up the hill.

I'm not sure what the manufacturer could have done with the trains to mitigate the rattle given the track layout.
Click to expand...

But didn't they also refurbish and/or reinforce the footers during the build?
 
Jonesta6 said:
But didn't they also refurbish and/or reinforce the footers during the build?
Click to expand...
I think it's more the location of the footers than anything else. With a suspended train being on the outside of the turns and a traditional coaster being on the inside it means that the turns are pretty aggressive/sharp when following the same path.

The whole reason for all of this is that BBW/Verbolten is located in an environmental impact area. If they changed those footers at all they would have been looking at a lot of additional cost in research and approval.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SLC Headache
CoasterTalkBob said:
The whole reason for all of this is that BBW/Verbolten is located in an environmental impact area. If they changed those footers at all they would have been looking at a lot of additional cost in research and approval.
Click to expand...

I think they could have done that had they not decided to also refresh Oktoberfest at the same time...
 
Jonesta6 said:
I think they could have done that had they not decided to also refresh Oktoberfest at the same time...
Click to expand...
I don't know for sure but I feel like it was more that they just didn't want to have to deal with it more so than it was the money.

warfelg said:
If only someone figured out the impossible of supports with bends in them. I don’t thing anyone has ever done th….


View attachment 26608
Click to expand...
I love Great Bear's supports.... so unique. To be fair, though, we don't know how those footers might differ in order to offset the cantilever effect. Hershey may have deeper footers or additional reinforcements in order to support that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coasternerd, Jonesta6, panopticon31 and 1 other person
CoasterTalkBob said:
I don't know for sure but I feel like it was more that they just didn't want to have to deal with it more so than it was the money.


I love Great Bear's supports.... so unique. To be fair, though, we don't know how those footers might differ in order to offset the cantilever effect. Hershey may have deeper footers or additional reinforcements in order to support that.
Click to expand...
From what I’ve been told, at Skyrush’s announcement, GBs Footers are surprisingly like BBWs. In fact Skyrush’s supports are much more unique in that each one has an array of 9 thinner deeper “fingers” below the footer into the ground.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CoasterTalkBob
Of my 5 BGW visits this season. Verboltens show building unfortunately appears to be gradually declining. Hopefully they’ll just give it a rehab sometime. I have this feeling it’ll be…..close to when DarKoaster opens.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Furyous Baco 325
BGWnut said:
I'm told that the rebuild is planned and budgeted to happen this year. Don't know exactly when just that it's going to happen.
Click to expand...
I would assume this fall at the earliest at this point
 
I did see earlier on instagram, a story by coaster addict va that said more effects are working again. Maybe they realized with the addition of darkoaster, and what I’m hoping is great theming, they needed to make Verbolten look better?
 
  • Like
Reactions: SLC Headache and Mwe BGW
Coasternerd said:
I did see earlier on instagram, a story by coaster addict va that said more effects are working again. Maybe they realized with the addition of darkoaster, and what I’m hoping is great theming, they needed to make Verbolten look better?
Click to expand...
I did not see any noticeable changes from other rides this year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mwe BGW and Zachary
You must log in or register to reply here.
Status
The first entry in this thread is a WikiPost. As such, it can be edited by anyone with the appropriate permissions.
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad