Verbolten

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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​

 
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Zachary said:
There are indoor effects and theming on Verbolten?

(A little hyperbolic, but the answer is very badly. Ideally they will have used all of this downtime to fix some things, but I'm not optimistic.)
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More than likely, more theming was taken down to make ride repairs. It should be put back up. But, it doesnt have to.
 
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Had no idea it was closed, odds it’s open by May 10th-11th? I saw the blue train is back in the station so that’s promising
 
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I wonder if their goal is to get Verbolten back in operation by the time BBW2 opens? It would certainly help alleviate the increased guest flow in Oktoberfest.
 
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That would make sense, hopefully they stagger it a bit and have it open the weekend I’ll be there. My gf has never been and I’m super excited for her to be surprised with the drop track
 
Having gotten around to the Project 2026 "Things" rumor thread, if they are planning a full theming renovation a la Loch Ness Monster, I really hope they decide to completely replace the outdoor ending too.

After they fix up the show building to look like a forest and not a warehouse, the ending will be the worst part of the ride: the barely banked Hurler turns. In fact, I’d have to say Hurler did it better. Was this the best they can do with the Wolf's footers? I think not, in fact I think the Hurler Turns ending was a compromise to have a "family" coaster. BGW had nothing between Grover and Nessie when Verbolten was being designed, while Cheetah Hunt could have a barrel roll because Sand Serpent was serving the family coaster role. Now that BGW has three family coasters, Verbolten should take off the kid gloves, bank the turns harder, and throw a barrel roll in there. If they do this, it will be the best steel coaster modification since Steel Phantom became Phantom's Revenge, and most likely superior to its BGT counterpart.
 
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SLC Headache said:
Having gotten around to the Project 2026 "Things" rumor thread, if they are planning a full theming renovation a la Loch Ness Monster, I really hope they decide to completely replace the outdoor ending too.

After they fix up the show building to look like a forest and not a warehouse, the ending will be the worst part of the ride: the barely banked Hurler turns. In fact, I’d have to say Hurler did it better. Was this the best they can do with the Wolf's footers? I think not, in fact I think the Hurler Turns ending was a compromise to have a "family" coaster. BGW had nothing between Grover and Nessie when Verbolten was being designed, while Cheetah Hunt could have a barrel roll because Sand Serpent was serving the family coaster role. Now that BGW has three family coasters, Verbolten should take off the kid gloves, bank the turns harder, and throw a barrel roll in there. If they do this, it will be the best steel coaster modification since Steel Phantom became Phantom's Revenge, and most likely superior to its BGT counterpart.
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Verboltens last 2 turns pulls some serious Gs for a family coaster though already. The ending is perfectly fine imo.
 
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MrBradferd said:
Verboltens last 2 turns pulls some serious Gs for a family coaster though already. The ending is perfectly fine imo.
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They're underbanked and mostly uncomfortable laterals. That's the "Hurler Turns" I'm talking about. This ain't a wild mouse coaster where the heavy laterals are part of the experience. If anything, it reminds me of Whiplash from Fiasco Forest in RollerCoaster Tycoon. Of note is that Whiplash's model, the "Steel Mini", is partly based on the Zierer Tivoli. (In RCT Classic, Whiplash seems to have become a Wild Mouse coaster.)

Zachary said:
@SLC Headache is a notorious, staunch, Verbolten hater. It's like a core part of his identity. This is one of those situations where it's better to just read the post, wonder what Verbolten actually did to this poor man to generate such loathing, and then, ultimately, just move on. 😋
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Hey now, I've mostly come to accept the ride's existence, and a lot of my remaining hate comes from the poor state of its show building. I still believe it's the park's weakest link among the major coasters, and it's still the only coaster to make me nauseous once. If another coaster makes me nauseous, then Verbolten will be exonerated and I'll just accept that my body isn't cut out for coasters any more.

I realize that wanting to add a barrel roll may sound counterintuitive when I'm complaining the ride already made me nauseous once. (The indoor section was what messed me up that day.)
 
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SLC Headache said:
They're underbanked and mostly uncomfortable laterals. That's the "Hurler Turns" I'm talking about.
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Man, Hurler must have fallen into sad condition for a long time as it aged, because when I rode it during its first 1-2 operating seasons it was far and away the smoothest and most lateral-deficient wood coaster I had ever been on. The bobsled-style banked turns provided basically nothing at all in the way of laterals as the trains whipped into and through them. Maybe a bit at the entry and exit points, but that seemed to be it.

Rebel Yell (as it was then named) pulled stronger sustained laterals on its back turn, which is to say just slightly more than nothing.

I think I did get back and ride Hurler again in the 1999 time frame, and indeed it wasn't in the same condition as five years earlier. But if anything it was slower than before, and at that point the turns surely didn't feel underbanked. In a way, I'm glad I didn't get back to KD for a long time after that, so I didn't witness the ride's decline...
 
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halfabee said:
Man, Hurler must have fallen into sad condition for a long time as it aged, because when I rode it during its first 1-2 operating seasons it was far and away the smoothest and most lateral-deficient wood coaster I had ever been on. The bobsled-style banked turns provided basically nothing at all in the way of laterals as the trains whipped into and through them. Maybe a bit at the entry and exit points, but that seemed to be it.

Rebel Yell (as it was then named) pulled stronger sustained laterals on its back turn, which is to say just slightly more than nothing.

I think I did get back and ride Hurler again in the 1999 time frame, and indeed it wasn't in the same condition as five years earlier. But if anything it was slower than before, and at that point the turns surely didn't feel underbanked. In a way, I'm glad I didn't get back to KD for a long time after that, so I didn't witness the ride's decline...
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OK, I must be going on flaky memories of the Carowinds Hurler. I was a child when I rode KD's Hurler. But the turns on both Verbolten and the other Hurler weren't very fun.
 
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Verbolten has one of the best finales on any coaster in the country. Quality is about more than forces. There are very few coasters out there that use the terrain more boldly, and that makes Verbolten special.

My dream for a Verbolten refurb is an entire NEW indoor section, maybe with an extra surprise. You’d likely have to expand the building though and I’m not sure that’s possible. If they can’t do that, maybe speed up the second launch and give us a few more elements before the bridge. Maybe some Big Bad Wolf interaction? Probably impossible but I can dream.

I’d love to see any kind of Nessie-esque restoration for its 15th birthday in 2027. Maybe go lighter on the budget and pair it with a Mach Tower plaza ride. A ton of possibilities
 
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the_pantsmith said:
Verbolten has one of the best finales on any coaster in the country. Quality is about more than forces. There are very few coasters out there that use the terrain more boldly, and that makes Verbolten special.
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Agree to disagree on this one. It feels like they were doing the bare minimum with the original Wolf's footers, on top of the show building crushing a lot of terrain.

the_pantsmith said:
...maybe speed up the second launch and give us a few more elements before the bridge. Maybe some Big Bad Wolf interaction? Probably impossible but I can dream.
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That I could agree with. In fact, it would probably be better than just adding a barrel roll to the ending. As it is, the ending of the show building feels like the ending on its own, and the outdoor section feels like an afterthought that only makes me wonder how much better it was before. With the outdoor section having more elements to match the indoor section, and possibly going in hot on the main drop (unless it is a block section), it'd feel like a fully realized experience on its own, and the basic turns ending would be fine as a return to the station.

Of course, it'd be more expensive.
 
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I wouldn’t want it to speed into the last drop. The anticipation is part of it, and Verbolten is still a family coaster. I’m not sure how much faster you’d need to go to still be able to make it up to the bridge after a short detour over by Big Bad Wolf, but if it’s feasible I don’t think it’s COMPLETELY out of the question for 2027. I still think it’s likely not happening and that’s fine
 
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The final turns are a little underbanked and powerful. I've learned to lean my head in a bit approaching them, if you let it push your head out past center the force will keep increasing. It could be like Hurler's turns in that the banking was exact but the transition was not, but I don't think so, the transitions are very quick though. Hurler's turns had huge transitions going in and out, but there was still a spot it yanked you, very much a pre-computer job of profiling (TT has kinked speed hills where the original transitions were, the curve doesn't need them anymore). No one should have been surprised by that though, dropping straight into a big turn on a wood coaster. Then the jackhammer, loved it.

Back to Verbolten, my issue is the pacing, it slows down, takes off another few seconds, then stops for the drop track, takes off real good but immediately slows way down again for some unrealistic noises, leading into a weak drop and then seeming to try to make up for it by slamming through the last turns. The drop track stop does create anticipation but the added slowdowns become excessive and are probably so strong due to a real need to reduce speed. If the final turns were reprofiled, the Rhine drop could be less trimmed. But not as big an issue as theming losses and recent additional braking that was only partially fixed before going down for maintenance this year.
 
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bill s said:
The final turns are a little underbanked and powerful. I've learned to lean my head in a bit approaching them, if you let it push your head out past center the force will keep increasing. It could be like Hurler's turns in that the banking was exact but the transition was not, but I don't think so, the transitions are very quick though. Hurler's turns had huge transitions going in and out, but there was still a spot it yanked you, very much a pre-computer job of profiling (TT has kinked speed hills where the original transitions were, the curve doesn't need them anymore). No one should have been surprised by that though, dropping straight into a big turn on a wood coaster. Then the jackhammer, loved it.

Back to Verbolten, my issue is the pacing, it slows down, takes off another few seconds, then stops for the drop track, takes off real good but immediately slows way down again for some unrealistic noises, leading into a weak drop and then seeming to try to make up for it by slamming through the last turns. The drop track stop does create anticipation but the added slowdowns become excessive and are probably so strong due to a real need to reduce speed. If the final turns were reprofiled, the Rhine drop could be less trimmed. But not as big an issue as theming losses and recent additional braking that was only partially fixed before going down for maintenance this year.
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Last time I rode it (I think in December) I really felt the stall at the bridge took longer than I remember and was a real detractor on the experience.
 
Procrastinating at work. @Zachary any insight into the feasibility of something this substantial? Would the tree buffer between the proposed expansion and the river be untouched? I wouldn't want BGW to compromise the secluded feel of this area of the park. I truthfully am not sure what the terrain looks like here but man I would love it if the park were able to do something like this. Iirc this is partially where Drachen Spire was planned to be built (thank god it wasn't).

VBExt.png

I swear I usually err on the side of realism for my BGW fever dreams, for the record.
 
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the_pantsmith said:
Procrastinating at work. @Zachary any insight into the feasibility of something this substantial? Would the tree buffer between the proposed expansion and the river be untouched? I wouldn't want BGW to compromise the secluded feel of this area of the park. I truthfully am not sure what the terrain looks like here but man I would love it if the park were able to do something like this. Iirc this is partially where Drachen Spire was planned to be built (thank god it wasn't).



I swear I usually err on the side of realism for my BGW fever dreams, for the record.
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while your fever dream was pre bridge changes I was thinking about post bridge changes after the drop to the water instead of banking left, to shoot back up and bank right back down to the water and then proceeding with the rest of the track or adding a helix turn before the final approach to the cameras. together these mods would be completely insane lol
 
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