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BGE - Big Bad Wolf closing?

Busch are offically bastards. I was looking faward to that thing in a few years.

Why ****ing remove it if its popular and good??? Dickheads.
 
Build something new?

As much as I hate it, the Arrow suspendeds are just getting old.. and you will see more and more of these things die soon..
 
Shame. With this gone, and Eagle Fortress looking very likely to follow it, are there any even remotely decent suspended coasters left? The rest look crap to mediocre.
 
gavin said:
Shame. With this gone, and Eagle Fortress looking very likely to follow it, are there any even remotely decent suspended coasters left? The rest look crap to mediocre.
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Vortex at Canada's Wonderland is very good, I'd say better than BBW just because it's insane! A bit short, but, insane!

So, I imagine the clone at KI is the same?
 
Vortex at Canada's Wonderland is very good, I'd say better than BBW just because it's insane! A bit short, but, insane!

So, I imagine the clone at KI is the same?
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The one at Wonderland felt better because it actually went on the mountain for a few seconds, which was cool. For some reason it felt faster as well.

This really sucks, I thought the drop over the river looked amazing! But, seems like I'll never get to ride it. I can't be too sad though, because whatever they put in its place, I expect will be very good.
 
I really liked Ninja at MM I hope they do not get ride of that as well.

Its sad to see these coasters go.
 
Well... Better closed than murdered by Vekoma I say! Such a shame. This is one of the rollercoasters in the world I would've liked to get on sometime in my life. Ah well.
 
It'll be so weird to stand on the bridge looking over the river and see it gone next season. :(
Good thing I'm going back later this summer to get a few farewell rides.
 
Snoo: WHY can't this have happened to Iron Dragon, instead? Whyyyyyyyyy...

Ben: No; it's definitely not as good. Scenery not as good, not quite as smooth...still a decent ride, though.

Sigh...this is definitely upsetting. I think I'm developing a bit of a bad taste for Busch parks. At least Scorpion's still around @ BGA; that's kind of surprising, actually.
 
Here is what screamscape.com had to say about it
ScreamScape
Park News - (7/25/09) I’m afraid it is official now, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has come clean with their plans to rip apart the Big Bad Wolf. Even worse, according to their press release you only have until Labor Day (Sept. 7th) to ride it, so it wont be open through Howl-O-Scream which is a shame as a night time ride through the woods in the dark is as big a part of Howl-O-Scream to me as the haunts themselves. It’s almost funny as they say they are making the announcement now so fans can get a last ride in, but they’re only giving you a little over a month’s notice and without Howl-O-Scream rides, I know there sure is no way I’m going to be able to make it back one last time to pay my respects.
In the press release and new FAQ on the park’s website they keep saying that Big Bad Wolf has “reached the end of its service life” which is a bunch of crap. All rides need care, repair and maintenance as they get older. The truth is that the Wolf is simply run ouBritoAndTheWolft of “budget money”. It’s all bad timing as they want to build something nearby, want to create a better access pathway to former Drachen Fire site and with the economy the way it is, it’s just easier for them to deny the budget to make any needed preventative maintenance work.
Knowing Busch Entertainment as I do, I’ve always said that Busch has been more than willing to pay top dollar to buy the best rides and coasters they can get their hands on. As the capital for these projects comes from the corporate office, they get approval nice and easy... but for some reason Busch never has a good budget to maintain things after the fact... and the older something gets, the harder it is to push a maintenance budget for anything through the red tape, department meetings, and so on. After all the budget needed to maintain and keep Big Bad Wolf running has to go up against other things... like kitchen upgrades, new gift shops, restaurants... you know... things that make money and give a quicker Return on Investment. So when the VPs all sit around and haggle over which projects will make the budget on any given year, you can pretty much count on the ‘operations’ and ‘entertainment’ side of things getting the shaft every time since they don’t directly bring in income like Food and Merchandise departments and don’t have the ears of the corporate masters like the HR and Marketing departments do.
What almost makes this more insulting is that while they claim they have other ideas they are looking at for the Big Bad Wolf site in the future, they claim that those projects are far enough away that they haven’t been finalized yet. And yet... Big Bad Wolf has an “established timeline to dismantle this major attraction.” Sounds like they’ve had this in the works for some time to me! So why are they removing the Big Bad Wolf so early then? From what I’ve been told (off the record) it is because that when they do get around to announcing the unimpresBW139131sive lackluster plan that is in place, they would rather have the Wolf be only a memory and a non-issue, rather than face the negative feedback from park guests.
So I’ve got to ask everyone... are you willing to fight for the Big Bad Wolf? Then you’ve got to write in, call in, or visit guest relations and let them know just how upset you are about this. I’ve seen coasters come and go... but something about the Big Bad Wolf has always been special to me, and I don’t think that I’m alone. Frankly, I’d rather see the Loch Ness Monster sent to the scrap-pile long before Big Bad Wolf was ever touched. While Nessie is a bit unique itself... it is not nearly as unique or as amazing as the Big Bad Wolf is. There are only 3 suspended coasters left in the USA right now and the Wolf has always been considered to be the best of them.
Finally I had hoped to have time to come up with some T-Shirt designs of my own, as a design is in the works, I’m honestly worried that there wont be time for anyone to buy them and wear them to the park in time to Save the Wolf due to narrow window we have left. Another reader however did some up with some shirts of their own to put onto Cafe Press so you too can express your feelings directly to the park about this.
It’s just ironic that a park that is supposed to care about “preservation” and protecting “endangered species” has been so quick to sentence one of the most rare coaster designs in the world to an early death after only 25 years. The marketing folks just can’t see the value is reinventing this classic ride for another 25 years and the bean-counters are all too quick to deny the budget for it so they can pay off InBev’s debt from the purcahse of Anheuser-Busch. To be honest... had InBev never come knocking at Busch’s door with their take-over, I don’t think that this would be happening right now.
Here is the official press release from the park... read it and weep. I did...
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (July 24, 2009) – After 25 years traveling at the speed of fright, The Big Bad Wolf will take its last trip through Busch Gardens’ Bavarian village Sept. 7. “We hate to see The Big Bad Wolf go,” said John Reilly, Busch Gardens’ general manager. “We realize The Big Bad Wolf is a guest favorite. We’re making the announcement now so coaster fans can ride one last time before it closes after Labor Day.”
The world’s first suspended roller coaster took coaster design to a new level when it opened in 1984. And while it cannot claim to be the fastest or the tallest, more than 29 million guests have ridden what has become one of the park’s most beloved thrill attractions. Legions of fans—young and old alike—often cite it as their introduction to the coaster experience.
“The Big Bad Wolf offers a thrilling ride experience coupled with aggressive ride dynamics. While it remains a safe attraction, it has simply reached the end of its service life,” said Larry Giles, Busch Gardens’ vice president of engineering and design. Park officials are reviewing several design concepts for a new park attraction to replace The Big Bad Wolf, but no announcement is planned at this time.
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source: http://screamscape.com/html/busch_garde ... msburg.htm
 
^ huh?

(you might realise we knew it was official when Busch announced it yesterday!)

D'oh. ;-)
 
Ah well, everything has to close eventually, and TBH, BBW is pretty outdated from a GP point of view.

Sure, it was good, but pretty short, and the trim on the drop killed it a bit. Vortex at Canada's Wonderland was much better, go ride that instead!
 
Depressing...

Was a great fun ride, with good theming in the first section and the drop is still amazing even with the trims imo...

Such a shame really :(
 
As sad as this is (Arrow Suspended is at the top of my "have-to-ride"-list, and BBW looked like the second best of them), it opens up a couple of interesting holes:

First, suspended coasters themselves. As they are getting fewer, they will be sort of a novelty when (not if, given enough time) they return, and may get popular again. With better technology than before.

Second, another plot of land at BGE, apparently close to another idle site. When a park of that budget gets lots of free room, there's usually only one thing to spend it on...

Hopefully, it will be replaced by something awesome. If not, then we at least have Alpengeist.
 
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