I figured it was only a matter of time before this came up, so I wanted to hold that credit ...Wonder what it is? What type of coaster, if it is a coaster that is...so many questions...

Has anyone noticed any extra/new markings around Le Mans or the like?

It's odd, but I haven't seen any new markings on site since my visit on April 30th, which is almost two months ago!!!

I think we have pretty much nailed it as a B&M Dive Machine by now, though...5 acres, 210 feet tall, Anheuser Busch's sole legal rights to their construction It all makes too much sense

I mainly said that for all those "nay" say-ers that may read it...So as to keep it open for discussion...but, yes, I do agree that it is a B&M Dive Machine...The question that I really want to know is the theme of it. All the other coasters are all these sweet legendary monsters and such, so it'll be cool to find out the theme.

No doubt it will be a dive machine. It is interesting like you said, what is the themeing going to be? I would think it would be in the French section.

Well its probley goin 2 be a dive machine becuz B&M made a contract wit Busch that they wont make another dive machine for the next 3 to 5 years at any other themepark in da world. But they can build it at other busch parks but busch had it in da plans 2 make 1 at BGT and BGW since like 1990's and they wanted da less expensive one 2 be at BGT and so da BGW would be bigger and have more elements in it also it would be more expensive one 2.

Yeah, I agree. This ride will most likely be a Dive Machine. What else could be 210feet and fit in 5 acres. I'm sure the DM will be amazing. What elements do you think it could have if there were to be a DM?

Hey i also agree with a dive machine. Like posted on Busch Adventure Zone i see leMans closing really soon. By the way my sister went up to BGE on sunday and she said that she saw construction vehicles in the far corner of the parking lot. She also said that Lemans raceway only had the inner side open. When she asked why the other 2 sides were not open the guy said " due to car trouble". I think someone was lying. She also said it looked diffrent because she said that some trees were missing. i believe we are now in the construction phase of one awesome coaster at BGE. Personnaly i think we should see some progress in the next few weeks.

No doubt it will be a DM. I don't know why I didn't ride Lemans yesterday just to see the markings and such. Most likely it won't be like Oblivion at Alton Towers where it just drops you and that's about it. That be cool if it had two verts in it. Cause when you think about it two out of four of BGE's coasters have two lift hills. But It just seems that means the ride would have to be extremely long.

When I went there last week, I saw that the only lane open was the inner lane. I saw markings by the que house on the wall going ina straight line to the little shed.

That is good, at least they are starting construction now. It can be told already it's going to be big, since it is starting construction this early.

This ride will most definitely not have two lift hills There will likely be two vertical drops, and my guess is two inversions, hopefully something new that we have never seen before (on a Dive Machine at least). Maybe after the second vertical drop, instead of flying over an overbank right away like SheiKra does, they will add a Vertical Loop which then leads into the overbank and then the water splash... Honestly, the possibilities are endless, and I trust Busch Gardens to deliver a great ride like always.

Tunaboy407, did your sister get any pictures of downed trees, by any chance? Maybe they cut down the trees that were marked off down near Alpie's Cobra Roll

yea she got them on her freinds digital camera. I saw them and then her freind erased them because i pissed her off later in the day. The trees looked like they were on a steep slope. I saw Lemans and i saw the sky ride. She also took a pic of a marker right under the sky ride station near lemans. The construction vehicles i saw were an excavator and a crane. She also tool a picture from lemans and it looked like they cleared out a bunch of busches that were against lemans. I remember those being marked with orange tape. Sorry about no pics

I have an extremely strong opinion on the new attraction being a DM for sure. In fact, on Tuesday (13th) when walking around with former managers I had worked with at the park, I noticed that Skyride was closed.

While walking around the Nessie/LeMans area, I had seen 4-6 people/engineers with hard hats (yellow and orange color) walking around towards the bottom of Rhine (near Nessie's 1st lift and towards the Alpengeist cobra-roll inversion) and they were taking several survey markers and taking notes and so on. Also, it would appear that the JCC request for the environmental issues have been approved because there were engineers taking soil samples as well. What a way to go back to the park in over 5 yrs..lol I was like a kid on Christmas day.

Looks like I had ridden LeMans for the last time before its projected July closing. I actually love that ride; not sure why, but it's fun. But, the more things change the more they stay the same (we may see LM ressurected at another location at the park in the future).

I know this is not going to happen, but I think the park should get a woodie whch I think would be a nice fit for the park. Or a freefall tower which BGT doesn't have yet.

^^ Does skyride's closure have anything to do construction?? Or has it been closed since the beginning of the season?? It was closed yesterday too.

All I can say about Skyride is that it was closed the day I was there. I believe it was open during the season, but it was closed on the 12/13th. I seriously doubt that it had anything to do with the surveying and construction peeps in the Nessie & LeMans area because BOTh of those rides were open ALL day. I have noticed many (sad to say) changes at the park in since the last time I was there in 5 yrs and it has changed ALOT since I have worked there.

When I was there (maintenance and ride ops/management) we had at least 3 train operation on ALL coasters and ride capacity was somewhat a priority. Now, it is virtually non-existant, the crew(s) are at the bare minimums (cost-saving measure for sure), and each ride now incorporate many electrical upgrades in taking almost all of the ride operations out of the "people's" hands and the computers doing ALL of the work now (except for the slooooooow harness checking procedures)..lol

I think it'll be a Dive Machine as well. Every little fact that we do have adds up to it.

I was also at the park on the 13th of June, and in defense of BGE, it was the worst day of operations I have seen yet this season. Every other visit this season, they were faithfully running at full capacity on all the rides and the ride operators were much more energetic and enthusiastic. I think they were not expecting the kinds of crowds that they got on Tuesday, so things were running a little less smooth than normal

Gah, just my luck...the one day I choose not to brave the hill from hell down onto the Rhine River is the day there were dudes with hard hats milling about down there!

It certainly was a great dissapointment on how the operators were acting as well as how "bored" ALL of them looked. Most of the operation crews appeared tired (except A/C). Pompei crew and a couple of other rides were the WORST I have ever seen. I know if I was in management again, that would not have happened. It was so bad in fact, that I even talked to my old bosses about it and some guests noticed it and complained to management. I am litterally speechless at what I seen on the 12 and 13 (ride operators).

I'm not sure if any of the coasters even operate on 3 trains anymore, but I was lucky that the lines were short (even got about 10 rides on A/C..lol). I wish I had known you were there that day or we could have met up, I could have had you hang with us (and my old bosses) and gone into the back-areas and stroll around the ride area for the new ride and eat for FREE..lol When did they start doing those "annoying" recorded ride speils? Where are my old friends-Peacocks? WTH happen to smiling employees?..lol

Good to be back home on Maui, though I do miss that park alot. I think we will be moving back to Virginia at the end of September (and go work for the park again, but have a job offer at CF-PKI..hmm).

^Oh I very much regret it, too! Maybe we could meet up during Hall-o-Scream or something, man...once you move back here

The recorded ride "spiels" don't bother me too much, but only if they are played in addition to ride ops sending you off with something original as well. But I agree, June 13th was somewhat discouraging in that sense. Everyone seemed sluggish, lazy...just not very Busch Gardens.

Hopefully this new coaster will have much more energetic ride operators

I have heard on other sites that it was a fact that it wasn't going to be a dive machine. BGE already has a great variety of coasters, but I think that there is a possibility that it could be an Intamion accel. Those things are hot.

It would be awesome if it did a barrel roll then dive into the lake!


;-b

There is NO way BGE is getting anything other than a Dive Machine. Anheuser Busch wouldn't be stupid enough to build an Intamin Rocket. AB goes for reliability, proven technology, and simplicity, and that has B&M Dive Machine written all over it

Sorry, but I don't like the idea of a dive machine because they already have a coaster over 200ft (Apollo) and it wouldn't be a match with what they already have. I think they could use a woody and/or a kiddie coaster before the dive machine. A woodie would also be cheaper.

I have to disagree...

I'm shown a number of my friends at school pictures of SheiKra, telling them that Busch Gardens was going to get one pretty much just like it next year, and they all seemed extremely impressed with the ride. I think a Dive Machine would be a hit with the public

I've been reading this and other boards about the upcoming new rides; I'm very excited. AB always goes big and their coasters are always on the cutting edge. Whatever they go for (Dive Machine, Launch Coaster, Flyer, Woodie, 4D Coaster), I have no doubt it will be amazing.

And kumba9, why would you want to work at any park other than BGW? If anyone could get the ride operators excited about working there, I think you could.

I'll be there this Wednesday, and I might break my years-long streak of not riding LeMans, just for old time's sake. We might not have many more chances to ride, and it would be worth it just to check out the markers.

^Yeah, I'm planning on riding Le Mans a few last times either tomorrow, Tuesday, or Thursday...still not sure of my plans yet. It's one of the last remaining original rides from 1975 of course, so it's kind of sad in a way that a part of the park's history might be dying. For all we know, however, they could be building this ride overtop of Le Mans as some more recent rumors hint at

Now that's an interesting idea...I would surely ride Le Mans over and over if a Coaster had a fly-by...Just like Roman Rapids has the Apollo's Chariot fly-by, that would be very cool

ya that would be sweet if they built it over top of LeMans! Hmm i wonder when they are gonna use the old Drachenfire land. I think the station and a lot of open land is still there...Is anyone going on the 24th? im going...tell me if you are

^There's no way I would venture near BGE on a Saturday...especially this season with everybody in the state of Virginia owning a Fun Card

Including me....im going cause my family and I are traveling down in Williamsburg for a few days...then we're going to Chicago in July...so Cedar Point on the way there and back...im glad i get to go to BGE again in August...on a weekday...

^Well that sounds good then...hell, BGE is one of the few parks that even when it is packed, you can still have an amazing time

I highly doubt a Intanim Accelarator. No BG parks (correct me if I'm wrong) have an Intanim coaster. A-B is big with B&M and will stick with it. I also highly doubt a wooden coaster because of the noise it would make. Anything is possible though...

I was there Friday and Saturday night, Skyride was closed Friday but open Saturday. So I'm figuring just short staffing issue since that is the first ride they close when they have that problem, we'll have to probably wait until after July 4th to see any visable progress.

^Exactly. It was open yesterday and Saturday. I went both days, and I'm probably going again today too.

Oh, and I found where the flag is on the fence.





P.S. You guys are doing great over here. 50 members already.

A tiny bit out there but what color do you think it will be?? the colors they don't have alreaady on a coaster (tracks + supports) are orange, green, a real blue, black, and a few other nasty colors that BGE would never paint it. Also, what do you think the name/theme will be??

Hey when i went to bge over the weekend i rode the train and saw black tub looking things in a crate behind drachen fire . Dont know if it has any significants but they were there.

Actually I couldn't get a ride today, but maybe tomorrow. I'll take some pics with my crappy camera phone too.

What do you guys think track or supports will arrive? I think that could tell use what theme the coaster is as well what color. lol

Two locations could be possible for the coaster track/supports delivery.

When DF, AG, and AC was being built, most of the major structural components were delivered via the BG construction gate (route 60 about 1/2 mile or so away from the Italy parking lot-heading towards Newport News). The other location is beside the brewery entrance and leads towards the rear and connects with the BG employee parking lot near the administration buildings. If the timeline (similar to DF) is any instance, I would expect some sort of track and/or supports to start showing up around July for the first delivery and quite a bit around August/September as to begin their work and site preparation. Anyone have a 'spy' cam to mount on one of the nearby light-poles for a 24-7 view?..lol

I reported on a couple of other sites that the Clermont Steel (Ohio) has a series of track and supports located on their lot(s). One of the colors on track that was observed is a orange-beige color and another track section was a grey-blue color. The color(s) of supports witnessed were a grey-silver color and another set of a dusty-orange/red color. The red-orange color was quite faded which probably would indicate its a primer/sealer-base and the actuall color had not been painted. Another possibility of this scenario is that it could be bound for the proposed Valleyfaire intert proposed for 07. The pictures I have seen its actually kind of hard to tell if it is an invert-style or a DM-track. The supports are clearly the typical B&M style, so I will hopefully find out more within the next couple of weeks or so (as more track will surely show up).

I also want to add in as I know some have mentioned the possibility of it going below the Ireland Bridge... That's a no-go. There is no way on Earth they could squeeze an 8-10 person wide train between the supports and I think it highly unlikely they would alter the bridge. Though there does seem to be plently of room between that bridge and the train bridge for an inversion or turn. We'll just have to wait to see what they do.

Yea theres no way they would be able to fit the train and track under the bridge.

If that happened that would be a engineering marvel, like that.lol

Where did that rumor (around the Ireland bridge) come from?..lol

If anything, the proposed 'rumor' ride (possibly the lift and first drop) will quite possibly head out of the station-over towards Nessie's first turnaround (before its lift# 1) and have its drop and inversion occur around the area and head back towards the NF area (possibly heading towards/over the train trestle area). The way the terrain is shaped would be (perhaps) the most beneficial means to maximize the topography within the proposed 5 acre area. A good pic done by Fergusonat was done over at the BAZ site or could PM him if he wish to post his pic on this site. I noticed that he even included the possible color-scheme I posted from reports of track sightings at the B&M (Ohio) fabrication-factory..lol

I thought of a theme for the new ride (even though its crappy)
Bigfoot/Sasquatch...i dunno it fits the color, its a "mythical" monster like the other coasters...i dunno...just a thought

^ That would be interesting, but I would think that the reason for Alpengeist "theme" was to provide another variation on the bigfoot/sasquatch concept. Maybe we should ask LandMark Design group on how they portrayed the Alpine beast concept?..lol

Yeah, Alpengeist is definitely a spin-off on the Yeti

Is this the idea you were talking about kumba9?

http://img290.imageshack.us/img290/1127/bgedmsmall1ih.jpg

Also, here's something I posted on BAZ a while back showing just about how much of an elevation drop there is from Le Mans to the surface of the Rhine River

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/9845/experiment1dv.jpg

Wow good job with the ride description. I would think it would be that. It also looks like a fun ride, if it were that.

That design is so coll, Ferg. AThat is very possible.

Instead of 2 Immelmanns, I would like to see one with a vertical loop.

^The first inversion is a Dive Loop