MidlifeCoasterCrisis
Roller Poster
I finally got back to BGW after decades. The only other time I was there was way back when they had only Loch Ness Monster and Big Bad Wolf. I got one full day and 1 partial day (thanks to finding a very cheap ticket on the AAA site).
General Thoughts
The overall experience was fantastic. All of the staff were super friendly and the park is very beautiful. They obviously take great pride in this. It definitely requires a lot of walking because of how spread out and "hilly" the terrain is. On our full day, we walked 9.3 miles, which is pretty crazy. The park layout was a bit confusing. We initially couldn't figure out how to get to Alpengeist. After a while, we figured out that we had to take a path that we initially thought was just a dead end. The food is AMAZING here. I am so glad we got the all day dining pass. I couldn't believe the variety of and the quantity of food for each meal. We only ate twice, but the portions were big enough to keep us satisfied between the 2 meals. Verbolten was still being updated, so it wasn't open. This was a bit of a disappointment for me because I really want to ride it. Still, they have enough quality rides that it wasn't a huge deal. Overall, BGW is a great park. It was a much better all-around experience than our other park on this trip, which was Carowinds.
Rides
Apollo's Chariot (3 rides) : I had lots of fun on this B&M hyper coaster, although I found the air time on it to be very inconsistent. I found the front row the best. The other rows were hit or miss. I did enjoy the layout, especially that big drop and turn around along the water. For being B&M's first hyper coaster, they did a great job. On a side note, we also got to learn about their clean up process when the ride "does not agree" with a rider. Unfortunately, this happened on the train that we were supposed to board. So, there was about a 15 minute delay. I had never seen this before, so it was actually interesting to see how it was handled.
Pantheon (4 rides): This was my favorite ride at the park. It's a very unique ride with lots of fun elements. I loved the backwards launch and the outward banked air time hill. The front row was the best because you could really feel the air time going over the top hat. The main problem with this ride is that they were only running a single train. The train only holds 20 riders and most trains were launching with 2-3 empty seats due to single riders. All of this led to an extremely slow line. According to the ride operator, the 2nd train was being repaired. In any case, they need to get that 2nd train running ASAP! We managed to get 2 of our rides as soon as it opened. However, for our final ride, we waited almost 1 and 1/2 hours.
Alpengeist (3 rides): This is a great B&M inverted coaster. It was really refreshing to ride an B&M invert with such great height and speed. The front row ride on this was my favorite. I loved the variety of elements. Also, the MCBR was barely slowing us down. So, the 2nd half was decent as well. There was also very little wait for this ride. Overall, this is one of the best B&M inverts out there.
Griffon (3 rides): This one was a lot of fun. I didn't realize how big a difference it makes having the old OTSRs instead of the vest restraints. The first drop is great since you come out of your seat and float the entire way down. Both drops hit hard and the inversions were fun as well. I guess the splash down is really for spectactors since you can't really see it unless you turn around afterwards. This is now my favorite dive coaster out of the 3 I've ridden. The wait was never bad on this one either. It was usually under 20 minutes.
InvadR (1 ride): I was disappointed in this one. For a modern wooden coaster, it was incredibly rough. There were a few nice drops and pops of air time, but the ride was still very uncomfortable. Perhaps RMC can fix this one?
DarKoaster (1 ride): For an indoor coaster, this was actually a lot of fun. The multiple launches in the dark and the lighting effects were really cool. Growing up in NJ, I remember how disappointed I was when I rode their indoor coaster Skull Mountain. This is a WAY better ride than that. The only down side was that the line seemed to always be long, 45 minutes or more. We got our ride late in the day, so it wasn't too bad a wait.
Tempesto (1 ride): I didn't care for this ride. I've been on some great Premier Rides coasters, such as Batman and Robin: The Chiller. This one was by far my least favorite one. The cars were super tight. I don't know who designed them, but there was almost no room between your legs and the back of the car directly in front of you. The restraint itself was fine, but the cramped cars were very uncomfortable. Also, the layout is very strange. It's just a bunch of twists and turns cobbled together.
Loch Ness Monster (1 ride): I had been on this one before decades ago. While it's actually one of the better Arrow loopers, it's still quite rough in its transitions. By today's standards, it's just an average ride. I've gotten spoiled by all of the smooth B&M coasters.
Finnegan's Flyer (1 ride): This was a nice change of pace from all the coasters. It was fun, but short. We also only had a short wait of maybe 10 minutes.
General Thoughts
The overall experience was fantastic. All of the staff were super friendly and the park is very beautiful. They obviously take great pride in this. It definitely requires a lot of walking because of how spread out and "hilly" the terrain is. On our full day, we walked 9.3 miles, which is pretty crazy. The park layout was a bit confusing. We initially couldn't figure out how to get to Alpengeist. After a while, we figured out that we had to take a path that we initially thought was just a dead end. The food is AMAZING here. I am so glad we got the all day dining pass. I couldn't believe the variety of and the quantity of food for each meal. We only ate twice, but the portions were big enough to keep us satisfied between the 2 meals. Verbolten was still being updated, so it wasn't open. This was a bit of a disappointment for me because I really want to ride it. Still, they have enough quality rides that it wasn't a huge deal. Overall, BGW is a great park. It was a much better all-around experience than our other park on this trip, which was Carowinds.
Rides
Apollo's Chariot (3 rides) : I had lots of fun on this B&M hyper coaster, although I found the air time on it to be very inconsistent. I found the front row the best. The other rows were hit or miss. I did enjoy the layout, especially that big drop and turn around along the water. For being B&M's first hyper coaster, they did a great job. On a side note, we also got to learn about their clean up process when the ride "does not agree" with a rider. Unfortunately, this happened on the train that we were supposed to board. So, there was about a 15 minute delay. I had never seen this before, so it was actually interesting to see how it was handled.
Pantheon (4 rides): This was my favorite ride at the park. It's a very unique ride with lots of fun elements. I loved the backwards launch and the outward banked air time hill. The front row was the best because you could really feel the air time going over the top hat. The main problem with this ride is that they were only running a single train. The train only holds 20 riders and most trains were launching with 2-3 empty seats due to single riders. All of this led to an extremely slow line. According to the ride operator, the 2nd train was being repaired. In any case, they need to get that 2nd train running ASAP! We managed to get 2 of our rides as soon as it opened. However, for our final ride, we waited almost 1 and 1/2 hours.
Alpengeist (3 rides): This is a great B&M inverted coaster. It was really refreshing to ride an B&M invert with such great height and speed. The front row ride on this was my favorite. I loved the variety of elements. Also, the MCBR was barely slowing us down. So, the 2nd half was decent as well. There was also very little wait for this ride. Overall, this is one of the best B&M inverts out there.
Griffon (3 rides): This one was a lot of fun. I didn't realize how big a difference it makes having the old OTSRs instead of the vest restraints. The first drop is great since you come out of your seat and float the entire way down. Both drops hit hard and the inversions were fun as well. I guess the splash down is really for spectactors since you can't really see it unless you turn around afterwards. This is now my favorite dive coaster out of the 3 I've ridden. The wait was never bad on this one either. It was usually under 20 minutes.
InvadR (1 ride): I was disappointed in this one. For a modern wooden coaster, it was incredibly rough. There were a few nice drops and pops of air time, but the ride was still very uncomfortable. Perhaps RMC can fix this one?
DarKoaster (1 ride): For an indoor coaster, this was actually a lot of fun. The multiple launches in the dark and the lighting effects were really cool. Growing up in NJ, I remember how disappointed I was when I rode their indoor coaster Skull Mountain. This is a WAY better ride than that. The only down side was that the line seemed to always be long, 45 minutes or more. We got our ride late in the day, so it wasn't too bad a wait.
Tempesto (1 ride): I didn't care for this ride. I've been on some great Premier Rides coasters, such as Batman and Robin: The Chiller. This one was by far my least favorite one. The cars were super tight. I don't know who designed them, but there was almost no room between your legs and the back of the car directly in front of you. The restraint itself was fine, but the cramped cars were very uncomfortable. Also, the layout is very strange. It's just a bunch of twists and turns cobbled together.
Loch Ness Monster (1 ride): I had been on this one before decades ago. While it's actually one of the better Arrow loopers, it's still quite rough in its transitions. By today's standards, it's just an average ride. I've gotten spoiled by all of the smooth B&M coasters.
Finnegan's Flyer (1 ride): This was a nice change of pace from all the coasters. It was fun, but short. We also only had a short wait of maybe 10 minutes.