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Busch Gardens Williamsburg | Pantheon | Intamin LSM Coaster | 2022

I love the use of the riverbank to expand the feeling of height. Doing an outerbank rather than a normal hill here was a really clever move that shows how much the terrain was considered in the design. It will feel incredible on-ride.
I cannot wait to try this out. The wave turn above the valley on Lightning Rod is immense due to it's size, and this one is so much bigger. Plus it's outwards too. God, I'm buzzing for it!
 
Or someone sneaks a drone over the park. ;)
I would never condone such behaviour ?

This is pretty much the furthest in terms of construction except for Texas Stingray for the major 2020 coasters right? Couldn't see it taking much longer for the rest of the track installation now with the majority being close to the ground.

The big unknown with pantehon will be the technical side of getting the high speed switch track behaving well
 
Aerial overviews from BGWFans show that the ride is now pretty much complete!

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Aerial overviews from BGWFans show that the ride is now pretty much complete!

IMG_1642.jpg


IMG_1594.jpg


IMG_1651.jpg


IMG_1618.jpg


IMG_1614.jpg


IMG_1611.jpg


IMG_1640.jpg


IMG_1596.jpg


IMG_1628.jpg


IMG_1593.jpg


IMG_1704-1.jpg


IMG_1704-2.jpg


IMG_1593-3.jpg


IMG_1596-4.jpg


IMG_1637-1024x1024.jpg


IMG_1591-1024x768.jpg


IMG_1651-1-1024x1024.jpg


IMG_1704-3.jpg


IMG_1614-2.jpg


IMG_1605-1.jpg


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That's a huge F you to Busch Gardens Williamsburg by BGW fans for not inviting them to the media event!

Looks to me like track work is almost complete? Can only see small track gaps between the launch and top hat, the overbank and the stall and on the break run? Could see them wrapping up tack work in the next week or too, this could even be finished for the media event.....
 
Somebody please put my mind at rest here: you've got a mid-course swing launch coupled with a high speed switch track, yeah? If, for some reason the switch track malfunctions and doesn't line up correctly, would the launch system then act as an emergency brake instead?
They would have thought of that, right?
 
Somebody please put my mind at rest here: you've got a mid-course swing launch coupled with a high speed switch track, yeah? If, for some reason the switch track malfunctions and doesn't line up correctly, would the launch system then act as an emergency brake instead?
They would have thought of that, right?

Yes.

I'm sure there's been something somewhere where it's been said in greater detail how it works, but from my understanding, it's basically the switch track activates the launch track's ability to be able to do the backwards launch. If it's not activated, they'll act as magnet brakes as with any other LSM launch.
 
Somebody please put my mind at rest here: you've got a mid-course swing launch coupled with a high speed switch track, yeah? If, for some reason the switch track malfunctions and doesn't line up correctly, would the launch system then act as an emergency brake instead?
They would have thought of that, right?
Yes, it does. It's one of the clever things about LSMs. I wrote about it here: http://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/lim-vs-lsm.36578/#post-871057

In fact, I recall seeing for Pantheon (I think?) that they even have fins that would spring up if the switch doesn't complete to further enhance the braking.
 
^Thanks fellas.
Still don't like it, though. It's just... doesn't feel right. It's putting an awful lot of faith into delicate, precise, high speed mechanism that will be sliding backwards and forwards hundreds of times a day. And, y'know, if it does ever go wrong, it's gonna go wrong huge!
For the same reason, I have a big issue with tilt coasters too, to the point where I actually think I would sh*t out of riding if I was ever faced with one.
Call me old fashioned (or just plain old, you choose) but I much prefer my coasters to be a full circuit, closed loop that's actually locked in place.
Anyways, y'all can get back on topic now if you like. I'm done.
 
^Thanks fellas.
Still don't like it, though. It's just... doesn't feel right. It's putting an awful lot of faith into delicate, precise, high speed mechanism that will be sliding backwards and forwards hundreds of times a day. And, y'know, if it does ever go wrong, it's gonna go wrong huge!
For the same reason, I have a big issue with tilt coasters too, to the point where I actually think I would sh*t out of riding if I was ever faced with one.
Call me old fashioned (or just plain old, you choose) but I much prefer my coasters to be a full circuit, closed loop that's actually locked in place.
Anyways, y'all can get back on topic now if you like. I'm done.
This safety tech has been around since the early 2000s on Intamin Accelerators like dragster and kingdra ka to stop trains that don't clear the top hat from rolling back into other trains in the station. This has prevented any accidents to date from rollbacks. its fail safe too as the break fins are sprung to "break mode" when there is no power so in the event of a power loss they will still function
 
The more we see of this ride, the more impressed I am. At first glance, the tophat and outerbanked turn are beyond impressive - both might actually murder riders with airtime. I'm REALLY impressed with the more subtle details though - there's a small bump in the transition out of the outerbanked turn that looks like it's going to absolutely rock everybody's socks.
 



Press preview was yesterday- few interesting facts:

- track work will be finished within next few days
-aiming to have trains cycling though the ride within the next month
- 3300ft track length
- 15(!!!!) Airtime hills ?
 
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