Busch Gardens Williamsburg to remove Big Bad Wolf
by MadWatchStudios on Jul.31, 2009, under Busch Gardens
Last week Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced they will be closing Big Bad Wolf for good. The Big Bad Wolf is one of the only 6 suspended roller coasters still operating in the world. I’ve been lucky enough to ride all 4 of the suspended coasters still running in the US, and I can honestly say Big Bad Wolf is by far the best. It’s not too late though, with enough support from the public, we could still convince Busch Gardens to keep Big Bad Wolf on the prowl. More details after the jump.
The ride starts out in the Brevarian Village section of the park, the train swings freely below the track through a small village of buildings. With every turn it feels like you are headed straight into the building ahead of you. For those of you unfamiliar with suspended roller coasters: the train rides below the track similiar to an inverted roller coaster (the staple inverted coaster being “Batman The Ride”) but the main difference is that the train on a suspended roller coaster pivots on a moveable arm giving it a much wilder swinging feel.
According to the press release, Big Bad Wolf has “reached the end of its service life.” It doesn’t take a scientist to realize this is just BS. Wooden and steel coasters require upkeep and maintanence with age, and it’s just a matter of spending the time and money to do it. The “service life” is only determined by how long a park is willing to keep the ride running. At 25 years old (probably younger than a lot of people reading this) Big Bad Wolf is far from the oldest roller coaster around. Leap The Dips in Lakemont Park originally opened in 1902 and is still running today. The classic Coney Island Cyclone opened in 1927; and the original tubular steel track coster, the Matterhorn Bobsled in Disneyland just celebrated 50 years of abominable thrills. I’d estimate about 20% of the coasters operating today are older than 25 years old.
In the park’s own press release they state “we realize The Big Bad Wolf is a guest favorite” and call it “one of the park’s most beloved thrill attractions.” They also said they have no immediate plans for a replacement. So why would a park remove a guest favorite and not even have anything ready to build in it’s place? Screamscape.com has an excellent commentary on the story, with some insight to the real reason they are demolishing the Wolf.
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 out of “budget money”. It’s all bad timing as they want to build something nearby, and 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 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.- Screamscape full story
Only days after the announcement, an online petition was started to Save the Big Bad Wolf. Please take a minute to sign it. You can also head over to About.com Theme Park page and take their poll about the closing of the classic coaster.
Most imporantly, if you really want to help save the Wolf, write a quick letter directly to the park. You can head over to their Contact Page and let them know how you feel about their plans to destroy this unique and classic coaster.
