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Park News - (1/25/10) One of our readers put together a little documentary video for everyone to enjoy entitled, “Say Goodbye to the Big Bad Wolf”. It was shot during a last second trip to the park to visit the Wolf one last time just days before it was to close down for good.
    (12/29/09) It seems BGW’s Christmas Town event was popular enough that not only will it return in 2010, but they’ve put out a sign to say that it will expand into Italy next year. Take a look over at Behind The Thrills. Now for the bad news as I’ve been told that there is no longer any trace of the Big Bad Wolf coaster as you can see in the pictures posted here.
    (8/30/09) A fun photo update from BGW has been posted to Theme Park Review, including a behind the scenes tour of Curse of DarKastle. 

2010 - Europe In The Air - (1/29/10) Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced several items for this summer in celebration of the park’s 35th Anniversary. The focus will be mainly in the Ireland section of the park it seems, where a new show will be added to the Abbey Stone Theater that will replace the old Emerald Beat show. Now for the good news / bad news time… the popular Corkscrew Hill simulator ride will be replaced with a new movie adventure called Europe In The Air. Yep… it sounds like they are going to copy Disney’s Soarin’ concept… but shoehorn it into the existing motion base theater to show off Europe’s most popular landmarks.  Normally this would be a good thing, but I think they’re missing the fact that what make’s Soarin so popular at Disney is the unique Soarin’ ride hardware built to go hand-in-hand with that massive domed projection screen. I just don’t think this concept is going to go over so well in the old Corkscrew Hill simulator, BUT… they are doing this all in some kind of new video projection system that is supposed to feature a resolution nearly 7 times greater than broadcast HD, which is great to hear. Alas… Corkscrew Hill was cute and fun and the best simulator Busch has had in the park to date. Too bad they can’t find a way to offer both.
    Meanwhile the park will also feature Ramp Jam in the Festhaus Park this summer, a show that will feature BMX, skateboard and inline skate stunts. At night the park will put on IllumiNights… a major new nightly speculator show featuring amazing visuals, fireworks, and will keep the park open an extra hour each night all summer just so they can show it off. All in all… good news, despite the removal of Corkscrew Hill on top of the still sore spot of removing the Big Bad Wolf last fall. Busch Gardens Williamsburg opens for the 2010 season on March 26th. Watch the announcement video yourself below.

2011-2012 - Park Expansion / New Land - Rumor - (1/31/10) A Screamscape reader tells us that Busch Gardens Williamsburg may have applied for a 250 ft height waver for a future attraction at the park, likely for the 2011 season. Can anyone else confirm this?
    (4/16/09) Our spies tell us that the park still has big expansion plans on deck to add a new land to the park, taking over the former site of Drachen Fire. The unfortunate side of things, is that many of Busch’s big plans were put on hold when InBev took over the company, so there is no telling if this plan is still moving forward or just on hold for the moment. Either way, it seems that the multi-year plan to build an entirely new country (Spain is the most likley) in still very solid. It’s all a matter of “when” and not “if” at this point from what I’m told.
    In addition to adding a new train station to service this area on the line, we’ve heard about two major new attractions that will also be fighting for your attention. One would be the chain’s second B&M Flying coaster, where the design will be based on what they’re learning from Manta right now. Like many of the rides in Williamsburg, I’d expect this one to be an even bigger and longer coaster than what we’ve seen from Manta already, and given the location, I can help but wonder just how close some of it may some to Big Bad Wolf, or perhaps even diving down close to the river. The second big attraction being talked about would be actually something unique for the Busch parks, their first true “freefall” style tower ride. However don’t expect to see another Drop Zone style tower or something as basic as that. From the sound of things, they want to keep the entire experience INDOORS... offering an experience more like Mystery Castle from Phantasialand in Germany. Since this is a multi-year project, lets assume the plan is to build up the land in complete phases, so expect one new ride with each phase if everything gets approved.
    (10/30/07) The latest whisper on the wind in Williamsburg indicates that there may be a possible multi-year plans to add a new country at Busch Gardens Europe. A multi-year build plan very likely as we’ve seen Busch do with SeaWorld Florida’s Waterfront area. Over the years different counties have been mentions as possible future projects, but some say that they’ve heard Spain mentioned specifically as a primary choice in the past. As I recall, the park currently has an old England area, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy… so there are still other options as well such as Greece.
    (10/24/07) We’ve heard an interesting rumor for Busch Gardens Europe today that gives us a good location to watch for the park’s next big expansion in 2009 and possibly beyond. In short, we’ve been told to keep our eyes open for a possible fourth train station to be added to the line, this time in the German area of the park. Things get interesting when you realize that the best place to put down a new train depot in Germany would be back along the existing tracks near the old Drachen Fire spot, which is a fairly large and undeveloped area currently being used for the three back-to-back Never After haunt experiences. Given the massive size of this area alone, it could be used for anything from a massive new coaster to a large new themed land. Of course the bigger the size of the development, the bigger the chance that this could become a project that will take more than one year to build out, so 2009 may just be the beginning.