Verbolten

**Verbolten** is a Zierer multi-launching steel roller coaster that officially opened on May 18, 2012 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia after a soft opening began on Friday, May 11, 2012. The concept was jointly designed by the park's creative design team and by Zierer of Germany. "Verbolten" is a play on words of the German word "verboten," which translates to "forbidden" in English.

## Theme

The ride was inspired by the Autobahn, the German highway system. As shown in the teaser video, a car takes a leisurely trip down the Autobahn, but suddenly lightning strikes the car and causes it to drive into the Black Forest, a "forbidden" forest in which the ride takes place. The dark forest encounters weather changes, such as lightning, as shown in the video.

The queue and station are themed as a motor tours agency owned and operated by the brother and sister team of Gerta and Gunter Schwartzwald. A portion of the queue is decorated as Gunter's office which houses such curious items as plant samples, monitors, and the luggage of the unlucky tourists who have come before. The station house is themed as a garage where riders board trains that resemble stretched roadsters in one of 5 colors (Orange, Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow). The theme of the ride itself is the Black Forest and various legends associated with it.

The ride features an indoor portion (Referred to as the "Event" or "Show building") which represents a ride through the Black Forest and features one of three alternating special effects driven story lines. The inside of the event building is decorated with painted drops and set pieces, as well as featuring unique sound and lighting effects.

Currently, there are three randomized story lines inside the event building.

* The Spirit of the Forest - In this story the effects feature a peaceful sounding spirit who lures riders into the forest and then turns on them.
* Lightning Storm - In this story the effects feature a violent storm that threatens to destroy the riders and their vehicle.
* The Big Bad Wolf - In this story the effects feature a pair of glowing red eyes that stalk the train during its journey through the forest, a nod to the ride's predecessor.

The inclusion of multiple effects stories ensures that repeat riders will have a unique experience.

Three other coasters in Europe, Th13teen at Alton Towers, DarkMare at Cinecittà World and Polar X-plorer at Legoland Billund, also feature a freefall drop.

## Layout

The train departs the station and gently dips to the left into a leisurely winding S-curve. Exiting the S-curve, the train enters the first Linear Synchronous Motor (LSM) launch, which accelerates it into the event building. Inside the event building, the train crests an airtime hill and then dives into a series of high speed turns, followed by a helix that guides the train onto a brake run, while holographic leaves appear with critter sounds in the background. The train then dives into a curve and up a medium-sized hill onto a second brake run, while more holographic branches appear with rusting sounds. The train finally comes to a stop on a section of track, with blackness for a while, followed by various thematic elements (This segment of the ride changes depending on which theme the coaster is on), then the entire train drops 18 feet vertically. Once dropped, the train rolls forward and down a small dip onto the second LSM launch, which quickly accelerates it out of the event building, and through a series of curves up a hill. At the crest of the hill, is another brake run themed as a decaying bridge. The train then drops 88 ft off of the bridge into a hard left hand turn that follows the same path as the Big Bad Wolf. The train then enters a high speed S-curve, almost identical to path of the Big Bad Wolf and over a bunny hop into a turnaround onto the final brake run.