Alpengeist

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Alpengeist

The lift hill and vertical loop
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Location Williamsburg, Virginia, USA Status Operating since March 22, 1997 Cost $20,000,000 USD Height restriction 54 inches (137 cm)
Statistics
Manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
Product	Inverted Coaster
Designer / calculations	Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH
Type	Steel - Inverted
Track layout	Terrain
Riders per train	32
Hourly capacity	1820
Propulsion	Chain lift hill
Height	195 feet
Drop	170 feet
Top speed	67 mph
Length	3828 feet
Inversions	6
Duration	3:10
G-Force	3.7
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Alpengeist a steel inverted roller coaster located at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The attraction was designed by Bolliger & Mabillard and opened on March 22, 1997. It is the tallest and fastest full-circuit inverted roller coaster, thought the latter used to be surpassed by Volcano The Blast Coaster at Kings Dominion. The tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster outright being Legendary Twin Dragon, an Intamin shuttle coaster.

The ride was the first of three B&M coasters built at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, with the others being the hyper coaster Apollo's Chariot and the Dive Coaster Griffon.

History

On August 30, 1996, Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced that they would be adding Alpengeist. It opened on March 22, 1997.

Alpengeist was given a repaint for the 2022 season. While the track was unchanged, the supports were repainted light blue.

Theme

The alpengeist is a legendary snow beast known to German villagers in the Alps. "Alpengeist" is German for "Ghost of the Alps". The ride itself is themed to a runaway ski lift, which is echoed in the ride building and on the trains themselves.

Design

Elements
Chain lift hill 120 foot tall immelmann 106 foot tall vertical loop Tunnel Cobra roll Block brake Tunnel Zero-g roll Corkscrew Helix

Alpengeist is a custom Inverted Coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard. It is one of the longest inverted coaster installations built by B&M to date, alongside Katun and the number-one longest, Banshee. It is 195 feet tall (the world's tallest inverted coaster) and reaches speeds of 67 mph. It has six inversions; an immelmann, vertical loop, cobra roll, zero-g roll, and a corkscrew.

The coaster's loading station and queue entrance look like a ski lodge in the Alps. The trains are decorated with skis and poles, and are painted white and blue, like the ride itself. The trains also pass through two tunnels and past large snowbanks while on the ride.

Ride experience

Upon exiting the station, the floor drops beneath the riders feet and the train climbs the 195 foot tall chain lift hill after hearing the send-off recording "Thank you, and enjoy your avalanche of adventure on Alpengeist!" The top of the lift reaches above the river below. The track turns right while dropping down a 170 foot spiral drop, which also wraps around the support structure, going past The Land of The Dragons, the train hitting its top speed of 67 mph. Following the drop, the track passes through a 120 foot immelmann. The immelmann leads straight a 106 foot vertical loop. The track then races through a wooden tunnel, which until recent years, had cameras for an on-ride photo (it has since been removed due to the two inside seats not being clear in the photos), before passing through a cobra roll over the Rhine River, adjacent to the Loch Ness Monster. Out of the cobra roll, the track crosses over the entrance to the cobra roll, passes by Griffon, then rises into the block brake. After this, the track crosses over the exit from the Immelmann and then down a drop before entering a zero-g roll, alongside the Le Scoot log flume. After a short section of straight track close to ground level, the track goes through a corkscrew followed by a clockwise upward helix, before making a left turn to the final brake run.

Color scheme

Alpengeist has white track and teal supports.

Trains

3 trains with 8 cars per train. In each car, riders are arranged 4 across in a single row, for a total of 32 riders per train.

Images

• 

  The entrance

• 

  The slope conditions sign

• 

  Alpengeist in 2002

• 

  A train in the station

• 

  The cobra roll

• 

  The zero-g roll

External links

• 
  Alpengeist on the Roller Coaster DataBase.

Tallest inverted roller coaster March 22, 1997 – May 5, 2002
Preceded by Montu	Tallest inverted roller coaster March 22, 1997 – May 5, 2002	Succeeded by Wicked Twister

Fastest inverted roller coaster March 22, 1997 – August 3, 1998
Preceded by Montu	Fastest inverted roller coaster March 22, 1997 – August 3, 1998	Succeeded by Volcano The Blast Coaster

Articles on Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Coasters	Present Alpengeist Apollo's Chariot Griffon Grover's Alpine Express InvadR Loch Ness Monster Pantheon Tempesto Verbolten Former Big Bad Wolf Das Kätzchen Die Wildkatze Drachen Fire Glissade Wild Maus
Other attractions	Present Battering Ram Der Wirbelwind Escape from Pompeii Finnegan's Flyer Flying Machine Le Catapult Le Scoot Mäch Tower Oscar's Whirly Worms Prince Elmo's Spire Roman Rapids Former Curse of DarKastle Da Vinci's Cradle Gladiator's Gauntlet Le Mans Raceway