Busch Gardens and Water Country Adding New Rides

Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA are undergoing multimillion-dollar expansions over the next two years.  According to park officials, these expansions will include new rides.  The changes are scheduled to begin this year and to finish in 2012, said Cindy Sarko, director of communications.

First Busch Gardens will open the Italian section of its Christmas Town this year.  In the spring the new Mäch Tower will open in Oktoberfest as part of an overhaul to the park’s Oktoberfest village.  The Mäch Tower will be the tallest ride in the park, lifting 30 riders at a time 246 feet in the air before plummeting at speeds up to 60 miles per hour.  In addition, the Oktoberfest village will be updated to look like a traditional German Oktoberfest, with a new beer garden, colored maypoles and Bavarian banners.

Water Country USA will also be opening a new ride in the spring, called Vanish Point.  Riders will choose one of two ways to go down the 75-foot drop slide at up to 40 miles per hour: either plunging from a skybox that will drop the floor from under their feet, or taking a 300-foot speed slide that drops straight down.

Officials also said a new roller coaster will replace The Big Bad Wolf in 2012 but did not release details about the ride.