Just to throw in my 2 cents. I actually contacted the park, and they were all "We do not discuss rumors about the park or its rides.".

Whatever, I hope they don't pull a Geauga Lake on us.

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Intimidator Coming in 2010 to Carowinds!

I'm already not happy with InBev, like taking Rolling Rock out of Latrobe, but they'll keep going. I admire Six Flags for replacing whole sections of track on Shockwave at SFOT in the last season now.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

I'm hesitant to believe this rumor, but can see some justification for it at the same time.

I really don't have any strong feelings one way or the other, either. It a decent ride, but I always felt pretty overrated. I wouldn't be crushed if it happened to go.

Lochness would make no sense to remove for a new ride. It has the smallest footprint of any coaster in the park. The first half is all built over paths, the river, and the dragon kiddie play area. The second half takes up just as little space as its only that long helix in the tunnel... Removing, imo, a much more iconic and fun ride that takes up far less space then BBW would be crazy.

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"For each path you walk down, there are several others you have to bypass. Maybe walking those paths would have made you happy, maybe they wouldn't have. You'll never know. Choose your path, walk it, and make the best of it."

While I may be living in North Texas now, I will weigh in since up until Jan 2008, I made numerous visits to Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens, and Carowinds. That said, I would most certainly hate to see BBW go. There are several reasons for this:
-First of all, this is a classic ride, at least as far as Busch Gardens Williamsburg is concerned, and is if I am not mistaken, the longest running suspended coaster in existence.
-Secondly, Busch Gardens by and far actually needs to add to their collection rather than to cut back on it in comparison to other area competition...although what they do have, is done very well.
-Thirdly, while DarKastle is ok/good, in my own experience, I am not sure I would consider it "an anchor" to an area...so if that ride is to be the anchor of the area during the interim from the removal of BBW, to whatever (assuming it is an anchor style ride) arrives, I think could cause a slowdown in that area.
-Fourthly, the terrain works very well for BBW, and the themeing just plays into it.

Now, that I have said that, I could see the possibilities with this ride. I remember thinking as a kid that they did a lot between cycles checking each pouch between cars and stuff....and while I am not saying that this is even possible, but I could see either basically re-constructing the ride (although the costs would be extensive for this sort of idea), or with InBev calling the shots now, I could see it being removed.

To be fair, if this was Kings Dominion wanting to remove a ride such as this from their park, or take Kings Island and Flight Deck...I would have little to no qualms about it, aside from the fact that with so few coaster types it would make maintenance costs even higher with fewer rides to support a market. However, one thing that would hurt is that this is not "Just A Ride"...but "An Experience" that has been cultivated by Busch Gardens with their wonderful designs.

Granted this is semi-rambling, but what can I say....but I would hate to see it go. Especially if I do not get back to Virginia by then.

I totally agree. BGE is still my favorite park, but they need more coasters and don't need to remove coasters to add coasters.

Frankly I think they could make a whole area in the old Drachenfire land, and somehow make it more obvious for visitors than it was before. I bet they will be getting a B&M flyer at some point, but I hope they don't remove the wolf to do it.

And to play devil's advocate, the ride last time I was there really sounded its age. It was starting to sound like, dare I say it, a Vekoma.

If the day ever comes we are having this discussion about Apollo, it will be a sad day.

OH and one other thing, when Nessy turned 25, they did put up a similar sign at the front and the station. So this isn't something new for the park to do. I wish more parks would do it. It also makes me realize how much older I'm getting when coasters that came out when I was a teenager are now 25 years old.

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Intimidator Coming in 2010 to Carowinds!

Did you ever get a chance to ride it at night?
I thought the same thing until I got night rides on BBW -- they are crazy insane.

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SWOOSH - MidwestInfoGuide.COM

I rode in the back at night. It was definitely much more intense and fun, but I still wasn't THAT blown away...

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"For each path you walk down, there are several others you have to bypass. Maybe walking those paths would have made you happy, maybe they wouldn't have. You'll never know. Choose your path, walk it, and make the best of it."

Well to each his own. That's why we have some people (as crazy insane as the thought may be) that like SOB.

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SWOOSH - MidwestInfoGuide.COM

I hope that there will be a whole new country to replace the area. An Iberic or Nordic theme could definately go, although I'm sure plenty of people would like to see Greek or Soviet.

Of course, they could take a stretch and do Buenos Aires, since they did do a Quebec themed area, but everyone knows that won't happen.

I guess it's finally true that Big Bad Wolf is falling into the river.

the coaster still pulls a crowed and is very well liked. like said before they need more coaster not new coasters in place of older ones.

Why take out BBW. the restaurant there is bigger the it needs to be. Remove 50ft of the building and the path leading to the building would end right at the entrance to Drachn' Fires field. that would remove nothing form the park but I woudl think they woudl want to also add a path form Italy. in all they could add 2 new themed areas.

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Michael C

I think a link to Italy would be key for that section. If a flyer could dive towards the river I would be for that.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

Even the Facebook page said something. "Breaking News for our fans: The Big Bad Wolf will retire after 25 years of service. We have the official FAQ here."

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

"The Big Bad Wolf offers a thrilling ride experience coupled withaggressive ride dynamics. While it remains a safe attraction, it hassimply reached the end of its service life," said Larry Giles, BuschGardens' vice president of engineering and design. In other words, the ride has become too expensive to justify maintaining it.

If Busch Gardens is run like some other parks I know, they look at a cost per rider relationship, and Big Bad Wolf's was not favorable. We knew this was coming for a couple months now but it is still sad. I hope this does not signal the start of the death of the suspended coaster.

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http://ntwproductionsnow.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/NTWProductions

Well, I think it's safe to say that without Arrow, there won't be anymore arrow suspended coasters, but Vekoma still makes their own version if the suspended coaster, and I don't think this will have anything to do with it.

We can post in the News story now.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too