Alpengeist

Alpengeist
Alpengeist's Immelmann
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Park section	Germany's Frozen Alps
Coordinates	37°13′58″N 76°38′51″W / 37.2328°N 76.6476°WCoordinates: 37°13′58″N 76°38′51″W / 37.2328°N 76.6476°W
Status	Operating
Opening date	March 22, 1997
Cost	$20,000,000 USD
General statistics
Type	Steel – Inverted
Manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
Designer	Werner Stengel
Model	Inverted Coaster
Track layout	Terrain
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	195 ft (59 m)
Drop	170 ft (52 m)
Length	3,828 ft (1,167 m)
Speed	67 mph (108 km/h)
Inversions	6
Duration	3:10
Max vertical angle	79°
Capacity	1820 riders per hour
G-force	3.7
Height restriction	54 in (137 cm)
Trains	3 trains with 8 cars. Riders are arranged 4 across in a single row for a total of 32 riders per train.
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Alpengeist at RCDB Pictures of Alpengeist at RCDB

Alpengeist is a steel roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Alpengeist has an Alpine mountain region theme. The name "Alpengeist" is German for "Ghost of the Alps" or "Alps Spirit" and the ride is themed to a runaway ski lift. Since it opened in 1997, Alpengeist has been the world's tallest complete circuit inverted coaster.^[1][2]

Ride experience

Upon exiting the station, the floor drops beneath the riders feet and the train climbs the 195-foot-tall chain lift^[3] after hearing the send-off recording "Thank you and enjoy your avalanche of adventure on Alpengeist!" The track drops to the right down a 170-foot drop, going past The Land of The Dragons, with the train hitting 67 miles per hour.^[3] Following the drop, the track passes through an Immelmann loop, followed by 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's final brake run. Out of the cobra roll, the track crosses over the entrance to the cobra roll, passes by Griffon, then hits the midcourse brake run. Off the midcourse brakes, the track crosses over the exit from the Immelmann loop, then goes down a drop and through 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 helix, before making a left hand turn to the final brake run.

Ride elements

• Immelmann loop
• 106-foot vertical loop
• Cobra roll
• Zero-g roll
• Corkscrew (commonly known as a flat spin or wing over)
• Helix

Awards

Golden Ticket Awards: Top steel Roller Coasters
Year	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Ranking	2[4]	3[5]	8[6]	10[7]	13[8]	19[9]	19[10]	17[11]	17[12]	18[13]	22[14]	19[15]	23[16]	27[17]	24[18]	25[19]	23[20]	26[21]

• 

  Alpengeist's loop

• 

  Alpengeist's cobra roll

• 

  Alpengeist's zero-g roll

References

1. "RCDB - Inverted Height Record Holders". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
2. "RCDB - Inverted Speed Record Holders". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
3. http://www.buschgardens.com/BGW/ar_alpengeist.aspx
4. "Top 25 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 7B. August 1998. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
5. "Top 25 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 7B. August 1999. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
6. "Top 25 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. August 2000. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
7. "Top 25 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 7B. August 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
8. "Top 25 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 7B. September 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
9. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 14–15B. September 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
10. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 18–19B. September 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 3, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
11. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 26–27B. September 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
12. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 26–27B. September 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
13. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 11 (6.2): 36–37. September 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
14. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 12 (6.2): 36–37. September 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
15. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 13 (6.2): 32–33. September 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
16. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 14 (6.2): 34–35. September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
17. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 15 (6.2): 38–39. September 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
18. "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 16 (6.2): 36–37. September 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
19. "2013 Top 50 steel Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 17 (6.2): 34–35. September 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
20. "2014 Top 50 steel Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 18 (6.2): 46–47. September 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
21. "2015 Top 50 steel Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today. 19 (6.2): 49–50. September 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.

External links

• Alpengeist at the Roller Coaster DataBase