As opening day approaches, bits and pieces of Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s website have been slowly receiving updates. Most of these changes have been pretty mundane, but, as one of ParkFans’ forum members, FoozMuz, pointed out this morning, there is a particularly suspicious recent change to the park’s Quick Queue offerings. Busch Gardens Williamsburg is now offering a “Spring Quick Queue” which is only available from March 15th through March 27th. This new addon comes with a much smaller selection of rides than the standard Quick Queue would normally offer.
The existence of a spring Quick Queue with a limited ride selection isn’t all that unusual or surprising in and of itself, but the rides being offered are odd. Below I’ve included screenshots of both the Spring Quick Queue and standard Quick Queue listings on Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s website.
Most of the differences are expected—namely the lack of Escape from Pompeii, Le Scoot, and Roman Rapids—as Busch Gardens Williamsburg has made opening its water rides late standard practice for years now. That said, there is one omission from the Spring Quick Queue offerings that isn’t the least bit expected: Apollo’s Chariot.
Why wouldn’t Apollo’s Chariot be available on any Quick Queues offered between March 14th and 27th? Well, according to recent rumors, it may be because of some sort of delay impacting the ride’s off-season maintenance schedule.
While BGWFans has yet to be provided proof that Apollo’s Chariot won’t open with Busch Gardens Williamsburg on the 15th, the whispers we’ve been hearing from insiders like ParkFans member BGWnut, pair too perfectly with the circumstantial Quick Queue evidence presented above to ignore.
That said, it is worth noting though that, at least at the time of writing, there has been no public mention of Apollo’s Chariot being closed this weekend that we could find from the park. Hopefully we’re reading the tea leaves incorrectly and Apollo’s Chariot will open this weekend. If, however, our current guess is correct and Apollo’s Chariot will not operate this weekend, we hope Busch Gardens Williamsburg will publicly clarify its status as soon as possible.
Apollo’s Chariot is one of the park’s most-loved coasters—its operating status will reasonably have an impact on people’s decisions as per whether or not they want to make the trip out to Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s opening weekend.
With Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s opening day right around the corner, there will be a massive onslaught of new Busch Gardens Williamsburg content to consume. To ensure you don’t miss any of our coverage, make sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on both Twitter and Instagram!
Between the operating status of Apollo’s Chariot, the progress on (and eventual opening of) Pantheon, alterations to various dining locations around the park, new information about Project 2021 (!), and more, consuming BGW news over the next month or so will be like trying to drink water from a firehose. Get ready!