Background
Given how long it has been since I’ve put pen to paper here on the BGWFans frontpage, before diving into the new documentation and information pertaining to Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s currently-underway Verbolten renovation, I’d like to first make sure everyone is caught up with the current state of new attraction development at Busch Gardens Williamsburg more broadly.
Regarding Project 2026
Last spring we went on an absolute tear publishing a series of articles diving into an array of internal rumors we had been tracking, revealing progress on a new project for San Marco, and recapping two different surveys the park floated by guests regarding future attractions. Many of the internal rumors we wrote about in that first article were proven to be real, potential options on the table for BGW’s future by the official surveys that followed. Among those corroborated rumors was a new antique cars ride, new flat rides, a thematic overhaul of Verbolten, theming for Pantheon, and a new attraction for Killarney’s currently vacant simulator building.
As we entered last summer, all eyes were on San Marco. By that point the park had obtained approval for what was, per rumors, an attempt to resurrect Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s former antique cars ride, Le Mans—only this time, in the Italian-themed San Marco hamlet. Unfortunately, as summer progressed, I began hearing consistent rumors indicating that the Le Mans resurrection project had hit a major roadblock. From what I have heard, the issue was likely rooted in difficulties procuring a ride system that satisfied the park’s specific requirements for the attraction. There are surprisingly few attraction manufacturers offering classic antique car ride systems nowadays.
As the Italian Le Mans rumors subsided, rumors began to crop up suggesting that the Verbolten renovation that we had leaked and was subsequently confirmed by the park as a possibility back in the spring had been fast-tracked for a 2026 debut. This rumor really caught fire publicly when United Parks trademarked the name “Verbolten: Forbidden Turn” back in September. Unsurprisingly, in early November, Busch Gardens Williamsburg finally announced their 2026 attraction project: a major thematic overhaul for Verbolten dubbed Verbolten: Forbidden Turn.
Regarding Project 2027
While the aforementioned “Italian Le Mans” project may not truly be dead within the park’s Design & Engineering division (ideas rarely ever fully die within the park, truthfully), rumors suggest that it’s unlikely to be back on the table in the immediate term.
While there has yet to be any public evidence backing these rumors, per everyone I have spoken to, we need to keep a very close eye on Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s currently vacant Killarney simulator building heading into the 2027 season. Following the failure of both Europe in the Air and Battle for Eire, it sounds as though Busch Gardens Williamsburg is likely hoping the third time attempting a Corkscrew Hill replacement will be the charm. A new Killarney simulator building attraction was amongst the projects we leaked as being under consideration last spring and one of the park’s surveys following that leak went even further—explicitly proposing a “New Corkscrew Hill.”
When we have more to share on this potential 2027 project, we will be sure to pass it along. Unfortunately, for these nearly-entirely-indoor renovation projects, the park can often conceal information far more effectively than they can when major, outdoor construction is required. In other words, do not be surprised if we don’t see solid evidence on the public record for a new Killarney Sim Building attraction for a long time yet. For now though, lets get to something we do have hard evidence for: the park’s 2026 project, Verbolten: Forbidden Turn.
Forbidden Turn Announcement
Busch Gardens Williamsburg has been fairly reserved when discussing Verbolten’s 2026 renovation thus far. The park’s official announcement back in early November really only consisted of a commitment to a thematic overhaul alongside the debut of a brief teaser video (below) promoting the renovation.
While I do think they killed it with this teaser (utilizing that classic 1980s-era “Wakin’ up every mornin'” Busch Gardens The Old Country marketing song was a stroke of absolute genius!), it really doesn’t convey much in the way of renovation specifics. We get what appears to be a family of five packed into a classic, European-looking sedan painted in one of the more iconic Verbolten train liveries (blue stripes on cherry red), sporting a few Busch Gardens-related bumper stickers, and one of Verbolten’s actual license plates, “YLB DR OPN.”
The car speeds past a kindly-looking, older lady armed with a staff and a hooded cloak who provides the iconic “Auf Wiedersehen!” voice line from Verbolten’s dispatch audio before yelling at the vehicle “OH! Don’t turn right!” as the car barrels towards a fork in the road. The fork is marked with a neglected-but-cute, tourist-y looking sign featuring a gnome holding an arrow pointing left with the text “this way to The Black Forest.”
Moments later, to avoid a downed tree across the road to The Black Forest, the vehicle hangs a dramatic right-hand turn and enters a dense thicket of forest on what appears to be a largely abandoned, dirt road. Immediately as the car passes the gnome signage, the gnome’s eyes distort into an evil scowl and glow red mirroring the glowing red eyes seen from the bats hanging amongst the trees now surrounding the family’s vehicle.
The camera pans down to reveal a weathered “VERBOTEN” sign wrapped and partially concealed by what appear to be moving-yet-dead branches. The final shot of the teaser shows the dead-looking trees encroaching on the vehicle from all sides as tree branches cover our view and reveal the Verbolten: Forbidden Turn title card, the “Coming 2026” text, and a Busch Gardens Williamsburg logo.
So, again, while it doesn’t reveal much (old lady, fork in the road, haunted forest), I do believe the teaser is masterfully executed. I’d almost certainly say that this is the single best piece of marketing material we’ve seen out of Busch Gardens Williamsburg in over a decade—truly incredibly strong work and I hope it sees actual use in both web and television marketing as we approach the attraction’s actual debut later this year.
Outside of the teaser video, the park also added some new text to the Verbolten page on their website.
In 2026, Black Forest Motor Tours will be under new management, welcoming adventurers eager to explore Germany’s legendary countryside. The drive promises charm and folklore at every turn, but what comes next is far from charming. Signs appear where they shouldn’t, shadows move when they shouldn’t, and whispers tell of something growing within the forest. What was once a whimsical land of fairy tales will feel darker, heavier, as though the woods themselves are watching. Guests are cautioned not to stray from the road, for one wrong turn could awaken forces long forgotten. In the Black Forest, the line between story and reality blurs, and escape is never certain.
This text seems to confirm that Gerta and Gunter Schwartzwald, the incestuous sibling pair who run the Black Forest Tours business at the foundation of current Verbolten lore are now fully out of the picture. Maybe the exposure of their forbidden lovechild, Hans Schwartzwald, landed them in trouble with the local authorities? No matter the reason, the tour agency will apparently be under new ownership when the ride reopens.
Beyond what we know from the teaser video and that short text block on the park’s website, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has been largely silent about this overhaul. Luckily, the park hasn’t managed to keep everything out of our hands and, today, we can reveal some of the major changes and additions slated for Verbolten and, crucially, specifically, its event building.
Verbolten Retheme Documentation
Over the past handful of weeks, there has been a trickle of documention relating to Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2026 project, Verbolten: Forbidden Turn, making its way to the James City County offices. I’ve been hesitant to report on any one permit or document as, though many include small, exciting details, it has been difficult to gather enough information to paint a fairly complete-looking, compelling picture of the project. Thankfully, at this point, enough documentation has amassed to the point where not only do I think it’s worth sharing, but I think it’s worth the community getting tremendously excited about.
I’m going to proceed through the documents we have thus far in the order in which they’ll be experienced by guests when the attraction opens. First up, Verbolten’s entry area and queue.
Outside of Verbolten’s queue, the only modification evidenced on the public record thus far, is the addition of some new lighting fixtures above the locker area entry portal next to the attraction’s main entrance. These two new lighting fixtures are denoted in thick black circles affixed to the building’s facade in the site plan below.
These two lights will be wall-mounted, angled, reflector lights pointed downward. An image of the type of fixture in question is included below.
Per the documentation we’ve reviewed thus far, we expect much of the existing Verbolten queue experience to remain structurally similar to its pre-overhaul condition. As we saw with the recent Loch Ness Monster thematic renovation, I would expect new paint, graphic, and prop work throughout the space, but I don’t yet expect any significant alterations to the overall layout and feel of the queue area.
That being said, while the queue layout and structure are likely to remain largely untouched, the park does have a pretty stunning surprise in store scenically. Per these new documents, the existing tour sales counter alcove in Verbolten’s main interior queue space is slated to receive what I believe to be the first queue animatronic at Busch Gardens Williamsburg since Questor! The plan below shows both the location of the animatronic figure itself and the backstage infrastructure required to power it.
The boxed #2 in the plan above marks the location for an air compressor which will feed the animatronic located down at the boxed #1. The image below (taken from this 2012-era, mid-construction, marketing video posted by Busch Gardens Williamsburg) shows the existing tours counter behind which this new “animatronic figure” will be stationed.
While I would not expect this to be any sort of incredibly advanced figure, I am hopeful that it will be enough to provide some narrative backstory for the attraction. Truthfully though, any attempt at an animatronic figure at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is a huge leap forward for a park which has long relied on lighting, projections, and screens to supply a sense of movement and life to its environments.
Moving through the remainder of the queue and boarding the coaster in its station, once again, we’re currently only expecting Loch Ness Monster renovation-style scenic alterations. For instance, presumably, we are likely to see significant updates to the small, closet-like area previously allocated to Gunter’s office—one of the segments of Verbolten’s queue which has seen the most severe thematic degradation over the years.
The next major change reflected thus far in the documents we’ve reviewed comes as the coaster train weaves its way towards the ride’s first launch. The site plan below depicts the addition of what the plans describe as a “billboard” planned for the left side of the ride’s course.
This structure features four of the same lighting fixtures discussed for the front of Verbolten’s facade earlier in this article. This time, however, they will be mounted below the scene’s focal point, shining upwards.
Interestingly, foundation plans for this area explicitly call out the installation of “two above ground structural elements,” strongly suggesting there is more here than just a simple lit signboard. The foundation plan (included below) includes a LEGO-brick-looking concrete footer and pad for the lighted billboard depicted above, but the document also proposes four additional concrete pads behind that primary, lit element.
These additional pads could simply be for supporting electrical components or similar, but that seems like a lot of work for a few lights shining at a flat board, no? Going even deeper, a third plan showing this portion of the project identifies an area behind the apparent signboard as housing a “rotating show set element.” A glimpse at that plan can be found below.
Taking all of this together, it seems likely that we’re looking at a Loch Ness Monster pre-lift-style story scene here. Judging by the plans, a large, lit billboard is a given, but I suspect there’s also more to it—potentially some sort of moving element around or behind the sign. Very intriguing!
The lead-up to Verbolten’s event building has yet another surprise up its sleeves as well! Plans for the existing, themed archway encasing the front of the event building’s entry tunnel call for the addition of a mist machine!
Hopefully this will help to distract from the often-criticized “floating” look of the tunnel entry facade and create a much more ominous vibe as trains are launched into the event building.
And now, for the great stuff.
Don’t get me wrong, thematic refreshes throughout the entry and queue experience, an actual animatronic figure in the queue, an entirely new, outdoor story scene leading up to launch one, and the addition of fog to Verbolten’s tunnel are all fantastic additions and I’d be ready to praise each and every one of them in a vacuum. That said, the impetus for this entire project was the park’s original sin of detheming the interior of Verbolten’s show building. Thankfully, as you’re about to see, the park is righting that wrong to a degree I don’t think any of us could have been predicting. If you thought Verbolten: Forbidden Turn was already sounding mighty exciting, you just wait…
Per plans we have reviewed, Busch Gardens Williamsburg is slated to construct an entirely new, absolutely monumental, physical set piece within the back-right-quadrant of Verbolten’s event building: a huge, twisted tree which Verbolten trains will encircle and, at one point, even pass through. Oh, and that’s only one of the exciting new elements contained within. Anyway, a fairly unobstructed view of the new tree element can be found in the plan below.
After launching into Forbidden Turn’s event building, coaster trains will bank right and complete a roughly 180 degree turn around this massive new tree element. A plan depicting the coaster’s ride envelope (the area around a coaster train which must remain clear for riders to safely traverse the track) is included below. Note just how close this tree structure will get to riders through this turn!
After circling the new tree, riders will bank left and begin the upward helix into the event building’s mid-course block section. Throughout the first segment of this turn, seven new thematic structures are planned to encase riders—almost certainly designed to look like a partial tunnel of tree branches. These set pieces are visible in the plan below.
I find it a lot easier to understand where exactly these new tree branch scenic elements will be located in relation to the ride course with the ride envelope plan included below.
Also notable in the plan above are the places marked with encircled “S”s. These are speaker locations—namely along the entry tunnel/launch one crest and through the coaster’s first midcourse brake run in the graphic above. Though I don’t know that any of these speakers are new, I strongly suspect we will see auditory alterations throughout the entirely of Forbidden Turn.
Jumping back to the building’s upward helix into the first midcourse brake run for a second, I should touch on what appears to be a significant area of track without any apparent new scenic elements noted in these plans. I suspect the intention is to keep the existing light box, “leaf spiral” element in the center of this helix to provide a focal point for riders throughout the second half of this element. This is one of the few still-fully-intact scenic elements leftover from the attraction’s original theming package. With some lighting enhancements, I suspect it can coexist with the planned alterations just fine.
Moving to that first midcourse brake run within the event building, riders will have a straight-on, full view of the entirety of that massive new twisted tree set piece. Plans call for a ton of new lighting work to be done throughout this area of the building so it’s easy to imagine this momentary slowdown featuring some epic, dramatic lighting effects on this major new structure. The visual and tonal potential here feels immense.
After a brief pause to admire that new tree, trains will plunge off the midcourse into a drop through the tree’s trunk before twisting left and rising back up into the building’s second midcourse (depicted below).
Like the later part of the previously discussed upward helix, this is another portion of the event building layout without any new work expressly outlined in the documents we’ve seen. That being said, there are a lot of existing blacklight-paint flats through this portion of the layout (namely the tree branch/hand-styled archways) which could likely simply be retained as part of this renovation. There’s no reason the existing falling leaf lightboxes couldn’t be refurbished and have their covers restored to fill out this area as well—they used to look excellent—all they need is to have their leaf cut-out scrims reattached.
That all being said, the lower right corner of this plan does show some new work—namely what appear to be a trio of three-dimensional branches that arch up and over the coaster track. Those elements lead us into the building’s grand finale: the drop track.
There is so much to see here. The drop track is slated to be entirely encased with more of those three-dimensional branch structures, there’s a ton of new lighting planned throughout, and perhaps most exciting of all, plans call for yet another animatronic figure to be installed directly in front of the train’s pre-drop position! If you look all the way to the right of the plan, there’s even some suggestion that we should expect some sort of new, three-dimensional scenic elements in the event building’s exit tunnel. Another document (below) shows even more of the exit tunnel.
Judging by the site plan above, there are actually four consecutive scenic elements above the track throughout building’s exit. Given the notable dip riders experience through this portion of the coaster’s layout, riders will likely drop through this series of scenic facades. These additions should also serve the dual purpose of blocking light-bleed into the building via the coaster’s exit portal.
Now that I’ve guided you through all of the highlights as they’ll be experienced on-ride, you deserve some more comprehensive overviews of the main areas of work within Verbolten: Forbidden Turn’s event building. First up, a largely scenic-structure-focused plan:
Next up, here’s an event building overview plan depicting many of the lighting and electrical alterations planned as part of this renovation:
And then we have an overview of the event building with Verbolten’s track envelope:
And finally, a full top-down overview of the event building area featuring the full entry and exit tunnels:
After trains exit the event building, the plans we’ve seen thus far don’t seem to indicate much in the way of additional major changes. Though I can’t spot indications of this thus far myself, I do hope that aesthetic improvements will be made to the broken bridge structure ahead of the coaster’s final drop. Since the original topper was destroyed in a storm years ago, it has looked pretty rough. Even if the bridge isn’t touched aesthetically, I do suspect we’ll get new audio queues on that bridge. Now that trains creep through that brake run so slowly, there’s a potential for a little audio storytelling there.
Below I’ve included a site plan depicting the entire Verbolten: Forbidden Turn project area.
Closing Thoughts
Even if we ignore the “likely-happenings” mentioned a few times above—things such as a comprehensive, Loch Ness Monster-style queue and station refurbishment, the retention of some of the original event building theming in areas where the new plans look sparser, new audio cues throughout, etc.—I believe we’re looking at a tremendously exciting overhaul of Verbolten’s thematics and theatrics here. What has been proposed in these documents far exceeds anything we have seen Busch Gardens Williamsburg attempt since Curse of DarKastle all the way back in 2005. The number and scale of physical, three-dimensional set pieces slated for the building, the pair of animatronic figures, the addition of an entirely new outdoor scene in the lead-up to the event building, the addition of fog to the entry tunnel—there’s just so much to love here.
I have been beating one drum continuously for years now here on BGWFans and via a number of my posts over in the Busch Gardens Williamsburg threads on ParkFans: BGW is listening, learning, iterating, and evolving.
After what myself (and I’m sure many of the folks reading this article) would identify as years of thematic neglect (Tempesto, Finnigan’s Flyer, Pantheon, and others), the park has very much heard our cries. When Pantheon debuted and BGW fans (yes, even far more casual ones than the likes of BGWFans readers) couldn’t praise Pantheon without also highlighting how hideous and out of place it was at the World’s Most Beautiful Theme Park, Busch Gardens Williamsburg management took notice. Contrary to what Busch Gardens Williamsburg marketing claimed ahead of Pantheon’s debut (“you’re going to forget about the theming once you get on the ride”) they were proven thoroughly incorrect.
In the years since, we’ve seen a slow and steady march towards truly immersive, highly-themed attraction additions and renovations. DarKoaster kicked things off with what was overall a pretty amateurish attempt at a fully-themed roller coaster experience. BGW heard the criticism and came back with a second go at things: the Loch Ness Monster renovation. The Nessie overhaul was widely praised for its physical set pieces and storytelling, but fans complained about the poorly implemented screens in the tunnel. Once again, BGW listened and one year later delivered Wolf’s Revenge, one of the most comprehensively-themed, outdoor attractions in the park’s history—the coaster may not be most people’s favorite, but Wolf’s Revenge has received seemingly unanimous praise for its theming and presentation.
Now, judging by these Verbolten: Forbidden Turn plans, Busch Gardens Williamsburg is looking to push the bar even further. These plans take what BGW learned from DarKoaster (the need to invest notably in scenic quality and overall storytelling), Nessie’s overhaul (focus investment towards physical props, audio, and lighting instead of screens), and Wolf’s Revenge (large-scale, highly-detailed, on-ride scenic elements are well-received by BGW’s audience) and packages them together with largely-new-to-recent-BGW experiments like fog and, shockingly, a pair of animatronics.
As I’ve repeatedly said for years now, please, please continue supporting these projects—with your attention (ridership, sharing the news with friends, engagement on social media, etc.), your dollars (visitation, merch purchases, etc.), and your praise (compliments at guest services, comments to park executives, etc.). The community’s continued support of BGW’s slow march back to behaving like a true theme park has been instrumental in Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s continued ability to justify these investments to the United Parks corporate offices.
As outlined in our series of articles from last spring, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has concepts for many other thematically-rich projects like Verbolten: Forbidden Turn floating around in the park’s offices—a comprehensive Pantheon theming package being one of the most prominent and in-demand examples. If we want to see Pantheon receive the aesthetic, thematic, and guest experience overhaul it so desperately needs and deserves, supporting this project however we can is absolutely essential.
Even just looking at the immediate term, assuming the rumors about the Killarney simulator building being the investment target for 2027 prove true, that is a project that will require extensive thematic and storytelling investments to get right. We can provide Busch Gardens Williamsburg with the ammunition required to defend the large scenic, environmental, and media budgets that theoretical 2027 attraction will need by supporting their currently-under-appreciated, incredibly-impressive-looking, thematically-focused 2026 project, Verbolten: Forbidden Turn.
If you made it all the way through yet another 4,000+ word BGWFans article, thanks for reading! Feel free to join the discussion over in the Verbolten: Forbidden Turn thread on ParkFans, here. As new information surfaces, you can expect to hear about it first over there. I will try to push significant news updates out to our various social media channels (Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, Twitter, etc) as well.
1/15/2026, 10pm Post Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly implied that Verbolten’s new queue animatronic would be the first to ever be featured in a queue at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The text has been updated to highlight the former existence of an animatronic in Questor’s queue. Thanks to the folks who highlighted this! This update also includes numerous minor spelling and grammar corrections. Thanks for those reports as well!
Great write up as always
Amazing write up. And yes Bring on the theming. And next fix Pantheon and Pompeii
Woohoo!!!
When is BGW going to get an adult size big coaster like an Iron Gawazi or like Pantherian