Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2020 addition has gone by many names throughout its development. Whether known as “Project Madrid,” “Festa Italia Expansion,” “Project 2020,” or, most recently, “MMXX,” it has all referred to the same thing:
A massive new Intamin-made multi-launch coaster being added to an area of Busch Gardens Williamsburg known as “Festa Field.” A comprehensive history of the project alongside a huge collection of leaked documents regarding the addition can be found in our huge article about the attraction, “Project 2020 Reveled.”
Though our “Project 2020 Reveled” article is essential reading for all things 2020, it is a “finished” piece. In other words, unlike this page, it won’t be updated to reflect the newest information. This page is still the best location to find up-to-date information about Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2020 roller coaster.
Official documents relating to Project 2020
BGWFans.com has exclusively obtained a huge collection of leaked internal documents which depict a large Intamin multi-launch roller coaster that is planned for Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Festa Field in 2020.
Our full article on this massive leak can be found here. Our composite map depicting the coaster’s exact planned layout alongside its structure and surrounding guest areas is included below.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg has filed their full Project 2020 site plan with James City County. Our full article about this crucial new documentation can be found here. Below is an overview of the site plan.
A few weeks ago we reported on a resource protection area impacts plan filed with James City County for Project Madrid. It would seem that since that previously reported filing, Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2020 plans have still been in a state of flux.
Included below is a newly-filed, revised version of the previously-mentioned RPA impacts map showing very notable adjustments in footer placement.
In addition to the site plan above, the filing included a composite map showing the new impervious structures superimposed onto the existing landscape. An image of that section of the document can be found below.
These small fragments of Project Madrid’s site plan don’t give us a ton to work with when it comes to deducing specific details about the coaster itself. That said, the big news here is that changes this substantial are still being made to the plans for Project Madrid.
Many people saw the leaked slides the other week and thought “It’s settled. What we see is what we are getting.” The fact that structural alterations are still being made to the coaster really puts those slides into a more proper context.
An internal SEAS presentation purporting to show various upcoming attractions across the SeaWorld Parks chain has leaked online. This leak follows the publication of some of the information from the slide deck via outlets such as WildGravityTravels, BehindTheThrills, and Orlando Weekly.
#BuschGardensWilliamsburg #NewFor2020 #SeaWorldParks pic.twitter.com/drqV8r8jR1
— Amusement Leaks (@AmusementLeaks) September 24, 2018
In a shocking turn of events, SeaWorld has confirmed that the slides leaked by @AmusementLeaks are real. This does not mean, however, that they are accurate or even remotely recent.
The presentation is certainly an interesting glance into the production process, but it should still be taken with a grain of salt in our opinion.
In early August Busch Gardens Williamsburg filed a partial Project Madrid site plan with James City County. This site plan was required to show all structures within 100 feet of the park’s Rhine River. Our full article about this bombshell of a document can be found here.
Just a little forewarning: This is a strange update.
A few days ago Busch Gardens Williamsburg filed for a 90 foot height waiver near Killarney. Some great initial analysis of this filing can be found on our forum, here.
Following Kingadam’s first post on the subject, we got our hands on the full package of “Killarney Expansion” documents submitted to James City County. I published some highlights from that collection of documents, here.
A full site plan of the park was included in the submission in order to show the distance from the newly proposed Killarney structure to various important points around the park. As Thomas initially pointed out when we were looking through the material, something very interesting seems to taken up residence in Festa Field…
To my untrained eyes (and to the eyes of others I’ve shared the image above with privately), this appears to be some sort of large, new, circular-sector-shaped structure. Most people (myself included) see a huge, semi-circular theater.
So, why is there a not-yet-existing structure in a filing for a seemingly unrelated height waiver? Truthfully, we have no idea. This could simply be a remnant of a previously cancelled Festa Field project from months or years ago. Alternatively, this could be a new, not-yet-filed-with-the-county project that could currently be in the works.
Whatever it is, we can say one thing with complete confidence: We are thoroughly baffled.
Fishburne Drilling Inc, on behalf of Busch Gardens Williamsburg, has made a second round of requests for utility markings—this time on the Festhaus Park side of the Rhine across from the height waiver location. This has massively expanded the anticipated impact area for Project Madrid. The project map in the first section of this page has been updated to reflect this new potential project area. The actual text of the requests can be found below.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg has filed with the Federal Aviation Administration requesting approval for new construction with a max height of 315 feet. A picture of the filing can be found below.
September 18th, 2017 Update:
The Federal Aviation Administration height waiver has been approved.
Fishburne Drilling Inc, a company which has historically done soil testing work for Busch Gardens Williamsburg, requested utilities in Festa Field and around the Rhine River be marked. The text of both marking tickets can be found below.
An application has been filed by Busch Gardens Williamsburg requesting approval for a 315 foot structure in the field between Festa Italia and the Rhine River.
Below are images of the height waiver itself. The first is a picture of the original document as it was filed by the park. The second shows the final version of the application after James City County made their own modifications. More details regarding these discrepancies can be found here.
Two pieces of supplemental information provided by Busch Gardens Williamsburg to James City County can also be found below. The first shows the highest point of the structure on a satellite map of the park. The second depicts the impact the structure will have on the existing skyline.
July 21st, 2017 Update:
The James City County Planning Commission has approved the height waiver.
Reporting regarding Project Madrid
On Membership Preview Day 2019 (March 16th), Busch Gardens Williamsburg officially teased their 2020 addition for the first time. Other than a strong hint that the attraction would feature a 95 degree drop, an apparent confirmation of its Italian theme, and identifying the project as “MMXX” (2020), no other information was given. Below we’ve included a recording of the relevant portion of the town hall.
Keen eyed individuals will notice that the original height waiver application submitted to James City County by Busch Gardens Williamsburg makes no mention of the word “attraction” or “Madrid.” Both of these were added after the submission left the park’s hands.
According to James City County, the word “Madrid” was added after they requested Busch Gardens Williamsburg give them a name by which the project could be uniquely identified. Since “Madrid” is simply a codename being used for the project, it could potentially have little to nothing to do with the final product.
The word “attraction,” on the other hand, was reportedly a unilateral addition by James City County to keep this application consistent with previous height waivers filed by Busch Gardens Williamsburg. In other words, at this point, we don’t have a solid footing for calling Project Madrid anything other than a “structure,” as Busch Gardens Williamsburg stated on their initial application.
A height survey was conducted this morning at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Through some basic triangulation, we approximate it was located somewhere near Festa Field. Furthermore, we estimate that the balloon’s height surpassed that of Apollo’s Chariot. Further details, a picture of the balloon in the air, and some speculation can be found, here.
Unconfirmed claims regarding Project MMXX
In truth, this is not a new rumor. That said, considering that people continue to point to the project’s codename (Project Madrid) as evidence for what the park is building, we thought it advantageous to integrate what we have been told regarding SEAS codenames into the rumors section of this page.
According to people with knowledge of internal SEAS project naming conventions, large SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment additions have been given major city codenames recently. For instance, I’m told that there was a Project Atlanta slated for one of the SeaWorld-branded parks within the last couple years.
In other words, though the codename Project Madrid is interesting and it’s not impossible that it could be relevant to the final project itself, just keep in mind that there is a very plausible alternative explanation for the codename.
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