[coasterdave]

I had plans to return to Busch Gardens Europe for the Howl-O-Scream event this Oct but with the park setting the stage for the Big Bad Wolf to make an Exit before then. I decided to head on up there before she went down after 25 years of service. It just happens that I got a call from my friend Jason and he told me that he was off a weekend and said why want you go then so it was all set after a number of years for me to return to BGE.

As it got closer I got a call from Jason about this Behind the Scene Tour of the coasters that started before the park opened up which included a trip to walk around the lift of Griffin so I said sure.

I am including alot of pics from the tour plus afew from the day at the park. I hope you folks enjoy and yes this tour is well worth it.


Start off with a visit down at the Rhine and talk about Nessie.



Then we headed down to the Maintenance Bay under Nessie and these are the trains from Python getting rehabbed for Nessie.



Here are the original prints that are used to assemble an Arrow Coaster Train on Nessie.



Here is the Brass brakes that are put on Nesssie



Here we have a Coaster Geek



He is Jason waiting on a train to be placed into the bay.



This is where the trains are moved into the Bay.



Here is the Drive Motor house for the Lift on Nessie.



Here is The Griffin and noticed the parked train for you will see it in afew.



The Mid Course and Second Drop



Here is Train 3 in the Storage Bay



Wheel Assemblage of The Griffin



The Water Scoop



Underside of the Griffin Train



Rail POV



The trip up Griffin's Lift begans



About Halfway...maybe



This is the Top of the Lift



Here is the Train that is parked on top of lift



Here is a closer look



Jason holding on for dear life



View into Rhine Valley from Lift



The Spashdown Pool



Never have saw a shot of Alpengeist like this?



Drop into first inversion



Going DOWN



Train 3 being put on



Alpengeist's Bay....Exciting I know!



Backside of Darkcastle



Jason enjoying a ride on Griffin



Hang on!



Dropping In!



Good Bye Old Friend



Morning Test Run



Off the Lift



Into the woods



Happy Riders it seems



Might not ever see this again


You can see the rest of the pics I took Here

[RacerAlex]

Exceptional pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Is this tour something that they always do? How'd you get the Griffin lift tour? That was pretty cool.

[MarkD]

Thanks for those pics. A couple of them had me getting dizzy looking straight down.

[Wormy]

I was going to say the exact same thing. Talk about vertigo. Great exclusive stuff!

[coasterdave]

Is this tour something that they always do? How'd you get the Griffin lift tour? That was pretty cool.

The tour is an add on you might say. It will cost 75 bucks without a Busch Pass or 67.35 with a Busch Pass. The have the tour every day that they are open but you have to register atleast one day in advance. It includes the ride up Griffin's Lift but you will be only able to go as far as where they park the train. You will get a CD of ALL the pics the park takes during the tour on a CD and you will get a card that will allow you to hit the front of the line on each coaster except Groover.

Here is the link to help anyone that wants to do this tour and also note they have other types of tours to offer but Admission to the park is NOT included folks.

http://www.buschgardens.com/bgw2/CP/?page=BehindScenes

[Davidtmp]

Geez, I got queezy just looking at the pics! Thanks Dave for the awesome pics from vantage points we wouldn't normally find. Might have to borrow a couple and change my desktop image.

[nitrofan]

Is the exit pass valid once per ride or as many times as you want that day?

[coasterdave]

Only one per coaster and valid only that day.