Pantheon is a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its steel Railway track, track, which consists of long steel tubes that are run in pairs, supported by larger steel columns or beams. Trains running along the track typically rely ...

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Busch Gardens Williamsburg (formerly Busch Gardens Europe and Busch Gardens: The Old Country) is a amusement park in James City County near Williamsburg, Virginia, United States, located approximately northwest of Virginia Beach. The park w ...

theme park in

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It had a population of 15,425 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern par ...

. Manufactured by

Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein, best-known for designing and constructing Amusement ride, thrill rides and roller coasters at dozens of international theme parks, amusement parks and other e ...

, the roller coaster opened to park members on March 4, 2022 and features four launches, five

airtime Air time or airtime may refer to: *Air time (broadcasting), also spelled "airtime", available hours for broadcast or time purchased for broadcast * Air time (mobile phone), also spelled "airtime", top-up for mobile roaming services *Air time (ride ...

hills, and a 95-degree beyond vertical drop. The inverts riders twice and reaches a maximum speed of . Its theme is set to

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

with a focus on the ancient culture's

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

Jupiter, Mercury, Minerva, Neptune and Pluto. Despite marketing for the ride, it has never held the fastest multi-launch coaster record. Soaring With Dragon () held this record from September 2016 until May 2024 with Cedar Point opening

Top Thrill 2 Top Thrill 2 is a launched roller coaster located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. The ride originally opened as Top Thrill Dragster in 2003, becoming the List of roller coaster rankings, tallest and fastest roller coaster in th ...

().

History

This ride was referred to as Project MMXX during the early construction stages and replaced an earlier project named Project Madrid, where Busch Gardens filed a 315 feet height waiver for a cancelled attraction. The initial planning application for the ride was filed in February 2019, and it was eventually announced to be Pantheon on July 30, 2019. The announcement was held in the globe theater at the park and streamed live on the park's

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page. Leading up to the announcements there was a series of teasers posted on social media. By October 2019, photos indicated that construction of the track had begun. Pantheon's opening was ultimately delayed by two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia. Busch Gardens announced in September 2021 that the ride would open the following March. The ride opened to the public on March 25, 2022, following a soft opening on March 4.

Characteristics

Pantheon is tall, long, and reaches a maximum speed of throughout the ride. The ride's layout includes four launches – three of which occur on a swing launch between the vertical spike and top hat. This swing launch can also be found on

Toutatis Teutates (spelled variously Toutatis, Totatis, Totates) is a Celtic god attested in literary and epigraphic sources. His name, which is derived from a proto-Celtic word meaning "tribe", suggests he was a national god, tribal deity. The Roman po ...

Parc Astérix Parc Astérix () is a theme park in France based on the comic book series ''Asterix'' by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. In 2023, the park welcomed over 2.8 million visitors, making it the second most visited park in France behind Disneyland P ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Pantheon also has two inversions, which are a zero-g winder and a zero-g stall. It runs two trains of five cars, each of which seat two rows of two riders for a total of 20 passengers per train.

Theme

Pantheon's theming around the Roman gods is subtle. Plaques throughout the ride's queue explain how different sections of the coaster relate to specific gods from the Roman pantheon. According to the plaques, the first launch of coaster is related to

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

, Goddess of Wisdom, because the rider requires her to keep them safe on the coming journey. In the second section, Mercury, God of Speed relates to the swiftness of the ride's beginning. Next, a high peak relates to the God of the Sea,

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

, as a representation of his sharp trident. Then another peak relates to

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

, King of the Gods and God of Weather, because it ascends to the sky. Finally, the end of the ride relates to

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

, God of the Underworld, because the rider's journey is at a close.

References

External links

* {{Intamin Busch Gardens Williamsburg Roller coasters operated by United Parks & Resorts Roller coasters in Virginia