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Click on any photo to see a larger version of it.

The Loch Ness Monster roller coaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 41 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia

Having one train of looping riders wrapping around you as your train inverted must have been quite the experience.  With modern computer aided design and manufacturing working the entire ride so two trains meet in the interlocking loops is easy to do.  Back to the 1970's the Loch Ness Monster was designed on drafting tables and everything calculated by calculators...not the modern calculators but expensive chunky ones that clicked as you pressed the keys with a dimly let red readout.  I hold the engineers at Arrow Dynamics who sketched rides like Nessie out by hand and did the hard work manually with high regard.

The Loch Ness Monster roller coaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 41 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia

 Here is one more photo of the Loch Ness Monster before we go. 

There is so much that goes into making this ride the iconic coaster that it is.  The terrain, interlocking loops (the only one left in the world after Worlds of Fun removed the Orient Express), the rides visibility and layout makes this the best of Arrow's looping coasters from the roller coaster boom of the 1970's.  Throw in the fact that Busch Gardens cares so much for this ride including adding new trains for the 40th anniversary and keeping it in amazing shape. 

Despite being overshadowed by newer and bigger rides Nessie is the heart and soul of Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

The Griffon roller coaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 41 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia

Lets move from a ride that has a rough stretch of track into the station because of being designed on paper with a margin of error of six feet to a modern coaster that was created with computer aided design and a margin or error less than the thickness of the piece of paper.

The Griffon roller coaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 41 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia

Griffon is an amazingly fun dive coaster that was added to Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 2007.

The Griffon roller coaster - The American Coaster Enthusiasts Coaster Con 41 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia

Griffon like other dive coasters designed by Bolliger and Mabillard start out by dangling riders over the edge of a massive drop.



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Paul B. Drabek