I’ve been on this ride a ton of times. That doesn’t mean I grow tired of riding it. Quite the contrary. As a matter of fact, my last visit to BGW with Jen, Alpengeist was closed. I haven’t ridden it since 2023 and I was very much looking forward to giving it a couple of rides. Sam was eager to hop back on it too as it had been even longer since her last ride.

Both of our rides came in the back row. The train hauled through the course on both rides until, of course, that mid-course brake run. While still a sudden stop, it didn’t feel like the almost complete stop it has been in recent years. It has been a while though, so I might be remembering it wrong.

The one plus of the slow speed after the mid-course is the zero-g roll. That element provided a brief moment, yet enjoyable moment of hangtime. It’s a nice contrast on what is an otherwise whippy coaster.

We made our way to Loch Ness first thing after getting my GoPro and mount approved to film the on-ride POV above. I wanted to capture all the changes for those of you who haven’t yet experienced the ride as of 2024. Please be sure to give the video a watch and I appreciate any likes, comments, and/or sharing of the video.

Now, onto what I think of the ride. BGW gets an A+ from me for the TLC put into modernizing this classic Arrow Looper. So many other parks might have scrapped the ride, but BGW knows this iconic yellow coaster would be dearly missed. Either that, or fans of the ride would cause a massive uproar if that announcement was ever made. They went through it with Big Bad Wolf years ago, but I feel like it would be even worse had Loch Ness Monster met a similar fate.

Hands down the best improvements to this ride is in the theming. The Nessie under the double loops is a stand-out addition, but it’s not the only thing that caught my eye. The new shack and damaged train at the base of the first lift hill is a great and helps with the audio components now featured on both of the ride’s the lift hills.

I also can’t forget to mention the cave. I’m so grateful the park did something in the cave once again. It’s been dark in there for way too long.  What was it you ask? Well, maybe I shouldn’t spoil everything, although those of you who watched the POV might just catch a glimpse.

The theming updates are just limited to on-ride. They’re also found in the ride’s queue and station. Be sure to check out some of the photos in the gallery below to see a handful of them. Hopefully I’ll be able to capture some more of what was in the queue in a future visit because there was just so much glare hindering a lot of what I tried to shoot that early in the day during this visit.

All these mentions and I didn’t even say if the retracked portions of the ride are more comfortable. Well, for those wondering, yes indeed, they are. Premier Rides did a great job replacing portions of this track and visually, you can’t even tell. This gives me hope that other Arrows might be prolonged with similar treatment. Ahem… Looking at you, Anaconda.

Griffon ended up being one of Jen’s favorite rides. It was her first-ever Dive Coaster and she loved it in the front row. We rode it a total of four times, with three times coming in the front. While in the front we also managed to ride on the far left, far right, and in the middle to experience the full gamut of different sensations the train’s wide 10 across seating provides. Furthermore we also managed to ride it early in the day and was also on the final train of the night.

Whenever I have a chance to visit a park with someone who enjoys coasters, but isn’t an enthusiast per se, I always love to get their feedback on what rides they enjoyed the most.

“I loved the first drop after the hold,” Jen said. “It’s so fast, smooth, and exhilarating. I love it. A new fav for sure.”

Dive Coasters tend to be popular rides among park guests. Although us enthusiast tend to overlook them for more intense rides, they’re a great fit for parks and clearly crowd pleasers.

Chris’ friend, Ben, had yet to ride Pantheon, so that was our priority upon arrival. We had ideal weather for our visit, especially considering how much it rained leading up to our visit and in the days since. The temperature in the low-50’s, so outside any unforeseen circumstance, the coaster would be operating. 

We made sure to get rides in both the back and the front. I told Ben that with the forward and backward elements, this coaster is a must ride in both the front and back. After his first ride, Chris asked Ben what he thought of the ride. Much like my initial impressions earlier this year, Ben thought the ride would be a little faster and more forceful – especially along the outer bank. He still enjoyed it and later told me that it is his favorite ride at BGW.

I rode Alpengeist four times yesterday. When getting in line for my first ride, I just so happened to be behind the fellas from Quality Coasters on Instagram (@Quality_Coasters). I introduced myself and we struck up a conversation. We rode Alpengeist together and I shared some tips and information about the park for the rest of their day. It was awesome meeting you guys and I hope the rest of your trip is an enjoyable one.

My second and third rides came while Chris and Carrie were attending their VIP event. I could have squeezed in a few more, but decided to stop in a few of the surrounding stores to check out the pin trading scene instead. That’s how I found the Le Scoot pin I mentioned above. 

My fourth ride came with Chris and Carrie after they made their way over the bridge. It was great riding with them and our aim was to do it for our final ride of the night, but we knew we couldn’t make it from Verbolten to Alpengeist in under 4 minutes. Maybe Chris could with all those marathons he does, but alas, we didn’t even try.

This historic coaster is one I’ve loved since my childhood. That being said, 42 year old me knows it’s not the most comfortable ride at the park. By no means is the coaster rough, but it has those iconic Arrow transitions that will bounce you around a bit in your seat. Thankfully, I don’t bang my head on the over-the-shoulder restraints. Some people do, so I’m hoping that one day the coaster trains might be updated to something similar to Vekoma’s trains featuring vest restraints. I’m not sure if that is possible, but if it is and it could improve the ride experience down the road, why not?

As it sits now, Nessie is a coaster I try to ride every visit, but I couldn’t tell you the last time I’ve ridden it more than once. My lone ride on Friday came when I filmed my POV. I thought about re-riding again later and seeing if I could get something better, but I was in ride mode by then. Still, my only ride that day still brought back memories of my youth. 

Speaking of which, this coaster will be featured in an upcoming installment of my Influential Coasters of My Childhood series. Be on the watch for that in the weeks to come. I sure have enough footage for this coaster’s installments!

I was so happy to see the line for Pantheon’s front row to be only a few minutes longer than the rest of the train when we first arrived. Since there were three of us, I told Mindy and Renee to ride together and I would board the next train solo. I will say that being in the front was awesome for the unobstructed view and the maximum drop backward off the top hat. The airtime was okay, but nothing compared to my second ride to end the evening in the back row.

Finishing up our evening we were right by Pantheon after getting off the Busch Gardens Railway. I went up for one last ride while the girls waited for me in the courtyard. I left my GoPro with Mindy so I could just enjoy the ride and not be tempted to film something and be sidetracked. I wanted another ride in the back row. My first-ever ride on Pantheon was in the back with Chris on preview day. The ride was sluggish compared to the four other rides I got later that day. All of them were sluggish, including yesterday’s front row ride, compared to this one!

I felt more airtime and speed on this go around, even having my shirt fly up on the backward launch airtime hill. That ejector moment was nuts. The airtime off the top hat was also better. The only thing still not hitting as strong as I had hoped is the outward banked airtime hill. It felt better, but not at all ejector-like. Orion’s at Kings Island still feels stronger and it’s nothing close to what you’ll get on one found on an RMC.

On this second ride I also met a fellow enthusiast named Brandon. We talked about a bunch of our favorite coasters and it was fun riding with him. Be sure to check out his Instagram page (@BramboBuschPics). Sadly our ride photo never made it into my PhotoKey account, which I am going to address down below.