Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge is a steel family inverted coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia, built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard and opened to the public on May 23, 2025. The ride dangles riders beneath the track as it winds through the park’s Oktoberfest section, sending them past a Bavarian village scene before a howling, glowing-eyed creature triggers the chase.
The coaster carries on the name of a beloved Busch Gardens original: the 1984 Big Bad Wolf suspended coaster, which thrilled guests for 25 years before closing in 2009. The new ride occupies the old Drachen Fire station building and stands as only the second coaster of its kind built in the United States, following Phoenix Rising at Busch Gardens Tampa.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: Busch Gardens Williamsburg
- Manufacturer: Bolliger & Mabillard
- Opened: May 23, 2025
- Height: about 67 feet
- Top speed: about 40 mph
- Length: about 2,583 feet
- Inversions: 0
The Ride Experience
As a family inverted coaster, Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge seats riders in rows that hang below the track rather than above it, giving legs a free-swinging, open-air feel without any inversions along the way. The layout threads through themed Bavarian village scenery in the Oktoberfest area, building tension with lighting and sound effects before the chain lift and the coaster’s drops and turns across its roughly half-mile circuit.
At about 40 mph and 67 feet tall, the ride is tuned for a broad range of guests, with a minimum height requirement of 42 inches when riding with an adult. It’s designed as an accessible, story-driven coaster rather than an extreme thrill machine, fitting the park’s long tradition of European-themed family rides.
A Legacy Reborn
The original Big Bad Wolf opened in 1984 as one of the first suspended coasters to make full use of Busch Gardens’ wooded Virginia terrain, closing in 2009 after 25 seasons. Its former site later became Verbolten, while the new Wolf’s Revenge instead rose on the footprint of Drachen Fire, an Arrow Dynamics coaster that operated from 1992 to 1998.
Announced in October 2024 and opened the following May, Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge reconnects guests to that storybook theming while introducing B&M’s inverted-coaster engineering to the park for the first time, pairing nostalgia with a modern ride system.
Explore more: Explore more roller coasters.
Ride with your glasses on and keep them. Many parks allow glasses on rides if they're strapped, so check the ride rules first.
Small enough to ride with on most coasters, big enough for a phone, card and keys. Two zippers mean nothing falls out upside down.
A fan and a mist in one, rechargeable. Very popular in queue lines once the afternoon sun hits.
Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge FAQs
What type of roller coaster is Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge?
It’s a steel family inverted coaster built by Bolliger & Mabillard, meaning riders’ legs hang freely below the track. It has no inversions.
When did Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge open?
The coaster opened to the public on May 23, 2025, at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, after being announced in October 2024.
Is this the same ride as the original Big Bad Wolf coaster?
No. The original Big Bad Wolf was a suspended coaster that ran from 1984 to 2009. The new ride is a tribute built on the former site of Drachen Fire, reusing its station building.
Get More from Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge
Log the coasters, stadiums, and venues you’ve experienced, rate Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge, and see what your friends thought. Get the ThrillZing app.
Photo: Gamerboss2530 / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.