Pantheon is Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Intamin multi-launch coaster, themed to five Roman gods and engineered like all five showed up angry: four launches, two inversions, a backward spike, and a 95-degree beyond-vertical drop.
Opened in 2022, it tops out at 73 mph — among the fastest new-for-the-2020s coasters in America — but its real trick is variety, packing swing launches, airtime, and snap transitions into a compact riverside layout.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Virginia
- Top speed: 73 mph
- Drop angle: 95 degrees
- Launches: 4
- Inversions: 2
- Opened: 2022
What Riding It Feels Like
The swing-launch sequence is the heart of the ride: trains rock forward and backward, cresting a vertical spike in a freefall hang before the final launch fires you over the top hat and down a drop that leans past straight down.
It’s an aggressive ride by Busch Gardens standards — sharp ejector airtime and quick direction changes — yet smooth enough to re-ride until the park closes.
How It Stacks Up
Pantheon ranks among the ten fastest coasters to open worldwide this decade, and alongside Apollo’s Chariot, Griffon, Alpengeist, and Verbolten it gives Busch Gardens Williamsburg one of the most balanced coaster lineups on the East Coast.
Explore more: the fastest new coasters of the 2020s, all theme park guides.
Soak, snap and drape. A cooling towel takes the edge off a 45-minute midday queue in July.
Park apps, mobile ordering and photos kill a battery by 3 p.m. This one snaps on magnetically, so there's no cable to snag on a restraint.
Ride with your glasses on and keep them. Many parks allow glasses on rides if they're strapped, so check the ride rules first.
Pantheon FAQs
How fast is Pantheon?
Pantheon reaches 73 mph, driven by a sequence of four LSM launches — the fastest coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
Does Pantheon go upside down?
Yes, twice — plus a beyond-vertical 95-degree main drop and a backward climb up a vertical spike during the swing launch.
Who manufactured Pantheon?
Pantheon was built by Intamin, the Swiss-Liechtenstein manufacturer behind many of the world’s fastest launch coasters.
Get More from Pantheon
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Photo: Jeremy Thompson / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.