Apollo's Chariot

Two years after Alpengeist's debut, Busch Gardens Williamsburg turned back to Bolliger & Mabillard for a very different kind of steel coaster — the manufacturer's first attempt at the hyper-coaster format, defined by tall, cabled lift hills and sprawling out-and-back layouts rather than inversions. Announced in September 1998 and built in the park's Festa Italia area, the $20 million ride was named for Apollo, the Greek and Roman god of the sun, who myth held drove a chariot to guide the sun's path across the sky.

Apollo's Chariot opened to the public on March 27, 1999, climbing 210 feet before a 65-degree first drop launches trains across nine airtime hills and 4,882 feet of track at up to 73 mph — no inversions, just sustained floater airtime that became B&M's signature hyper-coaster trademark on later rides worldwide. At its opening ceremony three days later, Italian model Fabio Lanzoni was struck in the face by a goose during a promotional ride, an incident that became one of the most retold stories in American amusement-park history even though later analysis suggested the goose likely struck his camera rather than his face directly.

As Bolliger & Mabillard's debut hyper coaster, Apollo's Chariot effectively launched a template — tall lifts, cabled stadium seating, airtime-hill pacing — that the manufacturer would repeat at dozens of parks over the following decades, including Kings Island's Diamondback a decade later.

Apollo's Chariot remains one of Williamsburg's most consistently well-reviewed coasters, valued for smooth, sustained airtime across its full-length layout rather than any single standout element.