The Phoenix is rising at Busch Gardens and it’ll be great to have a new coaster at the park. My only concern with this ride is capacity. If you’ve ridden the very similar Dragonflier at Dollywood, Swamp Thing at Wild Adventures or Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot Orlando you know these rides only have one train. These rides have very similar lengths, layouts and specs to what is proposed for Phoenix Rising. I’ve timed the Dragonflier at Dollywood several times and with a 60 second ride cycle and averaging 90-120 seconds to load/unload you’re only talking 20-24 cycles per hour. With 20 riders/train that’s only 400-480 riders/hour which is pretty low for a coaster as modern coasters range between 1,200 and 1,800 riders/hour.

Granted, the two coasters listed above are from Vekoma and Phoenix Rising is from B&M, but the previous B&M family inverts built in China appear to be single train as well. However, if you add a second train and have fast operations that 400-480 riders can probably become more like 800 riders/hour with good operations. That makes its capacity more similar to a flat ride like Serengeti Flyer where coasters like SheiKra, Kumba, Montu and Cheetah Hunt range from 1,400 to 1,800 riders/hour. There is the somewhat special case of Iron Gwazi hovering somewhere between 500-800 riders/hour as well. Not exactly a “people eater” (to borrow an old Disney term), but it’s worked out OK. However, a 60-90 minute wait for a major thrill coaster may be perceived differently than the same wait for a family coaster. Of course nothing holds a candle to the original Gwazi wooden coaster with a capacity of nearly 2,900 riders/hour with its dual tracks!

The stations for these rides tend to be pretty simple. It’s essentially a concrete pad with a simple building structure over it. In looking at the park’s rendering there does appear to be a long straight section of track behind the station, perhaps long enough for a brake area and block zone? However, there doesn’t appear to be obvious accommodations for storage and support of a second train like switch track, but it is just a promotional rendering.

At Dollywood the Dragonflier can have some of the longer waits in the park, so hopefully the skilled and smart folks at B&M and Busch Gardens find a way to wring all the capacity out of Phoenix Rising they can. It would be great if they channeled their inner “El Toro Ryan” to add a block zone in there somewhere to allow for an extra train or developed expedited boarding procedures to allow as many people to ride as possible.