40 Loch Ness Monster Facts to Celebrate its 40th Anniversary!

When you think of Busch Gardens Williamsburg, one of the first visuals that pops into your head is probably the iconic interlocking loops on the park’s oldest operating roller coaster, the Loch Ness Monster. In 2018, “Nessie” is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and we wanted to commemorate this anniversary with 40 facts about the legendary coaster.

1) Loch Ness Monster opened at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, then called Busch Gardens: The Old Country, on May 20, 1978.

2) At the ride’s opening, John B. Roberts, General Manager of Busch Gardens at the time, referred to Loch Ness Monster as “absolute mayhem on a scream seeker’s dream machine…the most insidiously conceived contraption of its kind on or under this earth.”

3) It is located in the park’s Heatherdowns area, themed around the country of Scotland.

Loch Ness Monster under construction. Photo: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

4) It was the fourth roller coaster to open at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, after Glissade (1975), Das Katzchen (1976), and Die Wildkatze (1976).

5) At 130’ tall, it was the tallest roller coaster in the world when it opened in 1978.

6) Reaching top speeds of 60mph, it was the fastest roller coaster in the world when it opened in 1978.

7) Loch Ness Monster’s 55-degree first drop was the steepest roller coaster drop in the world when it opened in 1978.

8) Loch Ness Monster’s bright yellow track is 3,240’ long.

9) The coaster required 300 tons of steel to construct.

10) The lowest point on Loch Ness Monster is five feet, nine inches above water level.

11) The coaster features a 114’ drop towards the Rhine River.

Loch Ness Monster Trains Under Construction. Photo: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

12) Originally, Loch Ness Monster was supposed to feature 4 trains with 6 cars each, it was modified to 3 trains with 7 cars each. Each train has 28 riders.

13) It was the first of three coasters (Big Bad Wolf, Drachen Fire) designed by Arrow Dynamics to open at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

14) Loch Ness Monster was designed by Arrow’s Ron Toomer, whose design credits also include Big Bad Wolf, Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point, and Desperado at Buffalo Bill’s in Las Vegas.

15) The original Arrow Blueprints, complete with original coffee stains, are located under glass in the ride’s maintenance area, and take up nearly an entire wall.

16) Loch Ness Monster was the first full circuit coaster to feature interlocking loops, and remains the only coaster with this distinction following the closure of Orient Express at Worlds of Fun in 2003.

17) Both loops are identical in size, 30’ in diameter. Height of the first loop is 82’, and height of the second loop is 57’

18) The trains used to be synced so that the trains would go through the loops at the same time. This changed with updated ride safety systems.

19) Loch Ness Monster is considered a sister coaster to Python at Busch Gardens Tampa. (also a Ron Toomer design)

20) When Python closed in 2006, the trains were shipped to Busch Gardens Williamsburg to be used as spare parts for Loch Ness Monster.

21) Loch Ness Monster uses predominantly flat surfaced wheels, while more modern coasters’ wheels have more of a concave design to hug the track better.

22) Loch Ness Monster’s maintenance bay is located underneath the ride’s station, and coaster trains are lowered into the maintenance bay using gravity.

23) The coaster’s wheels run on the inside of the rails, compared to more modern coasters’ wheels riding the outside of the rails.

24) During the ride’s construction, a portion of track (the last section before into the station) had to be heated and re-bent, because it was facing the wrong way.

25) The coaster used to feature a manual brake in the station. This has obviously been updated with more current technology.

26) Loch Ness Monster’s track was welded together, piece by piece, rather than the track being bolted together like more modern coasters.

Photo: Attraction Chasers

27) Loch Ness Monster was recognized as an American Coaster Enthusiasts Roller Coaster Landmark on June 17, 2003 to celebrate the ride’s 25th anniversary.

28) Busch Gardens hosted the first National Roller Coaster Convention (Coaster Con I) in 1978. ACE was formally organized during this event, and their first ever “ERT” (exclusive ride time) happened on Loch Ness Monster.

Photo: The Freelance Star, Fredericksburg, VA

29) To celebrate the 15th Anniversary of Loch Ness Monster in 1993, a group of parachuting Elvis Impersonators, the “Flying Elvi,” flew in to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and rode Loch Ness Monster.

30) The coaster’s famous tunnel helix features 2.75 rotations in complete darkness.

31) There used to be multiple special effects in the tunnel, including lights, mist, and a mural of the “actual” Loch Ness Monster.

Photo: Attraction Chasers

32) The ride’s queue features theming elements of a Loch Ness Expedition, including submarines and dive suits.

33) Loch Ness Monster is the only one of of Busch Gardens’ Roller Coasters to fully cross the park’s Rhine River twice. (Griffon’s second Immelman also crosses over the river, Alpengeist’s Cobra Roll and Verbolten’s banked turn after the drop do not cross the river.)

34) Riders pull 3.5 Gs during their ride on the Loch Ness Monster.

35) The capacity for Loch Ness Monster is 1,700 passengers per hour.

36) The coaster’s duration is approximately 2 minutes and 10 seconds.

Photo: Attraction Chasers

37) Since its debut, the Loch Ness Monster coaster trains have traveled a distance of roughly 1.3 million miles, a distance greater than going from the Earth to the Moon and back again, twice.

38) Over the past 40 years, 58.5 million riders have braved the Loch Ness Monster.

39) One of the best places to photograph Loch Ness Monster’s iconic loops is the bridge that connects Scotland to Germany in Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

40) It would take nearly 5,655 cycles of the Loch Ness Monster to travel the “as the crow flies” distance between Williamsburg, VA and Loch Ness in Scotland. (3,470 Miles)


Happy Birthday Nessie! Here’s to many more!

Have you ridden the Loch Ness Monster during the last 40 years? What’d you think? Let us know in the comments below!

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