Trademark Filed By Busch Gardens for Mystery Ride
The Daily Press reports that Busch Garden’s parent company applied this month for a trademark for the word “Griffon.” According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the service provided by this mark will be “entertainment in the nature of an amusement park ride.
Busch Gardens‘ officials remain tight-lipped about the ride, which is scheduled to open in Virginia in late spring 2007, replacing the family-friendly car ride called Le Mans Raceway.
The park dropped clues to the new ride on its web site with a graphic that features a bird’s claw and words such as “flight,” “menacing,” “immense,” “strength,” and “vertical.” The word griffon, also spelled griffin, is a mythical eagle and lion hybrid. Fans are hoping the new ride will be a coaster like SheiKra, the so-called “dive machine” that opened at Busch Gardens Florida last year.
Plans for the ride filed with James City County call for a height up to 50 feet highter than Alpengeist, which is a 195-foot-tall roller coaster.