Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
30 riders a train1,400 riders an hour Shoulder harnessplus a seat belt

Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia

Griffon

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170Apollo's Ch.178Pantheon195AlpengeistGriffon205ftNo. 1 of 8coasters wecover at thepark71mphtop speed200ftdrop
POV
Ride it: back row POV
Back row
like flying stadium bleachers
What riders love
  • My heart was pounding when I was hanging over that first drop.
  • That 90 degree drop after hanging for 8 seconds is so intense I can't even explain it.
  • That first drop felt like I was diving and the speed was incredible.
  • The ride is smooth as glass and no matter how many times you ride it, you always feel a twinge of helplessness as you're being dangled over the 90 degree drop.
  • This thing is glassy smooth and provides some of the most enjoyable floater on any coaster.
  • It is incredibly smooth, you get a great view of the James River from the top of the lift hill, and you can feel the speed throughout the layout.
  • Hanging over the first drop is always fun, and if your sitting in the back row with room on your restraint, Those drops give the best moments of floater I've experienced.
  • It’s a floaty and fun coaster that doesn’t offer a lot in the way of intensty, but the two vertical drops and airtime hill into the splashdown provide some GREAT floater airtime!
  • Both drops gives some awesome sustained ejector, the valleys and Immelmanns are really intense and those flips out of the inversions even give some floater.
Griffon Watch Performance Should I ride it? Specifications Reviews Planning History

Watch POVs and more

Griffon - Busch Gardens Williamsburg - Front Row (4K HD POV) - May 2023

youtube.com › ThemeParkMark

Griffon Roller Coaster On Ride Back Seat 4K POV Busch Gardens Williamsburg 2023 07 25

youtube.com › JohnYChen

POV of Griffon - Busch Gardens Williamsburg (4K HDR)

youtube.com › Sean Flaharty

Griffon Review Busch Gardens Williamsburg B&M Dive Coaster

youtube.com › Coaster Studios

Griffon Review, Busch Gardens Williamsburg B&M Dive Machine | World's Best Dive Coaster?

youtube.com › Canobie Coaster

Best Dive Coaster? Griffon Review - Busch Gardens Williamsburg

youtube.com › XscreamThrills

Performance

Vs. other coasters at Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Both drops gives some awesome sustained ejector, the valleys and Immelmanns are really intense and those flips out of the inversions even give some floater.

Cooper Zimmerman

...near vertical drop on a Dive Coaster, and Griffon provides this experience twice together with some awesome positive Gs, intense and powerful transitions coupled with some incredible airtime moments.

Theme Park James

The first drop on Griffon has some underrated floater in the back row and both immelmanns are very smooth and floaty.

Keystone Coasters

Griffon does everything a dive should do and has plenty of air, smoothness, perfect retraints, and is a real looker.

IronChef C.

It may not have insane airtime or high intensity but it’s just an incredibly enjoyable experience.

MapleFlakes

The first drop on this really isn’t nearly as bad as it looks from the ground and it is one of the smoothest roller coasters I have ever ridden.

Michael M.

The ride is smooth as glass and no matter how many times you ride it, you always feel a twinge of helplessness as you’re being dangled over the 90 degree drop.

Liz Barnes

It is incredibly smooth, you get a great view of the James River from the top of the lift hill, and you can feel the speed throughout the layout.

Chris Coaster

I think these larger B&M dive coasters in general don’t feel as intense for how intimidating they look, but it’s fun and glass smooth and incredibly re-rideable.

Colin Berthold

front is far better but both gave me minor headbanging issues which stand out to me because of my ear piercings.

andrea

My dad didn’t want to go any more because it was so intense, but I lapped back for another three rounds.

Brendan B.

That 90 degree drop after hanging for 8 seconds is so intense I can’t even explain it.

Producer Land

The pullout of the first drop is also quite forceful.

Inverted Thrills

There are moments of strong positive Gs as well.

Brendan Keller

The pullout from this drop delivers another solid dose of positive Gs.

Canobie Coaster

That first drop felt like I was diving and the speed was incredible.

Clementine Northcutt

It’s just a good drop followed by forceless inversions and horrible pacing with it completely stopping on the midcourse.

Seth Warren

It is little on the shorter end, and it goes to almost a complete stop on the mid-coarse break run.

Sheena Rodgers

I was there at the very start of the day so there was no wait, better yet we were seated and sent off in the span of around 30 seconds.

roller rider

I was lucky as that day I got to ride it 8 times since Busch Gardens was not that busy!

Producer Land

Griffon is great start to finish, and its also very high capacity as a side note.

Aric The Kakapo

NEVER A LINE.

Coaster Bird
Height fear

My heart was pounding when I was hanging over that first drop.

Gatsby Roberts

it’s surprisingly a super smooth ride and not as scary as I thought it’d be

@saragrace1099

Should I ride it?

Organize by

Specifications

205 ftHeight
205 Griffon 195 Alpengeist 178 Pantheon 170 Apollo'sChariot 150 Tempesto 130 Loch NessMonster
200 ftFirst drop
210 Apollo'sChariot 200 Griffon 180 Pantheon 170 Alpengeist 135 Tempesto 114 Loch NessMonster
71 mphTop speed
Pantheon73 Apollo'sChariot73 Griffon71 Alpengeist67 Tempesto62 Loch NessMonster60 073 mph
90°Drop angle
95°Pantheon90°Griffon79°Alpengeist65°Apollo'sChariot65°InvadR55°Loch NessMonsterdashed line: straight down, 90°
2Inversions

What riders say

Praised for

Rider favouriteSmooth rideStrong airtimeHuge first dropGreat viewsShort waitsFloaty airtimeComfy restraintsHangtime

Criticised for

Too shortWeak layoutWeak theming

But, as far as these types of rides go, it’s my favorite dive coaster to date.

The Real E-Rock, Captain Coaster review

The drops pales in comparison to the others in the park, the Immelmanns do absolutely nothing.

Beau, Captain Coaster review

Griffon is a very fun coaster, but on the lower spectrum for dive coasters for me.

Eric Esty, Captain Coaster review

The first drop is great, and the inversions are floaty enough to be interesting, but this ride ends about as quick as it starts.

Caitlin Wilcox, Captain Coaster review

The ride is themed after a mythological creature that is half lion and half eagle, which might make you expect Busch Gardens to have opted to install a B&M Flying Coaster rather than a Dive Coaster, but Griffon perfectly fits the rollercoaster model.

Theme Park James, published review

It’s just a good drop followed by forceless inversions and horrible pacing with it completely stopping on the midcourse.

Seth Warren, Captain Coaster review

Photos

Griffon's station
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
griffon; tallest dive coaster
busch gardens, Public domain
Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
City-state, CC BY-SA 3.0
the station and the queue for "Griffon"
City-state, CC BY-SA 3.0
Griffon's Splashdown element
Cmedinger (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0
Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Coasterman1234, CC BY-SA 3.0
Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Coasterman1234 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Griffon, Alpengeist, and Loch Ness Monster Rollercoasters shown in close proximity
Cjh1452000, CC BY-SA 4.0
Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Coasterman1234 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Griffon's initial, 90 degree, drop. The only requirement of this license is that you give me credit, otherwise the image is free
Coasterman1234 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Water-Splash Griffon
Sebastian Hirsch (Diskussion), CC BY-SA 3.0

11 photographs. Swipe or drag sideways.

Planning your ride

History and awards

May 18, 2007Opened

A dive coaster, built by Bolliger & Mabillard.

$15.6 millionTo build
4 gStrongest force on riders

Past incidents

  1. June 2021On June 29, 2021, one of Griffon's trains carrying 28 riders stopped midride near the ground.

Golden Ticket Awards, top steel coaster: ranked in 11 polls, 2007 to 2018

27th2007, its first poll
19th2010, its best placing
43rd2018, most recent
0incidents blamed on the ride

Sources

Restraint types: Captain Coaster. History, incidents and awards: Wikipedia. Specifications and status: Coasterpedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. From the park and maker: Busch Gardens Williamsburg guide. Also read: Captain Coaster (converted to feet and mph). Rider sentiment and performance scores: rider reviews on Captain Coaster, themeparkjames.co.uk, youtube.com, read and scored by AirtimeFever.

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons: City-state (CC BY-SA 3.0), Jeremy Thompson (CC BY 2.0), busch gardens (Public domain), Cmedinger (talk) (CC BY-SA 3.0), Coasterman1234 (CC BY-SA 3.0), Coasterman1234 at en.wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0), Cjh1452000 (CC BY-SA 4.0), Sebastian Hirsch (Diskussion) (CC BY-SA 3.0). Video thumbnails remain the property of their channels and link back to them.

Live wait times: Powered by Queue-Times.com.

What riders love, by theme (themes in the order riders pick them most on Captain Coaster): Jax Lunsford, rider review on Captain Coaster: “That first drop is one of my favorite coaster…”; Gatsby Roberts, rider review on Captain Coaster: “My heart was pounding when I was hanging over…”; Producer Land, rider review on Captain Coaster: “That 90 degree drop after hanging for 8 seconds…”; Clementine Northcutt, rider review on Captain Coaster: “That first drop felt like I was diving and…”; Michael M., rider review on Captain Coaster: “The transitions are so smooth and there is so…”; Liz Barnes, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The ride is smooth as glass and no matter…”; Coaster Carl, rider review on Captain Coaster: “This thing is glassy smooth and provides some of…”; Chris Coaster, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It is incredibly smooth, you get a great view…”; Zach Payne, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The back row is the best because you get…”; Ben Lilly, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Hanging over the first drop is always fun, and…”; Kw6sTheater, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It’s a floaty and fun coaster that doesn’t offer…”; Cooper Zimmerman, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Both drops gives some awesome sustained ejector, the valleys…”; Matt McIrvin, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The train is this freakish ten-across thing like flying…”.

The photo slider at the top and the fading stills: JohnYChen's back row POV, Griffon Roller Coaster On Ride Back Seat 4K POV Busch Gardens Williamsburg 2023 07 25 (YouTube), and the page's Wikimedia Commons photographs.