Alpengeist vs Wildfire

Vintage is the reversed stat — the older ride wins. Every number here is the same one printed on the card; see /methodology for how Build Cost and Throughput are sourced.

The verdict

Alpengeist sweeps every comparable stat. There is no line on the card where Wildfire is the better pick, so the only way this duel turns is on who calls the stat.

Alpengeist is a steel Inverted Coaster coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, US, built by Bolliger & Mabillard. Wildfire is a steel Sitting Looping Coaster coaster at Silver Dollar City, US, built by Bolliger & Mabillard.

Both are in US, which puts them in the same conversation for anyone planning a trip there.

They come from the same drawing office: Bolliger & Mabillard. That makes the gaps below a question of brief and budget rather than engineering house style.

Both are steel-track, so nothing here is the usual steel-versus-wood argument in disguise.

They are near-contemporaries — 1997 and 2001 — so they were competing for the same riders when they opened.

Stat by stat

• Height goes to Alpengeist at 195 ft against 120 ft — nearly double.
• Speed goes to Alpengeist at 67 mph against 66 mph — all but dead level.
• Alpengeist takes Inversions 6 to 5.
• Throughput goes to Alpengeist at 1,820 rph against 1,024 rph — nearly double.
• Build Cost goes to Alpengeist at 20 $m against 14 $m — a long way clear.
• Vintage is reversed, so Alpengeist's 1997 takes it from Wildfire's 2001 — 4 years in it.