Escape from Pompeii is a shoot-the-chuteswater attraction designed by Intamin located at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia. The attraction is based on the ancient city of Pompeii when it was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Guests board flat-bottom boats that advance through the attraction along a canal of water as if the volcano is alive once again. Special effects include swinging flickering lights, cracking wooden boards, burning walls and ceilings, and tumbling statues. At the end of the ride guests go through a misty dark room right before they go down the five story drop into the splash pool below. The ride's fire elements were installed by the same company that made the fire elements for the movie Backdraft.
Ride experience
Guests enter the queuing area near the back of the structure of the ride, where they pass a ruined structure with "Pompeii" written on it, with graffiti-lime "Escape From" written above the sign. Guests then walk under the final chute to the ride, where they wind past evidence of the Pompeii disaster and past billboards of an archaeological exploration of the ruins. They continue to a covered structure where boats pass the queue, and statues and columns stand crumbling in water next to the queue. Guests then are placed in rows to board the boats. After boarding flat bottom boats as if they are touring the ruins of Pompeii, guests are taken up a incline. The boat makes a small drop into the main ride building, where they pass by an abandoned archaeological site and crumbling structures as tense music begins to play. The boat passes under crumbling walls where wooden beams break apart and fall into the water to the side of the boat. The boat floats past the ruins into a room full of crumbling statues and structures standing among the water. Here, real fire begins to spread throughout the room - overhead, on top of the statues, and over the water as dramatic music begins to play. The boat continues through the fiery room, past burning columns and statues. As the boat exits the room, they pass a large statue of Jupiter, which also catches fire. The boat then passes under a crumbling wooden structure as ripples of fire burn on the ceiling. A dark room leads the boat past more crumbling structures and directly under a statue, which falls right over top of the boat, but the fall is stopped by a slightly concealed pillar to the right. The boat continues, where the music picks up dramatically, into the dark room, with fog and more ruins and statues. The boat then advances to where a door blows open and allow guests to see outside of the ride just before plunging down the 48.5-foot tall, 80-foot long chute into the water below. The boat splashes into the water before the flume runs around a small garden with a Roman sundial and returns riders to the loading area to disembark.
History
Guests would wait upwards of 2 hours to ride on Pompeii, but during the first summer - the ride was often closed for 'unknown reasons' to the public. However, these reasons were in fact known and none were actually mechanical ride problems. The ride's downtime stemmed from its building fire-alarm system which during the hottest days caused the sprinklers to turn on in the back hallways and the ride's safety system would spit the boats out of the building then shutdown the pumps for the ride. The added downtime was implemented to clean up the water in the back hallways, get the alarm company on-site to reset the sprinkler heads, and to get the ride pumps fired back up. On the evening of July 21, 2018 there was a small fire which temporarily shut down the operation of the ride. The fire started on the roof of the attraction's show building and was quickly contained and extinguished. No injuries were reported and the ride re-opened a few days later.
