Busch Gardens Williamsburg VA

[terri110874]

Any feed back about this park? Any must dos or donts ?


Any advice for going with a child with special needs?

Thinking of going in Late April

Also, any hotels to stay away from or great places to stay?

Thanks in advance.

[BrerGnat]

Interested also. We are planning to go over Memorial Day weekend. Our kids are both on the autism spectrum. From my research, they don't offer any assistance pass or anything. We are okay with that as our kids don't do big coasters and the other rides won't have such long lines. We are planning just one day there and one day exploring Williamsburg. I'd like hotel recommendations as well.

[1DisneyNut]

We went last summer and we stayed at the Embassy Suites Williamsburg. I would recommend it, it was nice and in great shape. It is pretty much your typical Embassy Suites....free full breakfast buffet and in the evening they have the managers reception with free drinks and snacks. It is in a nice sort of quiet location not very far from Busch Gardens.

As for Busch Gardens, the attractions are mostly variants of the attractions at Sea World Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa. They have different names with a European theme but you will recognize the attractions when you see them if you have ever been to the aforementioned parks. For example, Escape from Pompeii is basically Journey to Atlantis from Sea World and then there is the show "pet shenanigans" that is the same show as the one with the cats and dogs maybe its called pets ahoy I think. They do have a unique ride called Curse of Darkastle. It uses a lot of new technology in combination and is completely different than anything else I have ever ridden....I would recommend trying it.

When we went last summer we actually got there way early.....before they even opened the gates to the parking lot and we were the first car in one of the lines. Anyway, we discovered that they open the park an hour before the advertised opening time and you could get into the first section of the park. There were a couple of attractions in that area open, one was a roller coaster. They opened the other areas in phases over the next hour and all sections were open at the advertised opening time. Not sure if they always do this but it looked to be routine. Another thing to note, is the park wasn't designed very well. It basically has a main entrance pathway and then the various sections just branch off so you do a lot of backtracking to the original pathway and then taking another branch. It drove me crazy going back to and by the same place over and over all day instead of being able to cruise around in some sort of organized fashion. Best I remember, Busch Gardens Tampa is also like that.