Busch Gardens Europe

[BigRedDad]

This is more of a Trip Report/Opinion on our recent trip to Williamsburg, VA.

The trip was for my wife and I as a getaway for the two of us. We stayed at the Kingsmill Resort. Since we have done the Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown stuff before, we were only going to enjoy Busch Gardens and Kingsmill.

First off, if I ever go back to Williamsburg, I will stay at Kingsmill. That property is exquisite, well laid out, and very relaxing.

Busch Gardens is a clean park, fun rides, and a few fun shows. However, it can all be done in a day and the want to go back another day is minimal. It is definitely not WDW where you can find things to do your entire stay until you fall asleep. The park is not kid friendly. It is designed for older kids and adults. Lines tend to get extremely long. The vacationers are fine, but the locals make it unenjoyable. They have zero respect for anyone, wear clothes that are definitely inappropriate (300 lb women wearing clothes that wouldn't fit my 18 month old), don't bathe, and their language. Althought they only made up about 15% of the people there, that 15% makes me not want to ever go back. It makes you appreciate WDW that much more.

Ride Ratings:
Griffon: Over-hyped. It is only good from th front row. It is no different than any other thrill coaster out there.

Apollo's Chariot: Very fun coaster.

Loch Ness Monster: Good old fashioned thrill coaster. It is getting dated.

Big Bad Wolf: Waste of time.

Alpengeist: Best coaster in the park. Skip Griffon and ride this without having to get off about 10 times in a row.

Escape from Pompeii: Waste of time

Da Vinci's Cradle: Waste of time

Roman Rapids: Waste of time

Curse of Dark Kastle: Good once, but don't wait in like for it

Corkscrew Hill: Very fun 4d ride. Sit in the back row in the middle for the best ride. Worth waiting for.

Pirates 4D: Good to see once.

Emerald Beat: Fun show

The rest of the shows are not much better than you can see at any local middle school or high school. The rest of the rides can be found at any local fair. Grogan's Pub is fun to sit at and chat with the Irish bartenders. Seeing the Clydesdales is always impressive, they even had the pony out.

If you are planning to go, plan it during the week (Mon-Thurs) only. Only plan for one day because that is all you will ever need to see and do everything. Don't waste time in lines that are over 20 minutes. There is not a single ride worth it. Food seems to be expensive. More so than WDW if I recall correctly (5 chicken tenders, fries, and drink was $17).

This is just my opinion. If any one wants any additional info, please ask.

[PirateLover]

The only think I'll disagree with you on is that I think Dar Kastle is pretty cool. We waited about a half hour or so for it and thought it was worth the wait. Is gryffon new? I don't remember it from our trip. We went last year I think. Could've been the year before. Anyway, I agree that Alpengeist was the best Coaster.
I seem to remember a regular old log flume (not escape from Pompeii) around that area as well. Nothing special to it but it was fun and we got soaked.
We ate at the Italian place and the performers there were pretty good. The food was alright.

[IamBelle]

I went there for my class trip last year and didn't really care for it. Everything was so overpriced. I don't care for rollercoasters that much, and since most of the park is rollercoasters, I didn't do much. We were there for 8 hours straight in the blaring June sun. All I did was ride Big Bad Wolf, go on the scrambler-thing, saw the Pirates show, play a few arcade games, and had lunch in Italy. I spent most of my time in Italy watching the performers with my friend. I don't think I would go back. The whole time I was there, I was thinking of how I rather be in WDW!

[cetacean01]

This is more of a Trip Report/Opinion on our recent trip to Williamsburg, VA.

The trip was for my wife and I as a getaway for the two of us. We stayed at the Kingsmill Resort. Since we have done the Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown stuff before, we were only going to enjoy Busch Gardens and Kingsmill.

First off, if I ever go back to Williamsburg, I will stay at Kingsmill. That property is exquisite, well laid out, and very relaxing.

Busch Gardens is a clean park, fun rides, and a few fun shows. However, it can all be done in a day and the want to go back another day is minimal. It is definitely not WDW where you can find things to do your entire stay until you fall asleep. The park is not kid friendly. It is designed for older kids and adults. Lines tend to get extremely long. The vacationers are fine, but the locals make it unenjoyable. They have zero respect for anyone, wear clothes that are definitely inappropriate (300 lb women wearing clothes that wouldn't fit my 18 month old), don't bathe, and their language. Althought they only made up about 15% of the people there, that 15% makes me not want to ever go back. It makes you appreciate WDW that much more.

Ride Ratings:
Griffon: Over-hyped. It is only good from th front row. It is no different than any other thrill coaster out there.

Apollo's Chariot: Very fun coaster.

Loch Ness Monster: Good old fashioned thrill coaster. It is getting dated.

Big Bad Wolf: Waste of time.

Alpengeist: Best coaster in the park. Skip Griffon and ride this without having to get off about 10 times in a row.

Escape from Pompeii: Waste of time

Da Vinci's Cradle: Waste of time

Roman Rapids: Waste of time

Curse of Dark Kastle: Good once, but don't wait in like for it

Corkscrew Hill: Very fun 4d ride. Sit in the back row in the middle for the best ride. Worth waiting for.

Pirates 4D: Good to see once.

Emerald Beat: Fun show

The rest of the shows are not much better than you can see at any local middle school or high school. The rest of the rides can be found at any local fair. Grogan's Pub is fun to sit at and chat with the Irish bartenders. Seeing the Clydesdales is always impressive, they even had the pony out.

If you are planning to go, plan it during the week (Mon-Thurs) only. Only plan for one day because that is all you will ever need to see and do everything. Don't waste time in lines that are over 20 minutes. There is not a single ride worth it. Food seems to be expensive. More so than WDW if I recall correctly (5 chicken tenders, fries, and drink was $17).

This is just my opinion. If any one wants any additional info, please ask.

completely DISAGREE with just about everything you have here. However, I take great exception to the dig at us locals.
No we arent WDW, but we dont try to be. It seems to me that if you compare everything to WDW you will always be disappointed.

[A Foolish Mortal]

Regarding the food being expensive... the food will be very expensive at any park you go to. You'll be lucky if you pay less that $5 per person for a meal.

[mecarroll]

As a local, who local, who goes to Busch Gardens on a regular basis, I feel that must post this reply for all other locals.

First, I shall comment on your overall post. Most of what you said about Busch, in general, is correct and I agree with. It is a one and done park. By this I mean, you can do it in a day and then you're done. There are LOTS of other things to do in Williamsburg to keep you busy for a week though. Water Country, Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, the outlets, and much more. Busch Gardens partners itself with the local Visitor's Bureau to sell a total Williamsburg experience.

You are also correct in the that it might not be the most kid friendly. It has only a very small collection of children's rides. However they don't bill themselves a children's park. It's total family experience...a little something for everyone. True, it may be just a little bit of something.

Now, let me address your comments on the locals. The last time I went to Busch, me, nor my wife, nor any of my friends wore our "Hampton Roads Local" t-shirt. (FYI-Busch Gardens in the Hampton Roads region). I bath daily, and pride myself on covering all parts that should be covered. Anywhere you go, and I do mean anywhere, you will find someone who is not wearing the attire they should. You will find the 15 year old girl showing off her body, the man who forgot to put on enough [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']deodorant[/FONT], or someone who is swearing. The one, and only time I've been to Disney, I've experienced all of this.

Further, all "locals" will standup and shout in agreement to this...we typically stay away from Busch in the summer, because of all you tourists. We go in the spring and fall. So, your 15% is off. I would say its more like 10.362%.

So, dear sir, your unfounded, unresearched, untrue generalization is incorrect. If you think anything you experienced here is a "local" thing....you need to get out more.

[playdead88]

yeah i have to say we go to busch gardens about every other weekend - and while it can't hold a candle to wdw it really is a nice park - its clean and the flowers are beautiful - i really hadn't noticed much of the behavior that was mentioned - we have enjoyed our season passes this year and are planning on going this weekend - oh and the griffon is an awesome way to spend 1 min of your life - great coaster! now if you want to see a park made scarry by not its rides but by its guests try kings dominion that place is a nightmare.

[Mendelson]

I was considering writing a trip report on Intercot after returning from my trip to BGE last week, and lo and behold...one is already here.

General takeaway is - I had a pretty good time.

HOWEVER, one big negative impression that I took away was the crowds. Now, I don't know if these people were locals as some here have suggested...they might have been from rural Virginia, from Vermont, from Idaho, from California, from New York....I really have no idea so I'm not going to impugn anyone's region. But by and large the crowd was very, very trashy. Now, trashiness is subjective, so to make it more quantifiable here's a little formula - IF: number of tatoos + number of cigarettes smoked while in line + number of NASCAR-themed t-shirts in your group + number of times I hear you swear at your kids is GREATER THAN your IQ, you are probably a little trashy. And I would say that this formula applied to most people around us in the park. The rest were thuggish teenagers. Hey, amusement parks don't market to the same crowd as the opera and I know this going in, so caveat emptor.

The park, however, is extremely beautiful. Great beautification efforts and landscaping. Lots of green space, leafy trees, flowers, etc.

There is really good theming in each of the lands, also. You get a very nice transition from one country to the next, benefitted by music, architecture, forced perspectives, etc. (all the stuff that Disney first did to raise the bar so many years ago).

My own comments on the rides are as follows:

Griffon is a very good roller coaster. I don't know about "overhyped," since I had not heard of it before showing up there, so I had gotten no "hype" at all. I suppose the park tries to create as much excitement about their newest, multi-million dollar ride as any park does. And I wold completely disagree with the comment that it's no different from any other coaster out there. It is floorless, and sits ten across, as opposed the normal two or four, so the people in the last two seats on either end of the row get a very great sensation of hanging over nothingness. Also, at 205 feet at the first drop, it's not the highest coaster in the world, but this ride actually tips you over the edge and holds you there for about five seconds before letting you drop. Also unique. And a good part of the first hill is 90 degrees, straight down. Also pretty unique. It's a short ride, and the line is long, but it loads 30 people at a time so the line moves quick.

DarKastle is a very, very good ride and worth the wait. This ride technology is exactly like Spiderman at IOA, which many people think is one of the best rides out there. I think Spiderman beats it by a bit, but it's still very good, and the theming is great.

Big Bad Wolf is about 50 years old, it seems, but there will never be a line and is a fun little roller coaster. I would say not a complete waste of time...it's a bit exhilerating and if there's no line, it's worth riding.

Apollo's Chariot is fabulous. Just don't get Fabioed!

My family went with some newbies who don't frequent amusement parks, and here was their perspective: DarKastle and Alpengeist were their favorites. (Alpengeist is an inverted coaster, which all the parks were building about 12 years ago....it is very good, I've just grown tired of inverted coasters and since it sits four across it's really hard to get a sense of space unless you wait for the front row - which we did - which adds another 20 minutes or so). My friend thought Griffon was just so-so.

We had a two-day pass which came with a third day free, and I actually was happy to have two days there, though if you wanted to, I guess, you could do a lot in one day. We liked having the two days to spread things out and I definitely felt it could be a two-day park, but I like to ride things more than once. We spent the third day at the water park, which I also thought was a lot of fun.