My First Visit to Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Several members of the Coaster101 Team have been to Busch Gardens Williamsburg before, but this was my first trip (and I was excited to say the least). This has been a park on my bucket list for as long as I can remember.

After consulting with my peers for tips, I thought I had my day planned. I was not expecting heavy crowds, it being a Wednesday, but you never know. So, I went into the day with a goridealloftherollercoastersasfastasyoucan attitude. My plan was to ride Tempesto first, due to its low capacity, and then make my way clockwise through the park, riding the coasters as I came to them.BGW3

We arrived at the park early and made our way into the park where we were greeted by a rope near the entrance to Italy. “Italy won’t be open until 10:30.” Ok, quick change of plans. Let’s try to go in reverse and go counter-clock wise through the park.

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This sort of worked out well as our first ride was on The Loch Ness Monster, arguably my most anticipated coaster since fourth grade. I know it’s not the best or flashiest ride out there, but it’s a classic. There was a library book I would check out every week that had pictures of The Loch Ness Monster in it and ever since I have wanted to ride it.

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I loved it. The ride was much smoother than I thought it would be and the interlocking loops are simply something you can’t experience anywhere else.

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This coaster was one of my favorite to photograph as well, a very stunning ride.LochNessMonster1BGW1

Next up was my first dive coaster: Griffon. If I am being honest I was skeptical about how such a short coaster could get great reviews. After the first drop, I understood.

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You are hung out over the edge looking straight down and when you are let go, you aren’t in your seat again until you get to the bottom. It is easily one of the best first drops on any roller coaster. The power of this coaster can really be felt throughout the ride, it really moves despite the train’s large and awkward size. Needless to say I am now anxiously awaiting my next visit to Cedar Point to ride Valravn.

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Around the corner from Griffon is Alpengeist, the world’s tallest inverted coaster. While Alpengeist is not nearly as smooth as Banshee, it has a great layout and uses the terrain to its advantage.

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It seemed that at the bottom of each element you were only a few feet from the ground. My favorite part of the ride was toward the end when you take several tight turns through a small ravine.

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Up next was another coaster I was afraid would be too short, but then changed my mind. From what you can see of Verbolten from the midway it appears to have only a few turns, a ride building then a drop. I was amazed at how much track was hidden in the ride building and how fun the ride actually turned out to be. I was impressed with the theming inside the ride building as well as the little surprise that’s in there.

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The drop over the Rhine River is a great finale to the ride.

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By this time I realized that the park was not that busy and probably wouldn’t get much more crowded, so I relaxed a bit and decided to take in a couple non-coaster rides. Mach Tower hardly had any wait, so we took two plunges there and then got in line for Curse of DarKastle. This was my first 3D roving motion simulator type dark ride. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive the preshow since there wasn’t anybody in line – so when the ride started I was a bit lost on the story. That didn’t take away from the quality of the ride though, the effects were great! Hopefully next time we’ll get the backstory.

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On the way back to Italy I grabbed some of the park’s homemade pretzel nuggets (as recommended by fellow team member, Andrew) and they were excellent. Next time I’m going to try the cinnamon ones.

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As we neared Tempesto, I was worried it may have a longer wait, but I was pleasantly surprised when the sign said 20 minutes. I found Tempesto to be a very good ride for the wait we had. It would be hard to wait much longer for such a low capacity ride. It’s much faster and taller than any pictures seem to show. The best part of the ride is the slow barrel roll at the top.

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If you are keeping track, you know what the coaster I still need to ride is. Apollo’s Chariot is another coaster I have looked forward to riding for quite some time. I am a huge fan of Diamondback at Kings Island, so I couldn’t wait to try one of its predecessors.

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Apollo’s Chariot was an airtime machine – one of my favorite types of coasters. The drop down toward the river was awesome and the surprise last airtime hill was like a cherry on top.

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Wait, I forgot a coaster you say? Yep. Grover’s Alpine Express was still to be had, and yes I rode it (see picture below).

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No shame.

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Busch Gardens does a great job of cooling off its guests with numerous trees and misting machines around the park. However, it was a pretty hot day and I had heard good things about the park’s water rides, so we decided to give Escape From Pompei a ride. I like that they went the extra mile with this shoot-the-chutes ride and put theming in at the top, it really adds to it and makes it worth the wait. I actually didn’t get too wet, must’ve been in just the right seat!

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After a quick lunch back at the car, we came back in and took it slow for a little bit. We hopped on the train and rode it around the park. I was able to get a glimpse into InvadR’s construction site and it looks like they have done a lot land clearing underneath the Le Scoot log flume. For more pictures of the construction site, click here.

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Once we made it back to where we started, we walked down the hill toward the river (which is actually a man-made lake) where we got on the Rhine River Cruise. The 15 minute trip opens you up to views you can’t get from the walkways above. You get very close to Verbolten’s final drop and you can see where Apollo’s Chariot crosses over the river. Definitely worth the ride.

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We spent the rest of the day bouncing back and forth between coasters and ended up with several rides on each. We finished our day with a twilight ride on Le Scoot and The Loch Ness Monster, a perfect end to the day.

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Busch Gardens Williamsburg definitely has a stellar coaster lineup and it will only be getting better with the addition of InvadR next year. Each coaster is completely different and offers something the others don’t:

The Loch Ness Monster: Interlocking loops

Griffon: Incredible first drop

Alpengeist: Tallest invert in the world

Verbolten: Multiple launches and a fun surprise

Tempesto: Slow barrel roll at 150 feet

Apollo’s Chariot: Airtime machine

Grover’s Alpine Express: Decent sized junior coaster

Besides the thrills, the park itself is stunning. It’s full of well-maintained landscaping and is super clean. Actually two days after we visited, the park was named “Most Beautiful Park” for the 26th consecutive year.

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Keep up the great work, Busch Gardens, we will be back!

What is your favorite coaster at the park?

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