25 May, 2023
After flying from Cleveland to Virginia, I was grateful that the weather was finally starting to warm up a little. I was really looking forward to Busch Gardens, as I had heard so many reports about how beautiful the park was. I was also excited to ride DarKoaster which had only opened a couple of weeks before I arrived.
I had three days in Virginia and bought two-day passes for both Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion. I was not sure which park I wanted to spend more time at, and the additional day at Busch Gardens only cost an extra $15AUD. As Kings Dominion was closed on the 25th, I visited Busch Gardens first.
Thanks to a late park opening (11am), I was able to spend a few hours wandering around the stunning Colonial Williamsburg area before getting an Uber to BG. I really wish I had a spare day just to tour all the museums and gardens in the settlement town. I have never seen anything quite like it!
I arrived at Busch Gardens a little before 11am, and for $230AUD had my 2-day pass and photo pass in my hot little hand. It was a little annoying that many of the ride photo booths were closed, so I didn’t actually get many images. I decided not to book a fast pass in advance as I wanted to see what the midweek crowds were like first. I was thrilled that I saved myself $90AUD, as the park was really quiet.
I knew that the park was divided into areas by country or hamlet, similar to parks like Europa. I also visited during the Food and Wine festival which was something I hadn’t experienced at an amusement park before. I spoke with lots of people who didn’t come for the rides but came to eat their way around the park instead. That was probably a sensible decision to avoid combining lots of alcohol with lots of roller coasters. Various pop-up food stalls were opened, including ones for Japan, Brazil, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Out of all the wonderful alcoholic beverages they could have served representing Oz, they chose Foster’s Beer?? Ugh!
The land of England was right at the entrance, but there did not appear to be any big rides in this area. The Sesame Street section for kids was nearby, which felt random as it was not English. It was certainly a convenient location for families with little ones however. The best of England was a cool lolly shop, and various horse and dog displays.
I paid for a locker near Loch Ness Monster in the Scotland section, which felt quite central to many of the rides. Opening in 1978, I correctly guessed this was manufactured by Arrow based on how incredibly rough it was. When I went to load my photo, the cameras had malfunctioned and my row was missing. Bugger – now I would have to ride it again! I tried three times to get a picture on this coaster with no luck, and decided it was not worth the literal and figurative headache to try again. Onwards and upwards!
I commenced an unintentional clockwise loop of the park, as I could not find a straightforward way to get to the back of the park where DarKoaster was situated. I heard the queues for this one could be epic, so I had intended to ride it early. The layout of BG Williamsburg was definitely one that I struggled with, despite the park being quite small. The signage was terrible, and the app did not have a lot of detail.
So now that I had landed in Italy, I jumped on a flume ride called Escape from Pompeii. I would normally avoid the water rides until the end of the day, but I wasn’t sure if I would return to this area, and there was a grand total of zero people in the queue. I quite enjoyed this one, giving me “Bermuda Triangle” vibes from the former SeaWorld ride.
So with a wet bum, I cheerily went along my way to Apollo’s Chariot. I was a bit confused that a Greek themed ride was in the middle of Italy, but I got over this rapidly when I realised it was a B&M! I was thrilled to see a single rider queue that was actually opened, so I waltzed down the middle aisle. In the end it was unnecessary, as there was no wait for this ride the entire day. I suppose I saved myself a few steps though as the single rider queue area was a bit shorter. Locals told me the single rider queue was a godsend in the middle of summer, when the crowds are absolutely nuts. Apollo’s Chariot was another cracking B&M creation. It is devastating that we don’t have any Bolliger and Mabillard tracks in Australia, because I am yet to experience one that I do not like!
The whole ride was fabulous! I love the B&M “fakey” drops prior to the actual stomach-churning drop. Plus the hills and airtime through and over the treetops felt like they kept going and going along the “up and back” track. I still get moments of uncertainty with these types of restraints, which consist of a small individual lap bar without a secondary restraint system. The elevated seat means your feet are left dangling. I think the fear of falling out makes it more fun though and figured that nobody had fallen out yet!
Apollo’s next-door neighbour, Tempesto, was closed. As always, I was disappointed to see one of the bigger attractions down but had ridden Superman Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, which was the same model. The compact looping track was similar to Dreamworld’s old Buzzsaw. If I had to choose, I was glad that Apollo was open instead of Tempesto.
The next roller coaster was Pantheon. Italy was punching well above its weight! Pantheon had a 10-15 minute wait for most of the day, though operations would have sped up considerably if staff attempted to fill empty seats. This was a really excellent forward and backward launching coaster. It was also neat to see the track physically change part way through the ride, to enable the launches across different sections of track. The backwards launch was a surprise packet, literally throwing your body forward quite intensely. It was my favourite part! This was a high value, high entertainment ride, but I selfishly wanted a bit more from it, like a big hill or a big drop. Regardless, I could not decide whether I liked Pantheon or Apollo more, so I ranked them both equal first for the day. After multiple rides on both, it was time to depart Italy for Germany.
I was grateful that the bridge between the countries had recently reopened, because the alternative was a very long walk in the opposite direction. Once you cross the bridge, you are greeted with Oktoberfest signs, pretzels, beer, and merry accordion music. This was great!
I lined up for Verbolten, a German car themed indoor/outdoor coaster. The decorations in the queue area were top notch, which made the 15-minute wait go quickly. I get really excited with indoor coasters, because you don’t know what you are getting yourself in for. Verbolten was a wonderful surprise, with excellent launches and an unexpected dropping platform. This reminded me a lot of Th13teen at Alton Towers, which was also a favourite. Verbolten was pure fun with lots of giggling throughout.
The other attraction on my list in Germany was DarKoaster: Escape the storm. This ride had only been open for one week, and I read that it was experiencing extensive down time with teething issues. Sure enough when I went to line up, it was down with mechanical issues. The queue was still very long, so I guess people were hopeful of a quick fix. I decided to return later in the day, and went to go and find France instead. This was the most frustrating part of the day. I ended up in Scotland again after very steep down and uphill sections across the Rhine River. The crossing was a great location for photos of some of the bigger coasters over the water though. I just could not work out how to find the land of wine and croissants.
It was not until hours later that I discovered a tiny entrance way near a German fountain (no signage), which would have saved me a few kilometres. The bonus of being back in Scotland meant I could get a snack and some water from my locker, as I had just been carrying around a bum bag. Avoid dehydration kids!
Since I was now heading counterclockwise, I arrived in Ireland next, which was a stunning section of the park. In each area, the shops, food, rides and entertainment were designed to reflect the country they were in. The shops in Ireland were very cute, and I loved the attention to detail like the orange and green colour scheme on Finnegan’s Flyer (giant swing).
The inclusion of the eagle and wolf enclosures in this area was a little odd, and although I returned three times, I did not spot the grey wolves at all and unfortunately missed the animal show. I was stoked not to miss the Irish dancing show though. I returned to view Celtic Fyre later in the day, which was a perfect high-quality inclusion! There were a couple of technical issues early on with the lead singer’s microphone not working, but a clever cast member subtly danced up to him offering him a handheld replacement. Much cheering from the audience ensued, as we could now understand the storyline. The dancing was wonderful – from both the Irish dancers, but also the two who were trying to prove that American style tap was more impressive (both styles were amazing!) A highlight for me was one of the female leads singing “The Voice.” Though I am sure most of the audience had no idea of the origins of this song, this Eurovision fan was well aware that the song won Eurovision for Ireland in 1996. The only downside of the show were the screaming toddlers next to me. I could totally understand their discomfort in the dark and noisy theatre but felt that Mum or Dad should have taken them outside when it was clear they were not going to settle down.
Continuing in my anti clockwise direction, I finally arrived in France. A second B&M was on the cards with Griffon, a dive coaster which was very similar to Valravn with its two drops. The bonus was that Busch Gardens was a lot more scenic that Cedar Point, so you got some amazing views while enjoying a great ride.
I was at the furthest point at the back of the park, in an area known as “New France” which I think was basically Canada (apologies as my North American history isn’t great!) New France was home to the park’s only wooden coaster, InvadR. I had read that the trains were repurposed from Iron Gwazi (Busch Gardens Tampa) which was kind of cool as that was another coaster on my bucket list (alas for a different trip). The Viking theme of InvadR was cool, but overall I was a bit disappointed. For a relatively new coaster (2017), I thought the park may have taken the opportunity to construct a signature wooden experience. However, this one was quite small with one good drop, a bit rough, and probably one of the weakest wooden coasters I would experience throughout the trip. I can appreciate that this coaster filled a gap though, for those riders who were beyond the kiddy rides but not quite ready for the more intense coasters. I also liked that I saw my first beaver while on this ride (or was it a mole??)
I moved on to the Alpengeist. Hard to pronounce, difficult to find the entrance. I wasn’t sure whether this ride was in France, New France or Germany, but either way it was excellent! This was one helluva intense suspended coaster, and my third B&M for the day! The forces were quite strong, and as my first two rides were not in the front row, I really had no idea what was going on. You couldn’t see what was coming, exciting elements followed one after the other very quickly, and it was a little rough in places. I made sure to get the front row on my third turn and it made a world of difference. I loved being able to appreciate the elements and scenery, and I also came to appreciate the alpine theme around a runaway ski lift. The front row was so intense that I actually experienced some wind chill, my face was freezing, and even my toes were freezing inside my shoes.
It was near Alpengeist that I finally discovered the hidden walkway back to Germany, so I sucked it up and waited it out at DarKoaster. The advertised wait time was 30 minutes, I thought the line looked to be about 45 minutes, but the actual wait was 1.5 hours. I have never experienced a line that moved quite like this (and not in a good way). Normally you stand around for a bit, then move a reasonable amount, then wait again (and repeat). However this line moved at a tiny shuffle the entire way. Once you got through the outdoor queue area, you were squished into the inside section like sardines as you moved up and down a seemingly endless twisting section. This would really suck on a hot day. When you finally got to the loading area it was chaotic. There was a huge amount of people in this area, not helped by all the fast pass people that had basically brought the main crowd to a halt. The one saving grace was that even if you bought a fast pass, you could only use it on DarKoaster once. Although the surroundings were pretty cool (the ride utilised the former DarKastle setup), the novelty wore off very quickly.
My feet were killing me by the time I boarded the ride, due to standing still on concrete for so long. There were only two trains operating, seating 10 people each. In the age of modern roller coasters, it felt quite strange to have a brand new ride with such a low seating capacity. I was grateful to have experienced the coaster, but it was not worth the wait. I think all new coasters are hyped up and highly anticipated (aka Wild Mouse at Cedar Point), but neither of these lived up to expectations. DarKoaster felt a bit like SeaWorld Australia’s Jet Rescue, but indoors. Both are Intamin coasters, both are launched and relatively flat rides, both have awkward seating in the snowmobile or jet ski themed trains. I felt that DarKoaster was so dark that you couldn’t fully appreciate the track or the experience, and it was over very quickly. This was in my bottom two coasters for the day, ahead only of the kiddy coaster in the Sesame Street area.
I know I am jaded due to the long and unpleasant wait, but I can pragmatically see the benefits of this ride once the opening hype dies down. Busch Gardens has lots of rides for little ones, and lots of rides for adults, but is lacking in the family ride department. With InvadR and now DarKoaster, they have made a solid attempt to cater for the family audience. Had it not been for the long wait time, I would have given DarKoaster another crack.
I decided to tick off another easy coaster credit by heading back to England for the Sesame Street Forest of Fun. Comparable to the Snoopy areas of Cedar Fair parks, this was a cute little area for the tots. There was no wait for Grover’s Alpine Express, which completed just one loop of the short track. It was pretty zippy for a kiddy coaster, and smoother than other similar sized tracks.
I reckon I could have easily spent three days at Busch Gardens. One for the rides, one for the food, and another for the shopping and shows. By the time closing came around at 7pm though, I was feeling very satisfied with the amount I had managed to fit in. As this was predominantly a roller coaster trip, I decided to spend the additional day at Kings Dominion instead. I didn’t feel that it was worth the gamble to return to BG just for Tempesto, when it may be closed again.
Busch Gardens was my first 30,000 step day of the trip. While this was mostly due to the 2.5 hour stroll around Williamsburg prior to arriving at the park, my poor navigation within the park did not help. I also had some additional stress at the end of the day, as my phone battery had dropped to 3% when I booked an Uber. I was worried the driver would not find me as the pick up locations in the carpark were confusing. It was a great feeling sitting in that car just as the battery died!
I thoroughly enjoyed this area of Virginia, and the beautiful Busch Gardens. I would love to come back if finances ever allow! Note to self: do not book the Super 8 hotel again. The “super” part was false advertising…
Roller Coaster Ramble 