NegaDuck

Cmon, give the guy credit. There's a similar contest going on on Gadling right now - check it out. http://www.gadling.com/2008/08/11/busch-garden-williamsburg-give-a-ways-season-pass-included/ Best of luck!

Alright I just have to share this one with you guys. The eventual winner of the BGW fan page contest, Ben Sutton submit this gem. "Kid Rock's "All Summer Long" dedicated to my favorite ride, the Griffin." It was 2008, my excitement was high my gas was low I barely made it to Busch Gardens that day All those coasters were on my mind It was Summertime in Williamsburg, VA Ahh Ahh Ahh Ahh Ahh Ahh Doing the loops on Lochness Flying through the air on Griffin It's the great things about that park, like shows and rides I didn't have a free pass But man I never will forget Going down that big drop with such pride [Chorus:] And I was riding different things I was eating expensive things Watching shows at the big theatre doing my favorite song Sipping beer out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow Riding that Griffin all summer long Riding that Griffin all summer long Waiting patiently in that line Hoping that it's for a short time That coaster will forever hold a spot inside my heart I would get on that Griffin I would ride it again and again Screaming my lungs out and my arms up apart And I was riding different things I was eating expensive things Watching shows at the big theatre doing my favorite song Sipping beer out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow Riding that Griffin all summer long Riding that Griffin all summer long Now nothing seems as strange as when the leaves began to change Or how we thought those days would never end Sometimes I'll think about that coaster and I'll start to get excited And think man I'd love to ride that Griffin again [Repeat Chorus x2] Riding that Griffin all summer long Riding that Griffin all summer long Riding that Griffin all summer long Riding that Griffin all summer long

Hey Wizard, study the map of the park, so you have an idea of the route you will take. http://www.buschgardens.com/BGw/attractions_home.aspx Hope you have a great time!

Thanks Mike! Have you seen some of the entries thus far? This one is awesome: The rides at Busch Gardens are the hotness From Griffin to Apollos Chariott to Lochness The ride I look forward to the most out of them all Is the Griffin because of that awesome first fall The ride time on Griffin though is rather lame but still puts BG's other coasters to shame And Yoda entered the contest, too: This park, good and beautiful it is. Many times, have I been. The Five, I have conquered. Loch Ness, (a name descriptive it is), the oldest it is, and turns and twists it does. Big Bad Wolf, (the tamest of the lot), scary it is not, unless ride in the back someone does. Alpengeist, (a true adventure heist), the most violent it is, you bones it shakes, yet the soul it thrills. Apollo's Chariot, (the breath it steals), its hills do thrill, and the sensation of flying it gives. Griffon, (the king undisputed), like a fighter it swoops, my favorite it is. To Bush Gardens I shall return, the king of parks with the king of coasters. May the force be with you! Always!

One week contest, we're giving away one BGW+Water Country USA season pass, as well as several $25 Exxon gas cards. http://tinyurl.com/bgwfanpage From the fan page: "To all Busch Gardens Williamsburg fans – here’s a fun chance to show some support for BGW and win some prizes… All you have to do is post in this thread what ride you look forward to riding the most at BGW, and you’re automatically entered in a drawing to win a $25 Exxon Mobil gas card that’ll help pay for the drive out to the park! … For those of you who get creative with your responses, (haiku, poem, puns, jokes etc.) you’ll be eligible for the grand prize: a Season pass to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country, USA!! Write your responses in the thread below to enter. We’ll pick winners next Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 and notify you by direct message! Three winners will receive Exxon Mobil gas cards and one of you will win the season pass AND the gas card! 'What ride do you look forward to the most at BGW?'" Not too many entries, very good chances of winning. Thought I'd pass this along to you guys - several of you have given that page its pictures and videos, so thank you!

Awesome! Its up there. http://tinyurl.com/bgwfanpage FYI we're holding a contest on the fan page, prizes are $25 Exxon Mobil gas cards and a season pass to BGW and Water Country USA. Feel free to join and enter, there aren't that many entries yet, and the contest ends next Wednesday!

Griffon and cfc offer some good advice, they're spot on - also, you can take a look at the Theme Park Insider BGW page that serves as a wiki of information (including ride order strategy) located HERE. Also, I uploaded a map for you if you want to get an idea of how the layout works, and match that up to what Theme Park Insider recommends HERE. Hope you guys have a blast! Take care.

There have been some great BGW images and videos posted here this week! Can we post these pics on the Facebook fan page or the BGW Flickr account? Thanks, love the shots.

You won't be there on the weekend so the crowd will be significantly more manageable. You picked a good time. The Quick Queue ticket was designed for those really heavy weekends, but you should be fine. I felt that the best plan of attack was to hit the Griffon first, as most people will walk in and ride the Loch Ness Monster (the first ride you run into from the entrance). Getting a front row ride to the Griffon followed by the Alpengeist (the second best ride at BGW) is a good start. From there its up to you, theres the Big Bad Wolf and DarKastle, both are worth trying. I saved the Apollo's Chariot and Escape From Pompeii for last, since they were near the exit. I've uploaded one of the park maps here if that helps. Any other questions or concerns?

4. - I can answer this one. Right now you can get a two-day adult ticket for the price of a child ticket HERE. There are other good offers at the VAVacationValues site for BGW, CW, and WC USA. Careful not to lose that camera on the Griffon, haha. Have fun!

If you bought your Griffon shots at the end of the ride, post 'em here. People always look hilarious in these!

I need to hit this up before it closes!

I'm talking about the Summer Nights Series in July and August with Rick Springfield, Grand Funk Railroad and other good classic names performing. I posted the info on the BGW Facebook Fan Page, if anyone's interested. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Williamsburg-VA/Busch-Gardens-Williamsburg/18543728314?ref=ts#/pages/Williamsburg-VA/Busch-Gardens-Williamsburg/18543728314

Not a bad deal at all, but next time check out the VAVacationValues site, you can get the online discount for an additional $10 off/person. Here it is, bookmark! http://www.vavacationvalues.com/vavacationvalues/offer2.html Same, 7 day ticket, hop to either park. For the price you paid, you might as well have included Colonial Williamsburg in the trip under the VVV offer. You still got away with a great deal though. Kudos on the pics!

Hey thats a great TPR group we have going there! Here's the link if anyone missed it: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2224049810 More people need to see the decent job we're doing with the BGW page. I think its the standard that should be set for other theme parks on Facebook.

Are you guys a part of any of the Facebook groups or fan pages for your park(s) of choice? I noticed a lot of pages were hurtin' for members, but maybe thats just my search. Whats the best one for theme park lovers out there? (I started the Busch Gardens Williamsburg Fan Page - join!)

Thats a great review, man. Thanks for posting. You took some great pics! If you're on Facebook, there's a fan page that could use some more fan pics. Question - did you take advantage of any promos or discounts for this trip?

Hi Screamin, I'm doing some work with BGW and I'll tell you that there is definitely a fast pass you might want to consider, allowing you to jump ahead to the front of the line. Here you read up on it if you'd like, its called the Quick Queue. As for the Big Bad Wolf lines, you have to expect that it won't fly by as fast as the Griffon, which seats 10 to a row (BBW only sits 2 to a car) but the ride is also pretty quick, so its by no means a notoriously long-line ride. Also, the BBW ride is one of the more isolated rides in terms of its location to other hot spots of the park, so that may also help reduce the lines. I went last Friday and there was absolutely no trouble getting onto any of the rides except for the Alpengeist front row, and even that only took maybe 9 minutes.

My home home park is technically Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, haha. But I'm doing work with a park much closer to me (I moved) thats actually much cleaner, BG Williamsburg. They're cutting all kinds of deals that aren't really offered down in TX very often, like the unlimited summer Fun Card for VA residents and the $25 discount offers. That sure would've brought me out more often.

Good idea with the special car just for the quick queue people, but then people would complain about why they can't get on that car! Haha I'm on the BGE team and you did accurately describe the QQ system, but I will say that its really not much of an issue either way. The lines are so short at BGE I wouldn't see those frustrations arise. There will always be that day where nothing goes right, of course... There is a really unique angle to take on it, though. Virginia visitors, if you visit the VAVacationer site, you can a hold of tickets at a great reduced price (almost $25 off, not bad). With that said, taking advantage of the discount AND considering the QQ might be a nice plan of attack next time you visit. It cancels out the added cost, and you're free to fly to the front just in case its one of those days...

Whats your plan? I definitely recommend you check out the Busch Gardens Summer Nights concerts in the park – I've been doing some work with BGE, and the concerts are great in that they're free of charge, (well, admission ). Schedule a couple of shows in there, you won't regret it. Here's a listing to help. Have fun!

Western water park sounds alright. It sounds like it suffers from a bit of a branding problem, though. Not as solid and fun as Aquatica or WnW comes across... But in terms of the ride intensity, sounds good.

Its pretty good. None of the slides at Aquatica are really intenese. Really? I've heard Roa's Rapids was one of the more intense ones... Sounds like fun to me, and I like to get tossed around. They're supposed to have stronger wavepools, at least!

Spacemaker sounds really cool! Erik, have you heard of Roa's Rapids at Aquatica? I bet you'd love that!

Did anyone go to the grand opening? My coworkers did, and said it was pretty fun. Here's the video of the webcast that Aquatica was streaming -