bert425

yeah. . .we had amazing weather the whole trip, tho hot. wait until you see the blue sky behind the Iwo Jima monument, I took on the Monuments by moonlight tour. ah heck, I'll post that out of order just to show. . . it was amazing (and totally looks photoshopped. . but it's not)

Jcoaster -- that was a great trip report. and how funny that we took a lot of the similar pics . . I guess BGW is just so damn photogenic (my ongoing report, including BGW, I started a separate thread for -- because we did Kings Dominion, as well as some "Culture" things, such as Colonial Williamsburg, the Washington Monuments, the Capital, and the Smithsonian museums).

They have FANTASTIC flat rides at this park, all worth getting on. They do have a lot of old fashioned flat rides too. Unfortunately they took two of my favorites out years ago (an old Octopus ride that used to be in Oktoberfest and a Sea Ship ride from Festa). Most of the flat rides are in the Italy/Festa and the Oktoberfest parts of the park. The bumper cars are particularly good at this park, since they let you go nuts on them. I called it a music express.. basically the same thing, no? the ship is really still there in the Festa part, it's just themed to a battering ram, but it's still the same basic ride. as to the bunnies, they are a very reasonable $1 rental. . we "shared". . for ex: used the bunny by Apollo to ride Apollo, Tempesto, Roman Rapids, Trade Winds, and Turkish Delight (teacups). . . then retrieved our stuff.

more pics: Golden Eagle from the Predators show -- those are rats running along the rope at the front Predators show Hawk during Predators show Predators show Grey Wolves predators show Me and an owl! owl! in front of Verbolten. . with NO ONE ELSE around. .it was seriously a walk on. having lunch in the Festhaus with a wolf on my head. more LNM goodness such a photogenic park. . three coasters in this tangle, right? Loch Ness Monster, Griffon, and Alpengeist Grey Wolf! Two Grey Wolves! station wait for LNM, when they shut down the ride due to weather that didn't show up. . . back open in less than 20 minutes. station wait for LNM, when they shut down the ride due to weather that didn't show up. . . back open in less than 20 minutes. we're happy to be at Busch Gardens Williamsburg!

Day 2: Up and out of the hotel early. . we were close to Bush Gardens Williamsburg, but I was giddy and wanted to be there at opening. BGW is one of my bucket list parks, and I had been dreaming about getting to ride the Loch Ness Monster (the yellow interlocking Loops coaster) for over 25 years! The park also routinely wins “most beautiful theme park in the world” and is known for it’s amazing themeing, great shows, and above average food. We took a right out of the Hotel drive, and were in line for BGW in under 5 minutes. Even the line to get in to park was exciting, as you pull in right next to Apollo’s Chariot (the giant Purple and yellow mega coaster), and Tempesto (the new Blue and Orange Skyloop the park just opened). . so everyone is watching the coasters test as you’re waiting to park. The booth scanned our card (free parking with Bounce pass, yay!), and directed us to the “Italy” lot, where we parked under a numbered pole (so we could find the rental car later!), and took the shuttle train to the front gates!. . . we stopped to take some pics, as we were going towards the gates, and I noticed how hot it was getting. The sun was out for sure! But I had covered myself in 50 SPF, and amazingly? No sunburns the whole trip! Once thru bag check, we came out into a very well themed England section. Looking at the park map (where different sections open with the park), we could either go straight ahead to Scotland and ride Loch Ness Monster (but I wanted to save that for last for the anticipation), or we could go left to Italy, for the new coaster, Tempesto. . which, being a sky loop, means only one car on the track possible, and terrible capacity. Nick wasn’t going to ride Tempesto or the other big coaster there (Apollo’s Chariot), so I felt bad going there first, but my instincts were get the low capacity ride out of the way FIRST. . so we headed that way, past Escape from Pompeii (which looked stuck already!!) and I got on Tempesto with only a 2 car wait. Ok. . this ride is great in theory, but in reality? I’m a little too old for it. . I didn’t realize that it turns you upside down more than once (in addition to the signature S-L-O-W roll-over at the very top of the loop). I got off this thing with my legs like jelly. . the adrenaline being a bit too much for me. . LOL. So yeah, that was a 1 and done, but at least I rode it! While in line for Tempesto, I could see that Apollo still had an almost non-existent line – I guess most of the crowd had gone towards Loch Ness Monster – so I got right in line and walked on. I knew from the moment we hit that first floater airtime hill that Nick would love this, after all, he loved Phoenix at Knoebel’s and Jackrabbit at Kennywood. . the issue is the design of the seats. But I got off and told him that he would love this ride. And that yes, the seats are “exposed” but if we sat in the center two seats, he would feel enclosed, and I didn’t want him to regret not trying it. He hemmed and hawed a little bit, but I told him I’d go right back on with him and I wouldn’t bug him to ride anything else for the rest of the trip. So he trusted me, and we put our bags in the “storage places that cost $1 each time), and we both got on. . . and it was a fantastic ride again, and he really, really liked it J (yay me). At this point, I’d ridden 3 coasters in a row, and we had walked a lot (BGW is a BIG park), and so we went to buy some water. We noticed it was hot, but, eh, we’re from Texas. .and the lady in the Ice Cream parlor just stared blankly ahead as I commented on the fact that bottled water was $3.99, and how she must hear that a lot -- and a woman came in behind us and said, “you know, they’re giving free water”. We didn’t know, and the counter lady didn’t bother telling us. . but it was SO hot, that BGW was giving out free cups of water to anyone who wanted. (we bought the bottles anyways, for the screw on tops, but thought it was amazing that a park would be giving away stuff. . the water might not cost much, but every cup was free too). We cooled down a little on trade-winds (a music express type ride), and the teacups, and although we didn’t WANT to get wet so early, it was HOT, so we hopped on Roman Rapids (and barely got spritzed). This part of the park was starting to get a little more crowded, because folks were coming over for the new Coaster, so we headed out and hung a left to go towards DaVinci’s gardens, and the 3 rides there: Battering Ram (basically a swinging ship, which we skipped), Flying Machine (which we really liked), and Davinci’s Cradle (a Flying Carpet type ride. . which I’ve never been on, and lordy, it made me SO nauseas. . I just wanted it to stop. I mean, I can say I’ve finally been on one, but boy howdy, did I NOT care for it). Luckily, there was a nice shady spot to sit in, and cool down, and we had the nice Italian shopping plaza to stroll thru, meaning we got a little bit of a break. . we definitely enjoyed the spritzers on the bridge over by Verbolten on one side, and Loch Ness Monster on the other. By the time we got across the long bridge and emerged in Oktoberfest, we were ready to ride more, but were also getting hungry. We passed by Mach Tower, with no line, but I wanted to go to Verbolten, as it’s something Nick knew nothing about (and it has that surprise vertical drop in the middle of it!). Verbolten is BGW’s new coaster from last year, and it has magnetic launch (it replaced the suspended coaster Big Bad Wolf. . which I got a really cool RIP BBW shirt of). Like the rest of the park, it’s themed incredibly well, as a journey thru the black forest, where the trees have come alive. Verbolten had NO wait, so we got right on, and .. . . it shook the crap out of us. Nick doesn’t like to ride in the front of coasters, so we were in the 2nd car, but wow, was it rough. I liked it, but yeah. . shook the crap out of us. After that, Nick needed a little break, so I went to ride Mach Tower (since it was working, and the BGW drop tower is infamous for not working, same true of Escape from Pompeii). . so when I saw it was running? I went for it. It was so, so, so hot, but what is unique about this tall drop tower is that it spins you as it ascends, so I could see that not only had the Italy lot where we parked NOT filled up, but a lot of folks seemed to be leaving as it was hitting noon. I didn’t have long to ponder this, because the awesome drop happened J. . . I found Nick and convinced him that since Verbolten had no line, we should get on it again, but this time in the front seat. And it actually *was* much smoother the 2nd time, although still very shakey. We both got off it feeling a bit ill this time, but I reasoned that it was because we were out in the heat and had not actually eaten anything yet. . . so we bypassed the Wirbelwind (swings) and the bumper cars (which we both dislike), and went into the Festhaus for lunch. Ahhh. . air conditioning. . . we had just missed the show they have in the center of the huge seating area (Roll out the Barrel), but it was so nice to sit down and cool off. We had no idea of the portion sizes, so we stupidly each ordered a sandwich (Corned Beef for me, Turkey for Nick) and these HUGE ass sandwiches came out. . we should have just split one. . .LOL. But we ate as much as we could (and I gave and bought a souvenir cup for $12, but with free refills the whole day you buy it. We more than got our money’s worth, even tho we alternated sodas with water when refilling). So we finished our lunches and cooled off, but no way could we really ride anything being so full, and now, around 1pm, you could really tell that the place was clearing out. So we went to Curse of Dark Castle (not knowing what to expect) – which was a walk on, and absolutely loved this 3D, fully immersive Dark Ride! I wanted to go on it right again, but it was *just* “sloshy” enough that we decide against it on a full stomach, and instead continued thru to the Germany Section, where we came across the German ‘hub’ of BGW’s unique Triangle Skyride. That was the perfect amount of movement for us, so we went ahead and took the skyride from Germany to England, then from England to France, and then back to Germany, where we got out and wandered into the stores, and watched the giant clock do it’s thing (it’s got a ton of moving parts and jousting knights that come out of the clock every 15 minutes). By then the food had settled a bit, so we went ahead and continued around the park, into the tiny Switzerland (?) section, where Alpengeist was also a walk on. Nick took one look at it and said “no way in hell”. . so he rode “Bench: the ride” while I tried the test seat (I fit!), and made my way to the suspended coaster with 6 inversions. Now, something about Busch Gardens. . many of the rides are not “male-friendly”. .they all have a little “claw” that sticks up in the middle of the crotch – basically a bucket seat, but with a rubber divider in the crotch area. MOST of the rides, this didn’t bother me – tho in the Mach tower, I almost landed “poorly” getting out of the seat at the end of the ride. .if you know what I mean. But on Alpengeist? So shakey, they should have renamed this thing the nutcracker. . . . the WHOLE ride, other than the lift hill? “ow ow ow ow ow holy crap ow!” It’s fast, it’s mean, it was a 1-and-done. .did NOT get back on it, even with a lack of line. . . ouch! We hobbled across the bridge to New France (aka: Canada), and decided to ride the Le Scoot log flume (again, because it was hot, we barely got wet. . ), but we love flumes, and as usual, bought the picture set. We also rode Le Catapult while here (a scrambler out in the boiling sun. . no shade for it at all). This section was all rustic log cabins and such, so not much shopping was done, and we continued on to France, and to Griffon, the parks Diving Coaster. Nick took one look at the 3 rows of stadium seating (open on all sides) and said, no way, but you ride. So I did. It was walk on, and unlike Alpengiest, Griffon has “big boy” ie: more comfortable seats, in all rows. So I rode in back row first, and was blown away. Smooth, smooth, smooth, and so dang fast, and that first drop! Like a drop tower, but face first. I got off it and Nick said he didn’t mind if I rode again, so I got back in line and it was walk on for 2nd row, and I loved it just as much the 2nd time. By now our feet were really starting to hurt, and we were coming up on the Jack Hanna preserve section of the park – lots of shade and animals, so we stopped and looked at the Golden Eagle, and the Bald Eagle, and the Grey Wolves, and passed by the butterfly and bird walkthrough..and decided we’d get off our feet for a bit to see the Pet Shenanigans show. They came out prior to the show start and announced that since it was so hot, they were only going to do a 10 minute, “training” version of the show. . although we did get what I assume is the finale (with the animals by themselves on the stage, and it ends with a sign dropping over a pig’s butt that says “the end”). And the theater is wonderfully shaded by a giant tree, with some nice fans. Across the walkway was the Predators show, and that one was starting in about 10 minutes. . and since the Wolves are native to the desert, they were running that full show, so we stayed and watched that (and enjoyed it a lot). Hawks, Wolves, Owls, and even a vulture and some rats. . good fun. We continued onward towards Ireland, and noticed that a showing of Celtic Fire was in about 30 minutes and did we want to hang around to see it?. . we had decided that since it was so hot and the rides were all walk on, that we would spend the day doing rides and would do shows the next day (that would bite us, since it turned out Celtic Fire was dark the next day). . .so instead went to Europe by Air. Nick decided to sit this one out too, since he does not like the hang-glider feeling of Soarin at Disney (it’s the heights), but I went ahead to do it, since it was walk on. It was nice and cool in there. It’s the best thing I can say about it. The film just does not work, and instead of the hang-glider type seating that Disney uses, BGW has the whole theatre moving in time to the screen. . .some of it was Ok, but the majority of it was just.. blah. Nick declined to go see it (I offered to sit thru it again, once I knew he would go on it due to the seating type). . .but he told me that while I was in Europe by Air they had made an announcement that bad weather was approaching and they might have to shut down some rides. (it was super hot, and no clouds??). So we made our way past the Clydesdales and into Scotland, and we had to stop and check our shoulder bag and got in the No line for Loch Ness Monster, and as we walked into the empty station, they made an announcement that everything had to shut down due to severe weather. (it was still blazing hot and no clouds). Nick checked his iPhone weather app, and there was one small storm moving close. . but nothing behind it. . so we decided to wait it out. All the other rides also shut down and every two minutes, he announced to the 4 or 5 folks (including us) waiting that they were shut down due to weather. We chatted with the operators, and everyone laughed when it rained (with sun!) for about 20 seconds.. . and then?. . they opened everything back up again, and we got two rides in on this classic coaster! We headed back towards Italy after that (having now walked the whole park), intending to ride Apollo’s Chariot again, but when we passed by Escape from Pompeii, it was actually running! So even tho we didn’t want to get wet, really, it WAS hot, and we hopped on the boat that was there. The ride has some amazing special effects, with the city collapsing around you, and tons of fire effects (just what everyone needs on a hot day, right?), but I could see why it would break down so often. . all it would take is for one thing not to re-set, and the computers would shut it all down! It was enjoyable, but yeah. . we didn’t get anything other than a spritz..and we never got another chance to ride it, since EVERY OTHER TIME we passed it over the next few days? It was always broken down. . often with people stuck in a boat on the lift hill! At this point, we were wiped, but it was only just after 7pm, so we got on the train, and took a nice 20 minute ride around the park, and then we went towards the front section (England) because even tho we weren’t hungry, we had to eat something. . so we found the Pub in England is the only restaurant in the park that serves burgers! (really). . but they were pre-made and just sitting in the juices and didn’t look appetizing at all. So instead, Nick got a cheese pizza, and I got a Strawberry Shortcake, and we shared it, and it was enough. While we were eating they started making announcements that the park was closing in 15 minutes (they were open until 8), but that the England section would stay open for shopping. . . . so we did a little bit of shopping. . . realizing that we had stayed in the park the entire day, from open to close. Something EXTREMELY rare for us. (so that says something about how great BGW is). Trip karma stayed with us as the shuttle to the parking lot was there and just about to go when we got out the front gates, and they held it for us, so we didn’t have to run. Then, while on the shuttle to the parking lot? It started to POUR. . I mean, out of nowhere. We had bought a few things that I didn’t want to get wet (like the le scoot pictures), but we didn’t have any umbrellas, and we had parked fairly far out under a pole so we could find the car.. we stood under a tree at the disembark station as everyone ran to their cars, but it didn’t really seem to be slowing down. .so we just walked briskly (or as briskly as we could after being on our feet all day) to the car, and as we got to the car, of course, it slowed down to a drizzle. . .so we laughed and drove back to the hotel. As we were getting out of our soaked clothes, I realized that we *both* had in our back pockets, the rain ponchos, that we use as a “fake wallet” to thwart pickpockets. I went and showed Nick and we both said “we so stoopid !!” We’ve been carrying these on trips for YEARS, and the one time it rains and we could use them, neither of us thought of it and instead ran in the rain. . . LOL So we laughed, and showered, and I went to the lobby to get a smoothie and post about our day online at Theme Park Review, and then we conked out exhausted from a full and spectacular day! we're finally here! I see you Apollo! Apollo's Chariot and Tempesto, from the tram pick up area in Italy parking lot. I rode it! Only once, but I did it! Tempesto, the new coaster for 2015. Nick in front of Apollo's Chariot's 1st drop. on the skyride . . . where you can get some GREAT pictures. Loch Ness Monster Griffon in the back, Alpengeist in the front artsy! but got the car in there of course, the next pic got it better! Griffon going up the hill and going down.. Wait. . what does that say the wait time is? oh, HECK yes! It looks so pretty and hurt so, so much! Alpengeist, tho that's Griffon's dark blue track near the front. we're here. . actually here! see? proof! Me on Apollo's Chariot (no, I didn't know he was taking the picture) Davinci's Cradle . . the magic carpet ride I will never set foot on again. . oh hey, Loch Ness Monster. . how's the line situation? oh yeah!

you should mention "El Vez" is in the Gayborhood. . .recently in the news for the rainbow crosswalks. when we were there last year, we just happened upon that place while looking for someplace near the hotel to eat. the waiter was dumb as a box of rocks (he actually said to us: "the name is a play on Elvis. . get it?")..but he was cute, so all was OK

amazing theming, and it looks like a hella-fun ride!

I'm writing this up for my FB friends, so apologies if I "dumb down" some things! It took some planning, but our trip this year ended up being great (if hot), and worked out perfectly! We had 9 days, and thru use of Expedia, I was able to get some fantastic rates and we stayed only at Marriott Courtyard Hotels – lovely hotels that all have pools/spas, free internet (as well as computers set up in the lobbies for use), lots and lots of couches, books, games, and booths to enjoy food from the Bistro on site (including a Starbucks with great smoothies). It was an ambitious plan: Fly to DC (cheaper to fly into Reagan), rent a car, and drive to Willamsburg Virginia (about 2 ½ hours away), and check into hotel there for 4 days – intending to hit up Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Colonial Williamsburg. Then check out on Friday, drive an hour towards DC, stop at Kings Dominion for 6-8 hours, and then continue on the remaining way into DC – where we would stay for 3 nights in Foggy Bottom, near George Washington University, intending to hit up the National Mall, and many of the Smithsonians, as well as the Capital. On the last day, we’d have to change hotels, because I was unable to keep the great rate for a 4th day, so we moved to one near Reagan Airport, and used the excuse of moving the car to go by the Pentagon, and to the outlying air & space museum. *(funnily, this last hotel was by FAR the most expensive ($270 for 1 night) and also was the least impressive. . but eh, for 1 night it was fine. Anyways, on to the report! Day 1: We got up at 3 am, and headed out to the airport to catch our 5:20 am flight. Normally, I would NEVER book that early of a flight, but in this case, it was on a Monday (meaning we could simply go to bed early on Sunday – and the dog was already boarded as of Saturday – so it shouldn’t be an issue to get up). Also, this was as close to a non-stop as I was able to get (we stopped in Houston, but did not have to change planes!), and still get us into Reagan Airport by Noon – Important, since we still had a 3 hour drive once we rented the car and we had to get to Colonial Williamsburg by 5pm to pick up our tickets (I’ll explain in a moment). Thank goodness for Southwest, since we each got two free checked bags, I insisted on bringing a 2nd suitcase, which meant we could share 1 carry on, and have light luggage to schlep around. We got up and I checked the flight and saw it was being delayed 30 minutes. I wasn’t thrilled with this, as we could have slept a bit longer, but at the check in counter I was assured it was not a mechanical issue with the plane (it turned out to be one of the crew had gone over the time limit, and they had to call in a replacement. . who got there earlier than expected and the plane left sooner than they had told everyone. We went for our usual seats near the toilets in the back of the plane, but since I knew it was a full flight, I convinced Nick to go to the row before the last row (slightly larger seats), instead of the very back. . which is way crammed when all 3 seats are full (since typically I take aisle, he takes window, on last row and no one wants to sit next to us. . on a full flight tho, this doesn’t work, and we end up squeezed in. It was a really full flight, not surprising, as anyone doing business in Houston would want to land before 7am, I suppose, but it was SO full that even tho the Stewards took drink orders before take off, they still were not able to complete drink service . . which sucked, as we both could REALLY use coffee (something I had mentioned to our Steward when he took orders. . remember, we got up at 3am, and the Austin airport was pretty much shut down food/drink wise when we got there for our early flight). They were very apologetic, so as we pulled into the gate in Houston, I asked him if we could possibly get coffee while we were stopped, since we had to wait for folks to exit, a quick plane clean, and then new passengers. Not too surprisingly, our Steward was “family”  and said, of course!. . so he hooked us up. The flight to Washington from Houston was also almost completely full, and we had a chubby teenager sit between us . . luckily, our friendly Steward noticed this, and with a wink to us, he pulled the kid out of the seat and moved him to an open Aisle seat on the row behind us . . LOL. . . so we actually ended up with an open seat (the only open seat?) between us for the longer flight from Houston to Washington. . . yep, our trip karma was kicking in! When we landed, we were surprised at how outdated, and just. . . eccch Reagan National Airport was (no wonder it was cheaper to fly in there!). but we quickly got our luggage, and went looking for the Rental cars. VERY poor signage, but we lucked out an as we were outside looking around stupidly, the Dollar shuttle pulled by, and we followed it to where it stopped! (I knew the Dollar rental was off-site, but I was expecting some signs to point to the shuttle!). I talked Nick into using Dollar again, since we had used them in our Pennsylvania trip last year, and was very pleased. . and once again on this trip, we got a very good deal from them, and a perfect little hatchback car (4 door tho), that got GREAT mileage. . and they knocked $100 off the estimate if we could get it back by 11am (which we managed to do). So yeah, I’ll go for Dollar rent a car on our next trip too! So the shuttle takes us who knows where, and Nick and I are TRYING to follow along, but we have no clue, so we’ll need to look up later in the trip where the heck this place is, so we can return it! As I’m a planner, I had a nice, thick packet of Google directions printed out with us, from each location to the next – hotel to hotel, and hotel to each park, etc. These worked out GREAT and we really only got lost once we hit Washington DC proper, where the directions were such a mess, I just told him where to go based on the National Mall and the Washington monument (since I had an idea of where we were staying). But I didn’t have any directions for car return, because I had no idea where it was located! That concern was for later in the trip tho. . for now, we stood in the line, got a car, and were on the road towards Willamsburg by 12:30. It was early enough in the day on a Monday, that traffic was moving great, and we actually arrived at the Hotel in Williamsburg by 3pm. The Quality Inn next door was a bit questionable, but our hotel was not only beautiful, but was less than 4 minutes from BGW (take a right from hotel drive), and less than 10 from Colonial Willamsburg (take a left from hotel drive). .so easy peasy. As I was trying to check in, I got stuck behind an older lady who was complaining that she wanted a King bed, and they had given her a double. . so after standing behind her for a good 10 minutes (while the desk clerk kept giving me “I’m sorry!” eyes), she finally finished up and we were ready to check in. She bit her lower lip, and looked a bit concerned, so I jokingly said, “you just gave her our King room, while I was stuck in line behind her, didn’t you?”. . . she blushed and went to get the Manager, Apple, who immediately upgraded us to a 1st floor King room, with sliding glass doors that opened towards the pool. Trip Karma.  I mentioned we had to get to Colonial Williamsburg before 5. . well, that was because I had bought online what is called the “Summer Bounce Pass” that cost $124 / ticket, and what that got us was 7 days unlimited admission to Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Willamsburg, and Water Country, + free parking at all 3 places!. . . the catch was that we had to pick it up at Colonial Williamsburg, since that’s whom I had purchased it thru online. Luckily we were there well early enough to go pick them up. . . Colonial Williamsburg is open until 11 pm (or even later, as some folks stay on site in period hotels), but the Visitor Center, where you pick up the tickets, is only open until 5. So we hopped in the car, took a left, and drove for under 10 minutes to find Colonial Williamsburg (think Renaissance Festival, but set in Colonial Times, instead of Medieval times). It’s usually $45 to get in (and BGW is $70+ / day, with parking $15 each time). . so you can see what a great deal $124 / ticket was, for 7 days unlimited. . even if we were only going to be there 4 days, and never use the waterpark. . we just aren’t really waterpark people! We parked (way too far away, but we learned for next time), and found where in the Visitor Center I needed to swap the voucher for the passes (they are plastic passes that you are supposed to wear while in Colonial Williamsburg, but you scan them to get into BGW, Water Country, or to park at those places). They had lanyards, but when I asked, was told that they are only for “guests staying on site, but I could BUY one for $6 if I wanted in the gift-shop”. . .LOL. . cheap bastards. Heh.. I did notice that the bounce passes sold on site, are $146, so buy online if you do this, to save some $$. It was really only about 4pm by this time, and we hadn’t really eaten anything except the snacks on the plane (and remember, we’d been up since 3am), but we were perky, and they had a Post Office on site, and I thought how much my Dad would enjoy getting his Father’s Day card, with Colonial cancellation on it! (yes, I had figured they had a post office and had brought the card with me to mail on our trip). So we decided to take the “bridge to the past” and walk into Colonial Williamsburg (another mistake, as it turns out, because although it was only about a mile walk, it was hella hot, and NOT a lot of shade. . but we learned from this too, and when we came back later in the week, took the shuttle busses!). It was so hot that the place had really cleared out, but we found our way to the post office and mailed the card, and then did a bit of shopping and sightseeing up and down the main street, stopping to watch the blacksmith (you’d think, it was so hot, why would we go into a Blacksmith??? Good question. . LOL. . we’re dummies sometimes). We hadn’t eaten, as mentioned, so I convinced Nick that we should eat at one of the authentic pubs, and they were able to get us in fairly quickly. The food was only so-so, not amazing, but it was basic pub food, at theme park prices. But the home made cider was fantastic, as was the lentil soup. By this time it was well after 8pm and we were exhausted, so using the map, I got us to the nearest shuttle bus stop (see? We learned quick), and headed back to the Visitor Center, where we hopped in the car and were back and the hotel and out cold by 9:30. We had to get up early the next day to be at Busch Gardens for opening! on the road from Reagan Airport to Willamsburg Virginia Concentrating on the road Nick in front of the Visitor's Center & Map of Colonial Williamsburg Me.. still in the same clothes from the plane. . but hey, Knoebel's T-shirt! Close up of Map. In the Stockades on Colonial Williamsburg's main street. marker on the "pathway to the past". . after we made the silly decision to walk there from the Visitor's Center instead of the Shuttle bus. Still smiling on the walk to the past. . not dying from the heat yet. Main street Colonial Williamsburg ~4:30 pm. .yeah. .it was hot, yeah, people were NOT out. Nick is happy about Horse Poop.

the Chair lift actually goes to the far off parking lot. .they told us they only use it during super crowded days. we payed the $7 and just parked by the front gate. . . it was reasonable enough we just paid it

BGW Le Scoot Hopefully, you'll get the "crowds" like we did!

We just came back from this trip, and I'd recommend doing BGW 1st. -- actually, since BGW and Colonial Wililamsburg are just 10 minutes from each other, I'd do BGW 1st, Colonial Wiliamsburg on the 2nd day (your wife will love it, and the Governor's Mansion, the Capital, and the Museum there are all worth seeing/touring). BGW has a lot of shows, and of the shows I'd recommend trying to catch: Celtic Fire, Mix it up!, and the Predators show. London Rocks too, if you have the time. The other shows are missable. (check the show times tho, because we had to go back one day to catch Celtic Fire, since it was dark on the day we planned to see it). in BGW, do NOT miss: Curse of DarkCastle, or Griffon, or Apollo's Chariot. . by far our favorite things in the park. And if you have time, the Rhine River Cruise was very relaxing. in Kings Dominion, go to Volcano 1st. . bypass the open Dominator. . . you'll be able to knock out Volcano, Avalanche, Flight of Fear, Intimidator, Anaconda, and Backlot Stunt Coaster before the park gets crowded. . they are all right next to each other. and do NOT skip Woodstock Express. . a great Jr. Coaster with a bunch of fun airtime.

Um. . surprised no one has posted yet. Supreme Court ruled this morning. 5/4 (shame on Chief Justice Roberts, but Justice Kennedy was the swing vote). . Gay Marriage is now LEGAL in all 50 states. seriously, this is HUGE.

yep. Twister is great too, and so is Black Diamond. You (and your Dad) will be blown away by Knoebel's. Expect to spend way more time there than you plan (in particular the Fascination parlor - which is an amazing time suck). . . and the food there is spectacular too, so bring $$ for that to sample many things. as to Kings Dominion, we were just there last Friday, and there's a Best Western in the parking lot (with a Denny's), and a few hotels (a Days Inn) just across the street. . so that should solve your hotel problem for there. . tho I'd book before you go to ensure you can get a room.

you're forgetting the whole Bran storyline. . they saved that for next season, so that's still from the books. as is a TON more about Arya and her quest to be an assassin.

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Question for clarification, you are planning nothing else during your travel day other than driving? And you are flying back out of San Antonio? if yes to those, then I would suggest, as I35 between Dallas and San Antonio is under construction, and has been for years (and seemingly will be for years more). . . I wouldn't go I35 at all. . . instead: ensure you have late check in to San Antonio Hotel, and instead of taking I35 thru Austin to San Antonio, take I45 to Houston (3 1/2 hours), and go past Houston to Kemah for the Boardwalk Bullet. (or go just 45 minutes farther for the Galveston Pleasure Pier to ride Iron Shark). Then take I10 from Houston direct to San Antonio for your hotel (~ 3 hours). so it would make it a travel day of ~8 hours of driving (6 1/2 + 1 1/2 there/back to Galveston), but you'd get a couple of great coasters in (a woodie in Kemah, and steel on the boardwalk), and it's really not THAT much more driving than you would be doing sitting in traffic on I35 anyways have a great trip.

much fuller report (with pics) when we're back at home tomorrow (so I hope to get something up by the weekend). but the park was pretty slow on Friday when we stopped on our way to DC. I had allotted 8 hours, but we finished up there in just over 5 and hopped back on the road to DC. we passed up the water rides (I like the flumes, but the line was just way too long), Grizzly, Shockwave, and Dominator (again, long lines, and we just didn't feel like being turned upside down towards the end of our stay there). . but we rode everything else -- including a trip to the top of the Eiffel tower. we followed advice and rode Volcano first (got him on it, and he liked it), and as we stepped off, Avalanche was already open, so we went to that next (loved it). a great compliment I can give the park, is that thier mainentance dept. is great, there were 3 rides that were down when we were there: Backlot Stunt Coaster, Windseeker, and the Eagle Flyers. . .and all three of them were up and running (and was able to get in rides) during the 5 hours we were there! Crypt was down the whole visit, but that's something (a Top Spin) we wont ride anyways, so no loss there. It was my first Windseeker, and I found it really dull, to be honest. That could have been because they played that damn "Flight of the Valkyre" the entire time you are up spinning around. I found most of the coasters to be dull-ish as well: Backlot promised way more than it delivered (bleh), Rebel Yell was just so-so (after Jackrabbit, and Phoenix, it just doesn't compare), Hurler wasn't too bad except for that one spot where it SLAMS you into the side, brusing a couple of ribs, I think!), Flight of Fear was again, just ok. . reminded us very much of Poltergeist at SFFT. we did like the standouts a LOT tho: Intimidator (that thing HAULS ASS), Volcano (wowza), the Wild Mouse was smooth and super fast. . and our favorite one of the day? Woodstock Express . . we loved the speed and the floater air over the bunnyhop hills. the Drop Tower is the best I've ever ridden (hands down). so we had a good time, but yeah. . hot again, and I was a bit annoyed that I could find NO anniversary shirts bigger than a "large" . . .actually, there were very few T-shirt offerings bigger than a large. I said something to a supervisor in the last store on the way out about lost sales. Have they not seen thier crowd? XL and XXL would SELL. LOL.

no bags allowed on coasters, but there are "storage places" in front of the major rides for a very reasonable $1 (you get three tokens for a dollar, and the storage costs 3 tokens each time). we combined, and left things on Apollo while riding that, Roman Rapids, Tempesto, and the other rides in the area. . then retrieved our items and moved to the next section of the park. they will NOT let you leave things on the station floor, although the operators at Griffon did hold onto hats and glasses for folks.

Sorry to hear that - I rode in the back seat (far left seat) and 2nd seat (2nd from left) and had really awesome rides on both. I think that I had Alpengeist ranked 4th or 5th of the inverts that I had ridden, but it was just running insanely smooth and fast on Monday. I think that it may have bumped up a couple of notches in my rankings - maybe even over Raptor and Banshee. Although I will admit that my partner didn't like it and it did him in for the day...I think it may have been the heat combined with the crazy G forces & loops right after we ate a sausage platter at the Festhaus. I ended up riding Alpengeist with his 8 year old granddaughter (who is a real thrill seeker, I might add) and then the two of us went on Griffon twice with hardly any wait. She had never been on it before and she LOVED it - especially the front row! the G's didn't HELP, but it was that super uncomfortable shake (and all the rides have that "crotch cone" for some reason!). . .yeah. . . did NOT like it just got back from the park today. . we didn't get there until around 11, and the line for parking was still backed up!. . so yeah, the cooler weather brought out a much larger cowd than yesterday. (I asked at Guest Services what the crowd was yesterday and she told me just about 3 thousand. . . I KNEW it couldn't have been 7K they had estimated. I only asked because we had to see what times the Celtic Fire show is tomorrow, since it was dark today.. and we are going to likely end up back in the park tomorrow after a morning in Colonial Williamsburg to catch that and ride Apollo again . . told ya, he liked it ). much busier today, but not a problem since we rode everything yesterday, so we did the shows (Roll out the Barrell (ok), London Rocks (nice staging, but just a so-so show), and Mix it up! (we loved it). . . did some shopping -- that Glass artist in Germany is amazing, and we watched him for a while. we also did the Rhine River cruise (very nice and relaxing), I re-rode Griffon, and we re-rode: Loch Ness Monster, Turkish Delight (teacups), Waveswinger, the Train, DarkCastle, Apollo, and the Skyride. we likely could have done more, but some things (such as Verbolten) had waits up to 40 minutes today, so we didn't bother. lovely park, and I can't wait to go back again tomorrow, even if it is just for one show, and Apollo. (and it wasn't even my suggestion. . my Partner is who said that he pretty much knew he didn't like Colonial Williamsburg from Monday night. . .a bit too much like Renisannce fair. But I do want to tour the mansion and the museum. . so we're at least going to do that in the morning. then Kings Dominion on Friday!

too bad. .you were one of the TPR folks I was hoping to get to meet thanks for the well wishes. . you think it will be mostly empty on Tues/Wed? or is it one of those ALWAYS crowded places. never been. this trip knocks out two of my Bucket List parks I missed you by one day as we were there yesterday. Crowds were light with Verbolten and Tempesto being the longest waits at about 20-30 minutes. We left around 5:00 and they were running near empty trains on Apollo. I think everybody bailed like us from the heat...the temp in the vehicle when we left was 102 so drink plenty of water!!! too bad we missed you! we actually made it into town by 3, and went to Colonial Wililamsburg (to pick up the Bounce passes), and since we were there, we did some wandering around (mailed my Dad a Father's Day card from the Post office there, stamped with the old-timey stamps. . he'll love it), and had dinner there. but we were back to the hotel by 8pm and out cold, sicne we'd been up since 2:45 am yesterday morning If you make it back down, in the park tomorrow, and KD on Friday! best, bert

thanks.. we did!

Just back from the park (we actually went from Open to Close, which is EXTREMELY rare for us (posting from the free internet computers loaded in the lobby of the hotel -- Courtyard Marriott Busch Gardens -- . . . seriously, I got this place thru Expedia for $110 a night, and it's GORGEOUS, not only a nice indoor/outdoor pool with whirlpool and workout room, but free internet in every room (I only came out to the lobby because I'm more comfortable typing on a computer keyboard, than my kindle or phone. . but I'm the ONLY one in a huge lobby with 3 computers, several local and national papers - with plenty of places to sit to read them -- two giant size TVs, and a Starbucks/counter service restaurant with fantastic smoothies). . .but the best reason to stay here? Literally 3 minutes from BGW, 6 minutes the other direction (on I-60) to Colonial Williamsburg, and 9 minutes to Water Country. so easy, we arent' even bothering with my pre-printed maps anymore! it was amazingly hot.. so hot, that the park announced they were handing out free water. Being from Texas tho, it really was not that bad. We just stayed VERY hydrated. we rode *every* adult ride in the park (including the train and the skyride), some of them multiple times, with the only exception being the Rhine River Cruise . .which we're going to do tomorrow. we did see the Predator show (very enjoyable), and what was passing for Pet Shenannigans (it was so hot, they only ran a 10 minute show to keep the animals comfortable. . which worked out well, since 10 minutes is the PERFECT lentgh for this show). London Rocks was dark today, but we'll see that tomorrow, along with Celtic Fire, the Chefs banging pots show, and Roll out the Barell. Our plan tomorrow is to just re-ride things we liked, and catch the shows, as well as do some shopping. how was the crowd today? a Cast member told me (during the 20 minutes Loch Ness Monster was down, due to Thunderstorms in the area -- everythign shut down for about 20 minutes around 5:30pm). . .that they were expecting 7,000 today, but the numbers looked way lighter than that. I agree. . the Italy lot (were we parked) never filled up completely, and they didn't use any other lots, other than the upgrade parking one. EVERYTHING (Griffin, LNM, Apollo, DarkCastle, Europe by air, Alpengeist, Verbolten, Mach Tower. . was walk on. Because we went to Tempesto first, that was only a 2 train wait.. and that was the longest wait of the whole day. Victories: I got my Parnter on Apollo's Chariot. The moment we hit that floater air, I knew he'd love it, and I promised him that I would not bug him to ride *anything* (either here or KD), if he tried it. he *loved* it. . ended up riding it 3 times with him. biggest disappointment? Europe by air...but hey, it was indoors and fans were blowing. Poor, poor, attempt at Soarin, was my take on it. I didn't care too much for Tempesto. . I'm glad I rode it, but it really did make me a little wobbly. I think for someone my age,it's just a little better in theory, than in actual riding. It's not one I'll re-ride tomorrow tho. speaking of disappointments?. . . .Alpengeist has such a horrible shake that they should rename it the Nutcracker. Awful, towards the back, and I declined to ride it again. Griffin? not shakey at all.. smooth, smooth smooth..with that KILLER first drop several re-rides (once in each row). I was a little concerned about fitting and I fit into everything (note: Both Alpengeist and Griffin have "big boy" seats.. . .on Alpengeist, only row 5, but Griffin have the larger seats in every row! Full report with pics, when I'm back at my own computer and I can upload the camera pics next week. but a VERY fun (if, VERY hot) day at the park.

Talk about "break the internet". . tho I firmly believe it's a swerve. Millesandre came back in the prior scene for a reason . . and all that 'flirting' earlier in the season showed some interest. and remember a few seasons back when the "Lord of Light" resurrected someone? so yeah. . .don't believe this particular death is gonna stick.

good plan, thanks for the suggestion. I've pretty much already decided to skip Shockwave (the only stand up coaster I've ever been on was Batman at Astroworld, and I hated it). . . only if the line is non-existent will I bother, and hopefully that will allow us to get on all the other coasters, and any flats we want to during our stop there

too bad. .you were one of the TPR folks I was hoping to get to meet thanks for the well wishes. . you think it will be mostly empty on Tues/Wed? or is it one of those ALWAYS crowded places. never been. this trip knocks out two of my Bucket List parks