Photo TR: BGE

[Marko]

Since we blew through Carowinds so quickly we made it to Williamsburg by early evening. We nailed a great rate at the new Holiday Inn on US-60 which we had mixed thoughts on. One, it's new, and very nice, but the color scheme, whoa, dark. The rooms were all shades of green, like your grandmother's old sofa green, yet it was all new. The one thing that was impossible to get used to though was their heating/cooling system. In the bedroom there's a 6'x3' section of metal wall that serves as some sort of air intake and it really made a bit of a racket. The worst though was in the morning when it sounded like there was a waterfall running somewhere behind this panel, and it really didn't cool the room very well. Really, really bizarre for a new hotel! And we switched rooms, same thing, it's hard to recommend the place.

 

But onto BGE - wow did we love this park. The only bummer was we encountered easily the slowest ride operations and longest lines of any park on the trip. The problem according to the guest relations rep we spoke with is that the local schools didn't let out until Friday, which is where they draw the majority of their employees. On Wednesday and Thursday nearly every major attraction was at least an hour wait. We loved Griffon but the first two days we only rode it first thing in the morning as the lines were too long the rest of the day.

 

They have a strange arrangement where they open different sections of the park at different times. Their reasoning must be is that everyone wants to ride the new coaster so France (and Ireland/Scotland/England) opens first at 10:00. The downside to this approach is *all* the guests are herded into one area (see pics below). We worked out a routine the first two days where we hit Griffon first thing, then backtracked down to Italy to ride Apollo's Chariot and Pompeii when they opened at 10:30 (loved both), then continued up to Germany which opened at 11:00. While all of their coasters are fantastic our favorite ride was Curse of Darkastle! It's just absolutely amazing, look forward to our first visit to Orlando next year for hopefully more of the same.

 

Quick mention of food at BGE - all fantastic! The Trappers Smokehouse was completely worth the money and the turkey sandwiches at the Festhaus were great. They also had something called apple pie on a stick, which was a granny smith apple dipped in white fudge and then rolled in cinnamon sugar - wonderful. This is a great park to spend a few days at and just take your time and relax. I would not want to be there though on a really busy day, we were floored by the crowds for the first week of June.

 

Next stop, Ocean City, MD and Morey's (sort of).

The park winds down and it's time to sadly/fondly say goodbye.

Pompeii was amazing, fire everywhere!

Here are a few evening shots.

Again not giving anything way, this is all you get to see! Just get there, somehow, and ride Darkastle.

On to our favorite ride at BGE.

Last one - great little exhibit!

and another.

and another...

Cool bird pic # 1

I mean really, does it get any better than this?

Part amusement park and part modern art exhibit.

...and a show!

A meal...

But now it's time for lunch at the Festhaus

We're truly glad Germany has so many wolf issues. BBW rocks.

These guys know how to landscape a park.

Pretty horse but it didn't talk so we were a little disappointed.

...and then whoosh! What a rush.

...still thinking about it...

...contemplating falling...

Griffon heading out...

We liked Griffon, but didn't like the lines. We think a better name would be Gibbon.

All for one purpose, it was The March of the Griffons.

...all waiting to stampede across this bridge!

...and more crowds...

Crowds...

First day, parking gates just before 9:00 AM.

[Eric_Smith]

Loved The TR. I have the chance to go to BGE and was wondering what you think?Yes,No,Maybe?

[browntggrr]

Don't wonder.

 

Just go. His definition of BGE is right on.

 

But honestly, words do not do it any justice.

 

It is one of the best!

[Tiburon503]

I haven't been to Busch Gardens since 1984. It's always nice to see how pretty this park remains. My dad wasn't crazy about the steep inclines on some of the walkways. He described the park as "hilly". Has this changed? Perhaps many people here haven't noticed/cared or the park has been altered. Maybe it's just his opinion.

[cfc]

Glad you had a good time at Euroburg. Ride ops aren't quite as good as they could be. Alpengeist's operations are usually the worst for the coasters, and the Loch Ness Monster and Big Bad Wolf are usually the best. Operations for the Roman Rapids are almost inexcusably bad--slowest line in the park.

 

That being said, I'll still quite happy to call it my "home park."

[America Sings Freak]

Your Photo TR makes me feel like I am at BGE!

[alpengeist04]

Great TR, thanks. Those crowds just reinforce my decision to wait till September to ride Griffon.