carolinacaniac Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Hello everyone! Well, I am happy to say that I had a great day going to one of my favorite parks, Busch Gardens Europe. Melissa did not tag along with me for this one since she went up to Buffalo to see her younger sister graduate from elementry school, but it still turned out to be a great day. The first set of pictures I have posted below is the "adventure" to get to Busch Gardens. With Melissa flying to Buffalo right out of Greenville, the plan was to head on up to Busch right after she boarded the plan and take it easy while waiting for the parking booths to open. One of my little tradidions when ever I drive somewhere is to stop at 7-Eleven for a slurpee whenever there is one, since the only 7-Eleven in the state of North Carolina that I am aware of is out in the Nags Head area. I will have pictures from inside the park and of Go-Karts Plus in a bit, I hope you enjoy this "adventure" to the park. And after a quick visit to the ticket booth to buy the ticket, it was time to start the adventure in the park. Part Two to come later today. Thanks for reading! A reminder of why this is one of the best looking parks. The tram gets going and you realize you left the coupon you brought for $12 off in the car. Oh well, I was still able to go back and get it and not loose any riding time since the park was not yet open. and with being one of the first to park comes the perk of having a very uncrowded tram waiting to wisk you away to the gate, and allow you to be one of the first in the park........that is until........ If the first "Jeep ad" picture wasn't good enough, this one should be! (Again, prime parking space!) "Yeah buddy!!! First through the parking booth!!!!" (You think I am starting to be like Big Mike with a compulsive need to take a lot of pictures of myself?) In the race to get into the lot first however, I pulled ahead for total victory, and a prime parking spot! The good news was that I wasn't the only one to get there early, these other three vehicles were her before I arrived. You think Jeep could use this for an advirtisement for the Jeep Patriot? As you can see however, we are not "there" yet acording to Garmin, for I had to wait for a little bit until the parking booths opened up. Apollo + Griffon = 2/3 the awesome B&M collection at BGE! Well looky what Garmin found! It's Apollo's Chariot! For only $2000 you too can have a stylin' ride when going on your own coaster tours!!!! YES!!!!!!! This Slurpee is delicious, and keeps the title as the Iatollah of Frozen Cola!! ON TO BUSCH GARDENS!!!! Time to test........and............ Wow, the logest line I have ever been in for a 7-Eleven (and as will be shown later, what may have been one of the longest lines of the day!) Let us see if the Slurpee will keep its title as the Iatollah of Frozen Cola! (Yes, I do realize that the first location had Pepsi instead of Coke, but I think the taste was more of a problem at the other location than it being Pepsi or Coke). Our Jeep that replaced the Elantra that was totaled in November, in front of 7-Eleven. Alright, time to try this again "Yeay, the Little Blue Truck made it to land again!!!" I know of walking towards the light, but what about drving towards the light? It is kind of funny how my Garmin will loose track of where it is when I am in our apartment next to a window, and yet it works just fine in an underwater tunnel. ....maybe it is because of this underwater tunnel! Now why could I be holding my breath? Could it be because I want to compare my lung capacity to a whale? Clould it be because I let out an SBD that I know will be foul? Or........... "AHHHHHHH! THE LITTLE BLUE TRUCK IS IN THE WATER! I hope he makes it!" "Oh no, the Little Blue Truck is heading right for that body of water!" See, it made me sad! I guess I will just have to hope for another location on the way to Busch Gardens. And here is the machine that provides the Iatollah of Frozen Cola. Unfortunatly, this location seems to have some issue with their slurpees tasting terrible, which made me sad Ah yes! 7-Eleven. When I was a kid growing up in Seattle, a family friend would always take us to one and buy us Slurpees. This one is in Suffolk, VA off of US-13 This is my new friend Garmin. While I did not need his help to find Busch Gardens, he was helpful in finding Go-Karts Plus, and telling me how long until I got to Busch Gardens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinacaniac Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 Hey everybody, Time for the update about Busch Gardens itself. The plan for the day was to visit Busch Gardens until closing, head up to Go-Karts Plus for the credit, then down to Motor World in Virginia Beach for its credit before heading home. Well, as the day went on, I decided to take a break from Busch to have dinner out of the park and to hit Go-Karts Plus. After leaving Busch at the end of the night, I decided that Motor World would be better left for another day, but it still turned out to be a great day! Now, about my visit at Busch Gardens. The park was pretty light on crowds which was surprising for a Friday in the summer, but it was good for me as I got 25 rides total on the five coasters. The only long line that I waited in was for the log flume, which was made even longer as they had to shut the ride down because a kid on the ride got scared and apparently jumped out of the log before the big drop (of course the jumping out of the boat is not for sure, but the kid did get scared and was a reason for stopping the ride). The weather was great for it was partially cloudy and around 85, so it wasn't too hot for the day. And with that, I give you the pictures of Busch Gardens and Go-Karts Plus. This will be done over two posts so if you happen to see only one post worth of pictures, there are more to come. Thanks again for reading! Best line I have ever seen for Alpengeist in the middle of the day! Again, lines were minimal to non-existant Alpengeist Loop! Signature Splash Picture We coaster fans are not the only ones who take pictures of Griffon's first drop. Humm......to hug again or not to hug again? (See my past PTR towards the bottom for reference: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35703&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=busch+gardens+europe) well I'll be, it actually only ended up being about 11-12 minutes, which many other lines would turn out to be quite short through out the day. Only 15 Minutes? It can't be right! "Griffon in France" Empty train from the MCBR Ooo, Griffon!!!!!! Good thing Melissa wasn't here, she would have ran back to the Jeep, drove it into the park and tried to run over this poor Opossum The Scary Cave to Corkscrew Hill Leprechaun: "Aye boy-o, if ya can beat me, then I'll tell ya how to get yer las to wash ya like the clydesdale, but if I beat you, then a caurse shall be placed upon ya!" This guy has it pretty good, I have to figure out how to get Melissa to do this for me You think this guy feels pretty stiff for being here 30 years? Both Doc and his wife Sue created their own nametag look-a-likes that I thought were pretty clever. I saw this gentleman (whose name is Doc) as I was about to get on for another ride, and thought this was pretty cool. According to him and his Wife, one employee recognized them as regular visitors, and so they gave them his or her nametag. Then others started to as well. Even the trains are decorated for the occasion I had not even thought about this ride being 30 years old, but I will say that for a 30 year old Arrow, it still runs pretty well! everyone waiting for the rope to drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knottslover77 Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Nice TR, The more I see of BGE the more I like. --Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinacaniac Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 Hey everybody, Sorry for the delay, here is part III. Hope you enjoy it as well as the rest of the update! Alpengiest and Griffon alone make a pretty cool skyline! Now that the credit is mine, time for food and a return the BGE. Thats all for the PTR as I decided to leave the camera in the Jeep. I really hope you all enjoyed my PTR! Thanks for checking it out! Fortunatly, no evacuations of this Python Pit were necessary! This is what has brought me to this place today! Credit number 152! A picture of the park map, Big Mike Style. Between Garmin and the raod signs, this place was pretty easy to find! I can't say that I have ever seen highway signs for a go cart place before. Garmin is now going to help me find Go-Karts Plus! BGE now has a sort of marching band, which was pretty neat since they were playing some James Bond music. This was the point where I took a break from BGE for dinner and a credit. If you are like me, and enjoy an occasional show, Emerald Beat is one of the best that you will find at BGE. Thanks to Le Scoot making it look like I peed my pants. Taken off of the exit platform for Le Scoot. A log that is about to go "SKLOOOSH!" My favorite picture of Nessie so far Cobra Roll!!! Nessie coming down! .....is a lift hill picture of the same train, but a little further up! The only thing cooler than a lift hill picture............... BGE's version of the 3-Point Challenge which I think takes away from the atmosphere a little bit since they play music that doesn't really fit the theming of the park, but I can't argue that it isn't a money maker. To all TPR peeps on the East Coast Trip, if you have a second meal at the park or the meal of the day is one which you choose your own place to eat, I personally recommend this place right next to the outdoor theater in the Italian section of the park. Big Bad Wolf, one of the trickiest coasters in the park to get a picture of, other than the most photographed part of the ride. If you know what part it is....you probably already have a picture of it in your collection! And it isn't here. It turns out the beginning of the line was in the screening room for the background movie about the legend of DarKastle. Well, the beginning isn't here. Curse of DarKastle, I'll bet this will have a decently long line. "Nice doggie..........nice doggie......" "......The Hummel Boy!" "Look, it's a TPR Celebrity! It's......it's.........." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgeguy Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Restorante della Piazza is the best place to eat in the park and I highly reccomend it. When ever I eat at the park, I'm usually there, and that's like 20 times a year. BTW, great PTR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRapidsNerd Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Great report and pics. BGE is one of my faves, and just a terrific all around park. Didn't know about the Go Karts credit. Hmmm, yet ANOTHER good excuse for a return visit. You have taught me something new today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinacaniac Posted June 28, 2008 Author Share Posted June 28, 2008 ^ It used to be at a Jeepers in Gastonia, NC according to RCDB if I remember correctly. I don't know how long Go-Karts Plus has been open, but I believe last year was Python Pit's first year there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Glad you had a great trip. I'm so mad I missed Go Karts Plus while in Williamsburg two years ago. Apollo alone though made up for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts