Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

[bert425]

what really sucks is that we will be there during the festival, but not on days it's open

 

We're gonna be in BGW on a Tues/Wed. . which I'm sure will keep the crowds lighter than on a weekend. . but sucks that we'll miss the chance to try some of the food!

[cfc]

what really sucks is that we will be there during the festival, but not on days it's open

 

We're gonna be in BGW on a Tues/Wed. . which I'm sure will keep the crowds lighter than on a weekend. . but sucks that we'll miss the chance to try some of the food!

 

Well, you might try a Tempesto Panini over in Festa Italia--a grilled provolone sandwich with sun-dried tomato pesto.

Edited May 9, 2015 by cfc

[CardCraze]

The menus are online for this year's Food and Wine Festival. Many returning favorites, of course; of the new stuff, I'm most intrigued by the Mushi-Gyoza and Ginger and Lemongrass Custard at the Eastern Asia booth.

 

You can sample Scotch this year, too.

 

What are other people looking forward to at Food and Wine?

 

Food and Wine is quickly becoming my favorite . I'll be 21 this year for it to so I guess I'll get to experience the wine side of it. Last year my top three favorite were probably the Chocolate Lava Cake from American Southwest, the Halloumi from Greece, and the Cheddar and Lager Chowder from Canada.

[cfc]

^That Lava Cake had a nice bite to it.

[Nrthwnd]

...and the Cheddar and Lager Chowder from Canada.

 

[cfc]

^Drool some more.

 

 

This steak-in-peppercorn-sauce concoction was great last year, too.

 

Edited May 10, 2015 by cfc

[Nozzy]

Made it over to the park yesterday to get on Tempesto for the first time, as well as enjoy the other rides in a more comfortable temperature.

 

I arrived around opening and got my first ride without waiting too long. I really liked the way the launches build up anticipation, and that final one does give you a nice little pop at the top. The roll is alright, and then I had no idea what went all with all the twisting in the loop, guess I was expecting it to invert or something. Overall, what stuck with me was "cool launch, no idea what came after". I liked this, as it was something different. I had two rides later in the day, both quite fun but those dang shin restraints where a bit rough on my legs. I'm around 6'-1" or 6'-2" which I believe is where you are supposed to start having trouble with the Premier trains, but this felt worse than SkyRocket or YOLOcoaster- I don't know if it's actually different or just me, tired legs, etc.

 

I did highly enjoy watching Tempesto- it's just such bright colors, the riders all love it, and it's such an interesting layout to watch the trains go through. Operations are fantastic, as Chuck mentioned- there's never a long wait to see a train go through, and while I didn't time it I did notice that generally a train would launch while I went up Apollo's lift and a second train would be launching as we hit the brakes- seems pretty quick to me! Festa was more crowded than I've ever seen it (excepting Christmastown), and the line held at 45 minutes- 1 hour all day (out to the ride sign).

 

Other random musings:

-Apollo's crew was amazing, rolling trains pretty consistently and keeping their line super short despite all the increased foot traffic in the area. Just as Tempesto was consistently on the course, it was rare to see Apollo's lift without a train.

-New ice cream is great! Strawberry Shortcake with cheeseake bites is strange but tasty.

-Smacked a tree pretty bad on Alpengeist. Someday I'll learn to keep my arms inside the train.

-London Rocks has changed. Story is easier to follow, show overall is much less trippy. Funny how that worked...

 

A few pictures:

Saw some stuff falling out of the train during the roll- use those free fanny packs! It's what a real daredevil would do!

Still my favorite coaster in the park ^_^

Lunch!

Side-Tempesto

[SilverBullet2004]

This may be a dumb question, but why does the lead car on Alpengeist does not have a row of seats. And same with NAMTAB trains?

[nannerdw]

I had two rides later in the day, both quite fun but those dang shin restraints where a bit rough on my legs. I'm around 6'-1" or 6'-2" which I believe is where you are supposed to start having trouble with the Premier trains

I'm about that height, and my shins were sore for days afterward.

[Propeller Factory]

This may be a dumb question, but why does the lead car on Alpengeist does not have a row of seats. And same with NAMTAB trains?

 

Ok so I think this is why but if I'm wrong oh well someone correct me and we can all learn something.

So I think it's because that from car is to like take off shakiness/rattling that the rest of the train would have if it didn't have that car. It's like I guess taking off all of the shock so that the rest of the train can be smooth. It's hard to explain someone help lol

[A.J.]

The front "zero car" is basically a giant brick, to add to the weight of the trains. Nothing fancy, but it looks cool.

[jarmor]

I searched the website but couldn't find anything...how much are the food offerings for the food and wine festival?

[Nozzy]

I searched the website but couldn't find anything...how much are the food offerings for the food and wine festival?

 

They may post them online once it starts, I'm not quite certain. i believe last year food ranged from $4-$7. Most desserts are on the low end, while the more protein based entrees (cured salmon, bacon wrapped scallop with rice) would be $7.

 

I forgot to mention, all the booths are up and the new ones look pretty cool. Made me wish I could start digging in to some of them though, can't wait for the return of shrimp fritters!

[cfc]

^Yes, so much goodness to come very soon.

 

Regarding Tempesto's operations, I rode it twice this morning with some friends who had yet to experience the coaster, and the waits were less than 30 minutes (using the internal switchbacks). The crew was dispatching trains very quickly.

[coasterfreak101]

Question about scheduling my first Food and Wine visit - I just bought the $30 discount tickets, good for any Friday or Sunday (or, in lieu of Sunday the 24th, Monday the 25th). For those who have been, what are crowds like on Memorial Day itself? I'm not sure whether to expect Sunday-level crowds, holiday-level crowds, or something in between.

 

If we don't come down that day, we'll likely come down in early June - ideally before it gets too hot outside.

[cfc]

Memorial Day should be slower than Saturday or Sunday that weekend.

[awclark]

Did a quickie search of this topic and didn't find anything, but this story/video was posted to Screamscape today; however, the official BGW Youtube channel uploaded this video a few days ago… Looks like a documentary is being released this month on the history of the park over the past 40 years through the experiences of park execs as well as die hard fans. Looks to be very promising and quite interesting

 

[SbSteveZ]

I'm taking a trip out to BGW next Saturday and knowing its a weekend and to make matters worse, MEMORIAL DAY weekend... I was curious what to expect for waits in relation to coasters. and if theyre gonna be insanely long... which ones are MUST rides? Im figuring they would be Alpengiest, Apollo and Tempesto... but I also would like to ride Nessie. Not very familiar with the park... Any help would be appreciated!

[Nozzy]

I'm taking a trip out to BGW next Saturday and knowing its a weekend and to make matters worse, MEMORIAL DAY weekend... I was curious what to expect for waits in relation to coasters. and if theyre gonna be insanely long... which ones are MUST rides? Im figuring they would be Alpengiest, Apollo and Tempesto... but I also would like to ride Nessie. Not very familiar with the park... Any help would be appreciated!

 

It's really not too hard to ride everything, especially if you're there in the morning. Usually the longest lines are Verbolten, Griffon, and now Tempesto.

In my experience, Verbolten and Griffon can get up to an hourish on a normal summer Saturday. Alpengeist is usually 45 minutes and Apollo 30ish?

I like to think all the coasters are worth riding, but the B&M's and Verbolten are the stars in my opinion. The park opens in waves so you can hit multiple rides as they open, and this past week EVERYONE went to Tempesto, Griffon was walk-on until noon.

 

Don't know how much Memorial Day changes things. Make sure to do Pompeii, and Darkastle is kinda interesting. Eat good food! (festival and Pretzel shop in Germany)

 

Have fun!

[Propeller Factory]

I'm taking a trip out to BGW next Saturday and knowing its a weekend and to make matters worse, MEMORIAL DAY weekend... I was curious what to expect for waits in relation to coasters. and if theyre gonna be insanely long... which ones are MUST rides? Im figuring they would be Alpengiest, Apollo and Tempesto... but I also would like to ride Nessie. Not very familiar with the park... Any help would be appreciated!

 

It's kinda weird with tempesto there now because idk how long the lines are going to get on both tempesto and AC which is right next to it. I usually go across the footbridge under Nessie to verbolten then I would probs swing around to the right from there (Germany, France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy in that order) the best rides in my opinion are AC and alpenguist, but verbolten is kinda underrated sometimes it's actually REALLY fun so ride that. Have fun!

[bert425]

we have two days (Tues/Wed) planned in June, so really weren't attacking with a plan. . we were just going to wander the park and do things as we come across them.

 

is this not a good plan?

 

(we want to do the shows too, so the only real planning would be showtimes)

[Nozzy]

we have two days (Tues/Wed) planned in June, so really weren't attacking with a plan. . we were just going to wander the park and do things as we come across them.

 

is this not a good plan?

 

(we want to do the shows too, so the only real planning would be showtimes)

 

Sounds like a great plan to me. It really is a nice park to just walk around and relax.

[DrachenfireOP]

Went to the park today! It was a really good day to go. It was pretty warm but not too hot. Tempesto was an hour wait most of the day but basically everything else was a walk on. It rained for about an hour and the coasters were down for about a half hour for thunder but opened back up quickly.

 

Most of the crews were moving fast. All the coasters ran 2 trains except verbolten which ran all 5.

 

Apollos crew actually outpaced the trains and had to hold for spacing more than once. It's amazing how superior the non seatbelt hypers are. I hope AC never gets them. AC was running a bit dull. Not nearly as much air time this season for some reason.

 

Alpengeist on the other hand was hauling ass. It barely trimmed and felt awesome!

 

Verbolten was same old same old.

 

Griffon was ok, I've never been a huge fan. The crew was on point. They had the station empty more than once, something that I've not seen there before. Once they had a train on the lift before the other even hit the final brale run!

 

Loch Ness' crew sucked hard. They were stacking trains constantly. If they'd been on three trains, this crew would have had set ups for days. Extremely disappointing. The ride itself has aged very well of course!

 

Tempesto is a lot of fun! Huge air time in the front! The crew wasn't bad, but could have moved faster. They were joking on their headsets the whole time and.dispatches suffered for it, but it wasn't awful and they're only human. Capacity is an issue, but honestly the wait could have been worse. I only fear because I waited a half hour at the end of the day and every other ride was walk ons. On a busy Saturday, I bet that line will be 2 hours + especially if the crew is slacking.

 

Today by coincidence was also the actual 40th anniversary and they had a special film in the globe theater commemorating the park. It touched on many old rides, including drachen fire, big bad wolf, glissade, le mans, gladiators gauntlet, the monorail, and more! They had lots of interviews with old GMs. It was fun!

 

They're also selling shirts with "the old country" and old rides on them. I was hoping they had one with all the coasters, past and present, but they don't. They dont have anything for Drachen Fire, which bummed me out because they even had a shirt for the damn waveswinger, but oh well.

 

Roll out the barrel wasn't as good as the old show. It was WAY loud. It was so loud I had trouble understanding them. It was probably a fine show if they'd just take 20db off the gain. It was very busy visually but fun. My main gripe was the rock-show volume levels. They have it figured out everywhere else, so why not here I dont know.

 

I gave Euope in Air another shot. It's still the worst ride the park had ever had, probably tied with King Arthur's challenge. One guy boo'd when it was done! Bring back Questor!

 

They also had the animatronics from the Enchanted Laboratory out! Makes you wonder what else they have in storage!

 

Oh, also theres a drachen fire rode wheel on one of the loch ness trains! I tried to get a picture but my phone was dead! Watch for it! Back row on the right side!

All in all a good day!

[DJeXeL]

How did you know it was a Drachen Fire Road wheel?

[DrachenfireOP]

Well I suppose I don't, but it's definitely a second gen road wheel and sticks out. I couldn't get a close up shot to see that it really had the boomerangs, but when you watch the train enter the station, it sticks out like a sore thumb it's so different from the others. I know they just resurfacr the polyurethane when it wears down and keep the same rims for as long as possible. It makes sense that some of the LNM stuff is starting to need full time replacement.