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Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

P. 467: Media Town Hall Report

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^ Lol yeah. I actually "found" it the first time in my garage in the 90s, and since it was expired at the time but cool I thought I should keep it. I've had it in storage with a variety of other cool park swag. I've been meaning to put up a little display in my home at some point and just never got around to it. I have a 20th anniversary park mug, Stein with the Burgermeister on it, some LNM/BBW stuff from when it was still "The Old Country," a bunch of Drachenfire stuff (mugs, shirts, a hat), an Alpengeist shirt from 1997 that has all the world record stats on it, a bunch of pins (including Questor!) and so on and so forth all the way up to my Tempesto mug from when it came out. Looking forward to adding an InvadR item to the collection!

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For the locals...

 

I will likely be visiting BGW for the first time on a Monday and Tuesday in early August this year. I know this type of stuff is difficult to predict, but would a Quick Queue pass be needed? We'll be spending two full days at the park from open to close, and I know they have lots of people-eating B&Ms, but I just thought I'd ask if that is a busy time of year to visit. Thanks in advance.

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^ Could go either way. Mon/Tues are typically "low" attendance days, but august is august. Those are certainly the best days of the week to assume lower attendance. BGW is weird though. Sometimes you go on a weekend and can walk right onto coasters. Sometimes you go on a weekday and are waiting an hour.

 

With that said, outside of Hallowscream and major holidays, wait times are rarely more than an hour for any ride, and you're far more likely than not to see wait times of 5-15 on most coasters, with Tempesto being the only one to have a somewhat longer line (though still usually short). On a hot day, the water rides are the longest lines in the park by a longshot, and the skyride can also have pretty long lines, especially towards the end of the night when people don't want to walk anymore.

 

I'd recommend you go hit up Tempesto first thing when you arrive. Loch Ness tends to have it's longest line at the start of the day and taper out to near nothing later on, save the busiest days. Verbolten often has the longest looking line, but moves very quick due to duel loading. If you start at Tempesto, you're also primed for Apollo right there, you can hit up the festa/Italy flat rides, then follow the circle hitting Verbolten, DarKastle, more flat rides, then through to Alpengeist, Invadr, Griffon, then back to the park enterance for LNM. Make sure to ride LNM and Griffon in the back if nowhere else, the airtime is insane. Apollo is also spectacular in the back. If you have time for both a front and back ride on Tempesto, they offer different experiences. Alpengeist is good in every seat, still one of my top 10 roller coasters of all time, and my personal favorite in the park. Make sure to brace yourself before going through the cobra roll and MCBR on Alpengeist, it's from the era when B&Ms still had balls and throws you around a bit. Rest of the ride is super smooth. LNM is a very non-arrow Arrow, so it's a very smooth ride by Arrow standards.

 

DarKastle is really fun for what it is, so don't miss out unless simulators make you sick. They have a lot of oldschool carnival flats that are really worth a spin as well. Mach Tower is the worst drop tower I've ever been on, when it's even open, so if the line is too long don't bother (though the view is really cool).

 

Also, the show in Ireland is really cool if you're even remotely into step dancing. Trappers smokehouse is awesome to eat, but the quality tends to differ throughout the day. At major meal times when there's a line, it's the best food in the park. At shoulder times, it can be lackluster. The food at Das Festhaus is really freaking good too though, especially if you like German food. Italy has a newish marketplace with a lot of variety. I haven't had a bad thing from them yet, though I haven't lived in VA for years now.

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DarKastle is really fun for what it is, so don't miss out unless simulators make you sick. They have a lot of oldschool carnival flats that are really worth a spin as well. Mach Tower is the worst drop tower I've ever been on, when it's even open, so if the line is too long don't bother (though the view is really cool).

 

I don't get all of the hate for Mach Tower. The ride gave a great view and I found the drop was almost as good as an Intamin tower. I know it had Lightning Rod syndrome opening year but I do enjoy that ride.

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DarKastle is really fun for what it is, so don't miss out unless simulators make you sick. They have a lot of oldschool carnival flats that are really worth a spin as well. Mach Tower is the worst drop tower I've ever been on, when it's even open, so if the line is too long don't bother (though the view is really cool).

 

I don't get all of the hate for Mach Tower. The ride gave a great view and I found the drop was almost as good as an Intamin tower. I know it had Lightning Rod syndrome opening year but I do enjoy that ride.

I'm with you, It's not a terrible drop tower, sure it's not the best, but it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

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Just a question for a possible June visit... I noticed that the online one day ticket price and the Fun card are the same price. Are there any other tickets out there that might be a good fit for a family that just wants to visit the theme park and not Water Country?

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Just a question for a possible June visit... I noticed that the online one day ticket price and the Fun card are the same price. Are there any other tickets out there that might be a good fit for a family that just wants to visit the theme park and not Water Country?

Are you planning more than one day at the park? If so a Fun Card would be your best option. If only one day then the one day ticket option would be better if you have children 9 and under.

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Just a question for a possible June visit... I noticed that the online one day ticket price and the Fun card are the same price. Are there any other tickets out there that might be a good fit for a family that just wants to visit the theme park and not Water Country?

Are you planning more than one day at the park? If so a Fun Card would be your best option. If only one day then the one day ticket option would be better if you have children 9 and under.

That's the thing, right now everything is theoretical. It would be 4 adult tickets. Though, it does look like the Fun Card is the safest bet.

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If more than one day is an option, I recommend it. The park is easily doable in one day, but there's other cool stuff to do in the area too. If history is at all interesting to you, the historic triangle has a lot to offer, and it's all confined enough to go into BGW for a few hours on more than one day, while also seeing some other things in the area.

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If more than one day is an option, I recommend it. The park is easily doable in one day, but there's other cool stuff to do in the area too. If history is at all interesting to you, the historic triangle has a lot to offer, and it's all confined enough to go into BGW for a few hours on more than one day, while also seeing some other things in the area.

Yeah, I love the historical aspect that the area provides. The trip would probably be part of a Williamsburg/D.C. trip with stops at as many interesting places as possible.

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Okay, so I made my first unexpected amusement park stop down here yesterday (I was on the verge of a mental breakdown and absolutely needed to get away for a day),

and I have a small set of hot takes from the experience:

 

- I'm convinced large swaths of the general population never bathe. Like, ever.

 

Long.

- They really weren't that bad, actually. Of course, yesterday was neither sunny nor warm, save for the last few hours of sunlight.

 

- As the self-proclaimed chairman of the local B&M Hyper Lover's Committee, and as much as it pains me to say this, I think Robb Alvey was on to something when he said how boring many B&M hypers are. I used to think Apollo's Chariot was an easy top 10 coaster for me, but now I'm beginning to question whether it even cracks my top 20. I found it to be very... pedestrian, and lacking in the punch department. HOWEVER, if it's near sunset and the sun's out, please do yourself a favor and get on this. From the shimmering reflections off of the dark bodies of water to the late day sun's rays shining through the trees, it's one of the most jaw-dropping experiences I've ever had at an amusement park. For real.

 

- In a somewhat similar tone to my last take, if it's nighttime and there's a waxing half/gibbous moon (like there is now), get over to Griffon. Climbing that lift hill in the pitch black of night and staring directly at the moon is a haunting and almost otherworldly experience.

 

By the way, while I know Alpengeist and Apollo's Chariots have their fans, I believe you vote for your favorites by how many times you ride. Well, I rode Griffon twelve times, so what's that tell you? It isn't the longest ride in the world, and I'm not even convinced it's better than Valravn (though I can see how you could go either way on that one), but those drops and airtime pops were so addicting, I just kept going back for more. I honestly think it's the best ride in the park now.

 

- Invadr was alright. Not bad, not great. Just alright. I was impressed by the smoothness (I'm used to Wildcat shattering every bone in my body) and it kept up a good pace throughout the ride. I wish it were a bit longer and that it wound through the woods or something. I guess I was expecting something a little bit like Beast in regards to the latter, so perhaps my expectations weren't calibrated properly.

 

- I'm always willing to pay a little extra for good amusement park food. The food here, while certainly not cheap, is WAY more reasonable than what you get from Cedar Fair parks for the same price. For the same price that I could get smoked brisket, chicken parmesan, and chocolate cake at Busch Gardens, Cedar Fair would take a paper bag, puke in it, put in the microwave, and serve it to me on a Styrofoam plate. Seriously, screw Cedar Fair's food and their ridiculous prices.

 

- One last thing, if you're the type of person who walks around constantly breathing vape clouds and/or cutting eggy farts in long lines, you should be punished with island prison.

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^ Interesting take on your visit.

 

I agree that the Busch parks food choices are infinitely better with regards to quality, but to be fair, I can see that Cedar Fair knows this and are taking steps to correct it.

 

I was really impressed over hearing about the new food choices at CP this year with regards to Melt and a Famous Dave's stand being added to the park.

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^ Interesting take on your visit.

 

I agree that the Busch parks food choices are infinitely better with regards to quality, but to be fair, I can see that Cedar Fair knows this and are taking steps to correct it.

 

I was really impressed over hearing about the new food choices at CP this year with regards to Melt and a Famous Dave's stand being added to the park.

 

Add in the existing Pinks and Panda Express and you can get tasty food at Cedar Point. Although I prefer Marco Polo's marketplace at BGW

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^ Panda Express has some pretty reliable food and I always find myself salivating from the smell while we're waiting in line for MF!

 

Not quite as sold on Pinks yet though as we had two sub-par dogs from there (think lukewarm dog w/cold cheese sauce and cooked bacon straight out of the fridge).

 

I'm willing to give it another go though - perhaps with my expectations a bit lower. If everything would have been hot, I'm sure that it would have tasted much, much better. I was tempted to take the dogs back, but the line was insane and we were really hungry so we gobbled them down anyway. Just hit it at the wrong time, I guess.

 

One can never go wrong with the German plate at Festhaus at BGE either, although I will say in all honesty that we weren't overly impressed with the BBQ place (Trappers?) at BGT.

 

I've heard that the one in BGE is great, but I have also heard ravings about the one in Tampa as well. Perhaps we just hit this on a bad day too, but our group found the brisket, chicken and ribs to all be overcooked and dried out. I recall slathering mine in sauce & washing it down with beer so I wouldn't be chewing it for days. lol

 

Although I readily admit that I have found out from personal experience that cooking really great BBQ is no where near as easy as some people might think it is. I would imagine that trying to churn out high quality BBQ at a theme park all day, every day can't be the easiest of tasks either.

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^ Panda Express has some pretty reliable food and I always find myself salivating from the smell while we're waiting in line for MF!

 

Not quite as sold on Pinks yet though as we had two sub-par dogs from there (think lukewarm dog w/cold cheese sauce and cooked bacon straight out of the fridge).

 

I'm willing to give it another go though - perhaps with my expectations a bit lower. If everything would have been hot, I'm sure that it would have tasted much, much better. I was tempted to take the dogs back, but the line was insane and we were really hungry so we gobbled them down anyway. Just hit it at the wrong time, I guess.

 

One can never go wrong with the German plate at Festhaus at BGE either, although I will say in all honesty that we weren't overly impressed with the BBQ place (Trappers?) at BGT.

 

I've heard that the one in BGE is great, but I have also heard ravings about the one in Tampa as well. Perhaps we just hit this on a bad day too, but our group found the brisket, chicken and ribs to all be overcooked and dried out. I recall slathering mine in sauce & washing it down with beer so I wouldn't be chewing it for days. lol

 

Although I readily admit that I have found out from personal experience that cooking really great BBQ is no where near as easy as some people might think it is. I would imagine that trying to churn out high quality BBQ at a theme park all day, every day can't be the easiest of tasks either.

I can't speak for the one in Tampa, having not been there in seven years, but I can attest that the one in Williamsburg is pretty legit. Grabbing some brisket, dunking it in BBQ sauce, and then walking to a nearby spot to watch Griffon and Alpengeist is a fine way to kill a half hour.

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Bill took me to Trappers @ BGW last fall and we really enjoyed it. I love me some good BBQ and was not disappointed. Tons of food and all juicy and delicious. Sitting under Griffon/Alpengiest is the cherry on top. 10/10 would eat again.

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The Smokehouse can be hit or miss. Get there at the right time when they've just brought out a fresh tray of ribs and it's great; but if you get the last rack of ribs in the tray, they might be bit cold.

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The Smokehouse can be hit or miss. Get there at the right time when they've just brought out a fresh tray of ribs and it's great; but if you get the last rack of ribs in the tray, they might be bit cold.

 

Trapper's Smokehouse used to cook their ribs outside on the large grill in front. The cooks would be there slathering the sauce on the ribs and the big fans were used to blow the smoke all over New France which would make guests hungry and draw them to Trapper's. However, I haven't seen them use the grill in several visits, both last Fall and this Spring. Maybe the ribs are pre-cooked now!!

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