TR: Labor Day Weekend in DC & at BGW - VIP STYLE!

[Legendary]

Washington, DC and Busch Gardens Williamsburg was a blast!

Our trip was wonderful! We stopped in DC that Friday night for

dinner at my favorite steakhouse; The Capital Grille, and then

went out bar and club hopping for the better part of the night.

I LOVED DC!

 

We hit a couple different spots over the course of the night

including H20 Restaurant/Lounge which had a STUNNING

view of the Jefferson Memorial and boats idling on Washington

Channel, it had quite the crowd and they apparently take the

“lounge” part of the ‘restaurant/lounge’ very seriously; with a

sophisticated drink menu and an expensive seafood menu, as

well.

 

We then hit up Fur, which was perched on NW Capitol Avenue

near its intersection with New York Avenue, with a lot of post-

collegiate 45,000 dollar-aire douchebag types looking to drink

away the pressure of their low-paid, I-hate-my-life-and-the-

career-path-my-family-chose-for-me law firm jobs. We just

missed the $3 wine, beer and martinis until 11pm so we

decided to leave (after checking out the four different rooms

and DJ's; all full of the people I love to hate) and head to Aqua

Restaurant & Bar on 1818 New York Ave.

 

Aqua was an interesting little place. It reminded me lots

of my clubbing days in NYC and it was a FAR cry from

the other clubs we had just visited. You wouldn’t even

notice Aqua driving down New York Avenue, but once

you’re inside it’s hard to imagine how. This cavernous

space featured a massive sunken dance floor where a

diverse (but obviously banged-up crowd dances to a mix

of house, techno, and hip-hop, while others chill out in

the separate drinking and dining room. Dress to impress

was the word of the evening. I felt woefully underdressed

in a dress shirt, sportcoat, jeans and dress shoes.

 

Before we got ourselves into trouble, Kyle, Shannon and

myself left and decided to check out one more spot,

which had the best crowd of any of the clubs we went

to and that was Love. Love had 4 floors, 4 decks, VIP

rooms, a penthouse suite, and lots more.. not to mention

the hottest (read: slutty and of low moral turpitude)

females of the evening. Of course, I was in heaven and it

certainly didn't hurt that I had been drinking chilled shots

of Patron, Vegas Bombs (Crown Royal, Peach Schnapps,

and Red Bull.. a drink I invented while bartending in

Pittsburgh) and Heinekens since 8pm. From the pictures,

I obviously had the best time here but before we knew it,

4am was quickly approaching and we still still had over

two and a half hours to go to Williamsburg.

 

After a drunken Waffle House stop and a relatively

traffic-free drive (of what I remember from passing in

and out of consciousness) we arrived in Williamsburg

about ten after 7. No sense in getting a hotel at this

point since we had to check in at 7:45 for our VIP

Coaster Tour.. so we drove right on up I-64, got off

the Busch Gardens Williamsburg exit and parked

our car right in front of the still-blocked-off-by-traffic-

cones parking lot booths and waited for them to

open the gates. First car in the lot... awesome!

 

We bought the VIP on the internet Friday morning

before we left, so that "must purchase 24 hours in

advance" thing is obviously BS. However, we

neglected to purchase actual park tickets.. so

I was curious as to how this was going to work

itself out. Around 8:10.. our vehicle as well as

four others were escorted into the park by a

security van and taken to a parking lot just

a hop, skip, and jump from the main entrance.

 

After being briefed on the morning's activities, we

were escorted into the park (without actual tickets).

The tour was amazing and offered two ticket options..

a "spectator" pass for 35.00 or a "participant" pass for

75.00. Me and Shannon opted to be participants, Kyle..

still feeling hungover and lacking sleep from the night's

festivities, chose to be a "spectator".

 

We all enjoyed 2-3 rides on each of the big coasters and

went behind the scenes and into the maintenance bays

of Griffon, Loch Ness Monster, Apollo, and Alpengeist.

Going up to the top of Griffon on the maintenance elevator

was an amazing experience. We were all told we could

pick up a photo cd of our experience after 3pm at Guest

Services and if we didn't plan on staying that long, we

could have it shipped to us.

 

Kyle got to enjoy all the rides he wanted and our tour

guide(s) even offered to let him ride the maintenance

elevator to the top of Griffon, though he politely declined.

Had I known that,I would have purchased a Spectator

Pass as well. At the end of the tour, we were given

no-wait passes that were supposed to give

us each only two rides on all the major coasters.

 

However, these passes must be new to the operators

or I must have been misinformed, because no one

collected or marked off those passes and we used

them at will ALL DAY LONG -- NO WAIT! It was

AWESOME!

 

Anyways, after the tour the three of us tools that

neglected to purchase our tickets along with our

VIP passes were escorted back out to the ticket

booths to buy our tickets. Upon seeing the sea of

humanity streaming into the park around noon, I

complained to our tour guide about waiting in that

line after dropping cash on the tour and he kindly

walked us into Guest Services.. no wait, where we

were able to buy our tickets, grab a park map and

head into the park for the day.

 

Since we hadn't eaten in nearly 8 hours we took

the Train to New France(?) and headed for Trappers

Smokehouse. Still just as delicious as I had fondly

remembered it. After that, we headed for Darkastle,

which had a posted 1 1/2 hour line. We headed

for the single riders line (which, even if they tell

you it's closed.. just leave the queue, head in the exit

and they will load you immediately, FYI). Darkastle

was BETTER than I remembered it and rivals Spidey

at Universal in my opinion.

 

We took MANY, MANY coaster rides that day no

wait.. also rode Escape from Pompeii (20 minute

wait) which seemed much shorter than I remembered,

Le Scott (30 minute wait), Roman Rapids (25 minute

wait), The Skyride (30ish minute wait) Corkscrew Hill

(don't recall how long we waited.. I loved it though!)

and we also took in a few shows.. the Animal

tricks show, the Tap Dancing show, and enjoyed

some beverages in Ireland.

 

We had more than our fill of the park by 6pm so

we left and checked into a VERY nice Clarion

Inn (5 minutes from the park) for 69.00+ tax...

thanks Priceline.. where we promptly all

passed out until 9:30 the next morning,

planned on stopping at Water Country

or SFA, but we were pretty tuckered

out so we just stopped in Inner Harbor

and we were home by dusk. Great trip!

 

How were the crowds? Well.. it was a very

warm day out and as you see, the water

ride waits were minimal. Darkastle had an

(apparently) long wait and I do recall waiting

a while (although we were cold, wet, and

buzzed from the water rides and Grogan's

Pub) for Corkscrew Hill.. but that was it.

The pathways were packed, the overflow

parking was full and it was slow moving all

day and the line at Trapper's may have been

the longest we waited in all day. Maximum

trains were running on everything all day long

and we had our choice of seats even with the

passes. Only suggestion would be to add

Darkastle to the tour.

 

Any other questions.. feel free to ask.

 

Rob "can't believe I just inadvertenly did a TR" Vaccaro

 

PS- I posed some pictures on my Facebook if you're

so inclined.. www.facebook.com/howsurass

[cfc]

Excellent choice, eating at the Capital Grill--the steaks are awesome.

[snowboard83]

wow...Not even a mention of BBW!?

[Legendary]

WOOPS! yeah, we got to ride it twice during the VIP tour and and a few more times throughout the day.. like I said, 30+ coaster rides throughout the day. That tour comes highly recommended!

[Legendary]

Chuck- The Capital Grille is far and away the best "traditional" steakhouse I've ever been to.. Fogo de Chao notwithstanding!

[ginzo]

^I keep a running list of high end steakhouses that I need to visit around the country. My most recent visit was Peter Luger in Brooklyn. Amazing steak.

 

I haven't heard of this place. Do they serve USDA Prime?

[Legendary]

http://www.thecapitalgrille.com/about/main.asp?s_cid=

 

Choose from critically acclaimed dry aged steaks, hand-carved and grilled to perfection,a variety of seafood flown in fresh from both shores and unique daily culinary offerings crafted with fresh, local, artisanal ingredients. An impressive array of creative side dishes await you, as do desserts that are, quite simply, the stuff of legends (who among us doesn’t scream for house-made ice cream?)

 

Definitely try the Dry Aged Steak Au Poivre with Courvoisier Cream Sauce! It's amazing! "Black peppercorns are crushed then rubbed onto one of our dry aged sirloins. We sear the steak to its juicy best, then serve it with a rich Courvoisier cognac cream and peppercorn sauce."

 

It has got some heat to it too, which I love!

 

On the topic on steakhouses, try STK in New York City -- right above Tenjune nightclub as well. It's amazing! http://www.onelittlewest12.com/stkny/