WAR2174
Posts: 1067
Registered: 3/6/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 6/21/2005 6:51:46 PM
Well, I got my annual trip to my home park of Busch Gardens Williamsburg Virginia on father's day. And what a day it was.
My father, mother, wife, daughter, son, and myself all got to the park around noon. A little later than we had wanted but the park was open until 10 so it wasn't too bad. We started out by heading around to the left past Escape from Pompeii and headed over to DaVinci's Garden of Inventions. My kids wanted to go on those rides pretty bad, so we did. They of course loved them. They are pretty classic rides; Battering Ram(a swinging boat), Flying Machine( a pretty unique flat ride), and DaVinci's Cradle(a magic carpet). After a couple of rides on those, we headed to Festa Italia and rode Turkish Delight(teacups), Elephant Run and Tradewind(circular rides). Again, the kids had a blast. We walked around back through Italy and over the Rhine River Bridge and took some beautiful pictures.
Into Germany we went and right to Big Bad Wolf, a classic suspended coaster. I really love this ride, but it is not aging well. It used to never break down, and on this day it was broken 3 times over the course of a few hours. I have heard from others that it has been broken alot this year. It was shut down when we first got there but it started up shortly. The whole family got in line and we only waited a few turns and then it was our turn. This was my son's first steel coaster. He rode Fairly Oddparents down in Carowinds as his first ever. Let me say, that he loved Big Bad Wolf. He had a blast and wasn't scared at all. He is only 4 and he got into it like a teenager. It was so awesome seeing him have fun like that. That is the feeling that you should have at a theme park. It is just awesome. After that we went on the bumper cars and swing rides and then headed to the Festhaus for lunch.
We got some pizzas, club sandwichs, and the awesome black forest chocolat cherry cake. It is a huge cake and is just delicious.
After eating we checked out DarKastle and decided to try later. The line was at about an hour and a half and it was hot. The kids wanted to go have fun. We worked our way over to New France and rode Le Scoot(log flume) and then to Aquitaine and rode Le Mans Raceway(classic cars). Then we walked over to Ireland and rode Corkscrew Hill and then it was onto Heatherdowns and the Loch Ness Monster.
Normally a ride on Nessie wouldn't be a big deal to me, but not today. I have ridden it hundreds of times and so has my wife. But today it was my daughters turn. She was always saying that she would never go on an upside down roller coaster. But after some convincing, she decided she wanted to go. We got in line and it was a pretty short wait. We rode in the middle for the smoothest ride. She was a little nervous, but once that first drop came: She was screaming and having a great time! She just loves it. I think it is a pretty good coaster to start on. We bought the on-ride photo and a t-shirt for her.
It was getting late by then and my parents headed home but my family stayed and we worked our way back around the park. We went back through Italy and went on those rides again and then me and my wife went on Apollo's Chariot. A great ride. It never gets old. We got up to Germany and went on Big Bad Wolf and my son had a blast again. We then made it over to the Curse of DarKastle.
We stood in line for about an hour. It started to drizzle but nothing too bad. We made it inside and my daughter was having some second thoughts after the little intro movie. We went throught the secret doors and into line. We sat in the back row and we got quite a ride. I really liked it, my wife loved it, my son didn't care too much and my daughter was scared. A pretty rounded out ride experience. It is hard to see it being the theme park experience changer they hoped for, but I think it is effective and will be pretty popular.
I then got over to Alpengeist and reaffirmed itself as my #1 ride. It is such an awesome ride
Message updated 6/21/2005 6:54:50 PM by WAR2174
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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 6/22/2005 1:10:39 PM
Nice report sounds like a good day. glad to see you doughter gave the ride a chance. you neve now what you will love or hate untile you try it.
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Lin48
Posts: 612
Registered: 7/19/2002
Rank: Gold Critic
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6/22/2005 2:47:45 PM
Thanks for the awesome TR. I went to BGW about a year ago for the first time and had a blast. I liked the stories about your kids' reactions (when I was little, I could never wait until I was tall enough to ride the big coasters and I still love doing it today) and I'm glad that your family had a nice time. My family has always been into amusement parks too and I think it's just a really neat way to spend a day. I'm a little jealous of anyone who gets to ride DarKastle (I was a little early for that and being as I live in NY, I don't see myself going back down any time real soon), but it's cool to know that it's a good ride so that I'll have something to look forward to when we get back down to Virginia which I find to be a very fun state! Take care.
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Cairn
Posts: 156
Registered: 3/22/2004
Rank: Bronze Critic
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6/22/2005 11:18:44 PM
Sounds like a great place to visit, thanks for the well described TR! It is always fun seeing children take their first ride on a "grown up" roller coaster. Nearly all the time they are white as a ghost as they board the train, yet come off grinning ear to ear once returned to the station. Unlike many adults who board with a big grin and disembark white as a ghost!
In any rate I would love to visit this park, it sounds like a nice place.
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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6/24/2005 3:00:45 PM
Give it time lin, you'll get there again soon.
anyway's were you able to hit any of the shows? They added a few shince I was ther last and I was wondering how they were.
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WAR2174
Posts: 1067
Registered: 3/6/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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6/24/2005 7:08:10 PM
Since I'm not sure they last time you went, I can't say if there is anything that would be new to you. However, nothing has changed from last year.They have Irish Thunder, Oktoberfest, American Jukebox, Imaginique, R.L. Stines Haunted Lighthouse, and Holiday in Roma. They probably won't change for a while.
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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6/26/2005 6:42:35 PM
Last time I went Pompei was beign built and was the suprise of 92. I havn't been there in a long time.
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WAR2174
Posts: 1067
Registered: 3/6/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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6/26/2005 10:18:07 PM
Dang man, you need to get on down there. It is a great park. You are really missing out.
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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6/27/2005 12:25:23 AM
I did get a chance to ride Drachn' Fire in its origanal form. Hounts of the old Country was playing in the Glob theater.
So I got to some things. Just none of the new things.
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