Busch Gardens Williamsburg is another park that strives for quality over quantity, just like Dollywood. Busch Gardens is still very much different from Dollywood, in the fact that three of their five major coasters are B&M’s that all exceed 170’ and are not woodies. So for the days that I was there, I was riding four high tech steel coasters and one classic steel coaster. It was still very nice, but it made me seem unprepared for the woodies at KD.

So we arrived there and met up with Daniel and Chad in the Ireland section when it started to storm. The storm only lasted 15 minutes, but then all of the coasters remained closed due to more storms which were coming our direction. So we headed up to Curse of DarKastle. I really like this ride, even though the guy says way too many puns. Other than that, I enjoyed the ride, and it killed some time before the coasters reopened.

After that, we headed down to Griffon. We had a front row seat, the best one in my opinion. I love the drop, and the gracefulness of everything was just amazing. Last time we were at Busch Gardens, Griffon was down for the first few days but was up the third day. I rode it seven times that day, with almost no wait. Keep in mind that that was in 2009, the year Big Bad Wolf closed. I still enjoyed the ride but not as much as I did then.

Then it was time for Alpengeist, which I still have trouble spelling. I loved this ride, even in the back. It’s not as smooth as the newer inverts, but that doesn’t make any difference. The inversions are amazing, especially on the second half. That zero g roll is twisted the opposite way of what I’m used to, but that made it more awesome.

Next we headed up front to Apollo’s Chariot. I didn’t really remember what it was like the last time I rode it. We went to the very back, row 9. We got a little bit of airtime on the small dip leading into the main drop, which we experienced a lot of more airtime on. Then the first hill after that, I got some of the best airtime I have ever experienced on any B&M Hyper. Usually the first of its kind isn’t the best, but in this case it is.

Then it was time to eat. I had a very good Italian meal, but I don’t remember what it was called. After that, it was time for the legendary Loch Ness Monster. It was a walk on, or for my brother and me, a run on, since they were almost done loading. I really like this ride. When I go upside-down, I get the feeling that I actually am upside down unlike other rides. I also love the helix, and there is very nice theming at the entrance.

The next day, we got to the park a little late because of a huge line for parking. After we met up with Daniel, we started our day with the Loch Ness Monster. The switchbacks were already filled, but we were thinking, they’re probably running all three anyway. That’s when I noticed the attendant closed off the walkway to the switchbacks. This confused me; I didn’t know how the guests were going to get in. Then I found out there was another part of the queue below the switchbacks which has even cooler theming than the rest of the ride. The ride was still awesome, but now I have a different picture of the theming.

Europe in the Air was next. Never do this ride. It’s terrible; the simulator was incredibly jerky even on the slow movements, the animation on screen was terrible, and the movements weren’t matched up with what was on screen at all. The screen turns, then the simulator turns a couple seconds later.

After that crappy excuse for a ride, we did Griffon, Alpengeist, and DarKastle again. At that point, we met up with Chad and ate at Das Festhaus. I had pizza and fries, an amazing combination. We then did the Autobahn, an incredibly and competitive ride. Because of the heat, we decided to get wet on Le Scoot, a very nice log flume ride. I didn’t get soaked, but I still got wet enough to make a difference. After that, we hit the train to Italy where we got completely soaked on Roman Rapids. Then we did Escape from Pompeii. I made the mistake of sitting in the front, where the front of the boat gets completely submerged at the top of the lift. The water caught on the top comes back on your feet, completely soaking them.


To help our feet dry off, we did Apollo’s Chariot again, and then we went up to Das Festhaus to eat again. This time, I just had a gelatin and one of those huge pieces of Black Forrest Cake which I shared with my family. Then we went over to Griffon and rode that again, after which we went to Apollo’s Chariot again.

The next day we went to Water Country USA, a very fun water park. The first thing we did when we got there was swim in the wave pool for a couple of minutes. Then we went to Vanish Point, the new slide.

Now, almost all rides don’t scare me. Body Slides are an exception. For all other rides, there are restraints holding you in for the whole ride, making you feel safe. On body slides, it’s just you on the inside of a tube that’s filled with water and, in the case of Vanish Point, a trap door that helps get the speed going before going into that tube.

So Vanish Point scared the crap out of me. I was almost shaking when I got on. I stepped into this “phone booth,” as my dad called it, and then the operator pressed the button, the trap door opened, and down I went into the tube of doom. The first turn is taken at 19 MPH, but it could have been 100, for what it felt. I felt like I was drowning, and the end of the tunnel couldn’t come soon enough. When I got off, I vowed never to do it again and to stick with tube slides.

Next we did our favorite lazy river, Hubba Hubba Highway. It’s so peaceful when you just put on a vest and let the current take you wherever it goes. We went around at least four times with my brother going around probably more than that in his search for money. We then did the Meltdown, and then Aquazoid, another favorite of ours. I love the scenery, with trees all around it. It makes it different then plopping a slide on a slab of concrete.

After Aquazoid we went back to our seats by the wave pool to catch a quick bite to eat. The granola bars that my mom brought in did not satisfy, so we shared a plate of nachos which were excellent. We then headed to Big Daddy Falls, another great ride. We love the slides that have the huge raft that fits 4-5 people; you get an awesome feeling on the turns if you’re on the top.

We then headed to my brother’s all-time favorite, Rampage. It’s a very good ride. You sit on this toboggan, the ramp at the top tilts forward, and then you go down a 60 degree drop, and skip on this huge pool. It was an amazing ride, and I look forward to another chance to ride it.

We then did Wild Thing, a very fun ride. My parents and I then went back to the chair to dry off, but my brother wanted to do the other part of Vanish Point, the one where you just drop down 75 feet at 40 MPH into the pool. The slide is 300’ long, only the first 100 are the drop; the rest is to slow you down. Well, he went to do that while my dad went to take pictures. After close to an hour, with my brother finally finding us, we headed back to the hotel to change back into our park clothes.

Before we went back to Busch Gardens, however, we needed to eat, so we went to one of my mom’s, my dad’s, and my favorite places, Red Lobster. My brother doesn’t like seafood, so it isn’t his favorite place. I got an awesome seafood alfredo with shrimp and scallops, part of the 4 course meal deal. The first course was soup, so I ordered potato bacon soup, then Caesar Salad, and for my fourth course, an incredible brownie cake. A great meal for all!

When we returned to Busch Gardens, we did Apollo’s Chariot and then went straight to Verbolten. The queue house was almost full to the brim, but the wait was only about 20 minutes long. Busch Gardens is definitely a winner for line eating, with four trains running at once. The ride was amazing, the show building was amazing, and we got “the spirit show” once again for the drop sequence. And then the drop was just so amazing.

We did it once more, and then my brother and I got back in line right before closing at 9:00. The ride broke down right before our parents got on, so our wait was a little longer. Luckily, they fixed the problem right away and were testing for at least 20 minutes before the line started moving again.

This would be my first complete night ride on it. We waited about 50 minutes, including the wait from the breakdown and the wait for the front. We moved out of the garage and drove towards the Black Forest. Everything is very eerie at this point. Then we were launched straight into the show building. I barely noticed the difference between the indoor and outdoor sections because the darkness outside matched perfectly with the darkness on the inside. This time, we experienced the wolf effect with the growling occurring in front of us, complete with wolf-eyes. Then we dropped and launched onto a bridge that’s going to break at any moment. It did, and the car dropped towards the river below. We miraculously landed upright onto a road below us and got the heck out of the forest. After a couple more turns, we came to a stop in the garage, escaping from the forest.

In my blog about my media day experience of Verbolten, I said that it was not better than the Wolf. I have changed my mind. A night ride into the Black Forest is much better than a night time ride through a German town. Actually, a night ride into the Black Forest just blew me away (pardon the pun). This is by far my most favorite new ride of 2012, much better than the painful airtime of Skyrush (which could have changed now, I’ll check back this coming Wednesday), the floorless feel of the wing coaster Wild Eagle, and the “did this, done that” feel of Stinger.

We then headed out of the park and finished up our Red Lobster dessert at the hotel. Stay tuned for the final part of the blog: King’s Dominion!