Day 34 – July 22, 2019

Today Ashley and I visited our third different theme park in three days. Saturday, it was Six Flags America and King’s Dominion. Sunday, a full day of King’s Dominion. And today we toured Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

We selected a hotel that has our two favorite attributes: close to a theme park and cheap.

The free breakfast buffet was completely packed with people. Ashley declared she was not hungry and stormed back to the room.

Kathy found a super deal through AAA for 2 day tickets to Busch Gardens that are $20 cheaper than the 1 day ticket. The weather report for Tuesday was showing rain and thunderstorms all day. So our plan is to hit it hard on Monday in case Tuesday is a wash out.

Within 5 minutes of starting the van, we are standing at the front gate. Kathy and I last visited Busch Gardens in 1992. The place has changed a lot and we initially struggled to figure out where we are going and how to get there.

The rope dropped at 10:30 and we were off like the Kentucky Derby.

We raced to Apollo’s Chariot in Italy, a highly rated coaster that typically has hour long waits. We hopped right on. It was great.

The park is situated in the woods and beside a river. This coaster soars above and through the trees before making a sweeping left at the river. This coaster was smooth and featured plenty of off the seat air time. We liked it so much, we rode it again. This was Kathy’s favorite ride in the park.

The next great coaster we experienced was found in Germany and called Verbolten.

The queue was full of lots of fun stuff to look at. But, unfortunately there was no line, so we just flew past.

The train leaves the station and speeds into a dark building with many turns and drops, like Space Mountain. Suddenly, the train stops and strange images appear overhead.

With our attention on the ceiling, the entire train suddenly plummets 20 or 30 feet.

The train accelerates out of the show building then drops down right next to the river before returning to the station. This was my favorite ride in the park.

We must have chosen the perfect summer to visit theme parks. Every one we have visited has been almost empty. Busch Gardens is certainly empty. I blame Star Wars Land.

The themeing here is beautiful and near Disney quality.We continued on our clock wise quest to ride every coaster.

We then stood before Griffon in the France area. One of the world’s greatest dive coasters. The one at Cedar Point was not operating when we were there which made Ashley sad. This 204 foot tall beast was open for business and it had, wait for it, no line.

The trains have only three rows. But each row has 10 seats.

The ride was exhilarating. Before the first drop, the train stops for an agonizing 4 seconds – but it feels like 20.

The rest of the ride has huge drops and inversions. It is incredibly smooth. This was Ashley’s favorite ride in the park.

Of course, we rode this one again. This time from the front row. It was worth the 5 minute wait.

We continued on to Ireland. There, we found a Virtual Reality attraction called Battle for Erie.

Before entering the theater, we were fitted with the appropriate head gear. This was Ashley’s favorite part.

The movie with the motion seats was great fun. But the best part was the air conditioning. There, I said it.

We stopped for a quick bite to eat. Ashley said she still wasn’t hungry and just sipped water.

We finished up our first lap around Busch Gardens by riding Loch Ness Monster in the Scotland region.

This coaster opened in 1978 and is the only ride still around from the last time we visited. When it opened, it was the tallest coaster in the world at an incredible 130 feet.

And if wasn’t enough, this coaster has two loops that loop within each other.

While this may be a classic and provides a nice bit of nostalgia, it was a pretty rough ride. It beat me up. One ride was enough for me.

With that, we completed our challenge of hitting every major ride and attraction. And we did it in under three hours. Now, we could take it easy for the rest of the day and let our bodies heal.

We found the Hartys and their friends in the France section.

Megan, it turns out, is a coaster freak, too. And she hadn’t experience Griffon yet. Ashley and I are like, my body can heal tomorrow. Heck yeah we will ride that with you.

We did the third row because there was no wait. Of course, she wanted to ride again in the front. By now, no line.

We raced to Ireland to catch up with everyone else.

Megan wanted to ride Loch Ness. I’m out (I may be crazy, but I’m not insane), but Ashley’s in.

Everyone wanted to end the day with the relaxing Rhine River Cruise and the train ride around the park.

But Meg is itching to hit some more coasters. Seriously, that girl is one of us. Brett insisted that she keep a close eye on me and he sent us on our way. Kathy and Ashley decided to help her supervise me.

We closed out the day with return visits to Verbolten and Apollo’s Chariot.

Meg insisted that we ride Escape from Pompeii, a themed water ride with a huge drenching drop at the end. Soggy but refreshed, we made it back to the train station before the rest of the party.

The Clydesdale horses are on display near the depot. The girls got their photo with one.

Four lovely smiles.

This horse really like Ashley.

Dark clouds moved in and the wind picked up. An announcement rang out that inclement weather was coming. That’s all we needed to hear. Besides, we are all starving.

We had diner at the nearby Hardee’s and we were back at the hotel before 8. Oh and the promised rain storm? It arrived at 2 am.