Sunday, July 5, 2015

Busch Gardens Williamsburg - Part 2

Part 1 ended in New France, and after crossing a covered bridge over the river (with excellent views of Griffon, Le Scoot, and Alpengeist, you end up in Germany.

Germany

Germany (originally called Rhinefeld) was originally based to look like a small village on the banks of the Rhine. With the addition of the super-headliner rollercoaster Alpengeist, portions were rethemed to resemble an alpine ski resort. It's this latter area that you first encounter entering the country.







Alpengeist, and inverted coaster (the seats hang below the tracks vice sitting on them), is a world-class coaster that often shows up on "best of" lists. It's my personal favorite of the BGW coasters.




Here's a video of the ride


Moving past Alpengeist, you enter the main "village" of Germany. Being of German descent (on my Mother's side), I have to admit to a certain partiality to this portion of the park.








I think the gift shops in Germany are my favorite in BGW. Along with the park and ride "usual suspects" souvenirs, you can find some really nice "authentic" German items - steins, Black Forest Cuckoo Clocks, Hummels, and woodcrafts from Erzgeberge (the last of which I collect).




My wife and I are "seriously" into Christmas decorating; we put up about 20 fully decorated trees, and virtually every table and shelf in the house have decorations on them. SO, any time there is a Christmas shop, I'm in heaven. The BGW shop is beautiful, with many imported German ornaments (mixed with others) are available.




Off of Germany is a "mini-land" called The Land of the Dragons, a beautifully designed children's play area. With a splash zone, several elaborate climbing structures, and a few rides for the very young, this may become the favorite area for the under 10 set.


The other "ride" in Germany is the "Rhine" River cruise. A path down a long (and very steep) hill takes you the boat dock on the banks of the "Rhine". This is a very relaxing 15 minute ride up and down the river. Other than the “big hill” on the Verbolten rollercoaster, there's nothing really to see other than water and trees but it's relaxing, and will give you a rest prior to hiking back up the hill after the cruise.




One of the few walking "short cuts" connects the boat dock to the back side of Scotland, providing the park's best views of the Loch Ness Monster - but be prepared for a long flight of steps back up to the park at the other end.



And that's what there is to Germany - almost. Right next door is...

Oktoberfest

In the spirit of the "real" Oktoberfest, this "land" is a combination of food, drink, and rides.






BGW's newest coaster, Verbolten, is the "premier" ride in this area. This is a very unique coaster; it has two "launches", a "dark" middle portion, and a final dive to the surface of the "Rhine". The "story" of the ride is that you are driving through the Black Forest and the tress start to attack.  The concept is very cool, but I found the experience to be slightly less than exciting.


Here is a video of the ride (although like Space Mountain, the dark portions are almost impossible to see).



Right next to Verbolten is BGW's drop tower Mach Tower. In a traditional fashion, the ride vehicle slowly rotates as it goes to the top, hangs out for a bit, and then free-falls back down. I've never really been a huge fan of drop towers, and other than providing some really nice views of the park, this really doesn't do much for me.



The third major ride is a high-tech dark ride called The Curse of Darkastle" that combines a ride vehicle that moves along a track through sets with 3D projections (similar in concept to Universal's Spiderman). The combination of the architecture, story line (the"curse" is that the family who owns the castle are werewoves, and the ride is an "escape" from them), and ride system makes this one of BGW's premier attraction.





Rounding out the ride category are a few "carnival" type rides.




But the centerpiece of Oktoberfest is the Festhaus,a huge, beautifully themed, dining facility that has live shows 3 or 4 times a day.





I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with the food at the Festhaus on my last trip. Back in the 80s, the food quality was very good (almost as good as Epcot’s Biergarten), and quite "authentic" to a person who grew up on German home cooking (and they had an amazing Black Forest Cherry Cake). But now, they've converted the larger of the two food line areas to pizza and chicken nuggets, and have relegated the "German" dishes to the smaller line (which is easy to miss if you aren't looking for it). I had the Wurstplatter which had 3 (fairly small) sausages, portions of potato salad, sauerkraut, and braised red cabbage. None were bad, but none were anything to write home about either. But mix it with beer and a very good live show, and it made for a completely enjoyable dining experience.


Roll Out the Barrel is BGW's newest show, which replaced the much smaller (and more traditional) song and folk dance show. With a traditional "oop-pah" band, a cast of about 20 singers and dancers, acrobats (why, I don't know), and a very nicely done set, this 25 min show is quite spectacular; along with Celtic Fyre, I consider this "not-to-be-missed".





As this is a very new show, there aren't very many YouTube offerings; in fact, I could only find one of the whole show. Technically, it's not very good, and watching all 25 min may be difficult, but it gives you an ides of the scope and feel of the show


Continuing on the counter-clockwise tour of the park, you depart Oktoberfest via a long, high, bridge across the river. From the bridge you can get good views of The Loch Ness Monster



the Rhine Cruise


and Verbolten


At the other end of the bridge is...

Italy

Like Germany, Italy is divided into two "lands"; Italy (originally called Plaza San Marco), and  Festa Italia. The "theme" of the former is loosely "Renaissance" and the theme of the latter is... well we'll get to that later.


The bridge from Oktoberfest terminates in the "San Marco" section of Italy, which houses Ristorante Dell Piazza (the main restaurant in Italy) as well as the "upscale" Italian gift shop and a few smaller food kiosks. Having not eaten in Italy in many years, it would be unfair of me to give my opinion of it - although looking at the trays being carried by people to their tables, it reminded me of mall food court Italian food.






The gift shop in Italy is probably my second favorite in BGW (to look, not buy) as it has the largest collection of Capodimonte (porcelain sculptures from Naples).



The primary attraction in this area is Il Teatro di San Marco, an open air performance venue that has both regular seating and table seating for those who want to eat while watching the show.


The show currently playing there, called Mix it Up, featuring brass, percussion, and flag waving, had not yet opened for the season when I was there (I have seen it in the past), but here's a video of the 2015 edition.


Heading down a short path past the theater you come to the "garden" area of Italy. Laid out to somewhat resemble a formal 16th century garden, this area plays host to several cleverly-themed "carnival" rides.





The final offering, and only "big" ride in Italy is Escape from Pompeii. This combines a typical "large flume" ride with a nicely themed "dark ride" portion at the top. It's a short ride, but the theming is pretty cool, the drop is fun, and the soaking you get at the end is very welcomed on a hot day.


Here's a video of the ride


Crossing a bridge from Italy, you come to...

Festa Italia

For the lack of a better term, Festa Italia is the "midway" of BGW. There are booths with traditional carnival games of "skill", various food booths, three carnival "spinner" rides (with a mysterious oriental theme), a river rapid ride, and two super-headliner coasters.

Much like Dinoland at Disney's Animal Kingdom, the theming of this land is somewhat lost to the average visitor. The "backstory" is that this is a festival set up to celebrate Marco Polo's return to Italy after his trip to China (thus the seemingly out of place oriental theming to some of the rides). How do I know this? I researched it on line.








BGW's newest coaster, Tempesto, is themed after barnstormers that used to be a regular feature at county fairs. This is a new technology coaster with both forward and reverse launches, and a high, seemingly unsupported barrel roll at the top. Unfortunately, the grand opening was the day after I visited, so I was able to watch "the press" ride, but was not able to ride it myself.



Here are two videos of the ride; the first is watching it from the ground, the second is a POV ride.



Although Tempesto is the newest coaster, in my opinion the "star" of this land (and perhaps all of BGW) is Apollo's Chariot. This hyper-coaster, with it's 200+ foot first hill and speeds in excess of 70 mph make it one of the best in the country. It's situated in such a way that other than the lift hill, you have no idea of what's coming until you actually ride it.



Here's a video of the ride.


Tucked between Italy and England is a mini-land called Sesame Street Forest of Fun, which is a fairly elaborate kids area.



It has several rides (including a kiddie coaster, similar to the Barnstormer in the Magic Kingdom), a character show, splash zone, and other "playground" activities, all well-themed to the television show. With no kids, I didn't bother going into the land on this trip.

And that brings us back to England.


As you can see, there is really quite a bit to do at BGW, and especially on a first visit, if you want to see all of the shows, ride all of the rides, and enjoy the beauty of the park, I could easily see spending two days (especially if you go at a crowded time and have to deal with WDW-length lines.

As for touring tips, it's really pretty basic. Hit the coasters first (note, Festa Italia typically doesn't open until an hour after park opening). Then take a look at the show schedule and determine which you want to see (most only show 3 or 4 times a day, so you don't have a lot of choices). Once you have that set, fit with other attraction in between.

I hope you enjoyed my tour and that it has you excited about visiting BGW.

Stay tuned for a tour of Busch Gardens Tampa, coming soon to a screen near you!