Busch Gardens

The highlight of my trip to Williamsburg, Virginia was Busch Gardens theme park.

Busch Gardens was only a few minutes drive from our hotel. It took a longer time to get into the park. It was the beginning of summer and it seemed everyone was at the park.

There were lines to get in.

The theme of Busch Gardens was the history and culture of old Europe. It was divided into 5 countries – England, Italy, Ireland, Germany and France. Each country had it’s own rides, entertainment, food and ambiance.

Getting into the park was high tech. My cousins were residents of Virginia that’s why they were entitled to a pass that will allow them to come back as many times as they want for the summer. They paid the same amount as my single entry pass which was $63.99. To make sure the same person uses the pass they scanned your fingerprint and embedded the information to the ticket.

Kids are checked for their height at the entrance and are given colored bracelets to wear. The color corresponds to the rides they can ride. Smart and efficient!

We started with Ireland.

Our first ride was Europe in the Air, a motion simulator that took us around Europe in a few minutes.

I love scary rides and they had a lot in Busch Gardens. The Alpengeist was one of the top 10 steel roller coasters in the world. It reached a speed of 67 miles per hour!

Alpengeist

This was one of our last ‘dry’ pictures.

Der Wirbelwind

The roller coasters were great but we loved the water rides the most. It was a very hot day and getting wet was messy but a relief. We didn’t get wet much on this time but fun ride.

Le Scoot

It was mean but we laughed at Erin and Ethan who got soaked in this ride. Us adults got off relatively dry.

Roman Rapids

There was no escaping getting wet from this ride.

Escape from Pompei

If you didn’t get wet during the ride then the huge wave of water at the end of the ride will surely get you drenched. It’s good I brought a plastic bag to keep my camera dry. This was the best ride!

We missed this ride because it was closed when we wanted to ride it. It finally opened late in the day and we were too tired to line up. According to Wikipedia the Griffon is the world’s second tallest and fastest Diving Machine roller coaster, named after the legendary creature, the griffin; contains a ninety-degree drop from over two-hundred feet and a “splashdown” finale.

Griffon

We ended our day with a relaxing and peaceful ride on the Rhine rive cruise.

Rhine River Cruise

Busch Gardens is truly a beautiful theme park. Amidst all the steel rides is a man made river surrounded by beautiful trees. The water was as green as the trees.

We even saw this ‘radioactive’ turtle.

Yes, they had horses too.

I liked Busch Gardens because it wasn’t too big and we were able to walk around the whole park. It also had enough rides to keep the youngest to the oldest visitor entertained. We were all tired at the end of the day but we had so much fun.

2010 Regular Admission Rates
Regular Admission – $63.99
Child Admission (ages 3-9) – $53.99
Children 2 and under – Free
Parking – $13


Busch Gardens
1 Busch Gardens Boulevard
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8785