Time for the main event, Busch Gardens. As with most tourist towns in the South, Williamsburg is littered with pancake houses. I think the kids tallied 11 once they started paying attention. The Astronomical Pancake House had caught their eye and it’s Urbanspoon ratings didn’t suck, so we gave it a shot. Okay, but no big whoop.
Made our way to the park without incident and had my first wish granted, the Bounce Pass includes parking. Found a spot and set off on foot to the tram stop. Once inside the park, it took us a little while to get our bearings. The maps are accurate enough that you won’t get lost, but they aren’t really to scale. I’m glad Kinnamon had some experience to help guide us.
No going over all the details, but here are the highlights.
If I were to ever ride the Griffon or the Alpengeist, you can be assured that the ride will have been preceded by whiskey. I honestly think that I’d prefer sky diving to riding the Griffon. All but Maewyn did ride the Loch Ness Monster and the adults rode Apollo’s Chariot. Oddly, the ride that made me the most uncomfortable was (I forget the name) the big swinging boat thing. Sat at the end and did not like it at all. No entertainment value to me. The most entertaining ride was the DarKastle. Video is a little cheesy for 2011, but the 3D effects were good. It was just fun. Didn’t have to way more than 10 minutes for anything.
We saw a couple of animal acts and the Irish Dance show. All worth the time, particularly the Irish Dance. The food in the park was a pleasant surprise. It’s not inexpensive, but it was much better than expected. Would happily eat it by choice in a non-park restaurant. Also quite happy with the beer selection, but it was heavily dependent on location.
Fireworks (and a couple of repeat rides) ended the evening. We stayed until they shut down and made us leave. We spent about 11 hours at the park, didn’t ride everything, and only went in one or two of the shops. We could easily spend two days at Busch Gardens.