Well the day is finally upon us: the last summer 2021 theme park report for chefwalkersworld. I have saved the best for last as this theme park is quite a special one in Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Originally when we planned this East Coast amusement park trip, we were only going to go to Carowinds and Kings Dominion; we were planning to spend two days at each park and then fly back home. But on our first day at Carowinds, we met somebody who told us that Busch Gardens was close to Kings Dominion and that we only really needed one day at Kings Dominion. Furthermore, Busch Gardens has a lot of rides to offer that I could add to my coaster list. So upon considering the distance and cost, we decided to add a day at Busch Gardens and boy did it pay off: it ended up being the best overall park that we went to on the trip! I personally especially appreciated the theming.
In total, we got on six rides and had a total of twelve rides. We also got the chance to explore some of the great themed areas of the park including: Italy, England and Germany. Here are a few rides that we got on and what I thought of them.
Apollos Chariot: We started out the day with a couple of rides on Apollos Chariot. We arrived at the park right at opening and lines were not too long so we were able to lap rides a bunch. In total we got five rides on this coaster from a variety of viewpoints. This ride drops you from 210 feet up. But more than that, it has a bunch of ejector air time and I believe it has the most air time of any coaster in America. Apollos Chariot also has quick turns and the coaster moves really fast. I personally only liked this ride because of the air time as without the air time, it was just an average coaster. The best place for air time is for sure the back row. The train is long enough where you get pulled down the hill in the back. My favorite part by far of this ride is the last air time hill; if you have not ridden this coaster before it comes out of nowhere and surprises you right when you think the ride is done. Overall, this was my favorite ride in the park.
Verbolten: This ride is located in the German section of the park and was quite a fun “kiddie” ride. We got two rides on this which was quite enough as it was a bit rough after a while. I won’t spoil the ride but it is quite unexpected and a lot of fun. I highly recommend getting a ride on this; it was by far the most fun I had on a ride on this trip. I was smiling and laughing the whole time.
Griffon: Griffon is the park’s floor-less dive coaster. It seats three rows of ten people for a total of thirty people and takes you up 205 feet just to drop you straight down at 75 miles per hour. In my humble opinion, this ride is a front row only experience. In the front row, you get to hang and lean over the edge of the drop for about three seconds which is thrilling. The other rows are no joke either but they definitely do not get the same experience. Overall, I loved my rides on griffon and each ride I was just as nervous as the time before. This coaster is super intense.
Alpengeist: I got one ride on this amazing coaster while passing through to griffon and really wish I had ridden it a few more times. It is a B&M inverted coaster that features six inversions and speeds up to sixty-seven miles per hour. I loved every second of my ride; it was smooth and extremely fast. I think part of my fear with inverts is that the Batman clones at Six Flags are so rough that I think every inverted coaster is like that. In reality, Alpengeist is an amazing coaster and deserves all the hype it gets. I should really change my opinion about inverts.
Escape From Pompeii and Le Scoot: I got one ride on each of these water rides and had a fun time. It just felt nice to cool down on the hot day. These rides are nothing to write home about, in fact I did not even get wet on one of them, but are just a good time.
All in, I had an awesome day at Busch Gardens; It was the unexpected highlight of the trip. I really appreciate how much time and effort was put into the theming as you do not see that as much at theme parks today. I think a lot of theme parks are too focused on bringing in the best rides when in reality theming matters just as much. Busch Gardens Williamsburg shows that you can be an elite amusement park with amazing theming. Thank you for a great day Busch Gardens! I cannot wait to visit Busch Gardens Tampa when I make a Florida amusement park trip. And thank you so much to everybody who read this blog post! Happy Holidays!
— ChefWalker out 🤩✌🏻🎄
P.S. Unfortunately, Pantheon, the supposedly new for 2021 coaster got delayed until March 2022. I was really looking forward to riding this as it is the world’s fastest multi launch coaster. I guess I will have to make another trip out to Busch Gardens!
Walker's World 