Bush Gardens Williamsburg in 1 day? doable?

[loriandmatt]

ok - not a WDW park, but i need some input here.

i haven't visited bush gardens williamsburg since i was a kid. (and that was too far back to remember)

how many days should we allow for a visit there? would one day be enough if we are not going to many shows and probably skipping some of the most intense (read rides that make most people hurl) rides. we just want a nice over view of the park with some rides. or is one day just not nearly enough.

we would like to make a quick trip to VA with one beach day, one BG day and one colonial williamsburg day. doable or too much stuff in a 4 day weekend?

 

[singingpixie]

I think it's very do-able. Busch Gardens is a gorgeous park, but there aren't as many attractions as there are at a Disney park, and most of them are either shows or more intense rides. Do some research (their website has some good detail to start you out) so you know ahead of time what you want to make sure to do and what you want to skip, and you'll be fine. Have fun!

 

[lindalinda]

Very doable in one day. Its a fun park, but its not that big. There are several coasters that are really fun. Are you taking kids? My son really liked Jamestown settlement better than Williamsburg. It is smaller and would be easier to do in one day.

 

[korbbec]

Very doable in one day. Its a fun park, but its not that big. There are several coasters that are really fun. Are you taking kids? My son really liked Jamestown settlement better than Williamsburg. It is smaller and would be easier to do in one day.

Your kid picked a living history museum over an amusement park? Strange, but smart, kid you've got there!

Yes- Busch Gardens is doable in one day.

 

[loriandmatt]

Are you taking kids? My son really liked Jamestown settlement better than Williamsburg. It is smaller and would be easier to do in one day.

yes, we would be taking our 12 yo DS and our 3 YO DD. it is because of that 3 year old that we won't be doing too many intense rides.

Hey - new questions....does Bush Gardens have anything like WDW's kid swap, so mom and dad can both get to ride without both waiting forever? also, do they have something like fastpass or someother way to optimize wait times?

i am assuming you mean that your son liked jamestown settlement over colonial williamsburg not bush gardens williamsburg, correct? curious, why? my 12 year old is a boy scout and very into American history.

 

[MushyMushy]

Definitely doable if you're skipping shows and big rides. We did it in two days, basically splitting the park in half, but we tried to hit all the shows.

I agree on Jamestown settlement. My kids really enjoyed it, as did the adults.

 

[Annette_VA]

Hey - new questions....does Bush Gardens have anything like WDW's kid swap, so mom and dad can both get to ride without both waiting forever? also, do they have something like fastpass or someother way to optimize wait times?.

No, unfortunately, they do not have anything similar to baby swap or fastpass. Maybe one day...

 

[korbbec]

i am assuming you mean that your son liked jamestown settlement over colonial williamsburg not bush gardens williamsburg, correct? curious, why? my 12 year old is a boy scout and very into American history.

Aha- after I reread it I realized my mistake. That makes alot more sense.

 

[jama]

I also have a 12 year old boy scout who loves history!
We went this past Oct. We spent 2 days at Colonial and a full day at Jamestowne and a day at Yorktown.
We went twice to Busch Gardens. The second time was for the Haunted nights. You can do the whole park in a day.
You can call Busch Gardens and ask for the scout booklet. They will send you a booklet and a patch for free.
We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge... highly reccommend!!
Also we got tickets from gowilliamsburg.com
a tip I learned on these boards.. alot cheaper tickets

 

[HamTown]

BG is very doable in one day. We have season passes and if you're skipping the big coasters, you should have no problem. I don't ride coasters so I usually take my little ones to the children's rides while my husband rides the coasters. We accomplish a lot more that way.

BTW, this is a great time to go to Jamestown. They are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the landing there so there are lots of "extras". I'd take a look at their website http://www.jamestown2007.org/ to see if there are particular things you would like to do, or conversely, if there are days you might want to avoid (think May 14th, the Queen may be there).

Colonial Williamsburg is great anytime. There are also packages sometimes that combine tickets to CW and BG. You may want to check and see if it would save you money.

 

[lindalinda]

yes, we would be taking our 12 yo DS and our 3 YO DD. it is because of that 3 year old that we won't be doing too many intense rides.

Hey - new questions....does Bush Gardens have anything like WDW's kid swap, so mom and dad can both get to ride without both waiting forever? also, do they have something like fastpass or someother way to optimize wait times?

i am assuming you mean that your son liked jamestown settlement over colonial williamsburg not bush gardens williamsburg, correct? curious, why? my 12 year old is a boy scout and very into American history.

Yes i meant Jamestown over colonial williamburg, not bush gardens! Jamestown was so one-on-one, he loved that. He talked to all the characters, (I apologise for not knowing the terminology). There is a blacksmith that was very detailed in showing how he worked, and a guy that shot rifles and told stories about it and answered questions. He got to try on a suit of armor. You also get to tour the ships and that was fun. It seemed more personal to my son (11 at the time). He enjoyed williamburg as well, but it is more houses to tour, etc. The maze behind the governors mansion is a big hit tho.

I didnt notice any fast pass or child swap stuff at bush gardens, but there might be. Quite frankly, it wasnt so crowded that we needed fastpass, and that was on spring break. There is a coaster I think called Alpengeist, that is set up like a ski slope and is a blast!

www.historyisfun.org for more info

 

[lindalinda]

OOOH I forgot to mention, Colonial Williamsburg has ghost tours that are a blast! We had a great time doing those!

 

[HOGFAN]

VERY doable in one day. we dont do shows either. If you get there at opening and stay til close you will be okay. dont forget to ride DarKastle, its on a par with Disney, IMO.

 

[hiwaygal]

ok - not a WDW park, but i need some input here.

i haven't visited bush gardens williamsburg since i was a kid. (and that was too far back to remember)

how many days should we allow for a visit there? would one day be enough if we are not going to many shows and probably skipping some of the most intense (read rides that make most people hurl) rides. we just want a nice over view of the park with some rides. or is one day just not nearly enough.

we would like to make a quick trip to VA with one beach day, one BG day and one colonial williamsburg day. doable or too much stuff in a 4 day weekend?

If you are not trying to do it all on a holiday weekend, you'll probably be okay. On a holiday there will be traffic and crowds.

One day is easily enough for BG and Jamestown.

For Colonial Williamsburg...it could be a bit more difficult depending on where your interests lie and the crowds and wait times. If you want to concentrate on the trades, you can probably see a good sampling of them in a day. If you add in homes and taverns and the "government buildings"...you could find yourself running out of time.

 

[keishashadow]

We spent one day & left early, I was very disappointed with BG (even after doing my homework 1st ).

Told we picked one of the worst times (crowd & humidity) to visit - Sunday, early August.

While the park is nicely landscaped, not much there that caught my fancy; did like the water plunge ride and of all things, the boat ride & gondolas. DH & DS braved the hour long waits for thrill rides, I looked for shade.

Park has lots & lots of hills; be prepared to hike; uphill - both ways.

 

[2BigKIdz]

VERY doable in one day. we dont do shows either. If you get there at opening and stay til close you will be okay. dont forget to ride DarKastle, its on a par with Disney, IMO.

you really liked DarKastle? We all thought it was terrible! I couldn't understand the speaking parts so I don't know what the story is about and I have yet to determine where the "big drop" is they advertise. I am glad someone liked it though! On a good note, there was about an hour wait for it the first time we rode it when it was first opening and they were handing out free bottles of water and 10% off merchandise coupons in line, don't find that at any other parks!

Busch Gardens really only takes one day, even if you are riding the coasters, unless you go when it is extremely packed. We went on a weekday and were able to walk on all the rides, we rode all the coasters over and over and left several hours before closing. If you go on a weekend though, the waits can be long for the coasters but there really aren't many other rides. It really is a beautiful park.