Just returned home from Busch Gardens Williamsburg

[Tina]

Ok... DH and I are big Disney nuts (that's why I'm here on these boards, of course) and we've been missing our beloved Disney so badly (its been a WHOLE 30 days since my last trip!!!!). We live in Northern Virginia and decided to give Busch Gardens a try for a day trip. We got up early and left the house by 7:15am, arriving at 9:30, pysched and ready to go. Parking was easy and the tram was quick to the entrance (they opened at 10am). Everything looked nice and all, but we just couldn't understand any attraction to this place beyond that. We entered just as the park opened and headed straight to the bathrooms, expecting them to be clean and ready for a full day of guests. Nope. Stinky and out of soap in 3 dispensers, out of towels in 2 dispensers. The park had been open all of 5 minutes at this point.

The map is very poor in clarity and HUGE (think restaurant place mat!). As we began to walk from 'country' to 'country,' we realized that other than shops, nothing was open. We were very hungry from a long morning of driving and found that our only option was basically popcorn until 11:30am. DH bought a bag and dove in. This stuff was obviously left over from the night before. Yuck.

We found that other than a couple of roller coasters, there wasn't much else to do. We walked the entire length of the park, only to stop dead in our tracks at the entrance to Germany. There were about 50 other people stopped here as well. Germany didn't open until 11. After waiting about 20 minutes, the gates opened. Or shall I say, Gate. They only opened one side of the double gate, so everyone was pushing to get through. Of course, with all the excitement of the crowd, there must be some star attraction in Germany! Nope. It consisted of more shops and a bunch of carnival games.

I'm not a huge coaster fan, so I didn't ride a single thing. DH rode Loch Ness, but thought it was kind of boring. We were so sad, we decided to head for the front and go home. We spent a total of 2 hours in the gates and DH decided to stop and ask for a refund on the way out, which they gave us. So that was one positive thing.

So what did we learn after 4 1/2 hours of driving (round trip)? Nothing compares to Disney!! We're going back to the World in November!

 

[MsDisney23]

It has been years since I went to Bush Gardens Williamsburg. I have no plans on going back, and I remember it was expensive.

 

[mylilnikita]

I have a BG Funcard and we have been a few times. But after you go to Disney, nothing else seems to compare at least for me. I bought the fun card for DD and myself, because we hadn't been to BG in years not since going to Disney for the first time.

And the bathrooms should have been clean. I know that there is a cleaning crew at night, so someone wasn't doing their part.


Every place else is like a cheap imitation. I love the WDW!

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Sorry your expericence was so bad. I went there once as a young teen with my parents years ago and have not had the opportunity to go back. I remember liking it then. But not as much as WDW. lol

I do want to get back there someday. Mainly for the coasters there. But my priority is still WDW!

 

[tiggerlover]

Sorry to hear that you had such a disappointing time at BG. It definitely is not Disney, there is no comparison, but for those of us who live around here it is a nice alternative. I have never had issues with the cleanliness of the park or bathrooms and have always had an enjoyable time there. They have some nice shows and although there are a lot of coasters, there are a few other rides for the non-coaster lovers. We have the Fun Card also and plan to go next week. I would definitely send an email to BG and let them know of your disappointment as I am sure they would really like to know.

 

[RadioFanatic]

I'm shocked you say that - after WDW, BG is my next fave. I love the different countries and it's very well themed. And Germany has two major rides - The Big Bad Wolf and another great roller coaster. There are a ton of rides there - and not just roller coasters.

 

[damo]

I really like BGW too. The shows were great and the rides and food were great! Big Bad Wolf is a fun coaster and I absolutely LOVED Apollo's Chariot. I could ride that continuously all day.

 

[HOGFAN]

we also think BGW runs second to WDW( but dont most things)

My hospital gives us free tickets every year. My personal favorite is Alpengeist.
The new ride DarKastle has great special effects, almost Disneyesque.

Definitely the best park on the east coast after Disney

 

[aprilgail2]

I really like BGW....I like it SO much better than the Tampa one! It was always clean when I was there. Our high school takes a trip there every year!

 

[JerseyJanice]

We love BG too! The shows and theming there are fantastic. You should have had lunch in Das Festhaus and caught some shows. The ones in England and Ireland are great.

Sorry your trip was so disappointing. It's my second favorite theme park after WDW. It's beautifully landscaped and well-maintained (usually).

 

[4nana]

Say it isn't so! Sorry to hear you didn't find it up to par and had problems . Granted nothing compares to WDW, but in the past we've found Busch Gardens to be our favorite park as compared to Kings Dom and Hershey. We love the different country themes, food, and great shows.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We went to BG and Water Country last summer. We enjoyed our stay for the most part. I liked WC a LOT. I liked BG, but there weren't that many rides. The park was nicely themed, but when we were there in August it was so hot (not their fault, of course) and with all the hills it was tiring to walk around. They did give out free ice water, which was nice.

We liked DarKastle, which was alot like Spiderman and Apollos Chariot. Those 2 rides stand out the most, but there were other things that we enjoyed. I don't remember which rides/areas were open at park opening and which opened later, but I don't remember there being any major issues except we did wait for one rope drop for awhile. Don't remember which land we were going into at the time, though.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your time there. I did have higher hopes for the park. There were not as many rides as I thought there would be.

I enjoyed Hershey Park more than BG even though the layout of the park isn't as nice.

I love the Universal parks.

 

[ChrisFL]

I LOVE BGW, it's my 3rd favorite park after WDW and Universal's, sorry you had a bad time.

 

[va32h]

We used to live in Newport News, VA and went to Busch Gardens several times a year - we loved it.

For coasters, there's Alpengeist, Apollo's Chariot, and Big Bad Wolf as well as the Loch Ness (which I'll agree is a tamer coaster). But Apollo's Chariot is towering and breathtaking! There's also Escape from Pompeii and another log/flume ride, whose names escapes me.

For little ones, there's a huge dinosaur themed play area and a cute little show, and several "kiddie" type rides, that always have short lines, because they don't allow adults to ride unless they are accompanied by a child.

The Festhaus in Germany is a great place to eat; caferia style with big ham sandwiches and bratwurst; and you can watch the oompah band and dancers while you eat.

We remember it as being a very clean and well maintained park, although admittedly, it has been some time since we were there.

Sorry you had such a bad time!

 

[N.Bailey]

I'm shocked to read your review too. I've never personally been to BG Virginia, but I've read many times over that if you want to go to BG, skip the one in Florida and go to the one in Virginia.

If it's amusement park rides you're looking for, next time head on over to Kings Dominion. We've been there and while it's not themed the way Disney/BG is, it's a great park for "Rides."

 

[vellamint]

My family LOVED Busch Gardens and thought it was quite pretty and clean....I remember reading (back then anyway - 2002) that it had won awards for its beauty (landscaping? something like that). I thought it was well spread out also. I also remember that for my family of 6 it was quite inexpensive compared to Disney to buy a pass that gave us 2 days at BG and 1 day at Water Country (it may even have been 3 days at BG because I remember leaving WC at around 4 o'clock and going over to BG on the day we left).

So sorry that your experience was so different than ours and truly hope it was just an "off" day for the park.....I often think we should go back there but then Disney calls our name instead lol.

Oh - and while it was impossible to get a release from Disney to allow us to make a holiday card from our family picture in front of the castle...BG had one to us in a WEEK after I emailed them....I thought that was GREAT customer service.

 

[Annette_VA]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy BGW. We're Passport holders and go quite regularly. We were just there Saturday evening, in fact.

Yes, a few of the restaurants & kiosks don't open until later in the morning. But, most people don't head straight for something to eat upon entering the park. Later on in the season, as attendance builds, everything will open earlier.

Saturday evening, we didn't notice any problems w/ cleanliness in the bathrooms. I saw an attendant in there cleaning each time I went.

BGW has some awesome coasters. The front row of Apollo's Chariot in the dark ROCKS!

 

[laurajetter]

I'm shocked you say that - after WDW, BG is my next fave. I love the different countries and it's very well themed. And Germany has two major rides - The Big Bad Wolf and another great roller coaster. There are a ton of rides there - and not just roller coasters.

ITA
sorry you had a bad experience

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Nothing compares to Disney EVER. As much as I love other amusement parks, nothing will ever come close to offering what Disney offers. I love Sea World, BG, King's Dominion (and Island), and all of these are a distant second to Disney. Maybe that's why Disney is the most popular tourist destination in the World? Nobody can get their Disney fix anywhere else!

 

[BoyLovesBuzz]

For little ones, there's a huge dinosaur themed play area and a cute little show, and several "kiddie" type rides, that always have short lines, because they don't allow adults to ride unless they are accompanied by a child.

No no no, those are dragons, not dinosaurs. I’ve been chastised more then a few times by the under 6 crowd, for making the dinosaur reference.

I, like everyone else, am surprised at the messy facilities. Not to make excusive, but this is the first week of summer holiday for the kids down here so maybe they have some summer help training issues they are still working out.

BGW, has 4 great roller coasters, and is adding a fifth next year. I think their shows are on par if not better then Disney, as they are all real people shows and not movies or animatronics. I do wish there was a better food selection though. I had a bad experience with that 8 inch high corn beef sandwich, and that kind of rules out October-fest for me in terms of eating establishments. I do like Smoker’s though.