Many?'s about Busch Gardens

andychris14

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Joined
Apr 11, 2000
Messages
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We are putting off disney til next year and want to go to busch gardens. We want to go to virginia beach for 2 days and busch gardens/water country for 3. We have never been there before. I am traveling with my family(dh,ds,dd) and friends family(dh,ds,dd). We are a group of 8. We have stayed at timeshares in Orlando and would be interested in doing the same in Virginia. We might be interested in staying in a room/suite for all 8 of us or a regular hotel room. Since we have never been there we need lots of help.
Best place to stay.
Cheapest place to buy tickets.
Restaurants we should eat at or not to.
Is 2 days at busch gardens and 1 in water country enough or too much time.
Any tips and discounts will be greatly appreciated.
 
You can try Kingsmill Resort for a place to stay. They have a home away from home type accomodation....same as Disney. Rooms are fabulous, quite large and try to get one that faces the James River...just breathtaking. They have a golf course there, indoor and outdoor pool, day spa, etc....also nice restaurants as well. They are right next door to Busch Gardens, actually the main road that goes to Kingsmill has a turn off for Busch Gardens. Try the Busch Gardens site direct for your tickets...I think that they offer the flex tickets, which will include Water Country. After Disney tickets, Busch Gardens are "cheap"! there is so much more that you can do there, but 2 days at the park and 1 day at WC is perfect. If you have more time, Williamsburg and Jamestown are fantastic to see as well as the plantations along the James River. Carter's Grove is right down the block from Kingsmill, they have the plantation and also have a terrific tour of the grounds to see. Enjoy, I just love it there! If you need more info please feel free to PM me. Have a great time!
 
I live far enough away that I don't know too much about staying and close enough for a day trip. so I can't help you out too much there. I love BG though. Its a really nice park.

Yeah, I'd say one day in the water park is plenty, especially if you're going to the beach.

I also have not been the BG in a few years. But wanted to bump it up for you a bit.

I know they have tickets online, but your best bet might be to check w/ your hotel or go to a fast food restaurant around there and look for coupons.

have fun!
 

Here's a recent thread about Williamsburg that I posted a lot of ideas in. I think Springhill Suites is supposed to be a good place to stay as well, Kingsmill (as I've heard) is EXPENSIVE. At least I know the homes are. But it is nice- you've got to give it that. I'd say it's the Grand Floridian of Williamsburg.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=790951

I live in Williamsburg (have for 5 years). I posted a lot in the above thread but if you'd like any restaurant ideas, etc just PM me. I don't know what your budget is in the way of restaurants so if I knew how much you were planning on spending per meal I could give you more tips on places to eat. I don't know if you're looking for a value family place or a really fancy candelit dinner. You get the idea... I've been to just about every restaurant in the burg (or at least know someone who has been!).

There are usually discount coupons at Food Lion (I think). I usually just get the season pass so don't really know much about the FL coupon My mom used a coupon when she visited that she found online.
 
We found that the BG/WC combo ticket sold by AAA was slightly cheaper than those on the website. Web had good prices, though.

Stayed at Springhill Suites, which was very nice. There's not room for eight people in one suite, though. If you pursue this, visit the Marriot website often for discounts. I got a much better price than the Williamsburg packages (which were recommended on this board as being good prices) was giving.

We ate a lot at Colonial Williamsburg taverns (okay, expensive), at Seasons (very good), at Captain George's (overpriced, mediocre). At BG, we ate at the German place (excellent) and the barbecue place (just okay -- wish we had done the German place again). The German place is really nice in that it's air conditioned, and there are additional restaurants in the court in case some of your party wants pizza.
 
Kings Diminion (sp?) is a great amusement park that is also in the area. I haven't been in years but from what I remember - had alot of fun. There is great shopping in the area also. There is this great outlet - wish I could remember the name. We were stuck in the area during the blizzard of 1993 and couldn't get home. The Marriott in the area was really nice - that is where we stayed.
 
I go to Busch Gardens weekly but I live an hour and a half away. It is the closest thing to Disney that I can get sometimes.

Restaurant.com has some really good deals on the meals in Williamsburg and if you are going to Va Beach they have tons of places too eat. You can eat every meal in Va Beach with a restaurant.com certificate. I love them.

For the parks one day at the Waterpark is plenty unless you want to really kick back. For Busch Gardens I have never tried to see it all because we go so often. I will say that eating in the park can be difficult there are not a lot of restaurants inside and the lines can be really long at peak meal times. I especially don't like that you get your hot food first and cold drinks last and sometimes by the time you get paid your hot food isn't hot anymore.

The up parts is a refillable popcorn bucket for the whole day. My family really loves that it is around 5.00 and you get as many refills as you like. There is also a refillable drink cup for about 15.00. I have a season pass so I bought my cups last year for 5.00 and I pay around 1.00 for a refill. I forget what it is with tax.

It's a beautiful park but missing a lot of Disney service.

For meals in Williamsburg it is a typical tourist type of place with a long strip of all kinds of restaurants.

You can contact me if you want more info. I looked and looked for any type of group like the yahoo groups or the DIS for Busch Gardens but without luck. There are ins and outs to the park just like Disney and I wanted to share what I know and learn what I don't.

Ohhhhhh I wish they would do some type of Fast Pass type thing!!!
 
If you are interested in a timeshare stay, check out SkyAuction.com. I see Williamsburg places on there quite often.
 
We did a similar vacation last year. We stayed in Virginia Beach and drove to Busch gardens and Water Country. They are both beautiful parks. We did one day in each. One day is plenty for the Water Park. I wish we would have had more time in BG. It rained(poured) the morning we were there, although everything was still running. Riding Alpengeist(suspended) roller coaster in the rain was an experience! We went at the end of June and the park wasn't crowded at all. Could have been the rain?? :umbrella:

We got our tickets from AAA. They were the cheapest I could find in my area.

I found that the traffic around that area, can't remember the intertate # was terrible. We left BG at 11pm on a Tuesday night and traffic was bumper to bumper standstill! Couldn't believe it!

We also went to the WIlliamsburg Winery. They have really good wines, if you are into that sort of thing.

A number of years ago we stayed at a timeshar in WIlliamsburg calle Powhoutan Plantatin(not sure of spelling) but it was beautiful Our unit had a glass enclosed patio witha Hottub in it. Heavenly!

Also, on our same vacation we drove up to Richmond to go to Kings Dominion. We spent Friday and Saturday there and then drove home to PA.

How old are the DDs?

If you have any specific questions, I will try to answer them
 
what time of the year do you plan to go? There are lots of timeshares in Williamsburg. But if you want to go in peak season, you still have to plan in advance.
 
denise5374 said:
I found that the traffic around that area, can't remember the intertate # was terrible. We left BG at 11pm on a Tuesday night and traffic was bumper to bumper standstill! Couldn't believe it!

A number of years ago we stayed at a timeshar in WIlliamsburg calle Powhoutan Plantatin(not sure of spelling) but it was beautiful Our unit had a glass enclosed patio witha Hottub in it. Heavenly!

I've stayed at Powhatan Plantation too! It was a nice looking area but when we got there our room hadn't been cleaned and didn't get cleaned until 7 HOURS after we checked in (and I was RAGING like a madwoman). The people there were horrible but the room was nice once it got cleaned. You don't have to have a timeshare to stay there either.

And that interstate- it's called I-64 and it is HORRIBLE. I'm guessing that's the one you were talking about. It has tons of backups and is ALWAYS under construction. Never believe you can get anywhere quickly on it unless its 2am on a Monday night in February :rotfl:

That's usually the way people take to get home. Depending on where you're staying it might be better to take 60 or 199 to get home. As I said in the other 'burg thread- I've lived here 5 years and just figured my way around the place efficiently! :rotfl:

Someone mentioned taverns before as a place to eat. The best one is Kings Arms and try to avoid Shields (it's not very good IMO). Actually none of them are top notch and surprisingly enough will serve 400 people in one sitting (not leaving much room for quality). So you're paying more for the fake Colonial experience than the food. They are pretty overpriced and mediocre, but if it's the experience you want, go to Kings Arms.

tar heel mentioned Seasons- it's a great place to eat and pretty well-priced for the burg. Berrett's is a good (but expensive) seafood restaurant and the Trellis is a VERY GOOD restaurant (also expensive) that is right near the other two. It is famous for it's "Death By Chocolate" dessert (over 2,000 calories in one slice and it BETTER be called death by chocolate! :rolleyes: ) They opened the Fat Canary a year or two ago and it is outrageously expensive (Colin Ferrel ate there multiple times last summer when he was filming here). It's right next to the Cheese shop- a fancy but SOOOOOO GOOOOOD sandwich shop (but they are stuck up so they don't have lettuce- don't ask for it :rotfl2: ). You can get bread ends (the ends of the loaves they use for sandwiches) for 75 cents and then a little tub of house dressing- I highly recommend the dressing :goodvibes All of these that I mentioned are right on Duke of Glouchester (DoG) street (the main CW street).

Up Richmond Road from DoG St. a bit is Wawa- the ultimate in convenience stores and much beloved by the city. :flower: If you want a quick lunch to eat outside or something, they make great hoagies and have tons of options.

By the college up Richmond Road a little further (hop skip and a jump I'd say) there are the college "dellys". They are Williamsburg's version of bars for the college kids. We aren't allowed to call them bars because the old people here voted against that. :rotfl2: But one of them, the Green Leafe Cafe has GREAT food. Good sandwiches, etc. Very good place to eat for lunch and right up the street from CW and usually isn't that crowded during the day (well sometimes in tourist season). (I spotted Colin Ferrel there the night before a wedding last July!!) Paul's Deli is right next to that and has a more sporty feel to it and GREAT subs (hoagies, whatever you wanna call them). You can get them hot or cold.

Farther up Richmond Road (60) there are TONS of restaurants- every chain you could imagine and a few stand-alones. Don't go to La Casita (mexican)- I've heard it's horrible. The Seafare looks quite unassuming but is actually pretty expensive so beware. There are also tons of b-fast places (Pancake houses for you southerners). Mama Steve's is a pretty good one right about at the intersection of Richmond and Ironbound. And of course there is an ever-so-popular IHOP.

Right at the end of that strip is a little place called "Sno-to-go". It's got shaved ice and REALLY good ice cream. Get a stuffed snoball for the ultimate williamsburg experience. It's right past Andy's Pancake house on the right going out of town towards the outlets. If you see the Chrysler dealership on your left you've gone too far. You MUST got to Sno-to-GO!!!

If you keep following RRd a little further before you hit the outlets (btw- GO TO! I work there and so does pumpkinfish :banana: ) there is a road called Old Towne where there is a Food Lion shopping center. In there is Guiseppe's- an italian restaurant that is actually really cheap. Before that is Captain George's mentioned earlier- it's a seafood buffet that is about $30 a person (not incl drink) and is good if you'd like to gorge yourself on food but can be mediocre.

There are tons of other restaurants and if you have specific questions fell free to ask away. :cool1:
 
thanks for all of the great tips. my children will be 8 & 10 when we go. We are thinking of going mid August. THanks again for all of your help.
 
You may want to look at their 4 pack ticket deal. It is for annual passes but that pays for your parking and it is a buy 3 get 1 free deal. We do this for BG but haven't gone to WC yet. You would need a certain level of ticket for that. With the passes you also get to do the meal plan. It is a card that you get stamped for every regular meal or kid's meal that you buy. You can have EVERYONE's meal stamped on the same card so that you can combine them. It is buy 10 get one free. Our favorite place to eat was Italy. You can get the HUGE sampler platters & share them. DH & I have more than enough to eat with one of them. Our favorite place is the rib house though. They have a sampler platter that is wonderful. We eat at off peak times...around 2-3...and hardly ever deal with lines there.
 
Just wanted to chime in that when we did Busch Gardens Williamsburg the heat index (in June) was over 100 every day. It seemed much hotter than WDW in August.

Therefore, we did the BG park in the morning and Water Country in the afternoon. We camped at the Williamsburg KOA and ate breakfasts and dinners at our camper and lunch at the park.

You might look into the Entertainment book for that area -- you can preview it before you buy it.
 
I really appreciate all of the tips. We are going to start planning and booking hotel rooms. First we are going to stay at virginia beach for 2 nights. We would prefer to stay on the ocean. Does anyone have a good,clean and inexpensive hotel that they would recommend?
After VB we will meet up with friends at BG. I have check and there are soooo many hotels that look alright. I would hate to go and its a dirty hotel. I am thinking of staying at a popular chain like; hampton inn, sheraton etc. Can anyone recommend a nice place?
Thanks again
 
IN Virginia Beach last JUne, we stayed at the Newcastle Hotel. It is right on the beach. It was nice enough.

The beach was very clean and the water was cold(since it was so early in the season. I can't remember where we ate. I know the htoel had a place for breakfast, that we ate at the last day, basic breakfast stuff but it had neat island theme, it was outside beach side.

If I think of the restaurants I will let you know.
 
We stayed at the Newcastle last fall. Nice indoor pool. Va Beach motels gets expensive in the summer!

BG is AWESOME!!!! :sunny:
 
andychris14 said:
I really appreciate all of the tips. We are going to start planning and booking hotel rooms. First we are going to stay at virginia beach for 2 nights. We would prefer to stay on the ocean. Does anyone have a good,clean and inexpensive hotel that they would recommend?
After VB we will meet up with friends at BG. I have check and there are soooo many hotels that look alright. I would hate to go and its a dirty hotel. I am thinking of staying at a popular chain like; hampton inn, sheraton etc. Can anyone recommend a nice place?
Thanks again
If you want something right on the strip, you're going to pay a pretty penny, even for something that's not so nice & clean.

A brand new Hilton just opened; I'm not sure how economical it would be, but it is new.

When you say after VB you'll meet with friends at BG, do you mean that same day? Be aware that tunnel traffic can get very, very congested - the longest I remember ever sitting was over three hours (not an exaggeration, unfortunately). We live on the west side of the tunnel and are very conscious of tunnel traffic whenever we have somewhere to go.

If you'll have a laptop with you, there are several websites that monitor the tunnel traffic that I'll be happy to share.
 


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