Who Knew We Were Virginians?

[jenseib]

So, yeah, I remember eating at Octoberfest when Denny and I were there. I don't think we had pizza, but I could be wrong.

The show was totally different when we were there. Too bad the singing was so crappy. I know there was a lot of dancing in our show and somehow I ended up dancing on stage. Thanks GOD there are no pictures of THAT!

Too funny about the overly tight yellow pants. Definitely not the same level of talent as Disneyworld, but I have seen some good acts there in the summer. It's probably a real transient place for singers/dancers/actors.

Love all the gorgeous tulip pictures. Just lovely.

Up on stage? Were you partaking in some of the Busch beverages?

We did see some other things we liked, but it's not Disney talent for sure.

 

[MEK]

Up on stage? Were you partaking in some of the Busch beverages?

No, I think I saved that for later. We were actually sitting RIGHT near the stage for an afternoon show. We sat down BEFORE the show started. All of a sudden one of the actors/dancers is in my face asking if he can have this dance and Denny was totally egging him on. So I went for it.

 

[jenseib]

No, I think I saved that for later. We were actually sitting RIGHT near the stage for an afternoon show. We sat down BEFORE the show started. All of a sudden one of the actors/dancers is in my face asking if he can have this dance and Denny was totally egging him on. So I went for it.

That does sound like fun. Claire would love it if I got on stage, but not herself.

 

[jenseib]

After lunch and the show we were now ready to tackle some more of the park.
As we walked out the German Maypole dancers were coming out, so we stopped to watch them.

















I used to play the trombone when I was in school.













Aha……looking at this picture of the Festhaus, I think our show was called “Entwined”.



Going in close for the trombone shot.



Mom had mentioned going on the skyway things earlier and Claire was not going to let her forget it. They go in a triangle and take you to 3 different countries. They decided to separate now and go on it. Amanda and I wanted no part of that and we told them we would meet them in France where they would get off. They went to get on at the German station and would have to go to the England station first, and then go to the France one, so Amanda and I would have a little time to explore.

Bye Claire!

 

[TLC371]

So I have been lurking and reading your trip report after I originally posted, but I had to post again.

The past 2 Fridays I have had off work and went to Busch Gardens both days. The second time we went, my friend I was with wanted to eat in Germany and it just happened that we got there at the same time the Entwined show was going on. It made me think of you and your trip report. Thankfully we had a girl as the main character that fit in the bright yellow pants better than the girl you saw.

 

[jenseib]

So I have been lurking and reading your trip report after I originally posted, but I had to post again.

The past 2 Fridays I have had off work and went to Busch Gardens both days. The second time we went, my friend I was with wanted to eat in Germany and it just happened that we got there at the same time the Entwined show was going on. It made me think of you and your trip report. Thankfully we had a girl as the main character that fit in the bright yellow pants better than the girl you saw.

You were much luckier than us. !

 

[dolphingirl47]

Goodness, Busch Gardens really does not do Germany well. To start of with it always annoys me if what is passed off as German is essentially all Bavarian. Yes, Bavaria is part of Germany (although they would not be if they had a say in the matter), but there is so much more to German culture. I grew up near the Rhine valley and there carnival is a big deal as is anything to do with wine. Quite apart from the narrow-mindedness, this May Pole is a mess. If it is done properly, the ribbons form an intricate pattern.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Goodness, Busch Gardens really does not do Germany well. To start of with it always annoys me if what is passed off as German is essentially all Bavarian. Yes, Bavaria is part of Germany (although they would not be if they had a say in the matter), but there is so much more to German culture. I grew up near the Rhine valley and there carnival is a big deal as is anything to do with wine. Quite apart from the narrow-mindedness, this May Pole is a mess. If it is done properly, the ribbons form an intricate pattern.

Corinna

LOL. Yes pretty much all interpretations of Germany I see are of Bavaria.
I knew the may ple thing was supposed to have a better design and I kept waiting for it, but it never was pretty.

 

[jenseib]

Amanda and I left the family and went for a leisurely walk looking at things.









We saw a spot with Eagles and we watched them for a bit.







We browsed some gift shops and I found a t-shirt that I just loved, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay $35 for it and never got it. I regret not getting it now …even though I no longer even remember what it looked like. LOL

We came upon another shop that had these cute birdhouses out front. Amanda went inside and I stayed out to take pictures.







Amanda came back out to say they had a paint your own pottery inside and wondered if Claire would like that. She said they had something like that near her home and our niece Alexis loves it, but she wasn’t sure how this worked here. At the one near home, they have to fire it and then you pick it up at a later date. How could you do that here?
Well we went in to find that out. The price listed on the pieces included shipping to your home. I was amazed, as they were not badly priced at all. They said it can take a few weeks before it would arrive, especially now, since the park was not open every day, and they only did firing while the park was open. I knew this would be a hit for Claire, so we decided to ask her about it and see if this was something she would like to do.
We headed back out and roamed some more.



This made me think of Disney.







Amanda and I were thirsty so we bought the refillable mug type thing with lemonade slushies’. I knew Claire would enjoy this as well. We then took a seat in France near where the family would be getting off and waited.



It wasn’t too long and they showed up.



Amanda and I had read about an animal show while we were waiting and scoped the area out. We figured if we walked fast we could make it to the next show. So we all hurried that way. This is SOOOO unlike Busch in Tampa. It’s been awhile since I’ve been there, but I thought the shows were good. This was pretty lame actually in comparison and it was a small area and only standing. It was hard to see and we had people in front of us who were really good at moving as I took a picture. I would’ve had one of the best pictures EVER during this show ….except when I looked at it, I had the hat of the guy in front of me. UGH.

So anyways, one of the first animals to come out was a rat. And this is the only picture I could get without the head of the guy in front of us.



The fox was pretty cool.







I think this was an eagle.



We were on the end near the entrance/exit and they would have team members carry some of the animals around, but they never made it even close to where we were. It was frustrating.



I believe this guy was a vulture of some sort.

 

[jenseib]

The best thing was the owl. He was beautiful.



And he flew RIGHT at us.



And this is where I missed the best shot EVER. He went right by us and he turned and looked right at us. I would’ve had his face in full frame while in flight, except the guy in front of me was “scared” and whipped back as I snapped and I got his stupid hat instead. I was NOT happy and voiced it to Claire. I think the guy was clueless about the whole thing though.









The wolves were brought out next.



Now there must be a lot of repeat visitors/ annual passholders that come to Busch because the lady kept saying “remember last year” constantly. Well I guess these wolves were pups last year.





He was supposed to be jumping over, but chose to go under.







And that was it for the show, so we headed out and found a bench to decide what to do next. I told Claire about the pottery painting and she wanted to do that. The rest were ready to call it a day. Yes, that right, we had hardly done ANYTHING at all and they were ready to leave. And that is one thing I hated about traveling with my parents as a kid. We always arrived late and left early. It drove me CRAZY and as soon as I was old enough to travel on my own, I have been burning the candle at both ends.

We had to exchange keys and they were taking the rental car and I was going to take Dad’s truck back, which did not delight me too much.

Claire and I headed on our way then.

A quick stop to watch the coasters.





And then we headed to the pottery shop and browsed around and Claire picked a jewelry box out. I debated getting something too, but in reality, I knew it would be a waste of money on something I probably wouldn’t use. In the end, it was a good thing as we had to do 3 coats of paint and Claire had me do the 2nd coat on everything as she worked on coats 1 then coat 3. And I then went over coat 3 and did any touch ups that were needed.

After we picked out our object, we talked to someone who explained it all to us and we picked out some paints. Now the paint color is not how it will look after it is fired and they did have the fired example for us to see when choosing.













We spent over an hour in here, but Claire had a fabulous time and it was wonderful mommy and daughter time as well.

We took a picture of our final product and left it to be fired.



I took this picture while we were paying.



Within a week of being home, I would say less than 2 weeks from the day we painted it, it arrived at our house and was packaged nicely and nothing was broken.

 

[mom2rtk]

I just seem to be living my life in a perpetual state of being behind. Time to do something about that today!

LOVE the shots of that huge coaster from the ground. And that's all I need to know to know I'll never do it! But still cool to see you freeze the action with all those poor people upside down!

You mentioned Sea World in Ohio. Did you ever used to go much? We went in 1989 when we took a big trip east. Was it the cold winters that did the park in? Do you know if they use the park for anything else now?

I'm glad you finally found food. But sheesh......... those just might be worse than Disney prices. What's up with that? And what a bummer that it wasn't very good. Although I'd take a piece of that strawberry shortcake for breakfast long about now!

How strange that the singers weren't that good. You'd think they would have enough talent in Virginia to staff their shows properly. And OMG..... those yellow pants!

The Maypole shots really are lovely. Spring just seems like the perfect time of year to see that.

And you played the trombone? Who knew? I played clarinet. If we can get someone on strings, maybe we could get a band going!

So you regret not buying the t-shirt you can't remember? Maybe you can call their merchandise line and order one? Oops.... maybe not!

What AMAZING owl shots you got. Just beautiful!

I remember now you told me how your parents like to leave early, but living it here in your trip report REALLY brings it to life. SHEESH! I can't even imagine paying for a full day's admission and leaving so much undone. That's crazy!

The pottery painting looks like tons of fun. And how beautiful it turned out! I do remember as a kid in school always looking forward to the unit in art class where we did making our own item and painting it and getting it back all beautiful from the kiln. I loved doing that.

And umm..... you snuck in a photo from Gaston's Tavern. You might want to sort your photos better next time.

 

[jenseib]

I just seem to be living my life in a perpetual state of being behind. Time to do something about that today!

LOVE the shots of that huge coaster from the ground. And that's all I need to know to know I'll never do it! But still cool to see you freeze the action with all those poor people upside down!

You mentioned Sea World in Ohio. Did you ever used to go much? We went in 1989 when we took a big trip east. Was it the cold winters that did the park in? Do you know if they use the park for anything else now?

I'm glad you finally found food. But sheesh......... those just might be worse than Disney prices. What's up with that? And what a bummer that it wasn't very good. Although I'd take a piece of that strawberry shortcake for breakfast long about now!

How strange that the singers weren't that good. You'd think they would have enough talent in Virginia to staff their shows properly. And OMG..... those yellow pants!

The Maypole shots really are lovely. Spring just seems like the perfect time of year to see that.

And you played the trombone? Who knew? I played clarinet. If we can get someone on strings, maybe we could get a band going!

So you regret not buying the t-shirt you can't remember? Maybe you can call their merchandise line and order one? Oops.... maybe not!

What AMAZING owl shots you got. Just beautiful!

I remember now you told me how your parents like to leave early, but living it here in your trip report REALLY brings it to life. SHEESH! I can't even imagine paying for a full day's admission and leaving so much undone. That's crazy!

The pottery painting looks like tons of fun. And how beautiful it turned out! I do remember as a kid in school always looking forward to the unit in art class where we did making our own item and painting it and getting it back all beautiful from the kiln. I loved doing that.

And umm..... you snuck in a photo from Gaston's Tavern. You might want to sort your photos better next time.

I know. That picture does look like it belongs there doesn't it. Thats probably why I took it originally...can't remember now why I did, so we'll go with that.

My parents never get their monies worth at parks. They were on a mission to find a target to get Dad some more clothes ...and I guess Target closes at 6 pm now a days.

It was fun taking new pictures of things we don't normally see, but now that I have done it, I really don't have any need to go back there. I don't do the big rides and though it was a beautiful park, I don't have an urge to pay $70 to walk around and do just a few things.

I should've took a picture of the shirt I liked.

 

[Woth2982]

Hedwig!!! .....Harry Potter geek came out when I saw that owl! Looks just like her doesn't it?

Enjoying this trip report so far! I have never been to BG in VA....actually haven't been to colonial Williamsburg either. I can't believe the family is already leaving! I feel like you JUSt ate lunch so it can't be much past 2? I hear ya on the leaving early/arriving late thing. We were always late to everything, of course my mother blamed us kids, however now that we have all moved out, she is still late to everything....hmmmm....as a result I am always super early for things! We did always stay til the end though.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Too bad the dumb guy in front of you was in the way of your pictures. You saw the hat guy in my whale show pictures.

The pictures that you did get were great! The one of the owl in flight was fantastic.

Oh I remember back when my aunt had a ceramic shop and we'd go there and paint all sorts of little goodies. She would turn on that big kiln and bake our treasures for us. It was so much fun! I'm glad that Claire decided to do it because now she has a very unique souvenir from the trip.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Those roller coasters look pretty hair raising. I love the animal photos. I really loved how Claire's jewellery box has turned out. That is so unusual to offer something like this in a theme park.

Corinna

 

[Caretames1]

And he flew RIGHT at us.

Awesome shot! Too bad the guy got in your way, maybe you could have "accidently" hit him in the head with your bag as you were leaving.....


Love the Pottery time. Very cute box! It did turn out well.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Love the pictures of the roller coaster, but I don't do those upside down things. I don't like the looks of legs hanging the air!

Claire's box turned out really nice, she did a great job for her age. I used to do ceramics, had my own kiln, but stopped doing them a few years ago.

I loved the fox, I realize they are bad for farmers, but foxes are so handsome. The owl was gorgeous, my son's dog has the same expression on her face.

I hate the leaving early deal. My DH can be that way, but I don't let him get away with any early leavings crap!

 

[natebenma]

Read a few more chapters!



The Marriott Manor looks really nice. Great rooms! Was that built as a hotel or was it a building/property for something else, repurposed?

I'm glad to hear your dad arrived safely, if not drama-free.

Really pretty pictures from your walk around the resort. I love cardinals! They are such a pretty bird!

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts at Busch Gardens, especially since you won't be enjoying any coasters. Some of them look pretty intense!

I'll try to get caught up on the rest tomorrow.

 

[jenseib]

Hedwig!!! .....Harry Potter geek came out when I saw that owl! Looks just like her doesn't it?

Enjoying this trip report so far! I have never been to BG in VA....actually haven't been to colonial Williamsburg either. I can't believe the family is already leaving! I feel like you JUSt ate lunch so it can't be much past 2? I hear ya on the leaving early/arriving late thing. We were always late to everything, of course my mother blamed us kids, however now that we have all moved out, she is still late to everything....hmmmm....as a result I am always super early for things! We did always stay til the end though.

I thought so too! I love Harry Potter as well.

I think they actually left around 4-4:30 if I remember right. But being that we didn't get to the park till around 11 or so and then all the time it took to get my tickets, they did not spend much time there at all.

Too bad the dumb guy in front of you was in the way of your pictures. You saw the hat guy in my whale show pictures.

The pictures that you did get were great! The one of the owl in flight was fantastic.

Oh I remember back when my aunt had a ceramic shop and we'd go there and paint all sorts of little goodies. She would turn on that big kiln and bake our treasures for us. It was so much fun! I'm glad that Claire decided to do it because now she has a very unique souvenir from the trip.

I know we all want to see everything, but this guy was with a really young girl and he was quite a bit older. She looked too young to be his girlfriend and he didn't look old enough to be her dad...so I kept trying to figure them out. They sort of acted like a couple, maybe she just looked really young, but both irritated me as they constantly moved around and they had a front spot, so they didn't need to keep moving around. LOL

Those roller coasters look pretty hair raising. I love the animal photos. I really loved how Claire's jewellery box has turned out. That is so unusual to offer something like this in a theme park.

Corinna

I thought it was unusual too, but it was really fun for us to do together.

Awesome shot! Too bad the guy got in your way, maybe you could have "accidently" hit him in the head with your bag as you were leaving.....


Love the Pottery time. Very cute box! It did turn out well.

I felt like hitting him on purpose!

Love the pictures of the roller coaster, but I don't do those upside down things. I don't like the looks of legs hanging the air!

Claire's box turned out really nice, she did a great job for her age. I used to do ceramics, had my own kiln, but stopped doing them a few years ago.

I loved the fox, I realize they are bad for farmers, but foxes are so handsome. The owl was gorgeous, my son's dog has the same expression on her face.

I hate the leaving early deal. My DH can be that way, but I don't let him get away with any early leavings crap!

I can go upside down, but I just can't do the big coasters without aching for days.
My Mom did ceramics for years while I grew up, then she suddenly stopped. I think she got burned out because people would ask her to make stuff for them and want it fast...and of course not want to pay for more than the materials.
Foxes are very pretty. Every so often Skip sees one running in the field. He also see coyotes, which scares me a little more.
Skip has learned, if he wants to leave...he can, but we aren't.

Read a few more chapters!



The Marriott Manor looks really nice. Great rooms! Was that built as a hotel or was it a building/property for something else, repurposed?

I'm glad to hear your dad arrived safely, if not drama-free.

Really pretty pictures from your walk around the resort. I love cardinals! They are such a pretty bird!

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts at Busch Gardens, especially since you won't be enjoying any coasters. Some of them look pretty intense!

I'll try to get caught up on the rest tomorrow.

I need to add more chapter links. I am sure I am behind at updating that part.
I am not sure if it was built as a marriott or something else. I should look into that. I know the other half was completely different looking, so it kind of leaves me to believe the original buildings might have been something else.

 

[jenseib]

We next headed out and went to look at a few animals in the area.



Most of the cages were empty and compared to Busch in Tampa, the animal exhibits are very disappointing.



We kept moving and found the wolf valley. This is where I was thankful for my new camera lens (well I had been thankful for it most of the day), because they were pretty far out and I never would’ve gotten a picture of them with one of my usual lenses I travel with without changing.







We then stumbled onto the American Bald Eagles. Of course they were in a spot that was hard to see them.





Off to Ireland.







We decide to ride Europe in the air. This would be somewhat on the lines of Soarin’ …but not even close. The ride vehicle was set up weird so that there were walls on your sides and in the front row the ledge came up high. It was like sitting in a box. It did give me motion sickness too. This could be a much better ride if the vehicle was better.
It was nice and the line was nice and cool and I am glad we did try it.
We headed back out and looked through Ireland a bit more.
Claire was now starting to think about buying her Stuffed Clydesdale, but I told her we still had to do more looking before we headed out and that was one of the last things we would do.









We laughed at the name of this store. Claire has a friend who loves Shamrock shakes…but she calls them ShamROCK. We have no clue why, but she says it like that every time. So we took a picture and texted it to her mom.



We browsed around and it had all sorts of junk that little girls love, but luckily Claire was saving her money for her Clydesdale and she didn’t want anything in there.



We next ran into a younger Clydesdale out for some training. I swear she said he was 2, but I think that would make him much bigger. Maybe he was 2 months? I am not sure how fast horses grow.