Happy Thanksgiving!
Busch Gardens Williamsburg, opened in 1975, has been called the world's most beautiful theme park, and this picture certainly illustrates that fact. Themed around European countries (the park's original subtitle was "The Old Country"), the mock Rhine River seen here includes a riverboat ride.
 |
| Escape From Pompeii is one of the best "Shoot-the-Chutes" rides out there, and it features fire and other special effects illustrating the city's destruction. |
Griffon, a modern dive coaster, has a commanding presence over most of the park.
The feeling of being held at the top of the ride's 200-foot drop is an experience that needs to be felt to be believed!
One of the things I was surprised by at Busch Gardens Williamsburg was the heavy theming inside the Festhaus restaurant, which is in part of the German section. It has a huge capacity and a large stage, but I guess such a venue makes sense given that the park was built by Anheuser-Busch. (You can still see the factory from the top of Griffon; there was a monorail for brewery tours for many years.)
Like all good classic theme parks, a multiple-stop train line circles the park and includes multiple trestles.
Thanks for reading!
12 comments:
Happy Thanksgiving, Andrew and everyone!
What a beautiful theme park! - with all the trees and water, instead of pavement everywhere. I just took a peek at their web site and see they have a lot going on for Christmas-time, too - so very pretty and festive.
Thank you for your holiday post today, Andrew! Hope you're not eating too much pumpkin pie (though, at your age, you can get away with it and not gain an ounce). ;)
Sue
Busch Gardens, Williamsburg (The Old Country) was probably the most beautiful and best themed park outside Disney at one time. Such natural beauty and great rides, attractions and roller coasters makes this one of my favorites. I haven't been in a while though.
One of my favorite features of the park is the triangular pathway of the Sky Ride. So unusual. The only other unique sky rides I've ridden in the U.S. were the Disneyland Skyway (because if travelled through the center of the Matterhorn) and Walt Disney World's Skyway (because of the bend/turn in the sky ride route) at the Grand Prix Raceway.
The Busch Gardens theme parks have always been a standout to me.
Happy belated Thanksgiving, Andrew! Hope you enjoy your long weekend.
Sue, I've never been to the park's "Christmas Town," but I've heard a lot of good things about it. Busch Gardens is only about two hours away from my grandparents, who we visit during Christmastime, so it's a possibility that I could go one day.
Thanks for commenting, and by the way, in our family, it's not as much about the pumpkin pie as it is about the Cool Whip - are you aware of such a thing?! Some of my relatives pile it on so much that you can't even see the pie!
K. Martinez, the Williamsburg park certainly has beautiful landscaping, and the Tampa park, although not as lush (in accordance with its theme) looks to be amazing as well. I'm very jealous that you got to go on the Skyways at both of the Disney parks. That's something that I've seen a bazillion pictures of but will never get to do. I appreciate you reading and commenting!
Andrew, I'd like some of your relatives! Cool Whip is great on pumpkin pie! The more, the better.
When I was a kid, everyone put a dollop of Cool Whip on their cups of Jello. Now, I have two questions for you: (1) Do you know what a dollop is?
(2) Do young people (or does anyone, for that matter) eat Jello anymore??
Years ago, every mom made lots of Jello (with fruit added, without fruit added, sometimes even with vegetables added, etc.). I haven't had Jello in years. The best was "Jello 1-2-3" (I bet you don't know what that is, or who did commercials for it . . . you may have to do some googling to find out.)
Sue
Sue, I rarely have Jello, and if I do, it's in the pre-packaged plastic cups. Cool Whip on it sounds good, and on what a dollop is... it's like the Cool Whip on a generic picture of a piece of pumpkin pie, I think.
And I did have to Google "Jello 1-2-3," and it certainly looks interesting! I found a commercial, but I couldn't recognize any famous people in it. I also see that there are some homemade recipes of it available. My mom says that she doesn't care for Jello, and I don't think we've ever had it homemade in the past. I guess I'm missing out!
Andrew, you got dollop right! ;)
It seems jello-making died-out in the late 80’s, with my generation, and I’m probably your grandma’s age.
Bill Cosby was a big spokesperson for Jello for years.
Your last homework assignment is to google what gelatin is made from. Maybe this is why your mom doesn’t like it. ;)
Sue
^ I should’ve mentioned that Jello is made with gelatin.
Sue, oh yeah.... I've heard that before. "The stuff meat industries left over" is what Google says. That's like something things your friends like to talk about at the elementary lunch table: "Hey, watch my hot dog bounce!" It is kind of gross when you think about it.
I'm late to the Busch Gardens party! The Virginia park looks very nice. I guess I should try to plan a trip to see it in person. I've been to the Busch Gardens in Tampa. It still has it's sky ride, which is very similar (if not the exact same) to how Ken described WDW's Skyway.
I didn't realize that the Virginia park also had a brewery AND a monorail tour at one time. The Busch Gardens in California had that. Unfortunately, I only got to go to the California park twice, before it was torn down. And I know the Tampa park used to a low-to-the-ground monorail tour, past all of their zoo animals, but that has been removed, so I guess there are no more monorails at the Anheuser-Busch parks.
As for Jello, I remember having it quite often as a kid, and that was in the days before the pre-made packages. I remember the song from the commercials, "Watch it glimmer, see it shimmer......" I wonder how the company's sales are today?
Andrew, I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
TokyoMagic, I don't care what time you read, I just appreciate that you do! That's cool that the Tampa park's Sky Ride still has a "dog leg." I had no idea. Wacky sky rides are fun!
My understanding about the monorail is that it took guests to the brewery. There does seem to be very few monorails left at theme parks outside of Disney's. Hersheypark has one, but I can't think of much more than that. It's great that you even got to visit the California Busch Gardens. Once again, thanks for the kind words!
P.S. Just because I was curious about Jello, I found this.
A-ha! So Jello sales ARE down! It definitely seems to be more of a thing from the past. I actually have three boxes of it in my kitchen cupboard right now. However, I really should throw them out, because they are 4 months past their expiration date! (Does unprepared gelatin really go bad?) The boxes have characters from "Despicable Me 3" on them, so the company is obviously trying to make it a "hip" and current product for today's consumers.
Thanks for that link, Andrew!
Post a Comment