Nessie's Birthday / Busch Gardens Europe

  Williamsburg, Virginia, United States
Sunday, July 6, 2008

Our last day in Williamsburg...first we needed to check out.  We spent the morning going through the condo's checkout checklist cleaning the place.  Once we were complete, now we have to figure out how to pack the cars.  Last weekend when Mike and I came here, Mike drove his Bronco and we left all three golf bags at the condo before heading north to DC.  For this return trip we have Steve's Crossfire and my Z3...not as much luggage room.  We fit as much into Steve's trunk as possible and I carried Mike's golf bag in the passenger seat along with any leftover items.

American Bald Eagle

Once we packed, we headed to Busch Gardens for some roller coaster riding fun.  Busch Garden is arranged into different sections representing various European countries; England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany (largest) and Italy.  This year's feature coaster is the Griffon, a floorless dive coaster.  It was the first coaster we wanted to ride, today, but to get there we had to go to France.  You enter the park in England and there was a sky-ride connecting England and France; however it was not working.  We quickly walked through Scotland and Ireland only stopping at the bald eagle habitat...of course I do not think there are any bald eagles in Ireland?!?  All the eagles were rescued and suffering from various human caused ailments like a torn wing due to entanglement with fishing nets.  Next to the eagle aviary was wolf valley, where I could see two wolves loitering around the cage opening...probably waiting for food.

Griffon

Finally we arrive in France.  I was surprised that there hardly was a line for the Griffon.  We got in the longest line because we wanted to ride in the front car.  The ride had three 10 people cars...that is probably why they can push people through the ride so fast.  Or most people decided not to go to the park because the possibility of rain like on Friday and Saturday.  Since we had such a good time on the ride and the lines were so short, we decided to ride the Griffon again, but this time from the rear car.  The front car is definitely better especially the view of the first drop.  As you hang there, you would swear the track inverted in and you were looking straight down to the ground.  Next was the Alpengeist, an inverted looping coaster.  There was a pretzel turn that made the ride a lot of fun.

Apollo's Chariot

Walking through Germany you are treated with the sounds and the smells of Oktoberfest.  I started to get hungry, but we wanted to ride Apollo's Chariot, the next newest coaster, before we ate lunch.  Before leaving Germany, we rode the Big Bad Wolf, suspended coaster.  When I was 13 it was an exciting ride, but today the Big Bad Wolf is no longer big or bad.  Apollo's Chariot is a hyper coaster with a peak around 200 feet and speeds around 70 mph.  I thought the Griffon's first drop was more thrilling than Apollo's first drop.  However there were some sections on the ride where you did get some air time, so it made for a smile invoking time.  We had our meal in Italy.

Viva Italia

  Our timing was perfect because as we got our meals and sat down, we could enjoy the performance of "Viva Italia" as we ate.  "Viva Italia" was a musical comedy which followed the fiery romance of a couple from courtship to big Italian wedding...amore.  After the meal, Steve and I continued to ride but Mike was done riding.  I was able to convince Steve to ride DaVinci's Cradle, a horizontal seat platform which swung around a full circle.  The chicken parmesan added a little tingle to the stomach during the down swing.

Swan and Turtle

Nessie

Next stop was Scotland and the Loch Ness Monster.  Nessie is celebrating her 30th birthday.  I have to admit that she has not lost her bite in the last 30 years...it still is a blast to ride.  I wanted to ride the Griffon again, so I dragged Mike and Steve to France.  On our way, Steve and I cooled ourselves off by going to Corkscrew Hill, 4-D simulator, in Ireland.  The fourth dimension was the addition of misting water into your face along with watching the 3-D movie.  For our final ride of the Griffon was in the middle car.  Again the front car is the best.  To save some walking we cut across the bridge spanning the "Rhine".  There I saw a swan and turtle enjoying the Sunday in the park.  There was some big carp in the river also...me without a fishing pole.

I could have spent the entire afternoon and evening riding, but we needed to get on the road.  We have a long ride back to DC and expected a lot of traffic.  Steve had a Garmin and would call me with suggestion on how to avoid some of the traffic; however since I could not find a map amidst of all the stuff in my passenger seat, I chose to take the standard path to DC.  With all the shortcuts, Steve and Mike managed to beat me home by an hour.