Busch Gardens Williamsburg TR, 4/16/17- 4/18/17

Well I'm a little late writing my trip report on our 3 day visit to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I figure, while everything is still fresh in my memory, I need to go ahead and write it.

Since Invadr was announced Busch Gardens Williamsburg was on our radar for a 2017 spring trip. We left the house at about 5:00am on Easter Sunday. We arrived at the park around noon. We purchased Platinum Season Passes, because we have a Florida trip planned in August that includes Sea World Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa. After we purchased our passes, we headed straight for Invadr. The park was very crowded and Invadr had a hour long line. We wanted to make Invadr our very first coaster ride of the 2017 season, so we elected to wait the hour. Our very first ride on it was in the front seat. Now I was expecting much out of it. The first drop is much better than I expected and has some nice pops of air time and some laterals. The ride is short, but I expected that. It reminded me of a smaller version of Cornball Express at Indiana Beach, because of how custom freeform it is. All in all in met my expectations, and is a great addition to the park. The trains are magnificent, with the 2 trains themed completely different from one another. I did feel the dispatch times were a little slow, especially since there are no seat belts on them. Just a Millennium Flyer train with the ratchet bar to hold you in. For that first ride we thought of our friend Mike, aka beastmaster, and how we met him at Six Flags Great Adventure on Easter Sunday in 2013. We later took a night ride in the back seat on Invadr, with a 30 minute wait. The back seat night ride was much better. The trains are only 8 rows long, in which they purposely designed them for a tighter layout. I think a 12 row train would have given better air time and generated more speed throughout the entire ride. All in all, I was really impressed with it, but my kids not so much. It's a very fun coaster, but I don't think it will make many enthusiasts top 10. It's a top 25 wooden coaster for me.

Like I said the park was crowded. Another new credit for us was Tempesto. Our last visit to Busch Gardens Williamsburg was almost 5 years ago, in 2012, the first year of Verboten. We waited about 20 minutes for our front seat ride on Tempesto and it was better than I expected. This was our first coaster of that Premier Rides Sky Rocket II model. The launches were decent and the ride was very fun. My daughter actually really liked this coaster. We later rode the back seat and I likes the back seat even better. My only complaint is the OTSR on it are very comfortable. Now that brngs my coaster count up to 416 and my kids at 353.

Next up we rode Apollos Chariot. We waited about 20 minutes or so for a front seat ride. I was a little disappointed in it that first ride. It wasn't running nearly as good as it was back in 2012. The next day it was running much better, but I'll get into that later.

We also rode Griffon 3 times that first day. Now I have to say that I prefer Griffon over ValRavn and by a good bit. I believe it's the restraints that make the difference. On Griffon you have a little wiggle room, and get throw around more. On ValRavn the restraints are very tight on you. I think another thing that makes a difference is the 10 row seating across. That end seat makes a difference.

We did ride Alpengeist once in the front seat that first day. Now I like Alpengeist, but it's almost too forceful for me. When I get off, my legs feel like I just rode a stand up coaster, from all positive g's. It's a great B&M invert; I just can't marathon it.

We also rode Verboten once that first day in the front seat. Verboten is still a very fun coaster and an unique experience. Wait times were long that first day, so that's about all the riding we got, being the park closed at 8:00.

The next day we arrived before opening. Now on Monday the park was completely dead, due to rain in the forecast. It did rain for about a hour, but that's when we ate dinner, so we didn't even miss much riding time. It was so dead that we got rerides on all the coasters, and even had a coaster train all to ourselves at times.

On Monday we got 12 rides on Invadr, 11 rides on Griffon, 11 rides on Apollos Chariot, 5 rides on Verboten, 5 rides on Tempesto, 2 rides on Alpengeist, and one ride on Loch Ness Monster. Nessie was running a little rough this year, so it was our only ride for the trip. We did ride the train for some Invadr photos. Due to Invadr's location and layout it's very difficult to photograph. We also did the Rhine River Cruise for some Verboten photos. We also rode Flying Machine, which is only one of two of its kind in North America. The other one is at Lake Winnie and the one at Lake Winnie is much better, but Flying Machine is kept in pristine condition. Monday was coaster Nirvana at its best. We stayed from open to close.

The last day was Tuesday. Once again we arrived before opening, but could only stay until 2:00. My son Hayden, had his driver's test the next day at 8:30am, in which he passed. It was very manageable in the morning. We got another ride on Invadr, 3 rides on Griffon, 4 on Apollos Chariot, 2 on Verboten, one more on Alpengeist, and One more on Tempesto. We also rode Mach Tower for the first time. It's a drop tower with an incredible view. We also rode Curse of Dark Castle on the second day once while it was raining. Some the screens towards the end have become a little fuzzy. We also rode Escape from Pompeii on that second day as well. The park did seem to get a little crowded as we were leaving at 2:00. We even watched a predator show that final day.

We arrived home at 8:30pm and had a terrific time. The park was beautiful as always, the employees were friendly, and the food was exceptional, especially for amusement park food. The food was actually reasonably priced, especially with our Platinum Passes discount. Our Platinum Passes are good for 12 months, so I'm sure we will revisit within that time period. It was a great way to start off our 2017 coaster season.

Thanks for reading,
Ken

* This post was modified at 4/30/17 11:48:08 AM *