Busch Gardens Virginia Recap

Not sure what’s in store at Busch Gardens Virginia for your family vacation? Check out my (non-sponsored) recap of this beautiful park located Williamsburg Virginia and what we enjoyed as a group of 12.

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We just spent a week in Williamsburg Virginia which included a day at Busch Gardens! Our Busch Gardens Williamsburg Virginia trip included a group of 12 total on this trip with 2 grandparents, 4 parents and 6 kids ages 4 – 11. It was a perfect weather day with temperatures in the high 60s-70s, no rain and plenty of sunshine. We were there mid April and stayed 10 – 3:30ish, but the park was open until 7pm. Here’s a few highlights on what we enjoyed and things to note for your next visit.

• World’s Most Beautiful Park – That’s their claim and we have to agree. It was a very pretty park with plenty of flowers, trees and shade for walking around. The theme is “classic Europe” with nine villages centered around 6 counties” and they play up the theme nicely.

• Height Check – Take this memorable photo and check your child’s height right at the front entrance to the park so you know which of the many rides you can enjoy.
• Water Bottle – You CAN bring in an unopened water bottle or refillable water bottle into the park.

• Get there early – The park opens at 10am but you can get through the security line and ticket line prior to that and just wait for the “rope drop” type concept. We were able to walk right on the 4 rides in the Italy area right after the park opened. 
• Tickets – we only went to this park with a one day ticket, which was plenty of fun for us since many of our crew wasn’t into the bigger roller coaster rides, but I can totally see that a 2 day ticket would be worth it with all that was inside.

• Sunny Day Guarantee – While we lucked out on beautiful weather, it’s important to note that if rain ruins the fun at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, guests will be eligible to receive a complimentary visit to the park to use within one (1) year of your visit.
• Parking – Parking is $35 per car, which is typical for amusement parks these days. We later looked up an uber cost and it would’ve only been $10 each way from our hotel for our smaller group of 6!
• Train ride – The train makes 3 stops around the park (France, Scotland and Italy) so use it to get from one side to the other while enjoying some pretty views. It really is a beautiful park! There are some hills in the park so be prepared to walk with some comfortable shoes!
• Food – is EXPENSIVE! We had lunch at the top of the park in Germany at Das Festhaus. The food was filling but of course on the expensive side (though again, an amusement park standard these days!) 

• Watch some of their rides on the website before visiting – The park does have an app which includes a digital map to get around but in my opinion, it doesn’t do a good job of describing the rides when you’re IN the park using it. I later saw that the website does have some links to video replays of the coaster adventures via their youtube so watch that before you ride. We took the (more chicken) kids on the Verbolten ride thinking it was a medium thrill car ride and it was NOT! We pretty much traumatized my 7 year old with a fast moving coaster that was partially in the dark and had a little car drop at one point. As a coaster lover, I have to say that it was great, just note that the 48” height might not make it perfect for everyone. 
• Make note of show times – We were hoping to catch the Celtic Frye Irish Step Dancing show in Ireland or the Sunny Day Celebration but didn’t make it to those areas in time. You can check out the show times in the app or on the site so maybe try to plan better than us. There’s also a large stage in Das Festhaus where we had lunch but they only do the shows there on weekends and we were visiting on a Tuesday.

• Favorite areas/rides for our crew:
  • The Train – loved by all, especially since the multiple stops served as a transport to the other side of the park. Germany and Italy had the most rides enjoyed but our medium thrill 48” riders including: Flying Machine, Der Autobahn, Turkish Delight, Battering Ram, Der Wirbelwind, Elephant Run, The Little Balloons, Der Roto Baron and The Little GlidersOur more adventurer riders were only able to hit up Apollo’s Chariot which we walked right on and had a fun ride!
  • Grover’s Alpine Express was a great introduction to roller coaster style action on a smaller scale for our somewhat timid kids.
  • In Germany there’s a netted and planked climbing area that was a big hit with our crew. Be warned! There are multiple openings and exits to this space so unless you’re with a bigger crew like us that would watch them and man multiple openings, you’ll need to go with them in it!

Look for an upcoming post with more details on other activities we hit in Williamsburg over spring break!

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