Busch Gardens Williamsburg / Kings Dominion / SF America / GAdv

[Ogolo]

I spent two days at Busch Gardens Williamsburg this past week.  The first day was spend in the park and the second day I signed up for their Roller Coaster Insider Tour.  If you have the time and the the tour is well worth the price.   You get to the park before opening and they take you to visit every major coaster in the park and the maintenance/control rooms. It was so nice to see the maintenance rooms were so clean you could probably eat off the floors.  It was so refreshing to see a park took extreme care for every ride (even the old ones).  I suppose the highlight of the trip was the maintenance car ride up to the top of Griffon for a walk around the top platform.  Not being a fan of heights this was quite a thrill.  The tour guides answered every question or found out the correct answer if they didn't know.  All in all an A+ event.

I also did short King Dominion on Thursday...This was my first time back since the opening of i305.  Thumbs up on the new restraints...ever Intamin  with those types of trains should have those softer restraints.  A very intense ride indeed and they only allow 2 re-rides?  Other than the Stunt Coaster the rest of the park looks great.  And the singing mushrooms.

After KD I decided to head home.  Since Six Flags America was on the route home I decide to stop for a short break.  Busch Gardens made Six Flags America look like such a "I like to ride my bike in the _ _ _ _" hole.  Superman had rusty trains that I feared were going to fall apart on my one bumpy ride.  There were tools lying all over the floor in the loading area tracks.  Jokers Jinx more rust / weeds / buildings with missing corners .  Even without a line operations were dismal everywhere in the park.  I just seemed like a park full of "I don't care anymore".  Not on my list for a revisit any time soon.

I continued home and was passing by Great Adventure with 45 minutes left before closing.  I decided to stop for some Nitro/El Toro to cleanse myself from that Six Flags America experience.

[ChuckR]

Sorry couldn't meet up, glad you had a good time.

[WadeJ]

Yikes. And I was thinking about a SFA trip later this week just for some variation. My kids have never been on a intamin hyper or Vekoma flyer either so that was part of the goal.

[Ogolo]

I just hope you get a quite day if you decide to go.
Your kids will probably be so overwhelmed with a new park that they won't care but I would love to hear your thoughts on the park.
It could have been that I was just at Busch Gardens where not a restraint or train was dirty.

Bat Wing restraints were quite interesting.  I had no idea on how to get in that thing and riding up the lift on your back was interesting.

[Edwardo]

I actually like SFA. The employees suck for sure but it has a good selection of rides. I suggest going on a weekday.

[ChuckR]

I go mainly for Wild One now, everything else is meh in my opinion.

[Edwardo]

You're Meh!

[WadeJ]

lol I agree that wild one is the main gem there. But while not SFNE good, superman is still a decent ride. Well, if it was maintained lol

Ken, I actually like the restraints better than the B&M flyers but getting stuck on that thing in the sun while laying on your back sucks !