It has been awhile since I’ve needed to get out of bed at 5 o’clock. Normally just a few things can make me do that, thing like powder, good wind forecast. But this time was non of it was the reason.This time It was about hitting the road to Williamsburg, VA to visit an truly American roller-coaster park. It’s called Busch Gardens and there are two of them in USA. One in Florida and one in Virginia. The one we were headed to is in European theme, which I liked very much. Love ya Europe!
After 3 hour car ride we were in front of it. You see I was trying not to read over the web(or watch YouTube) what it is look like. I even begged the people with me not to tell me anything about the rides. But the thing is when you arrive at the park, you just can not miss all huge constructions around you.
I’ve been in some let’s call them medium parks like “Prater” in Wien and some more in Germany. The most remarkable that I remember was the boomerang which goes for a spin and than stop for a second and let you go backwards all the way to the start. But in Williamsburg the scale of everything is enormously huge. Here is an map of it.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Map 2011
As the park has European theme, the park is divided into the following regions. Germany, France, Italy, England, Ireland and Scotland. Every area serve different kind of food and have different style buildings. So basically the four big rides are at the four corned of the park. But don’t worry there is local railroad which surrounds the whole park. Plus there are gondola lifts crossing straight thru the park.
A wonderful surprise did came even before entering the park. It turns out that the price of the ticket for the day did not include just one day. It’s a SEASON PASS for the park, at the very same cost as a single visit. I love that, so it’s clear that we are coming again, even I haven’t saw the rides yet.
With the map in hand we head out to the biggest one.
We started with the “Griffon“, located at French section with 8 seats in a row. With vertical drop of 205ft (62m), long almost 1km, top speed of 71 mph (114 km/h) and 4 times G-force. That one is going straight down to earth at 90 degrees. Probably the most scary part was on top of it, before the release. You are facing the earth, feeling all your body mass on the safety belts onto your shoulders and then boooom. Up to 114km in less then a sec. That’s just crazy!
At the end of Griffon ride, you go thru that small lake, showering the audience.
Then it was turn for new one – Alpengeist - described as the skier experience, located in the Germany section. It’s hard to explain that one, it has two front seats and the seats are like a chair lift. You can not see the rail on which you are rolling, because it,s above you. That is freaking awesome, your whole view is clear. This one is not slower than the Griffon, it runs max to 67 mph (108 km/h).
Typical Applegeist view - upside down
The third one was on it’s way. It’s called Loch Ness Monster, located in Scottish part it’s one of oldest one in the park. It’s operating since 1978 and it was the tollest one back in 1978. It’s also the only coaster with interlocking loops. It doesn’t pump your hearth as much as the previous ones, but it do have some crazy elements such as tunnel and the interlocked loops.
Loch Ness Monster Coaster working since 1978 - In front of you is the interlocking loops.
The last but not least on my list is the Apollo’s Chariot, this one did have a different locking mechanism from the previous ones, it does not strap you around your shoulders with typical U-harness. This one strap tight on your lap. You feel a lot more free on that one, which increase the adeline a lot ! Love it.
Apollo's Chariot - A view from the start point at altitude of 52m above sea level.
You can check more derail for every ride on the wiki links above. Al the photos are made with my GoPro camera. I also do have some movies but I need some time to edit them. In raw format they can not represent a bit the feeling to ride a roller coaster.
On the way back to home I was exhausted a lot but I could not remove the smile on my face. I was feeling the sunburn all over my face and arms, but I couldn’t stop to think when we gonna came back again. On the next day it turns out that I was ill, but I guess that’s the price of making you wet on water coasters and then taking the first seat of Apollo’s Chariot running at 120km/h.
