BGW Friday 4/15/05

So with a little prodding from the Homey one, we decided on an impromptu trip to VA this past weekend. We drove to our hotel in Richmond Thursday night so we could head to BGW first thing Friday morning.

Attendance: low, low, low

Weather: sunny, windy, chilly

Staff: awesome

Park operations: awesome

Atmosphere: out of this world beautiful

The park was opening at 10, so we left the hotel around 8:30ish. Didn't hit any traffic so we pulled into BGW about 9:20. BGW doesn't open the parking booths until a half hour before opening so we had to wait in line with about 30 or so others cars. We were meeting Brian and Alicia there and it turns out they were just 2 cars behind us. They open the booths promptly at 9:30, we paid, parked and took the tram to the gates.

BGW has kiosks set up (in addition to ticket booths) to buy your addmission tickets. We walked up to a kiosk, touched the screen a couple times, slipped our credit card in the slot and bam, our tickets were printed. No muss, no fuss, done in less than a minute. Every park should have these. Of course it took Brian and Alicia a little longer to get theirs because they were buying a pass and had to type their address and all that kind of stuff, but it was still quicker than buying them at a booth or season pass center.

Just a little background. Steve had never been to BGW, it's been 20 years for me, Alicia had never been and hadn't been on a coaster taller than 130 feet and Brian "love, Love, LOVE, this park."

We probably spent the first 15 or so minutes taking pictures, well Steve spent 15 minutes taking pictures Then we finally got in line for LNM. Still a good ride after all these years. That tunnel is long, long, long. Then more pictures were taken and we decided to head for Alpie.

Along the way we checked out the bald eagles, wolves, lorikeets, and some other animals that staff had out and about. Speaking of staff. By God, they have to be the nicest and most informed staff of any park. You asked a question, they knew the answer.

Finally, Alpengiest. This ride is just wrong. An invert is not supposed to be this....HUGE. Good God, what was B&M thinking. Thank God they did. What an amazingly beautiful piece of steel this is. Blazing speed, great pacing , ultra smooth transitions, great theming, rock your world awesome ride. Our first ride was front seat. I knew this thing was going to be fast after looking at the size of the first drop but I was not prepared for just how fast "Holy shit" was all I could saying going down that drop. Of course, we got off and got right back in line for the back. Raptor has always been my favorite invert, but I think Alpie beats it by a hair and mainly because of it's nice smooth finish. Not the lashing whip you get on Raptor into the brakes. Alpie isn't quite as intense as Raptor but just as fun.

Next up, BBW. I rode this the year it opened and remembered it being a good ride. This is THE best suspended, hands down. I swear to God it looks like you are going to hit some of those building and that last drop out over the lake still rocks even with the trim. Again, great theming.

After BBW, more pictures were taken and we ate lunch at the Festhaus and watched the show. Good food, good entertainment. But the time had come for some hyper action.

Now Nitro was a good hyper but it didn't rock my world so I wasn't getting my hopes for Apollo. Boy did it prove me wrong. Apollo rocked my world. It probably helped that Brian showed us a little trick (one to be use in the future on a certain B&M at GL). This was also Alicia's first hyper and the second time around, she put her hands up for the first time. We rode it several times, front and back with the back being our preference.

With all the coasters ridden, we rode the train back towards Alpengiest. Rode Alpie and BBW again, then headed back to Apollo. Rode Apollo a couple times and Brian and Alicia decided to call it a day (they drive through the night and were ready for some sleep). Steve and I rode Apollo a couple more times and I was ready to call it a day also. It was cold and I had a headache that aspirin wasn't helping.

Overall, beautiful, well kept park with great employess and rides. All the rides had a fresh coat of paint. Flowers were in bloom, trees were starting to green, you could even smell fresh paint walking through one area. Thank you Brian for talking us into going.

Excellent TR.

I have had a great experience every time I have visited that park, and your trip sounds "par for the course" of what has become the average visit there.

// What! No Nessie?

Yay Lori! I finally do something right!

Funny thing to notice here guys. Did you happen to notice any mention of DarKastle? No And she STILL seemed stoked about this park? That's because this park kicks total ass without it. Sure we walked by it, and admired the massive size of the place, but then we just kept on walking to the FestHaus to get some grub.

Point is, BGW is a park that can ONLY be made THAT much more wonderful by the addition of it. It's not a park that hinges on DarKastle opening to make it a MUST DO park. It's really been one for years.

Alicia and I went back yesterday (Sunday) and the place was 10x more crowded than Friday. We rode a grand total of two rides (Alpie and Apple's Chariot) and we were perfectly content. But I WILL say that the park ran max capacity. 3 trains on Alpie (2 Friday when the park was, for an intents and purposes, completely dead), and 3 of AC (again, 2 on Friday).

Couple of random things I'll add :

--Busch Williamsburg clearly to me is up there with the Universal's and Disney's as far as total park experience. Every little nook and cranny of this park is themed to the gills with seemingly NO regard for cost. It's submersive to the level of ONLY Islands of Adventure, and some could argue more so.

--Little things like the quality of the benches (very nice, and probably expensive wood benches, as opposed to mass produced wrought iron benches), quality of the paper towels in the bathrooms that you could almost blow your nose on as if it were toilet paper.

--Feeling like you were a VALUED guest of the park when you were only one about maybe 1500 folks in the park. That's one thing I hate about the bulk of parks I attend. I try to hit parks when their at their slowest because I strive for the ability to make multiple laps on coasters, but I've found myself giving up on feeling like the park gives a damn about me because they don't. Slow days at most SF parks means the workers slack off and generally aren't motivated to make sure your day is a great one. Not here. This park is worth 50 bucks every day I've ever been.

Thanks again Steve and Lori. We had a ball, and can't wait til CedarMania to see you guys again!

P.S. Thanks to Elissa for telling Alicia and I what time BGW opened Sunday on our return visit! 10AM! We got there at 12.

^^ You mighta missed the "LNM" reference, but it's in there. Look for the "long tunnel" reference.

Nice TR Lori!

I'm also in the minority that I don't really love BGW as much as everyone else does but it's still a good hassle free park which is becoming a rarity these days!

Brian & Alicia, I'm glad my 'West Coast Time Zone' could benefit you! Nice to know I'm good for something!

I still haven't ridden Alpengeist since that bird tried to kill Derek & I while filming a Discovery Channel show!!!

Elissa "the birds are out to get humans at that park!" Alvey

^^ Sorry. I see it now.

// The tunnel that never ends.

BGW is definitely one of the best all-around theme park experiences I've ever been to. With all due respect to Cedar Point, which I usually visit, it was nice to visit a park that had so many trees, and such nice themeing, and food that was actually worth the high prices

Apollo's charriot is definitely one of my all time favorite Hypers, not only because of its great speed and drops, but because it was the coaster that busted Fabio's schnoz, hehehe

I was there also on Friday and it was a truley good, low attendance, fun day!