live2tell75 Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 This past weekend I flew up to the Burg to visit Chuck (cfc) and do a quick Mid-Atlantic park tour. I must say that Chuck is a gracious and awesome host! Thanks again Chuck for everything! After arriving Friday morning, Chuck and I hit Busch Gardens Europe. I had only visited BGE once back in 97', so I was really looking forward to visiting this park again. This place is, in opinion the most gorgeous theme park that I have ever visited. I absolutely love the theming, landscaping and the way the attractions are intergraded throughout the park. Got to experience 3 new attractions since my last visit: Apollo's Chariot, Corkscrew Hill and Darkastle. Thumbs up for all 3! Apollo's Chariot has cracked my top ten coaster list, smooth as glass! I loved Darkastle, I have heard it wasn't that great especially with the Spiderman comparisons. I thought it held it's own and is a great addition for the park! Enough talking and onto the photos! Before leaving Italy, had to make some wine! I forgot how much I loved the special effects in Escape From Pompeii. During lunch we enjoyed the first part of the Viva Italia song and dance show. Until a crazy thunderstorm cancelled the show. We planned lunch at the perfect time to ride out the storm. Had one of the best lunches I have had at a theme park for a long time at Ristorante della Piazza. Chicken & Beef stuffed cannelloni, spaghetti, breadsticks with sauce, yummy cherry chocolate cake and a drink for only $15. I was pretty full for the rest I wish my home park Busch Gardens Africa had more flats! Busch Gardens Europe has reclaimed it's position as most beautiful theme park I have visited. Sorry Alton Towers you were bumped to second place. I loved Apollo's Chariot! Apollo and the Roman Rapids. First up, a new credit: Apollo's Chariot. This park is drop dead gorgeous! Big Bad Wolf is still one of my favorite suspended coasters. The interaction between the landscaping, Rhine River and German town is pretty sweet! Had to stop by and say hello to Chuck's friend, the Hummel Boy. After Darkastle, Chuck and I took a whirl on the Waveswinger. Curse of Darkastle was fantastic! I don't know how people could not like this ride! I think it was a great addition for the park! "Nice wolfie! Be a good boy" We headed over to Germany to one of my most anticipated new attractions: Curse of DarKastle. Griffon testing got lots of oohs and ahhs! I was sad I couldn't ride, but gives me something to look forward to on future visits! Are these two related? I must say Griffon looks awseome in its new home. Chuck is already for Griffon's opening in a few weeks! Alpengeist is a good ride. But I love my baby, Montu at my home park. Thanks Busch Gardens Europe, you are just as cool as I remembered! A very rare shot of The Loch Ness Monster. Still one of my favorites, Nessie still rocks! The wolves exhibit was pretty groovy. I didn't know that Chuck was Willie Wonka's double. Next up, a new re-themed land: Ireland home to a new attraction for me, Corkscrew Hill. I thought it was a lot of fun. The galloping of the horses was a bit much, but all in all fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemmy Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 man I am dieing to go there someday!!! awesome pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywood!007 Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 WOW!! Nice photos. Hopefully I get out there this year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live2tell75 Posted April 30, 2007 Author Share Posted April 30, 2007 ^&^^ Thanks guys. So after we left BGE and had dinner, we stopped by The gigantic Yankee Candle Company store. This was like mini theme park type store. Very themed and it even snowed in the Christmas section of the store! One the hour, there is an animatronic type song show featuring bunnies. Very surreal, but fun. I finally get to see snow!!! The ceiling was themed to a constantly changing sky, pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 Hmm--that "Willy Wonka" shot is probably the creepiest picture of me ever. I had a great time, as well, Eric. Glad to see that you made it back safe and sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefitness Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 BGE looks really nice. From these pictures, and other pictures I've seen Nessie, Alpengeist, and Griffon all look really close to eachother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnage Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 Nice TR Eric. Too bad we missed each other by a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Mike Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 Eric, Nice to see you. Glad you had fun! I am going to see Chuck on Wed, May 16th at the Griffon Commercial shoot. Anyone else going? Big Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live2tell75 Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 Hmm--that "Willy Wonka" shot is probably the creepiest picture of me ever. I had a great time, as well, Eric. Glad to see that you made it back safe and sound. Thanks again for taking me to the airport at that god awful hour! Hopefully work wasn't too bad today for you. Thanks again, had a great time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live2tell75 Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 ^^ That sucks Paul that were going to miss each other by a week! You should have a great time next week! You have a great tour guide at Kings Dominion! ^ Hey Mike, good to hear from you! I'm sure you're going to make TPR proud in the Griffon commercial! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan King Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Nice PTR! This is a park Im really anxious to hit! Im almost about ready to make a special trip out there JUST for this park! It looks amazing... Glad you had a good time! -Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Great TR, sorry you missed out on Griffon, dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live2tell75 Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 Day 2 of my Mid-Atlantic Adventure continued with a visit to Kings Dominion. Like Busch Gardens, I had only visited KD once ten years ago. So I got to experience a lot of new stuff: Volcano, Italian Job, Ricohet, Hypersonic, Drop Zone, Tomb Raider, & Scooby Doo and The Haunted Mansion. Chuck and I had a fun day! Volcano and Italian Job were great! Loved Scooby Doo and Tomb Raider. I gave Hypersonic a chance hoping for the best, but I am really not sad if the coaster leaves the park. Maybe after riding 4 launch coasters back to back, my head just couldn't take Hypersonic. I loved Rebel Yell backwards and Grizzly at night! Grizzly was insane in the dark, after the lift hill we couldn't see where the track was, it just disappeared into the wooded darkness. And the shed, good god that surprised me! So we had a great day and night at the park. Onto to the photos! Enjoy Kings Dominion was a absolute blast! Up Next: Six Flags America, stay tuned! Grizzly at night was insane. Much more intense ride in the dark! The mini coopers with lights on are so cool! The Italian Job Stunt Track at night is so much better than during the day. Another new attraction: Tomb Raider: Firefall. After all the chances on the UK trip, this was actullay my first Top Spin. Tomb Raider was awesome! Nightime is always my favorite time to visit theme parks. Hurler was running excellent with two trains. My head wishes that I hadn't got the credit. Got another new credit: Hypersonic. Same with the car ride. A nice scenic ride. I loved the way the Shenandoah Lumber Company flume snaked through the wilderness. The Flyers were fun! I rode a movie star! I forgot that Rebell Yell was in the late 70's movie "Roller Coaster". Got a new credit this time: The backwards Rebel Yell credit. Backwards is awesome! I enjoyed Flight Of Fear 100 times more with the lap bar restraints. When I rode it 10 years ago, I got my skull bashed inside out with the OTSH! Volcano The Blast Coaster kicked ass! A new attraction for me: Scooby Doo and The Haunted Mansion. A fun Sally shoot out ride. I liked the queue a lot. Set the mood for a good old-fashion Scooby Doo mystery. Met up with Scooby. The fountains on International Street were nice. View of Hypersonic, Grizzley and Hurler. Volcano: The Blast Coaster. This baby broke into my top ten! Frist up, a birds-eye view of the park on top of The Eiffel Tower. Entering Knott's-Paramount-Cedar-Kings Dominion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Awesome photo TR! Volcano definately looks amazing....I still with KI had their GOOD log flume that snaked through the tree tops...-sigh- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinacaniac Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 I agree with you EJ, Grizzly is wicked awesome at night, Flight of Fear is tons better with the lap bars, and Volcano is great! Great Trip Report too! good to see you are enjoying the parks of Virginia so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefitness Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Looks like a fun park. It's to bad Hypersonic is rough, it looks like a fun ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live2tell75 Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 On day three and the final day on my Mid-Atlantic Weekend Adventure, Chuck and I hit Six Flags America. I hadn't heard that much about this park. So I was pleasantly surprised that we had a great day. I loved Batwing! Wild One and Roar were great wood coasters. Overall the atmosphere was nice. Hopefully the back part of the park will have more shade in the future. It was cool riding Wild One, since it was re-located from the defunct Paragon Park in MA. My parents rode this coaster when they were young. Superman was great, only got one ride on it because it was broken down most of the day. Best ride operator of the entire trip was on Superman. (With a major lisp), he said "You all ready to ride the Man of Steel?" I was like oh yeah!!!!!!!! Gave me a chuckle throughout the ride. Again thought this park was nice and I can see it has potential. Six Flags America was a nice small park. I think it has a lot of possibilities. We enjoyed our day. Roar was fun, loved all the twists and turns. I wish Mind Eraser would erase the headache it gave me! My turn for the front. Chuck riding in the front. I loved Wild One, a great old woodie. Taking a smoke break! Ok, even I think Catwoman is super hot!!!! Overview of Joker's Jinx and Superman: Ride of Steel. The naked version of Flight of Fear was so much smoother! Joker's Jinx was up and running. I loved Batwing, going up the lift backwards like X at Magic Mountain added to the excietment. Loading onto the train was pretty freaky. First new credit: Batwing Once entering the park, we met up with some friends. So far Six Flags America looks like a nice park. We finished the day at SFA with a good meal! I love working for Outback, the discount rocks!! Filet, Sirloin, beer, girlie liq. drink, side of grilled onions, and homemade apple pecan cobbler all for only $33! Thanks again to Chuck for being such a kick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameron Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Awesome photos Eric .. I can't believe all the trip reports already, and my home park isn't even open yet! I was planning a mini trip out east this summer, but I don't think it's going to work out .. which is a shame. Seeing your BGE and SFA photos really makes me want to return. Glad you guys had such a good time! Cameron. ps: Chuckilly Wonka was quite, quite disturbing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Excellent job, Eric! I'll post some of my picutures tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live2tell75 Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 ^^Thanks Cameron. BGE is worth the trip alone! And yes, I agree that picture of Chuckilly Wonka was kind creepy but awesomely creepy at the same time! ^ Hey Chuck, can't wait to see your photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esvadj Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Loved the pictures, I haven't been to KD for years might be time to head back. Question - what was the drive time between KD and Six Flags? I am planning a multiple park trip, and trying to decide rather to go North or South from BGE Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live2tell75 Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 esvadj, We hit BGE on Friday. We went to KD on Sat (an hour drive from Williamsburg). Stayed in Fredericksburg on Sat. night (about 30 minutes from KD). On Sunday we drove from Fredericksburg to SFA (about an hour and a half drive). Chuck please correct me if I'm wrong with any of the times. After SFA we drove back to Williamsburg, took about 3 hours. Something to keep in mind, we didn't have any traffic. We drove around the DC/Baltimore area on a Sunday, so no traffic. I can imagine the traffic can get pretty rough in that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 ^I'd say that you can make the drive from KD to SFA in a little less than two hours, if you're not caught in horrendous DC traffic. Sunday was perfect. But weekday mornings and afternoons can be as bad as LA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingOfNynex2003 Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Looks like you guys had a pretty fun time on your trip. I wish Paramount didn't sell their parks to Cedar Fair because I heard Cedar Fair put checkstraps on every Arrow coaster with otsr's so they pretty much eliminated big people ever going onto Arrow coasters again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba83 Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 BGE does indeed rock! Very nice photo TR. I hope to get back there this season for a Griffon ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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