Busch Gardens Williamsburg

[Mad Dog]

BGW used to be an excellent well balanced theme park. Now, it's just another regional coaster park....meh. ...and it's continual attendance slide, in an area that experiences significant historical related tourism, reflects it's neglect of it's former broad based demographic that's now basically just a teenage/twentysomething thrill coaster demographic.

 

[GAcoaster]

BGW used to be an excellent well balanced theme park. Now, it's just another regional coaster park....meh. ...and it's continual attendance slide, in an area that experiences significant historical related tourism, reflects it's neglect of it's former broad based demographic that's now basically just a teenage/twentysomething thrill coaster demographic.

The Williamsburg area has seen declining attendance for Colonial Williamsburg and all the area attractions and businesses. The park really hasn’t seen that big an attendance slide though. The crowds have changed over time, but that seems to be industry wide.

 

[MikePat]

Tbf, this was just a little more than I expected for a Sea World/Busch run park.

Agreed! It is a little more than nothing being in the coaster area. After additions like Pantheon and Emperor, I appreciate the decent effort.

 

[Trumen882]

yeah I'm pleasantly surprised by the theming. I think the capacity is unforgivable though. They should have just done traditional seating because 10 per train is ridiculous for such a busy park

 

[GAcoaster]

Ah, but the fewer the seats, the longer the line, the more Quick Queue you sell to pay for the ride. Plus, it will fall off in popularity quickly enough that the line won’t be that way for too long.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

While I'm very happy they finally did something with the space (and even more happy that it actually continues the DarKastle story), the ride itself seems... rather lackluster. Not much theming, coaster itself doesn't seem very exciting, and overall just has a bit of a cheap feel to it.

I think I speak for many when I say a revival of the original attraction would've been better (especially considering it seemed to all still be intact before DarKoaster construction), but oh well.

Seems like a less interesting version of Mummy and Verbolten.

 

[SeventyOne]

Having done Tampa and Orlando, can anyone compare Williamsburg's Howl-O-Scream? Notably better or worse? Worth detouring from Alexandria to Orlando for a night?

 

[GAcoaster]

It's closer to Cedar Fair/Six Flags level since it's not a hard ticket. It's a GOOD CF/SF Halloween event, but not the same caliber as Tampa and Orlando.

 

[Tobias]

The folks at BGWFans have some rather nice news for 2024, as it sounds like the Loch Ness Monster will undergo an extensive renovation with a whole bunch of track replacement.



While they don't think two trains looping at the same time will return, they do mention there'll be attraction upgrades, which makes me feel like the monster will return in the cave, just a hunch. Either way, this is really wonderful news as this'll keep LNM running for years to come. (And for me, it's a much better investment than the *most likely cancelled* Drachen Spire idea.)

 

[Freak]

Any idea of when it will happen so I can go see it before it goes under the knife?

 

[Mad Dog]

The folks at BGWFans have some rather nice news for 2024, as it sounds like the Loch Ness Monster will undergo an extensive renovation with a whole bunch of track replacement.



While they don't think two trains looping at the same time will return, they do mention there'll be attraction upgrades, which makes me feel like the monster will return in the cave, just a hunch. Either way, this is really wonderful news as this'll keep LNM running for years to come. (And for me, it's a much better investment than the *most likely cancelled* Drachen Spire idea.)

Always one of my fav coasters. It was a great fun experience way back in the 70's, and still is. And, it's queue was a nice experience in a day and age that coaster queues were 'bare and boring'.

 

[GAcoaster]

Really happy to see this happening. I'll be curious to see what the enhancements are-- I assume they have to tear apart the tunnel to access the helix track and that when they rebuild they'll build back better...

 

[Mad Dog]

...

I haven't been to BGW since Blackstone slashed most of live entertainment, which was the strength of the park. But I vacationed there many times, and rode Loch Ness during it's first season. That was a unique experience since it was one of the few outdoor coasters with a well themed queue. The coaster, for many years, had excellent lighting and fog effects inside the tunnel and along the river dive. Those seemed to often disappear during those first years after Busch was acquired by In Bev and then Blackstone. It would be cool if they restored those effects to their former glory, and perhaps add something additionally. I always loved that coaster. It had the perfect balance of being not too high thrill, but not too low thrill. It was perfect....and its location inherently had excellent beauty and ambiance.