Alpengeist — Attraction in Williamsburg

We had very mixed feelings about Busch Gardens Williamsburg. As theme park enthusiasts who have travelled all across Canada & the USA to see some of North America's best (and worst) theme parks & rollercoasters we feel we've got a pretty good 'base level knowledge' of what should and shouldn't be expected from the 'norm'. So here's what we discovered...

THE GOOD: Busch Gardens Williamsburg has one of the most SCENIC designs of any theme park! The colours, use of natural landscapes, thematic building designs, random statues and other features are incredible! There's ALWAYS something to admire and look at as you walk through the park.

The park is fairly easy to navigate (with a few exceptions of hidden pathways), and rides are appropriately spread out.

We were also very proud of Busch Gardens Williamsburg for their employment of several extra & special needs staff members. We stopped to talk to as many of them as we could because their friendliness, energy, and child-like wonder was contagious and made us enjoy our time in the shops and at various waypoints throughout the park!

Speaking of the rides, BG Williamsburg is almost on par with their Tampa location in terms of variety which was great...HOWEVER...

THE BAD: About 1/3 of the rides weren't in operation the day we visited! Yes, it was 'low tide' season (final week of August) but I mean c'mon, that's a bit ridiculous! We travelled 12hrs in a car to come visit this park on the hottest Aug.28th in recorded history, and there were ZERO shows, performances & a 1/3 of their rides (including one water ride) not working? To say the heat was made worse by Busch Garden's poor planning is an understatement. Worst of all it wasn't even announced anywhere, so as new visitors to the park, we showed up, walked around (in sauna-like conditions) and counted endless ''Sorry not in operation / no shows today" signs. The only ''performers'' were 3 of their 'lesser talented' singers who sang in one of the meal halls - and they gave it their best, but as former performing artist I could tell they weren't well rehearsed or ready to be put on stage that day.

The prices of food, drinks, and cold treats didn't reflect the lack of park operations... ''Pay us (an inflated) full price for food, drinks & admission and we'll give you whatever we feel like opening up.'' was pretty much the motto of the day. As mentioned earlier, this was thankfully counter-balanced by the wonderful staff they had, but again, does Busch Gardens not feel at least a twinge of shame knowing they ripped people off?

Ok, ok, one final complaint on the same theme of poor operations and offerings... We get into the park (which is SUPPOSED to be open at 11am - and yes, they let us walk INTO the park at that time) HOWEVER...when we arrived in the area of Pantheon and other rides, they weren't running - they didn't even start their daily test runs yet - until 11:10am! So while people waited in the blistering heat they FINALLY opened the rides closer to 11:25am'ish. The staff apologized for the wait, but again, this further demonstrates BG Williamsburg may be a beautifully designed park with wonderful staff, but they could care less about your experience once they have your money.

FINAL VERDICT: Would we go back? Probably not. Not because it wasn't a beautifully designed park with what seems like a nice variety of rides, shows, and attractions, but simply because it's too far from our home in Toronto to 'gamble' they won't just take our money and offer 'table scraps'. It's a shame because BG Williamsburg is a park we really wanted to enjoy (we love BG Tampa!), but at the end of the day theme parks are expensive and how they treat your visit that determines the type of memories you keep. We would encourage people to avoid Williamsburg and head to their Tampa...

I am an absolute fanboy for this ride, most of my friends think its rough and terrible, and ask why I'm always dragging them to it, but as a coaster enthusiast this ride is absolute insanity. First off it is the tallest inverted coaster in the world, which means the drop is awesome, every-time I ride, I sit in the back left seat for the best experience, but no matter where you sit, you will feel Alpengeist's power. This ride is filled with intense inversions, g forces, and a thrilling ride, but the one flaw this ride has is its roughness. The roughness though, it manageable, at least for me , when entering the rough parts of the ride, I tend to lean my head forward to minimize the head banging. The two sections this method helps the most is on the cobra roll, which is the 3rd/4th inversion of the ride, and the mid course break run, which follows the cobra roll. The 2nd half of the ride is particularly weak, but it lets u catch ur breath a little bit, and offers some great hangtime. Overall this is my 2nd favorite ride in the park, behind pantheon, though it can get a lengthly line, particularly during...

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