Karen and I made the long drive down to Virginia to meet up with our daughter's family (Heather, Andrew, Ben and Isabelle) for a vacation that started at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, the legendary theme park created by the Anheuser-Busch corporation to recreate scenes of European villages. We visited the park just last year and for $103 a piece we were confronted with a park that was only half operating. That left a sour taste in my mouth and I had no intentions of returning. But the family wanted to experience it, so off we went. Karen had purchased tickets online months before, and they were half-price. So that was a slight compensation for our previously disappointing experience. She also purchased parking tickets online, but with the added fees the cost was the same as if we paid at the gate: $35. We left early on Sunday morning, hoping to avoid heavy traffic. But unfortunately that didn't pan out. There were numerous traffic jams all along our route, including a forest fire next to the highway that backed up traffic for miles. The trip took two-and-a-half hours longer than it should have. We arrived exhausted at our hotel (a Holiday Inn) in Williamsburg. Fortunately, we had a really nice room. We took the family out for dinner at the nearby Rocco's Smokehouse Grill. I had a delicious grilled salmon. But for me the best part of the restaurant was the ceiling train that made a circuit above the dining area. The next morning, Karen and I went for breakfast at the Colonial Pancake House. It was a quaint tourist trap with disinterested servers and adequate food. Then we met back up with the family and made the short drive to the park. When we arrived, we discovered to our surprise that the park had lowered their parking fee to $32. So we actually overpaid by getting our tickets in advance. There was hardly anyone at the parking gates, and we were directed to the parking lot directly in front of the park entrance, an area I thought had been reserved for "preferred parking". We made our way down the entrance path with its bucolic waterfall toward the security gates. It was 9:30, and there were already quite a few people in line. When the gates finally opened, we proceeded into the Banbury Cross (England) section of the park, a small area of Tudor-style buildings that contained little except for a few shops and a theater. The theater usually featured musical acts highlighting British music. For some reason, this season the show was labeled as "American Jukebox". It was as if the park management was unaware of its own theming. The area also sported a giant sign proclaiming the Summer of Wonder. Apparently that was the park's slogan for the season, since the sign appeared throughout the entire park. Since Monday was going to have the coolest temperatures during our stay (if you can call 94 degrees cool), Andrew wanted to hit up as many rollercoasters with Ben as they could. So I tagged along with them while the women checked out some of the shows. The first coaster we headed for was in the next land we encountered, Scotland: the famous Loch Ness Monster, the 1978 Arrow steel coaster with interlocking loops. Over the winter it received a lot of new track, so I was sure it would give a much smoother ride. The queue line was empty and when we arrived at the station there were only a few people in line. So I queued up for the front seat (of course) with Ben. Andrew sat behind us. We rolled out of the station, around the corner and onto the typically noisy Arrow lift hill. From the top of the lift, we dropped down just above the Rhine River and then up the hill on the other side. It was definitely an improvement, remarkably smooth for an Arrow ride. The train made a 180-degree turn and plunged back toward the river, this time flying through the first loop. Again, it was surprisingly smooth. Next came the dive into a dark cave with its triple helix. There were several brief lighting effects in the cave before we emerged into daylight again and then were pulled up the second lift hill. We turned a corner and once again dropped down toward the Rhine River, entering the second loop and then returning to the station. Ben loved the ride. From there we walked out of the Scotland area and followed the winding path toward the Festa Italia area. Last year I wanted to ride one of the park's newer coasters there, Pantheon, but the wait was over an hour-and-a-half. But this time it was a walk-on. So Ben and I lined up for the front seat with Andrew once again behind us. The coaster train seats were comfortable and in short order we rolled out of the station to the left. The track made a little zig-zag and brought us over to the first magnetic launch section. It was short but packed a wollop and shot us up into a corkscrew inversion. From there we curved to the right and then encountered a bizarre outward-banked S-curve that provided strong airtime. That brought us over to the next magnetic launch section that blasted us nearly to the top of a tall camelback hill. That's when the ride's gimmick kicked in, one that more and more modern steel coasters have adopted: a section of track behind us was switched out, and when we rolled back over the magnetic launch section it sent us flying backwards up the ride's tallest element, a vertical spike. Gravity pulled us back down the spike. We were sent flying over the magnetic launch a third time and flew over the camelback with some serious airtime. That was followed by another camelback hill, and then some outward-curving sections of track. There was a long upside-down stretch of track that was taken at an unnervingly slow pace so that it felt like we were going to fall out of the train. That was followed by some more high-speed curves leading us back to the station. The ride was extremely smooth but also extremely intense. And this seemed to be the path that Blackstone (the current owner) was taking with the park. They claimed to be building family rides, but the rides struck me as a bit too severe for many families. My favorite coaster in the park, Apollo's Chariot, was down with no prospects of opening anytime soon. So we left Festa Italia and walked through the San Marco area and over to the long bridge across the Rhine River which last year had been completely torn apart. The refurbishment was complete and it looked the same as it did before the refurbishment, which I guess was a good thing. We crossed over into the Oktoberfest area and headed for Verbolten, yet another launched coaster in the park. It took over the area once home to the greatest suspended coaster ever built, Big Bad Wolf. Verbolten's theme placed you in a European sports car on a drive through a haunted forest that takes control of your vehicle. It feature a couple of surprises along its course. Once again, I sat in the front seat with Ben and Andrew behind us. Andrew and I had ridden the ride previously, and we didn't want to spoil anything for Ben. So we kept quiet about what lay ahead. We rolled out of the station, curved left and dropped down a hillside, then turned right and got launched into a pitch-black building. There were loud spooky sound effects and lighting effects as the train sped around corners in the dark. Then the train came to a halt. Ben wondered what was going on. Spoiler alert! The train just sat there for a few minutes while the spooky sounds surrounded us. And then the bottom dropped out and Ben screamed. It was a great effect, and for first-time riders completely unexpected. Once the elevator settled at the bottom, we were launched out of the building, around a corner and up to the little cupola high above the Rhine River. Then we plunged down the cliff, flew through an upward S-curve and back to the station. I still didn't find it as exhilarating as Big Bad Wolf, but Ben enjoyed it. Nearby was yet another launched coaster, a new one, hiding in the old castle where The Curse of DarKastle used to be, which was one of the best dark rides ever built. The building had been gutted and reconfigured into DarKoaster. Last year when we were at the park, the ride wasn't open. So I was curious to check it out. Mechanically, the ride was pretty clever. It was actually a fairly short length of track. But because it was in the dark and used track switchers, they made it feel like a much longer ride. This was yet another coaster that the park advertised as "family friendly". The building, thankfully, was air conditioned which made the wait actually pleasant. This had the longest queue of any ride we experienced at the park. The trains held just ten people each, and there were just two of them which gave the ride a pathetic throughput for such a big park. The queue line followed basically the same path as it did for the dark ride. Near the loading station was a large TV screen designed to look like a portrait of the main character from DarKastle, connected to some electronic equipment. Every few minutes it would morph into a ghostly demon. We finally arrived at the loading area. Attendants there assigned seating but weren't too picky about it. The trains were designed to look like Ski-Doos. I thought we would be straddling them like a motorcycle, but it was a fairly normal coaster seat and restraint. This time Andrew took a seat in the middle with Ben, and I waited for the front. They boarded the train before me and were sent off around the corner into darkness. A kid in line asked if he could sit with me, so when our train came around we got aboard. He'd been on the ride many times. We left the station and curved left into the darkness. Then the launch kicked in. It was really strong, much more aggressive than I expected. We zigged and zagged in darkness with loud sounds and various lighting effects flashing around us. Then we hit another launch that sent us sharply upward into a curving hill. It felt like I had been kicked in the gut. We went through the zig-zagging course again (since it was the same track) and then turned left back into the station. Once again, I didn't think this was a "family" coaster. This was definitely a thrill ride. It felt nearly identical to Verbolten, just without the drop. And the effects were similar to the cave of Loch Ness Monster. The ride experience was nearly identical to Verbolten and Pantheon. It's as if the park dropped the same ride in three different locations, just with different theming. Couldn't the park have come up with something a bit different? Why not something like Knoebels' Black Diamond Mine or Silver Dollar City's Fire in the Hole, a dark ride with roller coaster elements? Or heck, they could have just kept DarKastle the way it was; it was a great ride. We walked across the smaller ornate bridge to the Rhinefeld section of the park, and then down the long ramp and stairs to the boardwalk across the Rhine River. There we encountered a family of turtles and also Nessie herself. We climbed the seemingly endless stairway up to the Scotland area and took a left toward Killarney, the Ireland section of the park. Outside of Finnegan's Flyer, the Screaming Swing ride that looked completely out-of-place, there was nothing but shops and a couple theaters in that area. The popular simulator ride through a land of leprechauns had been shut down years before and never reopened. It was still blocked off. And the two theaters, one that featured Riverdance-style performances and the other that featured magic shows, were not operating. So we passed through the area and into Lorikeet Glen, the peaceful nature section that featured an aviary and also Wolf Haven. Nothing was going on there, so we kept walking toward the Aquitaine (France) section. The big amphitheater there was closed, as were many of the shops. Andrew and Ben headed for Griffon, the big B&M dive coaster with a spectacular splashdown. I'd ridden it before and passed on it this time. I loved how the area was decorated with bright red umbrellas that seemed to be magically suspended in the air. After Griffon, we headed over to the nearby New France (Canada) area. Le Scoot, the flume ride, was open so we queued up for it. It had a pretty long line, but it moved quickly. For some reason, three of the log boats had red ribbon crisscrossing over their seats and were unused. I didn't understand why they didn't simply remove those boats from the trough. It was about a 20 minute wait but we finally boarded and were sent on our way. It was a classic Arrow flume experience, gliding high above the midway with the trough on stilts only to plunge back down to earth at the end. None of us got very wet. Then we walked next door to InvadR, another coaster the park advertised as a family ride yet was pretty extreme. Maybe families have gotten more extreme over the years. There wasn't a long line and within a few minutes we were taking our seats: Ben and I in the front and Andrew behind us. We rolled out of the station and around to the lift hill on the right. Off the top of the lift, we turned left and into a covered drop. It felt like there were gaps between the track sections. There was a constant rhythmic bumping, like driving over expansion joints on a bridge. It was pretty uncomfortable and was certainly not like that the last time I rode it. None of us were too fond of the ride and were happy to leave that one behind. The next coaster that Andrew wanted to ride with Ben was Alpengeist, the intense B&M suspended looping coaster that was nearby in the tiny Switzerland section. I passed on that one as well. It pulled some really strong positive G forces. So I waited for them in the shade. I got a bottle of water ($6) and rehydrated. When their ride was over, Andrew concurred that it was pretty intense. We then headed back to New France to board the big steam train, which would take us back to Scotland so we could meet up with the rest of the family. By then it was 3:00. Our son in Chesapeake had invited us over for dinner, so we headed to his house and had an enjoyable if brief time catching up with him. Then we drove back to our hotel and collapsed for the night. The next day we did something different. Andrew was a history buff so we all paid a visit to the Historic Williamsburg district. Karen and I had taken our kids there decades ago, and at the time we were under the impression it cost $15 a piece to get in. That turned out to be incorrect. Karen bought the tickets online ahead of time, but when we got to the visitor's center we discovered that everything was free, with the exception of a couple buildings where you needed to show a ticket. Although it was hot, it was an interesting area with shady winding paths, many preserved and re-created buildings, lots of period demonstrations and tours. There was a lot of emphasis on how special Virginia is. We spent the entire day there and then headed back to our hotel. We returned to Busch Gardens on Wednesday morning. This was the hottest day of our vacation. The temperature reached 103. We got there at about 9:30, and already there were a lot of cars. We ended up parking in a lot about a half-mile away from the entrance. There was a shuttle, but oddly the station near our parking area was blocked off. So we walked over to the entrance. When we arrived, we encountered a long line backed up at the ticket gates. At 10:00 the line started moving and there were hundreds of people behind us. We decided to stay together. Since it was going to be so warm, we made our way toward Escape from Pompeii, the shoot-the-chutes ride. Along the way we passed a large billboard, one of many in the park that promoted the state. Surprisingly, no one was in line. (People probably regretted that decision later when the temperature reached its hottest, because then the ride broke down.) We sat in the front and were sent on our way up the lift hill. At the top, the boat rolled off the belt and nose-dived into the water trough, flooding the boat. That was the wettest we got. The show building used to be really impressive, surrounding us with the destruction of Pompeii complete with collapsing columns and shooting flames. But apparently the park hadn't maintained the effects because only a few of them were working, and some lights appeared to be burned out. We exited the show building and plunged down the drop into the runout. We didn't make much of a splash and only got mildly wet. Within a half-hour, we were dry. We continued on toward the Festa Italia section. There were some flat rides (non-coaster rides) that the kids wanted to try. First Andrew took Ben on Tempesto, a stock Premiere Sky Rocket coaster that was shoehorned into that area and looked completely out of place. Because of its ridiculously low capacity (18 riders in a single train) it took a while for them to board. The ride lasted less than a minute. Both Andrew and Ben were underwhelmed. I suggested going on the nearby Roman Rapids, but it wasn't operating. So the kids queued up for their flat rides. Karen and I both went looking for water. To their credit, the park was giving out free cups of fresh water. That was welcome, because there were very few water bubblers in the park, and only one water bottle refill station that was located in the England section. We availed ourselves of that water frequently throughout the day. Back by the rest rooms, the park had set up a gigantic fan, about six feet in diameter, connected to a water supply. It was blowing a cool mist and a lot of people were gathering around it. There were a few of those in different areas. We headed over to the San Marco area Ben rode the Battering Ram, a nicely themed pirate ship ride. Behind the Battering Ram was the remnants of the station for the old Da Vinci's Dream ride, a Huss Top Spin that had been removed several years ago. It was surrounded by a fence with a "Please pardon our dust" sign on it, implying they're planning something else there. Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb (like Tempesto). When the ride finished, we continued on our way. The San Marco area looked nearly deserted. Mama Stella's, the Italian restaurant there (which for some reason Busch Gardens has labeled "Marco Polo's Marketplace") was closed. The nearby Teatro was deserted. We continued on toward the long bridge to the Oktoberfest area. Everyone decided to check out Der Autobahn, the big bumper car arena. It too was deserted so they had the entire arena to themselves. After that it was almost noon. Heather wanted to see the musical show in the Festhaus, so we all went there for lunch. When it was originally constructed, the Festhaus was the largest indoor eatery in the world. In the old Anheuser-Busch days, it served authentic German food. Now there were the usual hamburgs and hot dogs. But they did have veggie burgers, so Karen and I each got one. Plus, the building was air-conditioned. I got a lemonade with my meal, and only one of the four fountain machines had a working ice dispenser. As you can imagine, the food was absurdly expensive for what we got, but it was good. As we finished our meals, the show began. In the past, there used to be a live German band providing accompaniment. But now it was all pre-recorded synthesized music. But the show was similar to their traditional offerings, with a variety of German songs. Near then end they asked for volunteer children to help them with the chicken dance, and Ben went up. He had a good time. We ventured back outside into the proverbial blast furnace and walked down the long ramp and staircase to queue up for the Rhine River Cruise. I stood at the bow of the boat as it made its way down through the water. I heard the captain and mate talking about the water, saying they'd hate to fall in because they'd probably get sick with E. coli. I noticed the water was a sickly green color, but I wondered since it was a river why it was stagnating like that. They laughed. It was a river in name only. It was a man-made pond with no outlet. That explained a lot. Still it was a peaceful trip, with rides just an echo in the distance. After debarking, we made our way up the exhaustingly steep staircase back into the Scotland section. The kids wandered through the Land of the Dragons play area while the adults relaxed and the Loch Ness Monster roared by. When the kids were done, the ladies headed off to watch a border collie training presentation (a $30 upcharge). Andrew and Ben headed off to ride a few more coasters. And I took the opportunity to make another walk-thru video. When that was completed, we all met up at the entrance and bid farewell to Busch Gardens. This first leg of our trip was exhausting because of the heat. But that was to be expected during a Virginia summer. Thankfully there was still plenty of shade at the park. The giant misters were a welcome addition, as was the free water. But for me, some of the magic had faded away. There was a palpable pride that Anheuser-Busch felt with this place. The insane amount of detail in the architecture, the landscaping, the food -- it was as if they wanted you to genuinely feel like you were in Europe. That impression seemed to be disappearing in favor of a more Six Flags approach, populating the midway with partially-themed thrill rides. It seemed weird that the park had three recent coasters that had nearly identical ride experiences. Blackstone, which operates the Sea World franchises and owns Busch Gardens, seems to be taking that same approach at all their properties. But I had hoped for better at Busch, which had always been one of the premier theme parks in the world. Perhaps the general public wouldn't care about such things. But I think that people can tell when something is well cared-for and is managed with pride. I hope the management of the park knows that and will maintain the original vision of this unique destination.

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