Where to Stay: Since Virginia is an easy drive for us, we don't go all out when taking a weekend to check out Busch Gardens and Williamsburg. We stay at Motel 6, which is always super clean and super cheap($50/night), believe it or not. If you want to spend more money, there are plenty of places all over. All the usual suspects, like Holiday Inn, Quality Inn, and the like are nearby, too.
Where to Eat: We usually eat in Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, or Kings Dominion (see the section on each of these for their restaurant listings), but there's other stuff available around the hotel areas. The Gazebo Breakfast and lunch. They have every flavor of pancake you could imagine. Try the chocolate chip pancakes. They're yummy! Cap'n Georges A huge seafood buffet. Loads of choices at a pretty good price. They've even got steamed crab pieces. There's a regular menu, too, if you don't want the buffet. Fast Food All the usual places are easy to find. Chain Restaurants Applebees, Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse, and your other favorites are also easy to find.
Shopping: There are lots of outlets in the Williamsburg area that have great deals: Lenox China, Fila, Ralph Lauren, and a few others are within driving distance of Busch Gardens.
Colonial Williamsburg
For the official Colonial Williamsburg website, click here. Includes lists of restaurants, shops, attractions and ticket prices. You need a ticket for many of the colonial-type attractions in the town itself, but they're NOT worth it. $30 for one day is highway robbery, considering there's so much to do that's free. The only thing the $30 gets you is inside some of the buildings. Big deal. There's lots to see and do without a ticket. You can walk all over town and look in the shops and eat at the taverns for free. Whatever you do, do NOT park at the visitors center. They've instituted a parking charge which is $20 if you don't want their crummy ticket, and even if you do buy it, the charge is still $5! There is a way to drive into the outskirts of the town itself and park free in designated lots. (The signs say 2 hours, but you can move your car around to avoid that.)
Shopping
Lots and lots. You could spend the day in Colonial Williamsburg just shopping. See their website for a complete list of shops.
Restaurants
If you're going to eat in Colonial Williamsburg, you should really get the full experience by eating at one of the original colonial restaurants. They serve great food and they're fun because they try to recreate the atmosphere with period costumes, music, food and other cool stuff. Here are the best choices: The King's Arms The nicest of all the taverns. Great food and fun. Chowning's Tavern Good food and after 9 pm, join them for lots of music, magic, and learn how to play 18th century games! Shield's Tavern The oldest tavern in the town. Good colonial fare along with strolling musicians.
Busch Gardens
Tickets
If you're only going for a day, the admission is $38.95. Be sure to check local grocery stores or your "entertainment" book for coupons. If you think you might return for a second day, a better deal is the "summer sizzler" pass, also known as the bronze passport. For $60, you get unlimited admission through August 31st, for less than the price of 2 days admission. Beware-the signs explaining this pass are misleading. This pass only gets you into Busch Gardens. It will NOT get you into Water Country USA as well. The pass that works for both costs considerably more and is only a good deal if you plan on going back to both parks quite a few times.
The Best Rides
Apollo's Chariot A loopless roller coaster, but scary nonetheless. This one's got a new restraint system which gets rid of the shoulder harnesses and instead has a big thing that holds you down at your stomach, leaving you free to flap your arms around as much as you like (although we don't suggest it.) This new restraint system makes this roller coaster much more scary. The coolest ride in the park. Alpengeist A roller coaster where the car hangs below the track. More twisty than the Big Bad Wolf. Corkscrew Hill A 3D movie ride. Put on your 3d glasses, and then get ready to ride a movie. The audience sits in a huge moving platform that gets pretty wild, especially during the horse ride sequence of the animated film. The gist of the story: Set in Ireland, the story is about a couple of boys that find a box of fairies (the audience) and don't quite know what to do with them. A neat ride. Escape from Pompeii A water roller coaster with a new twist: Before you get wet, you go through the fire and destruction of ancient Pompeii by a volcano. Cool. The Loch Ness Monster The original! A roller coaster with 2 loops. Drachen Fire Oops! This one's closed, folks. Apparently there were lots of complaints about how rough the ride was. It hasn't been taken down, though-you can still see it if you take the train ride around the park. The Big Bad Wolf Another hanging roller coaster. Roman Rapids White water rafting. Extremely wet. Le Scoot Log flume ride.
Shows & Attractions
Budweiser Beer School Located in the Ireland section. A way to get some free beer. This used to be at the brewery itself, until they discontinued the tours. At least they brought this back. You get to try some of the different beers they make, they explain how they are made and what the differences are. Even if you don't like beer, it's informative. (And it's neat to see if you prefer "old beer"-you'll see what we mean.) Get there early and reserve your spot-especially on the weekends. Irish Thunder It's like a taste of "Riverdance". A very nice production, with great dancing and singing. If you've wanted to see a show like "Riverdance", here's a sample. Lorikeet Glen A netted area with loads of cute little birds named lorikeets. Get a cup of food and they'll fly right onto your hand to eat it. A fun experience. Reptales A little show displaying and explaining a little about turtles and lots of different snakes. Pirates 4D Adventure A multisensory movie starring Leslie Nielson. Rockin' the Boat A cruise ship style Broadway revue. Kinda corny, but it's a way to get out of the sun for awhile.
Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tours
Would you believe they've discontinued the tour? You can't even go over there anymore to get beer (not that we like beer-we don't, but for those of you that do, they used to give you 2 free cups of beer). The tour was really neat, too-they showed the steps in the brewing and canning of their beer, as well as a display of the history of their advertising, complete with commercial clips. We figure some goofy group against drinking must have complained mighty loudly to get them to stop the tour. Whoever the group is, they oughta go soak their heads.
Food
No sit down and be served restaurants-they're all cafeteria style, but in keeping with the "Europe" theme of the park, there's at least a little variety. Available in any of the food areas is the souvenir drink cup, which is the best deal if you think you'll be drinking alot. It's $5, and the refills are $1. If you return to the park another day, be sure to bring it with you, and also next year. We found out they didn't change the cups from the previous year, so we've been using the same one from last year. Coq D'Or In Aquitaine. Good fried chicken. Festhaus In Oktoberfest. One line has typical stuff like pizza and french fries, but you can get that anywhere. Go to the other lines, where german fare such as bratwurst, knockwurst, braised red cabbage, saukraut, german potato salad, and big corned beef sandwiches are served. Yummy. Grogan's Grille A few Irish items are featured here, such as the Irish stew served in a bread bowl. It's pretty good.
Email / knighton@cablespeed.com
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