Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Yup. For those of you wondering, my sudden dissapearance was caused by my family going on vacation. Where? Why, we drove down to Busch Gardens in Virginia, and let me tell you, it was AWESOME there. I loved the two days we spent in that place. Now... let's get to the summary of the park.

There were four coasters, one of those moving theater things, a haunted house, and a few standard-issue mechanical rides that can basically be found just about anywhere. I'll get into the ride descriptions a bit later on in this rant. There was a lot of shops too. And games. And places to eat. So basically, if you've got money to spend, they've got a way for you to spend it. And in most cases, un-cheaply too.

Okay! I guess that it's time for me to get to the ride descriptions that I've promised you, now isn't it? So... I'll begin with my favorite coaster and work away from that.

Big Bad Wolf ~ My absolute favorite ride in that entire park. Rode on it three times. It's a hanging coaster, but you're still in a car. So... you can't see the track since you're hanging from it and it feels like you're flying. Let's see... you go up over a wall then drop past it, race through a town with very wide turns, climb a second hill and drop over the lake. It's not too tall and it doesn't invert, which makes it a perfect coaster. The only thing is, it's at the back of the park. Much walking. I got a T-shirt and a lil' wolf plush at the gift shop at the exit (Germany).

Loch Ness Monster ~ Second favorite, also rode on it three times. This one takes you up pretty high, then drops you toward the lake. Over a smaller hill, into a loop, over a bigger hill, straight into the second loop, then into the cave to corkscrew downward for a ways. Out into the sun, forget what happens next, then into the station. Great for scrambling your brains. Located I believe in the center of the park (Scotland).

Alpengeist ~ Didn't go on this one, got sick just looking at it. You're hanging, and the whole thing is designed to look like you're on a ski lift that's gone outta control. Um... from what I saw walking through the park, there's some parts where you go through a partial loop, but are on the outside of the curve instead of inside it. Which is odd. Expecially when you think of the centripical force factor (New France/France).

Apollo's Charoit ~ I didn't go on this one either, but that's because it downright scares me. 872 feet total in drops, split over 9 drops, with the first being 210 feet. There's this one part where you go up a corkscrew, but apart from that, the only thing I saw were the two big drops on it that towered above just about everything else (Italy).

Curse of DarKastle ~ I likes this one too, went on it twice. It's basically a haunted house, but instead of animatronics that leap out and scare you, it's all movie screens with 3D stuff on it. There's quite a story behind this ride: There was a troubled boy (forget his name) living in a castle with his parents and servants, and nobody really liked to be around him. One day he was walking outside in the winter and he saw an old woman who turned into a wolf and revealed his destiny. So, his parents mysteriously dissapeared, and he turned the castle into a fortress. His advisors tried to overthrow him, but he threw a winter festival in their honor. All of the guests and advisors and himself went for a ride in a fleet of golden sleighs, but never returned. Nobody knows what happened, and the castle remained frozen in time. Interesting, no? You can also see the short video about it on their website. So, about the ride. You're in a 'sleigh' that's painted gold, and you go on a tour of the castle. The dude previously mentioned bothers you the whole time and is pestered by his mother and you're trying to 'escape', yadda yadda yadda. The only part not to like about it is when you go through the fireplace and spin around in the dark. But it's not a coaster at all (Germany).

Corkscrew Hill ~ Went on this once. And once was enough, I can tell ya that; being as apt to get carsick as I am. The line waits in a tunnel, but the ride itself is another 3D thing, but htis time you sit in a moving theater, buckled into your seats. I say moving because the platform you're sitting on bumps and moves to match what you're watching on the screen. I liked it, but there's some parts where your 'box' is being carried by a running person, a galloping horse, a flying gryphon, and a flying horse. Oh. And there's a part where you're falling over a river, then caught by that flying horse I mentioned. Was pretty neat, though (Ireland).

Escape from Pompei ~ Sorry if I misspelled the name. This ride was really simple. Go up into the 'ruins', go through it on a path being roasted by the fire that spurts out, go under the breaking statue and the pillar, go through a door and down the hill. HUGE splash, if you've got at least three people per row with four in the last one. There's even a lil' piece of sidewalk juts out into the splash radius, as well as a part of where the line is. Though, you don't get very wet on the ride itself. Went on it once (Italy).

Roman Rapids ~ Just like any one of those rides where you get into a tibe that seats six, buckle up, go through rapids and past waterfalls, and get utterly soaked. My mom's always the one who gets soaked through every piece of her clothing, no matter what tube ride we go on. Kind of silly, hearing her shoes going squish as she's walking behind ya. No actual drops in this one, just parts where you come off of the rapids and down into a 'splash pool'. Rode this one once too (Italy).

And that's the last of the nice rides. There's a bunch of little kiddie rides and standard issue mechanical things, but nothing else that's original. On to the shows.

Secret to -something- Castle ~ Forget the entire name to this one. You go in, and you're expecting an auction. Wrong! A leprecon appears and the show turns inso something completely different. Long story short, the dude who was trying to auction the stuff in his castle off (as well as the castle itself) unleashed the bad guy, beat the bad guy, and everyone was happy. Neat little show (Ireland).

Emerald Beat ~ Irish dancing. And some singing; in English, of course. AWESOME show. Highly reccomend it if you're ever down in Busch Gardens. Right next to the Castle show, so if you've seen the Castle show, then go check out Emerald Beat (Ireland).

RL Stine's the Haunted Lighthouse ~ Starts out with a story about how a family was coming ashore on a stormy night when the lighthouse suddenly went out. Boat crashed, rowboated it ashore. Kids went into lighthouse at the command of their father, who said for them to stay there until him and his wife returned. Parents got back to boat, then sucked down into a whirlpool. Kids came out onto the beach, squished by a tidal wave. Course, this is a campfire story told to two different kids by their grandpa. It's in 3D, and special effects include jets of air and water spray in your face. Not that scary, mind you (Entrance).

Oktoberfest ~ It's at the Festhause. We were there eating lunch when it started. Dancing and music. It's entertaining, and it's at a place where you can sit and have lunch. It's near DarKastle and the Big Bad Wolf (Germany).

Uhm... I believe I might have missed a show, but that's because I didn't see it. That or the show I missed doesn't start until summer. Yeah, I believe that's the one.

Well, that's it for the ranting. Hope you enjoyed reading. And if you're planning a vacation, Busch Gardens opens full time in May. Meaning, it was just open when we went for Easter break.