Busch Gardens Williamsburg Review, Virginia SeaWorld Theme Park | Best Park in the Chain 

Great tip about the Platinum Passes for Sesame Place being significantly less expensive, but in the fine print it states that you are ineligible to purchase a Platinum Pass from the Philadelphia Sesame Place if you live in a state that has a SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment park (CA, FL, TX, VA). also the fine print on the Sesame Place in San Diego states that the pass is not good for admission to most if not all of the special events including their own Howl-O-Scream. So buyer beware!

I hate when I’m early cause then I have no more of your videos to binge. Your videos are the highlight of my day

Great review. Thanks for not spoiling Verbolten too. I didn't watch any POVs on it going in opening year. My friend Kristina & I both grabbed each other's arms, totally not expecting what happened. I always make sure my first-timer friends go in blind as well. Always a memorable moment.

This park is absolutely phenomenal. I agree that it's the best SeaWorld park. I'm a bigger theme park fan than amusement park fan and this is my highest ranked non-Disney/Universal park in North America. And I think that BGW and Islands of Adventure are the two most well rounded parks in the country in terms of balance between thrills, theming, shopping, food atmosphere and shows. And speaking of shows, Celtic Fyre is one of the greatest theme park shows on earth. I have it tied with Dreamland Drive-In for second best show after the Disneyland version of Fantasmic. One note about kid areas, since you brought this up. I have little kids and I really appreciate how the kids rides are spread out. Land of Dragons is great and Forest of Fun is pretty good. But I'm glad that I don't have to sit in a kid area for half of the day in order to keep my kids from being bored. I can ride Loch Ness Monster or Finegan's Flyer and my kids can then take a ride on the Clydesdale ride. I can ride InvadR with my eldest daughter but the younger kids can then grab a ride on the scrambler. I can hit Verbolten or Mach Tower and then the kids can do the airplanes, swings or bumper cars. I can ride Pantheon and Apollo's Chariot and the kids can ride the little rides in garden. It is a definite benefit to have the kiddie rides nicely dispersed. I far prefer that over that condensed Sesame Street safari area at Tampa or the various other Looney Tunes and Peanuts areas at Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks that end up slowing down my day.

Man so much BGW content this is already bringing me back to my trip a couple weeks ago to Wiliamsburg. BGW is such a beautiful park and doesn't have a bad coaster in the park, plus Williamsburg in general is just a super awesome city with tons to do there. I can't wait to eventually go back and visit. Next time I plan on grabbing a rollercoaster behinds the scenes tour, I wanted to do that last time but it was all sold out.

At night, Howl O Scream is the coolest experience ever. You have insanely ominous music and scare actors making it a must do. Totally recommend.

I love my home park I’ve been growing up here ever since I was born

Thank you for this great and comprehensive review! I'll be returning to BGW after nine years away and bringing a lot of new people with me, and this vid will be perfect!

Great video! Thank you for taking the time to do it! Going to Christmas town today! So excited cause I’ve never been to this park!

Outside of my home park, Six Flags Great Adventure, this is probably the park I've been to most in my life. I adore this park! As you said, BGW does a great job of blending thrilling coasters with excellent theming. This is probably my third favorite park I've been to behind Hersheypark and Cedar Point.

It really kind of miraculous how waiting in line for the park’s best attractions is an after thought, I don’t recall ever waiting for more then 20 mins for a coaster, a good time to just relax for a bit. Probably my favorite park, so many great memories 😁

My Top 6 All time (counting all joint parks together): 1. Tokyo Disneyland/Sea 2. Universal Orlando Resort 3. Walt Disney World 4. Europa Park 5. Phantasialand 6. Busch Gardens Williamsburg 🔥🤙🏾 Between the theming, worldly food options and BBQ, fantastic coaster collection and animals & shows I agree… This is definitely one of the premiere parks (with SWO sitting right behind it in the 7 spot)!

This video came out a PERFECT time for me. I’m doing the VA parks this weekend, including my first visit to BGW! My plan was to do 1.5ish days at BG, and KD on the way back for about half a day since I only need to do a few things there outside of rerides…

After my first visit in 2008, I actually preferred this over the other Busch Gardens in Tampa because I felt the theming and ride lineup were stronger here. But I really enjoyed the animal exhibits at the Tampa location a lot and preferred Cheetah Hunt over anything they had here. Never the less it's still my second favorite theme park out there and it makes me wish that the next two rumored roller coasters get here soon because I am revisiting the Tampa location this fall and you bet I'll be wanting to come back here as a result.

I used to work in the German candy store at BG. It was a fun summer job.

Thank you for the park strategy. 9:55 We visited on Thursday August 11, 2022 and followed your strategy: Emily's Donuts, arrived to BGW 35 minutes early, walked (fast) straight to Pantheon at rope drop. Got on second train in front row. By the time we exited Pantheon, the wait was close to 45 minutes. Tempesto didn't open until 1 hour after park opening, so we caught a few rides on Apollo's Chariot next door (walk on/re-ride) and then got in line for Tempesto 10 minutes before it opened, and were on the third train (line got long after that). Then Verbolten, 10 minute wait, and got on the last train before the park closed due to weather. You kept us one step ahead of everyone else! I was surprised how crowded BGW was relative to King's Dominion. The weather forecast for the day showed that BGW was going to experience thunderstorms from 1 pm to 6 pm, but KD would have perfect weather. I figured BGW would be empty, but nope, it had healthy crowds. Bad weather hit early (around 11:30) all rides closed, then they opened up for an hour, then down again at 1:00 for the big storm. We left, drove an hour to Kings Dominion, and despite the rain-free weather there, KD was mostly empty. Zero lines on anything except front row. Marathoned i305 (oof) and Twisted Timbers. BGW is beautiful and has a superior ride collection to KD, but we had a better time at KD. Cedar Fair seems to always have nicer and happier employees than the Sea World parks. Example: drive into KD, show your platinum pass to the parking attendant, and they smile and say "thanks for visiting, have a great day!". At BGW, after showing the platinum pass, the parking attendant scowls, says "show me your ID, what's your zip code, etc". Every employee interaction at KD vs. BGW is like that. The Cedar Fair management is laser focused on guest happiness vs. Sea World parks feel like they're run by lawyers and accountants who choose financially wise attractions but don't know how to run them well.

Been going here since 2001 and I've never had a less than 10/10 experience. It just delivers in every regard and gets better and better with every attraction addition. This is my 4th favorite park behind Knoebels, Silver Dollar City, and Cedar Point. I've also been to over 50+ across North America and Japan so that's saying something.

This is a great review of Busch Gardens williamsburg, but I was surprised that you didn't mention Christmas Town, which is a really entertaining Christmas event where the park is decorated with a ton of lights and has shows such as Gloria, Scrooge No More, Twas the night before christmas, it's probably my favorite special event at the park, probably because we went to it alot, because it was my home park.

Looks like a amazing park!

Scenery is unbelievably important at amusement parks. Unless it's a park with unrivaled rollercoasters in terms of quantity and intensity such as Cedar Point or Magic Mountain, I'll choose a park like Busch Gardens any day over another. Kings Dominion is half the distance that Busch Gardens is from me, yet the number of times I've driven right past Doswell without so much as a second glance at the exit on my way to Williamsburg is uncountable. Most of the time, the worst part about going to an amusement park is being in the actual park. Crowds, concrete, exposure, etc all suck. With Busch Gardens on the other hand, being in the park is a pleasure. It's a bit of a different world, and the theming for the rides does wonders for my enthusiasm to ride them.

Pumped up to watch this one, CAN-O-BEAST!! Bucket list park for me for sure. Also, Tempesto is ok, but the sky rocket 2 at SF discovery kingdom is so sick with just small Tee lap bars.

My home park and my favorite theme park ever!

That was a great shot of Pantheon from the train! I do prefer Tampa for a couple reasons. I personally am more captivated by African theming (especially with the animals) than European theming. Also, without having yet been on Pantheon, I currently have 5 Tampa roller coasters ranked well ahead of my favorite at Williamsburg. That said, there's no denying the beauty and landscaping of Williamsburg, and they also have my # 1 theme park attraction ever in Celtic Fyre. I have not yet missed any showing when I've been at this park. Lines for the rides are usually an issue for me here, even on weekdays, except with Apollo. Last year on a Tuesday, Alpengeist was about 30 minutes with 5-10 minute dispatches, and Griffon looked about the same until the end of the night. InvadR was over 2 hours all day, running one train, and looked only slightly shorter at the end of the night, so I skipped it. Even Loch Ness Monster was pushing 30 minutes. Verbolten somehow wasn't bad, as they were crushing it with operations. Apollo was a walk-on. So while lines are worse at some other places, they still seemed long to me, especially when comparing it to Kings Dominion having almost no lines all day every day on everything.

Awesome review. One tip, if you can't beat the crowds to Pantheon and Tempesto, I would recommend going straight to Verbolten and InvadR, and hitting Pantheon and Tempesto in the middle of the day, when the line won't be longer than 20 minutes.

This is my third favorite park after Disneyland and Islands of Adventure. I just love everything about it from the coasters to the food to the theming. King's Dominion is fun but it has nothing on the quality of experience you get at Busch Gardens. I would choose Busch Gardens over it most days. Can't wait to get back some day!

I mostly adore this place and I love how this place is only 2 1/2 hours south east of where I live in the same state of Virginia. However there are plenty of downsides with this park as well. I’m going to list the good things and bad things of this park. here are the good things. 1. The coaster lineup is one of the best coaster collections I have ever experienced in my life. There is not even a bad coaster at this park and even though they’re not as good as Dollywood it is still amazing and I think the coaster collection is even better than Cedar Point especially with 2 new ones being built at this park in a row which is unbelievable because usually most parks don’t open new rides especially new roller coasters until like a 5 year period or maybe 10 years but Busch gardens Williamsburg is adding 3 new roller coasters 3 years are in a row. 2. I love how enthusiastic and just downright nice the employees are at this park especially the employees at guest relations and the right operators that literally go above and beyond with their jobs and how they interact with other guests. 3. The layout and landscaping is one of the best I’ve ever seen and the theming around the park does not make me feel like I’m in Virginia and instead makes me feel like I’m walking a couple feet to other European countries and basically instead of walking a few blocks from house to house and walk in a few blocks from country to country and that is just one of the best feelings I can ever have in my life. 4. I just love how they’re constantly adding new events and adding new amenities to their events such as food and wine and Christmas town. 5. I love how this park is open year round and has very long and efficient operating hours compared to the nearby parks in the area having short and not very efficient hours and are only open between late March and early January. Now here are the bad things about this park. 1. The park is so understaffed and during the off-season while all the other nearby parks are closed the park remains open but half of the attractions and experiences that are in the park are closed. Even though the park has a schedule of what rides and attractions are open and what are closed throughout their website and social media channels, they are not always accurate and a lot of times they just randomly shut down certain attractions and randomly open certain attractions without ever saying a word about it and a lot of times throughout the year these rides and attractions just randomly close for no reason at all and sometimes which happens very rarely during the off-season the park just closes early or closes for the day just for very little to no weather. 2. Although the employees are very nice they don’t really enforce their policies and rules such as the cell phone policy unlike other parks. They also don’t hire enough security guards and with the amount of fights with no one to enforce it or break up. And they don’t really care much about safety but now as of this year they’re enforcing more policies which is good. 3. The food is pretty horrible now. I remember their food being one of the best before Covid but now the only good food that’s in the park which most of the food places are not even open and when they are the lines are absolutely ridiculous but these places are the fry place and the pretzel place. Although the food and wine festival and Mardi Gras food offerings are really good and they still are one of the best foods I ever had even before Covid but still the main restaurants they get really long lines are really open overpriced and are not even that good anymore is the main problem with food so pretty much I always have to eat somewhere nearby the park to save money and have a better meal which luckily there’s plenty of places nearby the park since it’s in Williamsburg. 4. The park is so poorly run. You now have very bad operations even though a majority of the coasters still run at least 2 trains but when they do run one train it’s usually on the busiest of days and that is just unacceptable for a park that gets a decent amount of attendance to have those kinds of operations. Like I said earlier a majority of things are not open and now the lines have just got longer not because of the popularity but because of how slow and how understaffed everything in the park is. And even though Busch Gardens has a massive toll plaza and a massive parking lot with multiple trims they never use it and the line to get it is just horrible and it takes forever possibly two hours just to park your car because they don’t run trams like they used to and they don’t use much of their massive parking lot meaning that you have to walk over a mile just to get to the front entrance. The park is also cramped as well and there’s very narrow and hilly paths with a very bad surface that has placed throughout the park where if you trip over and fall you can really get hurt because of the surface. I like how they allow GoPro‘s but the downside with that is you have to go to guest services and get a special card and if you lose it you can’t bring your GoPro on it and I don’t really like that kind of a policy. At least I can bring my GoPro on rides in the park but I just have to deal with that. And last but not least the park doesn’t really enforce many policies but there are some policies that they enforce and they don’t even make sense such as glasses cannot even be used even with a strap on Pantheon which they got rid of luckily but man that just was horrible back then. And last but not least the amount of theming that they put on Pantheon was even worse than the theming at six flags park. And all they did was put a soundtrack a few banners and signs and that was it and they didn’t even make the queue very long which is horrible because for a very highly anticipated roller coaster that just opened at a pretty popular theme park they have no right to make the queue line that short and have it that cramped. 5. Prices for everything at this park is very expensive nearly the price to go to Universal and for a part like this it is just unacceptable to be paying over $100 just to get in to a park like this. I know that they have really good deals throughout the year online but once you get inside the park as well as paying for parking and everything the prices are just way too expensive and it’s not even worth it at all. The best bet for you to avoid this is to have a platinum membership or a regular membership so you can get these benefits for free and I absolutely love the benefits that this park has with the platinum membership but man if you just go for a single day and you don’t have a membership then it’s gonna be very expensive for you and if you’re not gonna to enjoy it at all. Not even a fun card is going to do enough for you. So that’s my review about Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I’ve been to this park so many times and I love it but there’s some things that I don’t like about it at all such as the weird rules and how it’s run down. It is still the best Sea World Entertainment Park and still the best part in Virginia for me and it’s also a top 3 park for me as well.

I have a preference for the Tampa Bay park over this one due to the stronger coaster lineup, but your points are valid. I did the train tour in 2022, and the staff was very knowledgeable and friendly as well.

What a fantastic park with a fantastic collection. Pantheon is a great new addition and the part has 3 monster sized B&Ms. I would never get bored at this place and it competes with Kings Dominion. A screamin swing as well makes it great. Its just sad that the drop tower is one of the worst ones.

Great review as always! I'm heading to bgw in a few weeks (a Thursday in July) with three other people. Would you advise riding darkoaster early on alongside with verbolten? Also do you recommend adding on the all day dining plan to at least two of our tickets?

I like your review very helpful but where is the single rider lines for the b&ms?

It IS a most "charming" park. I have an original souvenir map of the park. It looks like parchment paper. Even the quality of the map reflected what was in store for the guests. The park matured like a fine wine and does have a picturesque setting. Lots of care and detail. Great overview of the park. A side note is there were 2 more parks planned. One for the D.C. area (Marriott) and Disney's America (near a battle ground)

In three weeks this will be my new home park. I’m hoping it’s as good as everyone says it is. I’ve been spoiled by Kings Island all of my life.

Reading about BGW since I got back into coasters has been weird, since many years ago this was my home park and it was formative for me when it came to riding coasters, but I haven't been back there since the vast majority of its current coasters were built. I always liked it more than Kings Dominion because of its theming and landscaping, and because before I was really into thrill rides, it had more family rides that I liked. And then I went to college in Williamsburg. My sister lives in Richmond and seems to still prefer BGW to KD. I've wanted to go back there with her family for a while now...

I We thank you All ❤️‍🔥

love it

I live in VB- I've been to Busch Gardens maybe 20 times... I've never been to Kings Dominion- why drive an extra hour when BG is so great!

Hey, Canobie Coaster! I have to go visit this park in the next few years!

Is twisted timbers just a lap bar coaster? Was trying to find the restraint types on each coaster. Not as easy to find as I thought.

I used to visit this park at least 4 times per year. I love it, and it deserves its distinction as the most beautiful park in the country. However, I prefer BGT and SWO in the chain. BGT has the better coaster lineup, and what it lacks in theming, it makes up for with animals. It's an amazing zoo even without the rides, and the rides are great! It is also landscaped almost as beautifully as its Virginian sister. SWO now has an amazing coaster lineup to complement the fantastic aquarium on steroids vibe. Once again, the landscaping is wonderful. BGW is wonderful, and it holds a dear place in my heart, but I have the 2 Florida parks ranked slightly above it.

Its such a great park. Honestly thinks its only 1 tier below Disney for the whole thematic part. It could definitely use a dark ride or 2 to round it out. Verbolten is one of the most underrated "family" coasters out there.

I’ve been there so many times & Water Country USA. Love that place

What are your thoughts on BGT? What makes the Williamsburg park better? I think BGTs coaster lineup is stronger.

Where is the single rider lines for the B and M's?

you said yourself you don't focus on the shows, but Celtic Fyre, the Irish Dance Show, is one of the highest rated shows not just in the chain, but in the industry. The entertainment in Oktoberfest, England, and Italy are also great, but I don't think there's been a major production on the Italy stage for a few years, and The Globe in the past has offered temporary shows featuring popular America's Got Talent acts, but is currently running a full blown and regularly scheduled production.

If I could I would visit this park. Wanna ride Griffon. Wonderland has Yukon Striker. Is Griffon taller than Yukon? Yukon is 224ft tall. Really great tour of this park. 👌 pretty neat and such fun. That is expensive. Cool .really appreciate your videos.

You were lucky to catch it on a good day.

How bad would the lines be on April Vacation 2024?

I think this is top 3 parks in the country. It's beautiful, has awesome food, tons for kids, great theming and one of the best coaster line ups. If you book one of there vacation packages online, it is very reasonably priced.

We're very lucky here in Virginia. Busch is not doubt the "better" park, although I have more fun in less time at Kings Dominion most of the time, and appreciate BG more if I don't overdo it. Even went to SFA last weekend, same distance as BG even if it can take twice as long.

Talk about hitting the nail on the coffin with this park being huge and having a confusing layout. I've only been once and was surprised how large the park was, and how easy it was for me to get turned around. Didn't complain too much since it's such a beautiful park with great rides. I do prefer BGT because of the superior ride lineup (even before Iron Gwazi).

Did any of those launch coasters open that you mentioned

I don't remember the name I think it's called Marco Polo but it's an italian restaurant right near the show colosseum and it has incredible pasta and breadsticks

Does the parks skyride get long lines compared to Great Adventure

Busch Gardens has trams that will take you from the parking lot to the front gate if you have to park far enough.

I went with my parents and younger brother yesterday and walking in the dark with the hilly paths was very tiring

What’s your favorite place to sit on pantheon find the middle of back my favorite place on the Griffin is the back

However, BGW rides open at staggered times now. Park opens at 10am...most rides don't open until 11am and then 12 noon and 1pm. Several recent reviews mention this and photos. The newest roller coaster has been closed on and off several times, Pantheon and hard to get on....staff shortages again or mechanical? Idk. The prices have certainly sky rocketed. Used to be a hidden nice place off in the Williamsburg woods. Now it's a money trap getting you for everything. Not to mention, their roller coasters don't have the cubbies you can just leave loose articles at....must pay for lockers while you are riding!

This is the best park ever

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is better than Kings Dominion. The last time when I went to Kings Dominion, there were leaves on the floor, but when I went to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, I saw an amazing view of the fireworks while riding the Sky Ride.

I’m very lucky to live less than half an hour away

Idk if you've been to the Tampa Busch Gardens, but if u ride IRON Gwazi, you won't be disappointed!

Your thoughts on cats?

2:13 Alpengeist is still the tallest invert, not all records are quite broken

2:12 woah woah woah not ALL those records have been broken

Sucks about the dark rides...parks with no real dark rides always place lower on my want to visit list...but sadly that seems to be increasing as parks can not be bothered with dark rides and just want to plop down more coasters...

BGWs Coaster Lineup Is Deeper But BGTs Coaster Lineup Has More Quality I Personally Prefer BGT

it is the best in the so cold sea world chain beater then Bush Gardens Tampa in Florida

I will most likely have to reschedule my Busch Gardens Williamsburg Trip to October 8th because of the stupid Hurricane

This Is Probably Better Than Kings Dominion Due To The Better Theming And More Better Scenery And A Zoo

1:00

Kings Dominion has been having problems with kids running wild- they passed a new rule that all kids under 15 must be accompanied by a chaperone- so you can't turn them loose and go your own way anymore, BG doesn't have this yet.

Maurizios also has bomb pizza.

Chicken

Its too bad they took down the mach tower

BUSCH GARDENS PASADENAAA I WISH THEY WOULD HAVE KEPT IT THATS LIKE 10 MINUTES AWAYY

15:31 BOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I HATE THAT COASTER WITH A BURNING PASSIOOON!!!!😡😡😡👿👿👿

i hate seaworld because of the animal abuse tbh

what about A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Zworld