Busch Gardens Europe <3
I'll try not to bore you guys, but...EVERYTHING about this park is absolutely WONDERFUL! The landscaping, the food, the theming, the friendliness of the staff. Everything is as good as it can get. The park is absolutely gorgeous and all the rides fit in with the terrain and landscaping well.
Pics are from my phone...
We got to the park at around 9:30. We entered, and waited. Off to Griffon we went. We ended up getting on in like five minutes, and ended up riding three times to start off the day. Griffon is one of the coolest experiences you could ever experience. After going up the lift, you get a great view of the bay and the beer factory, but then you're hanging 200 feet above the ground. Straight down you go, and into the immelmann. The forces and airtime of the ride took me by surprise. The ride has insane positive Gs all the way up to the mid course brakes. Down the second drop and into the second immelmann. The hill after provides some decent airtime and the water splash is just cool. Griffon fell in at number 3 in my top. The only buff I have with the ride is that it's just a bit short, but that's not too big of a deal.
Next was Alpengeist. We got on quickly, and were thrown into submission. The ride was much better than I thought. The drop was fast and the immelmann had good forces. The loop intensified those, and the cobra roll put you through a centrifuge. After the mid course brakes, you dive down into a 0-g roll and then a corkscrew. The final turns make you nice and dizzy before heading into the brakes. We heard that the ride was one of the most intense out there, and it sure was. Alpengeist was number 10 for me, but was short lived when we rode Apollo. We got in line again for a front row ride.
Since we were in the area, we went to Darkastle, which was an interesting ride, but not much to talk about. The A/C felt nice after being in the 90+ temperatures all day. We skipped Big Bad Wolf for now due to the long line.
Apollo's Chariot was the surprise of the day. I wasn't expecting anything special from this, but I was blown away by the airtime that the ride was hiding. For those who say that there is no ejector on it, they're on cocaine. I left about four inches inbetween my lapbar, and I was off my seat over every hill, especially in back. The terrain interaction was great, and made for some awesome drops with insane airtime. It's enough to make it my number 6. We got a reride right away.
Lunch was a cheese steak and fries for me. We ate right under Apollo's lifthill.
Loch Ness Monster was next. I thought it was a cool ride, but nothing special, other than the interlocking loops and the triple helix.
Finally, we headed back to Big Bad Wolf. The wait wasn't too bad now, so we did it. We waited for front row, and once again, were surprised. The first few turns were great and pulled great forces. The second lifthill was good suspense for the final drop and turns, which were almost too intense for us. It'll definitely be a loss to the area when this ride closes.
We headed back to Apollo's Chariot next for another ride, and then went to Grover's Alpine Express so we could ride it. We then took the sky ride to France and then went to Griffon and Alpengeist again. We then went to Trappers Smokehouse for dinner. We got a ton of food and couldn't finish it, and it was delicious...with a capital D.
Two more rides on Griffon, and one more ride on Alpengeist, Big Bad Wolf, and two rides on Apollo's Chariot were enough for us. We headed home after having a great day, and we look forward to Thursday.
Ride count:
Griffon x6
Apollo's Chariot x5
Alpengeist x4
Big Bad Wolf x2
Loch Ness Monster x1
Grover's Alpine Express x1
Darkastle x1
King's Dominion is next!
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