More pictures from our day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It's been re-named Christmas Town this time of year. Which is a little confusing since it's like, themed with different countries, so how can it be a "town"?
Crammed into the New France area is the wooden roller coaster InvadR. Yeah I didn't spell that wrong, that's just what it's called. It's got a Viking theme, too, for some reason. We didn't ride this now, but I wanted to get a picture of this giant battering ram entrance during the daylight.
Saw this art bear and had to get a picture of it. Did they ruin a perfectly good wooden bear statue by coloring it? Or is this a lot better? And... that's "art" for ya! You can decide yourself!
It was a little odd to see the Mach Tower had been re-named Nacht Tower. This ride would slowly rise, and then drop you. Except the "Nacht" Tower version didn't drop, it just slowly went back down again. I guess to let you relaxing-ly look at all of the Xmas lights all around the park.
The sign mentions they might need to drop it, and all of the pre-recorded audio still said "Mach Tower" so it's safe to assume this returns to normal dropping after Xmas time. It was funny that my friend said "It counts! I rode the Mach Tower!" after we got off our peaceful ride.
Good thing my friend has a pocket I can ride in, because I don't think this harness will secure me in here. Though today, I probably would have been fine haha.
Walking the bridge over to Italy, and we can see the classic Loch Ness Monster over there. It's not running today, but it was still nice to see it and say "Hi!" from over here.
From the other side of the bridge you can see the train track with a "Peace on Earth" sign. And I think that's the new coaster that will open later this year, The Pantheon.
The shop where the guy hand-paints the flower jewelry is closed right now. Usually there's a guy in there painting tiny flowers all day. Been doing it for years! I hope that guy is doing okay.
This Xmas scene is usually where there's a couple of empty grape-smashing barrels. So it's a very different photo-op spot right now.
Another ride which wasn't running today, but nice to see. This ride has the best pre-recorded hype right before the it starts. They say "We hope you enjoy being ROCKED... by DaVinci's Cradle!"
Why do I still find it funny to see naked statues? Anybody else find this odd? It's just the type of thing nobody makes a big deal out of so it winds up not being any big deal, but... that lady's chest is hanging out and nobody said anything about it, it's funny, right?
Yet another classic ride, The Battering Ram. Maybe standing here is more terrifying than the actual ride, as this thing roars over your head.
Lights wrapped all around the tree branches. I bet this will look a lot cooler when the sun sets.
Ha-HA! Almost a full year until next Christmas! You tease! Being surrounded by all this Xmas stuff was wearing me down, and I wanted it to be Xmas again right away.
Awwwww yeaaaaah! Actual roller coaster time! Apollo's Chariot is a simple speedy up-and-down hills coaster, but it's amazing at it, and a ton of fun.
This was the first of these we saw, but at the locker area for each ride there was a different display case full of lost gadgets. Sort of funny, but seriously a good "ad" to get you to use the lockers.
My friend had a backpack which would need to be stored. Now that I think about it, I'm not quite sure why he brought it. I don't ever recall him getting anything out of it, except he changed his hat once. Hmm.... Anyway, in the locker it went!
A little shocked to see this was the 20th anniversary for Apollo's Chariot. Has it been that long? The fun facts on that last plaque mention it can hold 1750 people per hour! And at its current operational averages, based on the distances the trains go and how long it takes them, that conceptually it would still take another 2,500 years to cover the distance of one trip to the Sun.
Did they just forget to take those distance signs off the ground? Because nobody was doing it, as you can tell by the picture. At this time, very few people were wearing masks, too.
It's been how long since I've been on Apollo's Chariot? A few more minutes to wait for the front seat is going to be well worth it! Several people were heard remembering the opening-day first-ride story about how supermodel Fabio, a thematic stand-in for Apollo, was hit in the face by a goose.
After the ride, we snuck into the theatre in Italy, to catch the show. There was no place to sit down, but we found a nice spot to stand. It was a show with professionally-sung Christmas songs. There was one part where they were singing about the rising Sun, and then... miraculously... the Sun peeked out from behind the clouds. How did they get the Sun to be part of the show?!
Spoiler alert for the new The Pantheon coaster, I guess. As you can clearly see, the track goes straight up, and then probably back down again. That fence can't hide that.
A new small coaster was spotted in Italy, right in front of the Roman Rapids, called Tempesto. It was also not running today, maybe next time.
The path to Roman Rapids was fenced off. Obviously, they won't run that water ride in the Winter. But I can see over there the water cannon stations where you shoot riders with nicely-timed water arcs. I have a friend who loves those things, so I had to get a picture of it.
Torture yourself for the amusement of your friends! There's gotta be a Greek God they could have themed this after, right?
Giant Toy Story Claw-Alien plushies in a claw machine! Listen as you hear everybody who passes this say "Ohhhh.... The Clawwwwww!" (Including us!)
My friend tried this twice, and to our amazement, it actually seemed like it was possible to win. You have to get really lucky about how the claw moved, but it still didn't look like it was ripping you off as much as other claw machines obviously do.
This air hockey table had a curved surface. Looked like something you'd see in a Sci-Fi movie in an arcade on another planet. Like, close enough to something you recognize, but with an alien twist to it.
While walking back through Italy, I spot some of those hand-painted flowers in another gift shop. So it looks like they are still doing them.
There was a time when Busch Gardens was the best at naming rides: Apollo's Chariot, DaVinci's Cradle, The Big Bad Wolf, and of course the best named thing ever: Alpengeist. But "InvadR" is just... what?
InvadR is a old-style wooden coaster. Is it nice to have variety in coaster construction styles? They say the wood naturally compresses to give a smoother ride.
Hmm... The wooden structure around the ride has some interesting texture to it. Those are like, worm holes or something, right? Hehe I said "worm holes" like ...is this an outer space ride or something?
The railing around the edge still looks super fresh and new. My friend thought it would be fun to get a picture of this corner spot and we'll try to make a note of it. So later we can see how much it gets aged by the weather and stuff.
Those Vikings were warriors, not artists. So there's a funny little monster picture scribbled on the walls here. It reminds me of like when you see little kids write an "e" backwards. [talking to a child voice] Aww!! That's right ...that is a scary monster. Good job Viking!
Front Seats! And another winner at Busch Gardens. It was power-packed with fun even though it did seem rather short. I can imagine this will be perfect to be every kid's "first roller coaster" since there's no intense loops or anything. Our roughly 45 minute wait in line was worth it. And I immediately wanted to ride it again.
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