BGE/W 9/01/09

Sunny skies, temps in the mid 70's, and a belly full of banana pancakes from a random Pancake House (sure seems to be a lot of those here), we headed the 10 minutes down to the park. The longest wait of the day was getting through to pay for parking, it took us close to thirty minutes! But off we were, parked in Italy, on the tram and snapping pictures of Apollos Chariots test runs.

This trip, of course, was to say farewell to Big Bad Wolf. Seems as though we all have a special memory, mine was BBW being the first "BIG" coaster I took my neices on when they were just little girls. BBW would have to wait though, as we wanted to cram as much fun into the 8 hours we had in the park.

Loch Ness Monster - 1 train wait for back, fun, but when did they all all of those trims to the second drop?

Corkscrew Hill - 35 min wait, was acting like a Katy Perry song, being up and down, in then out... and the movie was not really working in 3-D. Still more fun that Spongebob the previous day LOL

Griffon (2x) - Up the hill and through the woods, to Griffon - fun as always, with two trains our wait for the back was 5 minutes, for the front was 20 minutes. Could use less mid-course braking, but hey, if you got them, use them I guess?!

Le Scoot - 10 minute wait, fun, got very wet, good looking ride op gaving us a wink and a smile before the last drop was the most thrilling part!

Alpengeist - 10 minute wait for back. Other than two rough transitions (enter the cobra roll, mid-course brake) still fun. I love the gracefullness, but miss the intensity of something like Talon.

We boarded the train back in New France (when did Canda become Europe?) Had a great conductor with a sense of humor that was a hit with the kids.

Emerald Beat - the other half sudied Irish step dancing. Sad to see these guys and gals must be bored with their show, as the dancing was sloppy at best. And our favorite, the Spanish, is done now with pre-recorded taps! Here is to hoping BGE gets a new Irish dance show for 2010.

Here is when we passed by Sesame Street Forest of Fun. I did not even attempt a credit on Grovers Alpine Tours, as the wait time was estimated close to an hour, the only long queue in the park. Nice to see a proper kiddie area, but the theming is very low budget, and not as nice as Land of the Dragons.

Escape From Pompei - walk on, most effects actually happend at the correct time, but the final doors now seem to be kept open at all times. Not much in the way of a splash either.

Davinci's Cradle - "are you ready to get rocked by Davinci's Cradle?" Well after 10 years of BG, yes... glad to see it up and running. Short cycle, but thats fine by me!

Apollo's Chariot - 15 minutes for the last row. Frist drop was great as always, love the layout and how its away from the rest of the park. Makes for a hard time with pictures though...

*I am hoping that the addition of Spain, if the rumor is true, would result in somehow connecting Italy back around Roman Rapids via a new bridge... don't care much for dead ends in parks*

Lunch today was again $30, but I had the Festhaus Sampler, black forest cake, and a large soda, and he had a personal pizza and large soda... much better deal than the prior park, and FAR better quality!

Curse of Darkastle (2x)- walk on, fun when there is not a wait, still get so dizzy during the halfway point.

Big Bad Wolf (2x) - so, finally, the reason for wanting to visit BGE. First ride was in the front, maybe a 25 minute wait. Did not notice anything other than the fun, unique ride with the same amount of Arrow roughness as always. Second time was later, right before closing, this time in the back. 10 minute wait, a bit rougher, but only after the final drop... will still miss this coaster as its part of the landscaping of BGE. Everyone in the station both times seemed so upset that they are removing the coaster, and I heard many saying they will not be getting season passes again next year. I have a feeling that BGE will see a drop in pass sales, and possibly general admissions, as the next park up the road is getting a new GIGA coaster... and BGE is removing a loved classic. Anyway, off the soap box...

Overall the day was great, half the rides, but twice the fun as our KD trip. Did have an issue with the locker policy. At least if you are going to have it, either enforce it or don't...and if you are going to charge $1 a locker, then have some sort of deal at the gate with an all day locker card that is a set price... it actually slowed us down, and I saw now improvement in speed of operations. I really do love this park, but have to say that I did notice that at the end of the almost everyone working there seemed to just want to go home, very few of the very friendly employees I am used to. All in all, even a bad day (not that you could have one) at BGE is better than a good day doing just about anything else in my book!

phoenixphan :-) said:
Sunny skies, temps in the mid 70's, and a belly full of banana pancakes from a random Pancake House (sure seems to be a lot of those here),...

We noticed that, too! There are a lot of pancake joints in the area.

Maybe it isn't that there are a lot of pancake points down there, maybe there just aren't enough up here? Mmmmm batter *drools*

That very well could be. :)

I don't know about pancake joints, but I find it hard to believe there's any kind of shortage of eating places in southcentral PA (from Reading to Gettysburg).

Oh no, we've got it covered.

Yes...yes we do...

Well it took us forever to just get a Waffle House up here. I want to move down there so I can just review Pancake Houses around Williamsburg for a couple years... maybe open one too LOL

Finally home, unpacked, and pictures uploaded

www.Flickr.com/coastercub81

Next time you go to BGE look into their meal plan. For $20 we got 2 full meals with dessert & drink + 2 additional drinks.

DaveStroem said:
Next time you go to BGE look into their meal plan. For $20 we got 2 full meals with dessert & drink + 2 additional drinks.

We will definitely do that next time, I just found the verbage on the website to be a little unclear, and knowing how we both like to eat I was unsure if the meal plan would be sensible.

There were no limits as to what meal you wanted. At the piaza we got one of the large combos, desssert & drink. I added it up and it alone would have been close to $20.

I found it from reading others TRs here. So hopefully the next person will take advantage of the 2nd best deal in park food. (free dining at disney is #1)