BGW 4/14/04

Associated parks:
None

Just a quick trip report from my spring break. My friends and I made the 2.25 hour trek from Manteo in the Outer Banks up to Busch.

Opened the day with Loch Ness Monster. There was a one train wait seeing as how we were the first let through the gate at opening time. The ops had simles on their faces and were working fast. Beautiful ride, and a great way to start the day on this graceful Arrow.

Then hit up 4 Apollo's Chariot runs as we were once again the first to enter the Festa Italia area. Apollo was running a lot better than I remember back in 99. This B&M masterpiece gave me the impression I was on a runaway Intamin hypercoaster! So smooth and lots of beautiful pops of air in the front (floater) and back (ejector). Gotta love B&M.

Next we ate at the Restorante Della Piazza. I don't remember this from 99 and I forgot how beautiful BGW really is! Food was at a high price but also high taste. Kudos to Busch for this festive and beautiful eating area.

Worked our way around the park to Big Bad Wolf. BBW was running about a 10-15 minute wait and was not as intense as I remember. The finale over the Rhine River is still fantastic though. Too bad Arrow doesn't pace as well as today's coasters. Still my favorite suspended.

Stopped in the Festhaus to see some of the show. We weren't hungry so it was kinda random to just be in there to see the performers while others ate. Good clean family fun!

Next we hit up Alpengeist. There should have been no wait but someone stepped on the censor outside of the station so it took about 15 minutes to reset the coaster. We took the front seat. Alpengeist is still everything I remembered it to be. This time I appriciated the raw speed that this monster delivers. My favorite moment on any invert is Alpie's cobra roll. In the back seat the G-forces are nuts. The block brakes were turned on slightly heavy at the end of the run which caused an interesting hangtime feeling as the front of the train just stared down the block brake drop. The block also affected the zero-g roll. It is very wierd cause you go through it kinda slowly and the sensation is much different than Raptor's whipping zero-g roll. My friends like Raptor more...I simply like Alpie and Raptor for different reasons. Alpengeist= intensity with speed! Raptor= intensity through tight inversions!

We tried out Corkscrew Hill. My friend described it as "delightfully disorienting". A good 4-D ride for the family, but it can't stack up to Spiderman IMO. Seemed a little short also but it had beautiful animation.

Two of my friend's are Irish, so we watched the Irish Thunder dance/music show. In all honesty I was too whipped to care, but the violinist was a very nice touch.

All the rides went down to two train operation in the afternoon. So we got in one final ride on BBW (it became a water ride with the rain!) and Alpengeist. Finished the day off with a front seat ride on Apollo's.

Busch Gardens really wet my appetite for Dragster this season...

Great trip and kudos to Busch on being so darn gorgeous!

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Snakes!

Craig the Coaster Freak said:
Next we hit up Alpengeist. There should have been no wait but someone stepped on the censor outside of the station so it took about 15 minutes to reset the coaster.
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I wasn't aware that Alpengeist was considered an obscene ride. Who knew?:)

Ahh!! You got me!

Anyways, I forgot to mention that I totally forgot that Drachen Fire was taken down...When did it get the final axe? Or did the trees just grow a LOT and I somehow missed it?

^Drachen Fire was removed completely by March 2002.

I think he's gotta be kidding about Drachen Fire. Has to be.

Is that a joke or you saying that I should known it was taken down? BTW, I didn't expect there to be two hundred foot trees, I was joking :)

Have you become a coaster enthusiast for the jokes?

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