BGW 9/4/05

Quick Note about Water Country USA-I decided to start my day at Water Country. Arriving at opening I was able to do every slide (including Aquazoid twice) in an hour and a half, and spent the next hour in the wave pool and Hubba Hubba Highway. All and all it was a great morning, mid 80s and sunny that changed as I was about to leave when it got cloudy and cooled off which was bad for the people staying there but great for me heading off too...

Busch Gardens 9/4/05 2:00-10:00pm

Lockness Monster-Tradition dictates this ride is my first and last ride at BGW. Suprizingly (at least at the moment) it had a line, 15min, which gave me a slight hope they would be running 3 trains, but unforunatly (but not suprizingly) it was only 2 trains. Front row had a line as long as any other, so I hopped in and enjoyed this classic 7/10.

Curse of the Darkastle-Leaving Nessie I discovered why the park was packed today, The Temptations were here. Bending to the ineviadable, I decided to make the best of a crowded day and saw the Irish Thunder Show. After bypassing an hour wait at Le Scoot and Alpengeist, I hit up Darkastle (another hour wait). It gets an A for effort, but its no Spiderman; I found myself many times focusing on things I shouldnt (blank screens) becuase I could which annoyed me to no end 5/10.

Alpengeist-I could only stay away from this one for so long, bit the bullet and waited 50 min. Unfortunatly this ride was shackeled by a very strong midcourse brake today. 7/10

Big Bad Wolf-15 min. Time for the first good suprize of the day, this was running great, despite still being a little too braked on the Rhine River Plunge 7/10.

Apollo's Chariot-35 min. I have allways seen this as the lesser of the two orignal Beemer Hypers, but todays ride changed that; while Raging Bull has been loosing its luster, this one is still running like its new 9/10.

Alpengeist-After riding Escape from Pompeii, I was planning on going to the Temptations concert, until I heard their first show as I was getting a drink; unfortuantly they did not sound like the Temptations anymore so I decided to hit every coaster one last time. After a 30 min wait, night had begun. Unlike the afternoon, the mid course break was hardly on and this ride finally was prefoming up to its potential 10/10.

Big Bad Wolf-10 min, every coaster I believe is improved by riding it at night but there are some that are improved so much you allmost cant say youve ridden it until you have at night. The BBW is such a coaster, and to add to the experience I swear the brakes on the River Plunge werent on, amazing ride too bad I had to drive back to DC otherwise I would have ridden it again. On a special note, the crew was amazing tonight, litterally running so as to keep BBW from stacking 10/10.

Apollo's Chariot-30 min. Had to get another ride on this one 9/10.

Lockness Monster-10 min. Another coaster that just gets better at night, 9/10. *** Edited 9/5/2005 5:41:38 PM UTC by Touchdown***

I hope to one day return to BGW and get some night rides on everything. I agree with the whole opinion that night rides change a coaster - it's just a completely different experience riding in the dark, especially on coasters that are situated near places with little lighting.

BGW a king of night rides, grind your soul, hope you experience it someday. The only things you see on BBW is the buildings in the village.

Your comment about hoping for three trains on Nessie inspired me to ask: Are there any Cbuzzers who have been in either loop while a train was passing through the other one? Or even witnessed the conjunction personally? I seem to recall seeing a picture with a train in each loop but I wonder if that was a trick photo.

Great report!

BBW is my favorite coaster to ride at night.

I haven't ridden Darkastle yet, but what do you mean about looking at blank screens? Are you talking about after you left a certain scene, or they weren't working?

I have been on Nessie when she was running three trains in 1988 (I was 5) must have rode it 4-5 times a day for the three days we were there. Its great, as long as you are in the middle of the train, you can look up (or down depending on which loop you were on) and see the other train.

Coreo81, I am cursed with a burning desire to allways stay a step ahead of a ride, in Spiderman when I look in the direction of where the car is traveling I just see more scenery, and the movie screens are allready on when they come into vision in Darkastle they arent, most notably in the two half moon screen rooms which completly takes me out of the ride. *** Edited 9/5/2005 7:00:34 PM UTC by Touchdown***

I just went to BGW this weekend, which was the beginning of Howl-O-Scream. It's not as good as it used to be. :(

Anyway, just wanted to say that:

I agree about the rides being better in the dark. Especially BBW. Awesome at night!

I have NEVER seen all 3 of Nessie's trains running. That's a shame.

To me, DarKastle is a spin and puke ride. Ack! It was just "ok", but I'll not ride it again. I don't like those motion type deals....makes me feel ill. Give me the coasters!

Lastly, welcome me back. I've been gone from here waaay too long. Did you even miss me? Yeah, right. :p