New VIP Tours for BGE

I just wanted to alert those who wish to venture to the Old Country (sorry.. I cant stop calling it that), BGE for the '09 season, theres something new and cool to experience there that just got started.

VIP tours!

One of the coolest offerings for those (Gonch) who want to get a good photo opportunity is the VIP tour allows for you to take the ride evac. cars to the top of Griffon for a wonderful photo opportunity of the whole park 205 feet up. (Waiver will be signed and ride will not be running of course).

There are some other neat benefits as well with the VIP tour, but this is the one I wanted to point out to the group mostly!

It just opened up so there hasnt been to many takers as of yet, but I guarentee the photo op on top of Griffon was enough for me :-)

Nice.

The opportunity to choose three 'encounters' from the list is a nice touch that sets this off from most of the other parks' VIP offerings.

I couldn't help but notice there is no price listed.

Prices are tailored based on your "experience". It would make for a long price list to post it all.

Its not overly expensive for what you are getting though, yet not cheap enough that you and 500 other people are doing it at the same time. Keeps it to a personal experience level.

Also keep in mind. Its a minimum of 4 people per VIP.. Bring 2.. Still paying for 4..

UPDATE: BGE is thinking about breaking up the "encounters" into their own VIP tours, which makes it much cheaper. So far they broke up the Zoological encounter, but the Coaster ones are being considered.

Btw.. its about $300 per person if you want the whole experience.. Its worth it if you dont have a seasons pass and staying for a few days. (as you get a 7 day pass).

I have a pass and it was worth it, IMHO!

$300 is a great value if you are vacationing in Williamsburg and plan on visiting the park for more than a few days. I wish that they would raise the price though, because too many people cutting in front of me makes me mad. Maybe they'll severely limit the amount of VIP packages that they sell. That would be great!

Sounds like a lot of fun though...

Keep in mind again,

$300 per person.. MINIMUM 4 people per VIP booking.. So $1200 per group... This alone will keep #s down a bit.

Also its a reservation type system.. Meaning they have a limit per booking.. Its pretty much a personal VIP tour, So you wont be there with 30 people.. Due to the safety on Griffon, etc.. they will keep each VIP group to a small manageable #.

I wonder if the Griffon evac car ride will be done prior to park opening (I hope) or if they're going to shut the ride down for 10-20 minutes in the middle of the day so that people can take pictures...

The VIP tours are done before park opening. Especially the ones that cause rides to be shut down.. That would be suicide (PR wise) to shut a ride down for a 1/2 dozen or so people while the Griffon queue is at an hour wait.

Busch is much smarter than that.

UPDATE:

Busch Williamsburg has now added Roller Coaster ONLY tours currently at $99 per person. (Passholders will get 10% off that)

Tours include the awesome EVAC ride up to the top of Griffon for a nice 205 foot view of the park!

Behind the scenes tours of Lochness, and the computer systems that control Griffon.

Finally:

ERT on Griffon, Alpengeist, and Lochness and Front of line passes to Apollo and Big Bad.

I will go on record again that standing 205 feet up for panoramic shots of the coaster and BGW is the best part about it all!

Edit: error in booking system at time of posting, but you can still call and reserve.. I mentioned it to the IT group and are looking into it.

BGT has a $75 coaster tour, but it certainly doesn't include the cool photo opp (just front of the line, re-rides, and a free meal).

That's pretty cool. Do you think they make you wear the safety harness to ride to the top? I wonder if you get to walk around the top of the hill, or if you have to stay in the elevator?

To answer your questions.

1. Yes you will exit the EVAC
2. No safety harness.. Unless you jump over rails, its hard to fall over up there. You only walk around 1 side of the top of hill. Its still an EVAC location, so it has to be safe for people to get off coaster and go back down without harnesses.
   
3. You will sign a waiver.

Btw.. Price is dropped to $75 now.. (they havent updated website yet).. Keeps it "competitive" with BGT, though you get more bang for buck at BGE if you ask me.