BUSCH GARDENS EUROPE
Williamsburg, Virginia (Abbreviation: BGE or BGW)
Formerly: Busch Gardens: The Old Country
& Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Busch Entertainment Corporation
Park News - (4/16/08) Guests to Busch Gardens Europe will come face to face with more Coaster Dynamix creations this season. According to the company they have installed the custom Griffon model that was on display at IAAPA and a Scorpion model custom painted in Alpengeist colors to the park to promote their Statix product line. The Griffon model is set up in the Banbury Market across from the Globe Theater and the Alpengeist model is in the Marketplatz gift shop across from Curse of DarKastle (see sidebar).
(3/19/08) Photos taken at the passholder preview day at Busch Gardens Europe can be seen here.
(2/22/08) Looks like we jumped the gun by the year, as Screamscape sources now tell us that the proposed Winter Celebration event will actually not take place until the end of 2009.
(2/20/08) If the latest rumor holds true, Busch Gardens Europe may attempt to extend their operating season all the way through to the winter holiday season. Local spies tell us that the management teams have been told not to plan on taking any vacation time in December and apparently they’ve been visiting and checking out how various other park chains handle winter operations. While nothing has been confirmed yet, we’ve been told that the park is expected to close as normal at the end of the Howl-O-Scream run but will reopen sometime in December for the planned winter celebration.
(2/14/08) While Busch Gardens Europe will open for the season on March 21st, they will be having a Season Pass Preview Day on Sunday, March 16th from 10am to 6pm, good for all 1 Park, 2 Park and Platinum passholders. There will also be an all-you-can-eat picnic lunch in the Black Forest for just $16.95 for adults and $10.59 for kids (Reservations Are Required). Visit the official site for details.
(1/18/08) For anyone interested in a little past from the past, take a look at this old Drachen Fire coaster footage shot 12 years ago at YouTube.
(11/1/07) Busch Gardens Europe has announced that Virginia residents can purchase a 2008 Fun Card now for just $56.95. Keep in mind that these Fun Cards are only good for unlimited visits through September 1st, 2008 and that means no free Howl-O-Scream. So if you want Howl-O-Scream you’ll have to buy a regular season pass. The announcement also confirms that the Summer Concert Series will return in 2008 and that the park will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Loch Ness Monster.
(10/29/07) Coaster Dimension has posted a photo update from Howl-O-Scream.
(10/25/07) A Busch Gardens Europe spokesperson mentioned to the local paper that the combined attendance from Busch Gardens and Water Country USA has topped 4 million. Credit for the great seasons goes to the fact that they opened Griffon, a popular concert series and the dry weather that kept the rain away.
(10/15/07) The complete Screamscape trip report and review of Howl-O-Scream 2007 has now been posted. I’m also happy to report that the whole issue over mandatory locker use has come to an end it seems. Either they have revised the policy, or with the summer crowds now gone, they no longer care. Either way, I witnessed no problems at all on my visit last weekend and noticed that guests were being allowed to leave their loose items in just about every coaster station.
 2008 - Water Country USA - Rock ‘n Roll Island - (5/9/08) Water Country USA held their media day for the new Rock ‘n Roll Island area, a ¾ acre island of blue water surrounded by the Rambling River and the Jammin’ Juke Box tower, home to three new enclosed body slides that are semi-transparent allowing you to see the various silhouettes speeding through them. The three slides have been named after popular rock ‘n roll dances:
“Funky Chicken”, “Hully Gully” and “The Twist”.
(1/8/08) Water Country USA has announced “a tidal wave of change” is coming in 2008 with the opening of the new Rock ‘n Roll Island. Rock ‘n Roll Island will feature three slides, a lazy river and a new children’s attraction all themed to the ‘50s and ‘60s rock culture.
The main attraction will be a 33 foot tall slide tower called Jammin’ Juke Box that will hold the three new slides: Funky Chicken, The Hully Gully and The Twist. The kiddies will also have a new mini slide called Little Bopper. Meanwhile the whole “island” will be surrounded by a new 700 foot long lazy river.
2009 - New Land / Sesame Street - Rumor - (4/22/08) While there are still rumors going around about the park making plans to add a new Spain themed land, it seems we may also have a name for the Sesame Street themed land going in for 2009, Elmo’s World, likely to be partially copied from the Elmo’s World added to Sesame Place not long ago.
(3/6/08) According to this article the new proposed expansion land at Busch Gardens is actually near the main entrance, a small 1.5 acre site between England’s Skyride station and Escape From Pompeii that was once used as a petting zoo long ago but typically has been used in past couple of years as the Wicked Woods haunt for Howl-O-Scream.
While it would be fun to have a new country location like the rumored Spain or Greek concepts, given the small size of the location, the lack of anything taller than 60 feet added in to the fact that it’s very close to the park’s 4D Theater, I’ve got to guess that this could be a new Sesame Street themed kiddie land that would launch in 2009 along with the debut of the same Lights, Camera, Imagination in 4-D film opening at SeaWorld San Diego later this month. The fact that the park’s other kiddie area, Land of the Dragons, is on the opposite side of the park also makes the area ripe for a new kid friendly area closer to the main gate. This also matches up with earlier rumors that claimed the Sesame Street 4D film was expected to come in 2008, but obviously these plans seem to have been delayed.
(3/4/08) Busch Gardens Europe has submitted plans for a major park expansion that will include adding five new buildings and “various guest attractions and themeing.” But so far nothing in the plan will exceed 60 feet in height so you can pretty much count out any kind of new coaster or major flat ride. So far it sounds like our rumors from last summer that Busch would be adding a new land in 2009 may be coming true.
Future Plans - Park Expansion / New Attraction - Rumor - (10/30/07) The latest whisper on the wind in Williamsburg indicates that there may be a possible multi-year plans to add a new country at Busch Gardens Europe. A multi-year build plan very likely as we’ve seen Busch do with SeaWorld Florida’s Waterfront area. Over the years different counties have been mentions as possible future projects, but some say that they’ve heard Spain mentioned specifically as a primary choice in the past. As I recall, the park currently has an old England area, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy… so there are still other options as well such as Greece.
(10/24/07) We’ve heard an interesting rumor for Busch Gardens Europe today that gives us a good location to watch for the park’s next big expansion in 2009 and possibly beyond. In short, we’ve been told to keep our eyes open for a possible fourth train station to be added to the line, this time in the German area of the park. Things get interesting when you realize that the best place to put down a new train depot in Germany would be back along the existing tracks near the old Drachen Fire spot, which is a fairly large and undeveloped area currently being used for the three back-to-back Never After haunt experiences. Given the massive size of this area alone, it could be used for anything from a massive new coaster to a large new themed land. Of course the bigger the size of the development, the bigger the chance that this could become a project that will take more than one year to build out, so 2009 may just be the beginning. |
