Hey there eveyone, long time lurker here. Today was the day I finally got to go on the coaster tour. My dad and I left our house around 645 with about an hours drive ahead of us. We got to the Wiliamsburg area around 745 so we waited about 20 minutes at the gate before we drove over to the England lot.
We were greated by our tour guide there and thats where the tour began. The group consisted of myself, my dad, a guy from water country and 10 other guests. (figured the Water Country guy was worth mentioning since he was in uniform). We began at Loch Ness Monster down by the loops. Learned about the advance of Loch Ness to the B&Ms im the park. We headed down into the maintenance bay and saw the wheels, chain dogs, roll backs, and all the spare python parts. At this point we took a few pictures and headed down the back path to Griffon. Of course we had a surpirse along the way. Down by the Loch Ness lift motor a nice 4 ft snake decided to slither right behind the guide as hr was walking backwards. We stopped for a bit and let it be.
We arrived at the lift for Griffon and began taking people to the top. We went in the second round so we had a few minutes to wait at the bottom. As we arrived at the top I was just amazed. Seeing pictures and even just riding the ride you cant even imagine how it looks standing up there. The views were just amazing. Hands down worth the extra for the participant over the observer. We took a few more pictures and learned about the evac procedure and the buildable floors. We decended the lift and headed into the maintenance bay. There was a train still in the bay so we were able to get an under the train view of all the parts. We were able to play with the wheels and were shown how the entire wheel assembly can be rotated 360 degrees either direction. We took a few more pictures and as we were about to hold the wheel, the maintenance crew had to pull the new train to get it testing. So, we got to watch them take the train out of the bay before getting the pictures with the wheel. We got the extra ride time on Griffon then in any seat we wanted twice before walking off the Alpengeist.
We walked up to Alpengeist and got our 2 rides in, one in the front 3 rows and one in the back 3 rows. Right before we headed into the bay, we stopped right outside the station. Here we learned about the onsite well that is used to provide water for Le Scoot. Out guide explained how the tolernaces are so close that when the transfer track goes to the far track, the transfer piece over hangs the fence about 1 foot from the well. We headed in to the bay where there was a train in the bay. Trivia time! As soon as we walked to the front of the train it was time to throw out the busch knowledge. He asked about the zero car. I waited a bit before I said it was to add extra weight. He then stumped us with the next question. "What is the other coaster that uses a zero car for weight?" The answer was Manta and I felt bad considering I have ridden the ride before and I like researching coasters I ride. We then began the walk over to Apollo's.
As we passed by Verbolten my next chance to show some Busch Gardens knowledge arose. He asked us where the four different locations for the scrambler has been. I answered and when we were done he mentioned the only other person was from an online forum (probably this one?) We arrived at Apollo's following the same procedure as Alpengeist. Unfortunately the maintenance bays here aren't part of the tour. After that we headed back to Loch Ness where we got our two rides. After we got off, we said our good byes, gave our address for mailing the picture CD, and got our Quick Que for the four coasters one more time.
Overall, if you haven't been convinced by other members testimonies, I'll say it one more time. This tour is by far the best experience I've had at Busch Gardens and highly recommend it to anyone considering it.
Edit: Please excuse some typos, Im posting from my iphone and its 12 am. Hopefully I can go through tomorrow and catch them.
We were greated by our tour guide there and thats where the tour began. The group consisted of myself, my dad, a guy from water country and 10 other guests. (figured the Water Country guy was worth mentioning since he was in uniform). We began at Loch Ness Monster down by the loops. Learned about the advance of Loch Ness to the B&Ms im the park. We headed down into the maintenance bay and saw the wheels, chain dogs, roll backs, and all the spare python parts. At this point we took a few pictures and headed down the back path to Griffon. Of course we had a surpirse along the way. Down by the Loch Ness lift motor a nice 4 ft snake decided to slither right behind the guide as hr was walking backwards. We stopped for a bit and let it be.
We arrived at the lift for Griffon and began taking people to the top. We went in the second round so we had a few minutes to wait at the bottom. As we arrived at the top I was just amazed. Seeing pictures and even just riding the ride you cant even imagine how it looks standing up there. The views were just amazing. Hands down worth the extra for the participant over the observer. We took a few more pictures and learned about the evac procedure and the buildable floors. We decended the lift and headed into the maintenance bay. There was a train still in the bay so we were able to get an under the train view of all the parts. We were able to play with the wheels and were shown how the entire wheel assembly can be rotated 360 degrees either direction. We took a few more pictures and as we were about to hold the wheel, the maintenance crew had to pull the new train to get it testing. So, we got to watch them take the train out of the bay before getting the pictures with the wheel. We got the extra ride time on Griffon then in any seat we wanted twice before walking off the Alpengeist.
We walked up to Alpengeist and got our 2 rides in, one in the front 3 rows and one in the back 3 rows. Right before we headed into the bay, we stopped right outside the station. Here we learned about the onsite well that is used to provide water for Le Scoot. Out guide explained how the tolernaces are so close that when the transfer track goes to the far track, the transfer piece over hangs the fence about 1 foot from the well. We headed in to the bay where there was a train in the bay. Trivia time! As soon as we walked to the front of the train it was time to throw out the busch knowledge. He asked about the zero car. I waited a bit before I said it was to add extra weight. He then stumped us with the next question. "What is the other coaster that uses a zero car for weight?" The answer was Manta and I felt bad considering I have ridden the ride before and I like researching coasters I ride. We then began the walk over to Apollo's.
As we passed by Verbolten my next chance to show some Busch Gardens knowledge arose. He asked us where the four different locations for the scrambler has been. I answered and when we were done he mentioned the only other person was from an online forum (probably this one?) We arrived at Apollo's following the same procedure as Alpengeist. Unfortunately the maintenance bays here aren't part of the tour. After that we headed back to Loch Ness where we got our two rides. After we got off, we said our good byes, gave our address for mailing the picture CD, and got our Quick Que for the four coasters one more time.
Overall, if you haven't been convinced by other members testimonies, I'll say it one more time. This tour is by far the best experience I've had at Busch Gardens and highly recommend it to anyone considering it.
Edit: Please excuse some typos, Im posting from my iphone and its 12 am. Hopefully I can go through tomorrow and catch them.
