As stated previously in a different thread, I had the delight of experiencing Busch Gardens' first ever Coasters at Night tour. My first caveat: I have not done the regular Roller Coaster Insider tour, and thusly I cannot compare the two. However, I can state that after comparing the two on Busch's website, the night tour sounded like the better experience, and I do believe that I chose the correct one. I'm not sure if it was a special, but it was priced at only sixty dollars (as was the Insider tour.) It was worth every penny. The two tours do vary slightly, for instance:
1. On the night tour, you ride every coaster twice, bypassing the lines. This includes Grover's Alpine Express.
2. On the night tour, you visit the maintenance areas for all the coasters, whereas the Insider tour only allows access to two.
3. The night tour is at night (of course) and so begins when the park is open, but ends after all the guests have left.
We met up at 7:30, the designated beginning time, in England. The awesome part is that since it was brand new, the tour was made up of only myself, my sister, and two other guys. We immediately disembarked for the Loch Ness loops. It is here where our fantastic guides explained the story of why Nessie's loops no longer interlock (see Nessie's Loops.) They took some pictures of us before allowing us to enter the maintenance area. We held the wheels and a piece of the chain lift, and had a merry time listening to how Nessie operates. Then we went upstairs to the station for some ERT. Though the ride is running with a full line, it's no problem on the night tour, as you get to tell the guides exactly where you want to sit, and on the next train that passes through, you easily board. For Loch Ness, we had to get off and wait one cycle before getting on for our second ride, but it was no hassle.
Next, we headed over to Sesame Street FoF for some ERT on Grover's Alpine Express, but alas! Our plans were thwarted by maintenance trouble, and this part of the tour was cut.
We walked over to the Apollo's Chariot maintenance area. This stop posed the first signs of the park adjusting to the new tour. When we went to unlock the door, our guide realized that the proper key was not given to him, as Apollo's is not included in the Insider tour. As we waited for another employee to arrive with the correct key, security stopped to ask why four random guests were loitering outside of a restricted access building, before our guides notified him that this was a new tour. It was, fortunately, a humorous situation, and not an inconvenience. The Apollo's maintenance area differed drastically from the Nessie's. Then we went to the station and again chose our seats for the ride. This time, however, we stayed on for our second ride. Apollo's back seat to the far right in the dark with your hands up the whole way is a far better ride than any coaster I have ever ridden.
Then, we went straight to Alpengeist. During Illuminights, they explained, they will try to match up your second ride to the start of the fireworks finale. To match the time, we went to the maintenance area first, and experienced the same key issue as at Apollo's. Fortunately, this employee had the heads-up to unlock Griffon before we made it over there. The maintenance area for Alpie is pretty similar to Apollo's, but they did provide some differing information from Apollo's maintenance stop. Again, we chose the seat we wanted and tackled Alpengeist in the dark. When we returned, we were instructed to deboard the train and take seats in the second row as they did not want to make people in the front row, who were trying to ride during the fireworks, miss their opportune moment from some people who paid sixty bucks for a tour. I can understand and appreciate that. Truthfully, riding anywhere on Alpie during the fireworks provides a unique and utterly dizzying experience. For me, it was the best ride of the tour aside from Apollo. Our guides perfectly timed our ride. As soon as we headed up the lift, the fireworks started right next to us. It was incredible.
Our last stop was Griffon, and we got in line about ten minutes before the park was scheduled to close at ten. We again rode wherever we wanted and stayed on for the completion of our second ride. The op for the end of the night was better than I experienced during my day rides. After riding, we went into Griffon's super-sweet control booth. It's filled with video cameras throughout the ride, a touchscreen computer, and gadgets that were way nicer than the other control booths. Then we went to Griffon maintenance, where it was interesting to see how much larger the Griffon road wheels are compared to every other coaster. Lastly, we got set to board our trolley to the top as the park was now completely clear. Although they have taken many people to the top by now, this was the first night tour, and therefore every major park supervisor accompanied us. The view from the top was amazing. They left one train at the top approximately eight feet from the edge. They explained that this was to (A) provide a visual barrier for where to not walk past, (B) provide another spot to take pictures, and (C) be our escape to the bottom in the event of power outage on the trolley, which is unconnected electrically to the ride. I asked if we could get down this way regularly and use the trolley as our alternative, but that was not in the cards. We stayed atop Griffon for a good bit of time asking an array of questions. Finally, we descended via the trolley and our amazing tour was complete. The guides walked us out of the park, seeing to it that we exited with no trouble.
I absolutely recommend this tour to everyone. I cannot imagine that the Insider tour is better than this.
P.S. My guide asked me during the tour if I posted on the forums for the park. I took this as a compliment, as if he said, "You are amazingly insightful and must be a part of this brilliant group of forum-posters." He told me that he and most everyone he works with checks these sites regularly and reads everything posted. So, just saying, Big Brother is watching.
1. On the night tour, you ride every coaster twice, bypassing the lines. This includes Grover's Alpine Express.
2. On the night tour, you visit the maintenance areas for all the coasters, whereas the Insider tour only allows access to two.
3. The night tour is at night (of course) and so begins when the park is open, but ends after all the guests have left.
We met up at 7:30, the designated beginning time, in England. The awesome part is that since it was brand new, the tour was made up of only myself, my sister, and two other guys. We immediately disembarked for the Loch Ness loops. It is here where our fantastic guides explained the story of why Nessie's loops no longer interlock (see Nessie's Loops.) They took some pictures of us before allowing us to enter the maintenance area. We held the wheels and a piece of the chain lift, and had a merry time listening to how Nessie operates. Then we went upstairs to the station for some ERT. Though the ride is running with a full line, it's no problem on the night tour, as you get to tell the guides exactly where you want to sit, and on the next train that passes through, you easily board. For Loch Ness, we had to get off and wait one cycle before getting on for our second ride, but it was no hassle.
Next, we headed over to Sesame Street FoF for some ERT on Grover's Alpine Express, but alas! Our plans were thwarted by maintenance trouble, and this part of the tour was cut.
We walked over to the Apollo's Chariot maintenance area. This stop posed the first signs of the park adjusting to the new tour. When we went to unlock the door, our guide realized that the proper key was not given to him, as Apollo's is not included in the Insider tour. As we waited for another employee to arrive with the correct key, security stopped to ask why four random guests were loitering outside of a restricted access building, before our guides notified him that this was a new tour. It was, fortunately, a humorous situation, and not an inconvenience. The Apollo's maintenance area differed drastically from the Nessie's. Then we went to the station and again chose our seats for the ride. This time, however, we stayed on for our second ride. Apollo's back seat to the far right in the dark with your hands up the whole way is a far better ride than any coaster I have ever ridden.
Then, we went straight to Alpengeist. During Illuminights, they explained, they will try to match up your second ride to the start of the fireworks finale. To match the time, we went to the maintenance area first, and experienced the same key issue as at Apollo's. Fortunately, this employee had the heads-up to unlock Griffon before we made it over there. The maintenance area for Alpie is pretty similar to Apollo's, but they did provide some differing information from Apollo's maintenance stop. Again, we chose the seat we wanted and tackled Alpengeist in the dark. When we returned, we were instructed to deboard the train and take seats in the second row as they did not want to make people in the front row, who were trying to ride during the fireworks, miss their opportune moment from some people who paid sixty bucks for a tour. I can understand and appreciate that. Truthfully, riding anywhere on Alpie during the fireworks provides a unique and utterly dizzying experience. For me, it was the best ride of the tour aside from Apollo. Our guides perfectly timed our ride. As soon as we headed up the lift, the fireworks started right next to us. It was incredible.
Our last stop was Griffon, and we got in line about ten minutes before the park was scheduled to close at ten. We again rode wherever we wanted and stayed on for the completion of our second ride. The op for the end of the night was better than I experienced during my day rides. After riding, we went into Griffon's super-sweet control booth. It's filled with video cameras throughout the ride, a touchscreen computer, and gadgets that were way nicer than the other control booths. Then we went to Griffon maintenance, where it was interesting to see how much larger the Griffon road wheels are compared to every other coaster. Lastly, we got set to board our trolley to the top as the park was now completely clear. Although they have taken many people to the top by now, this was the first night tour, and therefore every major park supervisor accompanied us. The view from the top was amazing. They left one train at the top approximately eight feet from the edge. They explained that this was to (A) provide a visual barrier for where to not walk past, (B) provide another spot to take pictures, and (C) be our escape to the bottom in the event of power outage on the trolley, which is unconnected electrically to the ride. I asked if we could get down this way regularly and use the trolley as our alternative, but that was not in the cards. We stayed atop Griffon for a good bit of time asking an array of questions. Finally, we descended via the trolley and our amazing tour was complete. The guides walked us out of the park, seeing to it that we exited with no trouble.
I absolutely recommend this tour to everyone. I cannot imagine that the Insider tour is better than this.
P.S. My guide asked me during the tour if I posted on the forums for the park. I took this as a compliment, as if he said, "You are amazingly insightful and must be a part of this brilliant group of forum-posters." He told me that he and most everyone he works with checks these sites regularly and reads everything posted. So, just saying, Big Brother is watching.