It was about 65 degrees outside which really isn't that bad but it was extremely windy that day so I ended up going back to the car to get a sweatshirt. The wait to get your ticket and to get into the park is much longer than before due to the fact of everyone getting fun cards and haveing to show ID. Then I finally get into the park only to be hounded once again by some employees I feel sorry for who have to take everyone's picture. But, I quickly move past them to get to ride darkastle. And, after a short wait I quickly got to ride it. The wait this time was much shorter than last year, and they removed that room where they let a small amount of people in to listen to "King Ludwig" talk about the tour of his castle in the giolden sleighs. I rode the ride but honestly I was kind of bored on it. Last year I was so excited that they got a new ride and after witing 3 hours it must have been really a jolt. I didn't notice any improvements, athough it was only the second time I have ridden it and it was still pretty weak at the end. Give some feedback on the because I would like to know if anyone else felt any improvements. After getting off that I went and rode alpengiest, a great ride, then Le Scoot, AKA the log flume. As I said, it was cold so the ride ended up having no wait on it, at all. LIterally, my sister and I walked right onto the "log" and floated on out into the water. That is a cool ride, even though it's nothing like Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, it is a great old log flume, and you don't really get that wet on it. Then after that, My parents suckered me into going to emerald Beat, which was OK. The dancing was good, but the Josh Groban song and the other singing was dumb in between the dancing. After that I went to Corkscrew hill, which in my opinion, is more fun than Darkastle, but It's a different kind of ride though. Anyway, after that I rode Loch Ness Monster, a great ride with no wait. Then to the Festhaus, which is fun to go and eat at. It is neat to go there and have people singing and playing music while you are eating. Then to Apollos Chariot, another great ride. then a few small rides that are good like "Da Vinci's Cradle" and the swinging ship. I ended up having to wait on my mom for alot of the day because she wanted to go and look at every shop in every section of the park. We hopped a train and rode around the outskirts of the park while we rode around the eerie old drachen Fire station. It's funny because the voice on the train ended up talking about the fun cards and how the park is so beautiful while we were riding around the station. The ride was very secluded behind the festhaus, an odd little off part of the park where you wouldn't find it that easily unless you came there by accident. Now there's a new picnic place where you used to walk to get there, and if you look hard enough you can see some of the old trashcans and walkways that led up to the ride station. A return to the car to get warm clothes and a short trip to the outlets outside of the park had us return for a quick ride on Loch Ness and a finisher of Apollos Chariot in the front seat to finish the day off. If my parents wouldn't have wanted to go home so quickly we would have probably waited until the last train, which will give you multiple rides on it if you have some cool people in the station. The last time I went with just my friends and we rode about 7 times in a row on the last train. just get the people on the train to start chanting "one more time" and usually you will get at least one more time.
The things I ended up realizing about busch gardens-
-Darkastle needs more improvement, if there is a way
-Almost every ride is good there, something other parks need to consider
-the park has it's own little way, which makes it hard to compare it to places like PKD, or IOA
-What makes it great is the charm of the things there that are really old, like the entrance in england or the clock with all of the moving people in france(?)
-The new ride next year should be good, hopefully a roller coaster(I wouldn't mind a giga but I doubt it(sorry ryan, it just isn't likely, but it would be fun), maybe somethine like the one in tampa.
BTW, i checked out the land where the Le Mans Raceway is while riding the skyride lift above it. There is a pretty goo amount of space, though the land there is pretty level except for the downhill slope behind the raceway. I wonder if the skyride would have to be moved away due to a new ride being built there, especially a roler coaster due to the fact that the lift goes right over the Le Mans raceway? Can't wait to see what they do...
Lets hear some feedback. Since I have a fun card, i'll hit some of the people here up to when I go back. Maybe I'll even meet some of these theme park insider people. I know I saw somebody at IOA wearing a TPI shirt.....