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The New and Improved Oktoberfest

Busch Gardens Williamsburg: Some notes on the changes

From Tom Rigg
Posted April 27, 2011 at 9:39 AM
I visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg last week with some friends and took special note of the changes being made in the Octoberfest section of the park. I've listed them below with my thoughts.

1. Opening up the space between the Arcade/Carnival Games and the gift shop across from DarKastle.

I think this is a much needed and long overdue change. In general, and especially during seasonal events (Howl-O-Scream and Christmastown) this area bottle necks and become a mess. Opening up this area will keep guests from having to walk all the way up to the Festhaus to get to Der Wirblewind (waveswinger), Mächtower, Autobahn (bumper cars), and the bridge to San Marco.

2.The new pretzel shop and beer garden.

The variety of pretzels here is great from hotdog filled to pepperoni pizza to cinnamon roll, they have something for everyone. However, the real star, at least for us beer drinkers, is the variety of beers available here. While there aren't a lot of selections on tap, the mix of bottles imports is wonderful. I'm a sucker for a good wheat beer and they had more than enough options. The only issue I have with the shop/garden is that the decoration is spartan at best, but more about that later.

3. The Mächtower

While not open yet, the Mächtower is beginning to take shape. One nice aspect to this addition is that it is not intruding on walkways and it works well the preexisting buildings from Der Katapult.


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From Russell Meyer
Posted April 28, 2011 at 8:53 PM
I'm going to wait before evaluating this area until the new coaster goes into the old Big Bad Wolf space. I was a little underwhelmed by the "improvements." Some fresh paint, some new picnic tables, and a new building is not what I consider a dramatic improvement. I really enjoyed the new pretzel sandwiches though, and look forward to trying the other new items in the new restaurant. However, the place is pretty small, and has a rather confusing setup to order and pay for your food, almost a free-for-all.

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