Busch Gardens

From the time we moved to Virginia 2 years ago, we have been talking about going to Busch Gardens. Busch Gardens is a giant theme park in Williamsburg, VA that reminds me of Six Flags over Texas. Lots of food, lots of lines, and more importantly, lots of roller coasters!

Fun fact about me: I'm not a roller coaster girl. I so want to be the girl that loves the thrill of a roller coaster and is fearless of plummeting to her death, but that just isn't me. So, as much as we have been talking about making a Busch Gardens trip, I was also fine with delaying it for as long as possible.

Parker really wanted to go over Memorial Day weekend, so I put on my big girl britches and off we went! We went the Friday of the long weekend, and it ended up being a pretty good day to go. It was crowded, but not near as bad as it could have been! We arrived excited for the day ahead of us!

There are 7 big roller coasters at Busch Gardens. My plan was to ride none of them, but that would make me a pretty darn boring companion, so I sucked it up and accepted the fact that I was in for a day of roller coasters. I can be such a head case sometimes because we ended up having a blast! I was shaky and scared before each big roller coaster but had a lot of fun on each. 

The griffon was definitely the everest of the group. There is a 205' straight drop... yikes! That was the one I probably enjoyed the least, but even then I still quite enjoyed myself when it was all said and done. Each time we got to the top of a roller coaster before a big drop, I yelled "I love you!" to Parker because I still thought there was about a 50% chance we were going to die. Dramatic, party of me. 

Parker absolutely loved the roller coasters, and hearing him so happy and laughing during each made all the scariness worth it. I loved seeing how excited he got for each ride! He was the best buddy to go with. 

Seriously though, check out that drop! They also dangle you at the top for about 5-10 seconds. Just long enough for you to start losing your ever-loving mind. 

Standard at amusement parks, there were cameras along the ride to take pictures that you could then purchase. The cheapo in me started taking pictures of the screen to get the pictures and then played dumb when I got in trouble every. single. time. Oopsies. This one is from the Verbolten, one of our favorites because it was pitch black most of the ride!

When Parker asked me at the end of the day what my favorite ride was, I quickly said "the log ride". And it really was. I did actually enjoy the roller coasters, but I also had a minor freak-out moment before boarding every single one. The log ride was pleasant and fun and we laughed the whole time. I love you, log ride. 

I was promised ice cream in exchange for riding the roller coasters, so I happily cashed in and had myself a cone. Happy girl indeed!

We took a small break from the thrill-seeking to catch a dog show. I think it was called a dog show, but they had dogs, cats, birds, and even a rat. It was adorable! The animals did little tricks and just enjoyed being on the stage. At the end, they told us all of the animals were from rescue shelters, which of course made me love it even more! 

Then, my life became complete. They had a sloth named Casey. I got to pet her. Be still my sloth-loving heart! We watched her waddle around on the ground and hang idly on her tree. Love love loved the sloth!

After 5 roller coasters, I started to feel really nauseous so I threw in the towel. I should have just sucked it up but I had hit my expiration date! We caught a show before heading out that reminded us a lot of the type of show we saw on our cruise. Then, it was time to go home. Busch Gardens was a ton of fun, and I'm so glad we finally went. Hopefully it will become an annual tradition for the remainder of our time on the east coast!