[NEW PICS!] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and BGW

[PeskyTrimBrake]

I recently flew my ass up to the US. I visited the DC and Williamsburg area to visit local landmarks and of course the capital of MURICA and was able to visit 2 parks in the area.

Park 1: Six Flags America

First up was Six Flags America.

The park had great landscape and was pretty clean.

First Cred of the day was this beauty:

Then I spotted it. AN INTAMIN DROP TOWER. My time has come.

For my first drop tower, I was not disappointed.

Next up was Wild One, the oldest in the park.

No line. The entire park was like this the entire day.

My souvenir for this ride was a bruise the size of a golf ball.

Ragin' Cajun was not open yet only to be open for an ACE event the next day.

Next up was Apocalypse

*SHOCKER* Six Flags actually TRIED in theming this time. Not bad.

That poor Cessna...

It was a fun little ride.

Next: Roar. It was a fairly smooth ride and offered airtime and fast turns.

After Roar I headed to the SLC, Mind Eraser.

The park was extremely full.

Smoother than most SLCs but still rough.

It was hot so I ended up in Renegade Rapids.

IT WAS ****

Now, on to Gotham

Joker Jinx

It was intense.

On to Batwing

The souvenir from this one was a destroyed back. It was really uncomfortable. The harnesses are heavy and tight and the seat itself was not made to fit human beings apparently.

EUGH.

After that piece of **** , the main cred.

:goon:

It was a great ride but a bit bland.

Six Flags America was a very decent park. Clean, great landscaping, and best of all NO LINES ON WEEKDAYS. But of course, Six Flags needs to step their game. It felt like it was too empty, even for a weekday.

Park 2: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Sadly I couldn't stop at Kings Dominion because of time.

*cries internally*

I took Roller Coaster Insider Tour. It was worth the money. You take a tour of the back stage facilities of all of their roller coasters plus ride them while on the tour twice in a row. After the tour they give you one front in line pass to all roller coasters. Of course, they also provide great info on the park regarding the design of the roller coasters, what each part does, and info about the park itself. (Completely forgot on asking about the new ride for 2015 )

So, on with the park!

Beautiful

First up was Loch Ness Monster

Maintenance Room

:goon:

Under the Station

Greasy Chain Lift

First Lift

The Ride
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywxg5smsOFw[/youtube]

Griffon!

Riding the lift trolley

Awesome View!

Morning Testing

Drop Overview

On to the Maintenance Room

Water Breaks AKA Scoops

Control Room

The Ride
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-XQlnrb6x0[/youtube]

Griffon was great!

Next Up was Alpengeist

The Ride:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnO3EnHrqXw[/youtube]

Best Invert I've ridden so far

Spotted!

Verbolten Was Next

Verbolten Control Room

Now for the ride
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25Z48FchWmI[/youtube]

The tour never mentioned the Verbolten tour but we just went with it.

We did go in the event building but were not allowed to take pics

The last major coaster, Apollos Chariot

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKjC7qj2Ymw[/youtube]

After the tour, I headed to do other rides

Fun ride!

I also was able to ride Mach Tower. (no pics)

The park was amazing! Great service, coasters, and theming! Williamsburg as a whole was beautiful and hope to return again. I also ate the best Breakfast and Italian there. :--D

Thanks for reading!

 

[rtotheizzo17]

Re: [PTR] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and BGW

Good pics. I enjoyed SFA 4 years ago because it was so dead. Now that it has a B&M and a spinner I may need to get back.

Love the pics from the insider tour. Nothing like the view from the top of the dive machines. Did they let you stand on the staircase for the holding brake?

 

[Jarrett]

Re: [PTR] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and BGW

Good photos in this one, and SFA looks like one of the nicer Six Flags parks! Maybe I'll check it out one day.

Those Flying Dutchmen are awful, though, aren't they?

 

[caffeine_demon]

Re: [PTR] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and BGW

SFA looks like one of the nicer Six Flags parks!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

It's pretty awful TBH!

 

[PeskyTrimBrake]

Re: [PTR] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and BGW

Love the pics from the insider tour. Nothing like the view from the top of the dive machines. Did they let you stand on the staircase for the holding brake?

Nope, but I tried

 

[Intricks]

Re: [PTR] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and BGW

^^ Not really. I was there a couple weeks back and it was actually quite nice. Granted everything past the Wild One is nothing but a concrete jungle, but it was still a very nice park.

 

[BBH]

Re: [PTR] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and BGW

As a wannabe ride op, this is sexual. Great report Glenn.

 

[peep]

Re: [PTR] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and BGW

Nice report. Glad to see I'm not the only one that likes Six Flags America.

 

[PeskyTrimBrake]

Re: [PTR] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and BGW

So, the Photo DVD provided by the park arrived.

Me on Apollos Chariot

Maintenance guy taking a ride

The same guy adding a new train

Under the Dive Machine

The Tour on top of Griffon

Back Stage of Alpengeist (which I missed)

Griffon riding

On Lochness Monster with other tour attendees. (faces covered for privacy)

 

[Hobbes]

Re: [NEW PICS!] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and B

Nice pictures, Six Flags America seems to be a nicer park than I had originally assumed. The coaster tour looks very cool as well. Was the tour before the park opened or something? I assume they don't let people on top of Griffon while it's running...

Those Flying Dutchmen are awful, though, aren't they?

Am I the only one that has a soft spot for the Dutchmen? Yeah, they're kind of rough, and the restraints are uncomfortable... but they're such weird and disorienting rides that I can't help but enjoy them.

 

[PeskyTrimBrake]

Re: [NEW PICS!] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and B

^The tour was from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm.

 

[mcgoughchris]

Re: [NEW PICS!] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and B

Would you say BG Williamsburg is better then BG Tampa? Also what else is there to do in that area?

 

[Hobbes]

Re: [NEW PICS!] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and B

^Personally, I think the two parks are very close in terms of enjoyment. As far as coasters go, they both have solid lineups, and neither has a large edge over the other. Griffon and Sheikra are very similar, Verbolten generally outranks Cheetah Hunt, and Montu generally beats Alpengeist. Scorpion and Loch Ness Monster are both good rides (as far as old loopers go), and both Kumba and Apollo's Chariot are fun (although very different from each other). BGT also has Gwazi and a wild mouse, which gives it a bigger quantity of coasters.

BGW obviously wins with dark rides (Darkastle is pretty good, Europe in the Air was meh), but BGT counters with its animal exhibits, which can be fun to kill some time with. Both have drop towers (Falcon's Fury will probably be better, haven't ridden it though) and neither park has an impressive collection of flats. Water rides are probably about even (I didn't do BGW's rapids though).

I think generally BGW is a nicer park to wander through, and just about every area is well done. That's not to say BGT is an unpleasant park, but I think Williamsburg has a better overall atmosphere and theming. If I had to pick one I'd go with BGW, but I like both parks.

As for things to do around BGW, the only other attraction (at least that I know of) is Colonial Williamsburg, which has various museums and reenactment areas about the colonial period of the region. History may or may not be something you're interested in, but if it's a topic you like it's probably worth checking out.

 

[PeskyTrimBrake]

Re: [NEW PICS!] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and B

^Pretty much sums up.

^^BGW is a beautiful park. The scenery is beautiful. Never been to the Tampa one yet but I can tell you that they have a great ride selection and the staff are fun and helpful. Definitely made it on to my favorite park I've ever visited.

 

[mcgoughchris]

Re: [NEW PICS!] DC and Williamsburg: Six Flags America and B

Thanks for the advice. I've already done Tampa and going back to Florida again in September. After that I'm really just looking at other holidays we could do for next year. The problem is that all these great parks like BGW and cedar point etc are miles out of the way of anything else. If we go to USA it'd be for a minimum 2 weeks because of flight prices so it's just finding things to do