On our way home from SC my husband begged me to stop at Busch Gardens,VA for the Festival. It was their first one ever that BG had. We were there the second to last weekend it was open. Compared to SC humidity the weather was a dream in low 80's! We didn't pre-pay for tickets so just bought them at an electronic kiosk at entrance of park.It was SO easy! I had our tickets in less than one minute. I don't understand why other people were standing in a HUGE line to buy tickets from a person? Hubby forgot something in the car so he went back to get it while I looked at the map & took pictures. A friendly "Team Member" came over to explain to me their awesome new app on the iphone. It has a feature on it where it knows the EXACT GPS of your car in their parking lot! We used it & thought it was really cool. It also showed footsteps inside park showing you how to get to certain attractions. The Hershey park App SUCKS so this was a huge exciting thing to see!The tram was WAY smaller than the WDW ones. The " Team Member" was very helpful & friendly with explaining everything though!
We then went into the Food & Wine tent. My husband wanted to sign us up for the Wine Boat Cruise. I will write a separate review with pictures on that as well. He then purchased a wristband for any & all purchases inside the park. They put a $50 minimum on your card but you can spend any amount all day. We checked at the end of the day on how much our balance was & it came to $150. Not bad for all the drinks & food we had!
Our first stop was Italy! I saw Salted Caramel Gelato stand so decided to get that along w/ some free ice water. My hubby got us a cheese plate from the F&W Kiosk along w/ some wine in Italy. We sat in a nice cool shaded area for a bit to relax. The only other time I've had gelato was at Tony's in MK. This gelato at BG was far superior! The cheese plate was great! We were fighting over everything. The strawberry compote was amazing. It was $12 for the cheese plate & $7.99 for his wine. My gelato was around $4.50
The first items in the booklet that I saw that I had to have was at the Canada kiosk. It was a hot day but I still wanted to taste the soup. It was VERY good & I could've eaten a huge bowl of it! I didn't really care for the brulee. I didn't think the maple crunch went with the pumpkin personally. The Pear beer was the best beer I've ever had!
We then decided to share a flight of beer in Germany. They had two different ones to choose from. I really liked 2 of the beers but the other 2 were just too bitter for my taste. I love a lager personally. You do get HUGE portions compared to WDW for a flight.We ate at the Germany "show" for lunch. They only have a traditional German show at dinner. The lunch show was more aimed towards children with the Grimm's fairy Tales characters. They did cover songs like "Material Girl" & other Madonna & Michael Jackson songs & Cyndi Lauper.... They had acrobats & some people dangling on ropes. Nothing as great as the Lion King Show at DAK though. NEEDS to be updated for sure. It was VERY dark when we were taking our seats. My hubby bumped his knee into a bench & when we were leaving his leg was covered in blood. We went to First aid & they were very sweet & helpful.
You sit in Picnic benches just like Biergarten but not as nice.Think Cafeteria Style. There is a pizza line,sub line & traditional German line. Although I got the Traditional Sampler which included ribs,chicken,brats, & german potatoes. We both shared a HUGE pickle which was amazing! If was way too dark to take any pictures though. :( When we were in line they had these cast iron kinda shelves on the line. When a team member was putting up some more samplers for guests to take the WHOLE cast iron shelf FELL less than 1 inch from my feet! I was wearing sandals & if I wasn't quick enough I would've been SERIOUSLY injured! A manager immediately came over to see if we were okay. My tray fell when this happened along with my husbands. He had to go back in line to get us another pickle & our carrot cake. The guests in line were nice & let him get the new things we needed. The manager quickly picked up the mess on the floor & apologized. We were not offered any coupons or free lunch. I think if that happened at Disney we would've had a free lunch! Our lunch was $45 for the both of us.
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| I made him do it :) |
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| Cake in line at German Show Buffet
My favorite kiosk from the festival was the crepes! We shared a hazlenut & banana crepe. I've had a crepe at Epcot before & it was NOT good. We were fighting over this one! I wish I had my own. They made all of them fresh to order & brought them out to you.
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My husband LOST his hat in the water at the log flume ride & was quite upset for a few hours LOL We filled out a report @ Lost & Found. She said they only clean out that water once a week..... We haven't heard from them yet but I did go ahead & buy him the same exact hat last night online as a surprise. :) He NEVER reads my blog so I am safe posting it :) I was mean & took a picture of his hat in the water .:) He even bought our picture on the Log Flume to see if his hat was on his head in the picture. Did you you know it is only $5 for a ride picture at BG?!
They had a knock off Soarin ride that we went on. It does not lift you it is just in a theatre & was kinda weak.....
All in all the "team members" all day were very helpful & friendly. It surprised me because at Universal & Hershey Park it is quite the opposite. I say give this park a shot! The scenery is very woodsy & pretty too!
(My husband did drink a lot more than showed but that would be too many pics to post ;))
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| Cherry wine |
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| His poor hat....... LOL ;) |
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| Fake Soarin |
