Food & Wine Festival 2018: The Comprehensive Review
As we promised in part one, we have compiled a comprehensive, dish-by-dish review of Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2018 Food & Wine Festival. Please keep in mind that these ratings reflect what we tasted on Memorial Day weekend. Historically, the food at the event can vary dramatically throughout the day and across the weeks. Below you […]
Food & Wine Festival 2018: Impressions & Highlights
It is that time of year again: the season when BGWFans and our Band of Merry Foodies head to the park to try every dish at the annual Food & Wine Festival. Last weekend Zachary, Thomas, Luke, Zimmy, and I, accompanied by our friends Renee and Meri, spent Saturday and Sunday exploring the 2018 event. […]
So, Zachary and I had been considering when and if we were going to write a front page article on Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s newest ride, Battle for Eire. It seems like a reasonable topic, and we have been asked for a formal review. Unfortunately, that discussion has, again, been completely derailed—this time by the park’s […]
Permit Filed for Dedicated Entertainment Facility
According to a new special use permit filed with James City County late last month, Busch Gardens Williamsburg appears to be giving their entertainment department something they have needed for decades now: dedicated, non-theater space inside the park. The Plans So, what is the permit for exactly? A 15,500 square foot rectangular building located behind […]
Sesame Place Williamsburg: Pros & Cons
Yesterday, Zachary reported on a recent survey soliciting feedback on a new, proposed SEAS theme park in Virginia, which we are calling “Sesame Place Williamsburg.” While his extensive analysis of the included site plan and concept art focused on the How, When, Where, and What in depth, we decided to address the Why separately, because it is such a complex […]
This morning we rode Battle for Eire, Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s brand new, first-of-its-kind VR attraction. If you are looking for Battle for Eire content, for now, check out the most recent posts in this thread on ParkFans.net or our social media channels (particularly Instagram). Anyway, you’d think that something that noteworthy would be monopolizing the BGW news […]
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Unveils Membership Program
February 9th Update: Because we have been adding information to this post regularly over the past two days, we decided our article needed to be completely restructured to better present everything we know about the recently announced Membership program. Hopefully this version is more user-friendly. BGWFans learned yesterday (February 7) that the long-rumored, new Membership Plan will […]
Battle For Eire Plans Reveal Secrets from The Otherworld
Spoiler Alert This article contains drawings and concept art that reveal thematic details of Battle For Eire that have not yet been made public by Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Anyone wishing to avoid Project 2018 spoilers should turn back now. You have been warned. Disclaimer The documents and information presented below reflect the park’s plans for Battle […]
On September 4th, 2017, Busch Gardens Williamsburg closed Curse of DarKastle to facilitate the installation of their new haunted house, Frostbite. Soon after, we learned that DarKastle’s building would be utilized for a new Santa meet-and-greet space this winter. Transforming what should be one of Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s flagship attractions into special event space for both Howl-O-Scream and Christmas […]
2017 Food & Wine Festival: More Thoughts & Highlights
Welcome to Part Two of our 2017 Food & Wine Festival review. Previously, we shared our scores and comments for every dish at the event. This week we want to talk about the festival more broadly. Below you will find our ranking of all of the booths from best to last, as well as our recommendations […]
2017 Food & Wine Festival: The Comprehensive Review
Once again over Memorial Day weekend, BGWFans braved the crowds and the weather to taste and review everything at Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s annual culinary extravaganza. This year Zachary and I (Nicole) were joined by Renee, Thomas, and Tony. Despite the forces of nature and a Code Purple at the park, we successfully tried, scored, and discussed […]
As initially reported via Twitter this morning, BGWFans can now confirm that a red line of sight balloon was flown over the park this morning. According to eyewitnesses, the balloon appeared to be located behind Apollo’s Chariot—likely in the area currently occupied by the stables behind Festa Italia. The area in question can be seen […]
Last Saturday at Pass Member Preview Day, Zachary, Joe, Thomas, Pretzel Kaiser, Tony, and I decided to take one for the team and try everything on the menu at Les Frites. As is our custom, we rated each dish, so we could share our questionable, if enthusiastic, wisdom with all y’all. Perhaps the most important […]
The other day we spoke to Jennifer Thomas, a show production manager and casting director at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, about the Entertainment department’s plans for 2017. In addition to refining two of the park’s popular returning offerings and renovating another, the they are debuting two new shows in the first half of this season: Britmania & OktoberZest. We’ll spend the first sections of […]
On Tuesday Zachary and I had the opportunity to speak with representatives from the Culinary and Entertainment Departments at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Although there has been a lot of attention focused recently on InvadR, the park’s new wooden roller coaster, BGW has also been working on new restaurants and shows in the off-season. Our first […]
Over the last few months, Howl-O-Scream’s Evil Encore has taken center stage in the minds of most Busch Gardens Williamsburg fans. Now that Mr. Karver and his dolls have seen their final curtain call, lets point the spotlight back on the park’s 2017 wooden roller coaster project, InvadR. Historically it has been difficult for BGWFans […]
Additional Christmas Town Ticketing Info & Thoughts
As we reported Thursday, Busch Gardens Williamsburg is implementing an innovative, dynamic discount ticket structure for Christmas Town. We have real hopes that this new approach will mitigate the overcrowding we experienced last year. During our interview with Dan Dipiazzo, we asked if BGWFans could get a copy of the cost calendar with us before […]
Christmas Town 2016 Discount Tickets
On Wednesday I spoke with Dan Dipiazzo, Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Vice President of Marketing, about the new dynamic ticket pricing structure for Christmas Town. It was clear that the park is making real changes in an attempt to address the extremely high crowd levels we have all experienced in recent years. Since its inception in […]
On the first day of Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2016 Howl-O-Scream event, Zachary and I attended a media preview, where we were invited to explore the park’s two new “No Escape” escape rooms: The Case of Jack the Ripper and The Case of Mr. Karver. The former seemed to tie in well with the Terror-tory in Banbury […]
When Zachary and I planned this article on the 2016 Busch Gardens Williamsburg Food & Wine Festival, we expected it to be no more than the second half of our normal food review. The first installment was intended to highlight each of the individual dishes, while this one was meant to look more broadly at […]