Busch Gardens Williamsburg Admission Ticket

Posted By : hannahmH9755RJ
Busch Gardens Christmas Town never disappoints. Park was beautiful as always and staff was friendly and helpful.
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Posted On : 2024-01-01 14:49:41

Posted By : masonmariec
If I could give this park zero stars, I would. My boyfriend and I went to Busch Gardens Williamsburg this past holiday, and calling it a "horrible experience" is an understatement. We drove down from Pennsylvania to enjoy the Christmastown experience and the limited number of rides that they offer in the winter. I went to the same park two years ago, and it was an amazing experience; however, this park has drastically declined since then.

When we arrived on the first day, the park had closed due to the weather. Although I understand a park closing due to pouring rain or severe weather, the weather that particular day was not terrible in the least. It had rained previously in the morning, and the weather for the afternoon/evening was perfect. Since we were only in Virginia for three days, we essentially lost a hundred since the park was closed the first day.

We returned to the park the following day, and this is where things went south very quickly. The first thing we wanted to do was the rides. We are both big rollercoaster fans and wanted to enjoy the few rides that they had open. Verbolten was quick to access and was not busy. We also went onto Pantheon, which had an hour wait but was completely worth it. We decided to then try our luck on DarKoaster. The line was about an hour long; however, after waiting for thirty minutes, the ride was then closed down due to a maintenance issue. We then decided to try our luck with Alpengiest, only to find out that this ride was also closed. Because of these ride closers, the remaining four rides that were left open had waits of almost two hours. Waiting for almost two hours was not worth it, so we decided to forget about the rides. We had purchased the meal plan before arriving in Virginia and decided to try our luck at getting some food. We went to the Marco Polo restaurant in Italy, only to find that the line to your order food was through the exit of the restaurant. This not only created confusion and chaos but also made it impossible to get out of the restaurant to pay for the food. At one point, the line for this restaurant was over an hour long. Not to mention, the employees are extremely rude and obviously hate their jobs. Customers became so frustrated that they actually began to yell at employees and other patrons. The food was good but was definitely overpriced, and there was no coordination on how to receive your meals. After only being at the park for a few hours, we decided to cut our losses and leave. The park was absolutely packed, and there was no coordination from the employees, making things extremely chaotic and stressful.

We went back to the park for the final day of our three-day trip because we did not want to lose out on more money. The park was not as packed as it was the day before. We decided to go to Pantheon again when we arrived, and then we made our way to Verbolten. The Verbolten ride was really fun... until we got stuck at the top of it. We waited there for about fifteen minutes until they finally got the ride going again. I'm normally very good with heights on rollercoasters, but being stuck on them is a completely different story. After we got off, we decided to try our luck again on DarKoaster. It was an hour-long wait to get onto the ride. The advertisements for this ride make it seem like it is this cool and scary indoor rollercoaster with four high-speed launches, but in reality, it is nothing but a disappointment. The decorations and lighting effects look like they were bought from Spirit Halloween, and the ride is just a loop of the same track. I wish that calling it "underwhelming" would be a proper enough adjective for this ride, but it's beyond that.

Overall, I am very disappointed with Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It is obvious that this amusement park has drastically declined and that the employees/owners do not care. The lack of coordination, along with the blatant disregard for customers' time and money to attend this event, is clear to see. I suggest that you do not spend your money to come to this park. You will leave disappointed and frustrated. Christmas Town is meant to bring in the holiday spirit, but in retrospect, it ruined my entire holiday.

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Posted On : 2024-01-01 14:17:07

Posted By : 968pamelaw
We are an “amusement park” family. We love going to parks and riding rides and have been all over the country from California to Ohio and PA as well as to Flordia etc. all that to say we have a lot of experiences with parks and lines and crowds.

So when we went to Christmastown on Thursday between Christmas and New Years we were looking forward to it. We Arrived before the park opened so we would have plenty of time.

We spent money to buy our pic with the Clydesdale and rode the flyers. From there we went on around to find that the ice skating show, Twas the Night, had only two shows that were later in the day, the Christmas train was closed til 5; Darkoaster was broken down, Alpengeist was closed for cold temps (it was 57 degrees) and so we went into the Haus Top show. Came out and found the darkoaster was open. Waited 90 minutes, which isn’t out of the norm for a new coaster and thought it was a good ride especially for an indoor coaster.

When we came out from that ride it was wall to wall people. We literally had to shuffle (not walk) and tried to get to the front of the park to see the Scrooge show; which again only had 2 showings (at almost the same time as the Twas the Night show). There was a massive line and the theater filled to capacity.

We then headed to Twas the Night first showing. After the show we had to decide between the train or trying for the Scrooge show again, which we wouldn’t have made anyway. So we went to the train and waited 45 minutes.

At 9:00pm we got in line for Verbolten (it had been a 2 hour wait before). At 9:50pm they shuffled everyone through the exit saying that it was closed!!! Why let people stand in line knowing they will be there for almost an hour and not get on the ride.

The food prices were ridiculous and more than I could justify spending for a family of 5. $6.50 for a bottle of Powerade, $10 for a pretzel… spending $50 for each person to have only one pretzel is crazy!

It was completely disappointing and frustrating. Between 2pm and 10pm, we rode one coaster, rode the train, watched one of the smaller shows, one of the more major shows and one light show on the water ride front. We spent $20 on a picture, $16 for a drink and one piece of cake, $10 for one pretzel. Everything else was closed or full to capacity because there were too many people.

A complete waste of the over $300 we spent on tickets plus the more than $300 for our hotel, not to mention food and gas. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY!!!
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Posted On : 2023-12-29 22:18:44

Posted By : bethtJ5422DI
Christmas Town is beautiful, but they are letting too many buy tickets for the same day - people were literally on top of one another and wait times were hours for rides that last 2 minutes. We didn't even try to buy food given the long long lines. This event really needs timed tickets or some limitations on how many can be in the park at one time. There were simply too many at one time in the venue - we didn't get our $$$ worth for the ticket and parking - it was hard to even look at the lights in certain areas given there were so many people in the walk paths. Unfortunately, I won't be back anytime soon unless changes are made.
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Posted On : 2023-12-29 10:20:31

Posted By : tamalePittsburgh
I felt like I needed to write this review after visiting because I was swayed by the prior reviews. We were a family of 4 with two young adults in twenties. We bought the dining plan for $30 extra per person. Paid for parking ahead as well. Our goal was to ride coasters, see ALL shows and lights in two days. We were there on a Friday and Saturday the weekend before Christmas. Remember, this is a big park! We walked 10 miles plus a day.

DAY 1 We arrived prior to opening by about an hour. First to walk in at 2PM. We went straight to coasters. Road them all a couple times. No long waits. Not too cold. Went to three shows: Scrooged No More, Up on HouseTop and Gloria. Incredible shows!!! Gloria is smaller venue so we arrived 30 minutes early for a seat. Gloria was prob my fav! We ate during the Up on the HouseTop show. Turkey dinner. A bit dry but okay. Ate at the Pretzel place with turkey/cheese and pretzel buns. Yum. Later ate at the Smokehouse. Again, so good. Loved heated seating to eat. Red Velvet Cupcake - hard to find but really good. We rode Invader at night because it was still open. If it is below 45 degrees, expect most coasters to close. It was quite tight walking starting around 6pm. However, we already did most things - now we walked and enjoyed lights. So perfect. How could anyone criticize! It was like Christmas Wonderland every where. Everywhere songs, everywhere lights and decorations. Ooozed Christmas. Turn a corner and snow was floating in the air. Wow factor a 10! Tip, ride train 30 min before closing. No wait. Long lines earlier. We stayed til close and road Invader twice. Yes, a bit chilly but dress for it. All amusement parks by us close before dark in the summer so we never get to ride coasters at night.

Day 2 - Again got there one hour before opening and stayed til close with dining plan. Opened at Noon. Rode all the coasters and some twice. Shows we saw: Celtics, Twas the Night on Ice, Foxes talk, Wolves Talk, Clydesdale talk, ate at Marco Polo twice and french fry place. The WiseMen perform while eating at Marco! Less crowded Saturday than Friday night. Road coasters in the evening as well with small wait. Road skyrides to look down on lights. Loved the Tree light show and the Polar light shows. Saw them several times as we walked around. We hit a few noncoasters. Lines a bit longer for those but maybe because they were more family friendly?? The walks along the side paths, so amazing and peaceful.

BUSCH GARDENS YOU DID AN ABSOLUTELY AMAZING JOB!! I have never seen anything more beautiful and I don't think anything could ever top it. We returned home with such a dose of Christmas spirit. We also loved that they really focused on the true meaning of why we have Christmas. Christ the savior was born for us!! The complainers probably did not prepare for their trips like us. Get there early, see ALL the shows, ride the rides, walk all the lights, soak up the Christmas love with your family, enjoy the food and be the last to leave. If I could give higher than 5 star, my whole family would. Worth the 6 hour drive. Hands down, beats anything Disney :)
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Posted On : 2023-12-26 11:50:14

Posted By : Jbultbouse
My husband and I had a membership with them for the past couple of years, and we were going to stop the automatic repay so we that we could get the discounted prices per the Black Friday deal. On November 20th, I ordered via the app and then realized that the prices were higher on the app than on the website. By perusing Facebook, I found this out. So, after talking to a representative on the 22nd of November, I got that order canceled. That same day over the phone with that same representative, I ordered the membership passes at the discounted prices listed on the website. The representative said that we were all good to go and that we were active members. Then we got an email to accept the conditions and I clicked the “accept” button although I had done that already with the representative on the line. On the next day after this purchase and after the acceptance of the conditions, we received an email advising that the order was cancelled. I called once again and placed another order on November 26th or 27th to get the membership passes at the Black Friday discounted price. Again, the representative said that we were good to go and that we were active members. The following day I received an email advising to accept the conditions, I immediately emailed the supervisor Juan Lopez that was trying to help me telling him of the email I had received. I asked the supervisor what to do with that email. The supervisor directed me to ignore it because we were active members. On the next day, we received an email stating that the order was cancelled. By this time, the Black Friday deal was done. I communicated with Juan Lopez and Juan Lopez told me he was the highest up that I could speak to. Juan Lopez’s job title is Floor Coach. Juan told me that there was nothing he could do and that he could not allow me to purchase the passes at the Black Friday discounted rates. He was more than eager to help me order a fourth time-if I would have allowed it. I refused to purchase the passes a fourth time at the regular price since I had worked hard to purchase the passes at the Black Friday discounted rate. After all of this was done and said, my husband and I spent many hours trying to get our kids discounted memberships for the year. All the while, I felt like nobody cared. Also, I heard repeatedly that I had talked to the highest up. The highest up could not do anything. Randomly, Busch Gardens charged my credit card in the first week of December. So that they could not charge my credit card at will, I canceled my credit card and got a new one. I do NOT recommend Busch Gardens at all due to the way they handled the situation.
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Posted On : 2023-12-21 18:48:41

Posted By : F8064XMtaram
The park was beautifully lit for the holidays. If you get a good day without rain and not too cold, early Dec. is the perfect time to go. No lines on most of the rides. Food is a total ripoff though.
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Posted On : 2023-12-18 20:13:54

Posted By : LPSTP
We purchased tickets for Busch Gardens Virginia Christmas Town and went during the week, last week. Very cold experience, thankfully it wasn't raining!
PROS:
> The Christmas lights were beautiful.
> Every cast member we spoke to was very pleasant and helpful, even offering to escort us to where we wanted to go.
> We really enjoyed the Christmas show at the German Festhaus, Talented, enthusiastic cast.
CONS:
> #1 complaint was the lack of directional SIGNAGE!!! Christmas Town uses some different names than Busch Gardens in the summer and IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD TO RECEIVE A MAP UPON ENTERING!!!!!
> It is DARK in Busch Gardens at night.
> They no longer accept CASH! Only credit cards and apps.
> We also purchased the All Day Dining Pass, but cast members were not sure what exactly was included (besides the standard restaurants). Never found out if we could have gotten hot chocolate or pastries.
> We ate dinner at the Festhaus, but choices were extremely limited. The only available platter was the sausage sampler, 3 sausages, veges and potatoes, but no sauerkraut or German red cabbage as advertised. For that matter, there was no pizza or salad, either.
> There were also several events that entailed an extra ($$$) ticket.
> They advertise over 25 rides & coasters open, unfortunately, many rides were not operating when we were there. Even the train ride only was running a single train.... 20 minute wait if you missed getting on.
The gardens ARE beautiful and the designers went all out on the addition of Christmas Lights, but Busch Gardens covers a LARGE area and the most popular areas are at the back of the park, If you end up there it is a long, convoluted walk back to the entrance. In the cold.......

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Posted On : 2023-12-11 17:53:39

Posted By : BrookeB816
Busch Gardens Williamsburg has really gone to sh!t. Howl o scream has gotten worse each year for several years now, and Christmas Town is completely ruined. We went last Monday and half the shows were closed. The sky ride didn't open until 6:00 p.m., and I needed it to get my wheelchair around the park. We thought maybe all of these issues were just because it was a Monday, so we went back on a Friday. We had meticulously scheduled our visit to make sure we got to see the shows that were not open when we were last there. The first show on our schedule was canceled when we got there. The sky rides were again not opening until 6:00 p.m., and not even open then because of some work that was being done with a crane somewhere. The train was not a transportation option either because it no longer stops anywhere except France. It's a round trip and you can't get off anywhere else. They haven't had animal shows in a while, and our favorite meal options at the smokehouse were eliminated as well. They've closed most of the kiosks throughout the park where we used to get hot chocolate refills. Now there are only a handful of places in the whole park where you can do that. There aren't carolers wandering the park anymore. It seems like they've even gotten skimpy with the decor. Oh, and GENERAL parking is $30 now!!! It's all a real shame.
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Posted On : 2023-12-09 06:53:23

Posted By : 423lynh
The Christmas Town decor was wonderful and most, but not all, rides were in operation. We enjoyed our day/night at BG Williamsburg, but did not like that they have gone cashless and only accept credit cards. While I usually prefer to use my credit card, I don't think that BG should be charging a 5% charge on everything; they don't give you a choice except to go thirsty or hungry or not buy any of their already overpriced merchandise. It already costs way too much for a fun day as admission and parking are charged at a premium. We accept these costs, but not the extra 5% on every charge at their park. I am telling everyone I know so that they can make a choice BEFORE they get to BG. It's just wrong!
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Posted On : 2023-12-05 09:08:18