The Best Experience at Busch Gardens Williamsburg Isn’t a Ride (Kind of)
Backstage view of Griffon
This past weekend, we had the pleasure of experiencing the Roller Coaster Insider Tour at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. This behemoth of a behind-the-scenes tour spans over four hours, four different coasters, countless backstage secrets, and, yes, a healthy dose of skip-the-line perks. Starting at $62.99 a person (not including member discounts), it is one of the park's most worthwhile experiences. Follow along with us to experience the fun and hopefully get a sense of what your day as a roller coaster insider might entail.
Stop One: Verbolten
Inside of the Verbolten show building
Unfortunately, the Zierer multi-launch coaster Verbolten was closed for yearly maintenance on the day of our visit, which meant no skip-the-line perks after our tour. But as you’ll see, that disappointment led to a surprise in the show building.
The tour began with a walk to Oktoberfest, and at a brief stop at the ride’s entrance, we learned a few fun facts about the cars used in the facade. The Porsche at the front of the queue was driven into the park in full working order by the administration and given to the set designers to use how they saw fit. Also, the souped-up VW by the station is meant to belong to Gunter, one of the siblings you occasionally hear from in the queue. He has modified it to survive the harsh conditions of the forest. On the scaffolding below the VW, you can see some German writing that the bilinguals among us may recognize. “Do or do not, there is no try” (Shh, don’t tell Disney).
Backstage at Verbolten
With the outdoor portion of the tour concluded, it was time to enter the Black Forest. The show building revealed a spaghetti bowl of twisting steel and neon cutouts. Walking a lap around the gigantic space and taking in the details seemed worth the price of admission alone. The best surprise, however, was the one made possible by the ride being closed. We scaled three stories of stairs and made our way onto the “drop track” portion of the show building. I was shocked at the level of theming in the area with lights on and by how high up we were. This part of the tour would not have been available if the ride was running; always look for the silver linings! After our inside tour, we walked behind the ride and saw the bridge next to the Rhine River up close and personal. This walkway also provided a good vantage point for a certain work site that may or may not be the park's newest coaster.
Stop Two: Alpengeist
After exiting the Black Forest, we returned to Germany and stepped behind the scenes of the B&M inverted coaster Alpengeist. The first item of major significance actually seemed fairly ordinary. Right next to the loading stations is a pipe, painted the same color as the track and no longer than 10 feet. This pipe, however, predates Alpengeist and is itself something of an opening day attraction. This pipe reaches hundreds of feet below the ground to the aquifer that supplies water to Le Scoot, the park's log flume ride. In building Alpengeist, Busch Gardens specifically told manufacturer B&M that they had to build around the access to the aquifer. This direction is why Aplie’s lift hill has a different support structure than most B&M coasters.
Aquifer pipe behind Alpengeist
Inside the service station, we were allowed to play with some natural magnetic brakes, see how our seats clicked into place, and hold several wheels from coasters around the park. The most significant of which was the LAST remaining wheel from their classic Arrow coaster, Big Bad Wolf. After finishing our tour, we were taken to the Alpengeist station for two back-to-back skip-the-line opportunities. Apologies to anyone who was waiting for our row.
Stop Three: Griffon
Behind the scenes at Griffon
Next up, it was time to leave Germany and head towards France and another B&M, the 205 ft tall dive coaster Griffon. Griffon was our first chance to see a coaster train in active maintenance and get up close and personal. It wasn’t until after we were underneath the train and spinning the wheels that they included the little detail that each train for Griffon weighs 9 tons! One row of Griffon weighs more than an entire Loch Ness Monster train. Needless to say, we didn’t stand underneath the train anymore after that. Once we were done fawning over the inactive Griffon train, it was time to ride one. Again, two back-to-back skip-the-line rides, and again, apologies to whoever was waiting for our row.
Stop Four: Apollo’s Chariot
Apollo’s Chariot maintenance bay
Leaving Griffon, we were provided an excellent vantage point to watch the recently updated Loch Ness Monster leave the station and round its first bend. From there, we were off to the first ever B&M Hyper Coaster Apollo’s Chariot. Along the way, we passed a lot of backstage set dressing for the upcoming Howl-O-Scream event. It took a lot of self-control to follow instructions and not snap any pictures, as it is my favorite yearly event at the park. Once inside Apollo’s Chariot maintenance bay, we were treated to yet another view of a train being serviced by park staff. The inactive train looked longingly out of the maintenance bay door at the first lift hill it wasn’t currently scaling with its fellow trains. Of course, Apollo’s Chariot behind the scenes comes with a Fabio story or two. I did not previously know that the famous goose from the incident (watch Andrew’s video if you’re unfamiliar) is buried in a grave on the grounds. Also, air cannons were added at the valley of each hill to fire periodically, scaring away any birds and preventing such events from occurring in the future. Once again, we were allowed two back-to-back skip-the-line rides on Apollo’s Chariot before our tour concluded.
The view out to Apollo’s Chariot
Before saying our goodbyes, as consolation for Verbolten being closed, we were offered one more skip-the-line opportunity on the recently added Intamin multi-launch coaster Pantheon. I’d say it was a fair trade.
In our four years of membership at Busch Gardens, this is by far the best experience we have had at the park. Our tour guide, Lindsay, was knowledgeable and friendly and worked really hard to make it a personal experience for each member of our group. Overall, I can not recommend it enough for coaster fans and anyone who enjoys theme parks in general. It heightened our appreciation for our beloved park and will inform our future visits in a way that I didn’t expect. Everyone deserves to be a Roller Coaster Insider for a day.
Our amazing tour guide Lindsay
