Busch Gardens

If you loved the fireworks on the Fourth of July, but they were way to short for your tastes, then you don’t have to just remember them, you can visit Busch Gardens Europe located in Williamsburg Virginia where you can once again tilt your head up and exclaim “ooooh” and “aaaah” in delight and unison with the folks around you. And best of all, the nightly summer light display and fireworks show called “IllumiNights” can be viewed while holding on to the railing of the Rhine River Cruise ship in the middle of the river. The transformation that “IllumiNights” brings to the park is so amazing it is almost like visiting two different theme parks, one in the day time and another at night.

Every night you will find something to delight your senses and your children, from parades in the French area to what is possibly the world’s largest living cuckoo clock in the German section of the park. The sixty-five foot high cuckoo clock is decorated with human beings dressed in quaint and traditional Black Forest costumes acting out the many different parts of a traditional cuckoo clock. There is an “oompah” band and milk maids along with wood choppers and wonderful music. The whole display ends with a giant cuckoo chicken popping out with what looks like parts of the clock it has been eating in its mouth.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is one of two Busch Gardens Theme Parks in the U.S and has got some of the best extreme roller coasters around. They have one of only four “dive” coasters in the world. If you think of diving off a cliff, that is the calculated sensation that you get on the Griffon, not once, but twice as you whip around the elevated track. It is not your grandpa’s roller coaster. Instead of little cars in a row, they have arranged the seating to be “side ways” – it is almost like they picked up a section of stadium seats and fastened them to the under carriage. Those folks on the left and right, especially in the front row, do not have anything, including the track, under their feet. Your legs just dangle in the air. You have got to try it!!