in Europe
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| Independence Day in Europe |
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| ����������� Busch Garden's Williamsburg opened in 1976, and has been one of Hampton Roads major attractions ever since.� The amusement park is owned and operated by the Anheuser-Busch Corporation.� Numerous visitors to the area enjoy spending a day or two at the park, as do a lot of local residents.� Many local residents have annual passes to the park.� With an annual pass, you are able to enjoy the park all season long and you can stay all day, or only a few hours at a time.� The park even hosts a special day where they open the park and only those who hold passes are invited to attend.� As a family we have purchased | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| passes �every summer since we have moved here.� This year we visited the park on the Fourth of July to watch their fireworks display and take one last ride around the LeMans Raceway ride; we were going to "kill two birds with one stone," so to speak.� As five o?clock approached, we readied ourselves, gathering up our passes and putting on comfortable shoes.� Into the car and we were on our way.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| For the first time ever we took advantage of the free parking, which is included with our passes.� As we approached the closest of the free parking lots the entrance was blocked by cones. Onto the next lot, it too had its entrance blocked by cones.� As we drove further and further from the park's entrance, in pursuit of the free parking, I thought maybe saving six dollars was not such a savings.� We could see many empty parking stalls, but with the cones blocking the way, how were we to park in them?� At last, the final parking lot and no cones to block our way, but the only stalls left were those in the back.� I thought there had to be a way for us to take advantage of the empty parking stalls in the closest lot; without breaking any rules like, moving the cones. �There was when I drove to the exit lane of the far lot we were in, I was able to access the exit lane of middle lot and no one was exiting, so I used it to enter the lot.� This lot too had an exit lane that accessed the closest lot's exit lane. Driving in through the closest lot's exit, I parked our car in the front row of free parking! My kids thought it was funny not to move the cones, but instead to drive the wrong way.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The first thing we did after going through the entrance turn-stiles was stop by "Guest Relations" to purchases our meal tickets for dinner.� This is a great way to get the most food "bang" for your money; you get an entr�e, side or dessert, and beverage for less than fourteen dollars a person. After buying the tickets we started to make our way through the crowd; we knew exactly what ride we wanted to get to first, LeMans Raceway.� As I had read in a Daily Press article, the Lemans Raceway ride at Busch Gardens is closing.� The final day to ride this park original was, July 5, 2006.� Anheuser-Busch has not stated what type of ride will replace the LeMans ride, only that the replacement ride will be open for the park's 2007 season.� Records filed with James City County, imply that the replacement ride could be even taller than the Alpengeist ride, which is 195 feet tall.� Theme park enthusiasts have been posting to web sites their desire for a roller coaster type ride to be the LeMans replacement.� There is no plan for | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| what will be done with the ride's cars; after 31 years of raceway driving, they are said to have driven as many miles as it takes to drive around the world 400 times.� The park officials are scheduled to announce more details about the new ride, once thy have all their approvals. (Reklaitis).� Making sure we took one last ride around the track was important since the next day the ride was going to close and the opportunity would forever be gone. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| After disembarking from the racecars, dinner was next on the evening's agenda.� From New France to Germany, we walked, to the Das Festhaus for dinner.� Entering the Das Festhaus we were engulfed by smells of scrumptious foods.� After we made our way through the seating area to the actual food lines and could see the foods that were creating this wonderful smell, it was overwhelming.� The only thing any of us knew for sure was that one of us would be picking the eight layer chocolate cake as dessert. Everything looked fresh and delicious making choosing only one entr�e difficult.� As difficult as the decision was, we made our choices ribs, chicken, sausage, pastrami, strawberries, chocolates, lemon cream, and drinks.� Picking a table towards the corner of the eating area was to assure that our ?feasting? was not interrupted by the dancers.� That evening in the middle of the dining room there was a dance show going on, the dancers pick guests to participate with them in their show.� Watching the show while eating was the only participation we wanted to partake in.� The show complemented our meal fantastically and ended before the realization that there was no way all of the food in front of us would be finished.� We cleared the table of our uneaten food and exited the Das Festhaus. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Outside the Das Festhaus, a huge crowd had formed.� It appeared that everyone had migrated to Germany, in anticipation of the fireworks show. The show was not scheduled to start for another hour or so.� Weaving in and out of the crowd we made our way back to New France, and watched the"Kinetix" show.� This new show was full of song, dance, and circus acts. We thought it was too bright and busy.� When it finished, there was only five minutes till the show we had come to see, the fireworks. We made our way quickly to the "Skyride," ride line.� The"Skyride" is a ride that has open cable-cars that run the sky above the park, connecting at three different loading and unloading, points throughout the park.� The line took six minutes before it was our turn to get into a cable-car.� As the car exited the loading area the sky over head was lighting up with a hundred different colored bursts of fireworks. As we rose into the air the vibrant colors of the fireworks were not only filling the sky above us, but the sky in front of us too.� As the ride rose us up higher into the sky, the feeling of being in the fireworks was amazing.� Never had we seen a fireworks display in such a way.� A way that made us feel as | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| though we were "one" with each burst of light. The sensation that we might even fall as the light?s tail did as it dimmed towards the ground, was so real. �The booms and bangs from the fireworks tingled our spines with vibrations of panic and ecstasy at the same time.� �It was a truly awesome experience. �An experience we continued by hopping right back on the ride at the end of each ride section.� The hopping, bursting, banging, and riding lasted only about thirty minutes in all.� As I write about the experience now, I still can feel the tingle in my spine.� A tingle that my family and I have committed to try and achieve again on the next Forth of July, third of July, and second of July. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Works Cited | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reklaitis, Victor. "Busch Garden?s Ride Nears Final Lap." DailyPress.Com. Online. 28 June 2006. 29 June 2006. <;www.dailypress.com/business/local/dp61153sy0jun28,0,4912805.story?track=mostemailedlink>;. |
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