Tampa, Fla. (Dec. 1, 2015) – Christmas Town™transforms Busch Gardens® into a holiday wonderland of Christmastime entertainment, and the best way to unwrap the cheer is with all-new exclusive experiences that you and your family will treasure forever.
NEW!Holly Jolly Christmas Party
‘Tis the season for a Holly Jolly Christmas Party where spectacular Yuletide celebrations await. Mrs. Claus and her elves join you for dinner with a delicious all-you-care-to-eat pizza and salad buffet at the Garden Gate Café. The party keeps going with fun holiday activities, including writing a letter to Santa, decorating decadent cupcakes and singing classic Christmas carols.
NEW!Christmas Town™ VIP Experience
Unwrap all the magic of the holidays during the Christmas Town VIP Experience, a three-hour-long guided tour that is sure to make your Christmastime memories even more merry and bright. This ultimate experience is complete with:
Front-of-the-line access to Santa’s House presented by Coca-Cola®,where the Claus family invites you into their North Pole home as the elves prepare for Christmas. There, Santa will take a break from his busy holiday schedule to meet and take photos with in his private study.
An exclusive up-close encounter with Busch Gardens’African penguins.
Fun holiday activities at the Holly Jolly Christmas Party, including writing a letter to Santa, decorating decadent cupcakes and singing classic Christmas carols.
Delicious pizza and salad buffet hosted by Mrs. Claus and her elves at Garden Gate Café, or a holiday feast at the Crown Colony Restaurantfor an additional fee.
VIP seating to Christmas On Ice, where Yuletide melodies, deadline-driven elves and the big man himself come together to celebrate the many wonders of Christmas during this holiday spectacular.
Commemorative photo with Santa Claus and refillable hot chocolate mug.
For more information about these exclusive experiences, visit ChristmasTown.com for pricing and reservations. Christmas Town is included with any annual pass, Fun Card or daily admission to the park. The 2016 Fun Card is available for purchase now. With the 2016 Fun Card, guests pay for one day and get all of 2016 free. Plus, guests who purchase their 2016 Fun Card now can also visit Busch Gardens for the remainder of 2015 for no additional cost, including the popular Christmas Town™ event.
Last week, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions held their annual expo in Orlando. At the convention, ride manufacturers showed off their latest creations and parks revealed even more details of their new attractions!
Here’s some links to some of the news that we covered in other articles:
The first news we’re going to talk about is out of the RMC booth. Our friend Brent from Pixels at the Parks sent us pictures of the booth.
The two models the company offered until recently are the I-Box steel track and the topper track. They are pictured in the above image with I-Box on the left and Topper Track on the right.
I-Box track is used on roller coasters like Twisted Colossus and Wicked Cyclone. Instead of a wood layer underneath a thin steel top, it uses a purely steel track. This steel track requires minimal maintenance compared to the wooden track featured on the original versions of these rides.
On the right is the RMC topper track. With layers of wood and a piece of steel on top of the track, this is what allows rides like Outlaw Run to be called wooden coasters. It uses a system that allows for smooth, versatile, and fun rides!
In addition to their two track types that revolutionized the wooden coaster, it appears that Rocky Mountain construction is venturing into the steel coaster market with their latest two offerings.
The first of the two new offerings is this wild looking track, the T-Rex track! On a first impression, it looks as if it’s just a giant steel table, but this is a one-rail steel track!
This is a video of the new concept, which has been a hot topic in the community since preliminary images were released. The ride looks like another wacky and incredible Rocky Mountain Construction design!
Although it seemed to be a “sleeper” announcement at the conference, Rocky Mountain Construction also revealed a new family roller coaster track. The green track looks very similar to that of the I-Box track, but it is of a larger size. From the looks of it, I think it is for another one rail coaster. It will definitely be interesting to see what a Rocky Mountain Construction family coaster will be like.
With a launch, a backwards section, and a drop on it, the new Zamperla Family Coaster will be one of the company’s most unique and innovative attractions to date. Similar to Verbolten (although Verbolten was a Zierer coaster), this will be another product from the company suitable for guests of all ages.
Extreme Engineering Zipline Coaster:
One of the strangest and most interesting new attractions offered at the expo was the Extreme Engineering zipline Coaster. Although some may not be excited by this, I certainly am. I heard good things about it from a couple of riders and I’d love to see
A few months ago, Playland Castaway Cove revealed details on their next roller coaster, Gale Force. As the first S&S Launched El Loco, the company revealed the above new trains for the new product at the expo! They look like very nice trains similar to those on Cannibal at Lagoon.
Quassy Announces New Ride:
The SBF Visa Group and Quassy Amusement Park announced their newest attraction, Reverse Time, at the IAAPA Expo. It will be the first installation of this flat ride in the United States.
Yes, that’s right, the Philadelphia Toboggan Company still exists, and they now offer roller coaster trains that can go upside-down! They revealed their brand new “PTCI 360” trains with the interesting design shown above. I’m not sure what to think about them.
The company also revealed a new device to help those who are handicapped to enter roller coaster cars. The lift will hopefully make roller coasters more accessible to those who have a hard time riding.
Fun Spot – Crazy Couch and VR Testing:
Very early in the IAAPA conference, it was rumored that Fun Spot bought a Skyline Attractions Crazy Couch. Shortly thereafter, the park confirmed this, and as of Wednesday, November 25th, the attraction is operating at the park!
In addition to this, the park’s Freedom Flyer coaster was also used to showcase virtual reality technology on roller coasters. According to those who rode, the technology brought a fantastic new element to the ride and was perfectly synchronized to the actual ride.
Phobia Phear Coaster Trains Revealed:
Premier Rides and Lake Compounce showcased the trains for the latest Sky Rocket II clone coming to the park this year. Luckily, these will not have the dreaded “comfort” collars found on Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Tempesto.
Maurer Sohne revealed their newest products at the IAAPA Expo, which included a wing coaster and a bike coaster! It’s interesting to see more manufacturers offering these relatively new ride concepts.
New Skyplex Renderings:
Finally, in addition to all of the above news, the developers of Skyplex and Intamin released the latest renderings for the wild polercoaster! The ride is going to break even more world records as it will feature the world’s tallest vertical launch, which will take riders from 24 feet below the ground and up to over 500 feet in the air, straight into the world’s highest inversion!
Also, with this new rendering, images of the world’s tallest drop tower, Skyfall, were shown for the first time. Another notable feature is an example of a US Thrill Rides “Unicoaster,” which appears to be a modern version of Knoebels’s Looper flat ride, is located near the final inversion of the roller coaster.
What do you think of these IAAPA announcements? Let us know by commenting below! You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter,Periscope, YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr! Also, TP&T is now available on Apple News! Just search “Theme Parks and Travels” in the app, and hit the subscribe button!
In 2016, Busch Gardens Tampa will add yet another incredible roller coaster to their lineup, Cobra’s Curse. Now, we have even more details of the ride!
Today, at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Expo (IAAPA) in Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa and the manufacturer Mack Rides revealed a model of the attraction along with some new concept art. Lucky enough, we’ve got pictures of both for you to enjoy!
For the first time, we were given a look at the full layout of the ride. With a large elevator lift, a giant king cobra, and a curving layout that will interact with plants and themed buildings, this attraction is set to become a great new family ride for the thrill heavy park. Two more noteworthy features are the awesome looking outward banked turn early in the ride, and a second lift hill!
Cobra’s Curse construction has rapidly increased in pace recently. Although we can’t provide construction updates from Busch Gardens Tampa, our friends over at Pixels at the Parks certainly can! They’ve got some great updates for this project and others including SeaWorld Orlando’s Mako! You can view their Cobra’s Curse updates here!
What do you think about the Cobra’s Curse layout? Let us know by commenting below! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! You can also find us on Periscope, YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr! Last, but not least, TP&T is now available on Apple News! Just search “Theme Parks and Travels” in the app, and hit the subscribe button!
WILLIAMSBURG (Sept. 12, 2015) – Busch Gardens today announced new guest experiences for the 2016 season including a new restaurant, craft beer room and show, in a special preview to pass members.
Dining News
New restaurant: The current Italian restaurant (Ristorante della Piazza) in the park’s San Marco village is transforming into an international market-style restaurant next spring that will eliminate buffet lines for a more relaxing dining experience. The theme of the yet-to-be-named restaurant is based on the travels of Marco Polo and will feature classic Italian, Mediterranean and Asian entrée, salad and dessert stations. It also will include a new stone hearth oven for artisan flat breads. Work on the new restaurant begins in early November.
“We’re bringing the flavors of the world to the world’s most beautiful theme park,” said Busch Gardens Culinary Vice President Franz Kitenko. “And, we are excited to introduce a new open design that will enhance the dining experience for our guests with less wait and more options.”
New craft beer room: Beer aficionados will delight in a new craft beer room inside Das Festhaus opening in the spring and will serve 30 local and regional craft beers along with a variety of snacks.
New Show
The park also teased a new evening show to debut next summer that will light up the night sky at the open-air Busch Gardens’ Royal Palace Theatre. The show is a contemporary spin on the classic French tale of the three musketeers, as audiences join the trio on a quest to save king and country. This live performance embraces new technology and takes advantage of the night sky to bring guests into the story.
“An evening performance opens up a world of possibilities for an open-air venue like the Royal Palace Theatre,” said the park’s Entertainment Director Peter Dunklee. “Playing with light and shadow in the night air lets us immerse the audience into the storyline like never before. It’s definitely something worth staying late for.”
Are you excited for Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2016 additions? Let us know by commenting below and be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! You can also find us on YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr!