Busch Gardens Europe wins 'World's Best Theme Park' Award

[ALIASd]

Busch Gardens Europe Wins Prestigious 'World's Best Theme Park' Award </IMG>

WILLIAMSBURG, Va., July 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The results are in and theme park fans around the world have voted Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg, Va. the "World's Best Theme Park." The "Theme Park Insider Awards" are given each year based on votes cast at http://www.themeparkinsider.com/ . Only the site's 12,000 registered members -- theme park fans from all 50 U.S. States and 80 countries -- are eligible to cast ballots.

"This is a tremendous honor for Busch Gardens Europe and all of its employees because it acknowledges not only our great rides and shows, but also our beauty, theming, dedicated world-class guest service and overall park experience," said Donnie Mills, general manager of the European-themed park. "To be recognized by Theme Park Insider, a site created for and read by people who know and love this industry, is a privilege that reaffirms our efforts to provide world-class service to every one of our park guests," he added.

The win is a first for Busch Gardens Europe, though the park's "Curse of DarKastle" ride won Theme Park Insider's "World's Best Theme Park Attraction" award last year. The awards were first given in 2002.

http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainm...0072006-1.html

[MandaBella]

BGE really is a beautiful well-rounded theme park. I love it!

[InnerSpace]

Busch Gardens really is a beautiful park. The theming is superb. DIsney may have great theming, but Busch Gardens Europe really does beat Disney on it. The rides are well done, well maintained. It's very clean over there. There are so many trees that you have to keep walking the paths to see what's around the corner. Of oucrse, the roller coasters are fun, especially Alpengeist, may favorite. And Curse of DarKastle is AWESOME. I wish Disney would do something like that.

[FlyThenFall]

I love this park. They just combine things so well...although they don't have nearly enough big-ticketed attractions that you have family experiences with a la Disneyland, it has stuff for everyone. The food is awesome, the gardens are always maintained so beautifully, and their coasters knocked my socks off.

[figment1986]

Africa/Tampa is learning from it's younger sister slowly.. themeing is coming...

I can't wait to go back to this nice park.. this time with digital and video camera...

World class thrills.. and themeing, and atmosphere...

[mrcoaster]

Well deserved. BGE annually seems to win the Most Beautiful Park award, too. The park is clean, it's run well, the theming is great, the food is among the best I've had at any park. A day at BGE is almost always a great day. Two thumbs up for DarKastle. Great, great dark ride and a welcome addition to BGE's ride lineup.

[sir clinksalot]

We were going to go here last year when we were back east but we ended up going to Hershey instead.

Maybe next year.

[alex-jmp]

This is a well deserved award. I am glad to see the park win. Question, being that I have not had a chance to ride DarKastle yet, how does it compaire to Spiderman, seeing how the ride setup is rather simmilar?

[mrcoaster]

It's not quite as great as Spiderman, but it is a nice version of the technology. The storyline fits well into the theme of the area and the effects are pretty good. I was disappointed to find the pre-show was really cut back this year. When it opened, you waited in the outdoor queue and they let in a certain number of people into a Foyer in front of a pair of doors. It was dark with a few flickering lights and audio that played out the storyline for the ride. Then you'd move through the doors into another room where the movie setting up the ride and background of the main character would play. Then you'd move through the doors to the loading queue where you'd grab your 3-D glasses and get slotted into a row.

This year, the doors to the Foyer are always open and the line just continues through there with the doors always open. The inner room with the movie playing is now always open with a few back-and-forth corrals in the queue. The movie loops continuously as you queue through that section, but sometimes it's hard to hear the audio. The line just continues right up to the load area. I was disappointed with the changes since it didn't build up the anticipation of getting on the ride as much and took you out of the story a little bit. The ride itself is still very good, however. It's not Spiderman, but for a seasonal theme park they did a fantastic job with it.

[figment1986]

I enjoyed the park last Friday.... Nice area.. and of course my first ride every visit tradition continues, with Loch Ness Monster (Old Nessie)...

the park is beautiful, with trees, and natural foliage.. of course HOS was setting up in some areas.. but that wasn't a problem....

The 2007 attraction was under construction.. (I will make a new thread for it)

The park is themed Great.. and Darkcastle was fun! (My grandmother loved it, as well as liked Big Bad Wolf..)

[kcnole]

I've heard so many good things about this park that I really want to visit, but if I'm not a coaster fan will I find it worth a trip up there mainly for this park or will I leave very disapointed?

[TDR_Fan]

Busch Gardens Europe is beautiful, but I think Tokyo DisneySea beats it in terms of beauty and cleaness. I'm not kidding!

[Alpine]

It's an awesome park... and really only two of the rollercoasters are more intense than things you can find at Disney. There are a TON of other things to do, all very high-class.