Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Busch Gardens Williamsburg (formerly Busch Gardens Europe and Busch Gardens: The Old Country) is a 422-acre (1.71 km2) amusement park in James City County, Virginia, near Williamsburg. The park, which is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Virginia Beach, was developed by Anheuser-Busch (A-B) and is owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. It opened on May 16, 1975, next to Anheuser-brewery Busch's and near other Anheuser-Busch developments such as the Kingsmill Resort complex. The park was originally known as Busch Gardens: The Old Country and is themed to various European country themes. The park was renamed Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 1993, and it was briefly known as Busch Gardens Europe from 2006 to 2008. In 2015, an estimated 2.78 million people visited the park. It is ranked twentieth in overall attendance among North American amusement parks.  Busch Gardens is well-known for its roller coasters, which include Griffon, Loch Ness Monster, Alpengeist, and Apollo's Chariot, the latter of which was named the fourth best steel coaster in Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards publication in 2012.

History

Anheuser-Busch (A-B) began developing the Busch Gardens theme park in the early 1970s as part of the company's development investment in the Williamsburg area, which grew to include a brewery, the Kingsmill Resort, as well as residential and office properties. It first opened as Busch Gardens: The Old Country 47 years ago, in 1975. The St. Louis-based brewer made the investment after talks between August Busch, II and Winthrop Rockefeller, the governor of Arkansas and chairman of Colonial Williamsburg in the 1960s and 1970s. (In the 1990s, A-B purchased Water Country USA, a local water park, and added it to the company's theme park operations, which also include a number of Sea World properties in other states.) As a brewer in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, A-B found itself competing in an increasingly global market. After initially rejecting an unsolicited stock bid, A-B announced in 2008 that it had reached an agreement to be acquired by the even larger Belgium-based InBev. As part of their efforts to reduce the debt incurred to fund the acquisition, the newer owners announced plans to sell off portions of A-B activities that were not part of the core beverage business.

In late 2009, the Blackstone Group was chosen to acquire and operate the ten former A-B theme parks, including two in the Williamsburg area. Xanterra Parks and Resorts planned to buy the adjacent Kingsmill Resort in July 2010.Phillip Anschutz's company, based in Denver. The COVID-19 pandemic had delayed the park's opening for the 2020 season by mid-March 2020. The park was closed until August 6, 2020, when it reopened with a brand-new special event, Coasters and Craft Brews.  The all-new special event had a limited capacity, required advanced reservations, and required temperature screening of guests upon arrival in select park villages. As the pandemic spread, the park continued to host limited-capacity special events such as Taste of Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Halloween Harvest (instead of Howl-O-Scream), Christmas Celebration (instead of Christmas Town), Winter Weekends, and Mardi Gras. The park will be open year-round beginning in January 2021. Busch Gardens Williamsburg previously operated from late March to early January. The park's limited-capacity Winter Weekends and Mardi Gras events are the first time it has ever been open during the winter months.

Conservation

Jack Hanna's Wild Reserve is home to a number of wild animals, including grey wolves and bald eagles. The Sea World & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, which offers guests the opportunity to contribute to wildlife conservation, is a collaboration between Busch Gardens and Sea World (also owned by Sea World Parks & Entertainment). The Rhine River Cruise's boats are battery-powered to reduce power consumption and water pollution. Furthermore, as part of the parks' commitment to organic gardening, Busch Gardens and Water Country USA both use insects rather than pesticides. All of the brochures, maps, show guides, and paper products used in the restrooms are made from recycled materials.

Transportation and parking

Crown Metal Products built a Caledonian Railway locomotive for the Busch Gardens Railway.Special parking areas are provided at the park for people with disabilities, recreational vehicles, and groups arriving by bus or motor coach. Trams provide shuttle service from outlying parking areas to entrance gates. Three steam locomotive-powered trains operate within the park on the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge Busch Gardens Railway, a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) loop of track that connects the Heather downs, Fests Italia, and New France themed areas. A sky ride transports visitors between the Ban bury Cross, Aquitaine, and Rhinefeld themed areas.