After spending the previous weekend at Six Flags America (SFA) and shooting footage for future YouTube content, I was feeling the itch to go head back out and shoot some more. I decided to head down to Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) on Friday, April 29, 2022 to record several more POV’s and shoot a bunch of off-ride content. The forecast was calling for clear skies and temperatures in the low 70’s, so it would be perfect.
For this trip I packed not only my GoPro, but my DSLR as well. I usually don’t take it because I hate lugging it around or making my friends wait while I spend valuable ride time shooting photos. I’ve only brought it when I know I’ll be traveling alone. That was the case on Friday and since I had recently visited BGW, I figured I could afford to dedicate the time to shooting. That and Pantheon has been next to impossible to shoot, so I knew taking a zoom lens would come in handy.
So Much Footage!
With BGW allowing for on-ride filming with pre-authorized camera equipment and harnesses, I obtained approval to use both my chest mount and my brand new hand mount. I picked up the hand mount after struggling with the POV footage of Loch Ness Monster my prior visit. Those Arrow trains sit so low and the footage showed way too much of the train’s hood for my liking.
While my new hand mount vastly improved the view, the trade off was a less stable video. A few spots on the ride caused my hand to bounce around and make the ride appear to have several rough spots. They appear worse than they are, especially when compared to how smooth the chest-mounted footage looks. I’m torn on which to upload to the We Were Inverted YouTube channel.
Regardless of my mixed feelings concerning the mount, I used it to film several more on-ride POV’s. Those include: Le Scoot, Escape From Pompeii, Grover’s Alpine Express, Alpengeist, and Finnegan’s Flyer. I’ve been longing to film on both water rides for some time now. I am glad I got both of them in one visit. Grover’s I filmed on twice, once from the left Grover in the lead car, and once from the right. I filmed Alpengeist again just to see how it would differ from chest mounted POV on the site’s channel. As for Finnegan’s, my aim was to film on the opposite side and swing from when I rode with Mindy a few weeks ago. I lucked out and will be uploading it to compliment the one already online.
Video wasn’t the only thing I shot Friday. The gallery for this trip report features almost 90 photos from numerous rides – some of which I didn’t even ride during this visit. I also added them to the Busch Gardens Williamsburg Gallery, putting its photo count just shy of the 300 mark.
Couldn't Resist Riding
During my time shooting footage I was sharing some of my results with the crew. They were loving the photos just as much as I was, but I confessed that I was driving myself insane because I really wanted to ride these coasters. I showed some restraint, however, and other than the POV’s mentioned above, I spent the first few hours at the park with cameras in my hand. Once the evening rolled around though, it was game on!
Loch Ness Monster
This historic coaster is one I’ve loved since my childhood. That being said, 42 year old me knows it’s not the most comfortable ride at the park. By no means is the coaster rough, but it has those iconic Arrow transitions that will bounce you around a bit in your seat. Thankfully, I don’t bang my head on the over-the-shoulder restraints. Some people do, so I’m hoping that one day the coaster trains might be updated to something similar to Vekoma’s trains featuring vest restraints. I’m not sure if that is possible, but if it is and it could improve the ride experience down the road, why not?
As it sits now, Nessie is a coaster I try to ride every visit, but I couldn’t tell you the last time I’ve ridden it more than once. My lone ride on Friday came when I filmed my POV. I thought about re-riding again later and seeing if I could get something better, but I was in ride mode by then. Still, my only ride that day still brought back memories of my youth.
Speaking of which, this coaster will be featured in an upcoming installment of my Influential Coasters of My Childhood series. Be on the watch for that in the weeks to come. I sure have enough footage for this coaster’s installments!
Alpengeist
Loch Ness Monster isn’t the only coaster at BGW for which I have a special fondness. Alpengeist is another and falls just shy of being eligible for my Influential Coasters series since I didn’t ride it until after my 18th birthday. I guess I’ll have to do it’s own separate feature outside the series down the road, or maybe even something on YouTube. Anyhow, I never tire of riding Alpengeist and I managed four rides this visit. Three of those came in the back with one in the front. I also managed two night rides, which just hit different!
Since my first-ever ride on Alpengeist it has held strong as my all-time favorite inverted coaster. It’s also remained as my favorite coaster overall at BGW. That placement is now being challenged, however.
Pantheon
I managed to get three rides on Pantheon and they rank as some of my best to date. Each and every visit it feels like it is running faster and that some of the elements have a little more bite to them. That was especially the case for my two night rides coming at park close.
Getting in my first ride around 7:00 p.m., I decided to wait until 8:45 p.m. to head back over for a re-ride. I wanted to experience the coaster in the dark, which I had yet to do. As luck would have it, I wouldn’t end up with just one night ride, but two. As the ride ops sent out the last couple of trains, they allowed riders to hop back on to fill up the last trains of the night. All I had to do was go from Row 1 to Row 2. Fair enough!
All I have to say is, “Wow!” I love night rides and this one ranks up there as one of the best. It was pitch black, except for the station. I’m also glad I managed to experience the ride without it light package used a few weeks ago. While I think it look neat, nothing beats a night ride with very limited lighting. Maybe they could consider running the coaster this way for Howl-O-Scream if the lights will be making a return?
Final Ride Counts
Alpengeist (4)
Apollo’s Chariot (2)
Escape From Pompeii (1)
Finnegan’s Flyer (1)
Grover’s Alpine Express (2)
Le Scoot (1)
Loch Ness Monster (1)
Pantheon (3)
Skyride (1)
Verbolten (1)
Meeting a Fellow Enthusiast
I’ve said it time and time again… Meeting fellow enthusiasts has been my favorite thing about running my site. As the minutes were counting down at the end of the night while waiting for Pantheon, I met Cody. Since we were both flying solo, I told him he could ride with me if he wanted. He said sure and soon after, nerd talk ensued.
The two night rides I mentioned above on Pantheon came while riding with Cody. We had such a blast even getting stuck out on the brake run for 10-15 minutes to close out the night. We were walking out the park well after close. Oh well! It gave us a chance for more enthusiast nerd talk.
It’s always great meeting new people and I hope Cody and I can catch up again sometime. He mentioned running his own YouTube channel, CartCody, where he uploads videos of his NoLimits 2 creations. Be sure to check it out. His Pantheon re-creation is awesome! It’s just missing the part where you get stuck out on the brake run for a while.
Busch Gardens Photo Gallery - April 29, 2022
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): n/a
