If you are looking for a clean amusement park with a variety of entertainment, Bush Gardens in Williamsburg fills the bill.

Though it does not compare to a place like Disney in terms of diverse entertainment and high tech attractions, Busch Gardens does offer something for everyone.

Bush Gardens is designed with European lands Germany, England, Italy, France and the new Ireland. Each section has attractions that you would associate with that area of the country. Attractions include rides, food, shows and shopping. In the just opened Ireland section for example you will find the Irish Thunder show. A wonderful contemporary Irish dance show. You will also find Emerald Isle a shop offering imported gifts like Irish Dresden and Celtic jewelry. And Corkscrew Hill a 3-D ride. Each area has its own little specialties that Bush has attempted to tie in with that country.

The theme park offers several variety shows. In addition to the Irish dancing, there is the American jukebox show (American popular tunes), some low key animal shows, the Starlight Orchestra and more! Though I am not a big ride person judging by the screams the roller coasters which include the Big Bad Wolf, the Alpengeist a coaster on a 3,828 foot track, and the Apollo's Chariot a high speed coaster with a 210 foot drop are fabulous. Scary looking too! We checked out several of the shows. The Irish Thunder show was terrific. Wonderful costuming, great footwork and really uplifting. The Secrets of Castle O'Sullivan about a man who inherits a castle was well acted but the material was a bit slow. Stick with the dance and singing shows if you are limited in time.

If you are planning a trip to the Park, check out discount tickets. Admission to the park is about $38. A call to my Parks and Recreation Center scored $5 savings a ticket. Grocery stores and hotels may offer discount specials also. It pays to ask around. I did feel the price of admission was justified.

The price of food was another story. EXPENSIVE! 2 funnel cakes and 3 bottles of water ran $15. Two turkey sandwiches with salad, one tiny pizza, two bottles of water and a beer ran close to $40.00. They sell large souvenir bottles filled with coke or water for around $4.25 with refills throughout the park at around $1.50 so you may want to purchase these. Much of the food was also disappointing. The turkey sandwiches were yummy with oven roasted turkey on fresh bread. But the pizza was terrible. Small round pre-frozen pies. The food offered in England missed the mark. No bangers and mash or fish and chips. Plain lousy pizza and other lackluster items. I did notice a few folks discreetly eating fare they had packed from home in a backpack and no one complained. Coolers however are not allowed in the park.

Though the Park was very clean. The cleanliness did not extend to the bathrooms. Though there were plenty of bathrooms they tended to be on the messy side. Since they had plenty of employees helping in the shops I wonder why they did not have someone to care for each restroom.

Shopping was interesting. Cuckoo clocks and steins in Germany. Celtic souvenirs in Ireland. I was disappointed in England again though. I was looking for British Cadburys or Crunchie bars, instead the British Sweet Shop sold Good and Plenty and Mike and Ikes! Not too authentic!

We were lucky to have a temperate day. But it can be blistering hot in the Park so I recommend slathering on the sunscreen. Also there is lots of walking from one section to another. Good support shoes are in order. It was a shame to see some little ones in flip flops that offered little support in the way of a shoe. You can get soaking wet on a few of the rides. My family did, but the air was quick to dry and we just wore our regular clothes no swimsuits.
Busch Gardens does offer locker rentals. You can also rent a wheelchair (all of the park but Rhine River area is handicap accessible) stroller and 2 way radios!

It was a super nice day and I recommend the park as a good place to get away to relax at the shows or have some thrills on the rides!

UPDATE JULY 2003..Just back from another visit to Busch Gardens and thought I would add a few updates.

If shows are a priority, I would suggest you pick up a show schedule at the park, select the performances you would most like to see and work your rides and food stops around them. Show times vary according to the day of the week and some run simultaneously. By deciding which shows to see in advance you will be able to fit most of them in.

The Irish Thunder Dance Show is a new version and as wonderful as the last time. A great opportunity to experience the pleasure of a Riverdance type show on smaller scale.

We were also absolutely thrilled with the cast and performances at the American Jukebox show. Excellent singing, and dancing. A lot of enthusiastic talent in this show! A+ I would highly recommend it.

Bathrooms were very clean this visit. We noticed a number of hard working people keeping the park clean. No sooner had we accidently dropped a few napkins while trying to quickly slurp up a fast melting ice cream (see section on oversized ice creams later) than someone was there to sweep it up.
The cleanliness of the park was top notch this visit.

On the negative side there were a few improvements I felt Busch could make.

The number #1 improvement my family felt they needed to make was to add more water stations. Simple stalls where you could buy a bottle of water or another drink. Lines were long at some of the stalls and they were placed too far apart. Water is pricey, so I would advise refilling your water bottle at a fountain or buying a refillable cup and carrying it around the park.

It was also disappointing that we did not see any recycling done. I am sure thirsty tourists use thousands of bottles in a week. Why is Busch not recycling them and saving our environment?

The price of the tickets is high and though I feel the price is justified I couldn't help but feel a bit nickled and dimed for yet more money when I was in the park.
The minute you walk in you are met by many greeters offering to take your picture to sell you later.

And food prices are still very high. Busch often jumbo sizes or adds an extra that has no real value to the meal to justify high prices. Two chicken fingers and a smattering of fries in a cheap plastic "souvenir" bucket (a little extra to carry around the park all day) ran $5.99. We passed on the buckets but the price remained the same. Lunch for four which included 2 orders of chicken fingers, a sandwich, one piece of chicken with a coleslaw side and 4 softdrinks ran $46!

Ice cream a family favorite was not impossible but very hard to find in small or even medium, reasonably priced sizes. Large waffle cones abound. And after you have anted up almost $4 for one, you are encouraged to add on a splash of nuts, or sprinkles for an extra 60 cents each. One waffle cone could easily feed several people. Ditto
the chocolate cake sold in the Festhaus. A huge piece of cake that 4 could feast on. Again an over abundant portion to justify a higher price. I would like to see Busch offer smaller, less pricey portions.

Overall though the park is a great place and I highly recommend it!

Recommended: Yes