Today we'll be looking at one of the now lost icons of the park, the Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Clydesdales.
When Busch Entertainment was sold to the Blackstone Group by the newly formed AB InBev company in 2009 one of the first things to go from Busch Gardens Williamsburg was the legendary Budweiser Clydesdales.
These beautiful horses have represented the company's flagship Budweiser brand of beer for over a century. The horses even carried the first batch of post-prohibition beer to the White House.
Below is one of Busch Gardens Williamsburg's former Budweiser Clydesdale horses.
Clydesdales are BIG horses!
Up above is one of the park's lost photo opportunities, an Anheuser-Busch horse drawn beer cart. This cart is similar to the one seen in many of Busch's television ads including Busch's legendary 9/11 television commercial tribute. The commercial is one of my favorites of all time and can be seen here in its original 2002 format and in an updated 2011 HD version here which has had the under construction Freedom Tower digitally added in. It really is a beautifully done tribute to 9/11 by what was then and now once one of the most American of companies before the Busch family, board, and shareholders decided to sell their souls it to Brazilian-Belgian giant InBev. (Can you tell I frown upon that decision?)
Today the old Budweiser Stables in the Scotland/Heatherdowns section of the park have been rethemed to Highland Stables. The original Budweiser bay (reddish brown) colored Clydesdales were removed from the park because they remained a core asset property of AB InBev and were replaced with black, non-AB Clydesdale horses. Something is better than nothing I guess right? These are beautiful animals all the same, it is just a shame that such legendary and historic horses can no longer be seen at the park.
Tomorrow we're moving onto part 4 of our 10 part series to be sure to stop back by The Amusement Blog tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!
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