Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 4 of 10)

Welcome back for Day 4 of our 10 day special looking back at Busch Gardens Williamsburg the way it appeared in August, 1998.

Today we will be featuring two retired attractions from Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW), one famous and the other infamous!

Up first, the sign for Busch Gardens' legendary Arrow suspended coaster, The Big Bad Wolf.

The Big Bad Wolf, started by Anton Schwarzkopff and completed by Arrow Dynamics in 1984, thrilled guests for 25 seasons before closing in 2009. An on-ride POV of the attraction can be seen here. In 2012 the attraction was replaced with Verbolten which follows a similar path and takes the same dive to the Rhine River below as did The Big Bad Wolf. The Big Bad Wolf was unique in that it was a suspended coaster, meaning the cars of the train were allowed to swing freely. A picture of one of the cars can be seen here. 

Below is an image of the front car of one of the trains of the then Standing But Not Operating (SBNO) Arrow custom looping coaster, Drachen Fire.

The attraction was notoriously rough and had an interesting backstory as well as it was originally to be designed and built by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M). Rumor has it that because B&M, who was getting ready for a busy 1992 season that would see the debut of their new inverted coaster design, told Busch that they could not complete two coaster projects for them for the 1992 season but could complete one for them in early 1993. The coaster that was designed and built by B&M for Busch went to the other Busch Gardens, Busch Gardens Tampa, while Arrow Development had to step in to do the project for Busch Gardens Williamsburg for the 1992 season. Some say that Arrow used B&M's plans for Drachen Fire in designing what would end up being the real Drachen Fire but I do not believe that this has ever been fully verified. What is interesting though is that Arrow definitely seems to have been heavily inspired by B&M in the design of Drachen Fire and I say that because of its unique inversions and the B&M style supports used throughout.

Drachen Fire closed for the last time to guests only days before this trip in July of 1998! 

Well folks, that wraps things up for today! I hope you enjoyed today's two retired attractions from Busch Gardens Williamsburg and hope that you stop back by The Amusement Blog tomorrow for another day at BGW!

Also, if you are curious to see B&M's 1993 addition to Busch Gardens Tampa you can here. It is still operating today!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 3 of 10)

Hello all! We're back at Busch Gardens Williamsburg for Day 3 of our 10 day series!

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!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 2 of 10)

Hello and welcome back to The Amusement Blog!

Today is Day 2 of our 10 part series looking back at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) as it appeared in 1998!

Today we'll look at two park mascots before moving onto two park icons tomorrow!

The first is long since retired and appears to be some sort of giant stuffed, costumed bear! This picture was taken outside of one of the unique German shops in Rhinefeld. Up until the late 1990's and early 2000's these store spaces were rented out by actual German craftsmen specializing in all kinds of special and unique handcrafted gifts from Cuckoo Clocks, Steins, Hummel figurines, and glass blown Christmas ornaments. Unfortunately, similar to how both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom have replaced the majority of their unique craft and gift shops with generic park merchandise shops, Busch Gardens has done mostly the same. The shop below in particular I believe has been replaced.

Up above, our sendoff for the day, the Beer Meister master of ceremonies of the Oktoberfest Festhaus in 1998! Inside the beautiful Festhaus is some great food and a lunch/dinner show featuring traditional German singing and dancing to the music of a real live German Oompah Band. 

I know for a fact that the shows continue on today along with a newer Maypole dance outside of the Festhaus but I am unsure if the Beer Meister continues to make appearances. My guess is that it is a role that has long since been retired.

EDIT: I knew for a fact that the show continued on throughout 2011 since I worked at the park that year and had to sit through "This Is Oktoberfest!" several times. This newer version of the original park's Oktoberfest show retired after only one season and was replaced this past season with a newer kids' show. 

Germany happens to be one of the larger (if not the largest) section of Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and the Anheuser-Busch German heritage has a lot to do with it! For a long time free beer samplings were available in the Festhaus to all those age 21 and over, however, this practice ended in 2009 before the sale of the parks by AB InBev to the Blackstone Group.

Well folks, that wraps things up for today! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a look at an icon from Yester-Busch Gardens! Thanks for stopping by!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg August 1998 (Part 1 of 10)

Hello all and welcome back for a special 10 part series we are about to embark on here at The Amusement Blog covering Busch Gardens Williamsburg from August 1998!

There will be a few nice surprises of past and relocated attractions so be sure to check back daily for new posts!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg, formerly Busch Gardens: The Old Country until 1993 and then briefly Busch Gardens Europe from 2006-2008, opened on May 16, 1975. The park is located right next door to Busch's Williamsburg brewery in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The park was developed, owned, and operated by Anheuser-Busch (AB) from opening day until the Fall of 2009 when AB, fresh off of a buyout by Brazilian-Belgian alcoholic beverage giant InBev, sold off its "non-core assets" that made up Busch Entertainment. Busch Gardens Williamsburg was one of several parks, including the SeaWorld parks and Sesame Place, that also comprised Busch Entertainment.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg, affectionately referred to on theme park enthusiast sites as BGW, has won the National Amusement Park Historical Association's Most Beautiful Park in the World award for 22 straight years, from 1990 to 2012, and Amusement Today's 2012 Golden Ticket Award for Best Landscaping. The park is gorgeous!

So, how is BGW arranged? The park is laid out in the shape of a giant circle with different European countries (and one random North American one...) scattered around the circle. Think Epcot's World Showcase on a grander scale and with full size rides, restaurants, shows, and attractions throughout.

The park map for 2012 can be found here and from that map we can see that the sections of the park today:
-Oktoberfest (Germany)
-Germany (formerly Rhinefeld)
-France (formerly Aquitaine)
-Ireland (formerly Killarney and before that the awesome Hastings extension of England)
-Italy (formerly San Marco)
-Festa Italia
-Scotland
-England (formerly Banbury Cross)
-Jack Hannah's Wild Preserve
-Sesame Street Forest of Fun
-Land of the Dragons (formerly Grimm's Hollow)


Today's two pictures come from the San Marco, Italy section of the park. 

First, a grape stomping photo opportunity!

No real grapes were injured in the marking of this picture.

NOTE: The old Busch Gardens logo in use on the barrel! Here is a link to the new logo for comparison. Not a big difference, more of a nice evolution over time for the 21st century. Today the barrels still exist but the barrels have been updated with the park's current logo.

And up above, our sendoff picture for the day, is a picture of The Little Balloons ride. This attraction has been at the park since the 1980 addition of Italy to the park 

and is still thrilling the little ones to this day.

One set down, nine more to go from the World's Most Beautiful Theme Park so be sure to stop back by the blog tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Online References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busch_Gardens_Williamsburg

http://bgwfans.com/the-history-of-busch-gardens-williamsburg/

Go Karts Plus August 1998 (Part 3 of 3)

Welcome back folks!

Today will be our last day at Go Karts Plus, August 1998!

Our focus today will be the Bumper Boats attraction at Go Karts Plus.

Like many Family Entertainment Centers across the United States, the Bumper Boats here at Go Karts Plus are a staple still operating today!

To start you first get unchained from the dock! There is definitely a learning curve in the steering too...

then you go out a little ways from the dock and perfect your navigating skills...

and then once you have everything down just right, go in for the bump!

A good bump, as seen above, can really throw some water around!

The bumper boats shown above have been replaced in favor of newer ones that feature a water jet connected to the boat to allow you to soak your opponent in an entirely new ay. The newer boats can be seen here and are now called the Blaster Bumper Boats. These newer boats also feature a striped pattern on the inflatable tubes surrounding the boat, differing from the solid color tubes of the originals.

That wraps things up for Go Karts Plus 1998! Be sure to check back tomorrow for Part 1 of many to come on Busch Gardens Williamsburg from August 1998!

Go Karts Plus August 1998 (Part 2 of 3)

Today we're back at Go Karts Plus!

Yesterday we started off with a quick overview of the park and began talking about the park's signature attraction, the Super Stockart Raceway.

Today we have two more images for you both highlighting the great Stockart Go Karts featured in this attraction.

The shot above is a great close up of one of the #24 DuPont Stockarts wearing Jeff Gordon's classic rainbow paint scheme. As mentioned in yesterday's post, you can clearly see the second #24 DuPont car sitting in the next lane of the pit. To the best of my knowledge these cars were marked car #24-A and car #24-B respectively. Many of the most popular cars, drivers, and paint schemes had two identical vehicles.

To board the Stockarts one has to lift up the shell from the windshield and enter. That unique and distinguishing feature in addition to the replica decals and paint schemes of the real/former NASCAR stars helps make this attraction fun, different, and popular to this day.

What were some of the other famous 90's paint schemes featured on this attraction?

#3 Dale Earnhardt GM Goodwrench Service

#4 Sterling Marlin - Kodak Film

#5 Terry LaBonte - Kellogg's Corn Flakes

#6 Mark Martin - Valvoline

#10 Ricky Rudd - Tide Detergent

#11 Brett Bodine - Lowe's Home Improvements

#17 Darrell Waltrip - Western Auto

#18 Bobby LaBonte - Interstate Batteries

#19 Loy Allen - Hooters

#24 Jeff Gordon - DuPont Automotive Finishes

#25 Kenny Schrader - Budweiser

#31 Mike Skinner - Lowe's Home Improvements

#43 Richard Petty/Bobby Hamilton - STP

#94 - Bill Elliott - McDonald's

Many of those listed above can be seen in Stockart form at GoKarts Plus here and here.

Over time several of the older paint schemes and doubles have been replaced with their more modern NASCAR counterparts, such as a #17 DeWalt instead of Darrel Waltrip's classic #17 Western Auto scheme from the 90's and a #29 Goodwrench to match the one driven by Kevin Harvick after the untimely passing of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. I'm sure by now one of the two Lowe's vehicles have been updated to reflect the paint scheme of now 5 time Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson.

That wraps things up for today folks! We have one more day left at Go Karts Plus 1998! 

I hope you have been enjoying what you have seen so far and be sure to stop back by tomorrow!

Go Karts Plus August 1998 (Part 1 of 3)

Hello all and welcome back!

We hit a milestone over the weekend: 600 views! I would love to see that number keep rising so be sure to bookmark us and check back with us daily for new sets of pictures every day!

Today we are fast forwarding a few years and headed several hundred miles south of Long Island to historic and beautiful Williamsburg, Virginia.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg pictures will of course be coming but first we're making a quick stop at an exciting extra attraction in Williamsburg, Go Karts Plus!

Go Karts Plus is still operating today! This picture set is from the summer of 1998 and a lot of changes have occurred at this small park between then and now!

Today we're going to give you a quick preview of the layout of the park and an image of two retired attractions.

Up first, here's an overview shot of the Super Stockart Raceway and its Stockart Go Karts by Amusement Products.

Up above is a nice shot of the Super Stockart Raceway. Outside of the speedway you can see two big checkered flag umbrellas which provided great shade from the hot, sun-filled Virginia summer. Behind us are the Stockarts themselves wearing their NASCAR livery. Included are some very famous paint schemes including Jeff Gordon's rainbow #24 DuPont Chevrolet and Dale Earnhardt's black #3 Goodwrench Service Chevrolet. 

1998 was one of the last NASCAR seasons before paint schemes and drivers really seemed to shift all around all the time. The paint schemes used on the Stockarts at Go Karts Plus reflected many of the most famous and popular drivers and schemes from the 1994-1996 seasons. Back in 1998, there was almost  2 of every paint scheme (a #24 A and a #24 B, a # 3 A and a #3 B). Over the years several cars have received new paint schemes and some doubles have been split to reflect new schemes and sponsorships. For example, a #9 Dodge was introduced over the years and one of the Dale Earnhardt #3's was repainted to reflect the paint scheme his replacement Kevin Harvick was driving at the time. 

One last note on the picture above is of the Intimidator himself, featured on the Coca Cola machine during the popular NASCAR Coca Cola campaign that ran in the mid-to-late 90's.

Our sendoff for today is an image of two retired attractions! I believe them to be retired because they are no longer featured on the current park map found on the Go Karts Plus website.

These are your basic Kowasaki Power Wheels ATVs that you could purchase at your local Toys "R" Us at the time but Go Karts Plus had lots of them and a nice big and smooth track for you to cruise around them on. 

The play area on the left is also no longer at the park. My best guess is that both of these sections were removed to make room for either the park's miniature golf course, the Disk 'O', or the Python Pit Kiddie Coaster. The Roller Coaster Data Base says that the Python Pit Kiddie Coaster debuted at Go Karts Plus in April of 2007 but for some reason I just don't remember it being at the park at that time. If you know where exactly the playground and Power Wheels track were located feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me!

Well folks, that wraps things up for today! Be sure to stop back tomorrow for two more from Go Karts Plus!