Busch Gardens Roller Coaster Tours Offer One-of-A-Kind Experience
In an effort to find new ways to generate revenue, Busch Gardens is offering an unbelievable experience for die hard roller coaster enthusiasts. At both the Tampa, Florida and Williamsburg, Virginia parks guests can get a behind-the-scenes look at how these thrill machines tick and get a whole new perspective from places very few ever get to see.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s - A Roller Coaster Experience
In small groups of about 15, guests to the European-themed Busch park can get tours of Loch Ness Monster, then Griffon, Alpengeist, and finally Big Bad Wolf. Tours include visits to the maintenance areas and control stations. The highlight of the entire tour may be the elevator ride to the top of Griffon some 200+ feet up. It must offer a breath taking view of the ride, the park, and the entire surrounding area. According to this review of the coaster tour, you can take as many pictures as you want. If that wasn’t enough, the tour includes a CD with pictures of your tour that are taken by park employees. After the tour you also get Quick Que passes to ride the roller coasters again without waiting in line later in the day.
Here are the details:
$74.95 for Participants (Not including park admission)
$35.00 for Observers (Does not include top of Griffon view)
Learn more about the tour here.
Get Tour Tickets here.
Busch Gardens Tampa’s - Roller Coaster Insider Tour
Busch Gardens Tampa gives an in-depth look at the park’s world-class inverted roller coaster, Montu.
The tour includes a 45-minute walking tour for guests ages 14 and older. The tour includes Montu’s maintenance building and a trip to the top of the 80 foot tall brake run as a train zips by you. Guests also get front of the line access to front row seats as well as no-wait passes for SheiKra and Kumba.
Here are the details:
$24.95 per person, plus tax (Not including park admission)
Passport member discount available
Learn more about the tour here.
What’s Your Take?
What do you think of Busch’s VIP Roller Coaster tours? Do you want to take a tour? Leave a comment below. Image 2 courtesy of CoasterImage.
August 16, 2009 at 14:49
Sounds like a really good idea and should make them alot of money, I know alot of people will be interested in this and I'm suprised it hasn't been done before (correct me if it has). It shouldn't really slow down the running of the coasters too much and will appeal to a lot of people such as international tourists and coaster lovers. If this is a success I would expect other parks to follow suit.
August 16, 2009 at 18:19
Good point jjhobo. We may see these special tours showing up at other parks if Busch finds success with them.
I forgot to mention in the post that the tours are before the parks open. For example, the BGW park starts its tours at 8 AM.
August 17, 2009 at 11:32
I just did the tour at BGW on Aug. 8th. Worth every penny! Very informative. Lots of fun. Standing at the top of Griffon is the best. Took a lot of great pictures. Highly recommend it.
August 18, 2009 at 08:25
I know parks like Six Flags have VIP tours, where they give you a tour of the park, and let you to the front of the ride. However, you don't get to go behind the scenes, and they cost around 120-200 a person. This is something I would REALLY want to do, however, and the price seems fair, considering that you get to ride the coasters with just your party. Plus, standing on the top of griffon must be amazing. It would be awesome if this caught on with Cedar Point and you could take the elevator to the top of TTD.
September 5, 2011 at 03:32
My daughter and I took the tour and enjoyed every minute of it. The early start is actually a very good thing, as you get to see the park open as you walk through to visit the various locations of the coasters. Then you can still have the rest of the day at the park. The first ride of the day is great – imagine, two rides, back-to-back, in the front row of Griffon. FANTASTIC! Highly recommend this tour.
July 8, 2012 at 09:28
I would love to do this so much. I wish I could see how Verbolton (think that’s right) ticks. That was a very fun ride. I love to know everything I can about the coasters I ride. The program didn’t quite work right yesterday and I would love to know why and if it happens often.