Busch Gardens Trip - Day 4

Today is the big day: Busch Gardens!  Our family has long enjoyed our adventures at the theme park in Williamsburg and I've made an effort to plan a visit annually.  We were blessed with an additional bonus today when my daughters were each able to bring their significant others; for the first time, our group was seven!  I woke up early at Mollie's and did about two hours of teleworking before packing up for our excursion.  The weather was surprisingly cool (it was overcast) and this boded well for our day.  At 0800, Mollie and Alex told me they were ready and we started south.  First, though, we stopped at the local Costco for a gas fillup (0825).  Next, we got on the Interstate and drove (via I-95, I-295 and I-64) to Williamsburg.  We had trouble reaching Erin and Brenna (they were together, along with Austin and Jesse in Virginia Beach) but arrived at the gate for Busch Gardens just after they opened (1000).  Unfortunately, that is when we realized that the others were about an hour behind us.  We parked the car and made our way to the Will Call building - immediately, it became clear that we'd need all the extra time to get our passes...  In the end, the time between when I had the tickets in hand and the rest of our group arrived (1100) was only about 10 minutes.  This did give Mollie and Alex a chance to check out the animals (Clydesdales, sheep, border collies, eagles, lorikeets, etc.).  Once we were all together, we explored Scotland, Ireland, France and Canada.  Austin and Alex rode on Griffon while Brenna, Jesse and I rode on Invader and the Carousel (Erin and Mollie went window shopping).  This was everyone's first time visiting (and even meeting, in some cases) and it was interesting to watch the dynamics of my daughters and their men.  I am very glad that we were able to get all the schedules to align and it felt good to have such a special time with all of them.  We next made our way to Germany, where we got a nice group photo in front of a Busch Gardens "50th Birthday" sign and then got in a (huge) line at the FestHaus dining hall.  It took a while (paid at 1215), but we were able to get a lot of good food for the group and we even had time to listen to some of the (updated) performance of the dancers, musicians and singers.  Everyone felt recharged when we departed (1300) and we immediately started to take advantage of several of the nearby fun rides (bumper cars, swings, etc.).  Brenna and Jesse took a ride on Verbolten while the rest of us made our way to Italy.  During the next hour, we all tried different things (e.g., Trade Winds, smaller coasters, etc.) before we all joined up again.  We next took some rides on the Roman Rapids, which were much different with temps in the 80s (and no direct sunlight).  Everyone had a great time, though - there was lots of giggling - but we all got thoroughly soaked!  Alex and Austin then rode on Tempesto (a huge, twisty coaster) that led to the latter feeling quite sick to his stomach.  Mollie and Erin got some Rita's (Italian Ice) and then we made our way to Escape from Pompeii.  Brenna and I rode this ride while Erin and Austin checked out the nearby Sesame Street area.  Next, Brenna and Jesse decided to go have dinner and watch one of the live performances in Italy but the rest of us walked to one of the gondolas that would take us from Scotland to France.  During this ride (we were in two groups), we got the first indication that Austin's upset stomach was not going to end well.  Erin started making plans to depart and this led to some discomfort for the rest of us.  We were able to take advantage of the $0.50 beer deal before it was time for them to leave (1545) but the mood was subdued when our group reduced to five.  The rest of us weren't ready to depart yet and immediately headed to meet up in Italy.  I did get a concerning call from my hotel in Virginia Beach (about them possibly giving my reservation away if I was late in arriving) but I quickly squelched that idea.  Meanwhile, there was lots more window shopping, frozen custard and Midway games fun during the next two hours.  Alex convinced Brenna to go with him on Apollo's Chariot and we lurked around near the teacups for a while before giving up (they were broken).  We also rode on the train (Italy to Scotland), visited the Sesame area again, visited with the animals and got many more photos before our day was done.  Reluctantly, we departed the park after an amazingly fun filled day (1815).  Reaching our car, we had to reconfigure it (due to five people instead of three) but were able to get everyone inside before we left Williamsburg.  We next got on I-64 and started looking for dinner.  We'd hoped to get some at Chick-fil-A in Newport News but their drive through line was HUGE.  Instead, Alex, Mollie and I got some dinner (sit down) at the Taco Bell next door (they had no lines at all at 1855).  Jesse and Brenna managed to get some food to go by going inside but this whole evolution still took us about 30 minutes.  Once we'd all regrouped and gotten back on the highway, we encountered traffic (due to Hampton Road Bridge Tunnel construction) and had to take a long detour via I-664 and I-64 (Suffolk and Chesapeake).  The ride was very scenic, though, and we watched pelicans diving for their dinner in the middle of the James River.  After we stopped to check into my hotel (Econo Lodge on Bonney Road) at 2015, we then drove five minutes more to Erin's house and found her and Austin relaxing (he felt better).  With our whirlwind of fun and family behind us, we spent the next 90 minutes visiting, playing with Kiki, showering and eating snacks.  The mood was one of exhaustion but everyone seemed glad to have had such a fun day.  Just before 2200, I told my daughters that I was tired and that I wanted to retire of the evening.  I returned to the hotel and, after getting cleaned up and doing a little reading, I headed to bed (2230).  About 30 minutes later, Brenna showed up (Jesse had dropped her off) and I had trouble getting back to sleep after that.  Overall, today was an amazing combination of successful family logistics, wonderful traditions and fun and a good experience with all of my daughters' boyfriends/fiancé.  Hope we can do it all again!