Christmas Town: A Busch Gardens Celebration

[GAcoaster]

Here is the link to the complete page and a few previews:

Every sign, uniform, name tag and inch of the park was changed to Christmas Town...really impressive!


Everywhere in the park were lights, music and Christmas spirit:


There were millions of lights in trees, on buildings and in the air:


Each section of the park had its own theme and had amazingly elaborate decorations:


There was also great food created just for the event:


The ice themed Aquitane section featured live penguins:


Griffon was the only coaster open on days over 40 degrees:


New France featured rustic decorations and amazing Trappers Smokehouse food:


Complete with temporary indoor dining areas to get out of the cold:


The Christmas Shop was filled with really amazing decorations:


Rheinfeld was transformed into the North Pole:


Under the glockenspiel is where you can visit Santa in a beautiful setting for pictures:


Oktoberfest features a huge Christmas Tree that does an elaborate light show:


Inside the Festhaus, decorations have transformed the restaurant with chandeliers and banners in red:


Though it was not supposed to be open, Italy has been opened on most nights to help handle the crowd with additional rides and improved traffic flow. There are few decorations, but what is there is a preview for next year's event:

[WadeJ]

Thanks for sharing .  I have to admit, this looks awesome.  I was thinking this would be a great winter trip but then heard all sorts of stories about how lame it was this year.  I'm guessing that it pays to go closer to Christmas and not when it first opens because these pics look nothing like the other report I saw.

[GAcoaster]

I think a lot of people were under the impression the park would be open like the rest of the season and were disappointed since it was a more subdued. It was REALLY impressive, and more than anything it felt like Christmas.

The week after going to Christmas Town we went to WDW and while Disney is amazing at Christmas, it didn't "feel" like Christmas there. Part of it was weather, but Busch Gardens just created a traditional Christmas.

Busch always does an amazing job, but they really outdid themselves with the lengths they went to with everything really well decorated.

[WadeJ]

Good to know. After seeing Disney just last month, you almost wouldn't know it was Christmas once you left main street. Toontown was ok to I guess. And my usual fav EPCOT was downright depressing this season. Especially with no LOW .

Hopefully Blackstone keeps this tradition alive @ the Busch parks!

[coastersue]

What exactly was open in the Italy section ride-wise?  We had planned to go, but decided not to when we heard Griffon was the only coaster that might be open.  Since it sounds like a success, hopefully they'll expand upon it in future years and open up more rides.

[GAcoaster]

The had the Battering Ram, Flying Machines, Little Balloons and Little Flyers open (just the things in DaVinci's Garden of Inventions).  I have a feeling next year we'll see at least one more coaster open (a lot of people thought Alpengeist was a logical ride to have open for a winter event), and just more of everything. The crowds were MUCH bigger than they anticipated and they pushed the opening time to 3:00 and closing to 10:00 to help compensate for the crowds.  It was CRAZY crowded, but we went for two nights so we got to do everything we wanted despite the crowds. 

There were a lot of people who seemed disappointed with the lack of rides, but if they read the descriptions of the event, they would realize it wasn't supposed to be all rides.  Also, for a $20 ticket you got.  To expect to have the whole park open for less than half the price is ridiculous.

[coastersue]

Was the DaVinci's Cradle ride open?  It sounds like everything around it was open.

BTW, thanks for all of the awesome photos!

[GAcoaster]

DaVinci's Cradle was closed, but it had been having a lot of downtime this season. 

Nessie was closed for rehab...apparently getting some fresh paint:

[B-mac]

nessie getting some love