Last fall, Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced an incentive program for their existing members and pass holders. If you visited the park a certain number of times during Howl O Scream and Christmas Town, you would qualify for Passport To Thrills. This would be an exclusive VIP event that would give those in attendance access to Pantheon (the park’s new for 2022 Intamin multi-launch roller coaster) ahead of its official opening to the public along with some other pretty cool perks.
Fast forward to last Friday and it was time to attend this event. I picked up Hannah early from school (huge cool Dad points there) and her, Carrie and I were off to Busch Gardens. Of course, as any resident of the 757 fully understands, you don’t leave the peninsula without sitting in traffic around, on, or in the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. Friday was no exception.
Fortunately we only lost about 15 minutes with this minor traffic jam and arrived to the park right at 3PM when the event was slated to start. We immediately made our way through England (the park is themed to European countries) and then made that left turn to head towards Festa Italia where our party and our roller coaster were waiting.
When we arrived, we found that the back section of Festa Italia had been blocked off so that only PTT event goers could get into this area. It was here where we were given exclusive early access to Pantheon merchandise (yes, we brought some home) as well as free face painting, a free cupcake, and a free exclusive pin that will not be sold. Here’s a look at some of the merchandise as well as the exclusive freebies we got. I hate to disappoint you, but I didn’t get my face painted.
The highlight of this event, of course, was Pantheon. I’ve already written a lot about the ride experience here. https://charlestonheel.wordpress.com/2022/03/05/pantheon-a-ride-three-years-in-the-waiting/ I can safely tell you one difference that I noted immediately from my first rides a couple of weeks prior. The park was sandbagging the launches on that first weekend. This ride had noticeably more zip and more force. The ejector airtime was stronger and the one moment that I was semi-disappointed in two weeks ago, was much better. The ride was running fantastically. We waited no more than two trains at any point during the event. After two laps to get the day started we ventured out into the rest of the park for a bit.
We grabbed dinner at Marco Polo’s Marketplace. This location is a favorite of mine for the variety they have. Also, it was closed more than open last season so I didn’t get to eat there very much at all last year. After eating, we wanted to go grab a ride on Alpengeist before catching the 5PM showing of Celtic Fyre. As we got to Alpengeist, we noted a line that would probably make it impossible to catch the show so we decided to head on to the Ireland section of the park.
I should show you this. The park has repainted the Rhinefeld area of Germany and it looks completely different. This has been very controversial online. Some really like it and others absolutely hate it. I snapped this photo as we were on our way to Alpengeist.
We made it to Ireland in time to grab a couple of ICEEs and get really good seats for Celtic Fyre. This show has become a staple at Busch Gardens and for my money it is still the best theme park show that is not from a Disney or Universal park. It was even more refreshing to see it this year when the performers were able to go without wearing masks. The music, the energy, the dancing, is all absolutely first rate with this show and it never disappoints.
Before heading back over to the Pantheon party for some more rides, we chose to take a lap on Loch Ness monster, the park’s 44 year old Arrow looper. Well, we were set to board the next train when it went down temporarily because someone decided to lose their lunch on the ride. I mean, who does that on this ride? I digress. We could have waited it out, but chose to go ahead and head back to Pantheon to finish off the night. Anyway, here’s a few shots of Nessie anyway. When I think of how old this ride is, the amount of theming they put in the queue is remarkable. I just wish they would permanently bring back the effects in the tunnel.
It was time to head back over to Pantheon for some more rides and to purchase some merchandise. We were surprised when we got back over there to discover that since my and Carries’ first rides on Pantheon two weeks prior, a very impressive lighting package had been added to the ride. It looks stunning. There was some concern that the lights would detract from the thrill of a pitch black night ride, but the lights really don’t mess with it too much in my opinion. When you get down near the ground it is still VERY dark and hard to see.
When all was said and done, the three of us got 5 laps in on Pantheon. With the lack of a line, we could have easily gotten many more, but we chose to walk around the park to take in some of the sights of the St. Patrick’s Day celebration that was going on as well. I should also mention that this was Hannah’s first time on the ride and despite being nervous, she absolutely loved it. We had a wonderful several hours in the park and are thankful that the park put on such a fun event for those of us who tend to visit quite a bit. I’ll leave you with some images from around the park that day including looks at the new paint on Alpengeist (which turned 25 yesterday) and Griffon.
The Journey Of Ascent 