Yesterday, Saturday June 16th 2007, I went to Busch Gardens Europe. The weather was great all day, nice and sunny but not unbelievably hot, the crowds were extremely heavy, though. I arrived at the park just before opening and immediately started towards Griffon.

After waiting in a big mob of people for about 7minutes the rest of the park beyond the entry way and Scotland were open, the big mob slowly made its way through the park and eventually found its way to Griffon’s entrance. Griffon looks really impressive, its gigantic. After waiting about 20 minutes I was in the front row in the far left seat. The lift hill is extremely steep, and extremely fast. The turn after the lift provides a great view from 200+ feet and really builds up the anticipation of the coming drop. Once you hit the holding break you get an intense look down at the pathway below you and all the people below you. The drop itself is great, the whole way down you are floating out of your seat experiencing great weightlessness. Before you know it you’re tearing through the tunnel and head up the first huge immelman. The inversion is silky smooth, possibly the smoothest inversion I’ve ever experienced. After getting flipped over you dive back down and are once again flown upwards towards the mid-course brake run. The brakes nearly stop the train before it goes down another intense 90 degree drop. The second immelman is smaller and much faster, a very nice inversion. The small hill leading to the water splash gives riders some decent airtime. After the splash all that’s left is a banked turn and a quick dip onto the final brakes. All in all Griffon is a great coaster, extremely smooth with two great drops and two great inversions, it’s a great addition to the park. It is my third favorite coaster at BGE behind Apollo’s Chariot and Alpengeist, though. And I personally think Sheikra is the better dive coaster, all in all. Sheikra’s theming and the awesome helix before the bank run make it slightly better to me. I give it 9 out of 10

After Griffon I headed up the path to Alpengeist. I was extremely pleased to see hardly anyone in the station. I got on in the front seat after waiting a few trains. This is one of my favorite B&M coasters, as far as inverted coasters go this one is good and forceful with lots of great elements. Unfortunately it seems every year the park adds more and more trim braking to the top of the lift and mid-course brake to slow the trains down a bit too much. Despite this, it’s still a fantastic ride. I ended up getting 2 front row rides. I give it 9 out of 10.

Next I went on Curse of Darkastle. The story behind this ride is kind of silly, but all in all it’s a pretty fun ride.

After eating lunch at Festhaus I went to Big Bad Wolf. It took around 30 minutes to get in the front row. This is a pretty fun ride, but I always felt it was a bit over rated, as it is normally referred to as being one of, if not the, best suspended coasters. Its fun and all, but I think Top Gun at Kings Island is MUCH better all in all. The first half of the ride is pretty fun but is over pretty quickly. The second lift kind of ruins the pacing for me, and the highlight of the ride, swinging over the river at great speed, is over almost immediately. It’s a good coaster with some fun moments, but it has some poor pacing and is over just when things start to get really fun and exciting. I give it 7 out of 10.

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

Next up was Apollo’s Chariot. This is still the best coaster at BGE by far in my opinion. I waited around 20 minutes for a back seat ride. The airtime on every single hill on this ride is great. Lots of floater air as well as great ejector air on the return trip after the midcourse brake. I give Apollo 9.5 out of 10. Unfortunately while looking around on the lift I couldn’t help but notice how packed the parking lot was, and the fact that there was still a huge line of cars waiting to get in… Not a good sign for the rest of the day.

The final coaster left to ride was Loch ness Monster. It was a 20 minute wait for the for the front row of the back car. It was a fun time, but there were a couple moments that were pretty rough that I didn’t remember being there the last time I rode. It’s still a classic Arrow looper with a nice first drop and interlocking vertical loops. I give it 8 out of 10.

Now it was time to get some re-rides. First up was Alpengeist, this time around the line was HUGE. After waiting about an hour I was in the back row. The back row is a fun time, the forces are very strong and getting thrown around during the cobra roll is really intense but still lots of fun. Although it’s a bit rougher in the back then the front, it’s still a great time.

After waiting in a huge line I figured I wouldn’t be getting on a whole lot of other rides. In my experiences, normally with BGE if one ride has a longer line, they all have pretty long lines…

I went over to Griffon for another ride, the line was about 90 minutes long according to the sign at the entrance, but lucky for me the single rider line was open, so instead I waited about 20 minutes for a ride in the second row. The second row was a good time, gave the same general ride as the front row but without the great view. First thing after getting off I went around again to get a re-ride, but this time I was informed that the single rider was now closed. I decided against waiting 90 minutes for the time being.

Next I walked by Big Bad Wolf to find the entire line full, no way I was waiting that long, so I went back to Apollo’s Chariot which had a longer line, but still not too terribly long. It took me about 40 minutes or so to get on in the back again.

After this it was early evening and I figured I would get a third and final ride on Griffon before calling it a day. This time around the single rider line was still closed, so I went ahead and waited in the regular line. Unfortunately I was almost to the station when the ride broke down for 40 minutes or so, resulting in a longer then expected 2 hour or so line. This time I got on in the back row, the back is a great time, the airtime down the drops is ridiculous. I think I like the front better, though.

After this I called it a day and headed home, all in all it was a good time and I was glad to get as much done as I did.

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

Wow, are the lines normally this long? I plan on going in two weeks, and I want to know if I should bring an mp3 with me. But sounds like you had a good time all in all.

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"Hey Mark!"

Only on the weekends, weekdays are normally a lot less crowded. Bringing an mp3 player may not be a bad idea, though, even on weekdays if you want to stay entertained while waiting in line for griffon.

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.