Busch Gardens, Williamsburg 2025

We woke up bright and early on Easter Monday to drive straight to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA to be there right before it opened at 10 am.  We were shocked to hear the news of Pope Francis' passing before we left Phil's parents house.

Andrew was supposed to have driven back to college after spending Easter with us in Maryland...but he doesn't have classes on Mon, Wed, Fri and decided to skip Tuesdays classes in order to vacation with us in Williamsburg for a few days.  Worth it!

We just love Busch Gardens (not a sponsored post but if anyone knows anyone heehee).  It's clean and there are lots of beautiful grounds and walkways, cute shows, and it was not busy at all, so lines moved quickly.  I just love hanging out with my kids so much sans work and sports schedules.  They're fun!!

The only downside was that a couple of the rides were closed, but you get what you get and you don't get upset!  Eamon tried his hand at one (rigged game) and it was funny to watch him lose because he was soooo confident he was going to win.

The twins

I didn't go on any of the rollercoaster rides, not because I'm scared, but because I get bad motion sickness and didn't want to feel nauseous all day.  The train was my favorite "ride" and it was nice to take a walking break in the 80 degree heat:

Everyone else went on all.the.rides.  Declan (age 11) is the biggest thrill seeker ever but the rest are close behind.

The Old Country!

We laughed at this photo.  Phil was taking it of the rest of us, and a nice guy offered to take it of all of us, so Phil jumped in but it looks like he's on the outs.

He's not like us

Xander and Brendan reenacting the statue poses:

Making Maggie's favorite face

Brendan (age 8) missed the height cutoff for the most scary rides by about 2 inches, so he did a couple of these spinny rides by himself while we waited for everyone else.  He's such a confident kid, standing in line and getting himself buckled on the rides all by himself.  

I went on the rapid river ride (we all got soaked) and my phone must have come out of my pocket when I stood up.  Fifteen minutes later, I was ordering food for dinner when I realized it was missing!  I said a prayer to St. Anthony and sent Eamon back to the ride to check for me.  He got it!  It was a little wet and wouldn't charge for a day but it's all set now, thank God!

This ride had nine seats - perfect!

We had gotten the all day dining deal because I knew we were driving straight to the park from MD and then straight to our hotel that night, so we wouldn't have found time to grocery shop.  The food was pretty mid like all amusement parks, but we took advantage of the 90 minute rule and got lots of drinks and snacks all day.  We were practically force feeding the kids and reminding them "we won't have any food back at the hotel!" all day.  Honestly, we could have all shared a dining deal if that was allowed. We were all feeling very stuffed and happy when the park was closing and we drove to the hotel.