Themepark road trip , live

[ali-s]

After 2 postponements and 2 years tinkering with plans our travel day is finally here.
Our taxi driver of many years has retired so it was with some trepidation we booked the train to Heathrow. I've used the train more times in the last 2 months than I have in 10 years, and each time the trains have been late and standing room only.
Surprisingly they were all on time today and we arrived at terminal 5 unflustered.
We flew BA and I didn't use verifly, so I printed out everything, NHS vaccination certs, recovery certs, attestation forms, estas. The evening before I went online to choose our seats and was asked if I was ready to check in online. I didn't think I'd be able to without verify, but I entered our details and was told we were checked in
At terminal 5 we were directed to section D where we printed our boarding passes , then we did the automated self bag drop , then were waved towards security . At each stage I expected a message to go to the checkin desk, but no, no one asked about test results or recovery certs, or attestation forms . Estas obviously are linked to our passports, but without verifly none of our covid info was available.
The flight was fine, the vege option was a vast improvement on virgin's offering. We were on a 787 and I doubt it was half full. We were the only flight arriving at Pittsburgh , 33 celcius, grey and wet it was very quick through immigration. All automated again, we scanned our own passports and fingerprints.
The longest wait was trying to get an Uber, my phone kept disconnecting from the wifi and I'm not sure data was working. I hope that sorts itself out tomorrow. I got the £10 package from 3 and it was ok at home, DH couldn't even activate his.
It's midnight now 5am UK time ) and I'm ready for bed, hopefully won't wake too early.

[sunshines]

Wait... so... technically you did not need to test?

[ali-s]

Originally Posted by sunshines

Wait... so... technically you did not need to test?

See more...

Every step was automated. We printed our boarding passes, luggage labels, did our own bag drop. The only people we spoke to were the staff helping with the machines. I couldn't believe we had spent over £100 on recovery certs and no one asked to see them, or even asked if we had them or a negative test result.

[ali-s]

Wednesday 8th June KENNYWOOD

Considering how tired I was I thought I'd sleep like a log, but no, took ages to get to sleep, then I was awake and up at 7am. I wasn't expecting the view when I opened the curtains, I knew we were on the river, but not this close .

We are at The Hampton inn and suites waterfront/ Homestead. Great location but a bit more than I wanted to pay ( but most of our hotels are over budget) no housekeeping during our stay and very stingy with the items usually replenished on a daily basis. For a room that sleeps 4 we have 2 sugar sachets, 2 creamer sachets and 1 minuscule bottle of shower gel. The breakfast is good though. They have waffle makers 😃
Just over the road is the waterfront shopping complex. After breakfast we walked over to Target to stock up on snacks and drinks.

Back at the hotel I ordered an Uber to take us to Kennywood, less than 4 miles away. Just under $10 before tip.

The queue at the entrance was long, but moved quickly. We headed to Steel Curtain first, Pennsylvania's highest coaster with 9 inversions. Only a 20 minute wait , every ride was 20 minutes or less, apart from the slow loading Exterminator, an indoor , dark coaster. It ground to a halt while we were queuing and we waited 1 hr 15 minutes. Another disappointment was Phantoms revenge . The airtime was good, but it slammed you back into your seat with such force it earned our 'worst coaster award '

The park itself was enjoyable. Not too big, clean, some theming and friendly staff. Our favourite ride was Steel Curtain for DH and DS and a tie between Steel Curtain and the wooden Jack Rabbit for me. We all liked the other 2 wooden coasters as well, The racer and Thunderbolt. Kennywood is an historic landmark and the 3 wooden coasters date from the 1920s !

We left the park at 7.30, half an hour before closing, another Uber back to the hotel. Then over the road again for my first ever visit to Bath and Bodyworks. Now I know why this place is so popular on the dibb 😆
Dinner was at Burgatory ( love the name ) where I had possibly the best vege burger ever and DH , who isn't fond of burgers, declared his the best burger ever. While we were eating a thunderstorm started and we got soaked getting back to the hotel.

[pho3nix]

Sounds great - looking forward to reading along!

[disjunkie]

Looking forward to following this. I really wanted to fit kennywood into our roadtrip but they close weekdays in late august so couldn’t make it work. Shame about phantoms revenge, that’s a bucket list coaster for me and the main reason I wanted to visit the park!

[ali-s]

Thursday 9th June To SKYLINE DRIVE

We were later than intended leaving the Hampton inn. DH and DS don't do early. We took an Uber to Hertz at a Holiday inn a few miles away as I got a better price picking up off airport.
We got a Chevrolet Trac and I spent ages trying to work out how to move the seat forward and use the push button start ( I drive a 12 yr old Honda at home ) . Then I tried to be clever by connecting my phone to Auto Android , my Google maps disappeared off my screen, but didn't reappear on the car's screen. 😯Mini panic until the Hertz guy figured it out for me.
The 4 hour drive was straightforward, we avoided toll roads and took a rural route through Pennsylvania, a scenic byway through Maryland, then into West Virginia and Virginia.
We stopped for lunch at Spelunkers in Front Royal ( famous for frozen custard, which tastes just like ice cream 😆 ) , then it was a couple of minutes drive to the Skyline and entrance. We paid our $30 fee and began the 50 mile drive to our lodging, Big Meadows. There is a 35mph speed limit, but with so many overlooks to stop at and admire the views, we weren't in a hurry.

We saw deer, 2 snakes and a turkey. Our cabin is rather rustic, reminds me of Kruger in South Africa, but twice the price ! We had dinner in the lodge restaurant, nice, but expensive. Nothing much to do in the evening, it was chilly out, so didn't fancy a walk, limited wifi ( for emails and messenger) is available in the large, communal hall, but nowhere else. Many families were playing cards or doing puzzles, which was rather nice to see. I just wanted an early night 😁

[ali-s]

Friday 10th June TO WILLIAMSBURG

I was wide awake and up at 6.30am having had a decent night's sleep. I think the quiet and sounds of nature were more like home, which helped. I decided to explore the trails around Big Meadows, but had second thoughts when I read the bear warning notice. I want to see a bear, but not when I'm alone at 6.30 in the morning 😆 I saw lots of deer and some chipmunky things. The mountain laurel was pretty.

When DH and DS surfaced we had breakfast in our room ( not paying restaurant prices for cereal and fruit ) then set out to walk a short trail. Lots of birdsong and an easy walk , but not very interesting.

We left at 11.30 to drive the remaining 50 miles of Skyline drive before heading onto Williamsburg . I'd downloaded the map for offline use ( as connection can be dodgy in the mountains ) and stopped to load it just before we left Skyline. It wouldn't load! I have a road atlas, but it's impossible to use while driving, so I had to try and memorise the route. 5 minutes later Google kicked in to tell me I was on the wrong road, then promptly dropped out again ! We wasted alot of time pulling over to check the road atlas, and try to persuade Google to wake up. Android Auto didn't help, it kept butting in to say it was available, but couldn't connect when chosen. We were getting stressed and hungry so stopped at a services for a McDonald's, my maps worked fine while in the restaurant, as soon as we went out to the car they disappeared. I ended up jotting the route down on a piece of paper and giving it to DH to check as we went along, he promptly fell asleep 😆 luckily 30 minutes from Williamsburg Google rejoined us and got us to our hotel with only 1 wrong turn on my part.

We are at The Best Western in the historic area, about 18 mins drive from the park.
I have bought a package for Busch Gardens that includes accommodation, 3 days park tickets, free parking and 1 meal and drink per person each day. We were over an hour late arriving in Williamsburg, but decided to go to Busch Gardens anyway. We had about 2 hours so just wandered around getting our bearings and redeemed our meal voucher. The only vege option available for me was a kids mac 'n cheese 🤢

Google and Android auto are friends again, for now and got me there and back ok, but I'm trying to memorise the route, I don't trust them 😆

[ali-s]

Saturday 11th June BUSCH GARDENS WILLIAMSBURG

The park opens at 10am today so we are up and ready for breakfast at 8.30. Unfortunately breakfast is 7-9am and some sports group have cleared almost everything. No exaggeration, all the covered warming trays are empty, there is 1 banana that I grab for DH, a fridge full of yoghurt that is not suitable for vegetarians ( why put gelatine in yoghurt ? ) I find a small carton of milk hiding at the back and there are several boxes of frosties left, so that's our breakfast. I ask if there is any more bread or bagels and 4 mini muffins are found for us.

At least we have no reason to linger and get to the park at 10.05am. We take the tram from the carpark to entrance and the driver is cracking silly jokes and reminding me how much I enjoyed BG in Tampa .

DS is choosing the order of the rides, first is Apollo's chariot which is a 10 minute wait but all loose items must be put in a locker ( Kennywood had shelves on the ride platform so you could leave your bags, at your own risk ) I'm grumbling about the inconvenience of going to and from lockers all day, but opt for the $10 day pass. Except the machine takes my $10 and doesn't give me the pass. Maintenance are called and we are left standing waiting while others are told the machine isn't working at the moment and they may take their bags onto the ride platform 🙄
It only takes a few minutes and dozens of backlogged receipts for the technician to sort our pass. We have 7 digit and 4 digit codes to remember ( part of a phone number works well ) and the lockers are quick, easy and secure to use. I stop grumbling 😄

Next ride is The Griffin , similar to SheiKra and also a 10 minute wait , I declare this my new favourite . We can't believe our luck with the wait times so far. I have allowed 2 full days for BG as it is a weekend and expected to be busy. It does get busy later on, but the queues stay short. The loading seems very efficient and there are plenty of cars running. Our longest wait was due 'necessary housekeeping ' ( a kid had thrown up &#129314 the longest regular wait time was 20 minutes each for the new Pantheon and Verbolten , both multi launch coasters.

We rode and rated Me DH DS
Apollos Chariot 7/10 8/10 8/10 ( smooth, but I thought it a bit tame )
The Griffin 9/10 8/10 8/10 ( my favourite until we rode InvadR )
Alpengeist 6/10 7/10 7/10 ( rather disappointing, a bit rough in places )
Pantheon 8/10 9/10 7/10 ( multi launch coaster )
Verbolten 7/10 7/10 7/10 ( too many stops and starts )
InvadR 9/10 10/10 8/10 ( one of the fastest, smoothest wooden coasters we've ridden, rivals Megafobia)
Loch ness monster 6/10 8/10 7/10 ( restraints no good for shorter people, my ears took a battering )
Tempesto 7/10 7/10 ( I can't remember what I thought of it )

We also did Mach drop tower, I liked it , DH thought it tame
Escape from Pompeii , looks similar to Journey from Atlantis, but very short ride and less theming.
Le Catapult ( fairground type ride )

We used our meal voucher in England this time ( only 4 eateries to choose from ) a burger with waffle fries was $16.99 and a regular soft drink $4.99 , so the package is proving good value.

The park closes at 10pm , but by 7.30 we have ridden almost everything and have resorted to taking the train around the park, rather than walk, DH and I don't have the stamina of our ' Disney days ' so we decide to head back to the hotel and have dinner across the road at Cracker Barrel. ( their menu torments me, I love all their veges, but they insist on cooking them with meat). DH had steak and 3 sides and it came to less than a burger at the park !
Tomorrow, depending on the weather, we will do the waterpark and repeat our favourite rides at Busch Gardens.

[Goldia]

I hope you have a fun trip, I'm all up to date on the last few days.

How annoying that Google was not playing along with the maps, even though you downloaded them! The theme parks sound empty, you got loads done and it seemed like you had a brilliant time. A pain about the breakfast buffet being cleared out.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you get up to next! I hope you have a great time.