Want to know how to spend just one day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and do everything?
Busch Gardens Williamsburg is not a huge amusement park, so you can definitely do all of the rides in one day, while also enjoying some of the food and drinks.
If it’s an exceptionally busy day, you might want the help of the paid Quick Queue pass to get onto all of the roller coasters.
During our visit, nothing had more than a 15 minute wait and we didn’t do any of the major roller coasters since that’s not really our thing.
There’s plenty to do here to fill your day if you’re not into roller coasters either.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg One Day Itinerary
The National Amusement Park Historical Association has named Busch Gardens Williamsburg as the “Most Beautiful Theme Park” for more than 30+ years in a row!
It’s themed to a variety of countries around Europe like the UK, Germany, Italy, and France.
So even though they have some iconic roller coasters, this is also a park where you can enjoy the scenery and immersiveness too.
Think of it as if World Showcase at Epcot was it’s own theme park with a lot more trees and hills (and if every country had a huge roller coaster).
During our visit, I think we circled the park at least 3 different times since we didn’t really have a plan.
Ideally, you should just pick one direction and stick to it until you make your way all the way around.
You could also design your day around show times for live entertainment, but we didn’t do that.
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Rides
The newest ride at Busch Gardens Williamsburg just opened in Spring 2025 – The Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf’s Revenge.
It’s a family friendly inverted roller coaster with a height requirement of just 42 inches, so for about ages 5-6+.
Roller Coasters
Busch Gardens is a great park for roller coaster lovers.
My first visit was all the way back around 2005 and I rode most of the roller coasters back then.
A popular ride, Apollo’s Chariot, was the new ride back then, and on this visit it was celebrating it’s 20th anniversary!
Here’s a breakdown of each of the roller coasters:
- Loch Ness Monster – the world’s first interlocking loop roller coaster, with new enhancements added back in 2024
- DarKoaster – North America’s first all-indoor straddle coaster (similar to The Mummy at Universal).
- Pantheon – record-breaking coaster, 180 feet tall, top speed of 73 mph, a 95° drop, 4 launches, 5 air-time hills, and 2 inversions
- Tempesto – 3 launches, 63 mph, inversions at 154 feet in the air
- Apollo’s Chariot – big hills, no loops, similar to Diamondback at Kings Island
- Griffon – floorless dive coaster with a 205 foot drop
- Alpengeist – one of the tallest, fastest coasters in the world
- InvadR – wooden roller coaster
- Verbolten – Autobahn race through the Black Forest
If you’re like us and don’t love the biggest, tallest, fastest roller coasters, these are the ones that are more tame and more appealing to the average park-goer:
- Loch Ness Monster
- DarKoaster
- Apollo’s Chariot
- InvadR
- Verbolten
Water Rides
There are a few water rides at Busch Gardens.
Each one is very different with different thrill levels, but they’re all the types you’d expect to see at most parks.
- Roman Rapids – white water rafting ride
- Escape From Pompeii – boat ride with a big drop
- Le Scoot – log flume ride with a big drop
Other Rides
There are a handful of other rides that aren’t roller coasters, including water rides and carnival type rides.
Many of these are similar to rides you’d see at most parks, but these are unique since they are themed specifically to European countries.
- Finnegan’s Flyers – an extreme swing ride
- Busch Gardens Railway – scenic train ride
- Der Autobahn – bumper cars
- The Battering Ram – swinging boat ride
- Turkish Delight – spinning tea cups
- Der Wirbelwind – swings
- Kinder Karussel – antique carousel
- Le Catapult – a scrambler ride
- The Trade Wind – musical circular ride (my favorite!)
- Aeronaut Skyride – gondolas in the sky that take you to different areas of the park
Additionally, there is an entire kids area with kiddie rides and experiences.
Quick Queue Pass
Busch Gardens Williamsburg has their own version of the Fast Pass that is called a Quick Queue Pass.
This is essentially a “skip the line” type of pass so you don’t have to wait in the regular standby queue for each ride.
There are different levels you can get depending on how much you want to ride all the roller coasters.
The basic level pass gets you onto each of the major rides 1 time and during our visit it was $50 per person, but the price fluctuates daily based off of expected attendance.
A higher level gives you unlimited rides.
If you’re only going for one day and you want to do all the roller coasters, I recommend getting the basic level Quick Queue Pass to make the most of your time in the park.
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Where To Eat
If you’re visiting for just one day, I HIGHLY recommend getting the all day dining plan.
It is a steal.
During our visit it was about $45 and it’s good for a meal every 90 minutes.
The park was only open for 8 hours during our visit, so we could have gotten up to 5 meals out of it, but only took advantage of 3.
What’s great about this option is that you could easily feed 2-4 people throughout the day on just 1 dining plan.
Each meal includes a drink, an entree, and then your choice of an extra side or a dessert.
Most places had a sampler option that was good for the dining plan so you could try a little bit of everything.
If you purchased one of these meals out of pocket, it’s about $35, so once you get a 2nd meal you’ve already saved a ton of money on food.
Marco Polo’s Marketplace
Our first meal of the day was in the Italy area.
Since the restaurant is themed to Marco Polo and the Silk Road, they had Italian food and Asian food selections.
We went with the Orange Chicken, which comes with vegetables and rice.
Instead of an extra side, we got a cup of dirt pudding for dessert.
Trapper’s Smokehouse
For our next meal, we tried some American food.
We had the Trapper’s Smokehouse Sampler which comes with BBQ Chicken, St Louis Style BBQ Ribs & Smoked Beef Brisket with fries, and a roll.
We also picked an extra side of Macaroni & Cheese.
I don’t eat meat with bones in it, so I only tried the brisket and it was so good.
Das Festhaus
For our final meal, we decided to get some German food.
We tried the German Sampler which comes with Roasted chicken, bratwurst, knockwurst & corned beef with sauerkraut, German potatoes & red cabbage.
This was my favorite meal of the day.
For dessert, we had a slice of black forest cake.
Extra Activities
There are so many more things to do in Busch Gardens than just rides and food.
On weekends you can take a scenic Rhine River Cruise, which we couldn’t do because we were there on a week day.
Animals
They have the famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale horses that you can pet.
The Scottish Highland Cattle are also very popular here.
Some other animals you can see here include:
- Gray Wolves
- Border Collies
- Black Face Sheep
- Aviary Birds
- Birds of Prey
- Red Fox
- Ball Python
- Norway Rats
Wine Tasting
Something we didn’t plan on doing, but had to do once we saw it was an option, was wine tasting around the world.
You can purchase a wine tasting pass for just 1 location or all 3 locations.
It includes a souvenir tasting glass and 4 tastings at each location.
The locations include Italy, Germany, and France.
We had very generous pours and just shared 1 tasting for the 2 of us and it was plenty.
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Where To Stay In Williamsburg
We’ve made a few visits to Williamsburg over the years and these are our 2 favorite places to stay.
There isn’t too much of a difference between them because they are both set up like townhomes with full kitchens and in-unit laundry.
Our room at Greensprings Resort was newly renovated though, so that was a good perk.
Overall I believe Greensprings has less stairs, so if that’s an issue, go with Greensprings.
They are pretty close to each other, so location isn’t really much of a deciding factor.
I personally just pick whichever one is cheaper at the time because they’re both great.
Greensprings Resort
Greensprings Resort is a Hilton Vacation Club timeshare resort that anybody can stay at.
You don’t have to be a timeshare owner.
The video below shows the layout of our 2 bedroom unit, which was brand new.
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Powhatan Resort
Powhatan Resort is also a Hilton Vacation Club timeshare resort that anybody can stay at.
This room was really unique in that it was 3 different levels and even though it was just a 1 bedroom, there were 2 full bathrooms.
There was also a loft level with a sitting area and a tv.
It was just really quirky and I loved it.
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Conclusion: Busch Gardens Williamsburg One Day Itinerary
Spending a full day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg was so much fine.
We got to do all the rides we wanted to do with no wait, we used the all day dining plan to try as much food as possible, and we even got to enjoy an afternoon of wine tasting.
It’s a great park for thrill seekers and a great park for the people watchers and those that enjoy a more laid back theme park experience.
In another blog post I share even more things to do in the Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown area.
Hint – Williamsburg is one of the top ghost tour destinations in the US!
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