Hanson at Busch Gardens Williamsburg

With thinking the year for Hanson was going to be ‘quiet’ we jumped at the change to see Hanson at Busch Gardens Williamsburg after scoring Front Row VIP upgrade tickets. What we didn’t realize was that our definition of ‘quiet’ and theirs turned out to be very different.

After weighing the pros and cons of flying into an airport an hour away, driving myself or taking the train, the train ended up winning out – despite it being 10 hours and the train home leaving Williamsburg at 4:36am. Price wise it was about the same as flying, but would put me directly in Williamsburg, time wise it was a bit longer than driving myself but I could relax/work/nap/whatever and not actually have to, you know, drive… so it ended up winning out despite the ungodly hour I’d need to wake up after the show.

I ended up getting into Williamsburg at about 8pm, got to the hotel, ordered Door Dash, put on Party Animals vs Coconuts and promptly passed out. (Except for when Drake Toll woke me by screaming ‘COSGROVE, COSGROVE’ and ‘JAKE SKOLE!’ so I knew the Party Animals won before I turned the game off completely and actually went to sleep)

The next day we had a lazy morning, waited for the rest of the crew to arrive and had some lunch and then ventured over to Colonial Williamsburg, except every street the GPS wanted us to turn down wasn’t open for motor vehicles and then when we turned down a street just to see a bunch of red coats walking down in front of us. We finally seemed to outsmart the GPS and found parking, only to realize Colonial Williamsburg closed at 5 and it was 4:50. Our dinner reservation wasn’t until 7:15 so we just kind of wandered what we could see, I stayed put on a bench because I was surrounded by inaccessible dangers and we pondered what disabled people did in the Colonial times. Just died, probably.

For dinner we went to the King’s Arms Tavern which was set up Colonial style and the menu descriptions were essentially recipes. We weren’t entirely sure what we were getting into, but I opted for Peanut Soupe which was excellent and To Serve Good Hams which was essentially a charcuterie board. My friends got the To make a fine Sallet and An Onion Pye. We ate by candle light, learned a bit about the tavern and even had a musician join us. It was something different and a fun experience.

Then it was time to head to the Capitol Court for “Cry Witch” where we were the jury where Grace Sherwood was accused by her neighbors of being a witch. We heard testimony from 3 people, we were able to ask more questions if we wanted to and then at the end we voted if we thought Grace was a witch or not. We were told to keep our heads in the past as if we were white men from back then, but it was hard to do as a lot of the situation was just ridiculous. By a vote of 17-5 Grace was found not guilty. The whole presentation was really well done and was all based on true events.

Busch Gardens day we got to the park for opening and it was drizzling. We picked up my scooter and left toaster, went to pick up our wristbands and noticed there already was a line for the show. We got in it, and then opted to attempt to ride a coaster that was nearby. After maneuvering the scooter in (and popping a wheelie!) we were told that in order to use the accessible lane we needed to get a Ride Accessibility Pass and he could either call a supervisor to get us set up or we could to into to regular line. Since the line was short, we hopped in it, only to find out I couldn’t actually get into the seat. I ended up last minute getting a front row coaster seat that I could hop into and off we went! It was a really fun coaster but I was not about to go back to the front of the park to get a “RAP Sheet” and opted out of any future coasters. It would have been nice if we were told this when we picked up the scooter but the workers barely even spoke to me.

It was also Busch Gardens food and wine festival – from Africa I had “Puff-Puff” which was from Nigeria – Fried Dough & Powdered Sugar. From Poland (the closest to the line) I had Pierogies – Potato, Cheese, Caramelized Onion Jam & Sour Cream as well as Kielbasa – Bacon, Sauerkraut & Brown Mustard Sauce. From Italy – a Giant Meatball with Marinara & Asiago Cheese and from China the Panda Dessert Bun – Steamed Dessert Bao & Coconut Caramel Sauce. The Kielbasa won for best taste and the Panda Bun won for cutest presentation.

While Hanson was sound checking, park staff came out and said even though we had made a front row line and a VIP line there would only be ONE line to enter, and everyone had to get into that one line. People in the VIP line started complaining – but in theory if the whole line was just front row, just go stand behind them and it makes no difference anyway? But I feel like he lined us up way too early and just prematurely started everyone stressing out. Then they had staff come out to make sure we had the right wristbands for our confirmations, but we had 3 people try to check ours in the span of 5 seconds. Their checking method also wasn’t all that great and if they intend to up charge for limited seating they probably should add some extra checks in place before the 11th hour.

Finally it was time to get let in, and things went relatively orderly. We ended up just about center, but then realized that all the instruments were set up in Germany, while we were in France. We had a couple of hours to kill before the show started and I had fun watching the staff scramble and check our confirmations a few more times. I’m not sure what they thought they were going to find doing the same check over and over…

Before the show I had rattled off what I thought the setlist might be “They’ll probably start with I’ve Got Soul, maybe a Fired Up then Where’s the Love and Minute…” Sure enough, they started with I’ve Got Soul, there wasn’t a fired up but Where’s the Love and A Minute Without You followed. The setlist was the pretty typical festival setlist we have gotten used to. I probably wouldn’t have guessed that Get Up and Go and Voice in the Chorus would have been in there if I went through the whole list before the show but they’ve been included more and more lately. My friends had situated themselves against the barricade leaving a gap so that I could sit and still see, but a lot of people from the general seats were making their way down and kept trying to fill in that gap. We kept pushing them aside, but as the show went on more and more people were making their way in so while I had initially decided to stand at around 8 (for the last 30 minutes of the show) I ended up getting up about halfway through during Cold as Ice and standing for way longer than I had anticipated and boy did my back tell me about it later. The only real ‘surprise’ of the setlist (except not really if you take a moment to look around) was Roller Coaster Love for the encore.

After the show we hit up McDonalds across from our hotel and had a lobby picnic watching the Savannah Bananas game that they had so nicely had waiting for me when we arrived. After we watched the bananas lose we made our way up to the room and I put on the Party Animals game while I packed but then had to get to sleep for my 3:45am scheduled uber.

Except when I got outside, my uber didn’t even have a driver assigned yet and my friend’s uber which wasn’t due for another 15 minutes was already waiting for them. I ended up calling a lyft which was only like $5 more expensive than the quoted scheduled price with uber (uber wanted almost double, I don’t even know why I bother with that app anymore) and I made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare. There was a homeless man there who mostly kept to himself on his own bench and finally the train came, the conductor helped me get on and find a seat and I settled in for my 10 hours home. I must have fell asleep pretty fast because next thing I knew it was 11am and we were already well into the journey. In New York I had a passenger and a service dog as a seatmate and in New Haven I needed to track down luggage help – I guess I was supposed to wait for a red cap but no one told me that and I still have a fear of being left behind after my trip to New York in December.

All in all it was a fun trip and nice to finally see Hanson again! I am glad to get this post wrapped up before I get to bed for my next trip to Tulsa… which isn’t for Hanson and is confusing everyone. (Even myself)