Busch Gardens Williamsburg
vs
Hersheypark

On a typical day Busch Gardens Williamsburg queues less: about 18 minutes a ride against 22 at Hersheypark, a difference of roughly 4 minutes on every queue you join.

See both right now

01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Hersheypark compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Busch Gardens WilliamsburgUnited States	HersheyparkUnited States
Average wait per ride	18 min (best of the two)	22 min
Rides with recorded waits	13	51 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue	DarKoaster®45 min	Laff Trakk - Dark Coaster72 min
Shortest typical queue	The Battering Ram7 min	Minty Bees5 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	68% (best of the two)	61%

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Hersheypark compared on live queue times
Right now	Busch Gardens WilliamsburgUnited States	HersheyparkUnited States
Average wait right now	-	-
Rides open	-	-
Opening hours today	-	-
Longest queue	-	-
Shortest queue	-	-

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day On a typical day Busch Gardens Williamsburg queues less: about 18 minutes a ride against 22 at Hersheypark, a difference of roughly 4 minutes on every queue you join.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Busch Gardens Williamsburg if…

You want shorter queues: Busch Gardens Williamsburg averages 18 minutes a ride against 22 at Hersheypark
You would rather not find rides shut: Busch Gardens Williamsburg's rides run 68% of opening hours against 61% at Hersheypark
DarKoaster® is on your list - it is Busch Gardens Williamsburg's longest typical queue at about 45 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Busch Gardens Williamsburg's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Hersheypark if…

You will accept a longer queue - 22 minutes a ride here against 18 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg - for what Hersheypark has that Busch Gardens Williamsburg does not
You want more to do: 51 rides here have recorded wait data against 13 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Laff Trakk - Dark Coaster is on your list - it is Hersheypark's longest typical queue at about 72 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Hersheypark's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is consistently rated one of the most beautiful theme parks in the world, winning "Most Beautiful Park" industry awards year after year. Set across European-themed villages in Virginia, it runs a top-tier coaster line-up: Alpengeist, Apollo's Chariot, Griffon (a dive coaster), Verbolten, InvadR, and the newer Pantheon - one of the world's fastest multi-launch coasters.

Virginia school holidays, the Howl-O-Scream Halloween event and the famous Christmas Town event drive Busch Gardens Williamsburg's biggest crowds. Weekdays in May, September and early October are dramatically quieter. Check live wait times for Pantheon and Alpengeist first thing on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a lower-crowd date - the park's wooded setting keeps temperatures pleasant.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg live queue times

Hersheypark

Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania was founded in 1906 as a leisure park for Milton Hershey's chocolate factory workers and has grown into one of the best coaster parks in the United States. It runs more than a dozen roller coasters: Skyrush and the racing wooden Lightning Racer, the launched Storm Runner and Fahrenheit, the classic Comet, the newer Candymonium and Wildcat's Revenge, and the Great Bear inverted coaster. The Boardwalk water park is included with admission.

The park is busiest on summer weekends and during Hersheypark in the Dark in October, and because it closes several rides early on some days, the schedule matters as much as the crowds. Check the live wait times before you go and use the crowd calendar to find a weekday when the big coasters run with short queues.

Hersheypark live queue times

05 · Questions

Busch Gardens Williamsburg or Hersheypark?

Which is better, Busch Gardens Williamsburg or Hersheypark?

If you are judging on queues, Busch Gardens Williamsburg: it averages about 18 minutes a ride on a typical day against 22 at Hersheypark, roughly 4 minutes back on every queue you join. Busch Gardens Williamsburg has 13 rides with recorded waits against 51 at Hersheypark. Busch Gardens Williamsburg also runs its rides more reliably - 68% of opening hours against 61%.

Which has shorter queues, Busch Gardens Williamsburg or Hersheypark?

Busch Gardens Williamsburg, by about 4 minutes a ride. On a typical day Busch Gardens Williamsburg averages 18 minutes against 22 at Hersheypark. Queues still move hour by hour, and a midweek day outside school holidays beats the gap at either park. See Busch Gardens Williamsburg best time to visit and Hersheypark best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Hersheypark in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Hersheypark for the full ride lists.

Is Busch Gardens Williamsburg bigger than Hersheypark?

By rides we track waits for, Hersheypark is the bigger day out: 51 rides against 13. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours - and on those Busch Gardens Williamsburg is the quicker park.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg calendar Hersheypark calendar