Any event planner in Toronto who is worth his or her salt will tell you that in order for an event to be a success, the participants must have fun. This is true of life as well. If you spend all your time slaving away at a job, you won't be fulfilled. If you go on vacation and don't visit all the most fun attractions, you won't be fulfilled. The bottom line is this: if you live in or are planning on visiting Virginia Beach, Virginia and you don't take at least a half day out of your schedule to visit Busch Gardens in nearby Williamsburg, you won't be fulfilled.

Busch Gardens is a chain of amusement parks created by the Anheuser-Busch Company (the famous makers of Budweiser beer). They built the parks in order to show their customers there's more to being a brewery than hops and casepackers. The company's most well known park is in Tampa, Florida, but there is also a park in Williamsburg, just over an hour's drive from Virginia Beach, and there will soon be a third location in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai.

Each of the Busch Gardens parks has a theme. The Tampa park is modeled after Africa while the one in Williamsburg reflects Old Europe, at a time when blacksmiths in fire sleeves hammered horse shoes by hand. The park is divided into several sections, each one reminiscent of a specific place. Represented are: Banbury Cross in England, Heatherdowns in Scotland, San Marco in Italy, Killarney in Ireland, and the Rhine River in Germany.

What is there to do at Busch Gardens Williamsburg? Well, there are 25 rides in total, including five roller coasters and three water rides. There's also a skyride gondola, steam trains, period/ethnic restaurants, replica landmarks, gift shops, and numerous stages and theaters. The park has won wards for its food, landscaping, shows, cleanliness, management, and new attractions, so it's an even better bet than a spa package in Missouri.

Sprawling across more than 250 acres, Busch Gardens isn't just about the rides and games. It's also about conservation. The park is also part nature preserve, which offers special tours for visitors and photo ops with wild animals for tourists to hang on the walls of their Streetsville homes. At Jack Hanna's Wildlife Reserve in Williamsburg, there are rare American animals like grey wolves and bald eagles. The park also puts on special events and shows coinciding with the various holidays.