Day 7 - Busch Gardens - 3rd June

Day 7 - eeek half way through our 2 weeks in Orlando!!!

Busch Gardens

Busch Gardens is just over an hour away from our house, approximately 60 miles. So we are aiming to get to the park as it opens as it is only open 10am-6pm, a lot to do in a short time!!  It is starting to feel natural now driving on the right side of the road or the wrong side of the road whichever way you want to look at it ha ha!!!  Colin is doing a great job doing all the driving!!

 

 

We’ve arrived yippee!!  Our longest drive in the States!!  SatNav has been great getting us around!

 

It is 10.05am and we now need to get the tram to the main entrance.  The parks charge $17 to park the car or else you can pay preferred parking at $22 to park closer to the entrance!  We go with the cheap seats hee hee!

 

The welcoming party a brightly coloured guy on stilts

Each park you have to have your bag searched before you can get to the entrance gates
Now we are at the entrance, scan your ticket and scan your finger to enter the park!
Green for go, let's get in!!

 

Our first ride of the day which was Gwazi, a wooden twisting rollercoaster.  Probably not the best one to start with as it was so bumpy it gave Colin and I a headache!  Amy loved it!!

 

Walking through the park, beautiful flower displays

 

Kangaroo topiary just before we went into Walkabout Way.  You could feed kangaroos in Walkabout Way but we decided not to as we would have plenty opportunity soon in Australia!!

 

From one pink flamingo to another, ha ha!

 

 

Beautiful butterflies xx

 

 

Turtles are enjoying the morning sun

 

We have walked through to the Sesame Street Safari of Fun

 

Elmo is coming down the path, woop woop!

 

Oh and here is Cookie Monster, Grover and Zoe, woop woop!

 

Zoe stops for a photo before giving Amy a cuddle.  Amy is sitting on the kiddie seats near the front and Colin and I are sitting on the metal chairs behind all the kids. And then ….

 

Cookie Monster gives me a pat on the shoulder, high five to Colin and a cuddle to Amy when he gets down the steps!

 

Amy watching and enjoying the show!!

 

Amy is getting all their autographs.  Cookie Monster signed his name and then started squiggling in the book, then would look up and then start squiggling again and again, it was funny!!

 

Cool!!!

 

We waited around the corner for 10 minutes and then look who arrives to meet and greet us!!!

 

Nice photo xxx But then they are a bit sneaky at the park as we were supposed to meet Elmo too.  Elmo is in a separate room so we go and knock on the door and they let us in but then there are no personal photographs allowed so if you want a photo with Elmo you need to buy it and guess what we are not paying over the odds for a photograph!!  

 

You can just see Colin’s head in the rollercoaster as Amy and Colin go on Air Grover!!  That is a walk in the park to what all of us have just been on!!

 

Here is a picture of SheiKra which Colin went on.  A rollercoaster which went 200ft up and then stopped at the top where you got  a view over Tampa and then it went at 90degrees straight down with zero floor, thankfully Amy wasn’t tall enough.  That meant only one option I was unable to go on as I had to look after Amy, Colin was okay going on by himself ha ha I would not have gone on that ride if you paid me!!  Amy found a section of the SheiKra that the roller coaster went through water the people on the SheiKra didn’t get wet but the people walking by did!!  Amy was straight into the splash zone (it was more than a splash!)

 

We walked past the Bird Gardens and these pretty birds were hanging on the fence, beautiful!!

 

We jumped on the steam train to take us round the park and see the animals that were there but boy the train was slow and it was going to take 40 minutes to do a circuit, we don’t have time for a full circuit and the train ride is painfully slow!  We were on long enough to see White Rhinoceros, one Black Rhinoceros and some giraffes and then we jumped off!

 

Here we are going through the animals section of the park and there is a rollercoaster called Cheetah Hunt with triple launches which propels the cars you are in up to 60mph, loop the loop and one of the longest rollercoaster rides lasting 3 and a half minutes!  You are taken through the Cheetah enclosure on the rollercoaster but you are going too fast to see them!  Wow it was some ride, it felt really strange being catapulted along up to 60mph then you went up the hill and then down but you are thankfully strapped in every direction as your body is left up in the air!  It was cool and Colin’s best ride and Amy’s first inversion on a rollercoaster!  She said it was okay but thought she would feel more when she was upside down!

 

Here is one of the Cheetah’s for the show and tell

 

Another view of the Cheetah Hunt rollercoaster

 

American Alligators!!  Colin has gone off to go on the Montu rollercoaster one of the world’s longest inverted rollercoasters.  Amy and I are heading to the Madagascar live show but by the time we came out of the Cheetah Hunt the show had already started but we are going to try and catch the end of it

 

Well that plan went a bit wrong as the park is a bit bigger than we thought and by the time we get to the theatre the Madagascar show has just finished!!  Never mind, we just don’t have time to do shows and rides today so Amy meets the characters and gets engulfed in a cuddle from King Julien!

 

All the cast of Madagascar Alex, Gloria, Penguins, King Julien and Mort alongside our gorgeous girl Amy!!

The weirdest thing happened when we were waiting for Amy’s turn at getting her photograph done I thought I recognised the girl who was before Amy, no it can’t be one of the girl’s from Amy’s dancing Gena’s Dance Academy in Peel on the Isle of Man.  We get Amy’s photo done and then look for the people that were before us and then we see a couple more people and oh my word they are from Isle of Man.  I go up and say ‘Nice to see people from the Isle of Man’ that totally freaks them out as they didn’t expect to see us either!!  Small world for sure!!

 

Amy has a little play on the children’s rides, wow Amy I can’t believe you are on this little log flume and you have just came off the Cheetah Hunt rollercoaster!

 

Now this is the ideal photo of all of us doing something for ourselves, Colin is on the SheiKra rollercoaster in the background, Amy is in the pink top in the water play area and I am just chilling on the sun lounger!!  Ideal scenario for all of us well atleast for 10 minutes and then it is back to the 3 of us getting up to mischief all together!!!

 

 

All those big rides are building up a hunger in Col, foot long hot dog!

 

We had a go on Stanley Falls Flumes which was tame and we came off pretty dry L we now expect to get very wet on these rides so we came off a little disappointed.  Let’s go to the next water ride!  We headed to Tanganyika Tidal Wave but yet again we came off nearly dry, only a few splashes and really tame again LL

 

 

We walked past the Tigers and …..

 

watch out the Tiger is on the loose!!  RUN!!   Only joking we walk past the …….

 

 

Orangutans before we reach our next ride which is the Congo River Rapids, let’s get WET this time!

 

 

This is what we were on for the Congo River Rapid’s so we go on and prepare to get WET! 

 

And this ride did not disappoint we got absolutely drenched!!  The only problem was that I was wearing a new Fuchsia coloured first time worn beach dress I had bought in Orlando, we are going to the parks prepared now with swimmer gear underneath light clothing so either we can change or we get dry really quickly!  So after a complete drenching at the end of the ride I look down and my hands are bright pink but then I look down at my legs and the dye from my dress is running down my legs too!!!  Oh what is going I am getting very PINK!!  I now must be excused to go to the toilet and try and control the drips of Pink down my legs!  Colin and Amy go back on the ride again, thanks for your support guys ha ha!!

 

The last thrill ride for Colin of Busch Gardens is Kumba rollercoaster with 100ft plummets and 360 degree spiral at 60mph!  No thanks the girls will wait for you Colly!!  Colin comes off and says his head was banging off the head supports so he has a headache again!!

 

 

Next we head to Pantopia area as it is now 5pm for our last few rides of the day, where has the day gone yet again!!

 

 

Certainly great floral displays around the park

 

After being on the SandSerpent my head is feeling battered with all of today’s rides so I sat the last one out and Colin and Amy went on the Scorpion!  Just can’t believe Amy is tall enough to get on this rollercoaster with its 60ft drop and 360 degree loop the loop!! 

 

Another view of the Scorpion

 

Amy and Colin both come off the Scorpion and full of the sting of the Scorpion’s tail, thumbs up they loved it!!!

Now they both have the buzz they want their last ride of the day to be on the Cheetah Hunt so Colin is walking quickly whilst Amy is going through the cool zone to keep cool and to try and keep up with Daddy as she is keen to go back on Cheetah Hunt too!  It is 5.45pm and the park closes at 6pm hence why Colin is walking so quickly he doesn’t want to miss out on his last ride of the day!

 

We walk past the elephant’s but sorry we don’t have time to admire you we have a Cheetah Hunt to catch!

 

 

 

They have disappeared into the Cheetah Hunt ride, 15 minute wait time so hopefully they make it before the park closes at 6pm!!

 

Different view of Cheetah Hunt!

 

 

One of the unsuspecting souls that is away to have a 60mph roller coaster go super quick  by!!

 

 

Here they are happy as larry!!  Amy loved the ride that time and would have loved to go back on again as would Colin I’m sure but sorry the park is closed now as it is 6.10pm!!  Let’s get going!

 

Here is a picture of the Mantu that Colin went on earlier on but Amy and I didn’t see the ride until we were walking back to the car!

That was another hard and tiring day, we get home about 8pm-ish and it is bed time by 9pm for Amy and I as my head was still hurting!!

 

Wwt 'N' Wild water park to get to tomorrow, woop woop!!