Dates: 8th April to the 15th.
Acommodation:A villa at Westridge, off the I-27
Length of stay: One week (ie, not enough time!!)
Theme Parks visited
Busch Gardens
Seaworld
Kennedy Space Center
Universal Studios
Disney- Magic Kingdom
We arrived at Orlando airport around 6pm to be met by our friends and their three children, Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3! Our friends and god children had already been in Orlando for a week so they were well into the spirit of it by the time we arrived.
Busch Gardens
Day 1 of our holiday and we were all out the door by 8.30am for the drive to Busch Gardens in Tampa. We were twenty minutes into the journey when we realised that we had all left our tickets for the park back at the villa, must have been the early start. We finally arrived in Tampa after 10am. The weather was overcast and it wasn't particularly warm either. We thought it would be a good idea to bring waterproofs with us which paid off later on.
All seven of us took the Skyride to Stanleyville where MrG and Thing 1 decided that they wanted to try the Sheikra! This is a roller coaster type ride with a vertical drop [:0] I chickened out on this one, 'I'll do it later' said I, yeah right [:w] Apparently Sheikra is going floorless in June, ooh, can't wait for that [:p]
My first ride of the day was the Stanley Falls Flume, which was fun, The soaking wet factor was about 4/10! By the time we had finished this ride, it had started to rain. Me, MrG, T1 and his Dad decided to try the Tidal Wave. There was no queue for this and we got straight on, after we had negotiated the bridge. You definitely do not want to be crossing the bridge to Tidal Wave when one of the rides is on it's way down! Some people decided this is exactly what they were going to do and got completely soaked. Even their Busch Garden Ponchos couldn't save them, it was hilarious[:o)] Soaking wet factor 7/10.
Thing 2 wanted to go on Cheetah Chase so off we went to Timbuktu. There was a queue of about 15 minutes and as we got near to the front, we were told that the ride had been closed due to the rain. We decided to wait it out because we were under cover, hoping it would open again soon. They reopened the ride again after the rain had eased off. I thought Cheetah Chase was quite scary, it felt like we were going to go over the edge on a few occasions. T2 and T3 loved it though, so I had to be brave. I decided to get the picture taken of us on this ride even though it wasn't a flattering one of yours truly. We spent another hour at Timbuktu while T2 nad T3 went on some of the kiddie rides.
By now, it had been raining consistently for a few hours and we were quite wet. Busch Gardens is one Park that doesn't have much in the way of cover. We tried to get into the Desert Grill Restaurant and Theatre which was packed, with no seating, so we stood there for a while trying to dry off. There was an Irish dancing show[?] taking place on the stage while we were there.
We then made our way to Morroco and went on Gwazi.Gwazi is an old fashioned wooden roller coaster. My friend told me that the wooden ones are supposed to be the best!There was only a lap restraint on this ride so I thought it would be ok, wrong![:0] I have a habit of closing my eyes and screaming my head off when on rides and that's exactly what I did. I was petrified and it seemed to go on for ages too. Boy was I glad to get off that one [:$] MrG and T1 had another couple of rides on Gwazi, complete nutters!
Because the weather wasn't great we didn't see as much of the animals as we would have liked, though we did see some elephants and Zebras.
MrG and T1 were turning out to be the roller coaster kings and decided to finish off the day with a ride on Montu. I declined to go on it as I was still recovering from Gwazi. Montu is a floorless ride with lots of loops. You can stand underneath it at one point watching it speed over your head.
We had 8 hours in all at Busch Gardens and it was very enjoyable. If you like seat of your pants type roller coasters, then you should visit. There are plenty of rides to keep the younger kids amused too. My Favourite ride was the Phoenix,a boat shaped ride that swings you from side to side then over and holds you there[y]I wasn't too worried as there was a big safety net across the top to stop me falling out![}:)]
I think we would have seen more, particularly of the animals if the weather had been better. I would also suggest that you bring a change of clothing with you, if it's raining. The plus side of the bad weather was not having to queue to get on most of the rides[y]
A great first day of our holiday and I could see that we were going to need plenty of stamina to get to the end of the week.
Tomorrow, we would have a date with a whale...
To be continued..
Acommodation:A villa at Westridge, off the I-27
Length of stay: One week (ie, not enough time!!)
Theme Parks visited
Busch Gardens
Seaworld
Kennedy Space Center
Universal Studios
Disney- Magic Kingdom
We arrived at Orlando airport around 6pm to be met by our friends and their three children, Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3! Our friends and god children had already been in Orlando for a week so they were well into the spirit of it by the time we arrived.
Busch Gardens
Day 1 of our holiday and we were all out the door by 8.30am for the drive to Busch Gardens in Tampa. We were twenty minutes into the journey when we realised that we had all left our tickets for the park back at the villa, must have been the early start. We finally arrived in Tampa after 10am. The weather was overcast and it wasn't particularly warm either. We thought it would be a good idea to bring waterproofs with us which paid off later on.
All seven of us took the Skyride to Stanleyville where MrG and Thing 1 decided that they wanted to try the Sheikra! This is a roller coaster type ride with a vertical drop [:0] I chickened out on this one, 'I'll do it later' said I, yeah right [:w] Apparently Sheikra is going floorless in June, ooh, can't wait for that [:p]
My first ride of the day was the Stanley Falls Flume, which was fun, The soaking wet factor was about 4/10! By the time we had finished this ride, it had started to rain. Me, MrG, T1 and his Dad decided to try the Tidal Wave. There was no queue for this and we got straight on, after we had negotiated the bridge. You definitely do not want to be crossing the bridge to Tidal Wave when one of the rides is on it's way down! Some people decided this is exactly what they were going to do and got completely soaked. Even their Busch Garden Ponchos couldn't save them, it was hilarious[:o)] Soaking wet factor 7/10.
Thing 2 wanted to go on Cheetah Chase so off we went to Timbuktu. There was a queue of about 15 minutes and as we got near to the front, we were told that the ride had been closed due to the rain. We decided to wait it out because we were under cover, hoping it would open again soon. They reopened the ride again after the rain had eased off. I thought Cheetah Chase was quite scary, it felt like we were going to go over the edge on a few occasions. T2 and T3 loved it though, so I had to be brave. I decided to get the picture taken of us on this ride even though it wasn't a flattering one of yours truly. We spent another hour at Timbuktu while T2 nad T3 went on some of the kiddie rides.
By now, it had been raining consistently for a few hours and we were quite wet. Busch Gardens is one Park that doesn't have much in the way of cover. We tried to get into the Desert Grill Restaurant and Theatre which was packed, with no seating, so we stood there for a while trying to dry off. There was an Irish dancing show[?] taking place on the stage while we were there.
We then made our way to Morroco and went on Gwazi.Gwazi is an old fashioned wooden roller coaster. My friend told me that the wooden ones are supposed to be the best!There was only a lap restraint on this ride so I thought it would be ok, wrong![:0] I have a habit of closing my eyes and screaming my head off when on rides and that's exactly what I did. I was petrified and it seemed to go on for ages too. Boy was I glad to get off that one [:$] MrG and T1 had another couple of rides on Gwazi, complete nutters!
Because the weather wasn't great we didn't see as much of the animals as we would have liked, though we did see some elephants and Zebras.
MrG and T1 were turning out to be the roller coaster kings and decided to finish off the day with a ride on Montu. I declined to go on it as I was still recovering from Gwazi. Montu is a floorless ride with lots of loops. You can stand underneath it at one point watching it speed over your head.
We had 8 hours in all at Busch Gardens and it was very enjoyable. If you like seat of your pants type roller coasters, then you should visit. There are plenty of rides to keep the younger kids amused too. My Favourite ride was the Phoenix,a boat shaped ride that swings you from side to side then over and holds you there[y]I wasn't too worried as there was a big safety net across the top to stop me falling out![}:)]
I think we would have seen more, particularly of the animals if the weather had been better. I would also suggest that you bring a change of clothing with you, if it's raining. The plus side of the bad weather was not having to queue to get on most of the rides[y]
A great first day of our holiday and I could see that we were going to need plenty of stamina to get to the end of the week.
Tomorrow, we would have a date with a whale...
To be continued..