Florida Trip Day 5 (Busch Gardens)

Friday January 24th 2020

Another day, another adventure!  When we purchased our online tickets we read that we had the option to take a free bus to Busch Gardens when we bundled our tickets to Sea World and Busch Gardens.  We also got the second day for just about $20 per ticket.  We also received a free meal for each person for our day at Busch Gardens.  This means it was cheaper to go to both Busch Gardens and Sea World than one day at Disney.

We left the resort for the bus pick up location much earlier than we needed to.  We got there plenty early.  The girls had fun digging the moss out of the pavers.  You never know what T will decide to do.

T: We made a beautiful piece of art!

The kids were excited to take a coach bus with reclining seats.  They were bummed that they wouldn't be able to watch a movie.  The girls sat together and played nicely.  M sat with my brother Bret.  I sat with Brandon.  Brandon and M both seemed to be doing much better.  M was still running a fever, but we were better at staying on top of the meds.  The bus ride was a little over an hour.  We were very thankful to have a relaxing ride vs. having to drive. 

T: A and I had fun playing on the bus. 

We finally started our Busch Gardens adventure sometime after 11:00.  The temps were higher and we were even able to take off coats and wear short sleeves at times!  It was a great day!  I learned that I love Busch Gardens, and that you really can't see or do everything there in one day.  In fact, if you are riding all the rides, you might not even be able to do everything in two days.  To me, this place is a tourist gem.

Busch Gardens is a mix between a Six Flags style adventure park and a large zoo.  Since it is in Tampa, it doesn't get the amount of tourists that Disney does, at least not in January.  We heard it gets very packed in the summer.

Ready for a day of fun with a lion behind them. 

We started our time checking out the alligators and cheetahs.  M wanted to do the Cheetah Hunt coaster, but the wait was 50 minutes and we guessed it would be less later in the day. 

T: Can you believe how many alligators there are?!

M and T:  They look pretty lazy to us!

Kids:  Wow, he is really close!

T:  He looks like he wants to cuddle with us!

We noticed the Skyride had no wait and decided to take it.  This landed us at a totally different part of the park which was possibly not our best idea, but we all enjoyed getting the views of the animals.  Even I rode on this and managed to not freak out too much.

T: Can I please stand up?  M: Glad to be wearing shorts!

Awww, we got to sit together! 

M and T:  There were all kinds of animals below us as we traveled!  Pretty cool! 

Once we were off that ride we did the Stanley Falls Flume.  Actually Brandon and I didn't do the flume we just watched.  Brandon wasn't sure what his stomach could handle.  My mom and T ended up the wettest, everyone else stayed pretty dry.  Way to take one for the team Grandma Kathy!!

Dad and M

M: That was great!

Mom and T

T: We were soaked!!!

Bret and A

A:  I got a little wet. 

The wet "water ride" crew!

After the flume we checked out some animals.  We were able to see a tiger, and some orangutans.

He was pretty fun to watch. 

A big lazy tiger!

T: I really want to lay on him!

M: He looks like Sunshine!

After looking at the animals we discovered the coolest Treetops Climbing and play area.  It is like a climbing park up in the trees with tunnels and bridges and cool surfaces.  I would have loved this area as a child.  It is really hard to capture it in photos, but truly one of the coolest play structures I have ever seen.  We could have spent many hours in this part of the park. 

Incredible design and OT possibilities. 

Of course I had to get in the action.  I felt like a tall 8 year old!

We climbed into a little tunnel area and discovered two little monkey like friends.  T loved making faces at them.

T: Hi friends!

T: says "Muchi Muchi muchi"  The reflection makes for a crazy picture. 

T: I wanted him to stick out his tongue too. 

T: I could have stayed there ALL DAY! 

So much fun!

T: I wish I could come here every day!

In the middle of the Treetops area was a moderate drop trill ride.  The kids did the ride many times as there was really no wait.  I just kept marveling at all the fun things with little wait.  It was magical. 

My stomach jumped just watching it. 

After a good time of playing we decided to eat lunch.  The portions were HUGE and everyone was well fed.  They also said that three meals hadn't been counted from the day before which meant we could get three more free meals later in the day.  Cool.

Bret got a hamburger that came with additional chicken strips on top of the bun!

If you know me at all in real life, you know I do NOT like birds... at all!  The birds were surrounding us as we ate. Thankfully, we didn't drop anything and we were not attacked by them.  Of course it is perfectly rational to think we might be attacked... right?

Outdoor dining meant we had company eager to eat anything we dropped.  

No zoom.  I looked up and this guy was right next to me. 

After lunch we went to a pet show which also all enjoyed.  Some of the tricks were the same as Sea World, but it was still a fun show.

How did he do that? 

This time we let the kids go forward to pet the cats and dogs after the show.  The kids loved it and missed our cats.

T:  She is such a sweet little cat, but she seems so skinny!

After the pet show we were determined to find some roller coasters.  We went to check out Scorpion and found out it was closed for maintenance.  We headed to Sand Serpent.  It is a unique older coaster with lots of switchbacks and you ride in your own car.  Bret and Dad both said it was pretty intense.  The kids did it three times with very little line. After the coaster they did the carousel with zero wait.  It would have been 25 minutes wait at Disney.

A very jerky ride that left the adults sick and the kids wanting more. 

T: Mom, take a picture of me by this weird tree.

T: We didn't even have to wait one minute!

After this we headed for the Serengeti Plain train ride.  We attempted to see elephants along the way but they were indoors at the moment.  The train ride was very cool.  We got to see animals grazing free and came very close to several of them.  The train actually had to stop because the antelope were on the tracks.  During the train ride M pulled out a tooth, his first moral.  T decided that her tooth was loose too and she started pulling.  About three minutes later she pulled out a tooth.  Sweet cousin A had a wiggly tooth too, but sadly hers wasn't fully ready to come out.  This will be a random and cool family story that I am sure our kids will be telling their kids about, one they will think about should they ever go back to Busch Gardens.

Hello Rhinos!

Hello Ostrich!

Apparently it was an antelope crossing. 

This guy was right next to us!

T: When M pulled out a tooth I decided to pull one out too!

Hello Zebras!

Hello Giraffes!

After the train ride we were able to see the elephants and one even performed for us a bit.  One was trying hard to get a ring off a pole.  It was hard work, but it didn't give up.  I am not sure if she was trained to do that at some point, but there were no workers around and it seemed that she was having fun.

This girl really wanted that ring off. 

She would get it most of the way up and then it would fall. 

She eventually rammed the pole so the angle would work with her. 

She got it!  The crowd cheered.  

After that we made our way through some tropical bird areas and the kids actually got to go in with the birds and T even had one on her hand for a brief second.  Obviously I opted out of this area.  

M: I really wanted him to sit on my shoulder. 

T:  Hi there, want to sit on my arm? 

T: It is touching my finger!

Next we headed to the Sesame Street Safari of Fun area.  The kids had lots of fun on really cool climbing and bridge structures.  I was sure we took pictures of it, but somehow we have none.  I even got to climb a bit when we lost T for a little while.  They also had the biggest and coolest bounce house ever.  There was a mini roller coaster with no wait in this area.  The kids all rode it three times, but M rode it four.  For some reason they made all the kids get out of the ride and run back to the beginning and let M sit in the coaster and ride all by himself for a ride.  A very cool story.  This coaster was actually much better than the Barnstormer at Disney and the kids could ride it without an adult.  We truly could have spent half a day in this area as well.  

T: I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!!

The kids were obsessed with Harry's ABC toy chest book when they were little.  Naturally we needed to hug Harry when we saw him.

A hug from Harry!  

So sweet!

M:  Hahahaha  Only one on the coaster!!!!!

They were taking a lot of time in this area and I was nervous about getting M back to Cheetah Hunt and Cobra's Curse, two more coasters he wanted to try that day.  While there, he was consumed with being there, but I wanted him to not have regrets.  I feel bad for rushing them, but also thankful I did. 

We needed to stop for a quick minute to see the flamingos.

T: I want to try to sleep while on one foot!

While we were heading to the coasters we spotted a Kangaroo area.  We were actually able to do a "walkabout" and pet and feed the Kangaroos.  It was a very cool experience and I am glad we stopped to do it.

A mama and her joey.

M and T:  We got to pet a real kangaroo!!  You can't do that every day. 

After that we were bolting through the park tot he coasters.  We knew we couldn't be late for the bus. My parents and Bret and A went to eat and we were alone with the kids and Brandon had just been sick the day before, but got elected to ride with the kids.  He was so brave and I know it was a fear conquering experience.  It ended up that the Cheetah Hunt line was still long, but they were able to do Cobra's Curse twice.  This is how Busch Gardens describes the ride, "Ascend a vertical lift... spin backwards and forwards on a whirlwind adventure through a mysterious Egyptian archeological excavation."  While I was waiting for them the first time and taking pics I felt sick that poor Brandon had to go through this.  It looked awful to me with both coaster and spinning and going backwards, but when they came past I saw they were all smiling.  When they announced that they wanted to do it again I was shocked.  I am so very proud of Brandon for being willing to take one for the team and then for conquering fears and enjoying the coaster.  I sure do love this man!

I took a lot of pics to try to capture the essence of this ride.  It is such a unique coaster.  I was able to get them in the shot a few times between the two rides.

First your car is lifted up in this elevator thing.  

Then you go around a bit and spin around. 

Then you go backwards.  That is my fam in the car on the left. 

Going backwards down a hill. 

That is them in the front car. 

Flying by but looking happy. 

As they exited the ride the pics on the wall gave an option to buy.  The top one shows the kids very well!

I think they liked it. 

I see a big smile on my husband's face.  

It was such a full day at the park.  We missed seeing many of the animals including the lions and the hippos and the gorillas and chimps.  As I said before, I think it is quite impossible to do this park in one day and it left us longing for a visit to the park one day in the future.

Our whole crew at the entrance.  

Our bus ride home was pretty uneventful.  There was a lot of traffic proving yet again what a blessing it was to relax while someone else drove. Once home the kids decided they wanted to do a night swim so we let them.  Sometimes a mom who loves early bedtimes has to embrace the vacation mode and say yes! Bret braved the chilly air temps to swim with them.  What a great dad and uncle!

T: A, are you dressed?  I am ready to go. 

Swimming at night is sort of magical. 

Thankful that the kids are now strong swimmers and we didn't have to worry about them.

It was a good, warm (temps in 70's much of the day) and sunny day! We fell asleep immediately ready for the adventures that would come then following day...