irishdancer86
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2009
Day 6 in Orlando:
We got up early and started the drive down to Tampa, DBF had to stop twice to stretch his legs as his knees get very sore when driving and when we eventually arrived at Busch gardens he followed the exact directions of the Sat Nav and we entered the Busch Gardens car park from a side road that meant no queue and no parking charge...very very weird!
We then went to join the huge crowd of people in front of the turnstiles, after about half an hour we reached the front, this seemed by far to be the hottest day of the holiday and we were roasted and very glad to have reached the end of the line, I have over my flexticket to the CM and he passed it through the machine, it didn't work...neither did DBF's, the CM Looked at our flex tickets and said...'Sorry guys these flex tickets don't cover Busch gardens, you need the 6 park flex ticket to cover entry to Busch Gardens.'
I was stuck by horrible realisation, normally with my mum Busch gardens has been on our flex ticket, but I had chose Busch Gardens as the add on option to my Discovery Cove Tickets...which were in the hotel safe in Orlando!!!
I was in a total panic and explained the situation to the CM who sent us way back past all the lines to join the queue for the customer services house...45 minutes later, roasted alive with very little shade we reached the window for Custopmer Services, I told them our story on the verge of tears, I was so upset at my own stupidiy, cancelled out DBF's mistake for forgetting his licence for sure! Luckily they were able to verify our tickets online somehow and printed us out paper tickets that would allow us entry! Relief 
By this time we had watch hundreds of people pass us by, the crowds were really huge so we invested in an express pass an additional expense of $45...and then rejoined the queue for the park which was another half an hour...a very costly mistake indeed!
So by the time we got into the park, my head was nearly away with the stress worry and heat! Mountain Dew got me refreshed a little bit...we enjoyed watching the massive croc but he was sleeping so w moved on to the elephants...their keeper was feeding them and giving a talk...
Oh dear...possibly the most gross photo of me evr! but also a true reflection of how I was feeling...
Our day consisted of about 6/8 rides:
Montu...a good rollercoaster
Sheikra, a really wide (maybe 10-12 seats across) rollercoaster that drops you straight down, pretty scary but nice and smooth
The log flume...DBF really enjoyed this
Kumba...an 8 loop coaster, both thought this was good, we wnt on twice
The Rhino Rally and edge of Africa both nice for seeing the animals.
Gwazi...both tracks, a wooden rollercoaster, I was feeling a bit sick from being so warm and this coaster felt like it was going to shake my brain right out!!! also just as we pulled back into the station, one of the trains got stuck, full of people, on the first hill, it was just so hot me and DBF both were worried they'd all be getting sunstroke if they weren't rescued soon.
We ate a mediumly ok buffet munch of pizza pasta and salad, was good to be airconditioned!
DBF tried a few fairground games...
This day just seemed like such a struggle after the bad start and the immense heat and neither of us felt it had been worth the long drive, but OTOH I think we would have enjoyed it under cooler more relaxed circumstances. Some of the highlights were a big brass band we watched playing Michael Jackson songs and spending time watching the white tigers!
We were sooo ready to go home at about 4.30 but we had arranged to meet my aunt and her daughter who live in Orlando and my dad's cousin who was in Tampa in business for dinner, so we ventured into Tampa and met up with my family. This was probably the highlight of our day...
We went to Maggiano's and it was great! Everyone on the table ordered family style, 2 starters, 2 salads, 2 pasta dishes, 2 main courses and 2 desserts and they brought ourt more of anything that the table really likes, I ordered a steak because I'm such a plain eater but it was great for DBF to get to try all this great food that we wouldn't normally choose, like chiken parm, lasagna etc. I tasted the garlic bread with Parmesan and the profiteroles and they were gorgeous! The wine was flowing, My dad's cousin is from New York and him and my aunt kept us entertained the whole night, a lot of laughter and my aunt paid the whole bill which was very kind of her, we drove home after a long day that had a really cheerful, good company ending!
We got up early and started the drive down to Tampa, DBF had to stop twice to stretch his legs as his knees get very sore when driving and when we eventually arrived at Busch gardens he followed the exact directions of the Sat Nav and we entered the Busch Gardens car park from a side road that meant no queue and no parking charge...very very weird!
We then went to join the huge crowd of people in front of the turnstiles, after about half an hour we reached the front, this seemed by far to be the hottest day of the holiday and we were roasted and very glad to have reached the end of the line, I have over my flexticket to the CM and he passed it through the machine, it didn't work...neither did DBF's, the CM Looked at our flex tickets and said...'Sorry guys these flex tickets don't cover Busch gardens, you need the 6 park flex ticket to cover entry to Busch Gardens.'
I was stuck by horrible realisation, normally with my mum Busch gardens has been on our flex ticket, but I had chose Busch Gardens as the add on option to my Discovery Cove Tickets...which were in the hotel safe in Orlando!!! I was in a total panic and explained the situation to the CM who sent us way back past all the lines to join the queue for the customer services house...45 minutes later, roasted alive with very little shade we reached the window for Custopmer Services, I told them our story on the verge of tears, I was so upset at my own stupidiy, cancelled out DBF's mistake for forgetting his licence for sure! Luckily they were able to verify our tickets online somehow and printed us out paper tickets that would allow us entry! Relief By this time we had watch hundreds of people pass us by, the crowds were really huge so we invested in an express pass an additional expense of $45...and then rejoined the queue for the park which was another half an hour...a very costly mistake indeed!
So by the time we got into the park, my head was nearly away with the stress worry and heat! Mountain Dew got me refreshed a little bit...we enjoyed watching the massive croc but he was sleeping so w moved on to the elephants...their keeper was feeding them and giving a talk...
Oh dear...possibly the most gross photo of me evr! but also a true reflection of how I was feeling...
Our day consisted of about 6/8 rides:
Montu...a good rollercoaster
Sheikra, a really wide (maybe 10-12 seats across) rollercoaster that drops you straight down, pretty scary but nice and smooth
The log flume...DBF really enjoyed this
Kumba...an 8 loop coaster, both thought this was good, we wnt on twice
The Rhino Rally and edge of Africa both nice for seeing the animals.
Gwazi...both tracks, a wooden rollercoaster, I was feeling a bit sick from being so warm and this coaster felt like it was going to shake my brain right out!!! also just as we pulled back into the station, one of the trains got stuck, full of people, on the first hill, it was just so hot me and DBF both were worried they'd all be getting sunstroke if they weren't rescued soon.
We ate a mediumly ok buffet munch of pizza pasta and salad, was good to be airconditioned!
DBF tried a few fairground games...
This day just seemed like such a struggle after the bad start and the immense heat and neither of us felt it had been worth the long drive, but OTOH I think we would have enjoyed it under cooler more relaxed circumstances. Some of the highlights were a big brass band we watched playing Michael Jackson songs and spending time watching the white tigers!
We were sooo ready to go home at about 4.30 but we had arranged to meet my aunt and her daughter who live in Orlando and my dad's cousin who was in Tampa in business for dinner, so we ventured into Tampa and met up with my family. This was probably the highlight of our day...
We went to Maggiano's and it was great! Everyone on the table ordered family style, 2 starters, 2 salads, 2 pasta dishes, 2 main courses and 2 desserts and they brought ourt more of anything that the table really likes, I ordered a steak because I'm such a plain eater but it was great for DBF to get to try all this great food that we wouldn't normally choose, like chiken parm, lasagna etc. I tasted the garlic bread with Parmesan and the profiteroles and they were gorgeous! The wine was flowing, My dad's cousin is from New York and him and my aunt kept us entertained the whole night, a lot of laughter and my aunt paid the whole bill which was very kind of her, we drove home after a long day that had a really cheerful, good company ending!
oh dear!
. 
Glad the rest of the day turned out good and dinner with your family sounded like lots of fun 
. quite disappointing that I couldn't reach. lol.
I was looking at the comments on my pre trip report a few nights ago and now your here! a good coincidence! 
so she just sits at the exit now of all the really bad rides and holds the bags, and is happy with a nice cool water and people watching...but bizarrely still loves Splash mt!
and thanks, I'm enjoying replaying our lovely now seems long long ago two weeks in florida...
but at least we have lovely house plans now, and I think a ring might appear at some stage in 2011...
and got the tram and were soon in Epcot although not on the best of terms...we headed to Soarin' for fastpasses and I really regretted our lie in when I saw how long the queues were...
