Busch Gardens Shuttle Express from Universal

[Sylvester McBean]

I saw it in a soft opening phase, and they didn't have the ceiling nozzles calibrated correctly. instant wet t-shirt contest at BG. I literally walked outside and wrung out my shirt. TM's were toweling off all of the seats immediately the show.

 

[Slacking]

Yeah, I also saw it during if soft opening phase, but they must have worked that kink out by the time I saw it.

 

[damo]

Yeah, I also saw it during if soft opening phase, but they must have worked that kink out by the time I saw it.

Glad to hear it. I'm too old for a wet t-shirt contest.

 

[MsDisney]

Glad to hear it. I'm too old for a wet t-shirt contest.

NONSENSE!!!! You are NEVER too old for such things!!!

As for Locker, hmmm..... a question that may have me stumped! I do know that there are lockers throughout the park including near the main entrance, but I'm not sure how large they are. I should probably know my home park a bit better, lol!

I think she can let it slide because after all...why would you bring luggage to your "home" park!?!?

Heck, they have kennels don't they?...they MUST have something to store larger items...you would think!

It's been awhile since I've been to BGT and it sounds like it's about time to go back...although, I'm not sure you can truly get a slight drenching...it's like being sort of dead, isn't it? Sorry, kinda morbid analogy but it's all I've got at 1am!

I think this year, with Easter being so late, that things will be somewhat manageable in the parks until late March/early to mid-April...I know Boston has their vacation in April...as does Lake County, FL.

Have fun, Damo! What days will you be at Universal? I'm sure it's on another thread...but again, it's 1am and I'm feeling lazy!

Karen / MsDis / MrsMIB999999

 

[phamton]

Info for Shuttle:

Shuttle to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. (just a short 1 hour ride) This is only $10.00 per person round trip and is always free with a 5-Park Orlando Flex Ticket. Reservations are recommended so please call 1-800-221-1339.

Departure Time Route Location
Route 1 - 8:30 a.m. Universal Orlando

8:45 a.m. Mercado Shopping Center

Route 2 - 9:00 a.m. SeaWorld Orlando

9:15 a.m. Old Town Shopping Village

Route 3 - 9:15 a.m. SeaWorld Orlando

9:30 a.m. Orlando Premium Outlets

Route 4 - 9:30 a.m. AmeriHost Resort Maingate

9:40 a.m. LaQuinta Inn Lakeside

Please plan to arrive at your pick up location at least 15 minutes before
your departure time.

 

[damo]

NONSENSE!!!! You are NEVER too old for such things!!!


Have fun, Damo! What days will you be at Universal? I'm sure it's on another thread...but again, it's 1am and I'm feeling lazy!

Karen / MsDis / MrsMIB999999

I guess it all depends on who is judging the contest, doesn't it???

We will be at the parks from Monday to Wednesday. We arrive Sunday night. On Thursday we are heading to BGT and then on Friday when head back home.

 

[Slacking]

Enjoy your Trip Damo! I found out that another local school district doesn't have their break until the last week of March, so you shouldn't have much of a problems with crowds at all! (LOL, on Thursday I may drive past Busch while going from 1 job to another, just to see how crowded the parking lot is). If you have any other BGT questions before you leave, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[macraven]

damo, you are going to have sooooooo much fun.

and do enter that wet tshirt contest.
remember, stories are no good without pictures.

 

[Slacking]

I'm so sorry Damo!!!!

Frist, I HATE being wrong! Hate it, Hate it, Hate it!

So, I was on my way from my job at a museum to a totoring job and I drove past the BGT parking lot. My jaw dropped when I saw how crowded the parking lot was. I was shocked. I had an hour to kill, so I decided to walk around the park to see what the lines for the coasters were like, because I felt bad I told Damo the park should be empty. (I don't understand why it was crowded. I thought most surrounding districts had school this week. Maybe colleges that were out? Tourists? Locals that decided the day was nice? I dunno, but I was shocked)

I get in the park, and the beautiful thing about BGT is that as crowded it is, you don't feel the crowds all that much ebcause the park is huge.

I start at gwazi and see that there is no line until the station for each side. Slow loading coaster though (were they only running 1 train each?) so my guess it was about a 15 min. wait.

SheiKra was down when I walked by but could tell it was running that day. The wait time sign said that it was a 30-45 min. wait and later I saw it was testing.

Python had no line until the station. They run only one train though, so my guess it was a 5-10 min wait,

Kumba, had a line that left the station a bit. My guess it was a 15-20 min wait.

Cheetah Chase was down, but saw it testing 5-10 min later.

Scorpion had a fairly long line (for Scorpion). Once again, they only run one train, it wqas probably a 10-15 min. wait.

Montu looked like it was pretty much a walk-on, my guess is that the crowd worked their way to the back (this was between 2:20-3pm) leaving Montu fairly empty.

So, while the park was fairly crowded, the coaster lines weren't totally unbearable. But they weren't all walk-ons like I told Damo they would be.

Damo, hope you enjoyed your trip and your day at bGT and that it wasn't too crowded.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

hillsborough county's spring break is next week, but FL colleges are this week. I still didn't think BG would be that crowded.

 

[Slacking]

hillsborough county's spring break is next week, but FL colleges are this week. I still didn't think BG would be that crowded.

Yeah, and Pinellas and Pasco weren't this week either.

There was a college crowd, but overall the mix was a wide variety (College kids, Families with children, Teens, Adults, senior Citizens). I'm still quite baffled.

 

[damo]

Just got back and am happy to say that the crowds were LOVELY at Busch Gardens. I rode Sheikra 3 times and loved, loved, loved it! It is a pure fun coaster. I also rode Montu and Kwazi without keeling over and Cheetah Chase (but that doesn't count). It is amazing what Dramamine can do. 6 crazy coasters in under 3 hours and I felt great! Usually, one trip on Fire and I am done in. My son's coaster count is now up to 189, so he is happy.

The bus worked very, very well. It turns out that you only have to pay if you are making the return trip...so that saved me 20 bucks!

We didn't see any shows but did all the rides. Well, I didn't ride the other coasters. My son rides them first and then lets me know if i can handle them. He did, however, think that Python was one of the best corkscrew coasters he's ridden. Rhino Rally was cute and the train ride was a nice rest.

I really liked the park.

Universal crowds were very nice as well. We hopped over to Animal Kingdom on Tuesday. They charged me $9 at the booth to get dropped off by cab!!! What a total ripoff that was. I went and talked to them at customer service and they said they had no control over that policy. HUH??? Do they charge people $9 at Universal to get dropped off? It was really busy at AK but we did ride EE twice and thought it was very well done and the queue moved very quickly. Lines were really long at everything else though and we were out of there in 3 hours. We took a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge and then over to Downtown Disney to avoid the crazy cab fares. It cost me $34 + $9 to get there and $25 to get back. Go figure. We won't do that again.

Oh and we got a nice upgrade to a King Suite at RPR which was waiting for us with the bed turned down, a fruit basket and two bottles of Fiji Water on ice. That was a very nice touch since we arrived 3 hours late and were exhausted. (Our plane left Toronto at 4pm and then turned around an hour into the flight and went back to Toronto because of missing paperwork. Never had that happen before).

Thanks for all your help guys. The hotels and cabs and bus worked very well.

 

[Slacking]

Welcome Back Damo! Sounds like you had a blast!

Thats funny how your son thought Python was one of the better corkscrew coasters. I'm not a huge fan of it at all. BUT, not sure if the two of you know, but it looks like Python will most likely be removed within the next year.

Did you try Kumba?

189? Thats a pretty good count. I'm up to 203, and I feel like I've stalled a bit.

 

[damo]

Welcome Back Damo! Sounds like you had a blast!

Thats funny how your son thought Python was one of the better corkscrew coasters. I'm not a huge fan of it at all. BUT, not sure if the two of you know, but it looks like Python will most likely be removed within the next year.

Did you try Kumba?

189? Thats a pretty good count. I'm up to 203, and I feel like I've stalled a bit.

Oh ya, I tried Kumba. It was Gwazi that I didn't try, I'm not a shakey wooden coaster fan. I liked Sheikra better but I'm not much of an multi-inversion fan. I thought it would be more intense but I think I was numbed by drugs.

You need to get cracking on the coaster count!!! We'll compare again in September. Hopefully, our east coast tour will knock his count up by 40 or so!

We also found the lockers no problem. $1 for the whole day per locker. Another bargoon!

Oh and the food was good there too!

It was the second time we had ridden Cheetah Chase. We rode it when it was at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

 

[Slacking]

Oh ya, I tried Kumba. It was Gwazi that I didn't try, I'm not a shakey wooden coaster fan. I liked Sheikra better but I'm not much of an multi-inversion fan. I thought it would be more intense but I think I was numbed by drugs.

You need to get cracking on the coaster count!!! We'll compare again in September. Hopefully, our east coast tour will knock his count up by 40 or so!

We also found the lockers no problem. $1 for the whole day per locker. Another bargoon!

Oh and the food was good there too!

It was the second time we had ridden Cheetah Chase. We rode it when it was at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Yeah, I rode Cheetah Chase in 1996 during its first year at BGW while it was still called Wild Izzy! Izzy being the mascot of the '96 Olympics.

By the end of the Summer he'll be far past me when it comes to coaster count. I don't think I'm going to hit any new parks this year (possibly Six Flags over Georgia, and maybe hit an east coast park I've been to before). I jsut don't have the money to travel anywhere. What are some of the parks you're going to hit?

 

[damo]

Yeah, I rode Cheetah Chase in 1996 during its first year at BGW while it was still called Wild Izzy! Izzy being the mascot of the '96 Olympics.

By the end of the Summer he'll be far past me when it comes to coaster count. I don't think I'm going to hit any new parks this year (possibly Six Flags over Georgia, and maybe hit an east coast park I've been to before). I jsut don't have the money to travel anywhere. What are some of the parks you're going to hit?

Hershey (again but haven't ridden their latest rocket coaster), Dorney, Knoebels, SF Great Adventure, SF New England and La Ronde (again but this time for their new B&M hyper -- I love B&M hypers). I think there is supposed to be one more in there but I'm not sure what it is.

 

[Slacking]

Hershey (again but haven't ridden their latest rocket coaster), Dorney, Knoebels, SF Great Adventure, SF New England and La Ronde (again but this time for their new B&M hyper -- I love B&M hypers). I think there is supposed to be one more in there but I'm not sure what it is.

And to think it's my 26th BDay and on a Friday night I'm sitting opn my butt reading the boards, lol.

Anyway Damo, sounds like quite a trip! I've been to all those but La Ronde, its been awhile for some of them though. I love Hershey! Make sure you hit their new dark ride, it sounds bizarre, and they're redoing the tour! Knoebels is a FANTASTIC little park. Their Haunted House is the best dark ride I've ridden, do not miss it. And even ride the carousel, its one of the few you can still grab the brass ring! Dorney is cool, but last time I was there wa sin 9th grade, so I havenmt ridden their last 4 coasters. Great adv, has a wide lineup of coasters. and I went to SFNE even before it was flagged, I'm sure the park is completely different these days.

And damo, you had perfect weather when you were down here! I don't know where you live, but I spoke to my dad near Toronto last night and he was telling me it was slightly below freezing, brrrr!

 

[damo]

Happy Birthday Slacking!!! At 26, you are just starting your life and there is nothing wrong with being at home. I forgot about Hershey's new ride. It does sound very strange but I'm sure it will be good. We loved the tour and the 3-D show. I have heard lots of good things about Knoebels and Cedar Fair parks are generally good (except I hate Knott's Berry Farm) so we should enjoy Dorney (another hyper). The Six Flags parks are just for coasters. My son really wants to ride Kingda Ka. Not me.


You bet the weather was great! Perfect for shorts and sleeveless shirts. It is -4 Celcius here right now (we live just outside of Toronto). I'm not going to go outside until May.

 

[Slacking]

I concur with you about Knotts!

As a kid I visited Knotts a couple times, and I loved it. But then some ride removals occurred, and Cedar Fair took over and everything went down. I visited it back in 2002 after I graduated college and was VERY disappointed with the park. It was sad for me.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

welcome back Damo, sounds like a fun trip. but your posts have depressed me, I'm 36 and my coaster count is barely over 100. that's a total crap policy at WDW to hit you with the parking charge in a cab. some people rip in Sheikra saying it's too short, no inversions, blah, blah. we love it. it builds tension, and then punches you in the stomach on the first drop. glad you like our backyard theme park.