Danauk
<font color=green>I would be sitting on the patio
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
- Messages
- 14,597
Day 6 December 26th BuschGardens
The cast:
Me (Karen) mad planner and disaholic
Pete, my husband, hates planning, goes along with what we happen to be doing
Andrew, best friend and Disney mad
Sue, best friend, married to Andrew, also Disney mad but doesnt often admit it (although admits it more these days!)
I guess I should start today by saying that Pete and I are roller coaster crazy, we love them and really enjoy trying new ones. I had been reading about Busch Gardens and especially Sheikra the new ride for a while and decided a long time ago that I really wanted to go there.
So we all got up bright and early at 7am, had a quick breakfast and left the villa by 8am. We drove to Busch Gardens in an hour and found it really easily. We were parked in the car park, caught the tram over and was in the park by 9:20am. Pete and I had decided to treat ourselves to the Adventure Thrills tour as we knew the park would be busy and we wanted to make the most out of our day riding the coasters there. Andrew and Sue are not coaster lovers so they decided to look around the park at the animals and booked the safari dinner experience.
As we were early, we didnt have to meet our tour guide until 10:30 we decided to have a coffee and a quick look around. We met our guide DAndre at 10:30 and began our tour. There were 2 other families in our group but we were allowed to say what rides we wanted to go on and we did not have to wait in line for any of them. I really recommend this tour, especially when it was busy. We were able to ride all the rides we wanted to and rode them multiple times. First of all we rode Gwazi, firstly tiger and then Cheetah. I enjoyed this ride as I have not ridden many wooden coasters before. Then we went over to Montu which I also enjoyed as I loved the 7 inversions. We rode this twice, first at the front and then at the back. Then we went to watch a show called Katonga, an African theamed song, dance and acrobat show. After the show we went for lunch at the Crown Plaza. The cost of this was included in the tour. After lunch had settled we went to Rhino Rally. I was really looking forward to this ride as I had seen the workings of it on a TV show but was disappointed as the water section of the ride was not working. I still enjoyed seeing the animals though. Next came the part that I had been looking forward to for a year, Sheikra. I have ridden a dive coaster many times before as we have the 1st one in the world (Sheikra is only the 3rd in the world) at out local coaster park, Alton Towers. We caught the elevator up to the ride platform (bypassing the 2 hour line!) I sensed it would be a good ride by the fact that we had to get into an elevator to get to the start of it!! We got on and rode the front row. The coaster was amazing, although the verticle drops didnt seem as scary as I thought they would be, although I know the are taller than the dive coaster I had ridden on at home they seemed shorter. I loved going straight from the dive into a loop though. We got off and DAndre asked if anyone wanted to ride again, about 5 of the group did so we boarded the elevator once more and this time we rode the back row. After our second ride Pete and I decided to buy the DVD of us on the ride as a souvenir. After Sheikra we headed for Python, an old fashioned corkscrew type coaster, then Kumba which we rode twice, once front row and then back row. I really enjoyed this coaster a lot, the negative gs were great and the speed fast throughout.. The we rode Scorpion, a smaller lap bar coaster with one inversion and then finally we rode Cheetah Chase, a wild mouse type coaster.
By now it was gone 4pm and we had to meet Andrew and Sue as we had to get back to WDW. We were back at the BCV by 6:30 and we had to quickly get changed and ready for our 7:30 ADR at Artists Point. The meal was lovely, I had buffalo and then a chocolate desert. As we were tired from a long day we came back to the BCV and went to bed by 10pm. I had really enjoyed today but we had another long day ahead of us tomorrow. as we have to be in Epcot at 8:15am for our Segway tour.
The cast:
Me (Karen) mad planner and disaholic
Pete, my husband, hates planning, goes along with what we happen to be doing
Andrew, best friend and Disney mad
Sue, best friend, married to Andrew, also Disney mad but doesnt often admit it (although admits it more these days!)
I guess I should start today by saying that Pete and I are roller coaster crazy, we love them and really enjoy trying new ones. I had been reading about Busch Gardens and especially Sheikra the new ride for a while and decided a long time ago that I really wanted to go there.
So we all got up bright and early at 7am, had a quick breakfast and left the villa by 8am. We drove to Busch Gardens in an hour and found it really easily. We were parked in the car park, caught the tram over and was in the park by 9:20am. Pete and I had decided to treat ourselves to the Adventure Thrills tour as we knew the park would be busy and we wanted to make the most out of our day riding the coasters there. Andrew and Sue are not coaster lovers so they decided to look around the park at the animals and booked the safari dinner experience.
As we were early, we didnt have to meet our tour guide until 10:30 we decided to have a coffee and a quick look around. We met our guide DAndre at 10:30 and began our tour. There were 2 other families in our group but we were allowed to say what rides we wanted to go on and we did not have to wait in line for any of them. I really recommend this tour, especially when it was busy. We were able to ride all the rides we wanted to and rode them multiple times. First of all we rode Gwazi, firstly tiger and then Cheetah. I enjoyed this ride as I have not ridden many wooden coasters before. Then we went over to Montu which I also enjoyed as I loved the 7 inversions. We rode this twice, first at the front and then at the back. Then we went to watch a show called Katonga, an African theamed song, dance and acrobat show. After the show we went for lunch at the Crown Plaza. The cost of this was included in the tour. After lunch had settled we went to Rhino Rally. I was really looking forward to this ride as I had seen the workings of it on a TV show but was disappointed as the water section of the ride was not working. I still enjoyed seeing the animals though. Next came the part that I had been looking forward to for a year, Sheikra. I have ridden a dive coaster many times before as we have the 1st one in the world (Sheikra is only the 3rd in the world) at out local coaster park, Alton Towers. We caught the elevator up to the ride platform (bypassing the 2 hour line!) I sensed it would be a good ride by the fact that we had to get into an elevator to get to the start of it!! We got on and rode the front row. The coaster was amazing, although the verticle drops didnt seem as scary as I thought they would be, although I know the are taller than the dive coaster I had ridden on at home they seemed shorter. I loved going straight from the dive into a loop though. We got off and DAndre asked if anyone wanted to ride again, about 5 of the group did so we boarded the elevator once more and this time we rode the back row. After our second ride Pete and I decided to buy the DVD of us on the ride as a souvenir. After Sheikra we headed for Python, an old fashioned corkscrew type coaster, then Kumba which we rode twice, once front row and then back row. I really enjoyed this coaster a lot, the negative gs were great and the speed fast throughout.. The we rode Scorpion, a smaller lap bar coaster with one inversion and then finally we rode Cheetah Chase, a wild mouse type coaster.
By now it was gone 4pm and we had to meet Andrew and Sue as we had to get back to WDW. We were back at the BCV by 6:30 and we had to quickly get changed and ready for our 7:30 ADR at Artists Point. The meal was lovely, I had buffalo and then a chocolate desert. As we were tired from a long day we came back to the BCV and went to bed by 10pm. I had really enjoyed today but we had another long day ahead of us tomorrow. as we have to be in Epcot at 8:15am for our Segway tour.
