It'll be worth it in the end!! Gem and Co January Trip Report Day 4

T16GEM

<font color=blue>I must have a funnel cake when I'
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Mar 16, 2003
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Today Busch Gardens........

It was another chilly day, even though my ever optimistic husband insisted that it was warmer than yesterday :rolleyes: it wouldn't be hard. To be fair though when we were in the full sun (and there wasn't a cloud in he sky today) it was actually pretty warm.

We left the villa at around 8.30 again after breakfast in the house, we found this to be easier than eating breakfast out with two hyper active kids who just wanted to go on rides and see characters! :goodvibes

The Sat Navs told us to turn left out of the villa community and this was the only time that it ever did. We followed Poinciana Blvd down to the rail road crossing and turned left, this took us the back way to the I4 and would cut off quite a lot of the usual trog town the 192 - well it was meant to anyway..... we stopped and sat there..... sat there a little longer and then people started to turn around in front of us. We pulled up along side Terry and Lou's car and conversed about what we should do. The consensus seemed to be that we turn round. :idea: Good Idea!
DH was pleased that he got to fiddle with his Tom Tom (no rude comments please :rotfl:) and he found the "road block" facility to be pretty useful, the Tom Tom rerouted us down a few side roads and we somehow ended up by the I4!
In the end it added about 35 minutes to the journey, but most of which was probably just us being sat there and then discussing what to do next.:laughing:

I quite enjoy the route down the I4 - I75 as there are so many funny sights to see, like the plane, there are more than a couple of huge dinosaurs perched on the side of the road and now a load of silver caravans half dug into the ground! Harley loved the dinos!

When we got to Busch Gardens we took a few pics of the entrance and commented on how busy it seemed to be.
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We made our way through to the turnstiles and had a look at the map, we decided to go anti clockwise round the park and headed towards Montu, somehow we went totally wrong and ended up in Nairobi! So we went round the jungle walk. The kids really enjoyed the underwater viewing of the fish and hippos, and we got some great pics of the animals.

Harley left his mark on this rock by tripping and headbutting it about 30 seconds after this was take!, he was distraught and I had to get him a plaster for his knee - didn't seem bothered about his head! Kids eh!

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We had a spot of lunch at the Desert Grill, I think we all had chicken strip meals, and the kids had some sandwiches and grapes that we had bought with us.

Next we took a trip on the train, it was rather chilly on there and it seemed to take an age to get round! Harley loved the train and Shelby seemed to be in a rather good mood by the end of it! We wandered back up and round the other side of the park past Gwazi - the boys rode this as I cannot stand it - to rickety for me, only one train was running. Lou and I watched the kids while they rode one of the kiddies rides.
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By this time I was craving my Sheikra fix, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this ride..... so we wandered slowly up past where the land of the dragons used to be ( they have made this into some Seseme Street thing opening next year now) and Matt Terry and the Kids went in a little bird aviary, Matt came out and told me that I had to come inside and see the birds......

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Harley thought it was great -- I was more bothered about the bird pooping on his new Toy Story hat! :rotfl:
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Shelby managed to get pecked and wouldn't hold one after that!

The floral displays here were beautiful too. I wasn't so keen on this one though! I hate butterflies and moths!
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Matt and Terry rode Sheikra and then it was my turn, on the front, this ride is the most fantastic thrill out of all of them, it makes Oblivion at Alton Towers look like a kiddy carousel! Hardcore baby! :rotfl:

We did contemplate going on the rapids and log flume but it was still pretty chilly so we thought that we would do that another day.

Lou was keen to ride Rhino Rally before the day was out so we headed over there, the line was about 25 minutes even though the water part of the ride wasn't working, that was pretty dissapointing and the ride was cut quite a lot shorter without it. Harley is still about half an inch too small for this one so we waited in the child swap area. Shelby liked it and was pointing out all of the animals on the way round to me, as she had already seen them all on the way round. Lots of cheesy jokes and funny quips from the driver make this a fun ride.

There is a funnel cake stand right by the exit to Rhino Rally so I felt it was my duty to have one, ice cream and fresh strawberry topped thank you! I must say that Busch seem to have done something to get rid of the birds that used to steal your food, I was so pleased as this was a real pain the last time we were there.

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I think Lou took this picture because everyone was convinced that it looked like entrails ( what a delightful group of people I was vacationing with huh!?!?) ...not that it put me off!
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It was getting dark now so we walked over to montu for our final ride of the day, we managed not to get lost this time. We managed 4 goes on it and then left for the night. We drove back up to Orlando and got a take out Chilis, the kids were asleep by the time we got home and we just relaxed for the evening.

I think that the long travel day was still catching up with me so I went to be at 9.30!

Tomorrow Universal Studios.....
 
9.30! that was late for me lol:rotfl:
Great day and pictures.:) My DD would love that Lion topiary.
 
Love the look of the Funnel cake.:goodvibes We've not been to Busch for years, It's about time we visited again.
 

Your cake did look like entrails but I would have still eaten it!:lmao:
 
Fantastic day !
Harley is braver than me having abird sit on his head :worship::worship:

We have never been to Busch gardens didnt think there was much for the kids there but your report has made me think maybe it is worth a visit - harley and Shelby have the biggest smiles on their faces all day !!

One question - how on earth have you got to day 4 without going to disney my kids would be going mad :rotfl:
 
Another great day with lovely photos... :goodvibes

We went to Busch Gardens for the 1st time last Easter and loved it!!! I am definitely not a thrill ride junkie tho' - I just watch!!! :rotfl2: :lmao: :rotfl2:
 
Hi there

I've just caught up with your trippie

Wonderful pictures :thumbsup2
 
Great day, great pics of your children and great pic of the funnel cake, what I wouldn't give to eat one of them at this precise moment!:thumbsup2

Tina
 
Looks like a fun day - we've still not been here!
 
Great day and really great photos....:thumbsup2

Hi there

I've just caught up with your trippie

Wonderful pictures :thumbsup2

Some lovely photos of the kids

9.30! that was late for me lol:rotfl:
Great day and pictures.:) My DD would love that Lion topiary.

I had a new camera for Christmas - can you tell :rotfl:

Love the look of the Funnel cake.:goodvibes We've not been to Busch for years, It's about time we visited again.

Tony, you should go it is fantastic there, my fave park!

Your cake did look like entrails but I would have still eaten it!:lmao:

It was yummy!

Fantastic day !
Harley is braver than me having abird sit on his head :worship::worship:

We have never been to Busch gardens didnt think there was much for the kids there but your report has made me think maybe it is worth a visit - harley and Shelby have the biggest smiles on their faces all day !!

One question - how on earth have you got to day 4 without going to disney my kids would be going mad :rotfl:

You should go - We did 2 days there this year, we only had 10 day Disney tickets and wanted our last day to be a Disney park so we had to wait a week :scared1: before our first Disney day!!! I know shocking isn't it! ;)

Another great day with lovely photos... :goodvibes

We went to Busch Gardens for the 1st time last Easter and loved it!!! I am definitely not a thrill ride junkie tho' - I just watch!!! :rotfl2: :lmao: :rotfl2:

Lou just watches too, she thinks we are all mad, good news is that my kids appear to be thrill ride junkies too! Wait till the ToT pics of Shelby!

Great day, great pics of your children and great pic of the funnel cake, what I wouldn't give to eat one of them at this precise moment!:thumbsup2

Tina

I would probably give my granny away for one right now! :lmao:



Looks like a fun day - we've still not been here!

The kids would love it Jo!

LOL, me too :rotfl2:

I think 9.30pm was my average bedtime too ::yes::

Another great day Gems :)

I think I got to 11pm as my latest bedtime the whole holiday, just getting into the swing of things then it's time to come home for jet lag!

oooh i loved busch gardens, fab rides :cool1:

:thumbsup2
 
Sounds like a good day. :)

I love driving down to Busch Gardens, it wasn't that fun on the way back, when DH took a wrong turn (because the map 'was wrong' ) and we ended up driving through a ghetto area with hardly any gas in the tank because it was such a huge detour. :rotfl:
 
strange to see your coats on.

absolutely wonderful photo of the funnel cake.

susan
 
We are also in the 'Never been to BG' group - although we have had free tickets on at least 2 of our trips. Maybe we will get there one day.
Great report and pics from you. Thanks for taking the time to do it :thumbsup2
 












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