My DSD came for a visit & didn't stay for our trip to WDW??? Update 1/13Kadani Villag

[jmskinner]

Love this pic!!! Such a cute face to pull! A kind of "awww mmmmuuuuummmmm!!!!! face!

Usually we can't get a good picture of Jacob. We figure out a way later though.

Wow, looks like you all had a fun day Is it mostly all big coasters and big rides there or is that just what you guys did?

No, next installment will have one of the kids areas. There is a lot for kids to do there.

I don't know how I missed this one, but I'm here now. Those coasters look scarey Rock & Roller Coaster is about as wild as I get. We're going to Universal on our Sept trip for 2 days before WDW so I'm interested to hear what's new since our 2007 trip. I might get up enough courage to ride Dueling Dragons this time.

Welcome! You have to ride the Dragons at least once. It's a good ride, but more on that later.

 

[luckylady]

I'm in. Wow so many parks in 10 days. Bet ya'll had a blast. An hour from the world APs man I think I would wear DS out in the summer by going almost every day. I remember our first rip with oldest DH also ADHD and on ritalin back then(80mg) hand held games helped in lines. anyway I can't wait to read more. Ohh how is SoG. We are looking to stay there one trip?

 

[carissanboys]

Very cool getting to see pictures and report from Busch Garden's.

Does Jacob have a military i.d.? If not, did he have any problems coming through the ticket area? We did at Sea World, which is why I ask.

 

[jmskinner]

I'm in. Wow so many parks in 10 days. Bet ya'll had a blast. An hour from the world APs man I think I would wear DS out in the summer by going almost every day. I remember our first rip with oldest DH also ADHD and on ritalin back then(80mg) hand held games helped in lines. anyway I can't wait to read more. Ohh how is SoG. We are looking to stay there one trip?

I'm dying to go back now for a day trip, but I also realized we will be there Sunday for my birthday. My Dad and Stepmom are going also. Along with 60 members from their church.

Oh, there is a handheld game story coming up.

Very cool getting to see pictures and report from Busch Garden's.

Does Jacob have a military i.d.? If not, did he have any problems coming through the ticket area? We did at Sea World, which is why I ask.

No. Funny story. Part of the reason we had Kara get here early was so we could get to base to get her ID. Part of the problem of her Mom never letting her visit us and they dont' live near a base. Well, planned on getting Jacob one. For some reason they don't have his SSN on file and I knew that, but with trying to get everyone out of the house, I forgot his SSN so we couldn't get him one. I was sweating it a little going up to that gate at Busch Garden, but the lady acted like it wasn't a problem.

Next chapter coming up.

 

[jmskinner]

Off we went in search of the great Sheikra rollercoaster. We still didn't find it, but we found this one:

MUMBA!

Kara and Jonas headed off to ride and Jacob and I found a really cool kids area.

Jungala!

These entertainers were really cool, but Jacob never wants to interact.

He really was chasing that guy, they came running past. I don't know how those people do it.

Now, I had read one BG trip report before going and I remembered these things.

They are zip line flyers, Jungle Flyers. Remember, Jacob doesn't care for heights, but I wanted to try these and wanted him to give them a chance. Plus one thing I had learned about this park, adults could only go on these if they had a child to go with them. It's a kids area remember. I even stopped to read the sign before going up. Then watched a couple get mad when the employee wouldn't let them ride the flyers, they showed up again with a child in tow. I have no idea whose kid it was. WARNING! If you ever go, be warned that all the adults must step on a scale before riding. The employee is nice enough that if you are not near the 220 lb limit she won't make you stand there for your accurate weight, just step on scale, if arrow doesn't go near that 220 you can step off.

Just to show you how far out they go, just a little ways and then you go backwards.

Here is Jacob as it lifts him up so he slides down:

There he goes!

Here is my view:

Jacob got a little worried, confused that I passed him (he doesn't understand that when you weigh more, gravity pulls more I guess.)

Jacob was glad to be back at the platform. Then I almost lost my shoes. As I came back on the platform I put my feet back in my shoes. Well, I swung forward just as I did this and I really thought they were going to go flying off my feet. They have a big net at the platform, I'm sure just for this reason.

I went in search of a restroom at this point and let Jacob play.

It took me forever to find the restrooms. I was laughing at myself the whole time because up on that Flyers platform I saw a sign, but I was so turned around once on the ground I couldn't find them, but FINALLY I did. Then I thought I would refill the souvenir mug we had purchased and started to get in line when Jonas called to find out where we were. We met, I handed him our stuff and Kara and I went to ride Mumba. It was a fun coaster. Not any different than anything else I had ridden. We had a girl on with us that was by herself. She said her Mom and sister went to ride the raft ride and she didn't want to get wet.

While we were riding, Jonas let Jacob play a game, but after he had gotten wet:

Kara and I made it back from our ride.

The raft ride was in the same area, Congo River Rapids, so we rode that. The rafts didn't have a place to keep bags dry like at AK, so found a locker and put everything up. This turned out to be one of the longest lines of the day, one of those where you start thinking, maybe $100 wouldn't have been so bad to skip lines, we did get in the park for free. It was an ok ride. A few on the raft got soaked, but we didn't. It started to rain while we were waiting to get off, but not bad. But, my camera stayed in the bag, so no pics for awhile.

Now, it was time to find:

Would we ever find it?

 

[irky416]

Glad you started your new TR! Busch Gardens looks like fun and it sounds like you guys are enjoying yourselves so far. I hate parks that don't let you take things on rides, but make you pay for a locker to stow your stuff. It's so annoying! (Sea World is like that, too) Can't wait for more!

 

[jmskinner]

Glad you started your new TR! Busch Gardens looks like fun and it sounds like you guys are enjoying yourselves so far. I hate parks that don't let you take things on rides, but make you pay for a locker to stow your stuff. It's so annoying! (Sea World is like that, too) Can't wait for more!

Hi Irky! Glad you found my TR! Wait until the Universal report when it comes to lockers etc. And I will say, at least the lockers by the rides at BG were only 50 cents.

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Hi Irky! Glad you found my TR! Wait until the Universal report when it comes to lockers etc. And I will say, at least the lockers by the rides at BG were only 50 cents.

lockers can be very annoying, in California there are two parks that use to have cubbyholes (before that you could just put your things on floor of the side you got off on-on rides that only had one coaster running) you could put your things in, but the last time I went they had switched to lockers too, I think to cut down on theft

now I'll be real anxious to read your Universal report, though we don't plan on doing many big rides

 

[jmskinner]

So we headed off in our quest to find Sheikra. By this time we were all a little tired, so Jonas decided to skip this ride, but would ride the big wooden coaster. Now, I love wooden coasters, but they are so rough they give me headaches.

I can still remember a trip to Six Flags over Texas with Vickie. We had just ridden the Giant and were both in need of Tylenol. I remember when we asked at one of the stores, the employee just looked at us funny. We were in our early 20's then, can you imagine now.

Back to Sheikra, Jonas and Jacob went off looking for "Land of the Dragons". A play area for kids. Kara and I got in line for Sheikra. It was about an hour wait. So I kept calling Jonas to let him know we were still waiting. Kara kept getting more and more nervous. I was too.

Check out this pic:

The ride train stops just before you drop and hangs there a couple of seconds. This is what they call a drop coaster and this was the first of its kind here in the states. Now, everything I have read shows a 90 degree drop, but I remember watching a show on the travel channel that said it was a 97 degree drop, doesn't really matter. It will still the living daylights out of ya. So, we finally get on. Kara wanted to be in the back row, but we ended up in the middle row. I told it was better than the front row. We get to that spot before the drop and the train stops. We were lifted out of our seats, thank goodness for shoulder harnesses. The front row would have been really cool, because they really would have had some hang time. Kara screamed bloody murder the whole time. I just laughed. When we got off she showed me her hands and the lines from her nails digging in from holding so tightly. All I could say was ! They actually video tape you on this ride and I wish we had purchased it.

Now, while we were on the ride, Jonas and Jacob were finding their way to Land of the Dragons. But first they stopped in Sheikra's splash zone:

We met up and Jonas and Kara headed off to Gwazi. Land of the Dragons was really cool, but I didn't take pics since I thought Jonas had. I now know he hadn't. I decided Jacob and I could take the train to the front of the park since it went through the animal areas. A few pics on the way back to the train:

Land of the Dragons

Found an anteater roaming around:

Jacob wanted to get splashed again:

On the train

(I have no idea what that guy is doing to his now and I don't wanna know, didn't notice until I uploaded the pic.)

This is the vehicle used for their Rhino Rally (safari ride):

We got off the train and headed for the front of the park. Saw this guy napping:

Saw this trail and wanted to go down it:

Checked with Jonas first and they were still in line, so off we went:

Continued in next post (too many images)

 

[irky416]

I'm curious about Universal now...the lockers were free when we went. Did they change them?

Sheikra looks scary! I like big roller coasters, maybe I will have to make it to Busch Gardens someday!

 

[jmskinner]

Well, I had completed Busch Gardens in that last post, but had too many pics. I cut and pasted the end to Word, but when I went to paste it in another post, it went POOF! Don't know what happened. So mad I had to walk away, but now I am back. Got the Enrique Iglasis playing so I am good to go.

After looking at the Chimpanzee's (sp?) and the Gorilla's we found ourselves almost back at the train stop. Jacob made a point to let me know we had already been there. Through out the park he had seen these "make-your-own" souvenier machines, so I gave in and let him do it. Plus, I actually had 3 $1 bills in my wallet, so I felt like it was meant to be.

Now we headed towards the exit again and saw this guy.

and there were more:

The funny thing was, we had walked right past this area on the way in and didn't know the alligators were there.

We checked out a store while we were waiting on Jonas and Kara:

Finally they were on their way. Jonas said the coaster was really rough and he now had a headache. He was also frustrated because the express line and the exit line were the same so it got very crazy trying to exit the ride.

Poor Kara had worn the wrong shoes and had large blisters on the back of her heels:

On the way out they asked Jonas to fill out a survey, so he did:

We were so preoccupied with figuring out where to go once we arrived that we didn't notice where the car was parked. And we had driven Jonas' Saturn which doesn't stick out like my truck with the Pirate antennae topper. We finally used that handy car finder on the remote, isn't that what it is for.

Overall, we liked Busch Gardens. The thrill rides were great and there was still lots for Jacob to do and we didn't do it all. Missed a couple of water rides and the Cheetah Chase wasn't working when we went by it because it was sprinkling. Our food wasn't great, but I would like to try some of the sit down restaurants they had. I'm thinking about getting AP's to BG sometime. Busch Gardens isn't Disney World though.

Now, just to keep this moving, the next day we planned an excursion to see Dolphins. Back in October we rode a boat over to an island and got to see lots of Dolphins and Kara said she would like that. I booked it through the Florida Aquarium thinking we couldn't go wrong. The website says they see Dolphins 95% of the time, guess what, we were that 5%. Well, we did see one:

See that little bump in the water, that's the Dolphin. But here are some pics from the day:

This is one of those mist curtains like in Pirates.

A gas tank painted by a local artist:

A mansion at the tip of a peninsula, I think they said $20 mil (owners use to own one of the University's in DC), it even has its own lighthouse.

We headed in to a rain storm:

Downtown Tampa

These guys flew over, but we have no idea who they were:

I didn't get a picture of our boat, but it docked between these two in that little hole (the building is the Aquarium):

The next day Jacob had therapy and I had thought about taking the kids to the beach, well, our little dog Constanze was sick and wasn't getting better so Jonas and Kara ended up taking her for an Ultrasound that took all day, so no beach. The ultrasound didn't tell us anything, but she acted like she felt ok. So we went on with our plans.

Next up: Universal!!! And how does it compare to WDW?

 

[jmskinner]

I'm curious about Universal now...the lockers were free when we went. Did they change them?

Sheikra looks scary! I like big roller coasters, maybe I will have to make it to Busch Gardens someday!

You posted as I was updating. The lockers were still free, but a pain. I've heard it is like $10 to catch a bus to Busch Gardens from Orlando. It would be worth the trip to me.

 

[Finkelstein's Hubby]

Busch looks pretty wild.....those rides are amazing but I think we are still a couple of years off making a trip there worthwhile. Slightly odd question but it looked like Jonas has a pair of sandals similar to ones I have seen. He wore them to the miniature golf, bet your impressed how much attention I paid.....or else scared, lol. Anyway can you ask him how comfy they are and would he wear them all day in a park?

Looking forward to you Universal report

Gordon

 

[irky416]

Haha. The make your own souvenir machine looks cool! (As I already told you..I should have read here first!! )

DBF just said yesterday, "How would we ever find our car without the remote!?" I had to laugh when I read that on your TR!

Sorry you didn't get to see dolphins. I would probably have the dame luck as you.

Awww, you took a picture of the Legend in dock... it makes me want to get back on it. I'm glad I don't live in Tampa and have to see it all the time!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Melissa,

Finally all caught up, just not been on DIS for a few days, though I note my DH has! I'm hoping he gets some good reviews for those sandals as the ones he has seen cost £40 , so too expensive to not be comfy!!!!

BG sounds great, much better than I thought it would be, so maybe the next trip we would do that, and go back to SW!

OK, have to ask - what is a corn dog????? Have heard of this 'food' before but have no idea what it actually is!

The child swap set up at BG sounds exactly like the set up at SW and US/IOA, we got so confused the first time we tried to do it. Me and Susan eventually turned back saying "this can't be right, this is the way out!" Did figure it out in the end though!

Di x

 

[jmskinner]

Busch looks pretty wild.....those rides are amazing but I think we are still a couple of years off making a trip there worthwhile. Slightly odd question but it looked like Jonas has a pair of sandals similar to ones I have seen. He wore them to the miniature golf, bet your impressed how much attention I paid.....or else scared, lol. Anyway can you ask him how comfy they are and would he wear them all day in a park?

Looking forward to you Universal report

Gordon

I feel that you noticed Jonas' shoes, but actually should it be Di that is scared.

I believe they are Sketchers, probably $50-60, but that was several years ago. Yes, they were very comfortable and he did wear them to the parks. Sadly, the sole has cracked, so it kept pinching him. Looks like we will be buying a new pair.

Haha. The make your own souvenir machine looks cool! (As I already told you..I should have read here first!! )

DBF just said yesterday, "How would we ever find our car without the remote!?" I had to laugh when I read that on your TR!

Sorry you didn't get to see dolphins. I would probably have the dame luck as you.

Awww, you took a picture of the Legend in dock... it makes me want to get back on it. I'm glad I don't live in Tampa and have to see it all the time!

We use to joke about people doing that, then one night after a hockey game everyone was doing it. Back in Texas it is the opposite, finding your truck with hundreds of other trucks isn't easy.

Jacob hasn't wanted to do a cruise, but when he saw the slide on the ship he wanted to go. It left just right after we got back from our little voyage.

We laughed at these idiots tubing right there by the ship, sure enough the bay patrol stopped them. One it was a wake zone and I am sure they were way to close to the ship. Wish we could have stayed there to watch if they got arrested or not.

Hi Melissa,

Finally all caught up, just not been on DIS for a few days, though I note my DH has! I'm hoping he gets some good reviews for those sandals as the ones he has seen cost £40 , so too expensive to not be comfy!!!!

BG sounds great, much better than I thought it would be, so maybe the next trip we would do that, and go back to SW!

OK, have to ask - what is a corn dog????? Have heard of this 'food' before but have no idea what it actually is!

The child swap set up at BG sounds exactly like the set up at SW and US/IOA, we got so confused the first time we tried to do it. Me and Susan eventually turned back saying "this can't be right, this is the way out!" Did figure it out in the end though!

Di x

A corn dog is the weiner from a hot dog, dipped in a corn meal batter and deep fried. I like mine with mustard, Kara dipped hers in ketchup and DH just eats his plain. This is something Jacob will sometimes eat.

Well, you did better than us on the child swap, we didn't bother to try to figure it out. Luckily the lines we rather small until he reached Sheikra, didn't wait longer than 10 minutes until that one and the raft ride.

 

[jmskinner]

It was finally Tuesday morning, July 14th. We were off to Universal. First off I took the dogs to the kennel. Explained what was going on with my Constanze. Obviously Constanze wasn't feeling well because she tried to get back in the truck, and she normally is a social butterfly and likes going to the kennel. I had to walk Bubblegum in and then back out of the gate, which is what I always have to do with her. I knew they would be fine because we had a great kennel.

Got back to the house and just as we finished putting all the luggage in the truck (Our two large suitcases, Kara's suitcase, bag with all the shoes, Jacob's toys, camera bag and backpack, Jonas' laptop bag and my makeup bag, looked like we were going for weeks.), I realized we should have packed one suitcase with the Universal clothes so we wouldn't have to carry everything into the Universal resort. Too late now.

We were finally on the road, but decided to stop at Cracker Barrel on the way. It was 10:30am and Kara and I both aren't breakfast eaters so we were hoping to get lunch, but no luck. Got Jacob a pancake and he wasn't happy. Wasn't starting out well, but Jonas was happy. He had his great big breakfast.

Back on the road, it sure was hard to pass all those WDW exits on I4. At this point Jonas starts arguing with me where Universal was. He has the GPS out trying to get it to work. I knew we would see signs and I also knew it was on the North side of I4, Jonas thought it was South. He points, "That's it!" I reply, "Nope, that is Seaworld". Finally we see the signs for Universal and find our resort. Which was the Royal Pacifice Resort. It is the least exensive of the three at Universal. We pull in and a little cutie walks up and asks if we will need help with our luggage, we say no because we have no cash for tips. We unload everything and while I check us in, Jonas parks the truck, and Kara guards the bags. I got us checked in and everything, asked for a cart and was told "We are a full service hotel, so we can't allow you to use a cart." Obviously this was an upscale hotel and we were the Clampetts coming to town.

Kara and I started with the luggage and then got confused trying to get back to the lobby. We were on the 2nd floor and the lobby was on the 3rd. Should have put in a room request to be up high (which reminds me, I had joined their rewards club, but they had no record of me joining.)

We got organized, putting stuff in the safe, which was bigger then the ones at the WDW resorts. And we were on our way to the parks. It was 12:08, not bad.

Some pictures of the walk to the boat:

IOA from the boat ramp:

And from the boat:

So, which park did we go to first? You will just have to wait until the next post.

 

[ScotsMinnie]

All caught up! Hotel looks lovely. lol at the cart comment!

Shame you didn't spot many dolphins. The mansion was a good spot though. We saw lots like that when we went to Clearwater. They were gorgeous! Could easily imagine myself living there!!!!! Sadly could probably not afford the lighthouse never mind the house!!!

 

[tink1957]

I can't believe that they wouldn't let you use a cart. I'll plan on packing one suitcase for our trip to Hard Rock Universal(we're only staying 2 nights) so hopefully, we won't need a cart.

Can't wait to hear about the rides.

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Okay, I will pick up a little for Tuesday, from the Brown household!

There are 4 of us, finishing packing for our flight out of San Antonio at 6 am on Weds: Me, hubby, daughter (12), and our granddaughter (7). We are going to stay at AKV, concierge the first night, then regular one-bedroom for 5 more nights. Yay! On Friday, we will meet up with jmskinner & her family, minus Kara.

Hopefully these pics will work!

Here is Emily, my DGD, telling her mom goodbye on Tuesday.

And here we are (well, minus myself, which will be a prevalent theme) at the San Antonio airport! Anticipation…