Trip Report!!! Busch Gardens and SeaWorld

[RabFlmom]

Like I said before." I love the pics and report!" I so want to go to BG soon especially after seeing the pics with so little people. Been a long time since I have seen it that empty!

 

[Janet Hill]

Sounds great! I wonder if I can upgrade to Premium Passes since I have to DDs that are coaster fanatics!

I got the Discovery Cove deal with tickets to BG - so I'm not sure whether I'll be able to upgrade!

An upgrade to a Platinum Pass would be rather pricey, so you would have to plan on using it for more than a roller coaster fast pass. These passes are valid for two years at all of the 9 Busch parks and if purchased in Fl is ~ 430/each and if purchased in Williamsburg they are ~300/each. I'm not sure of the cost at the other parks. They do have a monthly payment plan.

We purchased ours about 7 years ago and as long as we don't let them expire, we continue to renew at the rate we initially purchased at (~200/each). Great value, but don't know how long it will last if the parks get sold.

 

[mercydisney]

Thank you so much for taking the time out and writing a trip report. I am really enjoying it. We are thinking of getting a 2 yr passport for Busch Gardens, Aquatica, and Seaworld.. All the info we can get on the park is making is making it easier on us to decide.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Thanks for the fabulous report! We are planning our first visit to BG with ds11, and I think he is going to love all the coasters, he is a little daredevil!

Maria

 

[WALTSAGOD]

Pics keep getting better and better.

 

[jopaly]

Great report, you've inspired us! We bought Flexticket Plus' so that we will be able to go to BG at least once during our trip. Can't wait to read more.

 

[NashvilleTrio]

Hello all! I'm back with the 2nd half of Day 2 at BG.

Next we had lunch at Bengal Bistro which is right by the Jungala area. I think these are about the only food pictures we took. I had the italian sandwich with potato salad which I thought was excellent. The sandwich was fresh and had a great taste. Greg had the meatball sandwich and other than being a little messy, he said it was really good. And Josh had the kid's hot dog meal with carrots (or fries), a box of raisins, and a drink. We also got a cup of grapes and a piece of cherry cheesecake. Everything was delicious. I think our total for this meal was about $38.

We got a great table in the back of the covered area and the train tracks were right there behind us.

After lunch we headed over to KUMBA - this is an ok ride for me. Not as smooth as MONTU or SHEIKRA though. It was fun...Josh & Greg enjoyed it more than I did. Josh even did another ride by himself using the re-ride privilege. He's becoming such the coaster enthusiaist! We're so proud!

Next we wanted to see the Pirates 4-D show but had missed the previous showing by about 10 minutes. We passed the time until the next showing by riding SANDSTORM

and the carousel. The Pirates movie was pretty good. Not as good, IMO, as Shrek 4-D at US though. Leslie Nielsen stars in this movie so it was pretty funny. And since it was 4-D we got the water sprays and the air blasts and the seat movements as well.

We decided that we wanted to ride MONTU again so we headed that direction and stopped in King Tut's tomb first.

Oh no, King Tut's spirit has taken over Josh's body!!! RUN!!!!!!!!!!!

The King Tut's tomb attraction was empty when we went through it. And it was welcome break from the sun. It was interesting to look at all the memorabilia.

Continued in next post...

 

[NashvilleTrio]

After a couple of MONTU rides we headed over to the Myombe Reserve to see the gorillas and chimps...

I think we caught this gorilla relieving herself...oops!

Next was the alligator pit and the Curious Caverns...

The Curious Caverns just had a bunch of creepy crawly things like snakes, spiders and such.

After the Caverns we decided to ride the train. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the next one to arrive but found a good seat and got some great pictures. This is the ride where we saw the giraffe about 10 feet from us. Here is that picture...

And here are the other pics we got from the train...

A not so flattering shot of a zebra...

Josh looks confused - like "why are we riding this train instead of SHEIKRA?"

"Well, ok then, we'll head back to SHEIKRA"...after riding this a couple of more times (using our re-ride privilege of course) we let Josh get wet from the spray that the SHEIKRA trains make as they pass through the water area. He LOVED doing this - I think this was probably his favorite part of the day.

At some point on this day we saw the KATONGA show, but I don't remember when it was. Anyway, it was a FABULOUS show! I had read that it was Broadway quality and I would have to agree. Very, very good - I definitely think this show should be on everyone's MUST DO list. Don't miss it!

We finally headed back to the hotel to let Josh put some dry clothes on and then we walked from our hotel to Red Lobster for dinner. The Red Lobster is only a couple of blocks from the Holiday Inn Express so it was a very quick walk.

Well, that's Day 2. Next will be Day 3 at Seaworld - please stay tuned!!!!

 

[smallworldnh]

I am very much enjoying your report, thank you so much for sharing. The very best trip reports, to me, are the ones with pictures!!! It makes it more fun to be able to see what you're describing!! It makes me want to go even more!

 

[pixeegrl]

Loving your TR...we are pass members for Busch Gardens Williamsburg and have finally splurged for the 2 year platinum since they have such a good monthly payment system. They do not offer the re-ride privaleges here unfortunately, how many times are you allowed to re-ride? I can't wait to go back and we will definantly be taking in BG Tampa...the rides seem very similar but the park is different so it will be a new experience. Your TR makes it all the more exciting! Keep 'em coming!

 

[NashvilleTrio]

Loving your TR...we are pass members for Busch Gardens Williamsburg and have finally splurged for the 2 year platinum since they have such a good monthly payment system. They do not offer the re-ride privaleges here unfortunately, how many times are you allowed to re-ride? I can't wait to go back and we will definantly be taking in BG Tampa...the rides seem very similar but the park is different so it will be a new experience. Your TR makes it all the more exciting! Keep 'em coming!

Nashville is about a 10 hour drive from both Busch parks, so we'll have to get to Williamsburg sometime soon.

You wait in line with everyone else, ride the coaster, then stay in your seat while everyone else is exiting. The ride ops check your pass and then you are allowed to stay on the ride once. If you want to ride again after that, you have to wait in line again, but then you're free to do the re-ride.

What's really nice about the Platinum pass is that the re-ride option applies to front and back rows as well.

 

[NashvilleTrio]

Day 3 – March 15 – Seaworld

Since our passes includes all the BEC parks, we decided to make the hour drive and go to Seaworld. So, no extra cost was involved with this decision except a little extra fuel! We grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and left around 7:15am. The drive was fine – uneventful – and the weather was great. We arrived at the parking lot around 8:30am and once again made our way to preferred parking! Such a nice perk. We entered the park and got our pic taken by one of the workers who put us in front of the Seaworld lighthouse which would normally be a great picture, but the sun was right in our eyes and all of us struggled to open them for the pic. I don’t even think we took the time to look at the picture at the end of the day. After a quick bathroom break we headed to KRAKEN and we heard an announcement over the loudspeakers that JOURNEY TO ATLANTIS was closed for technical difficulties.

That was ok with us because we wanted to ride KRAKEN first anyway, and it was still a bit chilly for a water ride. So, we rode KRAKEN a few times and it was great as always. We had not been to SW since about 2001 so it was fun to be back and riding one of the best coasters in the Orlando area!

After riding that we walked through the little cave area at the exit and found some cool theming. There are about 7 or 8 of the Kraken’s “eggs” in there. They’re actually just large, clear ball shaped aquariums with eels in them! There is a sign that says “To avoid angering Kraken, Please do not disturb eggs".

I don’t remember this area from our previous visit – I guess we didn’t take this part of the exit before because you can also walk around to the other side of the cave area and exit there.

By the way, MANTA looks like it’s going to be awesome! The track is finished, but not the station area. We heard that they were testing it the night before we were there. We would’ve loved to have seen it running – oh well, we’ll be back in June to ride it!!!

We checked out the showtimes and made a plan for the day. I knew I wanted to see the Clyde & Seamore and Believe shows, and then anything else was just icing on the cake for me. We decided to hit the first Clyde & Seamore show and headed that direction. We sat kind of high up just so we’d be out of the sun, but we had a great view. Let me tell you, I had read that the mime who comes out before the show is funny, and that is not an understatement. He was HILARIOUS! He just kept targeting people who were walking in and making funny faces or gestures about them. We were all laughing so much – it was great. Try to get to this show about 15 minutes early to see him.

And the actual show was great as well. There were a couple of flubs during the show like the sea lions had a couple of times where they didn’t do the behavior or trick that they were supposed to right on cue, but eventually they got it. We definitely would see this show again.

We stepped out of this show just a couple of minutes before it ended so we could be the crowd to Penguin Encounter.

After this we headed to Shamu Stadium for the Believe show, but we got there a little too late to get the seats we wanted. Josh wanted to sit in the soak zone and I wanted to be up close as well. So, we decided to go beat the lunch crowds and go ahead and eat lunch. We headed over to the Spice Mill Restaurant back over by the Sky Tower and got some burgers. They were really good burgers – and big too. The fries were good and covered in seasoning salt. We also got some fresh strawberries and a cheesecake also. Yummy! Sorry, no pics…

Continued in next post...

 

[NashvilleTrio]

After lunch we watched the Pets Ahoy show - this is really cute, especially if you’re a dog or cat lover. We got great seats on the center aisle and really enjoyed this show.

Next we got on the Sky Tower which for us was free with our platinum passes. I think it’s normally $3 a person. We had about a 15 minute wait for this – I guess we just missed getting on the previous ride. This is a great way to get a fantastic view of the park. And we could even see parts of WDW – we saw Spaceship Earth, Space Mountain, and the Swan & Dolphin resort. Very cool. And we could see the killer whales at Shamu stadium swimming around in their tanks.

Aquatica Water Park...

We finally made it back to the Believe show and got there about an hour early. However, they didn’t let anyone in the stadium until about 35 minutes before the show time. While we waited, we had a Shamu pretzel.

We got a great seat just a little left of center and about 6 rows from the front. Here’s a pic of Greg & Josh as we were waiting. (Notice the “gold digger” behind them.)

This show was fantastic. But I’ve always had a fascination with and interest in orcas, so I may be a little biased. To be honest, this show turned me into a blubbering idiot. From the introductory video to the end, I was so teary eyed. Greg was laughing at me and I was laughing at myself. But if you haven’t seen this show, I definitely would recommend it. I loved it!

More in next post...

 

[NashvilleTrio]

Day 3 Continued...
After the Believe show it was back to JTA since we hadn’t had a chance to ride it yet. This was as fun as we remembered and it was the first ride for Josh since he was only 18 months old the last time we were here. We did use our re-ride privilege for this which was awesome! We just stayed in our seats and actually got sent through without any other people getting in our boat!! Yay!!! We didn’t get hardly wet at all on any of the times we rode this. We always got the last two rows and just barely got a few splashes. And the last 15 seconds of the ride is the best!!! Once again, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t ridden it yet. You can PM if you want to know more…
We took a picture of our ride picture but there was a lot of glare...

Greg turned around and took this picture at the end of the ride just before the exit...

We love the aquarium next to the exit gift shop here. Especially the see through floor – that’s so cool!

Josh was itching to spend some of his money, so he decided on the trampoline jump. He got $1 off the price with our pass so it was $7 for 2 minutes. He didn’t think 2 minutes was long enough, but by the time that 2 minutes was over he was exhausted!! He likes doing the flips on this, but still hasn’t mastered the forward flip.

Shark Attack was neat – we got to see several sharks swimming overhead as we “rode” through the underwater tunnel on the people mover.

Here are some cool underwater shots from Stingray Reef. Greg was really proud of himself when we remembered the new camera was waterproof and stuck the camera into the tank for some cool pics.

On our way out, we stopped and saw the manatees, the underwater dolphin viewing, and the turtles.

We had a great day at Seaworld and we're looking forward to our return trip in June! Thanks again for reading and stay tuned for our final installment!

 

[donaldsgal]

Loving the TR. I especially liked the SW part since we're visiting SW on May 7. Glad it was such a fun trip for you!

 

[snoopybabe]

Great TR. Awesome pictures & it sounds like you all have some fantastic memories. We love having platinum passes.

Now I have to figure out how to get down there this summer. Have a great trip in June. I hope you'll post a trip report from then too.

 

[Jonny_Duck]

Thanks for the TR....I am now planning a trip to Busch because of it. Considering getting a year pass or just the year pass. Any idea if they allow you to upgrade to a platinum if you have an only Busch year round pass?

 

[Sailing Queen]

What great pictures !! Was asking on UK thread re Busch Gardens as never been. We are so going now !! And can't wait to go back to Seaworld after seeing your pics. Do you need to go to Busch for 2 days or is 1 ok ? So much to pack in on our 2 weeks, but want rest days as well

 

[vossjemi]

Very enjoyable trip report! We'll be in Tampa first of June. While I'd love to go to Busch Gardens, I'm not so sure the kids will actually enjoy it. I have to practically "make" them ride rides at theme parks. I don't know why they are so squeamish, but they just won't do anything they perceive as scary. And, we've had so so luck on "trying" rides...some they like, some they come off crying mad I "made" them try it once. They are 7 and 9, you'd think they'd be a little more thrill seekers like Mom & Dad. But, not so. We do plan to go to Seaworld, and I understand there is a combo pass that we could use to go to both parks that isn't much more than a 1 day pass, so I'm tempted to do both, but I just hate to waste 2 days begging them to try stuff when I could be relaxing on the beach. LOL

 

[NashvilleTrio]

What great pictures !! Was asking on UK thread re Busch Gardens as never been. We are so going now !! And can't wait to go back to Seaworld after seeing your pics. Do you need to go to Busch for 2 days or is 1 ok ? So much to pack in on our 2 weeks, but want rest days as well

You can probably squeeze Busch Gardens into a single day, but you'll really want to be there at park opening if you're doing only one day.