floridahippy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2004
WOODFIELDS FLORIDA FORAY - DAY 13
We are all up bright and early today, as we have booked our place on the Gwazi Express down to Busch Gardens. We get a taxi up to Seaworld where we catch the coach down to Busch Gardens once again MIL is fascinated by the scenery that we pass on the way. MIL is interested in everything from the local houses to the nests on top of the poles by the road she is a real delight to take anywhere, as her enthusiasm tends to be catching!!! Significant changes have taken place at Busch since we were last here a couple of years ago. No longer do the coaches drop you at the entrance instead the coach park is at the other side of the Car Park and so you have to take your life in your hands and walk all the way through the car park to get to a tram which takes you to the entrance!!! To my mind a definite step backwards!!! After our journey we were all gasping for a drink and so we made our way to the Crown Colony House Restaurant where we had a drink and also shared a couple of sandwiches we took them by surprise here as they must have just literally opened!!! After great discussions about what and who were riding what and when we made our way to the train station where we caught the train to view the animals we all enjoyed this and took some lovely photos most of the animals seem to take great delight in moving just as you think you have that perfect shot!!! As the water part of Rhino Rally was broken again (we have yet to come when it is working!!) we all went on the Safari bit to give MIL a taste of the thrill of the jeep!!! We all managed to bang our heads getting into the jeep which was rather annoying. Our driver was a real character and had us in stitches the whole of the journey made it a really fun ride.
DDs decided that they wanted to sample some of the other smaller rides and so they took themselves off while we had a very sneaky turn on Gwazi (not MIL I hasten to add!) before making our way to see Irish Thunder at Desert Grill Restaurant. We loved this show but to have it in this location was a bad move I feel. Due to the seating being at tables you are limited to the view of the show unless you are at the front you cant see very well anyway and also you can also be disadvantaged when you have to sit with your back to the stage. As Irish Thunder is of course Irish Dancing the whole thing concentrates really on their leg/feet work and so if you are anywhere other than the front you can not really see their feet and legs only the top half of the dancers!! Nonetheless we really enjoyed it. We met the girls having a crafty smoke in the sun in one of the designated areas so we waited for them and then made our way to Montu. MIL was bag lady once again while we all rode Montu and was bag lady again when we rode Gwazi. Everyone should have their own personal bag lady - so much easier than lockers!! Busch Gardens still dont seem to have a clue at loading rides they really need some lessons from Disney in that department! We made sure that we got back to the coach in good time and as always it left right on the button!!! On our return to Orlando we made our way to TGI Fridays where we had a really lovely meal and it was made all the more special by a really fantastically attentive server (we had been very disappointed at a previous TGI when our server just didnt want to know!!!) DH and MIL caught an early trolley home and DDs and I went to an Internet café to do one or two things on the net and collect emails etc. We then caught a trolley home we passed a trolley on the way, which was at a stop, and our driver commented on the fact that it was way behind schedule!! This is the trolley that turned out to be the one that DH and MIL were on and so we beat them home in the end anyway!!!
Just an observation here for anyone who uses the I-ride on their visits we were surprised on quite a few journeys to find that trolleys did not always go via Marriott Grande Vista and that several times on our late return home if no one else was on our trolley they would do a U turn after dropping us at Marriott Cypress Harbour!!! We found this a little disconcerting, as we would like to stay at Grande Vista at a later date and rely on the I-ride to get around!!!
We are all up bright and early today, as we have booked our place on the Gwazi Express down to Busch Gardens. We get a taxi up to Seaworld where we catch the coach down to Busch Gardens once again MIL is fascinated by the scenery that we pass on the way. MIL is interested in everything from the local houses to the nests on top of the poles by the road she is a real delight to take anywhere, as her enthusiasm tends to be catching!!! Significant changes have taken place at Busch since we were last here a couple of years ago. No longer do the coaches drop you at the entrance instead the coach park is at the other side of the Car Park and so you have to take your life in your hands and walk all the way through the car park to get to a tram which takes you to the entrance!!! To my mind a definite step backwards!!! After our journey we were all gasping for a drink and so we made our way to the Crown Colony House Restaurant where we had a drink and also shared a couple of sandwiches we took them by surprise here as they must have just literally opened!!! After great discussions about what and who were riding what and when we made our way to the train station where we caught the train to view the animals we all enjoyed this and took some lovely photos most of the animals seem to take great delight in moving just as you think you have that perfect shot!!! As the water part of Rhino Rally was broken again (we have yet to come when it is working!!) we all went on the Safari bit to give MIL a taste of the thrill of the jeep!!! We all managed to bang our heads getting into the jeep which was rather annoying. Our driver was a real character and had us in stitches the whole of the journey made it a really fun ride.
DDs decided that they wanted to sample some of the other smaller rides and so they took themselves off while we had a very sneaky turn on Gwazi (not MIL I hasten to add!) before making our way to see Irish Thunder at Desert Grill Restaurant. We loved this show but to have it in this location was a bad move I feel. Due to the seating being at tables you are limited to the view of the show unless you are at the front you cant see very well anyway and also you can also be disadvantaged when you have to sit with your back to the stage. As Irish Thunder is of course Irish Dancing the whole thing concentrates really on their leg/feet work and so if you are anywhere other than the front you can not really see their feet and legs only the top half of the dancers!! Nonetheless we really enjoyed it. We met the girls having a crafty smoke in the sun in one of the designated areas so we waited for them and then made our way to Montu. MIL was bag lady once again while we all rode Montu and was bag lady again when we rode Gwazi. Everyone should have their own personal bag lady - so much easier than lockers!! Busch Gardens still dont seem to have a clue at loading rides they really need some lessons from Disney in that department! We made sure that we got back to the coach in good time and as always it left right on the button!!! On our return to Orlando we made our way to TGI Fridays where we had a really lovely meal and it was made all the more special by a really fantastically attentive server (we had been very disappointed at a previous TGI when our server just didnt want to know!!!) DH and MIL caught an early trolley home and DDs and I went to an Internet café to do one or two things on the net and collect emails etc. We then caught a trolley home we passed a trolley on the way, which was at a stop, and our driver commented on the fact that it was way behind schedule!! This is the trolley that turned out to be the one that DH and MIL were on and so we beat them home in the end anyway!!!
Just an observation here for anyone who uses the I-ride on their visits we were surprised on quite a few journeys to find that trolleys did not always go via Marriott Grande Vista and that several times on our late return home if no one else was on our trolley they would do a U turn after dropping us at Marriott Cypress Harbour!!! We found this a little disconcerting, as we would like to stay at Grande Vista at a later date and rely on the I-ride to get around!!!
