A Southwest airlines credit that expires soon + a check for some freelance writing + a long weekend + Christmas = a trip to Busch Gardens!
We loved it and had a GREAT day today! After ELEVEN HOURS of sleep, we woke up (no alarm!) and ate breakfast at the hotel. The rain slacked off around 10 a.m. and we headed to the park. The parking lot was deserted. We asked about a upgrading our tickets to a fast pass, but the man at the window told us we would not need them, and he was right.
The rides were walk-on all day long – no lines at all! The only time we ever waited in line was if we wanted to ride on the front row of certain roller coasters, and then it was maybe 5 minutes. Several times we got to stay on board and ride a second time.
Somehow I didn’t realize that BG is like a zoo + amusement park all in one, so I was surprised at all of the animals. We saw:
Orangutans (Funny, I always thought it was “orangatang”),
Tigers!!! Up close! No zoom on the head shots!
Elephants
Gorillas
Lions
Hyenas
Rhinos
Crocodiles
Hippos (didn’t realize they live underwater most of the day)
Flamingos
And many, many more!
Our view at lunch:
And the roller coasters were the BEST!!!
They were all fun – the wooden rollercoaster (Gwazi) was really rough, though. But, BG has the best rollercoaster that we have ever ridden….the SheiKra:
Straight up 200 feet:
To the edge of the drop…..
….where you hang for 4 seconds, looking straight down…..
…before a 90-degree drop. (For perspective, check out the woman on the ground by the trees.) I swear, the 4 seconds hanging over the edge is a scene from one of my recurring nightmares.
We rode it six times! Twice on the front row, once on the second row, and three times on the back row. We actually rode this one first, three times in a row. Maybe a bad idea….it made all of the other rollercoasters seem kind of tame.
The Montu was fun also, but only on the first row.
We had a nice, relaxing, FREEZING ride on the Serengeti Railway.
Cheesecake + coffee was necessary after spending so much time in the cold! Brrrr! No water rides today, although they were open!
Overall, we LOVED it!! Off-season is definitely the time to go, because it automatically eliminates all of the worst things about amusement parks – crowds, lines, and sweltering heat! We got a buy-one-get-one deal, so we have another free day at the park any time in the next 7 days, which would be a great deal if we were staying.
The rest of the pictures are at:
No comments:
Post a Comment