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Photo TR: Boldy's Birthday Bash 2017


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It's a shame you didn't get on that paratrooper. That's a story I'd have loved to hear. Also, if I remember correctly about the go-kart tracks, that one with zero elevation changes is one of the best as you have to drift around the turns else you'll crash into the wall or another driver. But Fun Spot Replicant ride ops have to begin and end with the dude that left me locked in the Enterprise on the back side of the ride.

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We've totally been to that McDonalds but I think (correct me if I'm wrong, locals) they totally renovated the entire thing in the last year or so. I vaguely remember some drunken mini bowling in there.

 

I read about it before we went, just trying to figure out what was nearby, and saw how it was recently renovated, etc. The entire experience is completely foggy but was incredibly necessary.

 

Not at all, McDonalds is great.

I mean it tastes good at times but knowing (or not knowing) what I'm eating freaks me out. I was inebriated enough not to care in this instance.

 

I'm also super jealous you got to meet my hero.

 

LMAO! Pretty sure that guy was on the blue track with us.

 

Hey now, be nice to McDonalds! Plus like you said, they're investing in those ordering screens around the world which means you now get your food correct and without talking to a human! Yay!

 

Those screens were so clutch at that moment. While my recollection is that they were simple and easy to use I'm sure we looked like drunken buffoons attempting to operate them.

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I seriously considered the Paratrooper at one point, but then thought if it made me sick and ruined the following day that would be a huge problem. I was feeling good and didn't want to risk f*cking that up. As I got drunker I kept thinking about it but when we walked passed it at the end of the night there was no ride op so I took that as a sign not to do it.

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I seriously considered the Paratrooper at one point, but then thought if it made me sick and ruined the following day that would be a huge problem. I was feeling good and didn't want to risk f*cking that up. As I got drunker I kept thinking about it but when we walked passed it at the end of the night there was no ride op so I took that as a sign not to do it.

 

Honestly, that's the right call. If you went to Fun Spot the last night you were there and didn't ride it I would have probably ripped on you for it but it's not worth it if you're worried your first ever visit to Busch Gardens on your birthday would be ruined because of it.

 

And it might have been... because holy sh*t that Paratrooper is ridiculous.

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Great update! Fun Spot seems like a great Orlando night cap.

 

I know what you're thinking and we were too - McDonalds is gross.

 

Not at all, McDonalds is great.

 

yeah. .I was gonna say, I don't think Elissa would agree it's "gross" either.

 

 

great report, and Fun Spot sounds like the kind of craptastic amazing that we love. . . Nick would have been freakout out over the drunk locals, and i would be chatting with them and making fun of him

 

can't wait to see what you think of BGT!

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Great reports! I missed the SeaWorld one until now.

 

Like everyone else said, the Antarctica ride isn't anything special. The frustrating thing about it is that it has one of the coolest ride systems, but the ride doesn't use it effectively or have much to look at.

 

I agree on your assessment of Fun Spot's operators. Actually let me clarify that, I agree on your assessment of the Orlando Fun Spot operators. For whatever reason, the operators at the Kissimmee location were really friendly and outgoing. I actually preferred White Lightning in the back since every seat had great air and the back was noticeably better on the turns.

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Ah Drat! Sorry we missed you Boldy. We met up with my parents and sister the day after you were at FunSpot. Saturday was a lot busier. We had a 3 train wait for Freedom Flyer and White Lightning. If there is one thing to prove you are only as old as you want to feel, look no further than my parents. They took 3 rides on FF and 2 on White Lightning. Mind you my father is 85, going on 86, and mom is going to hit 80 next year!!!!

Don't have a lot of pics (we were having too much fun) but here's a few of them enjoying the rides. They hit up most of the major rides such as, Rip Curl, Tilt-a-whirl, Scrambler, the go carts to name a few. It just goes to show, age is a state of mind, and no coaster shall go unconquered !!

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mom and dad

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scram-

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Dad in front, Mom in the back, 1rst time ever to ride a go cart, at 80 !

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Ok Ok, I am the product of those 2.

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Haha how awesome! I am envious. My folks are in their 60s and won't go near any rides even though they are directly responsible for my habit thanks to them dragging me on everything when I was young. I did manage to get my mom (who was nice and buzzed at the time) on Great White @ Moreys a few summers back but now she blames one of her random body pains on that particular ride. Always with the "those days are over, hunny" when I bug them about riding stuff.

 

With having the Busch passes for this year I'm already trying to convince them to go down to BGW with me sometime this year since I know they'd love the park without even getting on the rides. But I'm not holding my breath.

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^^^ That's really awesome, Mark...so great to see seniors having fun and enjoying themselves no matter what their age - age means nothing as long as you have your health and positive spirit.

 

I don't think that I have seen Michael smile as much (since his battle with cancer began) as when we were at BGT last Sunday - and he didn't even ride anything!

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^^ Sorry, you guys know I am usually quick to post reports but coming back to Xmas insanity has hindered my ability to get this one done. I really want to, BGT was awesome. Still have to go through all the photos and write the majority of the report. I started to, but sometimes it just writes itself and sometimes it doesn't.

 

After the next three days of work/Xmas parties each day I'll have a quiet Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to get caught up. In the meantime to tide yall over go read and comment on my recent Holiday In the Park report. I went from shorts/t-shirts and 80 degrees to bundled head to toe and literally riding in the snow!

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Hehe - I hear you. It has been insanity since returning from Florida and I am literally exhausted already and I haven't even wrapped a single present yet. Trying to get caught up at work has been taking me longer than I expected, so there are some long hours in already this week.

 

I also plan on doing a BGT and Georgia Aquarium trip report at some point over the holidays once thing settle down a little bit.

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^^ Sorry, you guys know I am usually quick to post reports but coming back to Xmas insanity has hindered my ability to get this one done. I really want to, BGT was awesome. Still have to go through all the photos and write the majority of the report. I started to, but sometimes it just writes itself and sometimes it doesn't.

 

After the next three days of work/Xmas parties each day I'll have a quiet Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to get caught up. In the meantime to tide yall over go read and comment on my recent Holiday In the Park report. I went from shorts/t-shirts and 80 degrees to bundled head to toe and literally riding in the snow!

 

LOL. . just giving you grief

 

worth waiting for

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He posts it by Christmas Day, or there'll be COAL in his STOCKING!

(If he wears stockings, I have no idea...)

 

And I'll send him a GHOST to remind him, bwa - ah - ah - ahhhhhhh.

(Or a very angry multitude of Boldi-Bois on his {proverbial} doorstep.)

 

Take your time, 'tis the season.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Bet yall thought I was never gonna finish this sh*t!

 

Well its time to go fix yourself a drink and settle in with this epic conclusion...

 

You'd think after everything we got into on Friday I'd be dead to the world but when a day at a park is involved I usually shoot right out of bed at the first alarm and today was no different. Just like the day prior, I immediately rolled right down to the our favorite hoagie shack for our morning coffees, once again successfully avoiding any contact with any other living beings, save for a gecko I spotted on the pathway through the resort back around to the room.

 

As you might already know from the trip planning thread, we reserved seats on the free Orlando-to-Busch Gardens Mears bus shuttle. We had actually reserved seats on a bus both Friday and Saturday morning so we could play the weather by ear, but as it turned out both days in Orlando and Tampa were 80, sunny and no humidity so we stuck to our original plan to get the bus over to BGT on Saturday. When booking the seats the Mears website gave us a few different options as far as where we wanted to be picked up - Universal, Seaworld, or the Orlando Eye. Since it was right in our backyard, we chose The Eye.

 

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The Orlando Eye is massive!

After hot coffees and hurried showers we were on our way out of the room at 8:15am, giving ourselves a half hour to make our way over the Eye lot and figure out exactly where we had to get our bus. It was less than a ten minute walk over there, but we knew the Eye complex was a large as our resort complex, and we were only given the vague instruction to wait in the "bus parking area". Surely it couldn't be too hard to find? While meandering around the Eye we found a group of European tourists who - in broken English - asked us if we knew where the Busch Gardens bus was, and at that moment as luck would have it we spotted a Legoland shuttle. We asked the driver if he knew if the Mears buses to BGT picked up and he kindly directed us around the corner just as the Busch bus pulled into view and a few other groups of people walked up to join us.

 

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I forgot to take a picture of the bus, but thankfully its 2018 and we have google image search

The bus pulled up, our driver Felix got off and in more broken English welcomed the small group that had assembled, explaining the sole rule that if we wanted to get the bus back to Orlando, that we *had* to be back on the bus no later than 6:45pm, as he would be departing at 6:50, but to be safe we should be on the bus by 6:30. He also explained how expensive of taxi ride it would be if we missed the bus. Duly noted. He didn't ask for our confirmation tickets, or our Busch passes, or anything. We just got on. Once onboard he began to display how awesome of a dude he was when he got on the mic, cracked some jokes, gave us a weather and traffic report, and informed us we'd be able to enjoy a movie on the way back home, but for now, we got to listen to the finest Christmas music all the way to Tampa! Oh boy!

 

Sidenote: I generally hate Christmas music. Call me scrooge, I don't care. I can listen to the Charlie Brown Christmas album on repeat for a month straight, but all the rest of it (especially you Mariah!) can go to hell! However, for a couple of reasons I guess - it being my birthday, being in sunny warm Florida, that we were going to ride more awesome coasters for the second day in a row - the constant seasonally festive background music had started to take on a surreal quality, and I actually found myself enjoying it quite a bit for once in my life.

 

The ride over to BGT was fast and uneventful, as Felix explained with it being Saturday morning we wouldn't hit much traffic and should arrive at the park right around 10:15, and he was right on the money. Great timing as while he did drop us off right at the front gate, we missed the 10am opening crunch and got through the gates in a flash.

 

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Holy sh*t we're actually, finally at Busch Gardens Tampa

As soon as we got through I knew to look out for the Adventure Outpost where we could get our Quick Queues. I hadn't decided if it would make more sense to save a few bucks and just one for the regular QQ (which only gets you one skip-the-line on each ride or the considerably pricier QQ Unlimited which gets you unlimited skips on all the major rides as many times as you want. Now knowing we only had 8 hours at the park and who knows when we'll be back I went with option 2. Also, waiting in line on my birthday? Efff that. I wanted to ride whatever I wanted when I wanted.

 

Treat yo-self, people.

 

The girl working the register here may have been the only real hiccup to speak of all weekend, and its almost not worth mentioning, but I will since it was a crazy frustrating first impression of this park. She was obviously being trained and had no clue what she was doing, asking the coworker next to her how to do any and everything. I specifically asked for two Quick Queue Unlimiteds and had Dawn standing right next to me as I did so. She rung me up and handed me a card and receipt with no explanation of what we needed to do. At first I didn't realize the card itself was the fast pass that maybe we needed to redeem it for wristbands or something, so I asked and she had to get someone else to come over to explain it to us - no wristband, no Q-bot, just a flimsy paper card with a barcode on the back. Then as we walked away I looked at the receipt and noticed she only charged me for one (I assumed at first that the one card was for both of us to redeem for wristbands or something) so we had to go back over to her, wave her down as she was in the middle of her next confusing transaction, to tell her we asked for two and she only gave us one. Luckily I had paid cash so they were able to sort that out easily but oh man. They really just threw this chick to the wolves and it was painful to experience.

 

A few days before we came down to Florida, Dawn had pointed out that she saw on the BGT website that if its your birthday they'll give you a birthday pin for you to wear all day. I jokingly told her I would do it, I promptly forgot all about it. When we finished up here w/ the QQs of course she mentioned it to our flustered countergirl who quickly whipped out a button and she wrote my name really big across it, as everyone behind the counter wished me a happy birthday. LMFAO.

 

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High of 80 today. Merry Christmas.

I had also asked if we could purchase a photo pass since the big giant sign above the counter clearly lists "Photo Pass" as something you can buy here, but we were directed to another counter around the corner and further into the park. Since we hadn't gotten any on-rides at either park the day before, I wanted the onrides from my actual birthday. At first we totally got lost and couldn't find the booth for the photo pass but then we found a photographer and asked her and she kinda led us in the right direction? Luckily it had a sign and we spotted it hiding in plain sight.

 

This went much more smoothly and quickly, the friendly girl @ the register providing me with a much more sturdy card (more like a credit card) with a QR code thingamajig on the back for me to scan at the kiosks in each rides photo/gift shops, as well as random photographers around the park if we got our pictures from them, all on a nice BGT lanyard/neck strap thing.

 

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Dawn holding my birthday button. No my zipper is not open, the flap on the shorts sucks.

Finally sorted with our QQs and photo pass and me feeling like a proper tourist with all this crap hanging around my neck, we realized it was probably too early to start drinking so we should just try to ride something instead. Knowing of its terrible capacity, I pointed our compasses at the parks newest hotness, Cobras Curse. I don't know why I cared about doing this first since we eventually found out the QQ entrance dumps you right into the station, but my thinking was 1. its new, 2. low capacity, 3. close by, 4. its a spinner which I typically hate, so let's just get it the hell out of the way. Walking up to the ride we unfortunately noticed they were cycling empty trains and then saw the greeter turning folks away, explaining that they'd open sometime later that day. We turned our attention to Cheetah Hunt, a ride the Intamin fanboy in me has been particularly excited for, and which was right next door.

 

Also closed.

 

Between the QQ debacle, and now two coasters closed right when settling into the park. Was this going to be the opposite of the non-stop awesomeness of yesterday? Man oh man... A sudden, thunderous B&M roar snapped me out of whatever despair I was about to start to sink into and reminded me that oh yeah - Montu is nearby!

 

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I wasn't taking any photos so I don't have many of Montu just yet

Dawn wasn't necessarily up for such an intense ride this early but I was done waiting to ride one of these legendary Busch Tampa machines, and goaded her into riding by promising I'd save my mandatory-by-the-way-of-Coasterbill back row rides for later.

 

I have a huge boner for B&M inverts, I love all that I've ridden and alongside hypers they are my favorite style of B&M coasters. I do prefer them in the front, but I knew of the hype of the back seat. Passed the greeter (who spotted my pin and loudly wished me a happy birthday - this would continue all day), through the QQ line, even though the regular queue was empty, and into am almost completely empty station save for a one train wait for the front row. With two trains on, wait we did. Before long we were strapped in and heading up the lift of what many consider is one of the top B&M inverts on the planet. I have to admit I was giddy, kicking my feet like a kid, excited to start this awesome day on of all rides - Montu!

 

Cresting the lift I realized how big Montu actually is. It doesn't feel gargantuan in the way Alpengeist does, but it felt much higher off the ground than my home parks Batman. I loved being able to peek down at the entire layout we were out to experience. Down the drop we plummeted and into an unending barrage of relentless positive G maneuvers, one second kicking the sun before being ripped down into a seemingly way-too-tight tunnel and then soaring back into the sky. I always hear about the batwing element on this ride, and while it definitely felt like it was trying to rip my body off, the ferocious intensity of the elements leading up to it is just ludicrous, particularly that zero-g! What!? The entrance and exit of the batwing did not disappoint, and provided true hype for a backseat ride later. After briefly catching our breath on the midcourse, the second half of the coaster was unrelenting, yanking us down into more trenches, up into more loops, more sneaky corkscrews - the kind of coaster you start to wonder when is the final brake coming. Absolutely amazing, and without a doubt one of the best coasters I'd ridden on the trip, and most definitely my new #1 invert. What a way to start the day!

 

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Once we got off Montu and notice Cobras Curse was still cycling empties, we saw Cheetah Hunt was now open, and sporting a 35 minute wait. Our trustee QQ cards in hand, past the greeter and up to ramp we trudged, noticing we'd be dumped basically right into the front row, and with a good 6-8 people already waiting for that row, I told Dawn that since we skipped the 35 minutes that we should wait for the front. The crew here was actually pretty slow and it took another 10-15 minutes but still much shorter than waiting in the full standby queue.

 

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Whhhhhhooooooooosssssshhhhhhhhhh!

I feel like I'll lose enthusiast cool points for this next part but the coaster I was most looking forward to out of this entire trip was Cheetah Hunt. Yes, even with all these super solid B&Ms that everyone raves about so much. The thing is - I have (albeit mostly inferior) siblings of all these B&Ms at my home parks or parks pretty close to me, but I don't have anything like Cheetah Hunt nearby (OK maybe Storm Runner, but its due to its brevity its not the same). Not to mention out of all the coasters I'd get to ride during this trip Cheetah Hunt is the most similar to my favorite coaster anywhere, the mighty Maverick. If I have a nerdy coaster life goal its to ride as many Intamin coasters as possible and Cheetah Hunt, since I've first learned of it, has been at the top of that list. I knew not to expect the intensity of Maveick, but that didn't matter. Cheetah Hunt just looks so fun - a unique layout that goes all over the park, multiple launches, some really weird elements, airtime.

 

I'd be lying if I said that while waiting I didn't say a few little prayers that the ride wouldn't go down, since I"m well aware of how reliable my favorite ride manufacturer can be. Luck was on our side and within a few minutes we were boarding the front row, me groaning at the hard shoulder restraints I loathe pinching my collarbones.

 

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Killer pop right here

Since we were in the train that loads in the front of the dual loading station, we rolled out and launched immediately up the first curve before again dropping into a trench before being blasted a second time up the funky tree/top hat thing, both of us squealing with surprised joy at the strong pop of ejector air at the top of the hill. After meandering around up there we were suddenly plummeting down a drop into yet another trench and off out into the park we sped, only coming up for a pop of air and that freaky barrel roll, which by the way is loaded with hangtime.

 

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Yaaassssssssssssssssssssss

We hit the goofy little twister section over the water, and came around to the final launch - which torpedo'd us over a rather modest bunnyhop providing what might be the best pop of air on the ride, the two of us howling with delight. A few more small hops and twists under and above ground, and we hit the final brake, breathless and laughing at one another. Another amazing ride, we're two for two!

 

Upon exiting the ride Dawn commented that she had seen a sign when we entered the ride that advertised a 3 minute ride time, and noted how while a long ride, it felt much shorter than 3 minutes. We joked it included the time spent on the brake run waiting to get off (they had like 4-5 trains running but were stacking like hell). My only other gripe were the restraints. Not the worst ever, but if they put those soft restraints on (ala Maverick, I305, etc) they would make a great ride greater!

 

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After not eating any breakfast we were famished by this point, and rather thirsty if you catch my drift. We meant to head further into the park but hadn't consulted a map in a while so we mistakenly ended up back near the front of the park. We noticed people sitting out at tables at Zagora Cafe, then spotted the beer guy. We found an average selection but both picked something we would try - I got a Sam Adams Winter lager, and Dawn tried one of these Strawbe-rita things, which was a decent 8% abv and quite tasty imo.

 

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The winter lager was nice and refreshing as well. Since we were hungry but decided to save our main meal for a bit later, grabbed us a pretzel. Unfortunately it wasn't one of the buckwild bacon pretzels but it was still really good. Before we left the area I ran back and grabbed us another round for the road. Down with beer jail!

 

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First buzz of the day

From here we wandered back into the park, stopping at a photographer for some festive photos, then found some signs that pointed us in the direction of the train, which we wanted to take to the back of the park to hit Kumba, stop in Pantopia, and work our way to Sheikra. Also, we were excited to check out some of the animals on the Serengeti Plain.

 

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No explanation for this photo.

When we arrived at the train we noticed all of the no food or drink signs and promptly cupped our cans as we passed the grouper so we could finish them on the ride. Rule breakers, yeah but we weren't acting like obnoxious assh*les about it.

 

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We had a bit of a wait for the train to fill up but we got to watch Cheetah Hunt blasting passed us every few minutes.

 

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Cheetah!

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Gazelle!

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Once we got going it was cool to see Kumba, Sheikra and Falcons Fury off in the distance and gave a great sense of just how big this park really is. I don't know if it was the daybuzz but our train conductor was hilarious and cracking knee-slappers the whole way.

 

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Just a couple of train jumpers

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Naturally we both took a crapload of photos on the train, despite the fact that not many of the animals were out, so here you go - gaze at a bunch of trees and a handful of animals. Oh and Montu.

 

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OK here are your Montu photos

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The train passes right under/next to both Montu and Cobras Curse

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No trains passed but we still got a nice look

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The infamous batwing element. Pull your feet up!

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The phony giraffe

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I See you Kumba

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Zebras!

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Disembarking the train, now in the Congo section of the park, I bee-lined for arguably one of the most legendary B&M loopers in all of existence, Kumba, its menacing roar beckoning us. This ride without any doubt gets boatloads of praise, but I have certainly had some people tell me its overrated. I also know that those that love Kumba obsess about it. So I had high hopes.

 

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Just like Montu, here we had another BGT B&M with zero wait, so not much use for the QQ, though we used it anyway to not have to walk through all the empty switchbacks. We waited two trains for the front row, just as with Montu I knew I would need to ride the legendary back seat, but I wanted to try the front first since the wait was so short. The crew here were hustling and we were headed up the lift in no time, passing right up the middle of the rides hulking vertical loop.

 

OK let's just get this outta the way: the hype is real, ya'll. Kumba is f*cking badass. I mean... what the hell, B&M? More like this?

 

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Now I don't have nearly as much experience as some of our globe-traveling TPRers with a thousand credits but I honestly don't think - outside of the Batman clones - that I've ever experienced a B&M this downright savage. It's especially interesting to me, as Bizarro/Medusa at my home park has almost the exact same succession of elements, and I've always championed that ride as being old school and intense, but apparently I need to reevaluate my worldview. Holy sh*t.

 

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Gunfingers!

As soon as we dropped off the lift and ripped down that first drop I knew this was no ordinary B&M. The ferociousness is unmatched as it mercilessly tears through the loop, dive loop and that outrageous zero-g. And that's all before the awesome little bunnyhop and ridiculous cobra roll. Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle! The pacing doesn't let up - the train soars off the MCBR to rip through the corkscrews, darting into a black tunnel before barreling around the final helix and smashing into the brake run. It truly is a testament to this ride that I've experienced every single one of these elements before on other coasters, but never like this. Kumba somehow manages, almost 25 years after its creation to remain perfectly smooth yet also incredibly fast and forceful. Is it the wheels? Is the weight of a train with floors (as opposed to without)? It's a mystery I don't think I'll ever understand but I'm not sure I'll ever stop wanting to go back to Florida and ride Kumba again and again.

 

Speaking of again - since the ride had no line, and we still had a few things we needed to get to - I asked Dawn if she wanted to ride again with me in the back, to which she declined but offered to hang around the area while I walked around for lap 2. Once again the queue was empty and I waited one train for the back row. While I loved my ride back there for unbelievably upping the intensity (that zero-g! wtffff) it didn't feel as smooth, and provided a minimal amount of headbanging through the cobra roll. Happy I got a second ride though, no doubt.

 

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Speaking of roars... this guy wouldn't even give us the time of day.

Before heading to Stanleyville, we took a detour into Pantopia to check out Falcons Fury, possibly the most anticipated ride of the entire trip for both of us. We skipped a 45 minute wait to load next, so I'd say at this point the QQs were worth what we paid. We loaded on the side facing downtown, and the views on the ascent are amazing, hulking Sheikra in the foreground, and the high rises of downtown Tampa way off in the distance. Throw in that anticipation of knowing you're about to be flipped onto your belly before you drop. Before we knew it we felt the gondola slow a bit and next thing you know we're looking 33 stories straight down, before suddenly plummeting toward the earth in a giant bellyflop. It drop felt slower and a bit shorter than expected, however, it's definitely the strangest sensation I've experienced on any ride ever, and we both absolutely loved it and were tempted to get back in line.

 

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For some reason we took absolutely no photos while in Pantopia. So this pic I took later from Sheikra's station will have to do.

Spotting Scorpion just across the midway sporting a 20 minute wait I asked Dawn if she wanted to join me in quickly riding a classic. She at first said "no"m and when I prodded figured out she had confused "Classic Schwarzkopf" with "Sh*tty Old Arrow". I promised her it would be good and that she shouldn't skip it, and she reluctantly followed me into the QQ entrance, skipping that sh*tty 20 minute wait to board row 3 of the next train. Bummer you can't pick your rows here, but no biggy. We were on and up the lift in no time. The drop was uneventful sitting toward the front of the train but once we got to the loop Holy Gs! It was worth a ride just for that. The remainder is a series of incessantly forceful turns with a little pop of air and powerful helix before careening into the brakes. Love the minimal lapbar restraints. Upon exiting Dawn commented how fun it was and that she was happy she didn't skip it.

 

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Hi Bill!

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Finally into Stanleyville for another particularly anticipated ride, Sheikra, which would be my second (after Griffon) and Dawn's first dive coaster. She thought this looked like a ton of fun - a big giant coaster with OTSRs that she could enjoy (lol) and I was curious to compare it to Griffon knowing how similar they are.

 

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We found the ride sporting a 5 minute wait and used the QQ entrance regardless, queuing up for the front row for Dawn's first dive coaster. The ride actually wound up going down as we were next to board, with the crew calling for maintenance and a few guys showing up to fiddle with one of the OTSRs and send a few empty trains.

 

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It was about a 15 minute delay but we didn't really care. Once we got on, we managed to get the far left side so I gave Dawn the end seat. The view from up top was again spectacular, and just like Griffon I absolutely loved the holding brake at the top and subsequent drop.

 

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Wheeeeeee!

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Nice floater air all the way down, nice hangtime through the immelmann. The second half of the coaster I didn't enjoy as much as Griffon. Obviously both of the 2nd dive drops on each are the same but while Sheikra drops into a tunnel it just turns, hits the splashdown, turns again and hits the brakes. I felt like Griffon had a much more interesting ending with another inversion, the splashdown, and a bit of airtime before the brakes.

 

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Don't get me wrong, we both loved Sheikra, and even walked right around to do it again in the back row, where we got even better airtime down the drops. Dawn is a dive coaster junkie now and stated she was excited to get to Williamsburg with me in 2018 to try Griffon.

 

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After enjoying the hell out of some Trappers Smokehouse at Busch Williamsburg back in 2016, and hearing the Zambia Smokehouse @ BGT had equally quality BBQ, we had a loose plan to try to stop for lunch once we'd gotten some Sheikra rides in. That this entire area of the park reeked of smoked meat (even when hanging 200+ feet up over Sheikras drop - "haha you smell that BBQ babe?") certainly helped to solidify that decision. We headed in and had no wait to get our food and got a table right away overlooking Sheikras splashdown.

 

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We were starving by now and each got a huge entree, sides, beers, etc, and experienced a good laugh combined with sticker shock when we realized our meal here run up to almost $60!

 

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Ribs, chicken, sausage, fries, biscuit and mac & cheese

No matter the BBQ was excellent and we sat here for a good while, taking our time and eating everything, entertained by the endless procession of Sheikra riders screaming and splashing by our table.

 

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Did you know B&M footer bolts are almost as big as my beer?

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That's my "holy crap this is good" face. Dawn got the brisket.

We'd been eyeing up the flume since we made it back to Stanleyville, with it being so nice out we were hoping to hit it before the sun went down and our window was closing for that. I didn't even realize our QQs were good for that as well so bonus! We skipped a pretty healthy line, all of those covered switchbacks were full, but I don't recall actually looking at the queue time before we boarded. With our QQs we got right on the next log when we walked up, with a boisterous "Happy Birthday!!" from the ride op and plenty of lip smacking from the guests next in line. Sorry, not sorry! To be honest after all the beer and BBQ the flume ride is admittedly a little foggy. I remember that we didn't get very wet and the second half of it was really fast and we giggled the entire time.

 

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Earlier in the day when I bought the photo pass we were told we got one free photo print at the end of the day, and when we got off the flume and checked our photo I immediately knew that would be the printout.

 

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I don't know what happening with my neck here but the pure joy on our faces.

Determined to do Falcon's Fury once more before we had to roll, I asked if Dawn would mind heading back into Pantopia and she was more than happy to oblige.

 

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I don't have anything to give him but my beer and he AIN'T gettin my beer.

We figured we'd come back out this way and take the skyride back to the front of the park. We made our way over and once again skipped a 45 minute wait to hop on the next loading cycle. We both enjoyed our second ride even more than the first, as we now knew exactly what to expect and could appreciate it a bit more. Again we didn't take any photos while in the area, but later remembered we sent off a bunch of snapchats to our friends/family while waiting to board.

 

Upon exiting we realized we had a difficult decision to make. According to the map, we were fairly close to the front of the park which contained three rides we wanted to get to (Cobras Curse, and more laps on Cheetah and Montu) so we could either backtrack and take the sky ride all the way back to the front, or we could walk. With no idea how long the wait for the sky ride was, and with the sun starting to set and the window to get our bus starting to close, we decided to skip to sky ride (sorry, Bill, I've been dreading telling you this!) and hoof it back up front.

 

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This guy would only show us his rear end. So now we show it to you.

On our way back up front we stopped to check out both the penguins and the hippos, who eluded our photo taking attempts except to climb out of the water at one point and shake his ass at us (no joke). Also along the way we got to walk under and around Cheetah Hunt a bunch, at one point wondering if it was down since no trains had come speeding past us.

 

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Cheetah!

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The first coaster we came across when we reached the front was Cheetah Hunt. With a solid hour til bus time and the sun setting I couldn't leave the park without again riding what is likely my favorite ride of the day.

 

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Oh there it goes

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Cat train!

We got to the station and I guess because it had been down maybe that it was sporting a much shorter wait that earlier in the day - only about 20 minutes but we entered via the QQ entrance of course and walked right into the station, jumping in the row with the shortest wait, row 3. I'd hoped for a back seat ride but with our current time crunch was just happy I was getting back on at all.

 

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Best looking trains

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I mean you're riding on a fu*king cat.

Our second ride was just as much of a blast, the forces felt similar and we loved the ride just as much - killer launches, airtime, hangtime, laterals. This thing has it all. It's definitely a Maverick-lite, but that's fine with me!

 

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No I didn't post the same pic twice. Different ride, same reaction.

Upon exiting we discovered that Cobras Curse - the last of the adult coasters - was actually open! And sporting a 45 minute wait. We wondered aloud how long the wait might be, not able to see inside the queue but went for it anyway and were surprised to find that we were able to be boarded right onto the next train. Score! We both really enjoyed Cobras Curse, even me who typically hates any and every ride that spins. Luckily for me the spinning section was just the very end and completely mild compared to any other spinners I've ridden. Other than the lift and the giant cobra head, I didn't find anything else really special about this ride. We liked it, just weren't wow'd be it. Was certainly fun though, as you can tell by our onride.

 

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Sweaty business.

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Since we didn't get any good photos of Cobras Curse, here is the cool little model the have on display in one of the gift shops near the park entrance.

I know I couldn't leave the park without riding Montu in the legendary back row, but with only about a half hour left, and knowing our totally awesome bus driver Felix would have zero hesitation over leaving us in Tampa, I attempted to squeeze one more ride in. At this point Dawn was kinda done, and looking forward to relaxing on the bus ride home, so I asked if she would wait while I tried to get on Montu. She wished me a happy birthday and told me she'd meet me in the gift shop. Lucky again Montu was only sporting a 5 minute wait and with my QQ got on the next loading train (if this feels like I've said this about everything all day, its true - we only waited for the Sheikra breakdown which was fine). I queued up for the backrow with a group of three and got the back left side, as recommended, and had an absolutely phenomenal ride, particularly that batwing element. I hearby am starting an effort to rename this the batsh*t element, because that's what it is - absolutely batsh*t crazy!

 

When pulling back in I couldn't help but notice the station was completely empty so I quick checked the time, and ran around for one more back row ride. Again I joined a group of three, which while going up the lift I'd find out was actually a group of two, and then the 12 year old budding enthusiast next to me who informed me he snuck away from his family because he didn't want to eat dinner with them and would rather ride Montu, his favorite coaster in the park. Concerned, I asked if they would be worried, he assured me that once they realized he was missing they'd come looking for him here. lol wtf. Another phenomenal ride, capping off a weekend of nothing but quality coasters, flumes and drop rides.

 

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Christmas Town at night!

Dawn and I met back up and headed back towards the front of the park with the sun set and the Christmas lights finally on we checked some of them out, including a light show timed with music on the face of the restaurant (the name is currently escaping me) across from Cheetah Hunt.

 

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It's 80 degrees and snowing! Theme park magic!

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Unfortunately we had to roll just as it got dark so not too many Christmas light shots.

We also popped in some gift shops, hit the bathroom, and got our Stanley Falls photo print out. I also finally found a fridge magnet - the only magnet I saw all day that I liked (hey BGT, get some Cheetah Hunt magnets por favor!) before we made our way out the front gate and over to the bus pickup. We were one of the first people back at the bus, with only 15 minutes to spare. We definitely did not have as many people on the bus home with us leading us to wonder if Felix had actually left people at the park (LOL) or if they had just stayed over in Tampa and planned to get a bus back tomorrow, since he had mentioned earlier that was an option.

 

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The only half decent fridge magnet I could find in this park. Disappointing BGT, step yo magnet game up.

On the bus ride home as promised we got to watch a movie which helped pass the time since we hit a lot of traffic when we got near Disney. He played "Night At The Museum" which I've avoided watching up until now due to my seething hatred of all things Ben Stiller. Dawn dozed off, but I wound up watching the entire thing, and I gotta say I actually loved the film. Haha! When we finally arrived back at the Eye it was close to 9pm and we were surprised to find the entire area bustling with people. Makes sense, since its a Saturday night, but after leaving this morning with the entire complex so quiet you could hear a pin drop, that was a little jarring for a second.

 

Our feet aching after two days of walking, riding, climbing steps, etc we were both completely wiped out. We slowly limped back up iDrive to our resort. Our original plan was to get back to Orlando and either take an Uber down to Kissimmee to hit the other Fun Spot (since I actually would have gotten a free wristband for my birthday - yes that's a thing), or just hang in the area around the hotel and find somewhere to have a nice meal and drinks but we crashed pretty hard when we got back to the room. I did get up at some point to head back down to Wawa to pick up some munchies and more beer for us, and we did sit out on the deck for a bit having a few laughs about our day, but I think we were in bed fast asleep a little after midnight, just wiped out.

 

We had booked an early flight home Sunday in case of any hiccups since our little furbaby had been home alone most of the weekend. After a great nights sleep we got up early, around 6:30am, grabbing morning coffees and packing up, in an effort to be checked out of the hotel by 9am to head over to the airport and catch our 11am flight back up the east coast. We were able to check out by just texting the front desk and leaving our keys in the room. No nonsense. Got an Uber right at the front of the hotel and hit zero traffic heading over to the airport. Orlando airport kinda sucks, and we had a really long wait in the security line which was just a complete clusterf*ck, at least compared to Philly on Thursday. The flight itself was fine, with no issues at all to speak of, and I actually slept through most of it after a few bloodies at the airport bar.

 

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Did you think we were done drinking? We ordered bloodys at the airport and the bartender asked if we wanted to make it a double. Uhhh, duh.

What an awesome weekend! Definitely one of those "perfect" weekends where basically nothing goes wrong - no hotel problems, no flight issues, nothing to complain about with the shuttles, Ubers or parks in general, and amazingly we didn't get into a single argument all weekend, which after being in a relationship for almost 2 decades is a feat in itself. The quality of the parks and all the awesome rides was the cherry on top.

 

Final scorecard (for the entire weekend):

Manta 3x

Mako 4x

Kraken 1x

Atlantis 1x

Shamu Express 1x

White Lightning 5x

Freedom Flyer 2x

Space Invader 1x

Fun Spot Ferris Wheel 1x

Go Karts 2x

Montu 3x

Cheetah Hunt 2x

Kumba 2x

Sheikra 2x

Falcons Fury 2x

BGT Train 1x

Stanley Falls 1x

Cobras Curse 1x

 

Not to shabby for a quick weekend jaunt!

 

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Bye Florida you awesome weirdo.

Hope you guys enjoyed following along, and thanks for reading!

 

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So now that that's all outta the way can we talk about Hershey for a second? I bought these Saturday night @ Wawa. I'd had the Twix before but the Hershey Gold bars are new, and were actually released on December 1st. I still ahd them when we packed up, and wound up smuggling them on the plane with me to enjoy at 35000 feet in the air. Anyways, holy crap this is the best new candy I've had in ages! I'm totally obsessed with them and since I had the photo from the plane thought I'd use the opportunity to pressure you into trying them. LOL!

Edited by boldikus
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Great report! Glad you had an awesome birthday. Riding coasters really is the proper way to celebrate it.

 

I too was most anticipating Cheetah Hunt during my trip to Busch Gardens as well and while it was really fun, Montu did everything in its power to prove how wrong I was.

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Welcome to the Kumba Fan Club! Go on, take a seat, grab a drink. We're glad you know what's up.

 

Awesome report of my local park, Boldy. One question; what about the Bacon Pretzels? They're like 20 times better at BGT, and that's not favoritism. They've got like twice the grease.

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Awesome report!

 

I won't hate on you too much for skipping Sky Ride, the line is usually awful from the front of the park but marginally better from the back. Even though the park is enormous, you're just riding for the views. It's rarely a time-saver on a weekend.

 

I had no doubt that you'd love this park and I'm glad to hear it lived up to the hype. Regarding the flume line that you didn't check, trust me it's hellish. If it's a straight shot it's fine, but if the switchbacks are open it's the absolute worst. It's cramped, it's hot, it sucks, the air doesn't move in there at all, the switchbacks are super narrow so you're right on top of everyone and the sheer misery of it is the #1 selling point for Quick Queue in the entire park.

 

If they ever remove that ride or fix the queue, I'll never bother with Quick Queue in this park ever again outside of Howl O Scream. I can deal with the other lines, that one... F*CK THAT.

Edited by coasterbill
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the place across from Cheetah Hunt is, I believe:

 

Serengeti Overlook Restaurant (top level w/ the buffet)

Serengeti Overlook Pub (2nd level w/ alcohol & burgers/chicken).

 

 

we loved the food in that place, and the view (of Cobra's Curse, and the animals) was hard to beat.

 

glad you had such a great trip!

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A few comments...

 

- Glad you had a great time!

 

- I don't know who says Kumba is overrated, but they're dumb.

 

- We've always said that Cheetah Hunt was like a family Maverick and that's awesome!

 

- I still haven't ridden Cobra's Curse, I'm a bad enthusiast.

 

- Why all the hate for MCO? Not just from you, but I see others complain as well. I fly to airports all over the country and world and MCO is one of the best in this country by far.

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