bert425

and I HAD to. . it's CHER! Back at work. . so taking me a little longer to update. . likely won't get to Days 4/5 until the weekend. . but here's Day 3! Day 3:: Weeki Wachee and the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa! Once again, slept very well (and because we had told the hotel that we didn’t need to have Housekeeping but every 3rd day, was pleased to discover that I got 250 extra points per day on my Marriott rewards account (woot!)). Today it started out gorgeous with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, but it was gonna be a HOT one – it was already in the 90’s and with the heat of the day the forecast was ~ 40% chance of late afternoon storms – so perfect for our “non-park” day. This was our non-theme-park day, so I grabbed the swim suits, and the beach bag, and we headed out on I75 to spend the morning at Weeki Wachee Springs: an old school Florida tourist destination, that’s most famous for the underwater Mermaid show in the natural springs. The State took it over a few years ago, and added some “improvements” such as some waterslides and a “lazy river” (a roped off section) on the swimming side to make it a bigger draw, but they also still have the Mermaid shows, a Boat ride up the crystal clear river, an animal show, some nice landscaping/gardens. . and admission is only $13. In researching, I had found out that the place hits capacity very early on Summer days (it’s a smallish site, and with the swimming option lots of camp groups and kids flock to the place), so even tho it was a Tuesday, we wanted to be there for the 9am opening. It was about an hour drive from Tampa, down some very scenic (and very Florida-ish) 2-lane roads. . my favorite area was passing thru “Land-O-Lakes”. . we looked for it, but didn’t see any butter plant, so maybe it doesn’t come from there? J And we arrived at Weeki Wachee Springs a little after 9am. The lot was still 2/3rd empty, but the line to get in stretched all the way down the side of the springs and almost to the main street. I was a little concerned, but the locals we spoke to in line (there with their grandkids to swim) said that as long as there was parking that we’d still get in, and typically during the week they don’t shut down entry until after 11, so that made me feel very optimistic. We ended up taking almost 45 minutes in the line just to get tickets and in – but the time flew chatting w/ those around us, and taking pictures, and got in the gates just before the 10am 1st Mermaid show, so we went straight for that and got into the theatre (with good center stage seating that amazingly was available) with about 2 minutes to spare. They run two shows, one themed to the story of the little mermaid (more for kids), and the one was saw, which is all about the history of Weeki Wachee, how the mermaids train, and the stars that have visited the springs over the past 50+ years. The curtains come up, and we’re looking into crystal clear blue water.. with fish, and turtles (who wanted to be involved in the show, LOL), and swimming up from behind the rocks – the famous Weeki Wachee mermaids! Ok, it is kitschy, and silly, and slightly dumb. . . and they did a whole “tribute” section with the Mermaids holding a flag while “Proud to be an American” blasted over the speakers – but damn if I didn’t have a huge grin on my face for the entire 25 minute show. As I mentioned, a turtle got involved and kept coming over to the main Mermaid performer, but she just smiled and shooed it away (it kept coming back). . and the “Scene Changes” with “bubble curtains” coming up from below to completely cover the viewing windows are a sight to behold. In addition to the Turtles and the fish, there are apparently also Manatees that live in the springs (and sometimes mimic the mermaids movements), but we didn’t see one during our performance. Highly recommended to experience at least once, and a true old-school roadside attraction. After the show, you can meet one of the mermaids and pose for a picture with her – so of COURSE I made us get in line to do that. (grin). As we hadn’t eaten anything thus far today, we stopped at a snack shop that overlooks the springs, and got pretzels and water, and sat on the deck and watched the folks swimming and coming down the slides (and the park did hit capacity, and they stopped letting folks in when they ran out of parking around this time). An aside – I wasn’t aware that Florida has such a relationship with Pretzels and Beer-infused-Cheese. . but practically *every* place we went, this was on a menu. . . so I guess there are a lot of German descendants in Central Florida? Anywhoo, after finishing the snack (it was good), we considered swimming. After all, I had schlepped the beach bag with me. . .but decided that the water in the natural springs was maybe a bit too chilly (even tho the water in Barton Springs back in Austin is actually colder, and we’ve swam in that), so instead headed to the boat dock. Very long line .. .remember, they had closed for capacity by this point, and seemed to be running only 1 boat. The sign by the dock said that the boat runs every ½ hour, and that it has a capacity of ~30 people. I knew from the printed schedule that the drivers take a ½ hour lunch from 12-12:30, so after not even getting close to being on the 11am boat, and seeing that we weren’t gonna get on the 11:30 one, we did the math: no boat from 12-12:30, we wouldn’t get on the 12:30 one, so the earliest we’d get on would be 1pm. . . and did we really want to hang out for an hour and a half for a boat ride? We decided that no, we did not (tho we would have if they had been glass bottom boats, but they did not appear to be). We also passed on the Animal show, since we knew we’d be seeing similar at BGT, and SeaWorld most likely. . so instead decided to wander the grounds for a bit, and then head back to the Hotel base camp. After all, the only thing I really had wanted to do was the Mermaid show, and we had accomplished that. The grounds are beautiful, with quite a bit of shade – which was good, since it was getting really hot. Lots of opportunities spread throughout the grounds to pose for pictures: you can pose as Poseidon, or as the Queen of the Oceans, or riding a Manatee, Turtle, Croc, or (my favorite) as a Mermaid! Peacocks and ducks strolling around the grounds as well.. very pretty. They also have a canoe rental place there, so one could do a canoe up the river too. . but we didn’t check the price on that. The onsite store was crap, really disappointingly crappy – selling mainly stuff directed at kids (mostly princess or pirate/skull themed, since the water portion is called “Buccaneer Bay”) so I was very disappointed that I couldn’t get a mermaid shirt for me, or even a magnet! Luckily, when I commented on the LACK of Mermaid Themed stuff, the lady asked me if I saw the small store at the ticket booth, that’s run by the State? She wasn’t kidding, it was a VERY small store – an 8x8 section with a few shirts hanging on a rack behind the handicapped entrance. But guess what? This small store did have “Friends of Weeki Wachee” Mermaid T-shirts – at least 3 different types (Nick and I each got one) as well as magnets. So if you go, and want a mermaid shirt, don’t miss that little corner by the front entry. It was a fairly quick stop, but a great visit to Weeki Wachee on this Tuesday – tho I do sorta regret not swimming a little bit. . we should have. It was close to Noon, so we headed back to Tampa, for a quick stop at the hotel to drop stuff off. We got back to the hotel close to 1pm, and planned the next move. The day was still beautiful, but a bit hot. .did we want to drive the ~45 minutes to St. Petersburg for the Chihuly and Dali museums? Or maybe go the Hard Rock Tampa (run by Seminole tribe) . . since we both love Music memorabilia, and I had heard that the Hard Rock had four complete KISS outfits on display (and I’m a *huge* KISS fan. What settled it, was asking at the hotel and being told how good the food was at the Hard Rock (remember, we hadn’t eaten much today yet, and it was lunch time). I had seen reviews online about the food being good, but the front desk confirmed it, and a quick look online showed multiple choices there (including a Hard Rock Café, a Sushi place, a diner type restaurant, and a buffet place). So we hopped in the car and onto I75 for the ~10 minute drive to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The are doing a bunch of construction there (looked like maybe they are adding a new tower of rooms?), but we found free parking, and just happened to come in at the Valet entrance near the Player’s club. Now, Online had also told me that if I signed up for the player’s card, we could save $5 each on the buffet. Nick did NOT want a buffet, and he absolutely did not want to “sign up for more crap” so he refused the Player’s card sign up, but I went for it, and we headed thru the casino to go look at the restaurant choices. The place is WAY bigger than I was expecting with what seemed like thousands of slots, and tons of table games. Lots of Music Memorabilia was all over the place too, including the KISS costumes, that were at the 4 corners of the central bar in glass display cases (drool). So we stopped for some quick pictures – I had asked at the Players Club if it was OK to take pictures in the casino, and they said “absolutely! We want you to take pictures of the artifacts!” The menu at the Hard Rock Café was the standard one, so we passed (tho I was able to pick up a gift for a friend at the store there – he collects the Hard Rock pins), and we didn’t want to do fancy (we were in shorts and T-shirts). The coffee shop looked good, but expensive. Since I had the $5 off for the buffet, “Fresh Harvest”, meaning that for lunch it would only be $15 for me - we headed up the escalators to check it out. Wow, it was not what I was expecting. . set up like a food court, but with live cooking at each station with extremely high quality food choices. I was sold, and talked Nick into it. from the website: Our 7 Live-Action Kitchens at Fresh Harvest: Asian Fair - Sushi, Dim Sum, Asian specialty items, and two traditional soups. Raw Bar - Oysters and clams on the half shell, peel and eat shrimp, crawfish, and two sea food soups. The Grill - Grilled meats and vegetables, Brazilian style carving, stir fry to order, weekly specials. Green Grocer - Soup of the day, assorted salads and a salad of the day. American Bounty - Carving station, American classics including fried chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes. Cucina Italiana - A variety of pizzas, antipasti and pastas, pasta to order, omelettes all day, every day. Sweets a la Mode - An island of deserts. Ice cream Sunday bar, hot and cold homemade desserts, individual sweets, cookies, crepes, and sugar free options. The Asian Dim Sum was amazing, and I hit the raw bar hard with fantastic oysters & clam chowder. The stand out was the blackened Salmon, grilled to order on the Mongolian grill (of the Grill station). . but the stuffed pizza was also decent, as were the veggies at the American bounty station. The Pretzels with beer-cheese were good too. . and yeah, we ate way too many of the deserts! HIGHLY recommended if you’re in Tampa, swing by the Hard Rock just for the Fresh Harvest Buffet. So we waddled out of the buffet, and made our way across the casino, looking at memorabilia and trying to decide what we wanted to play. Even the “low” slots were expensive, with some of them costing $4 a pull if you played all lines. My game of choice is $1 Wheel of Fortune. .which typically in Vegas is $3 max pull, or if you’re playing the quarter version is $1.25 max pull. Here, it was 5 lines, so $5 per pull. I decided to play anyways, and after spending about $40 got a spin that net me $75.. . was gonna get up, but decided to play a few more, and the very next pull got me a spin that hit $300. So yeah, THEN I cashed out and walked away. . LOL. I very quickly dropped over $100 on a 2cents machine (really. .it was something like $8 a pull when you played max lines, and I hit NOTHING), but we did find some quarter slots – in a section that was walled off, and kind of looked like it used to be the high dollar slots, until they moved them into a separate room. . so we played there for quite a while, never hitting big or losing big..but maintaining. While playing here, one of the pit bosses noticed that Nick wasn’t using a players card and headed over to give him the hard sell to sign up. He refused and I told the guy I had TRIED to get him to sign up, and he wouldn’t do it even for a $5 off buffet! The guy was pushing hard tho, and kept trying to get Nick to sign up.. to the point that when the guy turned to me to convince him to sign up for some comps on the card, Nick said “ok” (just to get him off his back). The guy took Nick’s Driver’s License and went to the table games to log him in and sign him up, and came back a few moments later and told Nick that he had put $10 in comps on his card. So of course, I said, “hey, what about me?? I’m the one that just talked him into signing up?” So I got $5 comps on my card J We wandered to the way back to find some Red/White/Blue 7’s for Nick to play, since he likes that game, and he found some nickel ones. I wandered around looking at the memorabilia there – I have a system that I play with $20 at a time and if I get over $100, then I cash out and play w/ a fresh $20 (that way I make sure I don’t put any winnings back in), and I didn’t want to spend any time with nickel slots, since I didn’t like any of the machines. I did find some quarter machines a few rows over tho, and played there hitting a few $100+ jackpots almost back to back to back J When we were done for the day, I actually ended up walking out w/ $700 (after coming in 4 hours earlier with $450). . so yeah, I’d say I won big-ish I guess. . LOL. Nick didn’t do very well, but we realize we’re paying for the entertainment, and if you don’t expect to lose, you shouldn’t be playing in the first place. He does tend to get a little pissy tho if I don’t loose too – go figure. Between the 2 of us, we had over $20 in comps on the cards (since the Pit Boss had given us $15 total, remember?). . so we stopped into the Hard Rock store, and used out comps to get a few Toblerones, 3 Dr. Peppers, Lifesavers, and some Juice. Nick didn’t want any of it, but it was basically free money. .why in the world would you NOT use it, especially since we weren’t coming back into the Tampa Hard Rock, and we had a fridge in our room to keep the stuff cold. . right? Oh, and by the time we got back to the Courtyard Marriott? We both had multiple messages from the Seminole Hard Rock Player’s Club in our emails. . heh. It had been a beautiful day, but it was after 5, and the heavy storm clouds were starting to roll in. We decided that even tho we hadn’t swum at Weeki Wachee, we kinda did want to go swimming, so we put on our suits and swam in the Marriott pool for a little bit. About 30 minutes later, We came back up to the room as it was getting ready to pour. Since we both were still stuffed from lunch, and we had the snacks in the room now, we just stayed in for the night and watched TV, read, and watched the storms. . . it was our relaxing night and we had to get up early in the morning anyways to drive to SeaWorld Orlando! We're here at Weeki Wachee. but oh my. . LONG line to get in. . guess we'll take some pics while in line. Noted! Sign near the front gate ticket booth. This just made me laugh. Lots of these statues around near the front gates. We got thru the gates just a few moments before the 1st 10am Mermaid show, and ended up getting good center seats in a very crowded underwater theater They hide the springs with curtains center stage! and the curtains go up. . . and here come the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaids! acrobatics! and the scene transitions happen with this "bubble curtain" effect. . that sometimes took a random fish out with it too bubbles! a special tribute to American Heroes. and a Turtle wanted to get involved after the show, you can stand in line and meet one of the mermaids (you bet I wanted to stand in line to do so) while eating our snack, we grabbed a table on the deck, and watched the swimming portion of the Springs. on the far right, is where the mermaids perform (that small grey sign, says "Mermaid Lagoon" We ended up not doing the boat trip (the line was too long, since it was so busy), but we did go down to the dock and take some pics of the crystal clear water. These guys were just roaming around are they a mixed couple?? spread around the site are opportunities for pics. Nick was a fuddy duddy and wouldn't pose, but I did a few! I'm Poseidon! I'm the Queen of the Seas! I'm a Mermaid ! After an hour drive back to Tampa, and a quick stop at the Hotel, we headed over to the Seminole Hard Rock. Mainly because I'm a HUGE KISS fan, and I had heard they had some of the costumes on display. Gene Peter Ace Paul Paul from the side Ace has always been my favorite But Gene's boots are SO FREAKING COOL up close. . The Casino is beautiful tho . .this chandelier was on the way up to the restaurant and looking down from the restaurant into the casino a nice lit up water feature. .

^ but the food back there. . we purposefully get Park Hopper passes, so we can have dinner every night at EPCOT when we do DisneyWorld complex.

the last one I rode on our recent trip (and was new to me): SheiKra at BGT. (tho we also rode Cobra's Curse, and Mako. . . brand new coasters, but they were ridden on prior days to our last day).

nice report, and wonderful pics of the promenades! makes me want to go visit the park.

I DID take pictures of the Pretzels at SeaWorld. .

we went back again on Thurs. . so more pics on Day 5 but soon, Weeki Wachee, Hard Rock Casino, and SeaWorld before back to BGT

after the wonderful safari experience it was time to eat, and then hit the rest of the park. food, skyride, then walked from Stanleyville back to Nairobi to proceed counter clockwise thru the park. attempted selfie with Giraffe topiary the Serengeti Overlook buffet -- fantastic food, and great views, in air conditioning! YUM! Nick wasn't hungry enough for buffet, so got a chicken breast salad. from the balcony of the Serengeti Overlook (facing into the park) Cheetah Hunt line from the Skyride line. we almost got in line for CH, but were determined to see the rest of the park today! Cheetah Hunt from the Serengeti Overlook balcony Skyride pic Cheetah Hunt coming right at ya! still a beautiful day out, but still early in the afternoon. the Elephants were out playing with big tires and in the Animal Care Center, I got to touch the trainer's snake *and yes, I did make that crack to his face, and he blushed and said he hears that a lot. Finally -- Falcon's Fury. after a short-ish wait, I was able to get on in an empty seat and ride it. TERRIFYING, and oh so worth it! Love this series of pics I took after getting off the ride, and that cloud was just so perfectly placed. up up. . . and flip face first. Scorpion from the queue. it went down while were in line, but wasn't too long before it was back up and running again, and we got front row. coming back into Pantopia (we had walked thru it to see the elephants and animal care center) we DO love our carousels we also rode Sand Serpent (which frustratingly took way too long for such a short line). . great ride tho. this pic is on our way out of Pantopia to the Congo area. another batch of pics that no one has EVER taken! But hey, it was new to us we didn't get any pics from Congo River Rapids (our phones were safely tucked away in a "fluffy fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo"), but we had them back for Kumba! then we went to look at the Tigers. The White Tiger was visible, but not in a place to get a good picture, so here's a Bengal Tiger sleeping, instead. this is Nick's "ANOTHER damn picture????" face. We were in line for Stanley Falls (again, w/ phones locked away, so no pics) when they shut everything down for storms coming. We tried to wait it out, but after a while it was apparent nothing was going to re-open tonight, even with several hours left in the park's operating day. As we headed towards the front of the park, we took these pics of ShieKra with the sky turning absolutely black behind it. . . in less than 20 minutes, the heavens would open, and there would be a hell of a Lightning/thunder/rainstorm (while we ate ice cream and chatted with others waiting it out). the Flamingos didn't seem to care about the weather, but BGT shut down the Walkabout Way (Kangaroos) and the Lorikeets because of the lightning and thunder in the area. dark sky Topiary we stopped near when we thought it was about to pour (since Walkabout way has some covered benches there). but we kept moving up to the Ice Cream place at the front of the park.

Day 2 continued. Serengeti Safari: (apologies for so many safari pics, but you can get some really unique views of the animals, and the coasters/park from the safari, so we took a LOT of pics. . . these are only about 1/3rd of them!) our wonderful Safari guide explaining to everyone to "please always hang on to the rails when the truck is moving" you get some unique views of BGT from the Safari love this view from the back of the truck. and this one! Great views of the Cobra's Curse from the Safari! but these guys are the main attraction. . they know the trucks mean they are gonna get fed, and come right over. hello! munch munch munch munch more? MORE MORE! they felt like petting a pony. and literally dip their heads right into the truck. a unique view of Cobra's Curse Nick managed to get the Giraffe and Me in the same pic. . it had just taken the lettuce out of my hand.

thanks! I have the Star Wars shirt on from Prior trip reports on in Day 2 pics. . I'll try to get a decent side by side. Honestly, I can't really tell looking in the mirror, but when i see older pics side by side, I really can! it all came from the belly!

full size pic coming on day 3

Day2: The bed was very comfortable, so we slept well, and were up early (had Starbucks from the “Bistro” in the lobby of the hotel, and were at BGT when the gates opened. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, tho a bit humid and the forecast had called for similar weather as to the day before. .so we were determined to get as much done as possible while it was nice out. As promised, we headed directly for Cobra’s Curse, and got in line. For a ride that looks like it has limited capacity (only 8 passengers at a time), the line moved steadily the whole time and operations were great. After a fairly short wait, we were on Cobra’s Curse, and it is a fun little coaster. The best part for us was the backwards section, and although from off-ride the spinning portion looks like the draw, you actually really don’t feel the spinning, since you’re doing that while the car is moving. . so it’s just not that noticeable. We enjoyed it tho and it’s a great family coaster, and if the wait is less than 30 minutes it’s well worth it. We thought of riding it again, but when we exited the wait was showing to be over an hour (already!), and every other time we passed it on our trip the line was either over an hour, or the coaster was down (either for weather, or broken down – it’s still a new attraction, so they seem to still be having issues getting the kinks out). Which meant we only got to ride it once, but we DID ride it J Since we didn’t have to be at our Safari check in until 11:15, we went next door so I could ride Montu – which was basically a walk on. I waited for the rear left seat, and man, that back row pulls some serious G’s. I laughed the whole way thru this intense, intense coaster (really, when I got off, my legs were like jelly from the adrenaline). Nick asked me if I wanted to ride again, and I considered it just for a second, but decided against it. . don’t get me wrong, I loved it, but for me? It was a 1 and done. Much, much better than Alpengeist (at Busch Gardens Williamsburg),and smooth, smooth, smooth. We took the “Edge of Africa” walking path near Montu to get to the Nairobi section and lucked out with not only all the animals out and about (Hippos, Hyenas, GIANT Crocs, Lions), but the Lions were having a “meet the handlers” speaker, so we stopped and listened to him for a bit while looking at the majestic Male “posing” for the crowd, and the large female who was stalking along the front glass so we got a really good idea just how big she is (and yeah, she’s BIG). We were getting hungry, but since it was close to time for the Serengeti Safari, we headed towards that to check in. The safari is an upcharge, and yes, tho they put you on the back of the truck and bring you out on the “plain”. .you really can see all the same animals from either the train or the skyride. *HOWEVER* the safari is worth every single penny, simply because it’s a small group (about 12 people per truck), and you get to feed the giraffes by hand from the truck. I know it doesn’t sound that awesome. . but it is. Absolutely is. What an incredible experience. . we took tons of pictures. Some great views of the Rollercoasters from out on the plain too J Highly recommended. When we got back from the 40 minute safari, we were ready to eat, so went to the 3rd level Serengeti Overlook and I had the buffet, while Nick went for the Chicken Breast Salad. While the Salad was only so-so, the buffet was very good – the Fried Chicken, the Fried Fish, and the Jambalaya were amazing, and everything else on the buffet (in particular the mashed potatoes, the grilled veggies, and the Mac & Cheese) were good to very good. All for only $18, in an air conditioned dining room that overlooks the Serengeti Plain (and Cobra’s Curse & Montu). Good Quality, great setting, and reasonable price . . . so if you get a chance, eat here. After stuffing ourselves (the buffet includes a slice of cheesecake, or cake as well, and the waiter brought Nick some carrot cake since his chicken was a bit dry), we really needed to get out an explore the rest of the park, so hopped on the skyride (which takes you across the Serengeti plain to Stanleyville), and then we walked from there thru Jungala, Congo & Pantopia - back to the Nairobi elephants bypassing everything. . then simply turned around and continued counter-clockwise thru the park stopping at things as we came to them. After looking at the elephants and going into the Animal Care center (where I got to touch/pose with a snake that a staff member had out on display), we went back to Pantopia and got in line for Falcon’s Fury (the face first 300ft drop tower). Really. .it lifts you up like a standard drop tower, and then at the top, the cars tilt all the way forward, so you are hanging face down.. and that’s how they drop you! The line was showing a 50 minute wait, and although Nick wouldn’t ride with me, he waited in line with me to keep me company. After about 20 minutes, I passed close enough to a ride op to comment to her that I was very surprised that BGT did not have a single rider line for Falcon’s Fury – since the ride loads in groups of four, and in every cycle we were seeing multiple open single seats in the varying sections. She asked me if I was riding alone, and when I told her yes, she pulled me thru the line to the front and got me into an empty seat on the next cycle! So if you are a solo rider for Falcon’s Fury, and you see them sending up lots of single seats? Worth it to ask! It might save you 30+ minutes in line. Oh, and the ride is amazing, and scared the CRAP out of me. . .glad I did it, nope, didn’t do it again. Since I had just done a solo ride, I wanted to do something that Nick would ride with me. . so we went over to Scorpion, a classic single loop coaster, and got in the 10 minute line. And then it broke. I was still a bit wobbly from Falcon’s Fury, so I didn’t mind waiting, especially since after only a few minutes, they started cycling empty cars, and got the ride back up and running in just about 15 minutes. Now, we saw several times rides go down during our visit, but in most cases, they came up again fairly quickly, so I’d give the Maintenance teams at BGT an A rating (despite the seeming issues with Cobra’s Curse, since, hey, that’s still new).. as they got most everything that “broke” back up again and we did manage to ride everything we wanted to. Once Scorpion was back up and running, due to a miscount by the attendant, we had to do a mini “walk of shame” back to the queue since there was no room for us in the train. To make up for it, she put us in the front row of the next train. Now, Nick NEVER likes to ride in the front, but for this? He did. . so I was thrilled that not only did we ride it together, but we rode in the front (Didn’t want to hold up the queue to ask the attendant to take a pic, but we know we rode in the front!). After refilling our water bottles, and watching some dancing at the DragonFire Grill, we went over to look at Phoenix (the swinging ship that goes upside-down), and instead got on the Carousel across from it. . LOL. I wanted to ride a camel, but turns out the camels don’t go up and down.. so I just got to ride in a circle for few minutes. Oh well.. still, it’s a carousel, and we love those. The other ride we wanted to do in Pantopia was the Sand Serpent – a wild mouse. As is typical with a wild mouse, the loading was crap! What should have been a 10 minute line took us almost 40 minutes – this was the only ride where operations were crap. But again, it’s a wild mouse, and so I’m not sure how much of that was the crew doing the loading, and how much of that is simply the nature of the ride, where only 4 people max can fit in each car, and they only had 5 cars on the track. I lean more towards it being the crew, and I say this because typically there was only 1 care on the course, while the other 4 were stacked at loading. (making it worse were the people with quick queue (which to be fair, they had PAID for) who came up and were cut in, meaning the general line didn’t move). Still, glad we waited, since BGT seemed to be running with very minimal breaking. Holy jeebus, this thing took the turns like it was about to fly off the track! Nick loved it. It was getting close to 5pm (I think) by this time, and the weather had held up, although there were some clouds starting to form. But the sun had stayed out steady and it was hot, so we decided to ride the Congo River Rapids. These are large rafts (bigger than I’ve ever seen, typically it’s only 8 per, and these were (I think) 12 per), so the line moved fairly quickly and we got onto the ride that was quite fun. Although we didn’t get SOAKED, some of those on our raft, did (a waterfall drenches whatever half of the raft goes under it) . and we did get just wet enough to be refreshed. Since we were right there, I went ahead and took a spin on Kumba – the big floorless coaster in the park. It was pretty close to a walk on, so not sure if Nick waited with me or not, but I rode in the back right seat, and loved the 1st half of the ride. I found the 2nd half, where you do a lot of close to the ground stuff to be very rattle-y and it shook me up just a bit more than I would have liked. But the 1st half – including the giant loop – that part I loved. I considered re-riding, but my back was acting up a bit – probably from the rattling in the back half of the ride, so instead I put it on my “maybe again” list for Thursday, and we continued onwards to the Jungala area. They have a very nice ropes course in this section, but since we aren’t into that kind of stuff, we just looked at it and then went to the Tiger displays. . again, despite the heat, most of the animals were out and about (or sleeping in places you could get a really good view of them, even if not a good picture of them). The White Tiger was beautiful, and the Bengals were just as lovely. Tho we would have loved to see the Orangutans, they were not on display (a “wet paint” sign in the area said they were off-display while they painted the area), but I think it must have more to do with the fact that one of them had just escaped a few weeks ago – the employee in the store where we bought a lovely Bengal Tiger Magnet told me that the female climbed a tree at shift change and broke into a vending machine to drink sodas and a store to eat cotton candy. Too funny. We then headed into Stanleyville and saw the line for Stanley Falls (the flume ride) was fairly short – 20 minutes, so got in line. . . . and as we got to the 2nd row before the loading steps, an announcement was made that since weather was in the area all attractions were to be closed. It was close to 6pm, and it looked like the line was moving away, so we just stayed in line for a bit and chatted with the folks around us (what we had done the day before at Cobra’s Curse, and again earlier in the day with the folks in line with us when Scorpion broke down).. so we kept ourselves entertained for 30 minutes, and then when the sky started to get darker instead of lighter, the girls in front of us checked the weather app, and it looked like even bigger storms had formed behind the one cell they had shut down for. .. so poop, looks like all the rides were down for the rest of the day. Still, we had done vast majority of the rides, meaning we only had to hit SheiKra and the flume ride wise on Thursday to have ridden everything we wanted to. Someone had told us during the day that the “Iceploration” show was “don’t miss”. . so we headed that way thru the kiddie section (peeking into the Lory Landing, which they had shut down due to thunder), and looking at the animals/birds that were on display as we were walking. As we were getting close to Walkabout Way (also shut down due to thunder), the wind started to pick up, and heavy lightning started flashing along w/ the thunder. . . after hanging out for a little bit, and since we had missed the 7pm Iceploration show by this time anways, we considered just hunkering down by the Kangaroos (since we were covered). But as it wasn’t raining, we decided to just head towards the exits. . until we passed Moroccan Delights coffee & Ice Cream. . and the thunderclaps started making the lights flicker. Nick really didn’t want to be driving in the lightning, so we bought sundaes (and for him a waffle cone), and quickly grabbed a table under the covering – just in time too, because moments later, the sky opened up and it started to pour. . . .and people ran for cover . . but as I said, we were at a table. So we sat and watched the rain and heavy lightning storm for over an hour. . it didn’t seem like it was going to let up! No rush to go anywhere – nothing was going to be running, and since we didn’t want to drive in the storm anyways. . . . so we just sat and watched soaked people run, and chatted with others by the ice cream store. Close to 8:45, the rain slowed to a light drizzle, so we went for it, and headed to the tram, back to the car, and were back in the hotel room by 9pm. And the sky opened up again, and we had a heck of a lightning story and pouring rain until well after midnight. So although we weren’t able to do the whole park, we had done enough today that on Thursday we could go back to hit what we missed (or wanted to re-ride), and still get everything done. All in all? A very good 1st full day, despite the weather. on the way to Cobra's Curse, the Cheetahs were out sunning (well. . hiding from the already hot sun, in the shade). . so we stopped to take some quick pics. OMG. . we're next in line! it was very good, and we would have ridden again, but the lines were always too long, or the ride was down (to be expected for a new ride). on the way to Montu, one can get some great pictures. Montu was basically a walk on, and as suggested, rode in the rear, left seat. INTENSE yay. . rides are open! (but since both CC & Montu quickly got ~1hour waits, and we had the Serengeti Safari booked, we only did one and done for them). Nick claims I'm on this train. . . LOL LOVE this picture. since we had to go to Nairobi to check in for our safari, we took the "Edge of Africa" walking path over by Montu. and saw Hippos Lions (just beautiful and majestic) The female headed towards the glass viewing area, but he male posed the Female walked right up to the glass and paced while I was there. . . you don't realize how BIG they are, until right next to you. and the Hyena was just a big ol doggie (made me miss my mutt at home). . and was sleeping against the glass in one of the "alternate" viewing sections. . so i had the alcove all to myself to get some great pics! and of course, I HAD to pose with the hippos outside the Safari check in

you can do it! the cheering section is rooting for ya!

thanks. honestly, it's hard to describe how great it felt to not even give the "test seat" a 2nd glance, and just go straight to the ride! and man, oh man, was Montu comfortable (compared to Alpengeist), and I'm gonna say that is absolutely because i'm ~70lbs lighter, and wasn't forced to ride in the big boy seat in row 5! (of course, I ate so much, I likely gained 5-7 lbs during the trip!. . .already struggling to get back on plan now that we're back home)

you definitely need two days at minimum, just for the animals/rides. the shows are hit or miss, but there are a few must do's, and if you hit the "meet the trainers" animal presentations, the day will just fly (and all those are interesting too)! hint: the 11:30 Cheetah Trainer meet is where they "run" them with the lure. . . the other times is just the trainer talking. I suppose that might change, but they told us they only "run" them once a day, and that tends to be the 11:30 one.

in a gothy mood, apparently: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

we ALWAYS carry rain ponchos in our back pocket (as fake wallets), but have never actually used them. there were many, many folks wearing the ponchos in the park, most of them the BGT official ones. . so they must sell a ton of them. but very few umbrellas -- tho we did see some. Since we're not gonna do anything other than wait it out, usually, we just find a covered place to hang out, and chat up other folks waiting out the rain. It makes the time fly, and we make some friends that way -- tho *I'm* the chatty one, Nick tends to be anti-social.

^ thanks. day 2, hopefully, up at some point tomorrow

rest of day 1 pics: not realizing there's a whole BUNCH of flamingos elsewhere in the park (that we'd see when we actually made it elsewhere in the park), we were excited to see these dozen or so. . but I'll spare you the multiple pics, LOL we're on a ride! (the train). it's not moving, yet, but it's about to! NOW we're moving! pics from the Serengeti plain from the train. . . the whole family of Rhinos were out and about, instead of just sleeping in the shade, due to the overcast afternoon! ShieKra from the Stanleyville train station.. I wouldn't get to ride this until Thurs, but I DID get to ride multiple times. the coasters started testing while we were on the train. we had our eyes on Cobra's Curse to see if it would start up too. but went to Cheetah Hunt first. . the line was relatively short. Unfortunately, as noted, shortly after we got off, and in line for Cobra's Curse, it started to pour and everything shut back down. . . but it stopped raining after 8:30, and as we were told the evening show & Fireworks were gonna happen we made our way to Gwazi Park (in the shadow of the shut down coaster) to see a show that has gotten raves. the show building. . it was humid, but the dancers (in the aisles prior to the show starting) were energetic, and kept the crowd engaged. they do their best to make a spectacle, and the acrobatics in the show are pretty astonishing. over here is where the fireworks will be later (the show is in front of us, then you turn around to watch the fireworks)

Day 1 continued: Since we couldn't go on any rides, we started off w/ the animal enclosures, and went to the Chimps and Gorillas. the chimps were hiding from the thunder, but the Gorillas were out! and then stopped to look at the African Pengins then we headed into the snakes and night-time creatures in the Curiosity Caverns. a SNAKE! LOOK. . a SNAKE! these guys were adorable. and this is what a sleeping porcupine looks like

Just got back from a 5 day visit to Tampa & central Florida stuff. We had a great time, and took lots of pictures. We knew we were going during Hurricane Season, and we’ve been to Florida before so expected the daily rain. However, we just happened to catch Florida during an oddball week where it not only Rained every day (which is typical, but usually quick storm and then day continues with sun), but *every day* once the storms hit, it not only POURED, but with heavy lightning and thunder that remained for 8-9 hours – meaning that the rides at Busch Gardens Tampa (as well as SeaWorld Orlando) shut down early afternoon and just never reopened. So although it did impact us. . it didn’t really bother us, since not only do we plan multiple days to enable us to take things at a slow pace and still get everything we want done. . .but since BGT has so many animals to look at, it didn’t matter that the rides were closed in the afternoons – we did those in the mornings – and then once weather interfered we looked at Animals (or did shows) J Day1: We had a direct flight from Austin, and it wasn’t super early either! So we were able to get up at 6am, make it to airport and park/check in/wait at gate with plenty of time to spare. Tho the flight was almost completely full (and the flights back WERE completely full), we got lucky and ended up with the seat between us being the only open seat on the plane! (we were so shocked, we took a picture. . LOL). Smooth flight, and Southwest gave us not only peanuts, but also the “plane cookies” (score!), little cinnamon graham cracker cookies shaped like airplanes. Good start to our trip. Landing in Tampa, we easily made our way to the rental car place (Dollar, which we’ve always had a great time using), and timed is just right in that there was no one at the counter when we walked up -- but not even 5 minutes later the line got a good 15 people deep. . so again, all signs pointing to it going to be a good vacation! We were out of the airport and on the way to the Hotel (using google map directions I always print out and keep with us – yeah, we’re “old school” so what?) by 2pm. Since there really aren’t any “nice” hotels near Busch Gardens Tampa, we went with our standard mid level (and BGT partner), Courtyard Marriott. The hotel is great because you know *exactly* what you are going to get in terms of room size/layout, as well as the “Bistro” in the lobby (with standard menu), the multiple computer set ups for use and big screen entertainment area, as well as books/newspapers/magazines. Since we were staying there for 5 nights, we also qualified for the extended stay rates, which dropped the average price for the room down to between $115-$125 per night. In the case of the Tampa Courtyard Marriott the location was perfect: only about 10 minutes from BGT using back streets, but just off of the I75 exit making very, very easy access for our Orlando, Weeki Wachee, and other activities. I’d highly recommend this place, just for the location near the Interstate. Anyhow, check in was a breeze, and after dropping bags in the room (and lowering the AC to make the room nice and cool for when we got back), we headed out to Busch Gardens Tampa by 3:30 pm. Park closed at 9. .. so a good 5 1/2 hours to work with on the 1st day. I had bought the “Choose your Adventure” 2-week passes from ThemeParkReview (where I’m a member of Club TPR), so a great deal for unlimited visits for 14 consecutive days for all 4 Central Florida Parks (BGT, Adventure Island, SeaWorld Orlando, and Aquatica) with parking included.. . so it made perfect sense to see what we can get done in the park on the 1st night. As we were waiting for the tram in the parking lot (at BGT, you park across the street from the park, and trams bring you under the street to the front gate), I noticed that nothing had been cycling the entire time since we pulled into parking lot. Since you can see Montu, Cobra’s Curse, Falcon’s Fury from the lot, I asked the tram guard if they were having mechanical issues? and she said they were shut down due to lightning in the area, and had been since about 3pm. The Sky was beautiful and the sun was out, but there were some clouds around. No big deal, we hadn’t eaten yet anways so we went to the Serengeti pub to eat something (and peeked into the full restaurant buffet on 3rd floor -- we're doing that for lunch tomorrow). . . the Pizza was acceptable, but the flatbread pulled pork was quite good. Heck, the fries were good! Nick ate them, and he almost never eats fries. We took our time and went out on the deck to look at Cobra’s Curse and Montu – really the views are amazing from the restaurant, and then watched the giraffes and other animals on the Serengeti plan for a bit. It was after 4:30 and everything was still down. So we walked over towards the train, which seemed to be running. . .and were told that they had just shut that down for weather, and that the train was the typically the last thing they close. (our timing sucked a bit . . poop). There actually was a lot of thunder starting at this point, but no rain at all. . so we decided to make the best of being in the park and started looking at the animals in that section of the park (Egypt area): we watched the African Penguins, then went to the Gorillas & Chimps (the chimps were hiding inside from the thunder, but the Gorillas were out and having a grand old time). We also went into the "cave of myths", and enjoyed (and took lots of pics of) the bats, the Bush Babies, and all the other cool animals there. Then went next door into the Jambo Junction "ambassador" animals section, and saw all the babies and the dozen or so flamingos -- so that was nice. As we were ready to head towards the Nairobi section (elephants!) it was close to 6 already, and the train had started the engine up again, so we asked and told it would be 5-10 minutes, so went ahead and rode the train – which turned out to be perfect timing, since the first section goes thru the Serengeti plain and lots and LOTS of animals were out and about. I guess because the cloud cover had made it not quite as hot. While on the train, pretty much all the coasters started testing, and by the time we made it back to the Nairobi station, everything (including Falcon's Fury) was running. . (two exceptions - the skyride NEVER even had buckets on it, and the flume when we passed it was drained) so we bee-lined it to Cheetah Hunt. Fairly short line, because many in the crowd had left since the rides had been down for 3 hours by that point. Operations were fantastic. They were loading 2 trains at once (which I assume is standard, based on the station set up), and they were just flying thru the short line. After getting off, we decided instead of doing Cheetah Hunt again, we'd go to Cobra's Curse -- which was showing a 30 minute wait, but not much of a line. For a new ride that just opened, we figured that would be as short a line as we’d see the whole trip, so we got in the queue. Great queue with live snakes to look at as you pass by as well as moving hieroglyphics on the walls. We got to the room with the giant moving mural (and good for BGT for giving lots of stuff to look at for the theming, to keep the crowd entertained). . . when the line just stopped moving. They made an announcement that storms were in the area and the ride was shutting down. (now we were inside, in the cool air (yay), and couldn't see, but from what we heard from others, it POURED for a while). We decided that we’ll wait it out, since what else would we do? Besides, we were C-L-O-S-E to getting on . . hell, after some folks left we actually ended up at the loading area for the coaster, and we could see the rain slow to a drizzle. But the thunder kept coming. The ride ops pulled out a “CornHole” game, and kept folks in line entertained by letting the kids play (and they lined up to play, so a great way to keep people from getting crabby). We stuck it out until 8:30 or so, and then lots of lightning started again, so we threw in the towel and headed towards the front gates (stopping for Mango Smoothies, and frosted cookies (hey, I needed the sugar). On the way out, just before the front gate, a BGT employee asked us if we had time to do a survey. I joked that they didn't want to ask US, since our total ride count in 5+ hours was the Tram, the Train, and Cheetah Hunt. . .but I didn't hold it against them, since they can't control the weather and we DID enjoy the animals we looked at. . so the time was well used. I noted we would have stayed for the evening show, Kinetix, but since all the rides had been down almost the whole time we had been in the park, that I was pretty sure they weren't gonna do the fireworks. She said she'd go check, but as of 10 minutes earlier, they were going to. She went and checked, and came back and said "yeah, the fireworks are on still". As it was 8:50 (and the show started at 9), despite it having been a long day with travel included. . . I talked Nick into staying for the show so we didn’t *have* to stay until close on another night unless we wanted to -- so we turned around and went back into the park and headed to Gwazi park to watch Kinetix. It’s outdoors, and therefore all the metal benches were wet, but they still had a crowd of at least a couple of thousand people. The musical portion of the show is VERY "cruise ship" (one of the musicians plays a key-tar!), and the male and female singer were only so-so ... but the acrobats were all quite good, and the jump-rope team was impressive as hell. . . and yeah, the fireworks near the carcass of Gwazi (the shut down wooden coaster in the center of the area) were very enjoyable. The fireworks aren’t even close to Disney level, but they were very pretty, and very big. . so great job for a non-Disney park. So we ended the night on a great note, and headed back to the hotel for some good sleep – since I was determined that we’d get to the park at open on Monday and head straight for Cobra’s Curse. We like Courtyard Marriott. . you always know exactly what you are gonna get room-wise, including always a fridge view from the room. .and we actually did swim in the pool once despite the evening rain every day! we're here! on our way to the park, and it's not even 3:30. . we're excited looks busy, we're at the very back of the F lot. . but wait. .nothing seems to be running? a pic no one has EVER taken. . but you can see the clouds coming in, which is why everything was closed. from the balcony of the Serengeti Pub, since we hadn't eaten yet, that's our first stop for a light snack. Cobra's Curse from the Pub. . and darkening skies. Montu from the Pub empty cars, waiting for storms to pass as you can see, over US, the sun was out, but the clouds were coming in. . .even tho no actual rain fell from this particular system (not until later). good sign to start the trip: ONE empty seat on the plane, and it ended up being between us (score!!)

You figured right. Good call. yep. .don't skip the shows. .they are (for the most part) very good. I was thinking more along the lines of gorging myself on all the food lol, do all the rides one day, then just pig out the next. #fatkidprobs you can eat the great gelato while watching the show in Italy! (it's a restaurant setting with seating at tables anyways)

what a wonderful park. .thanks for all the pics!

You figured right. Good call. yep. .don't skip the shows. .they are (for the most part) very good.

Looks like we just missed you at SeaWorld by a couple of days! (we were there Wednesday, and tho we did see a lot of folks on their phones, most of them seemed to be texting rather than playing Pokemon Go. . . .LOL. . so that's a difference in the pictures we took ) LOTS of folks were playing it at BGT tho. . .

great read thus far! and so glad you got a ride on Kangaroo. . you have to go back for Bayurn Curve, and the train! try to stay past dark too, as the park is absolutely GORGEOUS at night with all that neon on Racer in particular looking fantastic. (and by skipping kiddie land, you didn't get a picture with the mascot that hangs out in there. . LOL. . when we swung thru Penn. we made a point of finding and taking pics with the park mascots at every stop). great report thus far, and look forward to reading the rest!