bert425

Sniff, I can never get someone to understand what I say Back on track, what I'm trying to say is that I like the Dragon Fire Grill and (in a joking fashion), I disagree with your opinion. ah.. . ok, but you realize, I didn't voice an opinion on the food since we didn't eat there. I even qualified that we just weren't in the mood that day for anything on the menu so great if you like it, we just didn't eat there.

you have a good head for hair that short. looking great

^ that's an awesome pic ! (and thanks on the mermaid one. . they have several photo ops similar to that in Weeki Wachee. .make you wanna go now just for that, don't it? . . .LOL, but the mermaid show was fun as hell, and the springs are beautiful as well (even if we never went to the 'swimming' side). All for only $13 admission!)

Just got back from Weeki Wachee

I don't really "rank" either. .but if I had to choose a favorite, I JUST got a new choice as of Wednesday: SeaWorld Orlando: Manta + Mako. . . . blew me away.

^ what you said.

You're triggering me so much with that statement. ? (I don't understand what you mean)

still in Tampa (headed home tomorrow). . but just a quick update of where we ate: Busch Gardens: Serengetti Pub (for a light lunch on the 1st day) -- servicable, but only so so pizza - tho the Flatbread Pulled Pork was very good. Serengetti Overlook - EXCELLENT food on the buffet (the Fried Chicken, the fried Fish, and the Jambalaya were absolutely stellar, and the rest of the offerings were good to great). Nick wasn't hungry enough for the buffet so he had the Chicken Breast Salad (the salad was decent, tho the chicken was a bit dry. . and the waiter made up for it by bringing Nick one of the Buffet Deserts, carrot cake, which Nick really liked). Also, you simply can't beat the view. . and the air-conditioned dining room wasn't very full. . guess folks don't want to pay $18 for a buffet, but seriously, worth every penny. The Bacon Pretzel by Falcon's Fury was just as amazing as promised, and we had the meatball version at SeaWorld, and it was just as good. Garden Grill (I think that's what it was called). . . we had this today, and it was the pizza buffet. Reasonably priced, with so-so pizza. Not my favorite, but what Nick was craving, so we went there. The place was pretty deserted, but the staff told me the restaurant is open daily, and that they are always dead now, since Gwazi isnt open next door to drive the business. The chicken Parmesan was pretty good, and the Meatballs were decent. Again, for the price it was an ok choice, but no where near as good sa the food elsewhere in the park. we passed up DragonFire Grill, since absolutely nothing on the menus appealed to us (I guess it just caught us at the wrong moment). we also shared a pulled pork platter from Zambia Steakhouse, and we did find it very dry. (The one from Serengetti Pub was *much* better). off-site we went last night to a local chain called "Shells" that's close to the park, and it was really, really good. A seafood restaurant that's a throwback to the 70's (with classic AM rock music playing, a giant bar in the center, and a hostess stand that looked like a rowboat!). Seriously, this place looked like it hadn't been updated since it was built, and it was "old school" fish cooking. . we loved it. The Blackened Salmon was good, the fried clam appetizer , and cheesey seafood dip appetizers were good, and Nick said the clam chowder was super rich and among his top 5 he's ever had. . . so if you go to BGT, an evening trip to "Shells" is worth it!

I don't know if they are anywhere else other than Busch Gardens Tampa & Seaworld Orlando. . but the Bacon Pretzel (Busch) and the Meatball pretzel (SeaWorld - where they *also* had the Bacon Pretzel & Pizza Pretzel) were absolutely phenomenal!

hmm. . why be embarrassed by that?

Full report when I get back, but just a quick update on 1st afternoon. .we made great time, had a good flight, got the car and checked into hotel easy/peasy, and even got to BGT by 3:30 pm. .. so a good 5 1/2 hours to work with on the 1st day. as we are waiting for tram, I notice nothing has run the entire time since we pulled into parking lot. I asked the tram guard and she said they were shut down due to lightning in the area. Sun was out, but there were some clouds around, so no big deal. . we went to 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. after watching the giraffes from the deck, it was almost 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. (poop). there was a lot of thunder starting at this point, but we decided to make the best of it, and watched the Penguins, then went 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 "myth" cave, 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 "ambassador" animals section, and saw all the babies and the dozen or so flamingos -- so that was nice. as we came out of that 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 (lots and LOTS of animals out and about, I guess because the cloud cover had make 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 excptions - 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, less than 20 minutes, but we got a ride in. . operations were fantastic. The 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 CH again, we'd go to Cobra's Curse -- which was showing a 30 minute wait, but not much of a line. We got to the room with the mural (and good for BGT for giving lots of stuff to look at for the theming, to keep the crowd entertained). . . when 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, it POURED for a while. . . and although we were C-L-O-S-E . . hell, after some folks left we actually ended up at the loading area. . .we could see the rain slow to a drizzle. We stuck it out until 8:30, and then lots of lightning started again, so we threw in the towl and headed towards the front gates (stopping for Mango Smoothies, and frosted cookies (hey, I needed the sugar). but we never made it even out of the Egypt area of the park, except for on the train. . . we just stayed around there so LOTS of walking tomorrow (w/ 1st stop being Cobra's Curse and Montu, before the safari) on the way out, a BGT employee asked us if we had time to do a survey, and 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 againt 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 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". . and it was 8:50, so we turned around and went back into the park (much to Nick's chagrin) and went to Gwazi park to watch "Kinetix" the musical portion is VERY "cruise ship". . but the acrobats were all quite good, and the jumprope team is impressive as hell. . . and yeah, the fireworks near the carcass of Gwazi were enjoyable -- so we ended the night on a great note (and now tomorrow don't need to go to the show and can do rides, assuming no rain again, instead). full trip report when we get back, including the other places we're hitting. . but just wanted to get the thoughts down (and hey, the Courtyard Marriott has free-use compters in the lobby -- one of the reasons we like staying at this chain)

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback!

^ that's good to know. . I wasn't expecting "Disney sized" crowds, but figured it would be busy due to summer and kids out of school. but if it's light crowds (especially if due to heat -- which we Texans are used to and don't mind). .it will make the day even better, ride-wise (the I expect the heat will make animals hide). I'm thinking SeaWorld on Wed might be busy, only because that's in Orlando. . . but we only plan that one day there, since Nick won't ride *any* of the coasters there. but he IS looking forward to Cheetah Hunt and Cobra's Curse at BGT

thanks! should be interesting, because (if you recall), we don't do fast-pass since we use waiting in lines as a chance to look around and relax -- we also do multiple days, so if a line is long, oh well, we have time Dragon Fire Grille is apparently home to the bellydancing that happens a few times a day, so we are gonna be there for sure, but wasn't too sure about eating there, since the menu looks too large (in a food court kind of way), and we prefer smaller menu done well, over so-so large menu -- but if you've heard it's good, we will give it a try when we go for a show.

ok. . we're there tomorrow (finally!). any food suggestions in the park? (we're basically gonna hit the park as soon as we check in hotel tomorrow night, so will be there from ~4-close), meaning we'll eat dinner there, as well as getting Cobra's Curse and the evening show out of the way. Monday we have a safari early, but then will spend rest of day meandering the park and doing things as we pass them, including all the animal exhibits. we're back again on Thurs to hit anything we miss (I'm guessing mainly shows), or re-rides of things we really liked. so really interested in food suggestions at the park. The lunch buffet at the Serengeti Restaurant *looks* good, but wondering if anyone has tried it? thanks!

John's husband, Rod, gets credit for that particular picture. . . he framed it really well, didn't he? (there were prolly over 10K people in the park too, but you'd never know from the picture! Luckily we live close to the park, so they came to the house and we walked over to the park).

I went to the park to watch fireworks with some friends, since my Hubby refused to go. (at least he ate Fried Chicken & Potato Salad with us before we walked over).

it's over by the Kiddie rides you say? "TB" OBVIOUSLY stands for Teddy Bear! the new ride for 2017 is gonna be this!!!!

as for Dark Rides -- don't miss Ghostwood Estates, or Noah's Arc. . and tho I didn't care for Exterminator, (it's an indoor, themed spinning mouse) do that one EARLY. .the lines get insane. but absolutely SKIP "Garfield's Nightmare". . it's interesting in a throwback "tunnel of Love" type ride. . but certainly not worth your time if you have limited time in the park, and there are better things to ride.

oh. the Kennywood Whip is great fun too! don't miss that. or the train (next to the Auto Race). .it goes out along the river with some nice scenery.

Turtle is old and unique. . tho for DAYS after, we kept cracking each other up by saying "Tuuuuuurtlllllllle". . as the soundtrack that plays during the ride is hysterical. Kangaroo? WAY more fun than it has any right to be, and absolutely worth standing in line for.

Talon is intense, and feels much faster than it is. but I loved Great Bear too.

yep. that's why we are gonna be there from 7/11-7/15. .we avoided the 4th, because we knew it would be packed. fingers crossed the mid-week and heat will keep crowds to a minimum, but even if crowded, we've budgeted 3 days for BGT, so should be able to do everything anyways.

Wow, really??? You did this??? What an a$$hole. The verification process is that they are actually putting some trust in people not to crash the morning EMH sessions. It's people like you that will make it so they have to put more rules and restrictions into place at the parks. Oh, and you're banned from our forum. This happens WAYYYY more than youd think. Having used to be a CM at the gates we experienced this quite often, and would usually just let the party inside instead or creating a scene and arguing. Never really saw it as a big deal. Seems a bit unfair on the people who have probably spent years saving for that once in a lifetime trip in a Disney hotel including the perks of early entry especially by rewarding people who are intentionally breaking the rules. My wife and I always talk about doing Florida but we don't think we could afford Disney hotels for our family and that puts us off a little since we feel with the only 2 weeks we get off being the busiest in the calendar year, so on top of huge queues, prices will be highest for hotels and airplane etc... fastpass+ and early reservation (for example be our guest) is something we would definitely need. If we ever do reach that point where we could do a Disney hotel for those perks and i'm talking 10 years of putting every little bit away it'd be really, really disheartening to see anyone walking in after all that saving "to avoid a scene." I mean, I know there will always be people who break the rules intentionally and be horrible if you call them out on it (look at my last Everland TR) but it seems a big difference between people cutting in line and smoking anywhere compared to going into what is essentially almost a private event. You wouldn't be allowed in the fast pass line without a ticket and I doubt a group would be allowed on if they used the single rider line even if you caused a scene in public so I'm not sure why this is different. Sorry, didn't mean to turn it into such a lengthy rant. Don't let not being able to afford a Disney property be the reason to keep you away from the parks. You can find VERY reasonable hotels in the Orlando and if you have a larger family I suggest VRBO or Air BNB in Orlando. You can also save money skipping the meals plans, the food is very meh and the cattle herding style of some of the restaurants is off-putting. Airfare will be your biggest expense! I was gonna suggest the Hilton in Disney Springs -- it's where we stay when we go. tho not "Disney Branded" it IS considered a Disney Hotel, and you get all the perks of it: Disney Store in the lobby, purchases made in the park shipped to your hotel for you, extra magic hours, character breakfast, etc. . (in addition to the free shuttle to/from the parks). and the cost really is much less than a Disney Branded hotel, although it's up there for a typical Hilton. still reasonable tho

we were there a couple of years back during the Carousel Organ festival. . .there were tons of them thruout the park, and was quite fun (but crowded)