Philrad's Floridian Adventure!

[Philrad71]

Hi folks and Happy 2010! During the last two weeks, I was fortunate enough to be able to embark on an epic Central Floridian adventure and hit up just about every theme park in the area.

 

We had swapped out this years Cape Cod time share to stay at the Orange Lake resort for one week. The resort is only a stone's throw away from the Disney resorts and is extremely large with plenty to do for everyone. I seem to recall someone who had started a topic wanting information on resorts near Disney and mentioned his parents being members of RCI. If you're reading this, you will not be disappointed if you choose to stay at Orange Lake!!

 

I will say the weather was not what we were expecting with frost just about every night through the first week and actual snow reportings in some areas. But being from Western New York, we had already come prepared with winter jackets, gloves and sweatshirts - we were more than ready!

 

We met Michael's son, daughter, in-laws, and four grand-kids at the airport and then checked into the resort. I had already purchased tickets to Sea World/Busch Gardens online, but we all opted to buy the four day Disney passes at the resort. I think it saved us a whopping $3 from the regular gate admissions, but at least it was somewhat of a savings.

 

Dad also drove the motor home down and stayed at a campground on I-27, which was about a fifteen minute drive from the resort. Each morning, I would go pick him up in the mini-van rental so he could join all of us at the parks. Michael and I stayed the 2nd week with him so we could golf and do more theme parks.

 

I'll kick this off this adventure with Epcot as we decided this would be the better of the parks to visit on a cold day. Plus, I knew that in order to get on Test Track we needed to hit this park first!

By then, we had all had enough of Epcot and did not see IllumiGaytions on this visit. Contrary to my wishes of drinking my way around the world (I actually only had one beer), I was not feeling well, the kids were beyond tired and the temps had dropped into the twenties. Keep posted to see if we make it back for adult beverages and fireworks later in the week!

Quick...everyone to Norway! They have an indoor ride and we can get out of the cold! What? It's a water ride? Awwww crap!

Guten abend...zwei Spaten Oktoberfest, bitte?

...Limoncello in Italia?

Peroni or...

...and with the help of Sam Adams, I'll get through ALL of these lands!

...and Morocco and Japan...

I twirled my way through gay Paris...

And jolly old England with it's Bass Ale...now, how could I possibly fail? I believe I may now stay, so bring on IllumiGaytions, I say!

Oh Canada...glorious and free...can you spare a Molson or Labatts for lil' ole me? Wha...a Moosehead draft? Why, that would work just fine! Have I mentioned just how much I really love you, Canada?

A Christmas tree! Yep, that's just great for January 9th...now where is the beer from around the world again?

Dusk settling in and by now it is getting REALLY cold! Oh, how I wished I was in that nice warm monorail. Did I mention I also had a cold to go along with this freezing weather? Either I had to get some alcohol or meds in my system or I was going to go into complete meltdown stage like the Brazilian four year old did on the Living with the Land ride.

Journey into Imagination w/Figgy. This attraction either seemed really lame, or I was thinking too hard about beers around the world showcase!

Food Court. Yeah, I know it's boring, but it was the closest I could get to a picture of Soarin', which turned out to be one of the surprise hits of the trip and our favorite attraction at Epcot. Yay for David "you stole my Jesus fish" Puddy being the pre-ride host! And how 'bout smellin' them oranges, eh??

If you've never seen a manatee in captivity before...you'll need to close this browser and head over to Google Images now.

Here you can see the awesome action shots I got of the fishes. I told them to quit moving, but they would not listen.

The Living Seas. Ooops...I meant The Seas with Nemo & Friends.

Next stop was Ellen and the Universe of Energy. I liked how they updated it to include her and the other actors/actresses into the Jeopardy game. Speaking of Jeopardy, my friend from work just won over $100,000 on that show...way to rock, Jason!

Next up, we had to do the brain tumor, heart and aneurysm test. Seriously, I was probably more afraid to go on this than any of the other coasters we rode during this trip. There is always that "what-if" factor after those poor people died and I wasn't sure what to expect. We all enjoyed it, but agreed that once was definitely enough.

This area soon to possibly feature acceleration and throttle testing brought to you by Toyota!

Next stop - (formerly) GM's Test Track and soon to be Toyota...no wait, Honda? Either way, it was a very cool ride. And by cool, I mean getting pelted with stinging rain in the face at 65 MPH cool! Seriously, we all enjoyed it and were very glad we got to ride it before they closed it on Monday.

Michael actually liked it! But he's Mikey, he likes everything! Haha!

My first gulp! I really didn't think it tasted that bad, but then the after-taste hit me. What is up with that after-taste? Good God, man!

Uh-oh...I have read about the infamous Beverly!

Michael's grand-kids had heard about Club Cool and the weird soda's from around the world, so we hit that first. Also, we were already freezing and just wanted to be indoors!

Let us pray to the silver golf ball that it warms up real soon!

Marching into Epcot Center. Yeah, I still have the tendency to call it that after all these years!

Heck, why not throw in a little bit of rain and drizzle with the 40 degree temps? Why, I feel right at home - this is like Western New York in April!

Now I expect this in WNY, but in Florida?? WTF?

Which overlooked a beautiful (and frosty) golf course.

This would be our home for the week - one of the many towers at the Orange Lake resort.

Spicy barbeque chicken wings!!! If I visit either Anchor Bar in the future, I am going to have to order these...they were awesome!

Let's start this vacation off right with a couple of pints of beer and...

Being that we got to the airport early in case of bad weather, we decided to hit up their version of the Anchor Bar, which is fairly new.

And these were the low temps when we got to Florida....issshhhh!

This is what we left in Western NY...

Edited March 17, 2010 by Philrad71

[robbalvey]

we had all had enough of Epcot and did not see IllumiGaytions on this visit.

 

FAIL! No visit to Epcot is complete without IllumiGaytions!

 

Thanks for posting all the pics!

 

--Robb

[Philrad71]

^Because we we were all so disappointed about missing IllumiGaytions that night, we upgraded our ticket for another three bucks and went to see it on Thursday night after Sea World!

 

Unfortunately, my night-time shots turned out pretty sucky so I won't have too many photos to share, but there will be some!

[nay]

Great photos! I stayed with my friend's family a few nights last year at the Orange Lake Resort and loved it. We got lost there all the time, though - that place is huge!

 

It was crazy how cold it was in FL that week. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the photos.

[Philrad71]

Thank you, Nay!

 

Yes, Orange Lake is huuuuge! We were all the way at the back of the resort on the Arnold Palmer Legends Golf Course so it seemed like it was about a five mile drive to get there!!

 

We have talked about possibly going back for an extended weekend in the summer just to take advantage of all the amenities. We originally wanted to break up the theme park visits to give ourselves a rest and have just a pool day for the kids during the mid-week. But because the weather was so cold, we ended up doing five consecutive days of theme parks and then the pools on the last day when it actually got up into the 70's!

[Speeddeamon128]

Nice TR! I moved to Florida that week from New Jersey & the weather felt like I never left

[Philrad71]

Day Two - Disney's Animal Kingdom

 

Another cold, cold morning on Sunday. We opted to head to Disney's Animal Kingdom instead of Magic Kingdom being that this park closes earlier. We figured we could zip through the park before dark and be back at home base before it got really cold!

 

First thing we noticed were all of the marathon runners (Hi Nay!) when we entered the parking lot - there were hundreds of them making their way around the resort area. Luckily the sun was out so at least it had warmed into the mid-forties so they could shed those garbage bags!! Before we entered the park, we watched them for a bit and cheered them all on as they passed in front of the entrance gate.

 

Being our first visit (for any of us) to this park, we were all very impressed. I guess the only down-side that we hadn't considered was that because it was so cold a lot of the animals on the safari were "hibernating" in their caves waiting for the warmer weather to return! The tour guide was very gracious about it though as he commented on " this is where the white rhino's would normally be hanging out, but they're sleeping under the heat lamps" and "this is where lions roam...when it isn't snowing." But there were enough animals to keep us all ooohing and ahhhing throughout the tour - it certainly didn't disappoint.

 

Expedition Everest was closed when we got there and I assumed it was because it was still very cold. After doing a couple of the animal attractions, we checked the ride wait sign and saw a thirty minute wait (loved those signs!) so we went and got our Fast Passes around noon. What a fun, original ride...we loved it!

 

Dinosaur was another attraction that we enjoyed. Michael's younger grand-daughter (who is 8) wasn't too sure about this one at first, but was ecstatic after we rode claiming how she was soooo scared of the dark and thought the dinosaurs might have been real! It really is awesome to get the kids' perspectives after doing the rides and attractions!

 

After watching the parade, it was just about time for the park to close. Dusk was settling in and the temps were dropping fast. While I wished it would have been a bit warmer so we could have done the Kali River Rapids and seen a few more animals, we all agreed that this is a great addition to the Disney chain!

and finally...Crab Leggo, Lego Death Shark and some random fish that happens to be made out of Lego. Wish I could have come up with a less-lame caption for this one, folks...guess I better call it a day. I promise I'll try harder on my next update - thanks for reading!

Lego-saurus Rex Ryan...

They had Lego-agon...

After dinner, we got to catch a sneak peek of another attraction coming to Orlando - Legoland! Is this Transformer giving us the finger?

If you want to double the noise intensity, you can also request to eat in the ice cave. Is this where the Ice Bat was born?

Similar to RainForest, every fifteen minutes or so, the lights would go out and there would be thunder/lightning in the ceiling and the dinosaurs would come to life and growl, scaring the living crap out of all the babies and little kids! So essentially, it was five minutes of effects followed by ten minutes of crying and screaming kids! Fun times!

We rounded out the day at Downtown Disney at the T-Rex cafe. Basically, a Rain Forest Cafe with dinosaurs and better food.

Roosting birds squawked at us and basically told us to get the heck out of their park so they could get some shut-eye! The first day in Florida we were all ogling over these until we found out there's like billions of them in Florida!

Big colorful monkeys! The parade was very colorful and quite lengthy. It seemed much longer than the parade at the Magic Kingdom we would see later in the week.

Minnie!

At this point, we were reaching the end of the day so we grabbed some hot cocoa and coffee and settled in to watch the parade.

I also read where they added this chimpanzee later when someone (Jane Goodall perhaps?) had noticed that they had not etched a chimp (only baboons/apes) into the tree. This is inside where you go to see "It's Tough to be a Bug." While the movie was a bit short, we all really enjoyed the special effects.

Intricate baboon carvings in the faux wood.

Let us check out the Tree of Life, shall we?

And once you run out of track and go forwards/backwards for a bit, the Yeti makes his appearance, eats you and then poops you out at the bottom of the mountain - ride over. Aaaaawesome!!!!

Train goes up and into the mouth of the mountain...

Time to head for Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain!

Dinosaur was a surprise hit with us!

The kids and grand-kids flying high on TriceraTop Spin.

This was identical to the one at Martin's Fantasy Island, but with some added theming to spice things up.

Primeval Whir: standard spinning family mouse coasters - side by side.

Our Fast Pass for Everest wasn't until 3:40-4:40 so we headed for DinoLand USA.

Festival of the Lion King was a great family show...plus throw in the added bonus that it was warm inside!!!

Of course, any Disney trip wouldn't be complete without the character pictures! I think we got just about all the character autographs and pictures for the Grandkids on this trip, but we couldn't let them have all of the fun!

Everest in the distance....talk about scenery!

I spy me an elephant!

I recall reading afterwards that the cool looking African trees like the one in the back right are actually animal feeders! I had wondered on the tour if they were actually real because they looked like they had been there for hundreds of years!

Meerkats!!! Err, I mean meerkat as I only saw the one!

Termite mounds can only mean one thing...

Can't remember this fella's name either so I'll stick with big-horned cow.

Yay for hungry, hungry hippos!

Can't remember the name of this animal, so I guess I will just call it a deer. Perhaps even a doe!

We headed for Kilimanjaro Safari first in case we needed to get a Fast Pass. This was the line so we hopped right on!

Yep...here we are!

Animal Christmas tree!

Nine of our eleven waiting for the tram to Animal Kingdom...BRRRRRRR!!!!!!

[Philrad71]

Day Three: Disney's Hollywood Studios

 

Dad and I broke apart from the gang today and went to check out Hollywood Studios. The rest of the family wanted two days at Disney for the little one's and both of us wanted to check this park out being that we had never visited.

 

For anyone wondering about how this place stacks up to Universal? Ummm...how about knee heighth?

 

All kidding aside, it really wasn't that bad. I really shouldn't be harsh sounding towards the park as it does have one of the best drop rides I have ever ridden in Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror. This ride just blew away our expectations - just awesome!

 

I will say though...that out of all the Disney parks we visited, this one seemed to have the least cheerful employees. Perhaps we hit it on a bad day, but they just didn't seem to be nearly as friendly and into their jobs as the one's at Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom & Epcot...and it was noticeable.

 

Perhaps it was all of the raucous tour groups that made them so crabby? Just a little tongue in cheek humor there, people...please don't get offended!

I will leave you with a shot of the Christmas tree as we depart the Planet of Studio Hollywood.

 

Thanks for reading!

Props to Liberace.

I didn't understand the Japanese motif for the Great Movie Ride. Was this once a different attraction or something? In riding it, I would have thought it was one of the original attractions when the park was built - quite dated.

And who wouldn't love to see them some squirtin' Miss Piggy?

Muppets 3D! I thought that this was the 2nd best attraction. But before you scowl, know that we did not get on Toy Story - they sold out the FastPass and we did not want to wait an hour for it.

I might not have known the name of the big robot thingie, but I do know this is CP-D2! Star Tours is in dire need of an upgrade. I found myself humming 'Major Tom - Coming Home' after going on this...

Hey, there's one of those big robot thingies from Star Wars!

I knew this just didn't seem right!

I think I stayed at the Hotel Amsterdam when I visited NYC last year...

They have the Castro at Hollywood Studios? Hooray, let's go!

Set of 'Streets of San Francisco' starring Karl Malden. Okay, I might be stretching this a bit. RIP Karl...

Herbie's last trip to the ghetto was not kind to him...

Or the Yellow Submarine from the Beatles movie? At least I hope it was...our tour guide didn't mention it.

And who could pass up a chance to photograph random space-like ATV's and the Acme truck from Road Runner?

Big splooge of water topples over our heads, but the amount of wetness was minimal. Pretty cool set - no pun intended.

Ahhhh...no water! It's only fifty! FIFTY, I SAY!!

Truck catches on fire. Who knew?

Hmmm...a canyon complete with a fuel tanker and a water tower. Wonder what will happen?

"Take. These broken wings. And learn to fly again - learn to live and love so free..."

Ball'o'Bones. Not sure what movie this is from.

Then it was on to the tram tour - here is a war plane that may have also been used in 'Pearl Harbor.'

They showed us how they made the "ship's going down" scene.

They explained the effects used in the movie, 'Pearl Harbor' minus the part that apparently sprays the audience - it was still only about 50 degrees that day.

Next up was the studio backlot tour...

I loved the Fantasia theme with the dancing brooms!

Eat your heart out FSMP!

Taken from the Aerocoaster queue. We got the FastPass for the Tower then raced over to the Aerocoaster to get that one as well. Didn't know that you had to wait a certain period between getting the passes. We decided to stick it out and wait the half hour for AeroCoaster. This coaster we both thought was kinda "mehhhh." Not terrible, but nothing special. Kinda like the same way I feel about Aerosmith, so it all made sense in the end.

Has anyone seen this shot before? No? Okay, good!

Mickey's Hat - Yay! High School Musical 3 - Aaaaarrrghhhh nooooo! Quick...duck to the right and head for the ToT Fastpass booths!

Dream of Californication.

This was our people mover when we split from the Magic Kingdom transportation center. I wanted to ride the monorail, but that service only went from the lot to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Though you can't knock a quality ride on a Gillig bus with a Cummins engine in it! This is one of my customers that I deal with and when I toured the factory in Hayward, California a few years ago they were actually making Disney transit buses just like this!

Welcome to Hollywood folks!

[piers]

The Great Movie Ride building is a replica of Manns Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

 

Great PTR!

[Philrad71]

^ Thank you, Piers!

 

I was saying to my Dad, "I love the decor, but how does this all tie in with the great movie ride? I knew there had to be a reason.

 

And now I know...the rest of the story!

[stingrock23]

Looks interesting with the really cold weather. Can't say I've ever been there when it's been below 55 degrees. I went once in December and stayed off all the water rides except Splash Mountain. I can only imagine being there when it's even colder.

 

Nice pics. Ball of bones is from Pirates 2-Dead Man's Chest

[adeuce02]

The ball of bones i believe is from pirates of the caribbean dead mans chest.

[Philrad71]

Man...I really need to start watching more movies! I had no idea what a lot of those props were during the tour and the guide only mentioned a couple of them.

 

As far as the temps, it really was brutal for the first three days and then kept slowly improving a little more every day. We got there on the 8th and it wasn't until the 14th before we could go swimming in the pools at the resort. Guess that is the risk you take by going in January, as it was also pretty cold when we went to Tampa/Clearwater in late January of 2006.

 

Splash Mountain was closed for rehab when we were there, but we weren't too concerned as I think it was about 50-55 the day we were at Magic Kingdom. Definitely looked like fun though...

 

Luckily, it warmed up enough for us to do Jurassic Park, Ripsaw Falls and the Bilge-Rat Barges at IoA the following week - I would have been p%ssed if I would have missed out on those! But talk about a drenching...holy crap!

[Philrad71]

Day Four - Magic Kingdom

 

This was originally supposed to be on Day One, but we were trying to realign the parks that best suited the weather we were offered.

 

What can be said about the Magic Kingdom? Great for families, lot's of cool attractions, parades and a great fireworks show every night.

 

With that said...let us go be their guest!

And a crappy fireworks shot to end the report...thanks for reading.

 

Next stop - Sea World!

Spooky-er castle.

Spooky castle.

It's getting dark and they finally took away the cranes that were obstructing the photo op's all day!

Hmmm... I never knew that Farve meant good-bye in some foreign language. Think he really will say good-bye after this season? Parhaps we'll know by September!

Hidden credit?

Not as annoying as I remember, but I did find the panty shots a little disturbing!

Uh oh...

Then it was time for some PhilharMagic. This was one of the biggest surprises of the entire Disney visit (besides Soarin')! We loved this so much that we went back and did it again later in the evening. Donald Duck is my favorite Disney character and he is the main character, so of course I loved it!

Because Cinderella has but one horse on the carrousel that has a golden ribbon on the tail. We rode it three times so the girls could each get a turn riding Cinderella's horse.

Yep, we even did Cinderella's Golden Carrousel. Know why it's called this?

Time for some Fantasyland and some Dumbo!

Parade time with Miss Piggy. She was not squirting today.

Something very quirky happened during my journey on Space Mountain. Elated that I got the front seat, I was acting the fool on the lift hill when my contact popped out. Somehow, someway, it managed to land right on my left hand! I was able to get through the ride by holding onto it for dear life and then was able to re-use it once I lubricated it back up with some water in the bathroom. That would have been so not cool if I would have had to go all the way back to Orange Lake for another contact lens! Oh, and as far as Space Mountain? AWESOME! Way better and longer than I remember!

Hot refurbed signage.

We then headed for Tomorrowland and Space Mountain. Luckily, we had got our FastPass early so it was only about a ten minute wait as opposed to thirty posted on the sign.

Even right after eating lunch, how could one pass on Dole Whip? Actually, I did because I was so stuffed from lunch, but most everyone else rocked it.

A silly safari boat tour (that's what it said on the park map). I am always up for silly boat tours!

After a lunch stop, we went back and did the Jungle Cruise.

Splash Mountain was closed, but not a problem as it was still only about 50-55 and kinda chilly.

Fun ride - a lot longer than I remember.

We were going to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain, but it was about a ten minute wait so we did it.

First stop was Pirates of the Carribean which was about a ten minute wait. Then it was on to the Magic Carpets of Aladdin for the kids.

Very impressive - talk about a way to start the day!

Complete with the Mayor of Main Street leading the way!

Right after entering Main Street, what happens? The two guys with the saxaphones approach us and before you know it, they pull Michael's grand-daughters into the festivities for a lively rendition of 'Be Our Guest!'

I thought we left our Christmas decorations up too long after the holidays. It's January 12th!

Entrance gate? Yep, they have that!

Oblig monorail pic.

Noooo...the Magic Kingdom is on fire. It can't be!

Next stop - Magic Kingdom! Actually, next stop is the transportation to get to the Magic Kingdom.

[the ghost]

Did you experience the abomination that is stich? Worse ride ever. I was at Disney over the summer and had an awesome time. Good to hear you had a good time. This looks like a great trip.

[Philrad71]

^ Haha...luckily, I missed that one. Michael's daughter took the kids on that and even they commented on how lame it was!

 

I still think that other than Space Mountain, my favorite part of the Magic Kingdom was the Philharmagic show. After seeing that, some of the other 3 & 4-D shows just didn't seem to stack up (Honey, I shrunk the Audience @ Epcot, Pirates 4-D @ BGA, It's Tough to be a Bug @ Animal Kingdom, Muppets @ Hollywood Studios, etc...).

 

I highly recommend to anyone visiting the Magic Kingdom in the future to not miss this!

[lil jimmy norton]

Awesome report. My whole family thought Mickey's Philharmagic was great.

 

We also stayed at Orange Lake when we visited in 2005. The whole resort was beautful.We got lost for about three hours one

 

night coming home from the Disney parks, very confusing to drive around there. At least for my aunt it was confusing. Anyway,

 

really nice pictures.

[Philrad71]

^ Thanks for the nice comments!

 

I agree that Orange Lake was beautiful, but somewhat confusing to get around in. It seemed like our place was about a five mile drive from the entrance road (near Publix)!

[Philrad71]

Day Five - Sea World

 

Well, they say the third times the charm, so here I am on my third try to post my Sea World Orlando update. Cept, this time I am going to save this in Word in case I lose it again! I realize there are still bugs being worked out with the new system and being that I'm not a quitter, I will keep trying till it works!

 

Our day at Sea World was interesting enough. Got to see some good shows, ride some good coasters, eat some good food. Everything was going picture perfect until our ride on Manta...

 

So what about Manta? Awesome ride...definitely comparable to Tatsu in terms of a quality B&M flyer. Our journey started innocently enough as I suggested that we get a locker to store our items. Off went the hats, sunglasses, camera, loose change...just about everything we had went in the locker. Except one thing.

 

When we hit the brake run, my Dad says to us "I think I lost my keys to the motor home on that first loop." Crap. Sure enough, once we were off the ride and he checked his pockets - they were gone. Being that he was certain they came out on the first backwards, disorienting, hella g-force loop of death, that was the area we went to search.

 

Of course, there are nets and fenced in areas under the loop. Inside the restricted area under the loop are about 20 trillion rocks and lot's of tall grass. Not good.

 

Dad mentioned to a couple of the employees in the area and they started to help us look in the areas in which we were allowed. One younger female employee in particular was determined that she was going to help find those keys!

 

After about an hour of searching, we came to the conclusion they were gone - lost in the rocks forever. I told Dad to go to Guest Services and report it and maybe they could look in the restricted area once the park closed. It was a sickening feeling for all of us...especially knowing that the other spare set was in the motor home!

 

We thanked the young lady that was helping us look and she mentioned there were a couple more areas she was going to check before calling it quits. We went to pet the rays, Michael's grand-daughters pet and fed the dolphins and by then we were pretty much ready to head out. It was about 5:00 and Dad decided that he would hit up Guest Services one more time before leaving. He walked out with his keys in his hand!

 

The employee mentioned that a female employee had just brought them in about fifteen minutes before we arrived. We knew it had to be that same girl! We then walked back over to Manta to see if she was still there so we could thank her, but she was gone. Unfortunately, we did not catch this young lady's name.

 

In the end, we have to give kudo's to this wonderful employee and Sea World. Anyone could have easily said to my Dad "that's why we have lockers" or "the ride rules state no loose articles" and left it at that. It was a valuable lesson learned by us all, but it was just amazing that this woman had that much determination that she was going to help us by finding those keys! I am going to write Sea World an E-mail to explain the situation and to thank them and their employees for all of their kindness and help. Just another example of how good customer service can win the business of the general public!

 

All in all, the day ended up being a happy one. Albeit with some very tense and gut wrenching moments in between!

Shamu welcomes guests to Sea World! Okay, this pic was taken as we left the park. You say good-bye and I say hello!

Journey to Atlantis was closed for rehab. Still a little cold for an Aquatrax anyway.

First up was the sea lion show which was cute.

Then it was on to Kraken...

Because the awesome Steel Eel name was already taken by that other Sea World in Texas, they had to settle for Kraken - my butt.

One awesome B&M! I know I may catch a little slack for this, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I did Kumba at BGA. And why am I comparing a floorless with a sit-down looper? I don't know really...

Kraken likes to get high and do a little terrain huggin'

Definitely one of the better B&M floorless coasters - mehhh, I'll just say it IS the best floorless!

We were a little late after our one mile trek to Shamu Stadium to see 'Believe'...I thought I was at Sea World, not Marineland! Geez!

Don't open your mouth Shamu and Shamu's life partner!

We made sure we stayed away from the Splash Zone as it was still pretty chilly. That and the fact that we were late getting there after the mile long trek we ended up in the nosebleed section. Luckily, the zoom didn't blur all the pictures...only about 90% of them.

Then it was on to Manta...

Manta's G-force insanity death loop says "give me your keys, NOW!"

Manta's so perdy, you don't even have to have a train in the picture!

Thanks Sea World for your awesome employees, kick-butt coasters and all of your silly sea creatures!

Yay for bonus IllumiGaytions!

We watched from Canada so we could be near the Moosehead draft beer stand!

Ooooohhh & Ahhhhh!!!!

IllumiGaytions hot climax will end the day. Thanks for reading!

[Philrad71]

Well, I'm gonna pray that this TR makes it onto Page Three or this is going to take a crapload of time for the page to download! Guess if you made it this far, you're probably along for the ride for the rest of the journey!

 

After our time share in Orlando ended, we hitched up with Dad in the motor home and headed for Tampa. Of course, the first stop would be Busch Gardens Africa with some bonus golf added in between visits!

 

I will say that BGA is one of my favorite parks - definitely in my top five anyways. As much as I love BGE, I would have to give this one a slight nod over the two...but each one has it's own unique charm. I guess I prefer the African wilderness and the animals a bit more than the lush landscaping and beautiful meandering pathways of BGE. As most of you know, both have top notch coasters to go with the experience ('cept Gwazi, of course) but Montu REALLY impressed on this trip! Perhaps it was the front row ride in the dark that did it for me, but this coaster easily vaulted into my top ten!

 

I may try to break this up into a few different parts as there are TONS of pictures. I am still leary that this report is going to land on page two and make for a huge download. But, we'll keep our fingers crossed!

 

Now...onto (or into) the wilderness!!!!

 

PS - We did a late afternoon/evening and then another full day at the park so if it appears that things are cloudy and dark one minute and bright and sunny the next...that's why!

Our late afternoon visit was cloudy and chilly. But who cares? We're at BGA where everything is beautiful! Reminds one of a stoner song from the seventies, but most of you are too young to remember...oh well.

Day got lot's a dem weirdo lookin' birds!

They also have ducks with a strange toe-munching fetish. This one was determined he was gonna clamp down on my big toe - lil' bugger!

Randy moss turtles.

If they don't have a specific live animal, they'll just make a topiary one made out of flowers & shrubs!

Let's go do a coaster! Why not start out with everyone's favorite: Gwazi! I did not get on this during my last visit, so this was a first (and most likely last) ride for me. Perhaps I should have heeded the danger sign?

This side was closed both days we were here. Please tell me that this is the "non-suck" side?

Because this side...well, it pretty much sucked! Not as painful as other woodies, but I was a bit surprised to learn that this was a G.C.I.

Or maybe it would have sucked less if they were racing? Perhaps if I could have been making googly faces at the riders on the other coaster, it might have taken my mind off my internal rearrangement? Regardless, I'll still take Lightning Racer over this any day of the week!

This looked like it was going to be a bit larger than the one at BGE. Got some decent looks at the construction going up Sheikra's lift. Nice add-on for the kids!

I managed to sneak a couple over-the-wall pics. Well, not really sneak, cause that would imply that I may have jumped the wall and I really didn't do that. Just stood on my tippy-toes and hit the shutter!

Shhhh...don't tell anyone, but this is going to be a secret fort under the purple tarp - only the cool kids will be allowed in! I'm sure they might also let in Prince if he really wanted to party with the kids like it was 1999. "Purple Tarp....Purrrple Taaaaarp."

I'm gonna end this update with some roller coaster thingie because I have to go have wings and drink adult beverages with a friend for his b-day. But mostly, I'm ending it because I want another page to post the next 500 pics!

[Philrad71]

Bee Gee Ayyy Part Deaux

Shshsheikra!

Sheikra walk-on's are always nice!

Lord Stanley Cup's Water Ride wasn't too busy either.

And now to get the credit that eluded me during my last visit....Kumba!

Everyone's posted this, but this pic has bonus rust!

Rust bowl

I did enjoy this element, but the 2nd loop was downright painful!

While I liked Kumba, it just didn't ride as smooth as Montu. I guess after all the rave reviews the coaster get's on here, I was sorta expecting something a bit more. All in all, we got about five rides on this - every ride was a walk-on except for a one train wait for the front seat.

Noted one train wait for the front seat of Kumba.

We passed on Cheetah Chase and opted for a beer instead.

Probably the only time I would be holding a Bud in my hand would be at an Inbev park!

We did not get on this during our last visit, so with no line we decided to check it out.

Signature Schwarzkopf loop, but this was more of a red-headed step-child to Olympia Looping. Once was enough for us.

Some decent g's during the helices. That was about it though.

We all agreed that Montu was the best coaster in the park. We got about four rides on this during our visit and they were all great...but if you get a chance to ride this in the front seat at night - do it! It is OMFG awesome!

This definitely cracked my Top Ten!

The transitions just seemed butter smooth unlike some of the herky-jerkyness I have experienced on other inverts.

A bit difficult to get good photo op's though...

They took the tunnel and now their lives will be changed forever!

Despite the fact that there were hardly ANY lines, we still were fortunate enough to have two guys line-jump in front of us for the front seat. This was after the ride op had closed off the front entrance because we were nearing closing time. Only because we're pri%ks did we mention it to the ride op who was trying to act like he didn't notice. But he did the right thing and made them wait for the last ride after everyone else in line got their ride. Justice was served to end a great day in Africa!

[tiger01]

Awesome! When did you visit? It must have been like heaven with no wait to get on the rides. I can't wait to visit BGF again cause last time i went i was scared to ride the coasters but now im dreaming to ride them (especially Montu)

[Philrad71]

^ We went on Sunday, January 17th and Monday, the 18th. I wondered if lines would be crazy on Martin Luther Day, but they weren't bad at all. On Sunday though, just about everything was a walk-on!

[Sue]

If you want some good photo ops of Montu, I'd highly recommend their Roller Coaster Insider tour which costs $25. We loved it so much that we'll be doing it again the next time we're there if it's still being offered.

[Philrad71]

^ I was soooo tempted to buy that when I bought the park tickets online - that sounded really neat! I will definitely remember that for my next trip to Florida!