Day 10 and we are now well into our second week of holiday and starting to fear the dreaded day that we have to return home. For day 10 we had a longest drive of the holiday out to Tampa for Busch Gardens which took us about an hour and 10 mins. Very easy drive as it was predominantly one road most of the way.
The day started well as we were incorrectly directed to priority parking which meant we only had a little walk to the entrance and was near the front of the queue. Then the theme park itself was actually really quiet and the kids managed to go on every ride they wanted to, multiple times. There was some rides where they would walk off the exit and turn around and get straight back on as there was no one waiting - that is unheard of in Florida!
Busch Gardens really does have some top roller coasters such as Iron Gwazi, Sheikra, Cheetah Hunt, Montu, Tigris, Kumba, Cobras Curse, Scorpion and so on. They also have Congo river rapids so that we got our daily does of a water rapid ride and cooling off in the mid day heat. One of the water flume rides we actually got stuck on just before the big drop off and had to be bailed off of it and escorted out of the ride. They gave us a fast pass for the inconvenience, but the park was so quiet we didn't use it.
Iron Gwazi was probably the best coaster which is backed up by its claim to be the tallest, fastest and steepest. The Cheetah was impressive the way it sprints off and is such a large coaster. There is also a couple of coasters which achieve the illusive 7 inversions including the Kumba. I remember riding this 29 years ago when it was new and claimed to be the only coaster in the world with a camel back, cork screw and loop. We rode the Kumba again and I have to say it is still bloody good and easily holds its own against a lot of the newer coasters in the park. I was even wearing my old Kumba t-shirt from 29 years ago and it was nice that one of the staff on the ride noticed.
Obviously Busch Gardens also has a vast display of animals and a safari train to enjoy. The train was a good way to get off our feet for a bit and cool down whilst looking at the giraffes, zebras, rhinos etc.etc. The hippo enclosure at Busch Gardens is also very impressive and gives you a great view of them swimming under water. Me and Brandon were having a bit of a comp to see who could get the best picture, me with my old camera, or him with his new iPhone.
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| First ride at Busch Gardens was the amazing Iron Gwazi. |
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| The tallest, fastest and steepest was no problem for Holly. |
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| Enroute to the next coaster we see the flamingos. |
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| The hedges in Busch Gardens are very creative. |
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| A few of the Halloween decs at Busch Gardens. |
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| Hopping from one coaster to the next. |
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| The flume ride started out ok. |
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| We made it up the first climb. |
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| Josh and B were in front of me, H and Tina so they made it further around. |
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| And then soon after this it round to a halt and we were sorted of rescued from the malfunctioning ride. |
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| More of the impressive gardens. |
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| The kamado dragon at Busch Gardens. |
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| Another day, another river rapid ride. |
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| Joshua's t-shirt started nice and dry. |
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| Until we hit the rapids. |
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| Holly next to Tina on the rapids. |
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| Holly face says it all, she's about to get wet. |
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| Brandon looking all cool and calm. |
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| And laughing at Joshua as he gets wet. |
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| Holly trying to avoid the waterfall, no getting away from this though. |
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| Smiles a plenty as Joshua gets the brunt of it again. |
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| "Josh, you look a little wet behind the ear!". |
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| Holly and Tina also get a good soaking. |
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| By the end of the ride he has given up, not a single dry spot. |
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| Holly should have kept her mouth shut, what goes around..... |
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| Still smiling at the end though. |
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| Not sure this helped much, but 5 mins in here and we dried out a little. |
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| Holly and Joshua on the bumper cars. |
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| Sassy Holly with a lovely old Beetle. |
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| Me and Josh had been promising ourselves the whole turkey leg for lunch. Today was the day. |
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Surprisingly salty for turkey, but very succulent and we both finished it off.
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| A more sensible lunch for the others. |
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| America's national animal. |
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| Holly on the carousel. |
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| The park really was quite today. |
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| Very colourful buildings at Busch Gardens. |
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| Giraffe gardens. |
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| Sneaky naughty photo of our icture from Cheetah Hunt. |
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| The lions in Busch Gardens seeking shade. |
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| What a lovely old LandRover. |
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| Cobras Curse is unusual as it has a vertical lift, but to be honest it wasn't as good a coaster as it looked. |
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| Montu was super impressive hitting 60mph with 7 inversions. |
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| Time to jump on the Safari Train and cool down whilst viewing some animals. |
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| Giraffe's on safari. |
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| Zebra's and giraffe's. |
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| More from the safari tour. |
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| The safari watering hole. |
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| Great underwater shots of a swimming hippo. |
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| Can Brandon beat this with his iPhone? |
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| My camera may be old, but it nailed these pictures. |
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| And one more of the hippo. |
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| Tina and H watching the hippo. |
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| Luckily we had done all the rides as once again it was inclement weather coming in and time to head back to Orlando. |
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| Another great picture that Tina nailed with me and the kiddies on Sheikra. |
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