Just a day at the Park

Mini-Dew and I woke up bright and early on Monday to maximize our time at Busch Gardens in Tampa. We loaded in the car, making only a brief (but necessary) stop at the local Starbucks for some fuel for the trip down. I'm not a huge fan of driving, and I especially hate long road trips where I have to drive, but I survived it. Unfortunately, Mini-Dew isn't a fan of glare on her laptop, so this was my driving companion for the trip. I'm sure passersby were intrigued.

We arrived at Busch Gardens right at 11, and fortunately before the crowds got too bad. It was a BEAUTIFUL day to attend a theme park. The temperatures were mild (for Tampa), and the park offers plenty of shade and fans. We went through some water bottles though. Our first ride was the Montu

When the ride opened on May 16, 1996, it was the world's tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster. Montu's record was short lived; one year later, it was succeeded by Alpengeist at sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Montu, however, still holds the record for the number of inversions on an inverted coaster with seven. ~wikipedia

...which ended up being our favorite ride in the park, being the smoothest and the longest. The loops were easy to take. We rode it 3 times in all, with the front seat being our favorite. My favorite part is one of the loops goes down into the ground and you kick up in front of spectators. One of the things that struck me about the park, other than how clean it was kept, and how beautiful the gardens are was how interesting the decor is. It's really a nice touch to walk into areas of the world and feel like you're actually there.

It's settled, my physical health will no longer support me in riding wooden roller coasters. The Gwazi, a dueling wooden coaster, was the roughest wooden coaster I have ever been on. At point, my brain rattled so hard, I thought I might have permanent brain damage. My muscles were all tight, as my chiropractor told me to, and I was actually afraid that my tight jaw would cause my teeth to shatter at points. Never again.

The ShiekRa... Oh my, the ShiekRa... well, I never did work up the nerve to hop aboard this one with the not one but two, hair-raising 90° drops. Someone has lost their ever-loving mind! What an insane ride. We watched it for a while, and Mini-Dew opted to wait until next time. I'm leaning toward never, myself.




The Kumba was really cool except for twisting into all the loops, and there were lots of those. My inner ear doesn't handle the G's well from that kind of maneuver, so the repetition of it was a little tedious and nauseating, but the ride itself was really cool in the way it sort of wrapped all around that section of the park. It makes the line for the ride very loud, but it is very cool!

The Jungala Stilt Walkers were pretty amazing in their cool costumes, able to contort into interesting shapes and poses. My favorite was the frog, but the walking stick was cool. The ostrich was a real jerk, messing with this baby until he cried. Rude and totally unnecessary.

Finally, as we were heading to the Montu before leaving, we passed this gigantic tortoise. Very cool.Don't believe I've ever seen a tortoise that size.

Have a lovely day!
~Dewdrop