2010May19 - Busch Gardens Africa - Tampa FL.

Busch Gardens Africa
Tampa FL
May 19, 2010
*The Picasa Album for all these Photos*

Being back in FL and staying with family for the interim Shane and I decided to use another of the Military boons and go to Busch Gardens Africa. I did my little pre-stalking thing and checked out park map and rides. We knew going in that Kumba (one of their famous roller-coasters) was going to be closed this whole month. We also knew that the Serengeti Plain (where the free roaming animals are) was going to be a non-event due to the Serengeti Train being out of commission due to construction at the park, and the only only ride that goes into the Plain was a 35$ per person Serengeti Safari truck ride (where you'd get to touch Giraffe). Keeping this trip as inexpensive as possible, we opted out for the the Safari. 2 hour and change drive, for two free tickets, a packed lunch with snacks, and only paying for gas and some water bottles before we get there; even after a few snacks there the whole trip cost us less than $100, which we could have spent on a nice dinner, and movie. :) Well worth it.

When we got to the parking lot we waited in line for THAT to open at 0930, paid our 12$, and watched everyone pay extra to get in Preferred Parking so they didn't have to walk the 15 extra feet to the tram. Completely silly. The tram was quick enough, and we got to the park entrance, and through the regular line (cause the Hero Booth for Military wasn't open) very quickly. We made it into the park about 1015, and BEELINED to Montu. The Egypt area of BG Africa is short, linear path the ends at the roller-coaster. I'd hyped myself up for this one, since I love ancient Egypt. We got up in line in time to watch a set of riders debark, aaaand for the for them to announce that the ride would be temporarily down, and we should remain in line. And then approximately 10 minutes later, people were bailing like flies and we were at the front of the line. At 1050, we bailed too. We checked back variously throughout the day via park employee radio etc, but it didn't come back up until the very end of the day. As in, at 530p we saw people starting to line up outside the still barricaded Montu, but it was that or the Gorilla exhibit. Based on the length of the line, we chose Gorilla. (goood choice.) Leaving the rest of Egypt for later (when we would hopefully see Montu up) we moved on to the rest of the working itinerary. I like to find out the best path through the park to make wandering a minimum and cram as much stuff into the day as possible. Shane finds this okay because he gets to ride more rides and I'm sure to buy less stuff if I don't have time to poke into all the shops (too bad for him I've learned to scream through a shop and take in all the stuff they have quickly too! EFFICIENT parkhopper!)

Busch Gardens used to be just a huge zoo and nature preserve. When they discovered roller coasters pulled in more people they started putting them in, and then competing with other roller coaster places with "bigger, badder," coasters. As a result the nature and animal aspect of the park is few and far between. They still play neat "African" feelin music through speakers tucked into bushes and have animals and birds here and there, along with very neat topiary.

These wee setbacks made our first ride Gwazi, the "Southeast's largest and fastest double wooden roller coaster boasting more than 7,000 feet of track" (though the ride height is only 48"). Gwazi is an African myth of a monster with a Lion head and a Tiger head, thus two coasters run simultaneously, and do a couple of flybys to each other. The Lion coaster was closed, only Tiger was open. The line was still pretty short, and after being booted from the Montu queue we were excited to finally risk our lives. About 10 seconds into the ride, I hated it. The wooden track was so rough that it shook my brain into my brain skull and it huuuurt. I was wincing and in excruciating pain til the thing stopped shaking. Shane liked the ride, and I was very glad for it, but I hated it. From what I gleaned from the coaster path it would have been great if it hadn't been so rough. It was have been fantastic if the other coaster had been up to do the flybys as well. From there we got a nice break for my brain as we popped through the Bird area.

The Bird Gardens, were closed. Barricaded. That makes 5 things out of commission (Kumba, Train, Montu, half of Gwazi, and Bird Gardens...) Laaaaaame. Ok, so we skipped the Bird Garden and went up into the Lori Landing. There was a Green Wing Macaw that was a HUGE attention seeker. They had TWO Hyacinth Macaw (my favorite 'parrot'). We joked (because I'm a WoW nerd) that "Omg! Those are an Epic Drop, and they have TWO!!" (No seriously, they go for more gold on the auction house than I've ever had, culminate.) I did notice that when they paved the ground they imprinted foliage into it, which is totally cool. I got a shot of a huge leaf print in the Lory Landing. You were allowed to buy bird food to coax the smaller birds onto you to hold them (for 5 dollars.) I couldn't get any to sit on me without it, spoiled birds, but I did get chomped on. The end of the tongues of the small bird I was coaxing was bristled, like a handled dish scrubber. Neat! On the way out I got to see a beautiful Red-Tailed Cockatoo. He was almost black and covered in gold flecks. Gorgeous! We saw a Saddle-Beaked Stork pen, and joked that it was a "Strok".

We Stopped off to get a root beer float (he spoils me) and get change, since the 50c a pop lockers were kicking our butt. They wouldn't let us bring the small backpack I packed our lunch in, though we were able to wrap it around our legs at Disney. Half the time, the lockers ate our quarters and refused to work. Munched some lunch, and watched a squirrel take a french fry right out of a girl's hand! They're so acclimatized to people... I got a video later in the day of Shane petting a squirrel in the Gorilla pens. Instead of stopping to pose in front of something neat, like we did at Disney, I just snapped a shot of us. Wish I had gotten a better one now, but our memories are way cooler.

We lined up for SheiKra, and about five minutes in someone pulled the fire alarm. Nobody moved, nobody wanted to lose their time in line, especially the people up at the front. We were told that they couldn't get it back up until the fire department looked at it, so we jumped out of line and beat the rush to the nearest ride, Flume. Flume is a tame log ride which gets you a little wet. I got to snuggle into his chest and enjoy the ride til we got a little splashed. He didn't dig it, probably because it wasn't scary. I loved it. The wait for it was annoying for me, as some little black girl and her three friends kept budging in line. No one stopped them, reported them, etc. Shane found it amusing, I find disrespect and rudeness very irritating. Otherwise, I had fun.

We left our stuff in the same locker and went on to Tanganyika Tidal Wave. We walked right onto this ride. We watched the thing plunge into water and soak everyone in it and around the ride, and were excited! We rode through a mock up of an empty tribal village, all very tame, slow, not boring but not anything special. Reminded me of the the Viking ride in Epcot Norway. At the end it brought you up (dumping all the water from the previous run out the back) and chucked you down the water slide. We were in the front and got soaked! There was only one spot on my jeans that wasn't wet, my left hip, probably because I was pressed up to Shane (he's kinda wide, muscle wise :P) When we got off we stood on the bridge over the ride, hoping to get hit by the tidal wave. It splashed off to the side instead. We just HAD to do that again. We walked right on the second time, and sat in the back this time to see how wet we'd get there. We got less splashed, but it was still awesome. This time, we knew where to stand on the bridge, and if I thought I was soaked before, I was wrong. Down through my socks in my shoes! The day was definitely looking up.

SheiKra was back up, but the line was 30 minutes and longer due to everyone trying to get back on it. We headed to Jungala, a kiddie area combined with the Tiger pens. I'm not sure I've ever seen a big cat in person, they're so beautiful. They were all sleeping or hanging out lazily, 1300 is a little hot to be playtime. Jungala also had Orangutan, also hiding in their treehouse from the sun. They have a super huge jungle gym for kids (big enough for mom's to climb behind them). It looks sooo fun, but Shane wouldn't go with me, and we didn't really have time, so it's on my list if we ever get to go back :)

In the town square area of Jungala was another topiary, a huge lion. The placard told us that all the different colors of foliage, from the darker stripes to the almost white muzzle, was done by growing different types of greens side by side and careful grooming. So neat. They also had a slab-stone tiger, and of course being a huge nerd, had to get a shot of that too! Along the tiger path were various eye-catching plants (throwback from when the place was more plant oriented) and one caught my eye. A very neat bell-type of flowering plant, I thought it was called "Tiger eye" but can't find any data on the net, so I'll

From Jungala we cruised into the bazaar area called Timbuktu. I expected African themed shops selling trinkets made out of wood, or stone, or fun cheesey stuff like that; kind of Ren Faire for Africa. Instead, what we got was a Carnival, dropped down in the middle of Africa. No more African music, not even African games. Bad rap and pop music blared from booths where hawkers dared you to shoot the racehorse with a water pistol, drop a penny in the goldfish jar, or throw the stupidly heavy cue ball at the stupidly hard clown tooth. Awful. Just, awful. On the edges of the carnival, the world was still Busch Gardens. We headed to the Scorpion roller coaster which we walked right onto. I swear, that this is the best, short, roller coaster I've ever been on. SO much fun. We went to try the Phoenix, which is liken to the Viking ship rides I've seen elsewhere, it swings back and forth terribly high in the air, only we saw this one completely invert and go over again. Too bad that when we got there, it was CLOSED. UGH. What's wrong with this place? We wandered past it to something called Cheetah Chase, which looked like a kiddie coaster. Went up, stayed at one height, and then had a small up and down. Since the height required was so short, we expected a timid, time-filling ride. Went on thinking "Might as well." This was probably the scariest coaster I've ever been on. And it gave me a wicked headache (not as bad as Gwazi though.) Cheetah Chase, "Challenge the crazy curves and hairpin turns on this five-story family coaster. Min height 46". It took you up, whipped you at the curve, and I thought each time it hit the curve that we were going over. It whipped us so fast I think I got minor whiplash! My tags popped me in the lip and I thought it might have busted it. Definitely not disappointed in that ride, though I'll never ride it again hehe. When we got off we saw the Phoenix being test run, and then ran with people in it. We ran. Front of the line, we waited for them to let us on and when the operator got on the phone we about shrank in disappointment. Not ANOTHER one down while we were in line!? He assured us it should only be a moment, and thankfully, it was. We got on, strapped in, and got the crap scared out of us. Shane said it was more frightening than jumping out of airplanes. I loved it. At the top however, it held us upside down for about 5-8 seconds, which let a ton of blood pump into the headache the cheetah chase gave me. Still, awesome, but we won't do it again. Poor Shane :P We did go ride the Scorpion again. We were worried it might inflame the headache more, but ride induced headaches go away in about 200% of the time it took to get them, so still, pretty quickly.

We left our stuff in the Scorpion locker (unfortunately that was my pedometer too, since I wanted to get it out my pocket when we were soaked.

We walked back toward Egypt to see if the Montu was back up. We saw Anteater, a deer in the anteater pen, a huge alligator (which we giggled about since we almost didn't get to see Alligator last time we came to Florida.) There were mossy backed turtles in the gator pen (all scummy and cute.) We saw a pair of gators mating, and she was so much smaller than he. Was neat! We saw another topiary too, a cheetah this time. I didn't get a picture of the giraffe, since it was all the same plant, which meant that it's creation just meant growing it and trimming outside the wire.

Montu, was still closed. Sigh. We gave up on it right there and then. We got me a squished penny with the Montu symbol on it (the Egyptian god Menthu), and called it done. I do hope to go back someday and do all the things the park had closed. We strolled through, or rather I dragged Shane through, the wee Tut exhibit. We expected a lot more from it, but I think it might be there just to get kids interested. There wasn't really anything to see. I did get an awesome shot of Shane that I call "Pharaoh Tutenshanen".

We came out of Egypt and into an area called "Edge of Africa". An animal exhibit. This, was super cool. I love animal exhibits, but don't think I've been to a zoo since I was ten or younger. We saw ring tailed lemurs (had to sing it... I lika move it move it..). There were Hippo (the shot came out much better than I expected), Nile Crocodile, which was so cool! His tail was so long I couldn't get his whole body in a shot. We found a sleepy lioness, warm against a rock. Hyena, are MUCH bigger than I thought. They said they are more closely related to Mongoose than Canine, despite their body shape, and if you look at their neck you can kind of see it. A dog's neck tapers in before the head and then flares, were the hyena was more like my ferret, just a tube. The female are also dominant over the males, and are bigger. We saw one we think was a male, small, silvery thing. :)

This, is the best shot that came out of the shot, photography-wise. We got to see the Serengeti Plain afterall. The path out of Edge of Africa flanked the Serengeti Plain. We saw the Serengeti Safari people petting the giraffe, we were just happy to get to see the animals. Don't pass over the meerkat pictures, they are fantastic. Shane said they're Border Collies with Chipmunk bodies. I love the fat one on top, King Meerkat. And the one all sleepy on the ground; we've coined her the Kona of the bunch.



As we left the Edge of Africa it spat us out back into Egypt, and along the way showed up an African Spurred Tortoise. We were about starving at this time, and needed to get our stuff back from the locker anyway. It was 510p, and we saw the huge clumpy line forming in front of Montu. We thought about waiting, our only sight-seeing left being the Gorillas; however, we NEEDED to get our stuff before we were locked out of the park, so that was first. In the interest of saving time, we decided to go ahead and take the Sky Chair up. We were SO glad we did. While it didn't seem it would on te map, the Sky Chair took us up over the Serengeti Plain. Asian Elephants, Scimitar Horned Oryx (their faun are so cute!), African Buffalo, Zebra, and African Longhorn. When we got off and got our stuff we found the short cut through the bazaar that we missed last time, and got close ups of the Asian Elephant and White Rhino. There were also otters, but we're not sure how African they were :P



We came down and hurried into the Gorilla exhibit, the line was still outside Montu. Even if Montu had been open right then, I'm glad we saw the Gorillas instead. They were so neat! We watched this HUGE silverback chase down they other gorillas, and watched a younger gorilla jump up to snatch a banana from a tree and haul tail to is little wall-cave. The whole place was so awesome. As a bonus, this is were I got a video of Shane petting a squirrel. I got a good shot of a beautiful waterfall through a flowering trellis.

As we left the Gorilla pen we hit up the main gift shop for my Trinket, the patch that will be the header of this page. They had a couple neat ones, various for the animal exhibits they had, but I like stuff that represents the park overall. That left either a four-panel with the animals, or the awesome sepia subdued Elephant one.

While the first half of the park was a disappointment, and the rides hit or miss, and we kept comparing it to Disney (and Busch Gardens coming up short), the day picked up after the water rides, and was a steady climb from there. It DID bite to see the Montu running as we left at 550pm, but with the other stuff that was closed, there's enough to make a second trip of it. Montu, Kumba, Serengeti Train, Bird Gardens, Gwazi Lion (I'm brave, and will be prepared next time. Somehow.) Maybe we'll stop in and see the very neat looking show KaTonga. We can climb the treetop maze in the kiddie section, ride the Congo River Rapids (kinda tame, so got squeezed out of the itinerary). The Rhino Rally was down all day, so maybe get to ride that. Ooh and Curiousity Cavern, the bat habitat we didn't even know was there. Oh yea, definitely enough to go back.








*This page took me 5 hours to write, between img sizing and distractions (Rook!). The images took me two hours to work on the other day. That makes 7 hours at least. Wow. ;)