Thursday, July 29, 2010

Into The Gardens

210/365

Today we took the kids to Busch Gardens.



Cousin Cathy recommended going after naps so that the temperature would be cooler. Well, we didn't get there until 5. But she also recommended using the Valet Parking, which saved us lots of time and inconvenience with kids and strollers. Overall the kids did great. It cooled down to 88 by the time we went in, and only went down from there. It's more Zoo than Disney's Animal Kingdom. Just walking in there were more animals, some just planted along the path. The kids really liked the flamingos. There were LOTS of them, happy, pink, and standing on one foot. In the background you can also see an albino peacock.



Turns out Sesame Street characters make appearances there. They just opened an area, the Sesame Street Safari. It was so cute. Right when we walked in, we just missed the end of the show, and the kids were able to meet Cookie Monster, Zoe, and Abby Cadabby. Chris's jaw just dropped. Sam was more apprehensive.



We also got to meet Big Bird and Elmo, but the only pictures you could get with them were the ones that we had to pay for and for 15$ each, we weren't that interested. After looking at the Pamphlet and the website, Chris declared that he wanted to see Elmo and ride Air Grover. Air Grover was a roller coaster, and somehow Chris talked Grandma into taking him over to see if he met the height requirement, next thing we know, Grandma's riding the coaster.



From there we Chris wanted to climb Elmo's Tree House and play in Cookie's Canopy, a three story clubhouse, with paths across made of netting. Cousins Cathy and Jack took Chris and Cameron up. Sam was too little, and my hip was acting up, I was not about to take Sam up there. That was ok, Sam was ok to have some fish crackers and wait for the kids to come by and wave at us all.



Then we rode the Whirlibird, a small egg shaped Ferris wheel that pointed outwards. The boys liked this one too. These boys love rides!



Afterwards we took a little break in one of the sprinkler areas. We only took off our shoes, and dipped our tootsies in. And doing just that for a few quick minutes cooled us off immensely! Mine are the orange ones....nothing says vacation in Florida like crazy toenail polish. ;)



We fully intended to ride the train throught the 'Serengeti', a kind of safari. But instead we did the log flume, even Chris and Cameron rode. The age limit was 2, and I just didn't feel comfy letting Sam go, good thing, he would've had to sit and not see a thing, the walls of the flume were too high for him, but Cameron is the size of a 2 year old; she and Chris did Great!
Afterwards, we were hungry, so we got some BBQ and by the time that was done, somehow it was dark, nearly closing time, and we were in the back of the park. We started to take the 'shortcut' out, but it was closed off, making us the LAST people out of the back of the park. Suddenly as we passed the train station (for the 4th time without riding it) an employee asked us if we'd like a ride to the front of the park. Um Yeah! So we rode the train. There were lights on it, and music pumped in, and it was pretty cool. Sam was just hypnotized.


We only wished we could've seen animals. The only ones we saw were Zebras that had a spotlight on them. Even still it was an awesome ending to our evening. We may just have to go back!

1 comments:

Elizabeth said...

That sounds like a great adventure! It makes me want to hit it up next time we're in FL! I can't wait to read about your adventures tomorrow! :)