marlfox_21 Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 March 12th, 2007.... I had expectations for this trip. And none of them were short lived! Upon arriving at the park, my eyes gazed upon SHIEKRA. Which is a 200 foot masterpiece. This was to be our 1st destination in the park, but since this ride did not open until 30 minutes after the rest of the park, we stopped by "Gwazi" on the way. This is a nice wooden coaster. Kinda rough. It honestly seemed to be a miniature of the Son of Beast as far as the ride design was. But I enjoyed it just the same. Then it was onto SHIEKRA. The 90 degree drop is astounding to look at. Unlike anything else that I have seen. ( The only diving coaster in the U.S. ) But very impressive to look at. But even more impressive to ride. Me and my fiance got on this ride in a hurry, but my friend Travis, who came with us on this trip has a fear of coasters. There are some that he has always said that he just won't ride. Well, we got him over this fear. As I told him before we got on the ride. " I have not ridden it yet, but Travis, I bet that we will get right back in line." AND WE DID! The coaster slowely goes up its 200 ft. initial drop, and goes around a corner with the city of Tampa visible with a very nice view. Then the ride STARTS to make its 90 degree drop, only to stop for 5 or 6 seconds to provide its riders with a nice view of the amazing drop inevitable to your future. Then it falls, and speeds up, goes through corners, a tunnel, through water hurling H2O onto the spectators in Shiekra's Splashzone...YES, this coaster has a Splash Zone! And the ride even has a shorter drop with the same 90 degree angle drop. INCREDIBLE!!!!!...We rode this ride Twice in a row in under 15 minutes following its opening for the day. GOOD THING TOO, because it was easily an hour wait a couple of hours later. Following this, we rode KUMBA, then SCORPION, then CHEETAH CHASE, then a CAROUSEL, and then we rode the SKY RIDE back to the front of the park, and there we rode MONTU which provided us with an outstanding view of selections to go and eat at. Including a Pizza Hut pretty much right across the street. ( we got to ride all 6 coasters between 9:30 A.M. and 12:30 P.M. ) But first we wanted to see how much food would cost at Busch Gardens....At 1st sight, we saw $6.45 for a Childs Hotdog, and at this point we immediately made our 15 minute walk to Pizza Hut, where instead we split the cost of a Large pizza with pepperoni, and half mushroom, 10 breadsticks, and free refills on Coke for $26.00 ( it would have cost about this much for 3 childs hotdogs at Busch Gardens ) And to top it off, they added Green Pepper to our pizza, which me and my fiance did not mind, but it did not do well for Travis, so the restaurant gave us a 2nd large pizza with pepperoni free of charge. TALK ABOUT WORTH WALKING 15 MINUTES OUT OF THE PARK FOR! Then it was back to my car, and from there we took a tram back into the park. Where we walked around and enjoyed what comes best to me, the ANIMALS of the park. I loved the exhibits at Busch Gardens. They were simply incredible. There is simply too much to name, so I will name a few of the best experiences in my view, just to name a few. I LOVED THE SPOTTED HYENAS! Of all of the parks that I have been to before, I have never seen Spotted Hyenas before. I must have stared at these things for nearly 20 minutes! And the MeerKats were simply incredible. I loved the aviaries. I had a bird standing on my head, and another eating out of my cup of nectar for some pretty amazing photos! I have never been so close to Ring Tailed Lemurs in an exhibit before. Their Watusi Cows were spectacular, and the Hippos, and Komodo Dragons, and Oh, I could go on forever. I also enjoyed the statues of animals throughout the park, including fantasy animals like a mama dragon and her hatching baby. These kinds of things were simply awesome to me. I love all of the birds, and everything else that I am probably forgetting about right now when just trying to think of it all. The Gorillas, the Chimps, etc. I loved their bird show. Oh who am I kidding, I loved everything about all of their animals!!!!! Especially the train ride, and the sky ride, which provided excellent views of many of the animals. To end the day we rode SKEIKRA again, and purchased a D.V.D. and picture while on the ride. I bought a T-Shirt, bought a Hat, a Shot Glass, a couple Post Cards, and a couple of magnets. THIS PARK IS GREAT, and with my newly acquired FUN PASS good for the rest of the year, I can't wait to go back, over and over again.!!!!! m.f.21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory Butcher Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Please. please tell me that you rode Rhino Rally?? Its a pretty amazing ride! Sounds like you all had a lot of fun. I think that Busch Gardens Africa is one of the prettiest and greatest parks around. Montu happens to be my favorite Steel Coaster! And Gwazi is really fun. Also Im not sure if you caught it this time but their show called "Katonga" is too me one of the top 5 shows at an amusement Park! If you didnt catch it this time you should on your next visit, you wont be disappointed. In case you are wondering, my top 5 LIVE shows at an amusement park are 1. Lion King-WDW 2. Lights Motors Action-WDW 3. Katonga-Busch Gardens 4. Beauty and The Beast- WDW 5. Beetle Juice- USF. In my case great shows really set amusement/theme parks apart. Any park that is not spatialy or financially challenged can contract a coaster to be built, but it takes special care and attention to detail to produce some spectacular stage productions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 ^ Yeah, Montu is one of my favs as well...it used to be my #1 as well, but was supplanted by the Mummy at USF. Katonga is actually my #3 favorite theme park show, behind "Festival of the Lion King"at DAK and the old "Celebration" show at KI. Katonga is a basically a low rent knock-off of the Broadway version of "The Lion King" (which is my 2nd favorite Broadway musical, BTW <g>), but it's very, very good for a theme park show. I'm a big fan of Rhino Ralley too, but the waits are incredible for that thing! It's a very unique, well-done experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory Butcher Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 And, as you can tell by both of ^our^ posts, and your own account, Busch Gardens is in itself a very unique and well-done experience! For anyone looking to visit Busch Gardens, it is a must-see and do! A truly immersive experience that will play to all of your senses and create lasting memories! I am quite sure Marlfox and Jzarley would agree! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 I am glad you all enjoyed it so much! I am a passholder at BGA...and I live much closer to the Northern park. If the only coaster at BGA were Kumba, I'd still be deliriously happy. And yes, it can be expensive, but the food at Busch Gardens Africa is among the very best in the entire park business. Especially the ribs! Right outside the park is a very, very famous hot dog place. I ALWAYS hit it: http://www.melshotdogs.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 The Busch parks are industry standards. Anyone that has never been to a Busch Park is missing out. I know I've said it before, but I'd much rather go to Busch Gardens Africa than to WDW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marlfox_21 Posted March 19, 2007 Author Share Posted March 19, 2007 Yea, Busch Gardens was a lot of fun. And I do need to go back and check out the shows. Especially Katonga. So far, I have been to all of the parks that I want to go to this year, except for a few that are not open yet...Kings Island, Cedar Point, Wild Adventures. m.f.21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersRZ Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 That appears to be a dead link. Not to mention the fact that it screws up the layout of the forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 That appears to be a dead link. Not to mention the fact that it screws up the layout of the forums. What does? Surely not the Mel's link I posted...it works and is very, very short. Did I miss sumthin? Has it already been deleted, perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marlfox_21 Posted April 2, 2007 Author Share Posted April 2, 2007 Please. please tell me that you rode Rhino Rally?? Its a pretty amazing ride! Sounds like you all had a lot of fun. I think that Busch Gardens Africa is one of the prettiest and greatest parks around. Montu happens to be my favorite Steel Coaster! And Gwazi is really fun. Also Im not sure if you caught it this time but their show called "Katonga" is too me one of the top 5 shows at an amusement Park! If you didnt catch it this time you should on your next visit, you wont be disappointed. In case you are wondering, my top 5 LIVE shows at an amusement park are 1. Lion King-WDW 2. Lights Motors Action-WDW 3. Katonga-Busch Gardens 4. Beauty and The Beast- WDW 5. Beetle Juice- USF. In my case great shows really set amusement/theme parks apart. Any park that is not spatialy or financially challenged can contract a coaster to be built, but it takes special care and attention to detail to produce some spectacular stage productions! I went back to the park again with my fiance on the 29th. And your very right. Rhino Rally is a truly incredible ride. The only reason we did not ride this the 1st time, was because it was shut down for maintenance. We also viewed Katonga. And it is a pretty good show. Better than most amusement/theme park shows anyways. And we rode SheiKra 4 times in a row. SWEEET RIDE!! I also went back to Busch Gardens on Sunday the 31st for another showdown with SheiKra, only this time I went with a bunch of Zoo students. m.f.21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKIVortex Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 If your are talking about the link to the hot dog place, it work just fine for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delirium_Guy Posted April 3, 2007 Share Posted April 3, 2007 I am glad you all enjoyed it so much! I am a passholder at BGA...and I live much closer to the Northern park. If the only coaster at BGA were Kumba, I'd still be deliriously happy. And yes, it can be expensive, but the food at Busch Gardens Africa is among the very best in the entire park business. Especially the ribs! Right outside the park is a very, very famous hot dog place. I ALWAYS hit it: http://www.melshotdogs.com/ I agree, for me Kumba takes the cake at BGA. Its one of B&M's finest, if I do say so! That zero G roll is still my favorite! I never really have understood Montu? I can see the potential for an amazing ride, but the darn block brake kills it for me. Its only saving grace for me is an excellent first half and the cool trenches it plays in during the last half. I much prefer its bigger brother in Virginia. Sheikra is definitely a blast! Not overly intense but super fun! Still, if you havent been to the Virginia park, you gotta hit it up. I'll disagree with Interpreter in saying that I much prefer Busch Gardens Europe to Africa.....but both are among the best in the industry! - Todd, Katonga was closed during my visit :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DropZone99 Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 i loved Kumba, Montu, and Shreika. gwazi was pretty boaring and cobra sucked we got in and then it was over. scorbian was closed. =[ busch gardens needs to get thrill rides, like a gyro drop or any kind of Huss. that would be awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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