KIfan1980 Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 As my younger son is not yet in school and my parents "snowbird" near Tampa, I took the opportunity to take him to visit them this past weekend (Feb 27th - March 1st). Following are some quick descriptions and some pics from the trip. Day 1 - started with rain and temp only got to ~60 degrees. While this was not as warm as we might have liked, it was still better than the 20's to 30's that we'd had here recently in Ohio. Started off the day with a visit to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium - a neat place that's primary purpose is rescuing and returning turtles, dolphins, and other marine animals to the wild - but provides permanent homes and exhibits animals that would not survive in their natural habitat. We followed this up with a trip to the beach where Neil enjoyed the playground in the sand! One of the "permanent resident" turtles The dolphin on the platform is Winter. She is somewhat famous as she lost her entire tail after getting trapped in a crab trap line and now sometimes uses a prosthetic tail to swim. Gotta love the feel of sand in your toes! Day 2 - While the others hit up the local zoo for the day, I took the chance to visit Busch Gardens. This is a wonderful park - it has some awesome rides, an unbelievable number of animals, along with great atmosphere (food, music, theme, and landscaping). Coaster summary: Gwazi (Tiger side): Loved the front seat ride - good speed, forces, and pop or two of air. Hated the back seat ride - painful. SheiKra: Good ride - not a fan of hanging over the edge, but enjoyed the speed, drop, turns. Best enjoyed in the outside of the front row. Montu: Has to be one of my favorite coasters - I love inverted coasters to begin with and think the layout of this one rocks. Scorpion: Would have loved to have my six year old with me - this would have been a good first looping coaster for him. Kumba: My first B&M disapointment - OTSR head banging through 7 inversions. Also - if you thought Flight Deck needed a paint job ... Also, totally enjoyed the sky ride and rhino rally (animal views), Phoenix (ship ride that goes full 360), and a nice carrousel. Looking over the elephants toward SheiKra Montu - a good choice for my 50th Coaster Up Close and Personal with the Animals A nice place to have lunch Day 3 - Temperatures were finally pushing 70 so we went on a boat to watch dolphins and played at the beach. I highly recommend the "Little Toot" sailing out of Clearwater (this is my 3rd trip on it and have seen dolphins playing and jumping in the wake literally feet from where I stood every time) - they treat you well and are very friendly. All in all a fun trip - and I totally enjoyed riding some coasters in February! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Nice PTR! I'm sorry about Kumba...it seems to have a really good year, followed by a mediocre year, followed by a bad year, then a rehab! Sounds like you hit the near end of that cycle. When that thing runs well, it's incredible. When it is bad, it is tragically so. And your little guy is so cute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondback FOF Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Nice report. Seeing BG makes me want to go there even more. Seeing the pretty blue sky, full trees, and amusement park makes me want to have nice weather or go to Florida. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delirium_Guy Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Nice PTR! I'm sorry about Kumba...it seems to have a really good year, followed by a mediocre year, followed by a bad year, then a rehab! Sounds like you hit the near end of that cycle. When that thing runs well, it's incredible. When it is bad, it is tragically so. I'm sorry to hear about his experience, too! Though, I must be fortunate because I've never really had a *bad* ride on Kumba....some that rattle a bit more but nothing offensive. You are right though, incredible is a great word for it Terpy :-) - Todd, who thinks Kumba is hands down the best coaster in Florida and one of his favorite steel coasters even after all these years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIfan1980 Posted March 6, 2010 Author Share Posted March 6, 2010 Regarding Kumba - I would note that this was probably the ride I was most excited for going in - the pictures, layout, and descriptions (I don't watch POV's before riding) looked great. Of course this probably made it more disappointing when I didn't get the ride I was hoping for. That said, I don't want to make it seem like it was awful - it does have some great features - but it banged me around a little which I wasn't expecting. On the flip side, I was pleasantly surprised by SheiKra - I was worried that it might be just a gimmick coaster - and blown away by Montu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DropZone99 Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Nice PTR! I really miss BGA, It's been 4 years since I've visited. I'd love to comeback one year. When I visited, Kumba was running great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTD-120-420 Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 I wish there were more Busch Gardens around. They are my favorite parks, and they are so beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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