Days 3 & 4 – Busch Gardens/Clearwater area
We decided that we wanted to be off early for our journey to Busch gardens so had set the alarms for 7am. All the adults and girls got up ok but the boys were struggling, they dragged themselves out of bed and sat looking comatosed at the TV. Richard was in particular good form this morning and was ribbing them for being lazy, Chris was trying to snooze on the sofa so he was bodily picked up and thrown in the pool!!! He didn’t even have the energy to scream, hahah. It was a rude awakening for him…..it was such a laugh!! He took it in good faith though and jumped to it to go get a shower……the other boys mysteriously sneaked off to get dressed straight after the commotion…..wonder why??!! [msnwink]
We programmed Sarah and set off on our journey. Now, don’t ask me why but she must have been having some sort of funny turn today because for some reason she directed us off the I4 and out into the middle of nowhere. I kept saying I’m sure we just keep on the I4 but we followed her directions. Richard was texting us saying “where we going?” – “don’t know says we, just following Sarah’s directions”. After a while I think Sarah’s name changed to something that I can’t possibly repeat because we ended up back on the I4! [msnoo]
As we pulled into Busch Gardends car-park Steve says “Where are the tickets?” “In my purse, in the bag I say” “No they’re not” he says looking in every nook and cranny…….oops. A big oops. I know I had got them out earlier but I must have left them on the bed….not a good start to the day and obviously too far to travel back to get them.
After several hard glares and choice words from Steve,[msnmad] I went to the customer services booth to explain our predicament and the lady explained that we would have to purchase tickets for that day but if we sent off our other tickets, along with our receipt from today and a duly completed form within 10 days, we would be refunded the cost. So this is what happened. I’m glad we bought the tickets in the UK because it was $299 for 5 (I think we paid £27 each in the UK)!!
When we got in the park it was decided that those that wanted to go do the rides would split from the rest of the group. Richard had had his fill of roller coasters with the Hulk, so Bev, Richard, Stacey and Daron headed in one direction and the rest of us went in search of Sheikra.
First off though we did Gwazi, we seemed to queue quite a while for this as only one track was in operation. It was good all the same. Then it was straight to Sheikra. First Chris and Adam got the obligatory soaking and then we stood at the bottom of the drop. I was starting to wonder whether it was such a good idea!! Steve was looking decidedly pale aswell. We ummed and ahhhd for a while and decided to bite the bullet. The queue was quite small really but just as we were about to get to the turnstiles the bloomin’ thing suffered ‘technical difficulties’. Great, just as we had prepared ourselves for our doom!! They eventually got it going again and all I can say is [msneek]“ OH. MY. GOD” ….Talk about heart in your mouth, but it is a fantastic ride. We bought the photo off the ride because Steve and Leanne’s faces were a picture of sheer terror!
We looked at all the animals as we were walking through the different lands. I especially liked the white tiger, it was beautiful.
We also managed to do Python and Montu before we decided it was time for something to eat. The clouds had really started to bubble up and it was getting really dark. Luckily the downpour came as we were eating. We texted the other group and all met up for a wander round together but there were areas where each of us wanted to go that hadn’t been yet. Adam decided to stay with his mum and dad this time and Daron came back with us and we headed to Rhino Rally. Once again the sky went black and just as we were about to get on the ‘Jeep’ they stopped the ride because of the weather. It rained, and rained, and rained, we thought it would never stop. Bev texted us saying they were calling it a day and h
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