Sep 02, 2001 02:32 AM
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I must confess - I DO NOT LIKE ROLLER COASTERS and believe me, Busch Gardens has tons of them. If you've a mind to, you can flip and hang upside down all day and never do the same loop twice.
But what makes Busch Gardens somewhere special, is that there is plenty of other stuff - for the non thrill seekers, like me - to do.
For regular theme park goers, the one thing that surprises you about Busch is that the food is actually great. A bit unusual for anyone like us Brits visiting the place who are used to the overpriced rubbish that is served up in most of the UK parks.
For the kids there is candy floss galore (very good for the teeth, of course!) when you walk in. Pizza (and it’s REAL Pizza) and chips (sorry…fries) a little further along into the park, if I recall.
Still it’s a day out and you haven’t come to stuff yourself silly have you?
You can't - and must not - miss the ''festhouse'' which is near the Scorpion. Close by the full-size arcade. It is a huge building with wooden tables and a stage where shows run and music is played, not to mention that it has good food and plenty of souvenirs to buy. There are healthy salads, spaghetti, cannelloni and huge open sandwiches and plenty of tempting desserts too.
Sorry, but I keep mentioning food, - there is ice cream by the Dolphin show and there are hot dogs and barbeque chicken wings over by the Log flume. You can just smell the food right now can’t you. But that’s the idea. Remember walking past a Hot Dog or Burger van – it smells good, you make your purchase and then…realise it tastes like sh**. But that’s NOT the case in the US and Busch is brilliant for food.
Oh yes, I'm nearly forgetting that this is also a theme park.
Another 'theme' is the Ice Show. That is the best places to go if you want to cool off or escape the mid day heat. Of course, you will find plenty of other people aiming to do just the same. It does get packed, but for all you non Rollercoaster buffs out there, it’s another cool thing to do – literally! It’s held in a nice, full-size, air-conditioned complex which is close the Park entrance I think. They change the shows quite regularly apparently, but we saw ''Hollywood on Ice'' when we were there 4 years ago and it was fantastic. The skaters are professional and talented. They do all those tricks and jumps and stuff that you’d like to do if only…..despite the rink itself being fairly small.
As well as being a true world class Theme Park, Busch also houses some great animal exhibits. It started life as a Zoological gardens and it caters for all ages – ideal if you have a family and the older ones want to queue for rides, while you take the younger ones to see the animals. Most of the animal habitats are large and open, ideally displaying the various animals in a more natural environment. You can see the hippos wallowing about too, if you take a ride on the mono-rail. There are various other things that you can do on the zoo side, but I must confess, memory fails me as we did not spend loads of time on that part of the Park.
Rides – yes there are loads. Big swooping, blood curdling – “you’ll never get me up there on on one of those those” kind of rides that the kids love. My sons thoroughly enjoyed all the ones they went on – they were 16 and 18 when we went. They preferred some of the rides at Busch to the ones they’d been on at Disney two days before. I remember they wanted me to go on something called the ‘Congo Rapids’. You know the sort of thing, riding in a big raft type thing along the river being buffeted all the way – a real adrenaline rush…but I’d just had an Ice cream and I wanted to keep it down, thank you. You get VERY Wet on this ride!
There really is just so much stuff for older kids and adults to do. Plenty for the non thrill seekers to enjoy, and total mayhem for the daredevils. There are plenty of shops to brows, souvenirs to buy, food to eat (aah did I mention that earlier?)
This is an excellent park to go to for all the family, but I would suggest that for children Under 10, you may not get the best value from it. Younger kids around 5 or 6 aren’t terribly well catered for, a little older and they’ll have a whole world of fun. As for teens, well just let them loose, while you relax in the sunshine.
Try it - it's different from Disney by a long way - and did I mention it has a few roller coasters ??
