The Florida TR! (Sea World, Now Updated with BGT)

[ragingbullchick]

Alright, Since I did a lot in a few days, this TR will be set up like Eaglefan's (BTW, thanks for the good idea on how to make it short, but informative).

Got in Orlando 10PM Tues. night. Drove to the Sheraton with my Mom, Dad, Brother (Joey), cousin (Nick) and friend Hanah.

Day 1: Sea World Orlando
Got to the park around Noon, and started walking around looking at animals. Note, I'm going to review shows and rides, not animal exhibits.

Reviews:

Believe (Shamu show): Nice theatre, but pretty crowded. Sat in the soak zone, and got soaked. The performance was amazing, the trainers rode on whales underwater, then Shamu would jump up, and the trainer would be balanced on his nose. Got a little cheesy at times, though. 8/10

Dolphin Show: Pretty cool. The whole effect of it was nice, and the dolphins were good. 7/10

Clyde and Seamore, Pirate Island (Sea Lion Show): Really cuute and funny. The actors made jokes about the volunteers, and the sea lions repeated whatever the actors did. 8/10

Fusion (Jet Skiing/Water Skiing/Dancing): Ummmm... there are much better shows in the park... unless you're a guy who wants to see girls do cheesy dances in bikinis. I know this is right up your alley, for some of you. 4/10

Clyde and Seamore, Sea Lions Tonight Show: Hilarious. The Sea Lions are more popular than Shamu, and they parody the other shows in their night show. 9/10.

Ride Reviews:

Kraken: Awesome! An incredible B&M Floorless. So smooth, and 7 awesome inversions! Little or no wait times. 9/10.

Wild Arctic: Meh, just another simulater, but better than SSA. 6/10

Journey to Atlantis: A pretty cool water coaster. Most of it was dark, which made it a lot better. 7/10.

Totals:

Kraken: 16
Wild Arctic: 3
Journey to Atlantis: 4
All shows reviewed above: 1 time each.

NOTES:
Employees were friendly and helpful.
Park was clean.
Sea World could expand... a lot, and add a ride or 2.
100 degree heat.
Food prices are ridiculous... $60 for 6 people to eat Pizza & Pop.
Crowds were moderate.
Kraken's crew was efficent, but needs to learn how to switch trains quicker. We waited 30 extra minutes once because of this.

Day 2: Busch Gardens Tampa

Drove here from Orlando. Left the Sheraton at 11 A.M. got to BGT at Noon, thanks to my Dad going 80 or 85 on the highway. Once again, only ride reviews, not animal exhibits.

Rides:

Sheikra: Great ride, as it was last time I visited. There's nothing like that 90 degree drop and the weightless feeling it gives you. I wish it was longer, though, and had another inversion or two. 8/10

Montu: Phenominal! Definetley my favorite suspended coaster. Seven inversions (maybe even more... not completely sure) and an amazing design with freakin' awesome scenery. 10/10

Kumba: A few years old and slightly shaky in a few spots, but still fantastic. One of those rare B&M steel sitdowns. You have to love it. 9/10

Gwazi (Lion side): There are much better woodies out there. This one is pretty rough, and doesn't have that airtime I like. 5/10

Scorpion: Freaking fast for a little, one-loop coaster. I couldn't even keep my hands up, it went so fast in such a little mount of space! Definetley an interesting ride. 6/10

Python: Sucked... what else can I say? Oh, yeah, I can add that it was 17 seconds long after the chain lift and 10 times rougher than IW. 3/10

Cheeta Chase: Definetley a kiddie coaster. Like a Spinning wild mouse, but no spinning involved, just sharp turns. 6/10

Tanganyika Tidal Wave: Just like Splashwater Falls, but had a longer beginning, before the drop. It was basically 5 minutes of floating around in scenery, and than getting soaked. 7/10

Congo River Rapids: Like Roaring Rapids, but more fun for some reason. There were water squiters popping up everywhere, and getting you much wetter that the rapids themselves. I liked this one a lot, because it got you just as wet as you needed to be. 8/10

Rhino Rally: An African Safari... gone wrong! It's kind of corny, and reminds me a little of Jungle Cruise, only real animals. But the special effects are cool. Nick loved this, because he's 7 years old. That's about the right age group for this ride. 7/10

Totals:
Montu: 6
Sheikra: 4
Kumba: 3
Gwazi: 2
Scorpion: 2
Python:2 (Got a re-ride)
Cheetah Chase: 1
Congo River Rapids: 2
Rhino Rally: 1
Tanganyika Tidal Wave: 1

NOTES:
Crowds were lighter than they were on my October trip to BGT.
Clean park, friendly employees like at Sea World (both owned by Anhauser Busch).
Overpriced like Sea World.
Were only at the park for 7 hours (it closes at seven).
Has some kick @$$ coasters here.
All in all, an excellent park as it was last time. Gets a 9/10 overall.

I highly reccomend buying 2 day Sea World Busch Gardens tickets. They are kinda expensive, but the coasters are great. It was totally worth the money. Plus, the drive is only an hour or 90 mins. from one to the other.

Thanks for reading.

[RVD420]

Kraken = Best Steel Coaster IMHO....I went the first year it came out.

[EagleFan344]

Yay I have inspired a new TR format! I set mine up like this because I mainly like to just include the more important points, not where I stopped to go to the bathroom on the way to the park.

BTW, you set it up great. And good ride totals, people on this site usually finish with 1 or 2 rides on each coaster. Great TR.

[ragingbullchick]

^Thanks. I'm happy you thought of that. I have a hard time not including things like which resturaunts we stopped at, or where the bathrooms are located. This way makes it shorter.

[zjohn1988]

Kraken's crew was efficent, but needs to learn how to switch trains quicker. We waited 30 extra minutes once because of this.

You have to remember Sea World isnt a park made for rides so the maint/ride employees arent going to be as fast fixing break downs or adding/removing trains. But atleast at BGT and SW, ride employees can start/restart their lifts without a key restart. Push down the button to stop the lift, pull it up to restart it..much more efficient than SF.

[FRD714]

Yay I have inspired a new TR format! I set mine up like this because I mainly like to just include the more important points, not where I stopped to go to the bathroom on the way to the park.

BTW, you set it up great. And good ride totals, people on this site usually finish with 1 or 2 rides on each coaster. Great TR.

Im gonna have to agree with the set up. Im definetly doing it like this next time.

[Ilovthevu']

Can you give us a run down of the flats that the park has. Everyone seems to avoid them for some reason. Is it the fact that we have a Scrambler, so on by us so there's no point.

[ragingbullchick]

Sea World = 1 Flat ... I forgot what it's called, but it's exactly like River Rocker.

BGT = 2 flats... Phoenix, which I went on last time I was there, in October, but hated. It's like River Rocker, except slower, and you go upside down, but very slowly. And they hang you upside down at the top for a few seconds, which made the blood rush to my head.

There's also Sandstorm, which is like Triple Play. That was fun in October, but it was closed last time I went there.

There's also some kiddie flat rides at each park.

[zjohn1988]

BGT also has:

The Xtreme Zone, like turbo bungy at Great America.

Ubanga-Banga Bumper Cars

The Serengeti Express, train around the park.

Pygmy Village, a kids area

The Skyride, takes you from one side to another.

Edge of Africa, walk through exhibit to see some animals.

Tut's Tomb, walk through exhibit.

Sifting Sands, large sand pit for kids.

Land of the Dragons, another kids area.

Myombe Reserve, exhibit of monkeys and gorillas.

Stanley Falls Log Flume.

Pirates 4-D.

and then 4 more kiddie rides in the Timbuktu area of the park. (besides Sandstorm and Phoenix).

[Ilovthevu']

^Thanks a lot! I believe that Phoenix sounds just like that Power Dive that we used to have at Six Flags Great America. I do want to go to Busch Gardens now, but I don't want to go to Sea World.

It would sound that I would be bored out of my mind, or leave early because there's only one ride (roller coaster) plus the water ride to do. Doesn't that park have a tower ride (Sky Trek Tower) also?

[Trailblazer Tony]

^Yes it does, but i'm told it costs extra.

Great Trip Report! Glad you had fun and those meals didn't sound any worse than six flags

[zjohn1988]

^yep, just like i said before its $3.00 per person. It is a double decker and its higher than STT.