9th – 12th April
After cramming all our luggage into the car we turned our noses towards Tampa. With a couple of stops along the way, we rolled into our Air BnB just before 4pm. From the outside it looked a little unkempt but inside was lovely and we soon had ourselves organised and a meal on the table for dinner. Everyone is keen for our day at Busch Gardens tomorrow.
We are on the move early Thursday and off to Busch Gardens ready for opening at 10am. Our accommodation is only a few miles away which is really convenient. For those that don’t know Busch Gardens is a family oriented theme park, with rides and animal experiences. Amanda has the day all planned out to make sure we get all the rides done. First two are closed so that throws all planning into chaos and we head straight for Montu. Best get the big ones done first up. I’m not sure what to expect but bravely board the ride along with the others. 2 minutes of twists, turns, speedy corners and screaming we are back at the start and I have conquered the ride. I won’t do it again but I’m still alive. The next ride is not so bad, thankfully. The kids and Mark and Amanda tackle most of the rides throughout the day. Several rides more than once. We all ride the Congo River Rapids and by the end of the ride we are all saturated, luckily it’s pretty warm and over the next hour we dry off. Then it’s the Stanley Falls Flume where once again we get wet. Not quite as wet as the previous ride. By 3.30 Philip and I head back to the car to wait for the others to have their last rides. Montu another 3 times and Cobras Curse another twice. Closing time is 5 pm and we are all finally back at the car ready for the short trip home, tired but exhilarated by the fun day.
Friday morning the olds, Philip and I, are heading off for a drive to Clearwater, while the rest of the family head to Adventure Island Water Park. We drop them at the gate just before opening at 10am and we head off for a leisurely drive to look around the area. A stop at a lovely gourmet market in Dunedin and then out to the coastal areas around Clearwater and south. This area was hit by a hurricane in October 24 and there are still some signs of the destruction about.
We stop for lunch at a little diner just off the beach, then a walk down onto the beach to dip our toes into the water. Miles of beach in both directions with umbrellas, sun chairs, bronzed and not so bronzed bodies and miles of low rise accommodation buildings in every design imaginable hugging the foreshore. We finally turn for home about 3 and are back at the waterpark to pick up a very tired and sunburnt family who have had an awesome day riding the water slides, wave pool and lazy river.
Kaley: yesterday I went to a roller coaster park. First I went on a ride called Montu it was so fun. It had seven loops and it was super fun and crazy. After that we went on a ride that was called cobras curse. the cars on the roller coaster were able to spin around while it was still moving. Another ride we did was Congo river rapids were you get on a raft and go down a rapid that was very bumpy and we got very wet.
Emily: On our first day in Tampa bay, we went to a theme park called Busch Gardens. We went on pretty much all the roller coasters there, and it was amazing! One of my favourite coasters was called Montu, it had seven loops and its one of the rides where you are hanging instead of sitting in a cart. It was awesome and by the end of the day, we had been on it four times! My least favourite ride was a tower one called Falcons fury. You sat in rows of chair and it lifted you up abut 100m above the ground and then tilted you down towards the ground. At this point you were pretty much only relying on the harness to keep you in the seat, then they dropped you down towards the ground really fast, right towards the end the seats tilted back out so they were normal again. Overall it was an amazing day. The next day, we went to a water park called Adventure Island, we were the first people through the gates and the park was pretty much empty. We went on pretty much all of the water slides but my favourite one was called the Colossal curl. It was a four person ride and it had a steep drop and then a high runout point, it was awesome. I went on all the attractions except the fast slide called vanish point where you stand in a chamber and the floor disappears from underneath you. Overall it was a great couple of days.
Tassie Travellers 