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Our visit to busch gardens started early in the morning at about 8:00 we needed to leave Port Charlotte to make sure we got to Busch Gardens when it opened at 10:00. Contrary to what you might think we were able to get out of the house by 8 and on the road, however Julie needed gas in her car and some coffees so we stopped at a gas station called PURE, there was no line up but we did not get out of there until 8:30, I don't really know what took so long but apparently the coffee was horrible and tasted like it was sitting all day, so it was not the coffee being freshly brewed. Finally we were off again, now the GPS was telling us we would not be there until 10:30, this did not sit well with the Boss, so I had to do some super navigating with short cuts, however I had one in my back pocket to get on the interstate. So to Dana all of a sudden I turned right and the GPS told me to go straight, "where are you going?", "this way dear". That was the end of it and it shaved 15 minutes off. the last 15 minutes were also shaved off by going about 5 miles over the posted speed limit. When approaching Busch gardens the signs are saying one way and the GPS is telling us a different way, apparently we were navigating to the Busch Gardens marketing office not the park.
Once we parked, we were one of the first 1000 people at the park we got on this tram to take us into the park, and since Shawn is the best line picker ever, he chose the worst line ever. The line on both sides of us were moving but we were not. Eventually we got into the park and away we went!
Timeline:
10:05 - Beer fiasco
10:30 - Train fiasco, it was broken after we waited in line.
11:30 - Lunch fiasco
1:30 - Skyway fiasco
3 to 4 - The rest of the beer fiasco and Pizza Fiasco
Ride home - soother fiacso

Don't get me wrong it was a fun day and we will definately go back, we just had a few problems which I intend to email them about.

Train fiasco - The major thing David wanted to do was go on the train and go see all the African animals, so we trecked over to the Stanleyville train station, which looked to be the closest spot to the free beer. It was also right at the base of this Dive coaster, SheiKra. So we waited until the train arrived, we wait about 30 minutes or so, finally the train arrives and the guy tells us there are technical problem with the train but we can take it to the next stop where they would fix it. At the next stop we are instructed to get off so we decide to eat. On this short trip we saw may be 4 or 5 animals.

Lunch fiasco - So here we are at this hut, it is the only place near, all they have is funnel cake, hot dog platter and a turkey leg platter. The turkey leg looked revolting, the funnel cake is like a beaver tail so I choose the $7 hotdog, big mistake. I have never seen a hotdog this color in my life! I was hungry so I had to eat it. The good thing was no-one got sick from it. Then after we finished the lunch we tried to get on the train again but since it was not working earlier now it is full and we can't get on it!

Skyway fiasco - So we thought there is another way to go and see the african animals, we could take the skytram, like a see lift, so we walked all the way over there to get on it, guess what. It was down due to technical problems. Well of course we can't do this now either. So we look over to the right and there is the train, again, it is broken down again, this time it is blocking the entrance into the animal section, so we had to wait for the train to get working again, finally the train was working again and it moved out of the way so we entered the animal section, this was pretty neat that is for sure, and was worth the admission alone!

Pizza fiacso - So we decided to head over the the beer section to get our next beer and while we were there David wanted to have a piece of pizza, so mommy went and bought him a 7 dollar pizza, it also came with fries! We needed a place to sit down so Dana walked over to where there was an open table. As she walked over there and paid attention to not falling down the stairs, many people started to yell at her, then a pack of mean birds (sea gulls) attacked her pizza and took it right off the tray and they did not touch a single french fry. David and daddy were very upset. David must have told this story back to us about his "pizza, pepperoni pizza being eaten by the bad bad bird, a bad bad bird swooped down and took my pizza" I guess this happens quite often because Julie went in to get another piece of pizza, and it was free :). I did not go in because I would have said something I might regret!

After this Julie and Shawn went on a couple of rides and mommy and daddy went to the play area with David and Daniel, this play area was huge and an adult could also play on it too. That was the best part. David was all over the place running around over these mesh/rope sketchy bridges, he had a lot of fun! This in itself was also worth the money.

Dana and I also decided to go on a rollercoster, SheiKra, The highlight of the coaster was 200ft straight up climb and the 200ft 90 degress vertical drop, but if that was not enough, it leaves you hanging out over the edge for about 5 seconds, then away you go. it was crazy!

On the drive home, Daniel had lost his soother so he was not happy for about 30 to 40 minutes, I now know how the Haggerty's feel when they are travelling, however eventually he fell asleep and we headed home.

As part of the admission fee you can go to guest services and ask for a second day for free, so we did, hopefully we will be going back within the next week and that the train will be working again.

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