Busch Gardens – A Place of Wonderful Memories

Busch Gardens is a bit further away from the main Disney Parks but I would strongly advise the extra half an hours or so journey in the car as this park has it all and holds some fantastic memories from each of the times I have been there.

The first time it was just Mike and I and I wanted to go, mainly, to see the White Tigers. For me these are just utterly gorgeous creatures that I was so keen to see up close. I remember walking through the animal area then over this kind of bridge and there you look down on the Tiger’s
enclosure. Not only were there the adult tigers but there were 3 tiger cubs!! Imagine the cutest thing in the world then times it by 100 and you will come somewhere close to what these little guys looked like! They were playing with their trainers (people not the things you wear on your feet!!) and it was amazing to see them. They chased balls and chewed rope and jumped on the trainers and each other and it was exactly like kids playing. I thought that the trainers had the best job in the world but then you see the size of the cubs’ paws, even at this age, and I suddenly wondered if I would actually want that clamping onto my leg or arm and the answer is probably no. Not to mention the teeth!! They are spectacular though and I could have watched them for ages but we obviously wanted to see the rest of the park. There are plenty of thrill rides to please all the adrenalin junkies out there such as the ‘Kumba’ & ‘Gwazi’. The latter is an emense wooden roller coaster that looks amazing. I had never seen a wooden roller coaster before and it really is a sight to see. Needless to say I didn’t go on this ride (being the complete wuss that I am) but I am sure it would satisfy even the most harden coaster buff!!!

The best memory I have from this particular visit is an odd one. Not a ride or show or sight but walking along in the pouring rain not caring at all and killing ourselves with laughter as all around us ran for any cover they could find!! This is not quite as insane as it sounds. We had been on the two water rides at the park, the ‘Congo River Rapids’ (where you sit in a round boat and go down the rapids) and ‘Stanley Falls’ (a log flume ride) and we were fairly ‘damp’ to put it mildly. We then decided to go on the bridge that is at the bottom of the main drop on ‘Stanley Falls’. I was curious as to why a portion of the bridge was covered with a perspex wall and the other portion was not. It became very clear, very quickly as soon as the ‘log’ came down the drop. As the boat hits the water at the bottom, the water is propelled forward, straight into the bridge. For those people behind the perspex, a weird sensation of seeing a wall of water come at you then hit then window and you remain bone dry. For those people NOT behind the perspex…..drenched!!!! And I mean completely. Now, guess where we were standing on the bridge?! Oh yes, no protective wall for us! We had done this at the very end of our visit which was just as well. We were walking back through the park to the exit and it started to pour with rain, Florida style. Now your natural instinct is to run for cover but Mike and I looked at each other and just laughed. We were so utterly soaked already and the rain was just so torrential that there was absolutely no point to sheltering from it so we just walked along the empty paths. It was a real ‘only on holiday’ moment and still an a very poignant one for me. We did pop into a gift shop to buy a towel as some element of drying off in the car was going to be needed. The said towel (white with a huge white tiger face on it obviously) we still use today and it still brings back that exact memory everytime I use it.

The water rides at this park hold more of my favourite memories. When Mike and I went there with our 2 year old and Mike’s parents they all went on the ‘Stanley Falls’ ride. I could not as I was 5 months pregnant at the time so I found myself a peaceful spot on a bench at the bottom of the main drop. It was great people watching as I waited to see my boys and my in-laws come down the ride. I was looking up at the boats starting their descent and trying to pick out the riders. From one boat as it plumeted down the drop came a shrill and piecing scream. I naturally thought this would be my little boy as this was his first ever experience of a ‘big’ ride but when the boat reached the bottom, I was rather surprised to see the riders were in fact my in-laws and the scream had come from my mother in law!!! She had loved the ride and the drop apparently but the scream had just been involuntary!! When Mike and Leo did come down there was not a peep from either of them. Just a huge smiles on both their faces!! That photo is a cherished one to this day.

Of course boys being boys, Mike couldn’t resist taking leo up onto the bridge at the bottom of the ride!!! The inevatable outcome and the purchase of another Busch Gardens towel was the result (that towel is still in use too!) but another unforgettable memory from this truly amazing park. Make sure you visit to make your own lasting memories (and to purchase that all important Busch Gardens towel!!).

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