Busch Gardens - Spring Break Part 2

It's about time I get around to this. Yikes.

After we left Myrtle Beach (see below), we stopped in Williamsburg on the way home for our yearly trip to Busch Gardens. Anheiser Busch is very good to the military. Once a year we can go to one of their parks (Sesame World, Busch Gardens or Sea World) for free. This year, we cashed in some of Trent's accumulated hotel points from his trips to London, and we not only got our admission for free, we got our hotel for free. Hooray for that! That is why we don't have a problem paying for parking or for the over priced food in the park.

The last couple of years we went to Busch Gardens, it ended up being a cloudy and chilly day, and there was hardly anyone at the park. This time, it was warm, the sun was out, and there were more people. We still didn't wait horribly for anything though, so that was nice.

New as of last year, one of our first stops in the park is now the Forest of Fun which is designed for the little people and has a sesame street theme. The kids love the Grover roller coaster there and like the other rides as well. All three of them can and will ride them, so I didn't have to go on the Oscar ride or the Elmo spire, which was nice.

Ashley worked to make sure Sammy and Jon were buckled in and then found herself without an open seat.

She rode the next time around.

The girls on Oscar's whirly twirly ride. Jon tends to opt for more mellow things for the most part.

I love this bush. I think I should have one in my yard. No?

Among the characters we met were Cookie Monster, who at Busch Gardens is still the cookie monster and not the veggie monster.

and Grover

Zoe

and Abby Cadabby.

This year, Sammy finally hit the magic over 42 inch mark and had a purple bracelet. That opened up so many more options for her, and she has been long awaiting many of these options. Last year she was 41 inches and change. It was a disappointing blow for her and for Trent. This year, she put that purple wrist band on, and Trent finally has a roller coaster partner. She can't go on the really big ones yet, but she got right on Escape from Pompeii with her dad and loved every minute of it.

Going up

Coming down.

When we went into Ireland, we had an episode of tear inducing disappointment. Ashley's favorite ride at Busch Gardens was always Corkscrew Hill. It is one of those rides where you wear 3-D glasses and sit in a box type thing and they play a movie, and that the box shakes and moves around. The story that goes along with it is that you shrunk to the size of a leprechaun, and two boys pick up a box of little people and shake it around and take it up to the witch at the top of the hill etc. etc. Though I don't necessarily love it, it was Ashley's favorite. We went to that ride only to find it has been permanently closed. They are now using that space for a 3-D tour of Europe type ride. I think that sounds fun, but the experience made Ashley cry and then mope for the next 20 to 30 minutes. She kept explaining that Ireland was the wrong place to put that ride. They should put it in the England or France of Germany section. She repeatedly talked of writing a very angry letter to the manager etc. Trent took her on a similar 3-D motion ride called the Curse of Darkastle. That was enough to get rid of the moping. She did continue to talk about writing that letter though.


Did I mention one of the nicest parts of the kids being old enough to go on many of the rides themselves? It is not having to ride the teacup ride. :)


Trent made himself sick on the viking ship ride, so it was a nice time for the kids to go on some of the DaVinci kid rides they like so much. Jon was so excited about the flyers. The first time, he and Sammy were just far enough back in line that they had to settle for a sitting flyer. Jon was fine with that, but he got back in line with Ashley so that he could ride again on a laying down flyer. They were mindful of their manners and didn't push, and, as a result, rode in a sit down flyer. Jon spent the entire time with this head in his hands. I got in line with him one last time while the girls went on another ride. This time he didn't push, but he adopted some of the behavior he saw around him and ran as fast as he could through the gate and got on a laying down flyer. He was happy.





It was a great day. We spent 8 hours at Busch Gardens which is far more than we have before. I guess they are all old enough for that now. Ashley still hasn't written her letter, but I am not so sure she still won't.