TR: Busch Gardens Tampa (9/29/2013)

In the land of never ending summer, our “coaster season” was coming to a close. We didn’t have plans or interest in doing anything else this fall, which meant that this day in September would be when we packed it in and got ready for the long winter. And if you’re gonna pick a theme park to celebrate love of the roller coaster, man, there’s few better options than Busch Gardens Tampa. Just a little over an hour away from Orlando’s tourist district and a really easy ride from our hotel (Westin Universal Blvd), given the close proximity we had to I-4. It was kinda a bummer to take such quick leave of our nice room, but we had to jet.

TR: Pre-cruise – Busch Gardens Tampa (7/17/10)

My wife and I decided to bounce from the US once again, and for the third time in 3 years, it involved a cruise ship. This trip also featured the first time I had cruised with Carnival, having previously sailed with Norwegian and Royal Caribbean.This cruise was a huge departure for me; Carnival had been a cruise line I actively avoided fearing a ton of pre-concieved notions regarding it. Traditional dining was always something we actively avoided. A cruise that would undoubtedly feature children had been a huge turnoff. And yet, we booked it anyways. My wife was ready to have fun no matter what, but I can’t deny that even coming up to it, I felt trepidation. Not only just for the ship, but for going to Busch Gardens on a Saturday in July.

To alleviate some of our worries, we chose to indulge. With the ship, we put ourselves in a balcony cabin. This was squarely in the middle of our last experiences (a minisuite for NCL, an inside for RCCL), and would allow us to get sun without subjecting ourselves to the insanity of Lido Deck. For Busch Gardens, we splurged and got all day eating wristbands as well as line cutting passes. We even indulged ourselves with the hotel, choosing to stay at the Marriott located inside the Tampa Airport (always wanted to nerd out and eat breakfast while planes take off in view). All those choices paid dividends.

TR: Ocean City MD & Busch Gardens Europe (6/23-6/25/07)

PREFACE: In case you’re wondering, this was a brief trip over to Ocean City, MD and BGW/BGE/whatever. I’m gonna skip over the problems my girlfriend had with Northwest this weekend, though that was the biggest story of all. The abbreviated version is that all her flights were cancelled at some point or another thanks to the problems Northwest has had with staffing. They’ve probably lost our business for a few years.

TR: Busch Gardens Williamsburg/Paramount’s Kings Dominion (3/26-27/2004)

BGW:

So I finally got to ride Apollo’s Chariot, getting me that last B&M Hyper. And it was pretty damn good. Just behind Nitro, and far ahead of Raging Bull and Silver Star. The dumpover into the helix rocked, and there was a lot of air, even with the block being on.

Alpengeist runs ahead of Montu at the moment, and is situated just behind Raptor and Nemesis for my favorite inverteds. Sure, the block was on heavy, and the final turn isn’t much, but the rest is at a fantastic speed, even at night.

Loch Ness is a fine ass ride. Big Bad Wolf reminded me how friggen good it is. That last turn propells it far beyond Vortex into my favorite suspended spot.

PKD:

No Hypersonic. It was down all Sunday. We gave up around 5:30ish when we went on Grizzly and saw no one even working on it or at the station.

The wood was a little squealy, but overall fine. Grizzly, of course, was the best of the bunch, regardless of what my friend Will says. <g>

Volcano (another first time ride for me) was excellent. The rolling launch is great, but it needs way more sweeping drops like the finale. FOF, like the PKI version, is greatly improved. I wish the block wasn’t on as heavily. Drop Zone was also good, even without the spinning ascent.

Shockwave put bruises on my pelvic area, leading me to swear off Togo’s forever. Or at least try to stand differently next time. Other than that, the ride would have been pretty tits. The dump over into the helix is disgusting standup air. I had completely forgotten about it.

Anaconda is still good. So is Avalanche. In fact, Avalanche is now definitely my second favorite bobsled coaster, just behind Blackpool’s. Its the closest thing to it on these shores.

That’s all. Expect another brief update in a month or so on 2/3 of the TX Triangle (SFOT, SWOT, SFFT, and the Fiesta celebration/Wade Shows).