Wow! What a day! I can’t wait to tell you about it. I spent all day, through sunshine and rain at Busch Gardens.

I drove about an hour from Ocala to Tampa Bay and thus arrived at about 11am. They had three options for parking and I considered all three.

The first option was valet parking. I drive up to the lot, some stranger gets into my car and parks it some place. Upside is that I don’t have to walk far to get to my car. Downside is some stranger has full access to all my things, and I can’t get to my car as easily as I’d like (food, water, change of clothes, gear).
Second was regular parking. Upside, its the cheapest option. Downside is to get to the lot I’d have to wait for a trolly to come pick me and 50 other people up, and then same drill to go back to my car. Convenient for those who pack light and don’t need to go back and forth to their vehicles for whatever. Do you see where I’m going with this?
Option three was jusssst right. It had a combination of both. It was called VIP parking. One pays a little extra to have access to the closer lot where its just a minute or two walk from the gate, full access to my own car, whereas no one else does, and …yeah. Just what I needed.

After I got my ticket, I was given, as a bonus, an extra ticket to use in the next 6 days. ‘Cool’ I thought. ‘I’ll check out Busch Gardens again in a week on my way out of Florida. I grabbed a map and went on my first ride.

I don’t even remember what it was called, but it had two versions. The tiger, and the lion version. I think they mirrored one another. I went on the lion to start. I couldn’t remember much except that it was pretty much an all wooden ride. I was holding on tight, not because the ride was thrilling, but because I thought the roller coaster was going to fall apart any second. Something made me think the thing was over 100 years old!

After I git off, it was time to try the other version. I ran down, swung around and…was denied access. It had started to rain. Apparently the park has the rule that if storm clouds are within 5 miles, all rides are off until the storm has passed. So I waited, and waited, and w..I got tired of waiting. I didn’t think it was a total loss because I had the second free ticket. Some of you may be wondering why I didn’t go get my money back. Well, they have a rule for that too. No refunds.

I sat around for a while, and considered leaving if the weather wouldn’t improve in the next hour, but I overheard the other park attendants say that the rides are closed, but the other attractions are still open. ‘Other attractions’, I thought? Splendid! I went back to my car to grab my camera gear.

Grabbing a map on the way in this time, my first destination was the chimp/gorilla exhibit. I felt so sorry for the animals, plucked out of their natural habitat or born into these “reserves”. They did however mention over the course of the exhibits, as well as the tiger magician in Las Vegas that had it not been for their reservations then the existing population in and out of captivity would be greatly smaller than it already is. So, be that as it may, it’s still a sad existence.

After the ape section I followed the roadway which led me to otters, hundred year old tortoises, flamingos and other birds, amphibians and reptiles. I got some nice macro shots. Nearby was a train station where the train took you all along the outer rim of the park (rather than walking). I hopped aboard and reached the other side, where Shiekra was located. By that point the weather got better and rides opened up. I couldn’t, scratch that, I wouldn’t being my camera gear to the rides so I shot some more photos of animals along the way to the car. By that point I had been drenched in my own juices, it was so hot. Having your whole closet with you (exaggeration) has its advantages. I dried off with a towel, and changed into some dry clothes and left my gear behind to do some rides.

The mirror of the Tiger ride was the first I tackled. Eventually I went on every (worthwhile) ride. My sister and folks insisted I give Shiekra a try. The roller coaster gets to a point up high where it dangles you over a sheer drop, then..drops you. It was an ok ride I thought. I much preferred the ride in the Egyptian part of the theme park.

I put a pause on the rides for a bit while I had some late lunch out of my car, and replenish my fluids. As I walked back through the park, I stopped by the wallaby (sp?) and kangaroo enclosure. I got to pet these timid creatures and left for Shiekra once more. I ended up going on that ride 7 times before the park shut down. I developed a method to add some extra excitement to my drop. The seats consist of an overhead bar that comes down and incrementally locks in place the closer you bring it to your chest. But just in case the locking mechanism fails, it has a seat belt style lock that fastens to your seat. Admittedly, the first time I tried the ride I pulled that bar as close to my chest as I could. Eventually I ended up with sitting in their “larger person” seat, with the first increment locked and seat belt in place. It was very loose, but still completely safe as to fall out, I’d have to have shoulders narrow enough to fit through the hole where my head goes through. The effect? Once at the very top, after teetering over the edge, the plummet felt like I was actually free falling. A controlled free fall, if you will. My butt lifted right out the seat. For maximum effect, I let go, and stuck my hands out as if falling. Wicked wicked ride!
Seven wicked rides. Kept going until they kicked me and everyone else out of the park.

I didn’t go very far (10-15 minute drive). I drove to the Flying J truck stop off Hwy 404 and crashed in the car.

After having such an eventful day, I had no troubles crashing.

Total driving for that day,
Ocala, FL to Tampa, FL: 106.8 m