Thursday we were all up bright and early for the trip over to Busch Gardens! Ann and Wally's son Matthew went, as did their daughter Christi and her husband Andres. Again we all wore red shirts, so we could keep track of each other! This was our last time to get the "Here's to the Heroes" passes for 4 of us, since it is Bob's last summer on active duty. Busch Gardens is also celebrating the 1 year anniversary of their Sesame Street Forest of Fun, so they were offering free passes to kids under 5. I had to fill something out on line and bring their birth certificates. So we only paid for Caleb and Jonathan! Actually, when we got to the window and laid out all our IDs, birth certificates, etc., the lady working there said they would have "taken care of us" for Caleb and Jonathan, so we didn't need to buy them tickets. But we couldn't have possibly known that, since everything about the program says "up to 4 free tickets"! We can't complain though--$78 for all 9 of us! Even a better deal than last year!
Last year, the weather was absolutely perfect--overcast and cool, looking the entire day as if rain were imminent. Thursday was hot with nary a cloud in the sky. I was so glad I wasn't carrying a nursing baby in a frontpack, like I was last year, or pregnant! Our niece Christi is pregnant, however, so I really felt for her! I always really felt the heat while pregnant. The park was more crowded than last year, but it was still not "crowded", so there was hardly any waiting in line, and everyone could ride as much as they wanted to.
Anna and Grace both enjoyed all the kiddie rides. Anna was tall enough this year to ride the Elmo roller coaster in the Sesame Forest of Fun, so that was VERY exciting and monumental for her, LOL. Grace managed to lose her hat on one of the first rides she rode on. I was bummed because it was a light khaki Old Navy hat of which I have one of every kid size, from 12 months up to medium. But as we were walking out of the park at night, I stopped by Lost and Found, and voila, there it was! Someone had turned it in! I was very excited! I don't think she cared much either way. It wasn't purple, LOL.
Jonathan was still just a hair too short to be able to ride the big roller coasters, much to his disappointment. Here he is on the Battering Ram with Andres and Ann. He said he had a good time when he got off, but Luke, Bob, and Nathan were sitting on the other side of the ram, looking across at him, and they said he looked terrified! I was watching too, and I saw him clutching Andres for dear life! He tells me it was his favorite ride, though, so he did like it!
Caleb could have ridden the roller coasters, but he had no desire to do so. He even held back on some of the other rides. His favorite one was the Roman Rapids, where everyone got soaked. He rode that a few times! The water felt very refreshing!
Luke also held back on the roller coasters, but he rode the other rides. He still likes going in circles, but not the slamming aorund of the g-forces in roller coasters. His favorite ride was also the Battering Ram.
Nathan was a super-coaster rider, riding all the coasters at the park, even the Griffon, a floorless dive coaster. Here is a description: Each train consists of three rows of ten seats. Once strapped in, the loading platform floor drops and a voice recording says, "Now, prepare to enjoy the power and speed of the mythical Griffon!" After a right turn out of the station, riders climb a 45-degree lift hill running about 10 feet per second (6.8 mph), 205 feet up. Then they make another turn to the right and face the Royal Palace Theatre. The trains pause on a holding brake for six seconds before dropping 205 feet at 90° hitting 71 mph. The ride then goes into a 146-foot Immelmann loop before making a sweeping turn upward to the left and into the block brake. Riders will then drop 130 feet down at 87° toward The Rhine River and into another 100-foot Immelmann inversion briefly showing the Loch Ness Monster. Finally, riders will exit a bunny hop into a water splash pool. Each of the three trains produces a different water spray pattern up to 45 feet high. Riders then encounter a small dip just before the final brake run and station.
Andres was the convincing factor here, and he was proved right--they ended up riding it 5 times! First they were in the back row, then the middle, and then 3 times in the very front. Bob said that was really windy, though. It was Nathan's favorite ride.
Bob rode the Griffon and also the Loch Ness Monster, but that was all the roller coasters for him. He did accompany Jonathan and Caleb on a few of the "spider"-type rides, where your car spins around and goes up and down, and he was glad for that to be over!
Faith's favorite thing to do was watch, LOL. She did not want to be in the stroller, but she also was not a big fan of any of the rides. We had to stop 2 of them to get her off! She even fussed on the carousel, sitting with me on a BENCH! After lunch we played for while in the very shallow wading pool area, and she was very happy there. Just as long as no one is making her go in circles or up and down!
As for me, I rode on a few rides. Like the teacups. And one kiddie ride. And, let's see . . . well, the carousel. That's about it. I used to really enjoy going around, like in the teacups. Wednesday night, at the playground, they had these neat little cups on a bent pole, and when you sat in them, you twirled around. It was so fun! I rode around and around! And when I got off, I started not feeling so good, LOL. I had a headache and a bit of a stomachache for the rest of the evening. I never was big into rides, and now it looks like I'm just done. I'm definitely getting old! Hey, someone's got to watch the stroller. (Maybe that's why we keep having babies?!) Here is a picture of Luke in the crazy cup thing at the playground:
We didn't eat lunch until about 2:30. Nathan had been busy Tuesday, so we had a wide selection of dehydrated fare to tide us over--strawbery fruit leather, pineapple, and jerky. Plus, who wants to go on roller coasters after eating lunch? Although after lunch is when the Griffon was ridden, LOL. We had a nice picnic on the grass by our vans. This is a picture of all of us excpet Matthew and me.
Once again we closed out the park. On our way home, we stopped for pizza in Williamsburg at Sal's, like last year, although Sal's is in a different location right now. That's because just shortly after our visit there last year, it burned down! So they are in a temporary locationw hile rebuilding. The pizza was still so good! We were all ravenous, and we consumed 3 extra-large pizzas in very short order. We got back to Ann and Wally's house around 10:30. Everyone slept well that night because we were so exhausted!
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