The rest of our Florida vacation
I’ve already discussed how much our family loved Sea World and how Cocoa Beach helped me realize that I’m not a big fan of beaches. We also visited two other parks as part of our Sea World experience: Aquatica and Busch Gardens.
Aquatica
We had fun there. Spent half a day playing in the water, which was our plan. We finished the day at Sea World. One of the nifty little things we discovered was that while parking at Sea World is $15, it’s only $12 at Aquatica and your parking receipt at Aquatica is valid at Sea World for the rest of the day!
While we had fun playing in the splash park area and zooming through the lazy river rapids (or whatever that ride is called), we didn’t take any pictures. Didn’t want to get the camera wet. I know. You’re disappointed.
I did realize that I’m turning into an old man while I was there. And I’m pretty OK with that. I walked around in a t-shirt with a ball cap on. No way was I going to get sunburned.
Busch Gardens
On Thursday, we took a free shuttle to Busch Gardens in Tampa. While there are certain advantages to using this shuttle, like saving money on gas and parking, there are also some disadvantages. The shuttle picked us up nearly an hour late. And we had to be back in the bus by 7 p.m. It’s tough doing trying to do an amusement park on someone else’s schedule. But we managed. And we had a good time.
We met up with the Newlands, who are friends of our from Milligan. It was great getting the inside scoop about Busch Gardens (they have season passes). It was also fun watching our kids hang out with their kids. The most memorable part, however, might be the flamingo that wanted Brent’s phone.
Some other highlights from Busch Gardens include (but aren’t limited to)….
Meeting Big Bird
Riding the Super Grover Roller Coaster
Aly catching a lizard
Love love LOVE the expression on her face!
Seeing some really cool animals
Watching a two-toed sloth actually MOVE
As you can see, our day was jam-packed full of fun. And it turned out to be a good thing that we had to be back at the bus by 7, anyway. A storm came through and shut everything down for quite a while. We wouldn’t have been able to ride any more rides. So we weren’t missing anything.
On the way home, we followed the NBA Draft with some other families. I was glad to hear about some very familiar names as top four picks. We’re quite proud of Vic and Cody – even though I’m not quite ready to say I’m a fan of the Bobcats!
Oh – and we went back to Sea World the next day.
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I loved looking at all of the great photos! Florida looks like the perfect place to take the kids for the most fun-filled vacation!
Yes it is. But I think you already know that. 😉