Vakantie Blog Mehrer: Busch Gardens

Today, the day started just like the other days. Xandrine is sleeping. At about 11AM she finally woke up. I guess she needs it and who blames her, it’s her holiday.

After waking up, she takes her time. She is watching television, the only children’s channel they have in this hotel, Nick. First some series and then the beginning of a movie. After a while, we switched channels to see if there was anything else on and stopped at ESPN where they were about to start the soccer match between The Netherlands and Mexico.

Right about that same time, my parents tried to contact me through Skype. They thought I was online, as my status is Online, whenever I have my email open. Strange stuff that Outlook Webmail. If you ever see me online on Sype, I am probably reading my email.

So I FaceTime called them back and we had quite a good connection for quite a while. After that call we continued to watch part of the match and during the match we also FaceTime called with Wlly who just bought dinner for her and her sister. Thai food. We, Xandrine and I, ha not had breakfast, brunch or lunch jet. We FaceTie called a while and during our call, Janneke also got a call from the US, but then the West Coast, where Jeroen was staying.

We said hello to Jeroen from the East Coast, through The Netherlands, to the West Coast, where Xandrine also showed that we were watching the soccer game. We all could witness the 1-0 for Mexico during the call.

After the FaceTime call, we brushed our teeth and left the hotel room for a very late breakfast. We were going to the Holy Hog, a BBQ restaurant in Tampa. The only one which is open on Sunday, on Henderson Boulevard. When we arrived there was plenty of room and is was near 100 Fahrenheit outside. Xandrine ordered sausage with mac & cheese and I had a combo of burnt ends, brisket, pulled pork and ribs.

The sausage was tender and tasted very good. The ribs were overdone, fall of the bone ribs. Taste was ok, but not much more than that. The brisket was juicy and very tender. Taste was very good and it had a nice smoke flavour on it. The pulled pork was very nice as well. Some fat parts, but most of it was tender, juicy and had good smoke flavour. Their sauces come in sweet (or normal) and hot variants. I like a bit of a kick, so I prefer the spicy. It was avery nice sauce. And then the burnt ends. They are candy. They taste like candy, smell like candy and I hardly could stop eating them. I had to, as my stomach was full. In all, it was a good choice to start the day, although being late in the afternoon. We watched The Netherlands score twice during our “breakfast”, so the Dutchies made it to the next round.

On the news the rest of the day (and late in the evening) they were talking about the way Robben drew a foul, which gave them a PK and ticket to the next round. We finished our food and headed to Busch Gardens, to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening. Busch Gardens is open until 9PM, so we still have a couple of hours to spend.

Being a platinum pass holder, gives us the privilege to park closer to the entrance and walk straight through the entrance avoiding having to buy tickets. (Oh and parking is included in the pass holders pass.) In the park I got my first Starbucks Coffee for this vacation. A nice, cold, Ices Latte Macchiato. And taking our SeaWorld cup into the park also has it’s benefits, as this way we can save a bit, as we can get refills for $0.95, all day long.

From there we walked around the park and checked out the show Iceploration in the Morocan Palace. This show tells a story of a modern boy who will go on an exploration mission with his grandfather, who is not into modern technology. All very nicely done. Great performers on ice. The show takes about 20 minutes and after that, we left the palace and evening was about to set in.

We walked further into the park where we wanted to go on the Skyride, but unfortunately this ride was closed due to weather conditions. We had a very nice and warm afternoon and evening, with nothing more than just a few raindrops. Apparently enough reason for them to cancel rides, better to be (very) safe than sorry.

So instead of taking the ride, we walked through the park and saw some animals in the park. They all seemed to suffer from the heat, as there was not much activity going on. Lions were laying around. Hyena’s were walking back and forth. We took the Rhino Rally (twice) and saw a couple of elephants eating and enjoying water. We saw some other animals, but they were a bit lazy today. From there we walked by the tigers, who were very calm. Very nice.

Xandrine also went on a kids plane ride twice and we continued our journey which ended at the Gwazi Pavilion for the special event of this summer, Kinetix. A wonderful show with acrobats, dancers and singers and followed by a fireworks display. By the time that ended, it was close to 9:30PM and time to head back to the car and back to the hotel. In the hotel we ate some midnight snacks, cherry’s and grapes and went to bed. Tomorrow a special event for Xandrine, a surprise she still is not aware of. Hope she will love it.