Christmas Town at Busch Gardens Tampa

My family and I visited Busch Gardens Christmas Town on this year's opening day, November 28th.  My boys were thrilled that their oldest brother and his son joined us for the day at Busch Gardens.

After parking and riding the tram to the park's front entrance, we were greeted by playful elves and stacks of huge ornaments.  I noticed lights and garland decorated the ticket booths and awnings.

Christmas Town transformed Busch Gardens Tampa into a holiday wonderland.  I hadn't realized that the entire park was Christmas Town (instead of a small area within the park). We found lights, carols and tasty treats of the season.  All of the shows were reformatted to have a Christmas theme. Even the park map was replaced with a Busch Gardens Christmas Town map.

Thousands of twinkling lights surrounded many of the Busch Gardens' trees.  Holiday characters, like snowmen, spread cheer throughout the park.  Enormous Christmas trees decorated seasonally named areas like Three Kings Oasis and Christmas Time Terrace.  I loved the organic nativity scene, made of plants and straw.

A 50-foot tree light show that came to life every ten minutes

The sign reads "The tradition of Christmas lights comes from early Christians who displayed lit candles to represent that Jesus is the light and hope of the world".

Live band in Holiday Hills

I was excited to board the Christmas Town Express sing-a-long train!  I sang along to my favorite holiday songs until I had tortured my 10 year old enough (he was lucky enough to sit next to me).

Christmas Town Village was the perfect spot to buy gifts or yummy holiday treats like warm cookies, hot chocolate, or waffles.  My boys enjoyed watching the electric trains go around and around.  The younger kids could go for a ride on the Jingle Bell Express next to the electric trains.

Our entire family had a wonderful day visiting Busch Gardens Christmas Town.  Dylan even wanted a Santa hat tiger to remember the day (his words as he talked me into buying him a souvenir).

Busch Gardens Christmas Town is open 23 select dates from Nov. 28 through Dec. 31, 2014. You may experience all of the Christmas celebrations throughout the day with your park admission.  Park closing times range from 8pm to 9pm throughout the event.

Disclaimer: I was given 4 tickets to Busch Gardens as a Busch Gardens Ambassador.  All opinions are my own.

A Day at Busch Gardens Tampa

This month my family and I visited Busch Gardens Tampa.  We had not been to the local theme park in a couple of years so it was fresh and exciting for my boys.  The weather was perfectly cool with a clear blue sky and warm sunshine.

I simply love Busch Gardens!  Being a Tampa native, roller coaster junkie, animal lover and former employee, I've visited Busch Gardens more times than I can count. I know this park from top to bottom and enjoyed the recent changes since the last time we visited.

The biggest change was Timbuktu became Pantopia.  The new vivid colors and building decorations were fantastic!  Timbuktu was always a hot area with plain brown buildings that blindingly, reflected the sun.  Not anymore, now that it changed into Pantopia, it was cool and colorful with more shade trees, decorative water fountains, and less cacti.  I loved the theming!

Pantopia was also home to Busch Gardens' new ride Falcon's Fury.  My husband, Mike, and my 10 year old, Dylan, went on Falcon's Fury but Jared and I sat out that time around.  Dylan was impressed that he could see over Sheikra from the top of Falcon's Fury at 335 ft in the air.  Then, the ride turned their seats face down to prepare for the drop at 60 mph.  Mike and Dylan were a little nervous at first, but thoroughly enjoyed the 5-6 second free fall.

Also new to Pantopia was Opening Night Critters which featured rescued dogs, cats, birds, a rat, horse, and kangaroo.  My boys loved seeing the rescued animals have fun on stage with their human co-stars.  They even got to meet some of the furry stars after the show.



I love the intense look of love in Dylan's eyes

Of course we couldn't miss all of the animals.  I always loved the nocturnal cave and the meerkats.  My boys loved seeing the hyena up close and personal.  After seeing the hyena's hair and spots, they thought our newest dog, Rocco, might be part hyena.  He certainly acts like a wild animal!!



Meerkat on a mound posed with my boys

 

And last but not least, the Busch Gardens' roller coasters.  This was Dylan's first ride on the big coasters.  The last time we visited Busch Gardens, he was not tall enough.  He rode those coasters like a pro!  Montu was his favorite with it's 60 ft vertical loop, Immelman loop, zero-G roll and intense 3.85 G pull.  Dylan road Montu 5 times!

My favorite coaster at Busch Gardens was Cheetah Hunt.  This coaster started with a 30 mph launch that took us up, around and down a big drop.  Cheetah Hunt launched us two more times with a top speed of 60 mph and 4 Gs.



Boys ready to ride Cheetah Hunt

Cheetah Hunt

Jared and Dylan even got me to ride Sheikra again.  Its 200 feet high, 90 degree drop down at 70 mph, freaked me out in the past.  But I rode it for my boys and it wasn't as scary as I remembered.  The back row was better for me so I didn't have to look over the edge for those agonizing 5 seconds before the first drop.  It was a gorgeous day to be at Busch Gardens Tampa!



Sheikra

Are you a roller coaster junkie or animal lover?

Disclaimer: As a Busch Gardens Tampa Ambassador, I received 4 tickets to the park.  All opinions are my own.