67 Days of Smiles

Since day one  of our 67 days we were hoping to make it to Busch Gardens.  I’ve known about Gwazi, Kumba and Montu since they were first built and I was like a kid in a candy store when I finally got to see them in person!  Gwazi was rough and fast, with lots of unexpected twists and turns… exactly what a wooden rollercoaster should be.  Kumba was just beautiful.  The way the ride intertwines with itself is an engineering marvel.  Montu was INTENSE!  It just never let up!  Then came the big daddy of them all, our favorite ride at the park: Shiekra.  Shiekra takes you to the top of its hill and then hangs you over the edge staring straight down… 90 degrees… before dropping you.  It’s just so smooth and so thrilling at the same time.  Go to the park just to ride this ride, you will not be dissapointed.  It’s easily one of my favorite rides we’ve been on in our 67 days.

On top of all of the great coasters that Busch Gardens offers, we also got to experience Howl-O-Scream.  I have to say we were so impressed with it.  They may not have had the massive budget of Universal Studios, but they got really creative with their scares.  For instance, in one of the scare zones they had guys dressed up as werewolves that were attached to bungees.  As you walked by they would jump out from the trees  at you only to get pulled back into the darkness again before you even realized what happened.  Our favorite part of Howl-O-Scream were the unexpected scares.  Normally for Halloween events, parks have designated “scare zones” with smoke, lights and signs to let you know people are going to scare you.  Busch Gardens, however doesn’t always provide you with that convenience.  Stacey and I were just casually walking through a dimly lit section of the park, admiring the ducks in a pond nearby, when a man dressed all in black came charging at us from behind the bushes.  I screamed like a baby.  It was THE best scare we had in all of the haunted attractions we’ve been to.  Way to go Busch Gardens!