Happy September-ween!

At Disney World, you are allowed to celebrate holidays as long as the actual holiday falls within 2 months of the day you're celebrating it.  This also applies for birthdays and anniversaries, which explains why everyone and their dog always has one of those buttons on.  Therefore, Halloween begins in early September and Christmas will start the day after Halloween.  But honestly, you won't see me complaining.

These early celebrations are some of the best times to hit up the parks and experience all the magic with their special holiday events, shows, characters, and fireworks.  Additionally, Disney offers discounted tickets to these events if you go earlier in the season, rather than attempting to cram yourself into the park on October 31st or December 25th (Warning:  Do NOT go to Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day.  You will end up hating Christmas, Disney, and humanity for the rest of time.)  So we decided to go on the 20th while tickets were cheaper and when they party was less crowded.  I would like to thank my friend DorisAnne for letting me use some of the pictures she took as well.

Every year, Disney has an event they call Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party.  Unlike Fright Fest at Six Flags or Halloween Horror Nights at Universal, this party provides no terrifying haunted houses, gory zombies, or anything even remotely scary.  Instead of incredibly detailed scare zones and make-up, you get the opportunity to meet all kinds of characters, get lots of candy, and see special shows.  For me, I was most excited about the Happy HalloWishes firework show.  I'm definitely a sucker for fireworks and admittedly go to the parks a lot for the sole purpose of watching them.

The fireworks did not disappoint, either.  The show featured a lot of music from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and the Haunted Mansion ride.  Near the end of the show, the narrator invited everyone to "scream along" with the show as they kicked off the finale.  Everyone screamed for about 3 seconds, but then went into complete awe as they busted out the perimeter fireworks.  There are few things that are more awesome than being completely surrounded by fireworks shooting off in all directions.  Needless to say, I got a little teary-eyed.  The show was great; the fireworks the great; everything was great.  It was well worth the cost.  Sorry for not taking any pictures of the show, but I didn't want to miss anything while fiddling with a camera.

Before the fireworks started, they showed the castle-projection spectacular called "Celebrate the Magic."  You may have seen me post a few scenes from this show on Facebook or Instagram.  It's an awesome show with a lot of creative images and effects.  Since the beginning of September, the show saw a few changes with new scenes from The Lion King and Jungle Book, but it also added a special villains portion.  I kind of wish it focused more on the villains, but the show is still really cool.

Good 'ol Chernabog from Fantasia.  He is kind of hard to see, but he's the large, back figure with yellow eyes.  Maleficent in her dragon form also makes an appearance.    

Are you reaaaady? Are you reaaady?  Supposedly this is from Princess and the Frog, but I don't get what all the machinery is for.  Voo Doo machines, maybe?

This scene only needs a two word introduction:  BODY LANGUAGE! 

In place of the nightly Electrical Parade, the park puts on a special Boo-to-You! parade.  It features a lot of characters dressed up for a Halloween party and includes a lot of Disney villains as well.  Additionally, there was a segment from the Haunted Mansion, compete with the gravekeeper and his dog, gravediggers, and hitchhiking ghosts.  One of the coolest parts of the parade was the beginning.  They had the headless horseman ride out and down the parade route to lead the way for the show.  A lot of pictures we took didn't turn out all that great, so I guess you'll just have to see it in person some day ;)

There were a lot of really cool character meet-and-greets as well.  In addition to normal characters dressed up in Halloween outfits, there were also exclusive characters that you could only meet at this event.  The most popular characters by far were Jack Skellington and Sally from "The Nightmare Before Christmas".  We got in line to meet them at a good time and ended up only waiting about half an hour.  When we got up there to meet them, Jack commented on our shirts.  The week before, DorisAnne went to a special Friday the 13th event at Hollwood Studios where they had a whole bunch of Disney villains, special shows, and exclusive event merchandise.

Unfortunately, the event was completely out of control and the staff was totally unprepared for how many people showed up.  My friend said there weren't any actual queues to meet characters so people were just throwing themselves at the characters, trying to snap a picture with them.  I had wanted to go after work that day, but traffic was backed up 2 hours in every direction.  So I said, "Nope.  Going home.  Watching some TV.  Going to bed."  Anyhow, back to the story:  Upon seeing our shirts, Jack said, "Oh you went to the Friday the 13th event?  Nice to see you made it out...alive."  It was priceless.  Jack and Sally also commented on DorisAnne's hair ribbon and said Sandy Claws must have given it to her.  Overall, they were a lot of fun.

The Queen of Hearts also took it upon herself to snap a selfie.  

The Not-So-Scary Halloween party may not give you the adrenaline rush of being chased by mummified, zombie werewolves in a disorienting, fog-ridden maze, but it certainly had a lot of magical, feel-good moments.  I was glad to have experienced it, and I look forward to attending the party again next year.  I can't wait to see what kind of festivities are in store for the Christmas season!

Bonus Picture Time:

Relaxation Central

So apparently I haven't posted anything in three months.  Somehow I thought it had only been two, and I guess that was an acceptable amount of time to go without updating my blog.  But three?  Well, I will have to try and make this a good one!

Let the hunt begin!

So since I moved to Orlando, I have been wanting to go and visit Busch Gardens in Tampa.  I had never been to that park before, but it always seemed really cool (lots of roller coaster).  However, I wanted to go when the park wouldn't be too busy, and I would be able to ride everything multiple times.  Well today turned out to be the perfect day.  Even though weather predicted rain in the afternoon, we didn't get a single drop while we were there.  Since it was my first time there, I made sure we arrived early enough to get in line for the popular rides before they got flooded with people.  So, having looked up all the rides beforehand, I figured we should start with Cheetah Hunt.  

Since we were some of the first people in the park, there wasn't a wait for this ride at all.  Actually, there wasn't a wait for anything at all, even later in the day.  I literally mean we maybe waited 5 minutes on one ride and everything else was a walk-on.  If you want to go on vacation to a theme park(s), plan on going on a September weekday while everyone is in school.  The parks are nearly dead and you won't be clawing your eyes out while waiting in 120 minutes queues.  Anyway, back to the story...

Cheetah Hunt is Busch Gardens' newest coaster, opening just a couple years ago.  I think I was most excited about this coaster, since it was built by the same company (Intamin) that created Maverick at Cedar Point, which is one of the best rides I've ever experienced.  Cheetah Hunt turned out to be a very relaxing and enjoyable ride.  There's only one inversion, and most of the ride is banked turns or dives.  It also features multiple launches, which usually startle the unsuspecting first-timers.  On a scale of 1 to Cheetastic, I'd give it a "pretty awesome".  

Next stop was the B&M invert Montu.  Now if you know me, you probably know how I feel about B&M inverts.  In case you weren't sure, I don't really care much for them. The reason being that most of them have the exact same layout which is based on the first ever B&M invert "Batman: The Ride" at Six Flags Great America.  That being said, I have a biased opinion against any B&M invert.  However, Montu turned out to be a great ride with a lot of unique ride features.  Also, the scenery was cool and moderately-well themed.  I especially liked how part of the ride was below ground level.  

When I first saw Scorpion, I was surprised at how small it was.  Busch Gardens' web page makes it look like something on the same level as Shockwave at Six Flags Over Texas, but it is actually a permanently-placed, looping carnival coaster.  It doesn't really have any unique ride elements or features, but, since it is a coaster, I had to ride it.  It actually wasn't too bad and it's a good starter coaster for young kids.  But OH GEEZ THOSE BRAKES!!  The ride abruptly ends by going from 15 to 0 in .000765 seconds, thrusting the lap bar up into your lower ribs.  I was literally seeing stars afterwards.  So yeah, never again...  (Also I forgot to take a picture of the front of the ride, and the exit lets out behind it.  This was the best I could do.  Forgive me.)

Located near Scorpion is the construction site for the new Falcon's Fury drop tower for 2014.  There have actually been a few significant developments in the world of drop towers recently, with Lex Luthor's Drop of Doom opening just last year at Six Flags Magic Mountain and the upcoming Zumanjaro at Six Flags Great Adventure.  Zumanjaro will be the world's tallest drop tower and will be mounted on the front of Kingda Ka, which is the world's tallest coaster.  Falcon's Fury is unique, however, in that it will have seats that rotate forwards to have the riders looking straight at the ground as they plummet into it.  So obviously I am hyped beyond all reason.  

And here's where I would put a picture of Falcon's Fury...IF I HAD ONE!!

Sand Serpent is a typical, cookie-cutter, wild mouse coaster.  Nothing too unique about it, but I figure I would ride it just for the heck of it.  And then I figured I would take pictures of it as well...

At the back of the park is Kumba, a B&M sit-down hyper coaster.  Kumba is a fast-paced ride with lots of inversions, quick drops, and even a tunnel.  Since there was no line for anything, we rode in the front.  I really don't get to experience a lot of rides in the front since lines are usually so ridiculous.  It was actually a really relaxing experience and a comfortable ride, despite being a 20-year old ride.  

Gwazi is a "dueling" wooden coaster that features two sides:  Lion and Tiger.  Even though only side was open, I think both tracks have most of the same elements.  The ride was a lot faster than I expected which actually minimized the impact of all the shaking on my body.  Compared to other wooden rides, It was one of the best, and certainly most unique, I had ever ridden.  If you are hesitant to ride wooden coaster because they can be jerky, then you should probably get over it :)

The other ride I was anticipating the most was SheiKra.  This one is a B&M vertical drop coaster, something I had never been on before.  There are plenty of rides out there that feature 90 degree (or more) drops, but vertical drop coaster designs are actually a unique product of B&M.  These coasters have a special three-row, tiered seating system, with each row containing 8 seats.  The tiering makes it so each row has a "clear view of the ride", as stated in the ride's queue.  The front row is still the best way to go.  What makes these rides unique is that the train will stall at the top of the drop and hang you out over the edge for a few seconds before going into the 90 degree drop.  

The ride itself isn't very long, but the anticipation before the drop makes it a great experience.  Also, this ride features a splash zone for passer-by's.  Metal rudders on each side of the train spray up water near the end of the ride as the train passes over it, launching a nice wave onto the sidewalk.  Sorry my picture of this effect sucks.  I didn't feel like waiting for the next train to come by...

Besides a very nice assortment of thrill rides, Busch Gardens also features a lot of animal exhibits.  Unlike some animal parks like Disney's Animal Kingdom, most of the animals at BGT are highly domesticated and very use to human affection and interaction.  This allows for very close encounters with the animals.  Many of the pictures I took were without zoom, even the one of the tiger drinking.  They actually have a special viewing box that you access from a lower area and then climb up into.  The box is in the tiger area and lets you get very close to them.  One of the tigers was actually laying on top of the box.  

If you missed the picture of the kangaroo feeding instructions, you should probably scroll back up because it's awesome.  They had an owl out to take pictures with as well.  I looked for other live animal meet-and-greets, but this was the only one we came across.  Tyler and I took turns getting a picture with it.  The caretaker said the bird only weighed 5 pounds, which was surprising given its size.  Also, holding that bird up all day looked exhausting, but he said it really wasn't too bad.  

This picture should probably be an internet meme:  OH MER GEHRSH! BURHDSS!!

This exhibit was really interesting because I had never been that close to a gorilla before.  Most zoos have them off in the distance, but here they were right up against the glass barrier.  

Well that about wraps up my visit to Busch Gardens.  If you are planning a trip soon, try to go on a weekday when most people will probably be in school.  We seriously had finished everything within the first couple hours and had more than enough time to see animals, re-do rides, and even check out their "Iceploration" show.  I hope you enjoyed this post, but if not, here are a few bonus pictures that will probably make it up to you.