$30k later - 20/12/16 - Day 04 - Rosen Inn/Busch Gardens/Copper Canyon

[Leyfy]

Day 4 - Rosen Inn/Busch Gardens/Copper Canyon

Index
Day 3

After another reasonably early night I woke up at around 7am and we both got up at 7.30am with the alarm that I'd set the night before. It turned out that Phil had man flu and hadn't slept well but he said he'd valiantly soldier on as there were rollercoasters as a reward!

The Rosen does a breakfast buffet which we'd never tried for one reason or another. On our first trip in 2013 we loved Sizzler for breakfast, which was right next to the Rosen. On our August 2015 trip we found that it had shut down and was no a pizza hut! So we'd walked up the road and went to Ponderosa by Tony Roma's instead. That was our plan today and we trundled up international drive only to find ... It was shut down!

2nd walking distance breakfast buffet foiled

So we walked back towards the rosen and in to Friendly's instead. After ordering some coffees, we had a look at the menu, I ordered an omelette and Phil had a big breakfast with two bacon and eggs. The omelette was huge and came with about four slices of toast!

I really wasn't feeling this today so I ate the breakfast potatoes (Seriously - potatoes with breakfast!? Still can't get used to that) and Phil had some of my toast to make a little sandwich with his eggs and bacon.

Thoroughly full, we waddled back to the Rosen Inn and let our breakfast digest. We found the car (which was, helpfully, in the bay I parked it in the night before!) and left for Busch gardens about 9am.

I stuck the satnav on my phone and plugged it into the giant beast car and we set off. We pulled out of the Rosen which is a left turn followed by a right onto International Drive and unhelpfully the bloke in front of the queue refused to turn right on red and we sat there for an age waiting for the lights to go to green with the taxi in front of us beeping impatiently!

I love turning right on red as it feels really naughty, even though I know you're allowed to do it if a sign doesn't indicate otherwise!

Simple things, eh?!

Anyway, we found ourselves on the I4 heading towards Tampa and I set the cruise control on the car so it was basically a matter of pointing the car in the right direction for just over an hour. The roads were pretty clear apart from about 15 minutes before Busch gardens, but we were there by about 10.30am. It looked a tiny bit quieter than the year before.

I drove up to the parking booth and waved our tickets as we got free parking with our tickets at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, apparently. We made our way to the tram queue and were quickly on, finding ourselves at the ticket desk. I went up to get our pre-paid QuickQue and safari tickets and then we queued up to get in the park. As I had no bag I got through quicker than Phil - we were both made to sign our tickets but being in thick marker pen leaning on the side of a gate I doubt I could replicate that signature again!

W stopped for a quick restroom break and then got a ('bog normal') coffee. We spotted this guys on the way out:

Luckily they were behind barriers!

It was nearly eleven and we had to be at the safari by 11.15am so we stopped to look at the gorillas quickly:

Cheetah Hunt was close by:

Phil looked forward to our Safari!

Me on my first day back at work after being in Florida for two weeks:

We then went round to check in for the safari. There was a group of about 10 of us waiting in a comfortable area with fans, water and lockers. I'd booked this on a bit of a whim after looking at the tours at Animal Kingdom and then going 'Er... No!' after seeing the cost!

However, the Animal Kingdom tours *do* look amazing and now I know a BABY ELEPHANT has just been born I *might* be tempted to book it for us as a treat on our honeymoon in August.

Anyway, we were loaded onto the back of the truck and told to 'hang on' before being taken out onto their Serengeti savanna.

We were able to take close ups of all of the animals and then we stopped to feed the giraffes!

(I love how happy the woman looks in the picture above, and I don't even know her! )

"Phil Points At A ... errr... Giraffe!"

Well, I say giraffes, as you can probably tell from the pictures, it was more like one who took all the food! She was not shy about coming over and the guy on the truck gave us strict instructions not to touch her face. He also said that the reason she came over alone was because she was the dominant female and the others are not allowed to approach until she is done. I think we were the first tour of the day so she was getting her fill of lettuce!

All in all, it was a great experience and well worth the $39.99 each to do it.

We were out there half an hour, so we were back by 12pm and Phil fancied a go on Falcons Fury. There is *no way* I would even consider this ride!

The drop is the worst part and this ride is literally just 'drop'! However, I was able to get a photo of him this time, which I failed at last summer as I couldn't see where he was in the viewfinder as I'd had to zoom in so much!

This time I tracked him up the tower to make sure I got the right person!

Apparently this was Phil's 'biting his nails being scared pose'. I asked why he was holding his nose!

There they go:

Definitely still...

I got the ride JUST before it dropped:

Then JUST as they let go:

Brillant! Also, kudos to the kid to the left of Phil who's expression literally doesn't change!

As it was close, kumba was next. It was a walk on with our QuickQue tickets, bypassing an admittedly short line. This coaster really does throw you around! I had to put the camera in a locker so no pictures of this one and it really is quite hidden at the back of the park?

We carried on round the park, stopping to see the gorillas:

As it was now nearly 1pm we stopped for a quick snack of crisps and cokes as we didn't fancy much more. Suitably refreshed, we got the train round park, starting at the station by Sheikra (which Phil INSISTS on calling Shakira!), which was shut last time we were in the park. I took some photos on the way round on the train:

Train selfie!

As we'd done a full loop, we were back by Shakira, sorry SHEIKRA and so Phil wanted to have a go. l have been on it a few times but I didn't fancy it today, so I stood by the side and took some photos:

We made our way across the park, our destination being Cheetah hunt. It's a bit of a walk from where we were and we saw some of the Christmas decorations on the way:

We also spotted some beautiful parrots in the trees:

I do like that photo

Cheetah Hunt was next up. There was a hefty 30 minute wait but again, we walked up to the loading area with our QuickQue tickets. I *love* this coaster and I'd totally forgotten about the 'boosts' at the beginning! It's so smooth and a really long track.

Montu was our next stop. We did have a look at the queue for the new Cobra's Curse, but it had broken down earlier in the day and the queue was really long.

Also, it wasn't included in the QuickQue tickets, which was a bit annoying

After depositing our things in a locker, we were onto Montu (another walk on) which always seems to be our last ride of the day.

Another great coaster - the first drop is brilliant! By the time we came off the sun had finally burnt through the clouds that had been lingering all day, despite the warm weather:

Time was now ticking on and we decided that we'd leave the park as it was about 3.30pm already. We got asked to take part in a survey on the way out, which I did. We'd had a great time today in the park - we came for the coasters and we were not disappointed! We walked back to 'the beast', which I apparently had decided to take a picture of at that point!

We set off and the journey home was really easy so we were back about 5.15.pm. Our first stop was Walgreens as Phil feeling a bit coldy still. He's a nurse so he knows what to look for in medicine and he bought some over the counter stuff that was a lot more effective (and more potent!) than over the counter UK stuff! I also wanted some makeup wipes and shampoo. I have to use T-gel coal tar stuff as I suffer from eczema and dry skin quite badly and I was really pleased that they sold both that and the Simple makeup wipes that I use!

Pleased with our essential purchases, we went back to the room to drop the stuff off and get changed. We headed to The Pub about 6pm for a drink and to discuss where to go to dinner. After some discussion, Copper Canyon was decided on for dinner as a friend of Phil's from work had recommended it and we'd wanted to try it for a while, so we took a stroll over there about 7pm after finishing our drinks.

Pointe Orlando is really lovely now - there are loads of different restaurants and shops opening up and lots of people seem to be walking around there during the evening compared to our first visit three years ago when it seemed to just be getting going.

We walked into the restaurant but managed to go in by the side door! Whoops! However, we were soon seated. It was really lovely in there, waiters in full dinner suits, mood lighting - the lot!

We were seated in a booth and perused the menu, ordering a glass of red wine for me and a beer for Phil. We decided to share a starter and went for the calamari. This was really nice - not rubbery at all and a perfect amount to share. For main Phil went for the chicken I had seared tuna (as I love it!). I also ordered some fries to go with it.

The food arrived pretty quickly. However, we both said it was very salty. My tuna was delicious but it was on a bed of tomatoes that were literally drowning in balsamic vinegar and were really acidic. I love tomatoes but I couldn't eat most of the accompaniment. We didn't stay for a dessert and headed back to the Rosen Inn

Hmmm... The meal was alright but I don't think we'll be in a rush to go back, to be honest.

We were both shattered so early night after we had a quick drink in the bar. This was definitely our 'crash and burn' night!

Fitbit info for the day?

Totals
20,567 steps
14.03 km
2,740 calories

Day 05 - A Change of Plans

[DISNEYLIZ]

Great photos, we enjoyed the safari. You wouldn't get me on Falcons Fury

[smithlane]

Another great day. We loved the Serengeti Safari, it was one of DS's highlights of the holiday.
You certainly wouldn't get me on Falcons Fury or Shakira (that's what it's called in our house too!)

[RachelM]

Looks a great day.

[HEMANCLOFTY]

A great day 😀

It's a shame you didn't enjoy your meal at Copper Canyon Grill though - it's our favourite restaurant in Orlando, and hardly ever gets a mention on the Dibb. Hopefully it was just a one off and will be ok when we go in March.

[Floridaagogo]

I love Busch gardens and cheetah hunt is my favourite ride in Florida.why they can't let me stay on all day and go round and round I don't know 😡 we also did the safari and thought it well worth the money.falcons fury.never ever ever gonna happen.not if you offered me a million pounds.i feel ill just looking at it 😳

[Guest]

So glad to be reading your trippies again cant wait for more!

[Twinklestar1]

Another good day - you wouldn't get me on any of those coasters!

My boys would love them though.

Love the picture of the parrots.

[mick]

A great day lots of coasters and plenty of animals.
Shame you didn't enjoy your meal

Joan

[waiting4disney]

Sounds like a good day - it does look like Phil is holding his nose 😂