Well the BIG trip is over and done with now. I am broke, tired, sunburnt, and thrilled at the same time.

6/10-06/11 -- Travelling however we did do the Pirate Dinner Theater on 6/11.

6/11 -- Well things didn't start out so well. We got everything all packed and ready to go. We headed to school to pick up the kids and the car died. We get it jumped and leave the parking lot only to have it die again at the 7-11 on the corner.

After looking things over I realize I am screwed. I call my sister and asked to use her van ... no problem. Well by the time we get jumped again and barely make it to meet my sister and leave we are now 2 1/2 hours late leaving town with a 7 hour trip ahead of us.

We have an uneventful trip down and got to Savannah, GA by about 9pm with 2 stops made (1 Rest Area and once for dinner at Cracker Barrell) (Richmond, VA - Savannah, GA was our first day)

**In all the car issues leaving we realized 2 major things: my glasses got left in the other van along with the info on the place we were staying in FL (we rented a house with a code key combination). Basically I had to call my sister and have her dig through emails to get the info and then ship me my glasses in FL. (I wear contacts so these are only needed at night or in case of an emergency).

6/11 - Pirate Dinner Theater -- good solid show. Not as good as Dixie Stampede near Dollywood but overall solid. The food was shockingly very good and they let you use silverware!!! Only complaint I have is that the reservation people are IDIOTS!! They told us to be there at 6:30pm to get checked in, get drinks, and unlimited appetizers and the show would be at 8pm. Well that was BS -- the show started at 7pm so we got no appetizers or drinks and barely had a chance to get into the main hall (much less and perfect seat). The show and food were good though.

6/12 - First day out of the blocks and were at MGM (ahem Disney Hollywood Studios .. sorry). We had a great time here. Toy Story Mania ride was the biggest hit of the day. Very very fun (even my 63 year old mom loved it). Thank goodness for Fast Passes on this ride though as the wait time was easily 90 min or more all day long. Fast Passes for the day were all handed out by 1pm also. The kids got lots of pics with characters for the day and we saw many shows.

Lights, Motors, Action was easily the hightlight of the day for me. TSM was great but this show KICKED A$$!!! If you go to the park check this show out it is awesome!! We managed to do everything we had planned for the day and left around 9:30pm after Fantasmic which is still the most amazing spectacle around.

Days Ride/Show list -- Great Movie Ride, Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, High School Musical Show, Indiana Jones Stunt Show, Lights Motors Action Stunt Show, Backlot Tour (much shorter now), Muppets in 3D, Tower of Terror, Rock N Rollercoaster, Jedi Training show, Power Rangers Meet and Greet, Little Mermaid Show, and of course Fantasmic.

**All in all a great day. Park was crowded but not horrible. I fast passed TOT and RNR 1 time each and both were great. TOT had wait times around 20 mins (non fast pass) RNR about 60mins (non fast pass)

6/13 -- Second day out was Busch Gardens Tampa -- Day got started late as EVERYONE was tired and slept in a little. Drive down took about an hour. We arrived about 11am or so. Got in the park and made a B-Line straight for Rhino Rally. Water affect was running.

RR -- this was great (4 out of 5). A little short but the guide was awesome. He really got into the role and I was the navigator. The water part really helped make the ride and am very glad it was working!!

Kumba -- good solid ride rate it about a 4 out of 5. It banged the crap out of my ears though. 2nd time through I leaned forward a little which alleviated this issue - 40 min wait.

Sheikra -- not bad but Griffon is WAY BETTER IMHO (3 out 5). These dive coasters are some of my favorites but they are just too short - 1 ride only 40 min wait.

Gwazi -- OUCH!!! I rode both sides (2.5 out of 5). I liked the ride a fair bit. It was really rough but IMHO Grizzly at KD is MUCH rougher than this. Both sides gave a crazy out of control ride. Walk on.

Montu -- AWESOME (5 out of 5)!! This was definitely the highlight of my trip to BGA. I loved this ride. I like it more than Raptor and Alpie. I cannot put my finger on why but it just was my ride. 5 rides ... 5 min or less wait (no one was in this section of the park). This is a problem for this area as there is nothing but Montu up here and I really think they need to do other things with this part of the park.

Other things we did -- bird exhibits, Sky Ride (excellent!), Ventriloquist show (excellent), Pirates 4D (very good), carousel, Summer Nights shows (DJ stuff with games).

**Our day here kinda got hampered some as a very nasty storm came through the area and shut down everything for a solid 1-2 hours. I missed out of several rides because of this (cheetah chase, scorpion etc) but oh well I cannot control mother nature and I appreciate BGA keeping everyone's safety in mind.

**Overall the park was very nice. Not too crowded but Staff was pretty good and the park was fairly clean. BGE is a nicer cleaner park than BGA.

BGA vs BGE comparison:

Coaster Set:

BGA - Kumba, Montu, Sheikra, Gwazi, Scorpion, Cheetah Chase

BGE - Apollo's Chariot, Alpengeist, Griffon, Big Bad Wolf, Loch Ness Monster

BGE has the edge in the coasters easily.
BGE is a "prettier" park.
BGA has a cooler theme for me (I like the Safari theme etc)
BGE seems to be a cleaner more defined park ie paths are easier to see, trees/bushes etc are better groomed. BGE has a more "polished" look to it.
Staff is equal.

If I could sub Montu for Aplie I would be thrilled. Not saying Alpie is bad but I just like Montu better.


**Bad note of the day ... I lost my Platinum Pass on Montu. I have to get a replacement from BGE (my home park) now that I am home.



6/14 - NOTHING -- we shopped, rested, swam in the pool at the house etc. Basically a take it easy day.

6/15 - Universal Studios -- great day for everyone and we did everything in the park. We paid for the Express Pass which made this all very easy to do. Highlights are below ...

Simpsons -- (4 out of 5) Think Back to the Future with Simpsons in place of Doc Brown. Themeing was outstanding (still under construction a little bit though). Ride was fun and my daughter absolutely LOVED it and begged us for a second ride which we did. 2 Rides - Wait time even with the Express Pass was still 20 mins +.

The Mummy -- this was GREAT (4 out of 5). Themeing was outstanding, the story was cool, the effects were great. The coaster overall gave a nice ride as well. This was just a straight up fun ride and the ride ops were SUPER into their roles which really helped make it more fun. This is not a super high thrill ride coaster but its not a kiddie coaster either. I really liked this ride (4 rides). Wait time w/o express was 45 min +

Beetlejuice Graveyard Review - this was a very good show. Some very talented guys/gals in this. The guy doing BJ was PERFECT hell we thought it was Michael Keaton there for a while. Really a good show!!

Jaws -- hey its jaws what can I say. Our guide wasn't super into his role but he was ok. 0 Wait time

MIB -- fun ride, got 168k points. Another ride my daughter loved. 60 min + wait time w/o Express

ET -- BROKEN AGAIN!! I have been here 3 times now and still have not been on this ride thanks to being broken. Oh well.

Twister -- still cool but I can see this going away in the near future for some other ride/attraction. 0 wait time

Shrek - pretty neat but nothing super special. 15 min wait time w/o express

Jimmy Neutron - great fun. Hard to hear the dialog at certain points but the ride was cool (love the chicken dance part LOL!!)
30 min wait time w/o express

**Overall the park was very nice. Relatively crowded but with Express Pass we were done by 7pm and able to have dinner outside the park. Staff was pretty good and the park was good and clean.


Part 2 to come later on.

Thanks for reading.

Greg

Amazing trip report. I hate it when the Jaws Skippers are not into it. It kinda bring the ride down.

I worked at Jimmy Neutron for 6 months and i told them the volume in the theatre was way too loud.

I love hearing good reviews of Toy Story Mania. I really look foward to riding it when i get back to WDW.

Can't wait to read more.

__________________

Carolina Panthers 2008 NFC South Champions! 12-4
Divisional Playoffs: vs. Arizona
Go Panthers! The only NFL team with a PURRFECT 8-0 home record!!
#1 North Carolina Tarheels: 13-1

Agreed! When we went 6 years ago the skipper was so into it an so over the top that it was awesome. I mean this guy was a little crazy and actually was scarier than the movie LOL!

Well that helps me confirm what I heard when we rode it. I was thinking it was just me but the sound effects/music were much louder than the dialog and basically drowned out the story line.

This ride was so much fun. It DEFINITELY is not worth a 60-90min wait but Fast Pass this thing all day!! Truly a fun little ride and the 3-D worked very well. I rode with my son and he was jumping up every time things came toward us (he is 5). Only complaint is that my arm was so freaking tired by the end it actually hurt!! For those that don't know how the gun works its basically like a toy pop gun with the string on the back end. You pull the rope to make your gun fire (aka pop). The more times you pull it the more you shoot. Hence your arm is tired at the end.


Thanks

Greg

Ouch! I had no idea you had to pull it like a real pop gun every time you shoot. That would be painful after a ride and sounds like something i would only do once a day.

How long was the ride?

__________________

Carolina Panthers 2008 NFC South Champions! 12-4
Divisional Playoffs: vs. Arizona
Go Panthers! The only NFL team with a PURRFECT 8-0 home record!!
#1 North Carolina Tarheels: 13-1

A couple of minutes at least. Not to ruin it for anyone but the end of the ride is where it really tests your arm.

There is some resting between screens though as you transition from one to another and or rotate around etc.

Greg