Back to Busch Gardens with Emma

Every time I write a post about theme parks, I feel like I'm working on their marketing team. I just really like them and now that Emma likes Elmo, there is no better place for us to go. Unfortunately, I don't think that we will be going there in a while. I broke my tibia at the gym last week. I'm using crutches and this will be the case for at least 2 to 3 months. I'm very upset about the whole situation. We were going to Colombia tomorrow for 10 days and we decided to cancel the trip. It could be possible to go but I know that the best is to take care of this injury. 

Lory's Landing

Looking at the Flamingos

Snack time

The sunday before I got hurt, we went to Busch Gardens for less than 3 hours. It was enough time to catch the last Sesame Street show, ride the carrousel, look for Elmo and also see the birds at Lory Landing. Emma was very lucky because the park was almost empty and no kids were in line to meet Elmo. He played with her for a few minutes, she grabbed his nose and was not scared at all. She also had the chance to see Abby Cadabby and also grab her nose.

A Very Furry Christmas

Sesame Street Safari Area

Elmo's Trek House

At the Carrousel

We ended up buying more souvenir pictures

Emma & Elmo

Abby Cadabby

Her face after touching Abby's nose is why we keep going back

Safari of Fun Days with Elmo and Emma

I have posted a few pictures of previews visits to Busch Gardens before. I'm a big fan of having at least one annual pass for theme parks in Florida. We currently have the Busch Gardens and Sea World Pass. Emma's first trip to Busch Gardens was last month. She has been there twice since then. This time, we explored a new area of the park: the kids zone!! I never spent too much time here since my nephew was "too old" for Sesame Street when it opened a few years ago and my other nephew lives in California. Now that I care about activities with kids, our annual pass is great! We have more friends that also have the pass and they have kids that are about Emma's age. I was surprised to see how much Emma enjoyed the live show. We show her videos of Elmo a few times, but it was the sweetest thing to see her clapping and smiling to the Sesame Street characters sing and dance. I wish the show was a bit longer. They only sing 3 songs and then they go to the picture areas. We ended up buying 2 picture frames with the (overpriced but totally worth) pictures of her first day at Busch Gardens. Most of the attractions are for toddlers so I know that we will keep going back many weekends.

Epcot: Around the World in One Day

Andre and I went to Orlando a couple of weeks ago. Our Disney Annual pass is now expired. We didn't renew it for another year since we don't go to Orlando often enough to keep it. Maybe in a couple of years we will get the Disney Annual Pass again. For this year, we decided to get the Busch Gardens/Sea World pass. The main reason was the Viva La Musica festival this month and also because we live 20 minutes away from Busch Gardens. There are several Spanish singers that will be performing in Sea World and Busch Gardens during Viva La Musica.  Also, I've never been to Sea World and Andre hasn't been there since he was 5 years old. We always like to have at least one theme park annual pass, and I'm saving my vacation days for an upcoming trip to Chile and Argentina I have to make the most out of the weekends.

Epcot's Spaceship Earth

The last weekend of our Disney pass, we went to Epcot. We walked around the park taking pictures of the character flower sculptures, walked around the world showcase, and got fast passes for Soaring and Mission SPACE. Every time that I go to this park, I find something new and fascinating. This time it was the Japan Pavilion. I always walked by and never went into the stores and gardens. I was surprised by how big the main store was. They have hundreds of Hello Kitty items and Japanese candy that we  bought in Hawaii. I'm obsessed about Hello Kitty since I can remember. Everyone knows that I love Hello Kitty and I'm not ashamed of it. Probably because when I was growing up in Colombia it was hard to find merchandise. When I moved to the United States, I was finally able to get all the Hello Kitty that I ever wanted. I loved Japan, however, my favorite pavilion is still France. The boulangerie and the wine tastings are hard to beat. I really love to walk around Disney's version of the 11 Countries from the World Showcase. I always complain because they don't have any Country from South America, but I have to admit that the Countries that they have are all special. This park is probably the most adult friendly of all Disney World parks. "Where the dreams come true" for adults is to have a culinary (and wine) experience around the world. If this sounds like something that you would enjoy, make sure that you go to Epcot's Food and Wine Festival in the fall.

We asked several times for our picture with Mickey but they always cut off his head

Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival

If you want a picture with Mickey you have to wait at least 30 minutes...

Paris, Disney

Morocco, Disney

Japan

Japanese Candy

Venice, Disney

China

China Pavilion

Mexico

Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival 2012

We were exhausted at the end of the day. This park is twice as big as Magic Kingdom and in my opinion the best of all 4 Disney World theme Parks. We didn't stay in Orlando that night since our dog was waiting for us at home. We always enjoy our trips to Disney and I am sure that we will be back soon. If you want to read more about Orlando and Disney click here and here to see older posts. 

Orlando for Floridians

Last year was the first time that I got the Florida Resident Walt Disney World Annual Pass. We bought it because we were saving our vacation days for the wedding and honeymoon. Orlando is only one hour away from Tampa. Sometimes if we find a good hotel deal we stay there. It is always nice to spend the night in Orlando after a long day at the parks. I feel that if I sleep in a hotel, I'm on vacation. Disney was a good option for us since I hadn't been to Magic Kingdom since 2000 and to Epcot since 2007. I had never been to Animal Kingdom or Disney Hollywood Studios. Andre's last visit to a Disney park was in 2008 when his family visited from Ecuador. In the past 11 months, we've visited each Disney Wold park once.

Epcot is my favorite Disney World theme park. My favorite part is the World Showcase with shops, attractions and restaurants from 11 countries: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. My second favorite thing in Epcot is "Soarin". This simulated ride makes you fly over California. This is probably the only ride where we waited in line for over 1 hour. We don't do lines that are longer than 15 minutes. What I love about the annual passes is that there is no reason to do a 90 minute line because you can return any other day. The pictures below are from our previous visit to Epcot.

Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival 2011

Japan

Venezia

Paris

Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival 2011

I want to go at least one more time to Epcot and once to Animal Kingdom. If you want to see the pictures from our last visit to Animal Kingdom click here. 

I have to be careful with Minnie next time

Our Disney pass will expire in April. Until then, we will make a few more trips to Orlando. I don't think that we will be renewing it. I want to buy the Busch Gardens/Sea World Annual pass. I love Busch Gardens and I have never been to Sea World. It's time to meet Shamu.

Hand feeding the giraffes at Busch Gardens (2005)

There is a latin music festival, Viva la Musica, every April where famous latin singers/groups play at Busch Gardens and Sea World. This year El Grupo Niche will be playing in Sea World. They are a salsa group from my hometown in Colombia. They sing many songs about Cali and La feria de Cali. Cali is known as the Salsa capital of the world. When you live far away these songs make you very nostalgic. My sisters and I are big fans and we will be there to see them. Andre doesn't like to dance. We went to a party in Cali where El Grupo Niche was playing, and Andre enjoyed it very much. I'm sure that the aguardiente that night had a lot to do with it. He might come with us just to get out of town.

There are many other things to do in Orlando that I haven't done like the Blue Man Group show or having a drink at Ice Bar. I love going to Downtown Disney to walk around, or to have dinner at Bongos (Gloria Estefan's Cuban Restaurant). Cirque du Soleil has a permanent show, La Nouba, that I've seen several times. This show is probably the best of all the Cirque du Soleil shows that I've seen. Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure will probably be the season pass that we will like to buy the following year. I have been countless times to these parks, but still haven't been to the Harry Potter attraction. I have heard many good things about it and after watching the 8 movies I want to visit Hogsmeade. Orlando will always be a great option to change our routine and it is less than 80 miles away.