On June 16th at 2pm participating parks simultaneously dispatch coasters as part of “The World’s Largest Ride” to celebrate the anniversary of LaMarcus Thompson’s Switchback Railway, the first modern roller coaster. The event is organized by American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) and this year is the 3rd annual celebration of the event. About 20 parks participated this year including Wild Adventures of Valdosta, GA where I participated.
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The eclipse on April 8, 2024 was spectacular with many theme parks hosting eclipse events. The next major total eclipse in the United States is scheduled for August 12, 2045 and it’ll hit some huge Theme parks in Florida including Busch Gardens. Animals also tend to do crazy things in an eclipse too, so Busch Gardens Tampa could be fascinating from that perspective. The park will get 5 minutes and 17 seconds of totality which is huge! If you’ve never experienced totality it’s a “bucket list” experience where you see stars in the middle of the day, temperatures drop and crickets chirp. It’s marvelous, amazing, weird and just hard to describe.
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This month, April 25-27, 2025 is Scout Adventure Weekend at Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA. The event features two nights of camping, 2 days of theme park fun, unlimited soda, an all-you-can-eat buffet, a bonfire and a special patch all for under $50! My son is now in cub scouts with me and my wife as his fearless den leaders and he’s all about the badges and belt loops. It would be the great to add the special Wild Adventures patch to add to his collection, but there are so many more adventure loops and badges you can easily earn at the park, especially with the animals. One of the easiest is the Wolf Elective Adventure, “Digging in the Past” related to dinosaurs through the park’s new Dinosaur Explore attraction.
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The eclipse on April 8, 2024 was spectacular with several theme parks hosting eclipse events. Now it’s time to prepare for the next one! The next major total eclipse in the United States is scheduled for August 12, 2045 and it’ll hit some huge Theme parks including Disney, SeaWorld, Universal and Busch Gardens. Heck, Epic Universe will be a 20 year old park by then! However, I’m hoping to watch it from Wild Adventures in Valdosta , GA
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Penguins can be the stars of an animal exhibit as they are cute, active and playful. Many guests would love an up close encounter with these “cool” animals and you can do just that at SeaWorld San Antonio Penguin Encounter. Most people only ever see the main exhibit below, but the Penguin Encounter Tour lets you go backstage to see the animal care areas, meet some trainers and even pet a penguin! At just $45, this animal encounter is a great value too.
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March 31, 2024 was the last show of Turn it Up at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. This long running show opened on May 26, 2017 and transitioned to the “Remix” version on January 22, 2023. It played in the beautiful and nicely air conditioned Moroccan Theater displaying singles, pairs and group ice skating routines. The park teased the closing the last couple of weeks on social media, but it was pretty obvious that although this particular show was going away that ice skating in the park was not. In the final performance it was announced that Turn it Up would be replaced with a new show called Rhythm of Nature. (thanks to @ThemePark_Dan for the pic and info)
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Walt Disney referred to the fireworks display at the parks as their “kiss goodnight” for the guest, a way to end the day on a memorable note. For many visitors the fireworks are an essential part of the Disney experience and they’ll arrive in front of the castle 1-2 hours in advance to scope out the best seats. However, did you know Disney has several options that give you reserved seating for the fireworks? The fireworks pre-party, post-party and sweets & seats provide reserved seating along with unlimited desserts and alcoholic beverages. Of course this comes at nearly a $100/person price, but is it worth it?
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On Monday, April 8, 2024 a total eclipse cuts across much of the central and eastern USA and some theme parks as well!. These celestial events are rare and we won’t have another one for 20 more years. I had the chance to watch the “Ring of Fire” eclipse back in 2023 at SeaWorld San Antonio and it was a fantastic experience! There’s something about experiencing an event like that with a crowd that brings energy and excitement you just can’t get on your own. You can see below on the map that the “totality” (where the sun is 100% covered) occurs in several major cities like San Antonio, Dallas and Cleveland and the nearby theme parks below could be a great place to watch the eclipse.
Continue readingOn a recent trip to SeaWorld Orlando we did the “Dine with Orcas” lunch. Here’s a review of our experience and the bottom line is, I couldn’t recommend it more. This is a essentially a great meal and a private orca show in one.
Continue readingHave you caught an episode of “The First Drop” yet? This monthly web series available on YouTube and the park’s blog started in 2022. It is done in more of a podcast form and features monthly announcements about park events, pass member rewards and usually features a special guest from the park staff. Episodes are around 30 minutes in length and are hosted by the duo of Shaniah Thompson and JP Taylor from the park’s marketing department. In the first episode you actually find out that they started at the park on the same day and their energy and chemistry are pretty infectious which really carries the show.
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BGT Safari 