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Last week was media night for the always amazing Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Tampa. And of course Renee was there for the fun in the fog of one of our favorite parks. Lots of new stuff to see this year, one retiring house and lots of fun and chainsaws. Let's check it out!  More spooky times on the east coast tonight at Busch Gardens Tampa’s Howl O Scream.  We were greeted by all sorts of chainsaw characters immediately upon entering the park.   Really like the look of the merchandise this year. There is also some sort of interactive fog skull necklace.    Made a new friend at the Giraffe Bar.  Strangleeood Estate is new for this year and had some excellent scares and great sets.  Jell-O shots, anyone?   Night rides on Iron Gwazi are incredible!  Looking like this is the last year for Death Water Bayou, always a solid house.   The Junkyard scare zone has been such a fun addition these past few years and a throwback to previous houses.     Witch in the Woods is so great, such a fantastic returning house.  There are so many scare zones and with all the dark pathways in the park, it’s easy to get spooked.     Zombie clowns + bumper cars is a winning combo.    The Residence was not one of my favorite houses before, but putting a holiday spin on it made it so much better! What a fun house.   I can’t say enough good things about the scare zones at Howl O Scream.     Busch Gardens Tampa has another awesome Howl O Scream season on their hands. Thanks for having us and we can’t wait to come back! Related Videos
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This past Friday we were invited out to SeaWorld Orlando to check out this years Seven Seas Food Festival. Andrew and Brittany headed to the park in the afternoon and were able to try out some great looking food, and even see some track being installed on Journey to Atlantis! Lots of stuff to get to, let's head right in! Written by Andrew Singleton  Welcome to the Seven Seas Food Festival!  Left, Passion fruit Mimosa. Right, Mako. Two of the brand new cocktails exhibited at the event this year.        Each of the 6 brand new specialty cocktails debuted for this year's event including the 4 ultra fun "Coaster Cocktails" themed after Ice Breaker, Kraken, Mako, and Manta respectively. Drinks in order left to right, Caribbean Rum Runner, Ice Breaker, Kraken, Mako, Manta, and Passion Fruit Mimosa.  Ireland Market menu  Irish Cold Brew  Whisky glazed corned beef  Panko prawns with Sea Urchin Aoli  Caribbean Market menu  All food items used at the Caribbean Market stand are locally sourced ❤  Caribbean Spicy Rum Cake  Jerk Chicken Hot Slider  Menu for the Mexican Marketplace.  Beef Barbacoa Taco  Gulf Coast Market menu  Gulf Gumbo  German Market menu  Pork Schnitzel Slider  Lakeridge Winery wine tasting menu. Was very happy to see this. Lakeridge Winery is an amazing local Winery from Clermont, FL who have been in business for decades. I am very happy to see them have a presense in the theme parks now. Their products are spectacular and well worth a try.  Information on each of Lakeridge's wines included in the wine tasting at the park.  The wines included in the wine tasting.  Italian Market menu  Taste of Sicily menu  The wines/spirits of Taste of Sicily. We sampled the Gra'it, for fans of cordials or anyone looking to get hammered very fast, this is for you.  Brazilian Market menu  Picanha Steak and Maracuja Mojito mousse  New England market menu  Pan Seared Scallop and Meade  Luau BBQ Lamb Ribs  Work on Journey to Atlantis is hotly underway. Witnessed a brand new piece of track being dropped into place on the first large drop tonight. Also, boxes backstage bearing Mack Rides' logo.  We hope you enjoyed our coverage of the Seven Seas Food Festival! It's definitely an event you should all be putting on your list to attend this spring! Related Videos
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On Monday we were invited out to SeaWorld San Diego to Emperor Media Day! We had a great time at the event, the ride is super fun and is a great fit for the park. Unfortunately we couldn't shake the feeling that the ride area isn't quite done yet. But we'll get to that, let's start off with the good stuff. Written by Gregg Condon We arrived to the park a couple of hours prior to our chosen ride time so we were able to hang around and watch media day in action, get some pictures and off-ride video of the attraction. So by the time we got to actually ride we knew what we were getting ourselves into. For those who don't know, I just was able to pick up a new GoPro Hero 9, we had fully anticipated using the parks set-up in addition to our own, but after watching the footage on my phone we were actually quite happy with what we had, so all the footage is ours!  The Emperor Ride Sign looks great!  Sorry tall people, you can't ride      One thing that a few people asked me was about the ride being "big guy" friendly. I had no issues at all. There are some extended seatbelts (red belts) but I didn't have a problem with either size belt.  
 I love the Penguin Facts (of course)!
 That's a long list of Safety Requirements  The views are spectacular!  Really spectacular! Ride Review: I've never hidden my love for B&M Dive Coasters. I'm not one who needs the longest, tallest, fastest, most inversions coaster. In fact, I'm more of a speed coaster person. But there's just something about the B&M Dive Coasters I have always loved. And I'm thrilled to have one in my backyard, well, my backyard 3 hours down the 5. The ride packs a punch, don't let it's small size fool you. It's non-stop from the drop to the brakes and I absolutely LOVE the Barrel Roll element. It's very whippy. The park definitely has a winner on their hands. Unfortunately with all that good, we have to kind of touch on something else. The ride isn't done. The station and queue are quite minimalist - indeed, there is almost a need for more shade for the guests & the operators. The sun on this day was already pretty harsh - and a hotter summer day could create problems for the park in terms of sunburned guests and heat stroke - yes, it can get VERY hot in Sandy Eggo. Given they had 2 extra years it seems very odd that this is how they're opening their new coaster.  Yes, this is the station for the parks world class coaster.   What queue there is, and a tent for the lockers and some penguin stuffed animals and water. That's it. No shirts, no kind of Emperor merchandise of any kind here or at any of the stores. Don't expect a lot when you are at the gift booth for now.   If that weren't enough, the trains are already worn from sitting out in the sun for 2 years. We honestly hate being even the tiniest bit negative given that we absolutely LOVED the coaster. But the set up of the coaster and queue/station isn't even close to what we've come to expect from SeaWorld. It really does feel like all work just stopped in March 2020 and never resumed even a little bit even though the park has been reopened for almost a year. But overall we feel these things can be fixed, and we fully anticipate that they will be at some point. We just hope it's sooner rather than later for both guests and the SeaWorld ride ops. In the meantime, make sure you get out to SeaWorld San Diego to take on Emperor, you definitely will not be disappointed in the coaster itself, and we can't wait to get out to the park to ride some more. Related Videos
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