Orlando has most of the world’s biggest theme parks, including Disney World and Universal Studios, obviously, but if you want to ride the biggest coasters and thrill rides then you have to drive to Busch Gardens 
in Tampa 
.
Unfortunately Jen wasn’t feeling great on Friday and we’d already got our tickets to Busch Gardens so she decided to sit this one out and stay in the villa (lounging by the pool and drinking wine I might add!).
Again, the park was pretty empty because of the time of year so Robin, Esp and I managed to spend the whole day getting on and off the biggest rides with virtually no wait. ‘Sheikra’ is a lot like Oblivion at Alton Towers but has TWO very large vertical drops. ‘Kumba’ has lots of tight upside down loops and ‘Montu’ is just massive. You can see for miles from the top and it lasts a couple of minutes with plenty of inverted loops and spirals.
The best ride of the day, though (and the best coaster I’ve ever ridden) is their new ride ‘Cheetah Hunt’. It’s very long (nearly a mile), very smooth and launches you from “zero to cheetah”, which is zero toaround 60mph in under two seconds. It’s not the first ride to use magnets to accelerate you very quickly from a standing start, but it does it three times over the course of the track. At one point you’re coasting along a straight track towards a very large incline and you haven’t got the speed to get up to the top, until something kicks the train forwards at an incredible speed and you sail over the top, losing your stomach in the process. Next to the Tower of Terror it has to be the best ride in Florida!
Busch Gardens is also a zoo/safari park so you get to see lots of cool animals as you walk about.
It was our last day in Orlando where we’ve all had a great time. Robin and Esp have now flown back to England so I hope they enjoyed Orlando as much as we did. We continued our drive on to Crystal River ready for Saturday’s trip to see the Manatees.