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Next I went to the Germany Pavilion. I got a little closer. I went inside, discovering a buffeteria and an oompa band. I went back outside. I entered a chocolate shoppe, where I purchased and devoured a Mickey-shaped marshmallow thing. I obtained a German stout from a beer vendor...

To enjoy my beer flight in a leisurely manner, I retired to the shade of the American Adventure amphitheater. The maple trees at the lagoon's edge guaranteed a calming, cooling breeze, making this the most reliably relaxing place in World Showcase. A mariachi band was performing. I remained...

My third stop on Drinking Around the World was the Japan Pavilion, my favorite place in World Showcase. Apart from some food commentary, I intend to make the rest of this Epcot recap purely descriptive. What I did, and where. More focus on pictures. No more airing of grievances. Think that...

Rules for Drinking Around the World: One alcoholic beverage is to be procured and guzzled at every World Showcase pavilion. Substitutions from neighboring Food & Wine Festival carts are allowed. There are no specific drink or restaurant requirements. Snacking Around the World is an optional...

In took under three hours to complete a SeaWorld circuit. I now found myself back near the entry, still soaking wet from Infinity Falls, and with no more major must-do agenda for the day. It seemed like the best immediate course of action was to return to Swan to regroup and change my clothes...

Back into systematic, ride-by-ride, knock 'em down mode! My next victim would be Infinity Falls, SeaWorld's fairly new entry into the river rafting genre. Infinity Falls notably has (for now) the world's tallest raft ride drop. (Silver Dollar City: "Hold my beer.") It's overall an...

Journey into Atlantis came next. Thus far, my SeaWorld day was shaping up to be like my Busch Gardens day: minimal, nearly nonexistent wait times at every ride. That was surely the case on Journey. This seemed odd to me, considering the day's SeaWorld crowds could rival what I'd seen lately...

With SeaWorld's other big rides not opening until 11, I paid a visit to Empire of the Penguin in the interim. The area's troubled trackless dark ride wasn't operating on this day, so team members saw us directly into the enclosed penguin exhibit. Presumably, when this section first opened...

October 30th Day 10 First up on the docket for this day would be SeaWorld Orlando. They wouldn't open until 10 AM, leaving me plenty of time - too much time really - to loiter about, pre-pack a little for my travel day, and grab an exceedingly unimpressive egg sandwich from the lobby deli...

Yes, I rode this. The only Fun Spot ride remaining was Kiddie Coaster, a kiddie coaster. You'll see these things at every traveling carnival and two-fit fun center. Some places won't even let adults ride 'em! That's the caliber we're talkin' 'bout here. The carnie, to his immense credit...

Let's just assume that Sundays are my days off now. Anyway, back to Fun Spot Kissimmee, where I still had to locate and ride 3 more roller coasters in order to tie a bow on this day. I wanted to do Hurricane next, and put off MineBlower until the end since it has a reputation for roughness...

Upon first returning to Stanleyville, the first order of business was another ride on SheiKra. This put me at 3 for 3 on both SheiKra and Cheetah Hunt, which felt good and nourishing. Other than that, my only agenda was, ummm, leaving. (Unless, of course, Montu revived.) The entire...

Sickly. A bit like gasoline, a bit like that metallic brake smell if you’ve ever followed a truck down a steep mountain road.

Okay, back to Egypt - pausing to admire the nicely textured colonial restaurant seen above - to see about grabbing some rides I missed this morning. Cobra's Curse was still shuttered, as predicted. Montu, however, that was up and operating, with riders' legs visible hanging out from the...

Like so many parks throughout the country, Busch Gardens has a locomotive. This one seemed particularly useful as a transportation option to get from Stanleyville back towards the front of the park...You'd be surprised how many park railroads only have a single station. After a brief, relaxing...

Next up came Stanley Falls Flume, which is a super run-of-the-mill old school log flume. There's little more to this than some fiberglass chutes meandering a wilderness area, then a 43' drop. That plunge is shallow and not even up to the thrill level of Splash Mountain. Stanley Falls did at...

My Busch Gardens Tampa adventure continues! With this park, it's just ride after ride after ride, which I like. Busch's rides can range from extremely good, to simple amusement park standards. Plus there are the animals to elevate things. This is a fairly "bread 'n' butter" park, which...

Congrats to both @Disney Dad 3000 & @MickeyWaffleCo. for reaching the finals! Well earned, both of you. 👍

The Edge of Africa trail concluded in a Serengeti area. Here were more animal trails, plus a park-spanning locomotive ride offering better views of the multi-acre savannah stretch. I'd be revisiting this stretch later on. For now, though, the allure of roller coasters was too strong. So I...

Time to get things kickstarted in Busch Gardens! Time for Cheetah Hunt! On a normal attendance day, the standard advice is to avoid this popular coaster near the front of the park at rope drop, since everyone goes here first. Which, everyone did it first today as well, but when "everyone"...