You know how the lyrics “Santa Monica, in the winter time” by Savage Garden always conjures an image of a cold chilly city in our heads? Especially when it’s coupled with a hypnotically slow beat tune?
However, this trip changed all that and more!
From our hotel, we keyed in “Santa Monica” into our GPS and reached our destination in about half an hour. We took some time circling the vicinity before deciding to park at a public carpark, placing 2 hours worth of coins into the meter.
The first thing we noticed about Santa Monica were the quaint little shops lining the inner streets from the beach. They range from pubs to convenient stores to shops that sell cute little items. It was quite enjoyable walking down the street not knowing whats in store at the next shop.
As we approached the sea front, we were greeted by the sound of the waves as well as this set of instructions to comply with…
As we walked along the beach, we enjoyed the fine sand sifting through our feet as we headed towards the iconic Santa Monica Pier.
Before long, we reached the Santa Monica pier and as we walked along the board walk of Santa Monica pier, we saw sesame characters such as Elmo and Oscar…
Kids were given the opportunity to take photos with their favourite sesame street characters.
On the board walk, endless throngs of people traverse along this scenic boardwalk enjoying rides (such as the historic carousel, iconic ferris wheel) from the amusement park, eateries and restaurants along the pier or even just laying back and enjoying the sights and sounds…
Along the way, we also passed by a shop that is dedicated to the famous Route 66…
Here, you can take home some souvenirs and learn more about the history of this iconic and historic route.
At the end of the pier, we took a shot (pictorial) back towards the beach…
As the day drew to a close, we indulged in a cone dog (the person who invented this is a genius!) and enjoyed the breath taking sunset…
With that, we concluded a leisurely yet thoroughly enjoyable visit to Santa Monica. And with regard to the Savage Garden song, it totally changed our perception altogether. The gloomy image has transformed into a cheerful and family oriented destination!
We’ll leave you now to decide which of these iconic ferris wheel you love best. With lights or without lights?
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One of the most memorable quotes we heard during this trip was when one of the kids shouted
“This is the best summer ever!”. The kid’s not wrong. In fact he’s absolutely right and Busch Gardens is in fact voted as one of the best amusement park in the world! And here’s the reason why…
1. Huge. The whole place is huge! It has separated itself into different regions using names of different countries. Hence, as you enter a “different country” you will see a change in the “theme”. These countries include Germany, France, Italy, Scotland, England and Ireland.
2. Wild Crazy Exciting Rides! There is no shortfall of rollercoasters at this amusement park. Boasting some of the wildest rides, even the names of these rides at Busch Gardens makes one stand in awe. The famous rides include Alpengeist, Loch Ness Monster and Griffon. If you want some wet rides, head for the Roman Rapids and Escape from Pompeii at Italy.
3. Fun for the whole family There is pretty much something for everyone here at Busch Gardens. For the kids, there’s Sesame Street Forest of Fun where you can meet all your favourite Sesame Street characters such as Big Bird, Ernie, Bert and Elmo. For those who fear the rides, there are performances all over the park. As Kate has some fear for the rides, we pretty much covered all of the performances in Busch Gardens. As for food, you can savour all the different delicacies from the different countries. So there’s really pretty much something for everyone here at Busch Gardens.
As Kate and I drove for our weekend getaway at Busch Gardens, we pretty much anticipated it with excitement because of the excellent reviews from our friends. As we arrived at Busch Gardens, we pretty much anticipated free parking. However, to our dismay, the parking costs $13USD per day!
The price of the admission tickets to Busch Gardens was about $65USD per adult. This translates to about $80 SGD but is totally worth it and you will see why.
The queue was relatively short as we timed our arrival to the opening of the park.
We ventured into one of the many souvenir shops and saw the miniature of the Griffon roller coaster ride.
Kate and I headed first to the Sesame Street Forest of Fun re-live our childhood memories!
We were just in time for the performance by the Sesame Street Characters and we even got to have photos with Big Bird and Ernie.
As we’re afraid of rides with “too much excitement”, we took the Elmo “mini giant drop” (See the Elmo King in the background) as well as the Oscar wormy ride, sort of like a Viking for the kids…
The most exciting ride we had for the day was Escape from Pompeii. It’s actually like a log ride that brings you through the ruins of pompeii (complete with fire and everything). Then as you finally “break out” of the darkness and as the window panel opens, you see light but you’ll also be able to see the far distance, there’s when you know you’re dropping down!!!
To save on the walking, Kate and I decided to cover the park via the “skytrain” which circles round the whole park. There’s even a river in the middle of the park!
After circling round the park within 20 minutes, we decided to have an early lunch at “Germany” where Kate and I shared the Das Alpine sandwich which was huge! The sweet tea was not that fantastic though. Both Kate and I thought that the portion was huge enough to share as we noticed many tables not being able to finish their food. So share and dont waste food!! There was also live performances put up by the actors similar to that of Oktoberfest!
The performance was really professional. The musicians played really well and brought the audience alive with its lively music. The performers were able to do traditional Bavarian dances and some acrobatics that really engaged the audience. Of course the singers were great as well.
As we headed out of the festival house, we saw the haunted house – Curse of the Darkastle!
There was also a Carousel as well as a “Land of the Dragons” in “Germany”
We then headed to “Ireland” where we caught a musical as well as some street Buskers
Again, the performance was excellent. The singers and dancers did really well. Particularly enjoyed the tap dancing portion π
In order to cool off, Kate and I decided to head to “Italy” for the Roman Rapids. Unfortunately, we cant show pictures of the ride as the ride was really wet and drenched our whole body. But it was really refreshing especially when the weather was 35 degrees celcius!
Then we headed for the last performance of the day at Teatro Di San Marco and saw a vibrant performance of singing and well synchronised dancing.
However, what really made the tickets worth it was because in the summer, 2 things happens. It is called Illuminights because there was fireworks display as the amusement park closes. In addition, there would be guest performers and this week, we happen to catch The Bangles!!
It was really nice to reminisence in hits such as Manic Monday and Eternal Flame. The Bangles still looked like there’re in their 30s eventhough quick calculations tell us they should be more like in their 50s.
Overall, Kate and I thoroughly enjoyed the day and given the chance again, we would definitely head to Busch Gardens and discover it all over again. Perhaps this time we would conquer Alpengeist , Loch Ness Monster and Griffon! π
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