{"id":1574,"date":"2010-06-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/79.170.44.80\/livingwithkids.co.uk\/busch-gardens\/"},"modified":"2014-06-02T11:37:08","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T11:37:08","slug":"busch-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/busch-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Jungle VIPS"},"content":{"rendered":"I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect from Busch Gardens<\/a> – as you know I\u2019m not a fan of zoos. What I found though was an environment where the emphasis is very much on creating as natural a habitat as possible.\r\n\r\nWith his big brown eyes and beautiful face it was impossible not to fall in love with Sim Sim the Silverback gorilla. He seemed very content and being so close and watching him communicate with the keeper \u2013 using sign language to communicate he wanted more\u00a0fruit \u2013 was simply magical. His gaze never seemed to leave ours.\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\"\"Stuffing a big ball full of lettuce is not something you do every day, but it was all part of the Elephant Keeper Experience<\/a>. Our job was to get an assortment of fresh fruit and vegetable snacks ready for the five Asian elephants, but hide them in activity balls and blocks to give them more of a challenge. So we ran around in the heat, hiding apples, corn on the cob and giant frozen\u00a0popsicles in as many places as possible. Then we watched as the elephants demolished the lot. Absolutely brilliant.\r\nAnother highlight has to be the Serengeti Safari, where you can feed giraffes from the top of a jeep. As you can see they have the most extraordinary eyelashes and their coats are very soft to the touch. Their mouths are like velvet.\u00a0\"\"\r\n\r\nRollercoasters at Busch Gardens include SheiKra and my personal favourite, Stanley Falls, which gives you a good soaking as you plummet down a 40-foot drop \u2013 very welcome in the heat.\u00a0 For younger children, there is the fantastic Sesame Street Safari of Fun<\/a>, a brilliant multi-coloured adventure playground full of themed rides and water fun to keep them cool.\r\n\r\nBut for me, it was all about the animals. There are some daytrips which stay with you forever. Busch Gardens<\/a> is definitely one of them. For details of how to get there, see <\/em>yesterday’s post<\/em>. <\/em>\r\n\r\n*These photos are my entries to this week\u2019s Gallery<\/a>.\r\n\r\nwritten by Liz Jarvis","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A day out at Busch Gardens is a magical experience for the whole family","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3503],"tags":[1130,1315,91,1316,1022,1317,1318,1319],"class_list":["post-1574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-great-family-life-tips","category-parenting-advice-from-parents","tag-busch-gardens","tag-elephant-keeper-experience","tag-florida","tag-serengeti-safari","tag-sesame-street","tag-sheikra","tag-silverback-gorillas","tag-tampa"],"yoast_head":"\r\nJungle VIPS - 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