Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

On April 5, 2008 Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Florida will officially open Jungala - its newest park attraction area.

I had a chance to get an early look at Jungala during Thursday's (April 3rd) media event. A short ceremony took place in the center of the attraction, followed by a brief interview session, and then it was time explore on our own.

Donnie Mills, VP and General Manager of Busch Gardens Africa and Adventure Island described Jungala as a family area for children who may have outgrown Land of the Dragons (the kiddie area) but are not ready for the mega-coasters you will find through out the park.

Mark Rose, VP of Design and Engineering who was responsible for the design of Jungala as well as most of the attractions that have been added to the park since 1982 also spoke. I talked with Mr. Rose about how guests with special needs played a large part in his design

Other special guests included: Glenn Young, VP of Zoological Operations and Virginia M. Busch, President of the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund and Conservation Ambassador for the Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks.

The 4-acre attraction invites you to discover exotic creatures, explore a colorful village hidden deep in the jungle and have up close animal interactions. Towering trees, cascading waterfalls and elaborate stone structures are important parts of the landscape. During my visit, animals trainers were walking around with parrots, toucans, snakes and my favorite, a two-toed sloth named Harry.

Multi-tiered habitats allow you to connect with two of the world's most endangered species - Bengal tigers and orangutans. Subterranean caves and underwater windows offer a clear view of tigers swimming in their pool. A "pop-up" dome brings you face to face with both the orange and white Bengal tigers. The 12 tigers are actually housed in two separate areas. During my visit several of the tigers were pouncing on the viewing glass; it was both scary and very neat at the same time. In the future, you will be able to play tug of war with tigers. My money is on the tigers.

The orangutan habitat, Orangutan Outpost, can be viewed from many different vantage points including the seating area of Orang Cafe, one of Jungala's two quick service restaurants. You can also watch them rest or play in their rope hammock through a glass platform in a specially designed tree house.

Next up, is Tree Top Trails, a 3-story climbing area featuring nets, bridges and crawl tubes.

There are two signature rides within this area.

Jungle Flyers is a zip line experience for to children ages 6 - 13 that offers three different flight patterns above the tree tops.

Wild Surge launches 14 passengers out of a mountain crater above a towering waterfall.

The final touches are still being added to Tree Top Trails and when finished will have one very unique component. Inside the play area there will be habitats for gibbons and flying foxes.

As I mentioned earlier, there are two new dining options at Jungala.

The Bengal Bistro, formerly the Vivi Restaurant, features outdoor seating and cafeteria-style service. Entree choices include sandwiches, wraps and salads.

Orang Cafe offers snacks and seasonal entrees such as Chicken "Stripes" with special dipping sauces, peanut butter & jelly on Jungala Bread, and safari cookies.

After spending few hours exploring Jungala, I took a quick tour of the park with Kristen and Melissa from the St.Louis headquarters of Busch Entertainment. After riding Rhino Rally, our group split into two smaller groups.

One group was going to tour the Edge of Africa where you can see hippos, meerkats and giraffes. The other group was going to ride SkeiKra.

I knew this would the only time I might have the courage to get on SkeiKra! Like they say, there is strength in numbers or perhaps it jwas ust good old peer pressure. I kept telling myself that I was higher off the ground when I went parasailing in Castaway Cay. After changing my mind a hundred times including right up to being next in line to get into the seat, I decided to go for it.

Here's how Busch Gardens describes the coaster. North America's first dive coaster sends riders through a breathtaking three-minute journey 200 feet up, then 90 degrees straight down - and that's just the beginning. "Floorless" cars give riders an unobstructed view of the 70 mph rush, and SkeiKra was the first dive coaster to incorporate an Immelmann loop (a simultaneous loop and roll), a second, 138-foot vertical drop into an underground tunnel and a water feature finale, all packed into a half-mile of steel track.

The one thing they left out is when the car is ready to drop 200 feet straight down it hangs for a few seconds so I had just enough time to think about how crazy I must be for doing this. When all was said and done, I thought the ride was awesome and we all laughed so hard when we saw our picture on the screen when we exited the coaster.

Like all great adventures, sadly this road trip to Tampa must come to an end. It was time to pack up the adventure mobile and head back to Orlando. Actually, I had one more adventure to face, that was the driving on I-4 for the next hour.

Check back this weekend for my next blog covering Sea World Aqautica's Grand Opening!!!