continued… It was now noon. Keith was getting hungry and Eric was eager to eat again. We went to the nearest restaurant, which served barbecue. Up until now, the longest line we’d been in was 15-minutes for the water ride. However, the line to order at the restaurant took about 40-minutes. Eric proudly reported that his meal would have cost more than $30 had he paid a la carte, though Keith’s didn’t make it to $30, so the average between the two was $60.

We went to a nearby ice cream shop in France. We each got a milkshake, which was not included in the meal plans.

The next big ride that we wanted to go on was in Scotland. We decided to take the sky tram over to Germany to make the walk shorter. This was leaving France.

And arriving in Germany

On our way to Scotland, we walked by a boat ride and decided that it was probably a good idea to go on a mellow ride while our food digested. It had an electric motor, so it was quiet and didn’t smell. They normally do a circle, but since it was such a windy day, they went back and forth in the part of the river that was protected from the wind.

Next was the Lochness Monster. The sign said it was an American Roller Coaster Enthusiasts landmark because it was the world’s first roller coaster with a continuous track interlocking loop. It opened in 1978. It actually had two intertwining loops. Here was a photo of the loops taken from the sky tram.

Then it does two loops inside the dragon’s mountain lair.

Christi and Keith loved it and went on it a second time, but it was a bit too bumpy for a third time. Eric wanted to ride the train around the park to scope out the whole park. The train station was discreetly hidden behind a building.

The train moved painfully slow, so we exited at the next stop, which was Italy.

The whole park was beautifully landscaped, but Italy was especially noteworthy.

Christi and Keith went on a ride called Tempesto. It was the scariest ride Christi has ever been on in her life. It made her a little bit sick. Keith tried to go on it a second time, but they stopped the ride for some reason that wasn’t disclosed.

Keith and Eric went on a ride called Apollo’s Chariot. The track wasn’t visible from our vantage point, so we couldn’t record it, but it had some big drops and no loops. After that ride, Eric declared he would not be going on any more roller coasters for the rest of the day.

Keith did not want to go on the Roman Rapids water ride because he was worried that we’d get wet and never dry in the humidity. Eric and Christi both wanted to go because it looked just like Roaring Rapids at Magic Mountain, which they’d both enjoyed. Eric and Christi remembered being able to steer the rafts a little bit, thus controlling how wet we’d gotten. That was not the case with this raft. We got very wet, and Keith was right about taking a ridiculously long time to dry. He was mad at Eric and Christi and in a grumpy mood for the rest of the day.

There was another water ride, called Escape From Pompeii. Keith refused to go on it, arguing that getting even wetter was a bad idea. We walked back over to Germany. Christi and Keith got in line for Verboten, but it was a long line that wasn’t moving very fast, so they decided it wasn’t worth the wait.

We all went to the bumper cars, instead. Bumper cars were always fun!

Keith was crabby and Eric wanted to eat again, so we went to Festhaus, where we could watch a show while eating in air conditioning (the other places we’d eaten out had outdoor seating). We’d figured sitting in AC would help improve Keith’s mood.

Keith wasn’t ready to eat again. but Eric got a meal that would have been $35 a la carte, so he was pleased with himself. We were up to $123 in meal plan food, so Eric was finally feeling like he’d gotten his money’s worth. The show was cheesy, but fun.

From there Christi and Keith went on The Big Bad Wolf. Karen had told us that it was an old ride they’d taken away, and that people were so mad about it that Busch Gardens brought it back. Christi determined it was her favorite ride in the park and wanted to ride it again, but Keith said it was boring and he wanted to move on. The last big ride, the Darkoaster, was closed. Here was another shot of the cute decor in the park.

While there was lots more to do in the park, at this point, we decided we were ready to go. We took the sky tram back to the entrance. Eric decided that he needed one more meal before we left, so he got some food to take home with us at the same restaurant that he’d eaten at when we first arrived.

We went back to the boat and had a quiet night aboard.