The Wandering Disciple

Tampa, Florida: Every guest that visits Busch Gardens Tampa visits Morocco as it is the first themed land as you enter the park. Here you will find guest relations and most of the support staff of the park. This is also where most of the shops of Busch Gardens are located. Morocco is also home to the Moroccan Palace Theater. The theater currently houses the Broadway style show “Katonga”. Katonga is a musical in which the actors performs songs of the animals and the animals come to life. Debuting in 2004, Katonga has been a popular stop for young and old. The American Alligator exhibit is also located in Morocco, just outside the Moroccan Palace Theater. Here the alligator lay in the Florida sun waiting for their next meal. Several times a day you can meet a zookeeper here and learn about the alligators and watch them being fed. Shopping is the main attraction of Morocco. Here you will find the following shops: *Casablanca Outfitter; clothing. *Label Stable; Budweiser signature...

Orlando, Florida: Part marine life habitat and part theme park, Sea World Orlando is a world class zoological park that combines thrills with education to make a world class venue. The park is home to many species of marine life including their trademark resident, Shamu the Killer Whale. Opened in 1973, Sea World Orlando has grown into one the most visited theme parks in the country. Last year the park the park entertained over 5.8 million guests, making it the seventh most visited park in the country. The designers of the park do a great job of getting the most out of the 200 acres that the park sits on. They manage to combine ten thrilling amusement rides within the world class animal habitats that Sea World has been known for. The most popular attraction of the park is the parks icon, Shamu. Daily shows take place in the massive Shamu Stadium. Here guests can watch the current show, Believe. During the evening, the show is replaced with Shamu Rocks, a mix of Shamu acrobatics with R...

Tampa, Florida: Busch Gardens Tampa is a 335 acre theme park where wild rides meets wildlife. The African themed park has four roller coasters featured on Amusement Today’s Top 50 Coaster list; Montu (3), Kumba (7), SheiKra (13) and Gwazi (38). It is also home to a wide variety of Africa wildlife. Opened in 1959, Busch Gardens was started as an admission free park to compliment the hospitality house for the Anheuser-Busch brewery. The park featured the Bird Gardens, a walk through aviary where guests come in contact with exotic birds species. In 1965 the park expanded to include the Serengeti Plain. The plain was a free roaming home to African wildlife including Zebra, Giraffes and more. The plain quickly became the largest free-roaming habitat outside of Africa. A monorail and railway was added to give guests a closer look at the animals. Then in 1974, the Skyride was added, giving riders a bird’s eye view of the Serengeti Plain. Busch Gardens introduced thrill rides to the pa...

Tierra Verde, Florida: At the mouth of the Tampa Bay lies a barrier island known as Mullet Key. Mullet Key has been a prominent site of Tampa Bay history and is the current home of Fort DeSoto Park, a 1,136 acre park built around the site of the historic fort. Like much of Florida, the first inhabitant to the island were Native Americans. The Tocobaga Indians resided on the island from 1000 to 1500. The location at the mouth of the bay was ideal to the Tocobaga lifestyle. The waters provided an abundance of shellfish and fish provided plenty of food for the tribe as well as a means to trade with other tribes and eventually the Spanish conquistadors. The first Spanish explorer to reach the island was Panfilo de Narvaez in April 1528. Narvaez landed in the region and began searching for riches. As the confrontation with the local tribes became more violent, Narvaez and his group of explorers headed further north. The next major explorer to reach the region was possibly the most p...

Boca Grande, Florida: Known for its quaint village, sandy beaches and world class fishing, Boca Grande an island oasis on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Located on Gasparilla Island in Charlotte and Lee counties, it is short drive from the larger cities but years away from the hustle and bustle of urban life. As with much of Florida, the island was originally inhabited by Native Americans. The Charlotte Harbour region was controlled by the Calusa tribes and Gasparilla Island was no different. The Calusa were drawn to the area by the rich fishing of the area. The area’s first settlers arrived in the area in the late 1800’s and they too settled to the island for its fishing. They established fishing villages on the island as they caught the fish and then packaged them for shipment. In 1885 the economy of the island increased with the discovery of phosphate along the nearby Peace River. As the mining began, there was a great need for a port to ship the phosphate. So the island stepped up ...

Cincinnati, Ohio: Comair is a subsidiary airline operated by Delta Airlines as a Delta Connections service. Based in Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, they provide over 400 flights a day to over 70 destinations. Comair started in 1977 as a small airline, operating two Piper Navajo aircraft. They went public in 1981 and became a Delta Connection in 1984. Delta purchased almost a quarter of Comair stock in 1986 before purchasing the entire operation in 1999. Comair operates a fleet of 74 aircraft. They include the Bombardier CRJ-100ER, Bombardier CRJ-200ER, Bombardier CRJ-700ER and the Bombardier CRJ-900ER. Their fleet is anticipated to reduce in the coming months as they retire the aging CRJ-100 ER’s. Comair flies to 70 destinations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas. In addition to their main base at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, Comair also operates a hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Click on the photo a...

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: We left Delaware in the morning to head back to Pennsylvania. We were going to spend a little more time with family in Lebanon before heading to the airport in Harrisburg. We suffered our only glitch of the trip when we were trying to leave Harrisburg. It began when we tried to make it through security. My mom gave us an anniversary clock for our one year wedding anniversary we celebrated while on the trip on the 26th. To avoid having it broken in our checked baggage, we kept it in our carry on. Well it alarmed the TSA screener and we were taken aside into secondary screening while the examined the clock to make sure it wasn’t a bomb. Then once they cleared the clock and returned it to us, we made it to the gate only to find out the plane was grossly overweight. The Comair representative said that since we were going to encounter heavy weather on the flight into Atlanta, they needed to take on more fuel. They asked four people to voluntarily give up ...