Please, why must Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” also permeate into a destination I love?
Busch Gardens Tampa tries to make itself a holiday destination by stocking up on the Christmas trees, red ribbons, and fake snow that are thrown everywhere throughout the theme park. Sometimes it can be funny because the usual theme for the park is African– I never expected to see Rudolph next to some tigers. While I like walking through the decorations, I think the Christmas music playing throughout the park is Christmas overkill. My desires for riding the heart-stopping, scream-inducing roller coaster named Sheikra kind of waned as I could hear Lennon’s “simply having a wonderful Christmas time” as my adrenaline-pumped soundtrack. So remember… Christmas visuals? IN! Christmas music? TOO MUCH!
But one overindulgent Christmas tidings produced by Busch Gardens is its seasonal figure skating show Christmas on Ice. I was a fan of last year’s show, so I was eager to see what changes (if any) Busch Entertainment made.
After securing a perfect, middle seat in the Stanleyville Theater, I was suddenly taken away from the Florida sun and African animals and brought into the holidays. About 15 figure skaters used a small skating rink the size of my apartment’s living room to do all these crazy and beautiful dances on ice. One singer accompanied the dancers as his voice, the music, and the decorations helped to set a wintery mood. I enjoyed this year’s show more than last year’s– especially with the addition of a new scene (I won’t explain much except that involves a cute, little girl). Another Christmas overdose? Perhaps, but the performance is definitely worth watching. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Christmas marketing hater. If you’re stopping at Busch Gardens before the new year, take a look at Christmas on Ice.
Oh yes, and here’s just a mini, cute video I’m adding. This is an elephant at Busch Gardens who appears to be playing catch with one of the feeders. Look at how close to the edge the elephant is (I kept expecting it to topple over)
