Busch Gardens Xmastown '22

 Busch Gardens... again? Wasn't I just here? Well, we went again, so we'll get some pictures... again.

This trip was over the Thanksgiving week, so it was full-blown Christmas Town decorations. Last year, we went after Xmas, and it really put us in the Xmas mood. So it was nice to get that effect before the holiday, this time. Um, that wasn't confusing, was it?

They had the lights "on" even though it was still daylight out. This is going to look much better later, right now it's kind of a silly picture.

Check out those fall foliage colors. This is on the bridge going into Ireland.

This is becoming a new favorite park snack. The Irish Nachos is kettle-cooked potato chips with cheese and chili. This counted as our lunch, but it's not really a full-meal size portion. But good enough to keep the hunger away for a while.

Those are some strange-looking horses! They look almost like puppies!

We kind-of forgot that the Xmas crowds don't show up until it gets dark outside, so we got to the show a little early, to avoid the rush. Funny seeing the sign which says "no holding spots" when we're like, the only ones here so far.

2:00 is a while away. But not long enough to go do something else and then come back. Not really.

We took a minute to wander into the nearby gift shops and found the knives place. A long time ago, there was a tobacco shop (which smelled great) and had a ton of medieval swords on the wall to buy. Well, today the tobacco is gone, and the swords are replaced with the type of knives you'd see at a flea market.

I mean, some of those look medieval. But obviously the katana swords look like they don't belong in this Europe-themed theme park.

Back to the Scrooge musical show. It was pretty good. There were a couple of songs for the set up and the first ghost but then, the whole thing wrapped up quickly. I mean, it was nice but the pacing was like... ooops, it's running long, forget the song for Xmas future, and let's just end it! Everyone knows the Scrooge story already, right?

We immediately bolted over back to Ireland to see the Step-Dancing show. Which was amazing, but too much tap dancing, and not enough Irish step dancing. I mean, the tap-dancing duels were pretty epic and impressive, don't get me wrong. And the step dancing they did do was awesome. 

Here's the picture outside. You know this type of dancing, where they basically just stomp with the legs. Looks like a lot of fun. After the show, I realize; I really like Irish music. The flutes, violins, and peppy beats. It's just very nice music.

Did you ever look up in the gift shops? Cool stuff is on the ceiling, too.

Word up, My Big Pony!

My friend was baaaaa-ing at these sheep, and they were baaaaa-ing back! The people around were getting a fun moment out of it for a hot minute.

Why did this look like a Lego polar bear? Do you think so, too?

During the daytime, Escape from Pompeii is not so impressive. But when it gets dark outside, this will be the coolest thing in the entire park.

Odd random lawnmower ad over here. Did they get a deal on a bunch of lawnmowers in exchange for this display?

Disco Minty! Lights in the tree here looked like a dance floor hahahah.

This looks like it could have been a Halloween light, but lights are lights. And right now it's going to be Xmas lights.

Took this picture to show a friend that DaVinci's Cradle is no longer here. We can no longer hear the best before-the-ride operator line "We hope you enjoy being ROCKED by DaVinci's Cradle!"

Hand-painted flowers place is still over in Italy. They've been doing this for as long as I can remember.

If the guy is here, you can ask for custom colors. I thought about getting one that's Minty Green, but that was a silly thought, you think? 

Got to the theatre in Italy a little early for the show, and had a bit of a giant brownie since we had a kinda-small lunch. Thanks for the brownie! We ran over to the Pantheon coaster, but the line was too long to wait in before the show, so back to the theater we went.

This was not really a "show", just a bunch of pro-level music numbers. Piano. Songs. The fun part was when one of the not-main singers got a loud cheering section, obviously visiting family and/or friends, and they really "hammed-up" their performance in an impressive way.

How long were we here? Hahah the sun set during the show. I don't know if they can really do anything about it, but the Pantheon coaster track runs near this theatre, and is a tiny bit distracting. But hey, we're at a theme park, what can you expect?

Peace on Earth is way off in the distance. Was that a poetic statement? I meant literally, it's way off in the distance there on that train track bridge.

It looks funny that the wrecked Verbolten car has been vandalized by Xmas lights.

Festhaus! A few of us were a little hungry and there was a bit of disappointment that we could not get a meal before the show was going to start. The shows are not super-long, so we planned to go right after to the Trappers Smokehouse. That's where we wanted to go anyway.

Minty is on the stage! Star of the show!

When the show started, that lady holding the baby was standing in everybody's way! It was so loud, and it looked like the baby was trying to sleep! Nobody was going to bother asking her to sit down or anything, but it was funny that she seemed so oblivious to her situation. Eventually other family members showed up and she went away with the baby. Weird.

I had to get one more picture of the cool light-wing costumes. I guess I should mention that the stage is in the middle of the Festhaus, so it's a tough thing for them to play to both sides of the room. A friend was disappointed to find out we sat on the "B" side of the place, not the "Alpha" side. I think they still did an okay job, mostly.

Daisy was still hanging out at the ring toss. Say "Hi I'm Daisy!" as we pass by, Mario Kart-style.