Busch Gardens Boy

Poor Danny. The guy was sitting next to John in the very front car of the Gwazi roller coaster at Busch Gardens today when a supervisor came by and told us she needed to check his height. He’d already been measured twice for the ride, and twice he was given the green light to board the Southeast’s largest and fastest wooden coaster — 7,000 feet of track, and Danny could taste every inch we were about to travel.

But he didn’t ride, because the supervisor said he was not tall enough. He’s 47 inches. He needed to be 48. We’re all for safety, and after riding the monster myself, I’m pretty sure Danny would have been tossed around a fair bit. But he should have been stopped at the front gate, not once he was buckled and ready to roll.

John and Danny exited Gwazi. Joey and I rode. And my little guy was awarded Quick Que passes for the trouble he was caused — and we jumped six times to the front of the lines at the park.

Danny recovered from the sting of his ejection, and he had a ball at the park. He rode the upside-down Scorpion, the neck-whipping Cheetah Chase (42-inch rule on these two), the Log Flume, the Sky Ride, Bumper Cars, and pictured below is our not-quite-tall-enough man on the Congo River Rapids, just minutes before he and John were soaked through to their socks.

Congo River Rapids, Busch Gardens, Tampa