Pro Sports. Tampa is also home to some of the finest teams in professional sports. The Tampa Bay Rays were Eastern Division & American League Champions in 2008. Tropicana Field is the only Major League ballpark with an artificial surface and all-dirt base paths, and is the world's only professional sports facility that features a 10,000-gallon fish tank in the outfield, which is filled with Rays that fans can swim with and touch. Tropicana Field features the world's second-largest cable-supported domed roof (after the Georgia Dome). The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were Super Bowl Champions in 2003. The Bucs joined the NFL in 1976. Led by Coach John Gruden and the league's top defense, the 2002 Buccaneers won the NFC South title with the team's best ever record, 12-4, and went on to rout Gruden's former team, the Oakland Raiders who had the league's number one offense, by a score of 48-21 in Super Bowl XXXVII.
Busch Gardens is guaranteed to delight everyone in the family from seniors to grandkids. There are thrill rides and cool rides, animal attractions, play areas for children. The park is divided into nine different areas fashioned after locations in Africa. Morocco, at the park entrance, features shops, eateries and three theaters presenting great live shows. Nairobi has the Great Ape Domain, a three-acre habitat of Lowland Gorillas and chimpanzees. Serengeti Plain has the largest collection of the park's animals where more than 800 animals roam in a natural habitat setting. Egypt has Montu, the Southeast's longest and tallest inverted roller coaster. Timbuktu offers roller coasters and other midway rides. Congo is host to Kumba, the Southeast's fastest steel rollercoaster. Stanleyville features the Stanley Falls Log Flume and the Tanganyika Tidal Wave, plus the Bird Gardens and Land of the Dragons, an adventure play area for children.
Adventure Island is a 25-acre waterpark with loads of twisting and turning slides and water attractions. The Water Moccasin is a 6-story-high twisting, high-speed, extra-wide water slide. Tampa Typhoon has a 76-foot near free-fall drop. Splash Attack is a 12-level tree house with more than 50 slides, water jets and rope climbs. Visitors young and old will entertained for hours. Paradise Lagoon is a giant swimming pool for the whole family with waterfalls, jumping platforms, cannonball slides, and translucent water tubes. Riptide is a four-lane mat slide with a 55-foot drop inside your own enclosed tube. Aruba Tuba is a twisted slide ride that is fast, wet, and a whole lot of fun. Calypso Coaster flume ride will get you soaked then spill you into the calm Rambling Bayou River. Caribbean Corkscrew swirls you through 230-feet of intertwined translucent tubes giving you the tumbling of your life. The last blast is a wet, whirling ride through the 47-foot decelerator lane. Everglides is a floating toboggan ride that speeds down a 72-foot watery incline then skims you across the pool's surface while you hydroplane up to 20 yards before coming to a stop. Gulf Scream propels you down a massive 210-foot body slide at speeds exceeding 25 miles per hour till you make one big splash in the pool below.
Key West Rapids is a 6-story tube ride through more than 700-feet of gnarly twists, turns, speedy slopes, gushers, water mines, pools and showers before landing in a splash pool. Runaway Rapids is a high-speed adventure combining altitude with attitude. Push off the peak of a 34-foot mountain, then twist and turn your way to a watery finish. Wahoo Run is the ultimate family raft ride that plunges up to five riders more than 15-feet-per-second through a twisting, turning 600-ft. half-enclosed tunnel water flume that corkscrews into a waiting splash pool. Four waterfall curtains make sure riders get soaked. Water Moccasin is a triple-tube thriller that snakes through an unpredictable spiraling slide and delivers maximum fun. Attractions include Endless Surf, 17,000-sq.-ft. wave pool where every few minutes, you'll be treated to rolling surf with waves up to five feet high.
Fabian's Fun Port is sized just right for smaller hands and kid-size courage with a mini wave pool, plus bubbly springs and jumping jets for spraying and playing. Paradise Lagoon is so tropical, you may find yourself happily lost in every moment of action-packed adventure where you can jump off a cliff (a 20-foot platform) or swing on a vine (a sturdy cable) in this 9,000-sq.-ft. cool pool with slides and waterfalls. Rambling Bayou gives you a break from the excitement and still keeps you cool on this calm, half-mile tube trip through a colorful rain forest featuring lush landscapes, tropical waterfalls even rain and fog. Splash Attack empties a 1000-gallon wooden bucket every seven minutes to get you really wet and the 500-ft. twisting open flumes and closed tubes are gushing with swirling water. Plus a huge tree house with more than 50 water play toys like jets, levers, and rope pulls, plus twisting slides, bridges, cargo nets and web crawls add to the fun. Spike Zone has white-sand volleyball courts that would impress the pros. Play or watch the action from under funbrellas on the grass-covered seating area.
Don't forget to mark your calendars for these annual festivals: the Gasparilla Pirate Fest in January, The Florida State Fair in February, the Florida Strawberry Festival in March, the Ruskin Tomato & Heritage Festival in May, and the Ruskin Seafood Fest in November. Visit Tampa now and discover how historic Old Florida blends well with the modern, upscale style of some of the most beautiful, master-planned communities for families and retirees. Yes, climate, dining and shopping, cultural attractions, educational and business opportunities, and the beautiful beaches help make Tampa home to a wonderful lifestyle. Tampa is a lot more than beautiful sunsets! Make it your home, too.
Busch Gardens is guaranteed to delight everyone in the family from seniors to grandkids. There are thrill rides and cool rides, animal attractions, play areas for children. The park is divided into nine different areas fashioned after locations in Africa. Morocco, at the park entrance, features shops, eateries and three theaters presenting great live shows. Nairobi has the Great Ape Domain, a three-acre habitat of Lowland Gorillas and chimpanzees. Serengeti Plain has the largest collection of the park's animals where more than 800 animals roam in a natural habitat setting. Egypt has Montu, the Southeast's longest and tallest inverted roller coaster. Timbuktu offers roller coasters and other midway rides. Congo is host to Kumba, the Southeast's fastest steel rollercoaster. Stanleyville features the Stanley Falls Log Flume and the Tanganyika Tidal Wave, plus the Bird Gardens and Land of the Dragons, an adventure play area for children.
Adventure Island is a 25-acre waterpark with loads of twisting and turning slides and water attractions. The Water Moccasin is a 6-story-high twisting, high-speed, extra-wide water slide. Tampa Typhoon has a 76-foot near free-fall drop. Splash Attack is a 12-level tree house with more than 50 slides, water jets and rope climbs. Visitors young and old will entertained for hours. Paradise Lagoon is a giant swimming pool for the whole family with waterfalls, jumping platforms, cannonball slides, and translucent water tubes. Riptide is a four-lane mat slide with a 55-foot drop inside your own enclosed tube. Aruba Tuba is a twisted slide ride that is fast, wet, and a whole lot of fun. Calypso Coaster flume ride will get you soaked then spill you into the calm Rambling Bayou River. Caribbean Corkscrew swirls you through 230-feet of intertwined translucent tubes giving you the tumbling of your life. The last blast is a wet, whirling ride through the 47-foot decelerator lane. Everglides is a floating toboggan ride that speeds down a 72-foot watery incline then skims you across the pool's surface while you hydroplane up to 20 yards before coming to a stop. Gulf Scream propels you down a massive 210-foot body slide at speeds exceeding 25 miles per hour till you make one big splash in the pool below.
Key West Rapids is a 6-story tube ride through more than 700-feet of gnarly twists, turns, speedy slopes, gushers, water mines, pools and showers before landing in a splash pool. Runaway Rapids is a high-speed adventure combining altitude with attitude. Push off the peak of a 34-foot mountain, then twist and turn your way to a watery finish. Wahoo Run is the ultimate family raft ride that plunges up to five riders more than 15-feet-per-second through a twisting, turning 600-ft. half-enclosed tunnel water flume that corkscrews into a waiting splash pool. Four waterfall curtains make sure riders get soaked. Water Moccasin is a triple-tube thriller that snakes through an unpredictable spiraling slide and delivers maximum fun. Attractions include Endless Surf, 17,000-sq.-ft. wave pool where every few minutes, you'll be treated to rolling surf with waves up to five feet high.
Fabian's Fun Port is sized just right for smaller hands and kid-size courage with a mini wave pool, plus bubbly springs and jumping jets for spraying and playing. Paradise Lagoon is so tropical, you may find yourself happily lost in every moment of action-packed adventure where you can jump off a cliff (a 20-foot platform) or swing on a vine (a sturdy cable) in this 9,000-sq.-ft. cool pool with slides and waterfalls. Rambling Bayou gives you a break from the excitement and still keeps you cool on this calm, half-mile tube trip through a colorful rain forest featuring lush landscapes, tropical waterfalls even rain and fog. Splash Attack empties a 1000-gallon wooden bucket every seven minutes to get you really wet and the 500-ft. twisting open flumes and closed tubes are gushing with swirling water. Plus a huge tree house with more than 50 water play toys like jets, levers, and rope pulls, plus twisting slides, bridges, cargo nets and web crawls add to the fun. Spike Zone has white-sand volleyball courts that would impress the pros. Play or watch the action from under funbrellas on the grass-covered seating area.
Don't forget to mark your calendars for these annual festivals: the Gasparilla Pirate Fest in January, The Florida State Fair in February, the Florida Strawberry Festival in March, the Ruskin Tomato & Heritage Festival in May, and the Ruskin Seafood Fest in November. Visit Tampa now and discover how historic Old Florida blends well with the modern, upscale style of some of the most beautiful, master-planned communities for families and retirees. Yes, climate, dining and shopping, cultural attractions, educational and business opportunities, and the beautiful beaches help make Tampa home to a wonderful lifestyle. Tampa is a lot more than beautiful sunsets! Make it your home, too.
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