The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 124

THE PALM BEACH POST SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2004 A v. AT use A ARDENS? At 'V-- i. i Lights, camera, action! The newest addition 'A isn't a roller coaster nor an animal Photo courtesy BUSCH GARDENS Busch Gardens' newest addition is KaTonga, a lavish, 18-actor stage show that combines songs, acrobats and 45 puppets. show.) A fourth and final storyteller steals the show with a soaring gospel song that brings the life-affirming, G-rated show to a close. Throughout there is plenty to see including camouflaged dancers that appear to be trees and vegetation and giant puppets parading about Busch Gardens should get much mileage from the show.

No Florida theme park is as clogged with ways to separate customers from their cash as Busch Gardens. As you walk into the park, you're approached by a swarm of photographers offering to take a picture of you. Gift shops and food vendors are everywhere, both permanent and mobile. If you can walk 20 feet down any path at Busch Gardens and not have a chance to buy something, it must be raining. paullomartirepbposlcom By PAUL LOMARTIRE Palm Beach Post Staff Writer TAMPA Busch Gardens is six roller coasters, 2,000 exotic animals and about that many souvenir stands.

Alongside the sprawling University of South Florida campus about 10 miles northeast of downtown Tampa, Busch Gardens started 45 years ago. After you toured the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, you could get a free sample in a light, airy room alive with a bunch of exotic birds in cages. Today, a one-day, adult Busch Gardens ticket is $57.72. If you want to do the Serengeti Safari ride on the back of a truck and help dump food for animals that's another $32.09. An adult, one-dayone-park Disney World ticket is $58.31.

To get people to pony up that kind of cash, Busch Gardens knows it has to offer more than free beer and birds. The park has to keep cramming more and more on its 335 acres. In 1998, Disney opened its 500-acre Animal Kingdom and quickly found out what they learned a long time ago at Busch Gardens: Roller coasters are a bigger draw than rhinos, and you don't have to feed and water a film or stage show. In May 2003, Busch opened the 22-minute film, RL Stine's Haunted Lighthouse 4-D. The popular and durable name-brand attraction can play hourly at the 750-seat Timbuktu Theater.

Stine's original story written for the film is a you-can't-see-this-at-Disney hit The film came after the colorful Goosebumps author appeared at the Disney-MGM theme park during Halloween season 1998 with a limited-run show based on his books. So, it's no surprise that Busch Gardens' newest addition is Ka- That talent base is obvious in the show that combines powerful and playful songs, acrobats, a constandy changing set, 45 puppets and constant costume changes in a one-act play. Larry Alan Coke opens the show as a master storyteller. Starting the show with a blast of music that makes the premise hard to understand, the sage storyteller says that a rite of passage for four aspiring storytellers is a competition to pick the best. The four young storytellers begin with Ayo (Arvell Readus) singing about a monkey named Whirly with a reworking of the pop hit Be Happy.

Other storytellers follow with dramatic, seamless set changes and tales about bugs, a bullfrog, otters, white egrets and so on. The music ranges from rap to rock to classical. (In a dark theater, the booming music and voices can send moms scurrying with screaming, scared babies at each Tonga, a lavish, 18-actor stage show that owes much to Disney's Lion King. The Lion King kicked off as a major money-making film in 1994, was adapted into a Broadway box office hit three years later and is today a 30-minute stage show at Disney's Animal Kingdom. A theme park can no longer get by with cruise-ship talent to create a signature show.

For KaTonga, Busch Gardens went after key players from The Lion King's stage success by hiring Michael Curry (puppet designer), Donald Holder (Tony winner for lighting), Frank Krenz (costumes), James Leonard Joy (scenic design) and Jim van Bergen (sound design). Amusement Business reports the 40-minute show cost more than $5 million and will run at least five years. That cost included renovating the park's Moroccan Palace Theater that seats 1,100. f'i s. '4 AT SEAWORLD? 1 A ft Skilled swimmers descend into the depths to pluck a pearl-bearing oyster JUST FOR YOU! By PAULA CROUCH THRASHER Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service ORLANDO Will it be creamy white or lustrous peach? Luminous gold or jet black? You never know what kind of pearl you'll get when you send a diver down into the drink at the Oyster's Secret diving lagoon to select one of the mollusks.

The new attraction on the Waterfront at SeaWorld is drawing treasure-seekers willing to pay $12.99 for a chance at getting a rare pearl say, a black beauty measuring 8 millimeters and valued at more than $500 for their investment Here's how it works: Using no breathing apparatus, skilled swimmers descend into the depths to pluck a pearl-bearing oyster. (The oysters holding Akoya pearls are imported from Japan.) Guests watch this ancient Mediterranean art with a modern twist from an amphitheater that provides underwater views. A pearlsmith beside the lagoon will pry open oysters to reveal the cultured pearls inside. The pearls will then be cleaned and appraised. Even a small (5 millimeters) pearl is likely to be worth $32.

So you can't lose. "Sometimes we get twins that are 5 points or millimeters each," says store supervisor Susan Shirk. On-site artists can set the pearls in settings beginning at $29.99 for a simple pendant necklace. Jewelry made of simulated and cultured pearls is sold in the gift shop, where prices start at about $5 (for a pair of faux pearl earrings). That's not all that's new on the Waterfront, the 5-acre nautical neighborhood that opened last summer with entertainment, dining and shopping.

Adjacent to the Oyster's Secret is the Spice Mill, which features the flavors of the seven seas. Spices highlighting the tastes of world-famous seaports flavor dishes like jambalaya and jerk-grilled chicken sandwiches. The Spice Mill is the perfect vantage point from which to watch the new night finale, "Mistify," through Labor Day. The spectacle inspired by the sea features larger-than-life marine crea- Photo courtesy SEAWORLD Shamu, a favorite at SeaWorld, stars in his own show: 'Shamu Rocks Tonight" in which the park's sea lions, otters and walrus parody other favorite SeaWorld shows; and "Shamu Rocks America" at Shamu Stadium. Picturesque lakefront and harbor views are the draw at the SandBar restaurant with outdoor seating in a fortress surrounding the base of SeaWorld's 400-foot-tall Skytower.

Diners nibble upscale appetizers such as sushi and sip signature martinis while listening to live music and enjoying the view. "Dine With Shamu" allows park guests to eat buffet-style alongside killer whales, dine with Shamu trainers, ask questions and observe training sessions in an exclusive themed area. Or dine in a cool, dark aquarium within inches of more than 50 sharks at Sharks Underwater Grill, an upscale restaurant with a menu that immerses guests in an underwater world. hires, dancing 100-foot fountains, flames on water, above-water and underwater light shows and fireworks. Also nearby Is the Polyneslan-themed Makahikl Luau at the Waterfront's Sea-fire Inn.

The nightly South Seas pageant led by the Kahuna who arrives leading a procession of cast members in authentic costumes is a colorful celebration of the ancient customs, rhythmic music and dance and the cuisine of the Pacific Islands. A salad plate with fresh fruit and minimuffins is followed by a family-style feast: platters of mahi mahi in pina colada sauce, Hawaiian smoked pork with sweet and sour sauce, teriyaki chicken tenders, stir-fried vegetables and Polynesian rice. A dessert of orange sponge cake with chocolate spewing from the center and over the sides like lava is the finale. Other after-dark diversions include "Clyde and Seamore Present Sea Lions.