Carousel Gardens Amusement Park (and Storyland)

Carousel Gardens Amusement Park  / City Park / Storyland
yaayyy! Did you really think I was gonna drive all the way to New Orleans and not try and ride a coaster /// go to an amusement park along the way?

Our final day of our trip to NOLA featured my plans. After packing the car and leaving our amazing hotel we drove down to City Park, stopping at some random locals cafe where we ate outside on the patio and I made nice with a puppy. After eating we arrived at a rather busy City Park... and after accidentally off roading in Mariah's car.... We parked at Carousel Gardens. Chelsea and Chris didn't care about going into the small amusement park, so they spent their time just exploring around the rest of City Park itself... While me and Mariah acted like little kids.
Woo

Woo, Carousel Gardens Amusement Park!
Opened in 1891, its the oldest amusement park in Louisiana and the 13th oldest in the US.

It also has Live Oaks and Spanish Moss... everywhere... Oh, and a few rides hidden between them!
:D

The parks star attraction, and namesake is the 1906 Antique Carousel, next summer it will celebrate its 110th anniversary!

It sustained some pretty heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina but has since been fully restored
and was rather beautiful.

There's also a nice looking Scrambler

A Fun Slide

And a Wacky Shack fun house.

Monkey Jump kiddie drop tower.

     The Musik Express was one of the few clearly adult rides built in the park.

Construction Zone was a pretty beefy looking kids ride.

The parks Eli Ferris Wheel was new, I'm not sure if it replaced an older model or not. But it was new.
It was also one of just two rides we rode at the park.
(We would have done the train too, but we didn't have time)

The New Orleans city skyline, and Mercedes-Benz Superdome, seen from the top of the wheel.

It also went around a few times more than Mariah wanted.
 Haha

Tilt-A-Whirl with the G5 cars

Uh... the Potty's 
Oh yeah, and there is one other ride here...
...The reason I made everyone come to Carousel Gardens in the first place!

The all new, for 2015....
LADYBUG ROLLER COASTER!

And incredibly thrilling Zierer built Force Two model, that sends riders around the course 3 times per cycle.

This coaster opened in February although was meant for 2014. It replaced the parks older Tivoli Medium model built in 1988 but damaged during Hurricane Katrina.
(it did reopen for a season or so, before sitting idle for a few years, and then being fully removed)

And while not the biggest or baddest coaster around, its pretty fun for what it is, and for the age group its designed for, its perfect.
(And I wish I had a local community park with a coaster in it growing up!)

City Park also has the world's largest collection of live oak trees, some older than 600 years. And was founded in 1854, making it one of the oldest parks in the US. Most of the trees are absolutely covered in Spanish Moss.
Right next to Carousel Gardens Amusement Park in City Park, is Storyland, a small  fairy tale themed playground that Mariah and I walked around for a little bit.

Walking in, the first thing we saw was this awesome looking Dragon slide... that we both rode :D

There was also this... Uh, 'never in America' stepping stone path in the river. <3

Pinocchio... and his whale.

This random rocket... thing.

Annddd... the Cow that jumped over the Moon!

Yup.

And.. Uh, Ladybug Coaster video (via Vine) - Video

Woo

Lowry Park Zoo... again.

Uh, because it had been like a year since I lasted vised the place? Oh... and because of animals. (and in turn, lots of baby animals!)
yay!

Woo, Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida.

(And ducks!)

Aww, Babirusa... and baby

The cool looking Orinoco Crocodile, rawr!

Southern Bald Eagle... Uh, AMERICA!

The dreaded Lionfish

Florida / West Indian Manatee <3

A female Mandarin Duck giving some side-eye...

African Penguins :D

(The Formal Chicken?)

Oh man....

<3 Florida Sandhill Crane <3

Yeesss!!!!

Queensland Koala

Pygmy Hippopotamus's's's!! :D

Aww :D

Mama Zebra and her baby, that was born the day before my visit.

(Still had the umbilical cord hanging off.....)

The African Elephant... and a baby!

American Black Bear

:3 Yeesss!!!! :3

(bear..bear...bear..bear)

The Bornean Orangutan doing its..thing.

Random waterfall near Lemur Island.

(Lemurs were seen.. but were being difficult to photograph)

Aww, a little Komodo Dragon enjoying its heat lamp.

Fun looking Masked Lapwing.

Great Indian Rhinoceros

Indian Gharial!

Clearly the coolest Crocodilia

(And only some 250 remain in the world :( )

With less than a 10 US Zoo's being home to them

Clouded Leopard, pretty pretty.

New Guinea Singing Dog

And... a Nicobar pigeon.
Uh.. and for the non-animal stuff at the zoo!

Woo

It was pretty cool out during my visit... So Gator Falls was skipped. I only saw a few people ride it all day, and most were kids that didn't seem to care that it was Florida-Cold outside.

Although the Wallaroo Station Water Play Area was pretty much abandon...

Lil' Joey's Caravan had been built sometime between my last visits here. An SBF/Visa ride that I'd seen all over Europe... this was my first time seeing one in the US.

 African Guided Safari was pretty packed today as well.. But the Zoo seemed unprepared for it... As only one tram was being used and only 2 cars... The line for it was at least 2 cycles wait, and the ride lasts 20 minutes or so.

Annddd... Tasmanian Tiger is still here, and now featuring orange supports. Rather the yellow it had when it first opened.

Took it for a courtesy ride. :D

And lastly, hidden away behind a fence, is all that's left of the SkyFari. During my last trip here, the ride was also closed.. but the supports were still in place (cable-less) and the seats were all stacked up in a pile. Now everything has been removed. :(