Ask any theme park-literate tourist what time of year would, say, Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando, be avoidable in terms of not only excessive heat, but crowds as well. If I were you, July is ideal to just stay home and call it a “naycation,” or a “staycation sans theme parks.” This is especially true here in Florida, and many visitors out-of-state fly or drive to have their progeny see Mickey Mouse and kin or force their indifferent, too-cool-for-Walt-Disney-World adolescents to survive the repetitive strains of the titular song while cruising on “It’s A Small World.” Also, residents revel in their local heritage by shelling out their money to enjoy the parks built on their own soil. But those causes of high crowds (and the July 4 holiday, which is behind us) don’t stop there – despite a dour recession, foreigners join in the fun, and if they are mostly teenagers or even college kids, they would flock in guided droves to experience our culture in the forms of what a majority of theme park-goers hate irrationally – tour groups.

Perhaps you know the looks of them once you go to Epcot or Universal Studios Florida – identical carry-on bags and/or garments (usually tops), adults carrying pendants or flags, and the chanting. Noting that the youths from originating South American nations take vacation off for three weeks into the month, you might have been ticked off by them, and there’s always Florida’s sauna-like heat and blazing sun that fuels your ire. Furthermore, you might have been familiar with those of Brazil, but those of Argentina are just as prominent as well.

I was planning to go to Sea World with a grain of salt that month in 2009, but the pendulum shifted to Busch Gardens (like the former, a World of Discovery, as Busch Entertainment puts out), where Tampa Bay locals like me should try visiting at least once. It’s not really a true Central Florida theme park, but people vacationing in Orlando and vicinity mark their itineraries for it, anyway and recently. (My family, when my late father was alive, was one of them who toed there while on their fun-filled sojourn in the area, in 1995.) My mother and I didn’t just go there to entertain ourselves during the invalid dates to visit Walt Disney World’s quartet as indicated by my Seasonal Pass, but we went there with relatives from Seattle – my aunt, uncle, and two cousins, who are vacationing for 10 days. For hours, even days, before going for two consecutive days on a hot July weekend, I predicted a high volume of tour groups because we were visiting it during that time when they are so prominent: hogging all the Universal Express stubs and Fastpasses with reckless abandon, parading between themed areas, and anything you can think of that describes how they just test all your nerves while at the parks. Once we arrived at the parking lot on the first day, I was right – an Argentinian group was present at the tram stop. On my row, I sat with not only my aunt, but two members of it as well, but I muddled through the ride to the park entrance for ticket purchase and took pictures of us.