Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 1, Seaworld Orlando
Shame there's nothing like an aeroplane that would bring you here :/
Shame there's nothing like an aeroplane that would bring you here :/
FORUMS - COASTERFORCE
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Florida 2014: Day 26, Homecoming. COMPLETED
- Thread starter Jordanovichy
- Start date
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 1, Seaworld Orlando
Cheers guys
glad you're enjoying the reports almost as much as I'm enjoying Orlando :lol:
Hope to have day 2 and Busch Gardens up soon
Cheers guys
glad you're enjoying the reports almost as much as I'm enjoying Orlando :lol:Hope to have day 2 and Busch Gardens up soon
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 1, Seaworld Orlando
Well just you make sure you have your malaria pills before you make those exotic travels.
Well just you make sure you have your malaria pills before you make those exotic travels.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 1, Seaworld Orlando
^even though I wasn't feeling well it still felt like a great coaster. When I only had UK coasters in my top 10 it went to 8th...you can see where it is now so that's a spoiler for the second Seaworld trip
Anyway, finally onto day two, sorry it's been a while
Saturday 19th July: Day 2, Busch Gardens Tampa
I had been looking forward to Busch Gardens. It has the biggest collection of thrilling roller coasters in Florida. The drive across Florida took 75 minutes which was longer than I was expecting to be honest but finally we arrived.
There was the sign that we knew would be there but were still dreading seeing...
Such a burden
Once parked I gooned out slightly whilst looking at the beautiful sight that is Montu testing.
Another HATEFUL sign
Once in we got the all day dining wrist bands (you can eat in 'selected' diners around the park for $30 a day, the choice of places you can eat is actually rather scarce and if you want a drink you have to go to one too otherwise the best they can offer you is buy one get one free), I probably wouldn't recommend it, I doubt we managed to total $30 worth of food each. We headed straight over to Gwazi. I knew I'd only get the 'tiger' side due to 'lion' being shut for ages now.
The wood looks old and dirty, I certainly wasn't expecting a new contender for top ten.
I knew it'd be the only chance I'd get to ride so thought I might as well go front, especially as the ride was virtually walk on. I remember the seats being comfortable with lots of padding. How bad could this be? The lift hill is quite clunky and the first drop is actually quite enjoyable, not at all rough, but then ARRRRRGGGGHHHHH. The pain, the roughness, the jerking, I cannot begin to explain how uncomfortable this thing is. Don't get me wrong, it is thrilling and the train really hurtles around those corners but it was just a bad bad coaster. Anyway, I got the cred, they can pull both sides down now to make way for a B&M hyper or something. :lol:
Next we headed over to Air Grover purely so I could get the cred. On the way I couldn't help but notice how pretty the park is
So yes, Air Grover...
I sat back row, it was smooth but that was it. Simply a +1...
I liked the area Air Grover was in, they had an awesome kiddy flume thing
And I'm not ashamed to say we had some fun on the Telly's Jungle Jam thing which is basically a series of pipes you can run through.
Then came the time of FAFF...caused by your's truly. Air Grover was my 99th cred meaning my 100th was coming up, I wanted it to be a cred where I could get a ride photo. We all suggested Cheetah Hunt, excellent choice so we made our way the whole way round the park to where the Intamin Accelerator was. Have some generic BGT pictures I took on the way round
We eventually reached the new-for-2014 area, Pantopia.
I have no idea what was here before or what to compare it to but I really liked the area, it looked like it should do.
Of course, what was lurking in the corner? Falcon's Fury.
That font is simply gorgeous
A close up of the new paint job
I just had to give the test seat a go
I know, I should have done it in Jarrett style, I'm just a **** goon
Anyway enough of all this, we finally made it to Cheetah Hunt. The queue was 85 minutes...what made this worse was the fact a MASSIVE, and I mean massive, (like at least 300 people), tour group were just joining the queue, this would bump it up to the full 120 minutes easily. So we decided to skip it for now and went on the Rhino Rally instead.
It's basically Zufari, only cleverer, and wittier with better animals and more enjoyable in every way. You board a jeep and instead of some prerecorded garbage being spouted out to you the driver actually talks and he was really witty. He took the mick out of our accents which is always good fun when an American does this <3.
Le jeep
Wooo, animals!
After this it was 11:30 and we decided to go and grab an early lunch at the Pantopia grill place. I went all weird and decided to be healthy and had a salad...which I ruined with a hearty slice of carrot cake.
Yeah, I felt a bit like a rabbit and didn't leave feeling full and satisfied. That'll teach me for eating leaves! Whilst eating we were treated to a show, the sort of show you'd expect in like 1940s Chicago if ever you get to go...
This was all very nice but I was still in need of a 100th cred! After lunch, Sarah, Dan and I headed over to Montu which is their favourite coaster only to realise it didn't have a ride photo. I imagine dragging them away from their number one coaster didn't make me the most popular person on the planet but oh well
It is gorgeous though <3
We then decided on Sheikra. We ended up walking round the park the long way but we saw like 3 different shows on the way, think of the points
We saw the Jungle Carnival, and I got a selfie with the characters
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10502108_10203661702497487_2172493804535469089_n.jpg?oh=a7f4aa6ac7278751778a78b52b803902&oe=54548DD1&__gda__=1414704583_cf3bef7acf6a9429bf7afb321ed47fc7[/i]
We also saw the hula hoop show and Pantopia dancing group who refused me to get a selfie with them </3.
We finally arrived at Sheikra :D
[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/p417x417/10336594_10203661702297482_5414133092669214305_n.jpg
When we joined the queue the coaster was down but this was literally the last decent coaster with a ride photo I could get my 100th on so we just had to grin and bear it. It took well over an hour before we were finally in the station. The heat was crippling and none of us had a drink. How we didn't die I'm not too sure.
So the cred, a very worthy 100th coaster for me. It was genuinely amazing. The top gave great views of Tampa in the distance and miles around in every direction. The coaster holds you for what seems an eternity before finally dropping you, the suspense it builds is brilliant. At the bottom of the drop the coaster pulls really hard force on you and it feels amazing, you then go straight into the inversion which also pulls decent force. You wind round a little then reach the second drop, unfortunately this one doesn't hold you and just lets you go before plummeting through a tunnel. Next is the splashdown, you don't get wet per say, if you're lucky you might get sprayed though. I really loved it, it just does so much more than Oblivion.
We looked at the queue for the rapids but it was well over an hour so we headed to Scorpion. Again, another long queue so we headed over to Montu, much to the pleasure of Daniel and Sarah. The queue was only 20 minutes long and it moved really quickly. As it was my first ride on Montu we decided to go front row.
There was a happy looking bear drawn on the side of the station
There was also a lizard
I took a hysterical selfie in the excitement of riding Montu
I cannot say anything other than it was **** amazing. The lift hill seems to go on for ages, slowly building suspense, it feels so much higher than any invert I've ridden before, it's a great feeling. The first drop. O...M...G it is so forceful and you are flung straight into the loop. You pass through inversion after inversion, each one building on the force, before reaching the batwing which is probably my favourite element. It throws you around relentlessly whilst pulling force whilst not being uncomfortable. It's amazing. There's a tunnel you pass through which, as you pass through, really pushes you into your seat. I loved it. I think it was the sheer amount of elements that I'd never experienced on a coaster before, one after another after another.
For tea we went to a pizza pasta buffet. Considerably better in comparison to the ones at Chessington and Alton Towers
[https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10489793_10203661710097677_542208713255582580_n.jpg?oh=537c25649ab83faa404ecc4127e719b2&oe=54750037[/img]
The garlic rolls were so tasty
Sarah wanted to watch some YouTube group who were singing at the park as part of the Summer Nites events so Dan and I wandered off towards Sheikra to get a re-ride in but it was down due to a woman falling ill and having to be evacuated. We headed over to Kumba.
The queue time said 60 minutes but we decided to just do it, I needed the cred and Dan loves the coaster. Thanks to extremely impressive three train operation, (I've never seen a coaster's trains get unloaded, loaded and dispatched so quick) it took just 15 minutes to get on. Hooray. Have some Kumba pictures before my opinions.
This week on too late to look[/img]
We sat back row and I have to say I was left disappointed. It was just too rough to enjoy really, I was hoping this was just because we sat back row, hoping further front later in the trip. It was thrilling and I can certainly see the appeal and why this is a very good coaster but I just couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted because it was too rough.
So next we headed over to Sand Serpent.
Whilst queuing there was a bit of a faff with some people trying to push in. Half way through the queue is a turnstile manned by a ride op and they tried to push through, but he told them no, obviously. They were like 'ooh but our family are over there'. He was having none of it and refused completely. Then, when he turned his back the woman and her kid ran through. The ride op turned and sighed and we all assumed they had gotten away with it, but then the whole group of 6 or so were refused entry onto the ride. Brilliant haha.
Have some photos
It was a fab wild mouse. It was so smooth, easily the best I've been on. It wasn't rough anyway and it was really really fun. I really liked it. We then headed over to Cheetah Hunt.
The queue said 85 minutes (ugh) but I wanted to ride it so we joined the queue. There were several cattle pens that just took ages to get round. This gave me time to take some amazing queue line photos
Goon facts!
What is it with these shoes, surely you just get covered in blisters? Can an American friend help out? Why would you wear these?
Suddenly the ride ops spoke over the intercom. Cheetah Hunt was down. ****. Look how close we were.
Everyone was sat down, was quite funny in a way I suppose
Time ticked by. Three trains later and we'd have been on....it didn't look good. We queued for no less than TWO HOURS. So frustrating. We went to cure our depression on Montu. We rode in the penultimate queue as the back row queue was too long and we had to get to package pickup before the summer nights show chucked out. Somehow it is more forceful at the back. I could feel my legs being pulled, I was forced into my seat and it was a struggle to keep my arms up. Yes, this is my new number 1.
A sign to keep Darren amused
On the way to the exit I took some pictures of Cheetah Hunt
We picked up our **** and that was pretty much it. We waited for the others to come out of the fireworks show for 45 minutes in the end, and, as everyone else left at the same time, it took well over an hour to leave that car park and get back to the villa by midnight. I would like to finish day 2 with a (blurry) selfie outside the Busch Gardens entrance.
Thank you very much for reading. Day 3 at the Evaglades coming soon...
^even though I wasn't feeling well it still felt like a great coaster. When I only had UK coasters in my top 10 it went to 8th...you can see where it is now so that's a spoiler for the second Seaworld trip
Anyway, finally onto day two, sorry it's been a while
Saturday 19th July: Day 2, Busch Gardens Tampa
I had been looking forward to Busch Gardens. It has the biggest collection of thrilling roller coasters in Florida. The drive across Florida took 75 minutes which was longer than I was expecting to be honest but finally we arrived.
There was the sign that we knew would be there but were still dreading seeing...
Such a burden
Once parked I gooned out slightly whilst looking at the beautiful sight that is Montu testing.
Another HATEFUL sign
Once in we got the all day dining wrist bands (you can eat in 'selected' diners around the park for $30 a day, the choice of places you can eat is actually rather scarce and if you want a drink you have to go to one too otherwise the best they can offer you is buy one get one free), I probably wouldn't recommend it, I doubt we managed to total $30 worth of food each. We headed straight over to Gwazi. I knew I'd only get the 'tiger' side due to 'lion' being shut for ages now.
The wood looks old and dirty, I certainly wasn't expecting a new contender for top ten.
I knew it'd be the only chance I'd get to ride so thought I might as well go front, especially as the ride was virtually walk on. I remember the seats being comfortable with lots of padding. How bad could this be? The lift hill is quite clunky and the first drop is actually quite enjoyable, not at all rough, but then ARRRRRGGGGHHHHH. The pain, the roughness, the jerking, I cannot begin to explain how uncomfortable this thing is. Don't get me wrong, it is thrilling and the train really hurtles around those corners but it was just a bad bad coaster. Anyway, I got the cred, they can pull both sides down now to make way for a B&M hyper or something. :lol:
Next we headed over to Air Grover purely so I could get the cred. On the way I couldn't help but notice how pretty the park is
So yes, Air Grover...
I sat back row, it was smooth but that was it. Simply a +1...
I liked the area Air Grover was in, they had an awesome kiddy flume thing
And I'm not ashamed to say we had some fun on the Telly's Jungle Jam thing which is basically a series of pipes you can run through.
Then came the time of FAFF...caused by your's truly. Air Grover was my 99th cred meaning my 100th was coming up, I wanted it to be a cred where I could get a ride photo. We all suggested Cheetah Hunt, excellent choice so we made our way the whole way round the park to where the Intamin Accelerator was. Have some generic BGT pictures I took on the way round
We eventually reached the new-for-2014 area, Pantopia.
I have no idea what was here before or what to compare it to but I really liked the area, it looked like it should do.
Of course, what was lurking in the corner? Falcon's Fury.
That font is simply gorgeous
A close up of the new paint job
I just had to give the test seat a go
I know, I should have done it in Jarrett style, I'm just a **** goon
Anyway enough of all this, we finally made it to Cheetah Hunt. The queue was 85 minutes...what made this worse was the fact a MASSIVE, and I mean massive, (like at least 300 people), tour group were just joining the queue, this would bump it up to the full 120 minutes easily. So we decided to skip it for now and went on the Rhino Rally instead.
It's basically Zufari, only cleverer, and wittier with better animals and more enjoyable in every way. You board a jeep and instead of some prerecorded garbage being spouted out to you the driver actually talks and he was really witty. He took the mick out of our accents which is always good fun when an American does this <3.
Le jeep
Wooo, animals!
After this it was 11:30 and we decided to go and grab an early lunch at the Pantopia grill place. I went all weird and decided to be healthy and had a salad...which I ruined with a hearty slice of carrot cake.
Yeah, I felt a bit like a rabbit and didn't leave feeling full and satisfied. That'll teach me for eating leaves! Whilst eating we were treated to a show, the sort of show you'd expect in like 1940s Chicago if ever you get to go...
This was all very nice but I was still in need of a 100th cred! After lunch, Sarah, Dan and I headed over to Montu which is their favourite coaster only to realise it didn't have a ride photo. I imagine dragging them away from their number one coaster didn't make me the most popular person on the planet but oh well
It is gorgeous though <3
We then decided on Sheikra. We ended up walking round the park the long way but we saw like 3 different shows on the way, think of the points
We saw the Jungle Carnival, and I got a selfie with the characters
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10502108_10203661702497487_2172493804535469089_n.jpg?oh=a7f4aa6ac7278751778a78b52b803902&oe=54548DD1&__gda__=1414704583_cf3bef7acf6a9429bf7afb321ed47fc7[/i]
We also saw the hula hoop show and Pantopia dancing group who refused me to get a selfie with them </3.
We finally arrived at Sheikra :D
[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/p417x417/10336594_10203661702297482_5414133092669214305_n.jpg
When we joined the queue the coaster was down but this was literally the last decent coaster with a ride photo I could get my 100th on so we just had to grin and bear it. It took well over an hour before we were finally in the station. The heat was crippling and none of us had a drink. How we didn't die I'm not too sure.
So the cred, a very worthy 100th coaster for me. It was genuinely amazing. The top gave great views of Tampa in the distance and miles around in every direction. The coaster holds you for what seems an eternity before finally dropping you, the suspense it builds is brilliant. At the bottom of the drop the coaster pulls really hard force on you and it feels amazing, you then go straight into the inversion which also pulls decent force. You wind round a little then reach the second drop, unfortunately this one doesn't hold you and just lets you go before plummeting through a tunnel. Next is the splashdown, you don't get wet per say, if you're lucky you might get sprayed though. I really loved it, it just does so much more than Oblivion.
We looked at the queue for the rapids but it was well over an hour so we headed to Scorpion. Again, another long queue so we headed over to Montu, much to the pleasure of Daniel and Sarah. The queue was only 20 minutes long and it moved really quickly. As it was my first ride on Montu we decided to go front row.
There was a happy looking bear drawn on the side of the station
There was also a lizard
I took a hysterical selfie in the excitement of riding Montu
I cannot say anything other than it was **** amazing. The lift hill seems to go on for ages, slowly building suspense, it feels so much higher than any invert I've ridden before, it's a great feeling. The first drop. O...M...G it is so forceful and you are flung straight into the loop. You pass through inversion after inversion, each one building on the force, before reaching the batwing which is probably my favourite element. It throws you around relentlessly whilst pulling force whilst not being uncomfortable. It's amazing. There's a tunnel you pass through which, as you pass through, really pushes you into your seat. I loved it. I think it was the sheer amount of elements that I'd never experienced on a coaster before, one after another after another.
For tea we went to a pizza pasta buffet. Considerably better in comparison to the ones at Chessington and Alton Towers
[https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10489793_10203661710097677_542208713255582580_n.jpg?oh=537c25649ab83faa404ecc4127e719b2&oe=54750037[/img]
The garlic rolls were so tasty
Sarah wanted to watch some YouTube group who were singing at the park as part of the Summer Nites events so Dan and I wandered off towards Sheikra to get a re-ride in but it was down due to a woman falling ill and having to be evacuated. We headed over to Kumba.
The queue time said 60 minutes but we decided to just do it, I needed the cred and Dan loves the coaster. Thanks to extremely impressive three train operation, (I've never seen a coaster's trains get unloaded, loaded and dispatched so quick) it took just 15 minutes to get on. Hooray. Have some Kumba pictures before my opinions.
This week on too late to look
[/img]
We sat back row and I have to say I was left disappointed. It was just too rough to enjoy really, I was hoping this was just because we sat back row, hoping further front later in the trip. It was thrilling and I can certainly see the appeal and why this is a very good coaster but I just couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted because it was too rough.
So next we headed over to Sand Serpent.
Whilst queuing there was a bit of a faff with some people trying to push in. Half way through the queue is a turnstile manned by a ride op and they tried to push through, but he told them no, obviously. They were like 'ooh but our family are over there'. He was having none of it and refused completely. Then, when he turned his back the woman and her kid ran through. The ride op turned and sighed and we all assumed they had gotten away with it, but then the whole group of 6 or so were refused entry onto the ride. Brilliant haha.
Have some photos
It was a fab wild mouse. It was so smooth, easily the best I've been on. It wasn't rough anyway and it was really really fun. I really liked it. We then headed over to Cheetah Hunt.
The queue said 85 minutes (ugh) but I wanted to ride it so we joined the queue. There were several cattle pens that just took ages to get round. This gave me time to take some amazing queue line photos
Goon facts!
What is it with these shoes, surely you just get covered in blisters? Can an American friend help out? Why would you wear these?
Suddenly the ride ops spoke over the intercom. Cheetah Hunt was down. ****. Look how close we were.
Everyone was sat down, was quite funny in a way I suppose
Time ticked by. Three trains later and we'd have been on....it didn't look good. We queued for no less than TWO HOURS. So frustrating. We went to cure our depression on Montu. We rode in the penultimate queue as the back row queue was too long and we had to get to package pickup before the summer nights show chucked out. Somehow it is more forceful at the back. I could feel my legs being pulled, I was forced into my seat and it was a struggle to keep my arms up. Yes, this is my new number 1.
A sign to keep Darren amused
On the way to the exit I took some pictures of Cheetah Hunt
We picked up our **** and that was pretty much it. We waited for the others to come out of the fireworks show for 45 minutes in the end, and, as everyone else left at the same time, it took well over an hour to leave that car park and get back to the villa by midnight. I would like to finish day 2 with a (blurry) selfie outside the Busch Gardens entrance.
Thank you very much for reading. Day 3 at the Evaglades coming soon...
Re: Florida 2014: Day 2, Busch Gardens Tampa
Really enjoying your report so far! How did I manage to miss that adorable hippo log flume when I went to BGT
That sucks about Falcon's Furie, and Cheetah Hunt not working after such a long wait. I take it you got to ride C.H. at some point during your trip though..?
Really enjoying your report so far! How did I manage to miss that adorable hippo log flume when I went to BGT
That sucks about Falcon's Furie, and Cheetah Hunt not working after such a long wait. I take it you got to ride C.H. at some point during your trip though..?
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 2, Busch Gardens Tampa
Yeah I did thankfully, that's all to come on day 8!
Yeah I did thankfully, that's all to come on day 8!
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 2, Busch Gardens Tampa
^Yeah we could have done but we didn't really have time to make a fuss.
Anyway time for an update, no creds here though I'm afraid
Sunday 20th July 2014: Day 3, Boggy Creek Airboat Ride
The people who we booked our theme park tickets offered free tickets for an airboat ride on the Everglades, this is something I've always wanted to so since seeing this classic moment in British sitcom, Only Fools and Horses
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Zl0TswnZE[/youtube]
Anyway enough of that, this is my report. We went to Golden Corral for breakfast. For those of you that don't know it's a buffet that serves all sorts of food all day. So for breakfast this is what I enjoyed. Be warned, food porn upcoming. (huehuehue)
I had been warned about American bacon but it was actually pretty tasty, as was the fried chicken. We went to Golden Corral 3 times in Florida and this was the best restaurant (we went to three different ones) and the one that had the tastiest food. I had chips, fried chicken, full english, there was also a chocolate fountain, omelettes, fruit, buns, juice on tap, ice cream. We went to an adjoining gift shop that sold cheap Disney crap along with other stuff. There are loads of these shops in this area.
We then made the 45 minute drive through rural Florida, some places were certainly off the tourist track. We finally arrived and the air was very still and uncomfortably hot. Have a (sweaty) selfie.
'MURICA
The way it works is your ticket has the date and you can turn up anytime on that day and book into the nearest available time slow. I believe boats leave every 20 minutes. We arrived at 11:45 and the nearest time slot was 12:20 so we had time to look around the gift shop. There was lots of alligator merchandise
And they have a gator forecast, it wasn't looking brilliant
On the wall were several stuffed heads which were...well...interesting
I'm gonna call him Bruce
We made our way outside to the marina and there were baby alligators in a tank which you could hold, more of that later.
We also had our first glimpses of the large lakes
Before long it was time to board! We managed to get front row which was was over the moon about. I took a cool selfie with my ear protectors which came in real handy
Pardon? I can't hear you
The view from the boat
Before long we were off! We went slowly at first, turning out of the marina but soon we were out in the open going at quite some pace.
We tore along the water. The wind, breeze, mixed with the heat in the air and from the sun felt amazing and invigorating. It was amazing fun. Before long we turned suddenly, which splashed water all over us, before turning into a small creek looking for alligators. We found a female which we were told would be around 10ft long.
She didn't look too happy about our presence. Our driver said if she was angry she could jump 3ft into the air and easily get into the airboat...we took this is a signal to leave.
We made our way along the lake stopping at various places. We saw some cool stalk looking birds
The most amazing thing, for me at least, was seeing a huge bald eagle up a tree. It was fascinating
How I managed to take this picture zoomed in all the way with strong sunlight beaming down on my camera screen I'll never know
This is an alligator nest apparently. It's quite fancy...I've certainly seen worse living quarters for homeless people in Cambridge...
This place was stunningly beautiful though, everything was so green and there was nothing human made in sight. It was excellent.
With exception of the airboat of course
GREEEEEN
Apparently the Everglades range from around 2ft deep where the reeds are to no more than 6ft.
Still as a millpond. Stunning
After around half an hour of racing around it was time to head back.
Coming back into the Marina
You then get the chance to hold one of those baby crocodiles in the tank. He has his mouth taped which was disappointing. I like to live life on the edge I sucked up and paid the $10 for the photo
Bit sweaty...:/
We then headed off to Walmart which was a first for me. I had been told they were huge and sold everything so was strangely looking forward to visiting.
It was tiring
In 2012 they had the Olympic rings for London 2012, now...
Somehow we managed to spend 2 hours there...but that isn't for me to go into detail about.
At the gas station they have these HUGE cups for just 79c.
I enjoyed 66oz of Mountain Dew and for those of you who have had Mountain Dew will know that I regretted that later.
I popped my iHOP cherry for tea.
I had a burger for main (which when I posted a picture on Facebook sans pancakes attracted much disapprove-ment from people
The blue cheese in the burger was amazing. I did have pancakes but only got plain ones for some extremely stupid and dumb reason
And that's pretty much it for day 3. I would say normal service with creds and parks will be resumed with day 4 but on day 4 we went to Kennedy Space Centre so that'll be up soon. Thank you so much for reading
^Yeah we could have done but we didn't really have time to make a fuss.
Anyway time for an update, no creds here though I'm afraid
Sunday 20th July 2014: Day 3, Boggy Creek Airboat Ride
The people who we booked our theme park tickets offered free tickets for an airboat ride on the Everglades, this is something I've always wanted to so since seeing this classic moment in British sitcom, Only Fools and Horses
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Zl0TswnZE[/youtube]
Anyway enough of that, this is my report. We went to Golden Corral for breakfast. For those of you that don't know it's a buffet that serves all sorts of food all day. So for breakfast this is what I enjoyed. Be warned, food porn upcoming. (huehuehue)
I had been warned about American bacon but it was actually pretty tasty, as was the fried chicken. We went to Golden Corral 3 times in Florida and this was the best restaurant (we went to three different ones) and the one that had the tastiest food. I had chips, fried chicken, full english, there was also a chocolate fountain, omelettes, fruit, buns, juice on tap, ice cream. We went to an adjoining gift shop that sold cheap Disney crap along with other stuff. There are loads of these shops in this area.
We then made the 45 minute drive through rural Florida, some places were certainly off the tourist track. We finally arrived and the air was very still and uncomfortably hot. Have a (sweaty) selfie.
'MURICA
The way it works is your ticket has the date and you can turn up anytime on that day and book into the nearest available time slow. I believe boats leave every 20 minutes. We arrived at 11:45 and the nearest time slot was 12:20 so we had time to look around the gift shop. There was lots of alligator merchandise
And they have a gator forecast, it wasn't looking brilliant
On the wall were several stuffed heads which were...well...interesting
I'm gonna call him Bruce
We made our way outside to the marina and there were baby alligators in a tank which you could hold, more of that later.
We also had our first glimpses of the large lakes
Before long it was time to board! We managed to get front row which was was over the moon about. I took a cool selfie with my ear protectors which came in real handy
Pardon? I can't hear you
The view from the boat
Before long we were off! We went slowly at first, turning out of the marina but soon we were out in the open going at quite some pace.
We tore along the water. The wind, breeze, mixed with the heat in the air and from the sun felt amazing and invigorating. It was amazing fun. Before long we turned suddenly, which splashed water all over us, before turning into a small creek looking for alligators. We found a female which we were told would be around 10ft long.
She didn't look too happy about our presence. Our driver said if she was angry she could jump 3ft into the air and easily get into the airboat...we took this is a signal to leave.
We made our way along the lake stopping at various places. We saw some cool stalk looking birds
The most amazing thing, for me at least, was seeing a huge bald eagle up a tree. It was fascinating
How I managed to take this picture zoomed in all the way with strong sunlight beaming down on my camera screen I'll never know
This is an alligator nest apparently. It's quite fancy...I've certainly seen worse living quarters for homeless people in Cambridge...
This place was stunningly beautiful though, everything was so green and there was nothing human made in sight. It was excellent.
With exception of the airboat of course
GREEEEEN
Apparently the Everglades range from around 2ft deep where the reeds are to no more than 6ft.
Still as a millpond. Stunning
After around half an hour of racing around it was time to head back.
Coming back into the Marina
You then get the chance to hold one of those baby crocodiles in the tank. He has his mouth taped which was disappointing. I like to live life on the edge
I sucked up and paid the $10 for the photo
Bit sweaty...:/
We then headed off to Walmart which was a first for me. I had been told they were huge and sold everything so was strangely looking forward to visiting.
It was tiring
In 2012 they had the Olympic rings for London 2012, now...
Somehow we managed to spend 2 hours there...but that isn't for me to go into detail about.
At the gas station they have these HUGE cups for just 79c.
I enjoyed 66oz of Mountain Dew and for those of you who have had Mountain Dew will know that I regretted that later.
I popped my iHOP cherry for tea.
I had a burger for main (which when I posted a picture on Facebook sans pancakes attracted much disapprove-ment from people
The blue cheese in the burger was amazing. I did have pancakes but only got plain ones for some extremely stupid and dumb reason
And that's pretty much it for day 3. I would say normal service with creds and parks will be resumed with day 4 but on day 4 we went to Kennedy Space Centre so that'll be up soon. Thank you so much for reading
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 3, Boggy Creek Airboat Trip
Glad you all enjoyed day 3, onwards with day 4:
Monday 21st July 2014: Day 4, Kennedy Space Centre
I'd really been looking forward to this day, I've always wanted to go to the Kennedy Space Centre and the day certainly disappoint.
Clearly 3 days of theme parking and a boat ride had worn me out because I slept for most of the hour journey to the Space Centre but I woke up in time to pass over the road which goes through the lakes. They were stunning.
Finally we arrived
Apparently you never had to pay for parking (it's $10 now if you're interested). If the money goes towards the upkeep of the centre and helps fund the missions then it's worth it.
Once in we could see rockets! Oooooh
These ones were part of a new 'garden' area they were constructing at the time we were there
I tried getting a selfie with the NASA globe but my head kept getting in the way and I apparently kept forgetting to smile. This took several attempts...
An inspirational quote from the late President
I got another selfie with another NASA sign, slightly better this time. Excuse the goon hat
We started off by heading towards the relatively new Atlantis Shuttle Launch Experience area thingy
Have another selfie with a big rocket, well the fuel lines for the Shuttle....
As you walk toward the entrance to a room with a big screen the walls are lined with various quotes from different people in the Space programme. Here are a couple of my favourites
You head into a room with a big screen where you are introduced to how the whole idea of the shuttle (a reusable space ship) developed in early 1969 whilst NASA was still trying to put man on the Moon.
The video showed how the prototype was designed and the stories behind it. The first Space Shuttle launched on April 12th 1981 with Space Shuttle Colombia. The idea of a reusable spacecraft was so unheard of many thought it impossible but NASA made the impossible possible.
After the first screening we went into another with a much more impressive screen, one that went around the whole room with stories from the 135 missions. It all feels very patriotic and rightly so in my opinion.
Once the video had finished the front of the room disappeared to reveal Atlantis, the final Space Shuttle to enter space. The music, lighting and commentary all made this feel rather special and I can't lie, it sent shivers down one's spine.
We spent two whole hours exploring the rest of the building and everything in it. I took many selfies (as you're about to see) and I'm not even sorry
First a selfie with the shuttle because why wouldn't you?
The roof of the Shuttle had been opened to reveal the inside which has been emptied
Sometimes the lighting would turn blue giving the whole thing a rather more mystical look
Dotted around were several missions the various different Shuttles embarked on over the years
A panorama of the Space Shuttle
I haven't taken any pictures but there were some interactive 'games' where you would use motion to complete missions aboard the Shuttle. It was good fun but extremely unresponsive and burdenous for that reason.
You could sit in the front of a replica of the front of the shuttle
I also took a selfie of me doing such a thing
Coz we're cool
Hanging from the ceiling was a small system of tunnels to climb through to replicate the 'corridors' on board the Shuttle. I know Daniel has already posted the picture but it is a brilliant picture and I'm sure he won't mind me posting it again. In short, I fell over.
Whoops
You had to crawl. I don't really have the figure for the job...
At the end was a clear pipe which was hanging high above the ground to give the feel of a space walk. It was disconcerting I'm not gonna lie. I took a selfie on a Shuttle bog. Yay for bogs.
If you want to listen to music in space, apparently you have to have an old one CD walkman...
Did you know, Michelin provide tyres for the Space Shuttle. I have never felt such a solid tyre!
You could turn them too. It was good fun but they were **** heavy
Remember the prototype of the first Shuttle I spoke about earlier? Here it is!
We then went on the Shuttle Launch Experience.
We had our photos taken which were edited in such a way...
I'd really been looking forward to this and heard nothing but good things. It all feels really real with a great pre show running through the different experiences an astronaut goes through on board the Shuttle. As far as the actual simulator goes I was left slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong it was really good and felt realistic but apart from a bit of seat vibrating and some loud noises it doesn't really do much else. I'm making it sound worse than I mean to because it was (up until this point) the best simulator by far I've been on, but I did leave disappointed given all the hype.
When you leave there is a spiral staircase lined by boards outlining all 135 Space Shuttle Missions, including STS 51-L, Challenger which on January 28th 1986 was lost just 73 seconds after lift off:
And STS 107, Colombia which was lost on February 1st 2003 on re-entry
These two missions which were a failure were gold plated in memory of the astronauts in comparison to the other ones which were blue
STS 135 was the last mission which took off on July 8th 2011
We then headed over to the Orbit Cafe for a spot of lunch...the food was out of this world....
I joke, obviously, but it was pretty decent, pulled pork in case you're wondering
Whilst we were lunching thunder (our first storm of the trip) could be heard encroaching. Once we were finished we headed over to catch a bus for the bus tour. The thunder continued.
Storm clouds...booo
The first place the bus took us to was the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, this is where American manned launch vehicles were constructed. It is the tallest single storey building in the world.
On the side it has the largest hand-painted American Flag in history, each star is 6ft across and each stripe 9ft wide.
The size of this thing is almost incomprehensible.
We also saw the main launch sites of the Moon rockets and Shuttles. Launch Complex 39 remains to this day the only spot in the World that man has taken off from and landed on another...I want to say planet but obviously it was the Moon and the collective noun isn't coming to me...
There was also this f**k off huge vehicle. I can't remember what it does now...if anyone has been and can remember, I'd like to know now anyway XD
Everyone was feeling a little tired...Mr. Stephen very much so...
The bus stops at the Apollo Saturn V centre. It was exceptionally busy.
You enter a video room with details and (mainly) failures of the whole 'get a man into space' mission. It went on to explain how President Kennedy then famously challenged NASA to get a man on the Moon...and to do it before the Soviet Union, and so the Space Race was born.
The first room
Then you walk into a room where before you are the actual computers that were used then man went to the moon. It was outstanding.
A run through of all the systems before blast off happened, with various knobs and dials flashing over the computers. It was excellent. There was an accompanying video with footage of Neil Armstrong stepping on the Moon and a rather touching moment. President Kennedy never got to see man on the Moon as he was assassinated in 1963 and the mission wasn't a success until 1969. An anonymous person put a note upon his gravestone saying simply, 'the Eagle has landed'.
Once this was done we headed into the room which houses the Saturn V rocket. I'm having a little debate with myself over which was a more amazing and breathtaking site, seeing Atlantis or seeing this. It was brilliant.
I'll just post several pictures and caption where I feel appropriate.
I had to take a selfie...
Sometime after take off, the base of the rocket splits leaving the top part
It eventually splits again leaving a much smaller rocket
I can't help but think of James and the Giant Peach with this one...
If I remember rightly this is the bit that actually landed on the Moon
There were the front pages of several Global newspapers
Hanging from the ceiling they had the emblems of each Apollo mission into space
There was also the Moon buggy which was really cool
ALERT. ALERT. SPACE ROCK. I nearly bought some in the shop but it was $40 and is it actually space rock? This probably was though as it wasn't for sale
We had a chocolate bar and drink once done. This is a Milky Way but it isn't. It's a Mars bar. Oh America.
We eventually got the bus back to the visitor centre and had a wander round the outside rocket garden, a garden containing many ex-rockets...as the name would suggest. Sadly they were doing work in the area so I didn't get the 'full' experience.
They had fountains too
We headed over to the back of the site to the Astronaut Memorial which remembers everyone who made the ultimate sacrifice whilst working on the Space Programme.
Are they expecting that many more deaths... :/[/img]
It really was beautiful here.
It was really though provoking but stiflingly hot.
Next we moved over to the Angry Birds Space Encounter
It was really rather fab. You could fire toy Angry Birds at pig targets to get points.
There was also a **** mirror maze. Cue mirror selfie.
God I look huuuuge
We headed over to another exhibit, Exploration Space where an over-enthusiastic woman spoke to us how we're the next space explorers. Just thinking about it gives me a headache. We finished the day off in the shop. I found a big bird.
On the journey home the sky got increasingly dark. As we travelled further inland the rain started and the thunder and lightning intensity increased. The rain became very heavy. It was great fun.
Tea consisted of potato chips (yes, crisps) and salsa. Classy I know but it did the trick and none of us were particularly hungry.
I loved the Kennedy Space Centre as I knew I would, hence the extortionately long report. Thank you very much for reading as always. Legoland up next!
Glad you all enjoyed day 3, onwards with day 4:
Monday 21st July 2014: Day 4, Kennedy Space Centre
I'd really been looking forward to this day, I've always wanted to go to the Kennedy Space Centre and the day certainly disappoint.
Clearly 3 days of theme parking and a boat ride had worn me out because I slept for most of the hour journey to the Space Centre but I woke up in time to pass over the road which goes through the lakes. They were stunning.
Finally we arrived
Apparently you never had to pay for parking (it's $10 now if you're interested). If the money goes towards the upkeep of the centre and helps fund the missions then it's worth it.
Once in we could see rockets! Oooooh
These ones were part of a new 'garden' area they were constructing at the time we were there
I tried getting a selfie with the NASA globe but my head kept getting in the way and I apparently kept forgetting to smile. This took several attempts...
An inspirational quote from the late President
I got another selfie with another NASA sign, slightly better this time. Excuse the goon hat
We started off by heading towards the relatively new Atlantis Shuttle Launch Experience area thingy
Have another selfie with a big rocket, well the fuel lines for the Shuttle....
As you walk toward the entrance to a room with a big screen the walls are lined with various quotes from different people in the Space programme. Here are a couple of my favourites
You head into a room with a big screen where you are introduced to how the whole idea of the shuttle (a reusable space ship) developed in early 1969 whilst NASA was still trying to put man on the Moon.
The video showed how the prototype was designed and the stories behind it. The first Space Shuttle launched on April 12th 1981 with Space Shuttle Colombia. The idea of a reusable spacecraft was so unheard of many thought it impossible but NASA made the impossible possible.
After the first screening we went into another with a much more impressive screen, one that went around the whole room with stories from the 135 missions. It all feels very patriotic and rightly so in my opinion.
Once the video had finished the front of the room disappeared to reveal Atlantis, the final Space Shuttle to enter space. The music, lighting and commentary all made this feel rather special and I can't lie, it sent shivers down one's spine.
We spent two whole hours exploring the rest of the building and everything in it. I took many selfies (as you're about to see) and I'm not even sorry
First a selfie with the shuttle because why wouldn't you?
The roof of the Shuttle had been opened to reveal the inside which has been emptied
Sometimes the lighting would turn blue giving the whole thing a rather more mystical look
Dotted around were several missions the various different Shuttles embarked on over the years
A panorama of the Space Shuttle
I haven't taken any pictures but there were some interactive 'games' where you would use motion to complete missions aboard the Shuttle. It was good fun but extremely unresponsive and burdenous for that reason.
You could sit in the front of a replica of the front of the shuttle
I also took a selfie of me doing such a thing
Coz we're cool
Hanging from the ceiling was a small system of tunnels to climb through to replicate the 'corridors' on board the Shuttle. I know Daniel has already posted the picture but it is a brilliant picture and I'm sure he won't mind me posting it again. In short, I fell over.
Whoops
You had to crawl. I don't really have the figure for the job...
At the end was a clear pipe which was hanging high above the ground to give the feel of a space walk. It was disconcerting I'm not gonna lie. I took a selfie on a Shuttle bog. Yay for bogs.
If you want to listen to music in space, apparently you have to have an old one CD walkman...
Did you know, Michelin provide tyres for the Space Shuttle. I have never felt such a solid tyre!
You could turn them too. It was good fun but they were **** heavy
Remember the prototype of the first Shuttle I spoke about earlier? Here it is!
We then went on the Shuttle Launch Experience.
We had our photos taken which were edited in such a way...
I'd really been looking forward to this and heard nothing but good things. It all feels really real with a great pre show running through the different experiences an astronaut goes through on board the Shuttle. As far as the actual simulator goes I was left slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong it was really good and felt realistic but apart from a bit of seat vibrating and some loud noises it doesn't really do much else. I'm making it sound worse than I mean to because it was (up until this point) the best simulator by far I've been on, but I did leave disappointed given all the hype.
When you leave there is a spiral staircase lined by boards outlining all 135 Space Shuttle Missions, including STS 51-L, Challenger which on January 28th 1986 was lost just 73 seconds after lift off:
And STS 107, Colombia which was lost on February 1st 2003 on re-entry
These two missions which were a failure were gold plated in memory of the astronauts in comparison to the other ones which were blue
STS 135 was the last mission which took off on July 8th 2011
We then headed over to the Orbit Cafe for a spot of lunch...the food was out of this world....
I joke, obviously, but it was pretty decent, pulled pork in case you're wondering
Whilst we were lunching thunder (our first storm of the trip) could be heard encroaching. Once we were finished we headed over to catch a bus for the bus tour. The thunder continued.
Storm clouds...booo
The first place the bus took us to was the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, this is where American manned launch vehicles were constructed. It is the tallest single storey building in the world.
On the side it has the largest hand-painted American Flag in history, each star is 6ft across and each stripe 9ft wide.
The size of this thing is almost incomprehensible.
We also saw the main launch sites of the Moon rockets and Shuttles. Launch Complex 39 remains to this day the only spot in the World that man has taken off from and landed on another...I want to say planet but obviously it was the Moon and the collective noun isn't coming to me...
There was also this f**k off huge vehicle. I can't remember what it does now...if anyone has been and can remember, I'd like to know now anyway XD
Everyone was feeling a little tired...Mr. Stephen very much so...
The bus stops at the Apollo Saturn V centre. It was exceptionally busy.
You enter a video room with details and (mainly) failures of the whole 'get a man into space' mission. It went on to explain how President Kennedy then famously challenged NASA to get a man on the Moon...and to do it before the Soviet Union, and so the Space Race was born.
The first room
Then you walk into a room where before you are the actual computers that were used then man went to the moon. It was outstanding.
A run through of all the systems before blast off happened, with various knobs and dials flashing over the computers. It was excellent. There was an accompanying video with footage of Neil Armstrong stepping on the Moon and a rather touching moment. President Kennedy never got to see man on the Moon as he was assassinated in 1963 and the mission wasn't a success until 1969. An anonymous person put a note upon his gravestone saying simply, 'the Eagle has landed'.
Once this was done we headed into the room which houses the Saturn V rocket. I'm having a little debate with myself over which was a more amazing and breathtaking site, seeing Atlantis or seeing this. It was brilliant.
I'll just post several pictures and caption where I feel appropriate.
I had to take a selfie...
Sometime after take off, the base of the rocket splits leaving the top part
It eventually splits again leaving a much smaller rocket
I can't help but think of James and the Giant Peach with this one...
If I remember rightly this is the bit that actually landed on the Moon
There were the front pages of several Global newspapers
Hanging from the ceiling they had the emblems of each Apollo mission into space
There was also the Moon buggy which was really cool
ALERT. ALERT. SPACE ROCK. I nearly bought some in the shop but it was $40 and is it actually space rock? This probably was though as it wasn't for sale
We had a chocolate bar and drink once done. This is a Milky Way but it isn't. It's a Mars bar. Oh America.
We eventually got the bus back to the visitor centre and had a wander round the outside rocket garden, a garden containing many ex-rockets...as the name would suggest. Sadly they were doing work in the area so I didn't get the 'full' experience.
They had fountains too
We headed over to the back of the site to the Astronaut Memorial which remembers everyone who made the ultimate sacrifice whilst working on the Space Programme.
Are they expecting that many more deaths... :/[/img]
It really was beautiful here.
It was really though provoking but stiflingly hot.
Next we moved over to the Angry Birds Space Encounter
It was really rather fab. You could fire toy Angry Birds at pig targets to get points.
There was also a **** mirror maze. Cue mirror selfie.
God I look huuuuge
We headed over to another exhibit, Exploration Space where an over-enthusiastic woman spoke to us how we're the next space explorers. Just thinking about it gives me a headache. We finished the day off in the shop. I found a big bird.
On the journey home the sky got increasingly dark. As we travelled further inland the rain started and the thunder and lightning intensity increased. The rain became very heavy. It was great fun.
Tea consisted of potato chips (yes, crisps) and salsa. Classy I know but it did the trick and none of us were particularly hungry.
I loved the Kennedy Space Centre as I knew I would, hence the extortionately long report. Thank you very much for reading as always. Legoland up next!
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 4, Kennedy Space Centre
I wasn't going to post this until I was done but that's gonna take for ever and it doesn't actually give anything away...it only shows what you'd do on a generic Florida holiday.
So I've made a montage of Florida 14. I hope you like.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLwO9kTMEKA&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
I wasn't going to post this until I was done but that's gonna take for ever and it doesn't actually give anything away...it only shows what you'd do on a generic Florida holiday.
So I've made a montage of Florida 14. I hope you like.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLwO9kTMEKA&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 4, Kennedy Space Centre
Clearly you're all enjoying my updates so have some day 5.
Tuesday 22nd July: Day 5, Legoland Florida
I was actually quite looking forward to going to Legoland Florida. I like the Windsor equivalent and was anticipating Florida to have the better park with the better effort.
Because the park doesn't open until 10am we decided to have a spot of breakfast out rather than in the villa. Originally we had planned to go to Golden Corral as there was one just a mile or two from Legoland. The drive took around half an hour which included a little faf with the satnav taking us to the centre of a shady looking housing estate rather than the Golden Corral. When we arrived we were left disappointed, on Monday through Thursday it doesn't open until 10:45...it was now 9:30 so we headed off to a nearby Perkins.
I had a full english breakfast and pancakes, there was so much food but naturally I polished it all off. The waitress was fab, she seemed to have memorised every single item on the menu and just reeled all the information off like it was second nature. Have some food.
It was **** delicious
Next we headed across the road to Legoland Florida
We had expected some faff getting in, with a Merlin Annual Pass you can supposedly get 50% off the entrance price, many goons had suggested we print off some proof as they 'don't believe' you otherwise. A VERY fat but very nice man helped us out with the 50% off, he explained they don't get many tourists from Britain and, although he knew about the discount, it usually only happens once a week.
I had to get a selfie with the Legoland Rida sign
Not my most flattering angle
The plan was to leave Angela and Mr. Stephen and go off and ride credz n **** but as it was first we decided to ride the Island in the Sky first.
As it is the first thing you come to in the park it naturally has a big queue. After 15 minutes Sarah just happened to turn around and saw Angela and Mr. Stephen behind us, they though it would be funny not to tell us they were there, they'd been standing behind us for 10 minutes.
Anyway, the ride is alright, a bit dull. It is essentially an observation tower except the whole thing lies flat before lifting you 100ft into the air. It does give some decent views of the park.
New hotel construction
The large lakes over the back were stunning too
Once done we left Angela and Mr. Stephen for real and went over to Lego Technic Test Track.
Sarah and Dan already had the cred as it used to be in Legoland Windsor. It's a Mack Wild Mouse (so a decent one) with Lego themed cars.
It's a decent enough ride, it certainly felt pretty speedy, I actually quite enjoyed it.
Next it was over to Wave Racers.
I loved these at Windsor so was looking forward to riding them here. The queue was burdenous and the ride capacity is genuinely ****. They only had one side open and two of the cars were shut so literally only 6 people were getting on each ride cycle. What made it worse was some people can get a fast pass (I won't go into how) and they were allowed to stay on and ride again if they wanted to. This was ridiculous.
Well...****
I worked out how you actually ride these now. Originally I used to just have them as far out as possible for the whole ride cycle but it is much better if you keep turning the wheel back and forth as the added 'flicking' pulls extra force on you. I was slightly paranoid I was going to lose my phone but no such catastrophes occurred.
Apparently the two most important places in England are Stoke and Luton...
Next up was Coastersaurus, a fab looking family woodie, and a coaster I had been really looking forward to riding.
We waited for around 15 minutes, all three of us wanted to go front so Dan and Sarah went first.
Once I sat down I naturally took a selfie.
And a head on view of the lift hill
So the ride, I genuinely really enjoyed it. There isn't a great amount of airtime, there is something there but it isn't quite enough to lift you out of your seat. You turn a couple of corners before you reach three successive airtime hills which are fab albeit weak. The brake run at the end is a little urgent and sent my flying forwards as I wasn't expecting it. At the time of riding it was probably my favourite woodie.
Across the path from Coastersaurus was a safari type ride called Safari Trek. We were there so we thought why not? There was almost no queue so on got Dan and Sarah...
Each car has two seats so I just had to wait for the next car. But no, I had to get a spite somewhere in the day. A kid fell over and grazed his knee getting off the thing and was crying. His grandmother kicked up a fuss so the ride op had to close the ride. Don't ask me why, I thought it was ludicrous. All I know is I didn't get to ride :'(
We headed up to the top of the park to ride Flying School only to be turned away after being told it was currently suffering from technical difficulties and the ride was shut and it might not be open for the rest of that day. Not another spite, surely? We headed over to the shooter ride instead because it's inside and inside=air con. Woooo.
Whether they have this at Windsor I don't know, I've never ridden it anyway. The queue was quite cool, they had some Duplo for the kids to play with to stop them getting bored.
I'm assuming this, once upon a time, had water in it. Long since evaporated.
20 minutes later we were sat down and I took a selfie
It was really cool, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everything, as you'd expect, was themed to Lego but when you shoot things, stuff actually happened, snakes climbed out of baskets, people ducked etc. It was actually really fun. As you'd expect I won with 26,000, Sarah came second with 18,000 and Dan managed an impressive 3,000....yes 3,000, he used the excuse 'it's harder in the back', blah blah blah.
We were getting hungry so found Angela and Mr. Stephen and we all had a snack. I had some strawberries.
Lego hung from the ceiling
Maybe we could all team together and find him some friends?
Once done we headed off to find the Dragon coaster, on the way we passed through Duplo Valley.
I used to love Duplo as a kid.
Before Dragon we rode The Quest for Chi, a Battle Galleons style ride.
You get soaked. Apart from this I don't actually have any photos for whatever reason.
That pole in the middle has a torrent of water cascading down it which the boat goes through. Only one side of the boat gets wet though, trust it to be our side. The ride is quite cool, you shoot water at a range of different lego figures...as well as other riders. Next door was a mini water park called Cragger's Swamp, it was pretty **** but we were soaked so ran through it anyway.
Up next was Dragon!
I was still soaked as this selfie will confirm.
We didn't care about which row but when front became available we thought, why not? There's a pre show with various different Lego figures doing all kinds of different things. Then the coaster. At the front it's actually quite good, better than I remember Windsor's being. I'd say more than a +1, it's really rather enjoyable.
Because we enjoyed it we went round and had another go, this time at the back
The back end of a dragon....literally
This was a mistake. It was rough and generally awful. Bleugh.
We had managed to persuade Mr. Stephen to ride Coastersaurus so we headed over to ride that again. This time Dan and I went back row.
Sadly Mr. Stephen got spited. I have to say though, the back row wasn't as good. It was more forceful to start with but overall much rougher, it's a shame really, it isn't as high in my rankings as it could have been.
Time was getting on now so we headed back up to Flying School to see if it was open yet. On approach it didn't look good, no train was going round. It was looking like the first cred spite of the trip. Suddenly the unmistakable sound of a lift hill began and up the train was pulled full with people. YES! It was open, we ran over to the queue ready to not be spited.
I felt the twisted mass of track looked quite nice to be fair, and it's a nice blue too.
This was by far the longest queue of the day, at least 45 minutes, plus it was hot and sweaty, all of this pain just to ride a Vekoma Suspended coaster. #Goon. Somehow Dan managed to ride before Sarah and I and he managed back row. Git.
As expected it was painfully rough, it was also, thankfully, rather short, after the lift hill we could only have been going 30 seconds. Still, woo cred.
I wanted to go around the Miniland. I had been told that you don't want to take too long, it is very hot with little shade. Sadly the whole Miniland is built on American cities only, there is an Eiffel Tower, but only a model of the fake in Las Vegas.
I will post a few pictures, I won't say what they are because it's either obvious or I don't know.
At regular intervals throughout the day these band people moved[/img]
Punny
The NASA bit has a voice recording which only lasted 10 seconds and played constantly. I cannot begin to explain how **** annoying that was
The lack of shade made this almost unbearable and the others had all gone off to find shade by the time I had finished photographing everything. I much prefer the Miniland in Windsor not going to lie, it's bigger, has more things, the scale of things in Windsor is bigger, it's just better.
We were pretty much done then, we stopped off in the shop for some tat. I'm not going to lie, I was overall disappointed with Legoland Florida. I was expecting so much more, it just feels a little grimy, the lego seems to have been left to rot there, Windsor has the better park.
On the way home we stopped off in the Golden Corral that spited us earlier. Mmmmmm food.
There's something like 10 meats on here from pork and buffalo wings to crab and kidney. Yum
A storm was brewing outside. It was looking impressive.
Once back we Skyped Jarrett which was good fun, he is such a laugh bless him.
Day 6 was the day I was most looking forward to, Magic Kingdom. My first ever Disney park and I could not wait. Thank you all very much for reading.
Clearly you're all enjoying my updates so have some day 5.
Tuesday 22nd July: Day 5, Legoland Florida
I was actually quite looking forward to going to Legoland Florida. I like the Windsor equivalent and was anticipating Florida to have the better park with the better effort.
Because the park doesn't open until 10am we decided to have a spot of breakfast out rather than in the villa. Originally we had planned to go to Golden Corral as there was one just a mile or two from Legoland. The drive took around half an hour which included a little faf with the satnav taking us to the centre of a shady looking housing estate rather than the Golden Corral. When we arrived we were left disappointed, on Monday through Thursday it doesn't open until 10:45...it was now 9:30 so we headed off to a nearby Perkins.
I had a full english breakfast and pancakes, there was so much food but naturally I polished it all off. The waitress was fab, she seemed to have memorised every single item on the menu and just reeled all the information off like it was second nature. Have some food.
It was **** delicious
Next we headed across the road to Legoland Florida
We had expected some faff getting in, with a Merlin Annual Pass you can supposedly get 50% off the entrance price, many goons had suggested we print off some proof as they 'don't believe' you otherwise. A VERY fat but very nice man helped us out with the 50% off, he explained they don't get many tourists from Britain and, although he knew about the discount, it usually only happens once a week.
I had to get a selfie with the Legoland Rida sign
Not my most flattering angle
The plan was to leave Angela and Mr. Stephen and go off and ride credz n **** but as it was first we decided to ride the Island in the Sky first.
As it is the first thing you come to in the park it naturally has a big queue. After 15 minutes Sarah just happened to turn around and saw Angela and Mr. Stephen behind us, they though it would be funny not to tell us they were there, they'd been standing behind us for 10 minutes.
Anyway, the ride is alright, a bit dull. It is essentially an observation tower except the whole thing lies flat before lifting you 100ft into the air. It does give some decent views of the park.
New hotel construction
The large lakes over the back were stunning too
Once done we left Angela and Mr. Stephen for real and went over to Lego Technic Test Track.
Sarah and Dan already had the cred as it used to be in Legoland Windsor. It's a Mack Wild Mouse (so a decent one) with Lego themed cars.
It's a decent enough ride, it certainly felt pretty speedy, I actually quite enjoyed it.
Next it was over to Wave Racers.
I loved these at Windsor so was looking forward to riding them here. The queue was burdenous and the ride capacity is genuinely ****. They only had one side open and two of the cars were shut so literally only 6 people were getting on each ride cycle. What made it worse was some people can get a fast pass (I won't go into how) and they were allowed to stay on and ride again if they wanted to. This was ridiculous.
Well...****
I worked out how you actually ride these now. Originally I used to just have them as far out as possible for the whole ride cycle but it is much better if you keep turning the wheel back and forth as the added 'flicking' pulls extra force on you. I was slightly paranoid I was going to lose my phone but no such catastrophes occurred.
Apparently the two most important places in England are Stoke and Luton...
Next up was Coastersaurus, a fab looking family woodie, and a coaster I had been really looking forward to riding.
We waited for around 15 minutes, all three of us wanted to go front so Dan and Sarah went first.
Once I sat down I naturally took a selfie.
And a head on view of the lift hill
So the ride, I genuinely really enjoyed it. There isn't a great amount of airtime, there is something there but it isn't quite enough to lift you out of your seat. You turn a couple of corners before you reach three successive airtime hills which are fab albeit weak. The brake run at the end is a little urgent and sent my flying forwards as I wasn't expecting it. At the time of riding it was probably my favourite woodie.
Across the path from Coastersaurus was a safari type ride called Safari Trek. We were there so we thought why not? There was almost no queue so on got Dan and Sarah...
Each car has two seats so I just had to wait for the next car. But no, I had to get a spite somewhere in the day. A kid fell over and grazed his knee getting off the thing and was crying. His grandmother kicked up a fuss so the ride op had to close the ride. Don't ask me why, I thought it was ludicrous. All I know is I didn't get to ride :'(
We headed up to the top of the park to ride Flying School only to be turned away after being told it was currently suffering from technical difficulties and the ride was shut and it might not be open for the rest of that day. Not another spite, surely? We headed over to the shooter ride instead because it's inside and inside=air con. Woooo.
Whether they have this at Windsor I don't know, I've never ridden it anyway. The queue was quite cool, they had some Duplo for the kids to play with to stop them getting bored.
I'm assuming this, once upon a time, had water in it. Long since evaporated.
20 minutes later we were sat down and I took a selfie
It was really cool, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everything, as you'd expect, was themed to Lego but when you shoot things, stuff actually happened, snakes climbed out of baskets, people ducked etc. It was actually really fun. As you'd expect I won with 26,000, Sarah came second with 18,000 and Dan managed an impressive 3,000....yes 3,000, he used the excuse 'it's harder in the back', blah blah blah.
We were getting hungry so found Angela and Mr. Stephen and we all had a snack. I had some strawberries.
Lego hung from the ceiling
Maybe we could all team together and find him some friends?
Once done we headed off to find the Dragon coaster, on the way we passed through Duplo Valley.
I used to love Duplo as a kid.
Before Dragon we rode The Quest for Chi, a Battle Galleons style ride.
You get soaked. Apart from this I don't actually have any photos for whatever reason.
That pole in the middle has a torrent of water cascading down it which the boat goes through. Only one side of the boat gets wet though, trust it to be our side. The ride is quite cool, you shoot water at a range of different lego figures...as well as other riders. Next door was a mini water park called Cragger's Swamp, it was pretty **** but we were soaked so ran through it anyway.
Up next was Dragon!
I was still soaked as this selfie will confirm.
We didn't care about which row but when front became available we thought, why not? There's a pre show with various different Lego figures doing all kinds of different things. Then the coaster. At the front it's actually quite good, better than I remember Windsor's being. I'd say more than a +1, it's really rather enjoyable.
Because we enjoyed it we went round and had another go, this time at the back
The back end of a dragon....literally
This was a mistake. It was rough and generally awful. Bleugh.
We had managed to persuade Mr. Stephen to ride Coastersaurus so we headed over to ride that again. This time Dan and I went back row.
Sadly Mr. Stephen got spited. I have to say though, the back row wasn't as good. It was more forceful to start with but overall much rougher, it's a shame really, it isn't as high in my rankings as it could have been.
Time was getting on now so we headed back up to Flying School to see if it was open yet. On approach it didn't look good, no train was going round. It was looking like the first cred spite of the trip. Suddenly the unmistakable sound of a lift hill began and up the train was pulled full with people. YES! It was open, we ran over to the queue ready to not be spited.
I felt the twisted mass of track looked quite nice to be fair, and it's a nice blue too.
This was by far the longest queue of the day, at least 45 minutes, plus it was hot and sweaty, all of this pain just to ride a Vekoma Suspended coaster. #Goon. Somehow Dan managed to ride before Sarah and I and he managed back row. Git.
As expected it was painfully rough, it was also, thankfully, rather short, after the lift hill we could only have been going 30 seconds. Still, woo cred.
I wanted to go around the Miniland. I had been told that you don't want to take too long, it is very hot with little shade. Sadly the whole Miniland is built on American cities only, there is an Eiffel Tower, but only a model of the fake in Las Vegas.
I will post a few pictures, I won't say what they are because it's either obvious or I don't know.
At regular intervals throughout the day these band people moved[/img]
Punny
The NASA bit has a voice recording which only lasted 10 seconds and played constantly. I cannot begin to explain how **** annoying that was
The lack of shade made this almost unbearable and the others had all gone off to find shade by the time I had finished photographing everything. I much prefer the Miniland in Windsor not going to lie, it's bigger, has more things, the scale of things in Windsor is bigger, it's just better.
We were pretty much done then, we stopped off in the shop for some tat. I'm not going to lie, I was overall disappointed with Legoland Florida. I was expecting so much more, it just feels a little grimy, the lego seems to have been left to rot there, Windsor has the better park.
On the way home we stopped off in the Golden Corral that spited us earlier. Mmmmmm food.
There's something like 10 meats on here from pork and buffalo wings to crab and kidney. Yum
A storm was brewing outside. It was looking impressive.
Once back we Skyped Jarrett which was good fun, he is such a laugh bless him.
Day 6 was the day I was most looking forward to, Magic Kingdom. My first ever Disney park and I could not wait. Thank you all very much for reading.
ATTACKHAMMER
Strata Poster
Re: Florida 2014: Day 5, Legoland Florida
One day I might even look at the camera when you're taking a photo. Nice pictures and report.
One day I might even look at the camera when you're taking a photo. Nice pictures and report.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida 2014: Day 5, Legoland Florida
I highly doubt it
Cheers bro
I highly doubt it
Cheers bro