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Photo TR: Bas does Florida and the East Coast Tour


hyyyper

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Florida Day 1 - Miami Beach

Florida Day 2 - Key West

Florida Day 3 - Driving Upstate

Florida Day 4 - Everglades

Florida Day 5 - Busch Gardens Tampa

Florida Day 6 - Kennedy Space Center

Florida Day 7 - Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom

Florida Day 8 - Hollywood Studios and EPCOT

Florida Day 9 - Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida

 

East Coast Day 1 - Sesame Place and Coney Island

East Coast Day 2 - Six Flags New England, Quassy and Lake Compounce

East Coast Day 3 - Six Flags New England and Rye Playland

East Coast Day 4 - Six Flags Great Adventure

East Coast Day 5 - Six Flags America

East Coast Day 6 - Busch Gardens Europe

East Coast Day 7 - Kings Dominion

East Coast Day 8 - Morey's Piers and Clementon

East Coast Day 9 - Hersheypark

East Coast Day 10 - Dorney Park and Six Flags Great Adventure

East Coast Day 11 - Knoebels

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Warning, although the trip consist mostly of themeparks, the first days me and my dad behaved like regular tourist. Don't worry, from day 5 we did the themeparks.

 

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hyyyper goes to the USA

Florida Day 1 - July 28

Miami Beach

 

Today was finally the day! The start of the best three weeks of my life, The Florida and East Coast Trip. We had get up quite early and get my dad and me to go from the quiet rural village of Grashoek, The Netherlands to the Brussels Airport.

 

American Airlines AA6423 left without any problems and after our short lay-over in London we were en-route for Miami. Because of the early departure it wasn't hard to sleep most of the time, but for some vague reason the captain wouldn't jump to hyperspeed, which made the flight still last ten and half hours.

 

After the long flight we arrived at Miami International Airport. Without any problems we got through customs and headed for the rental cars office. We had booked a 'compact', because there was only two of us and we

only had 2 suitcases, yet the clerk was trying to get us to update the package to a 'comfort'. We told him a 'compact' was large enough and we soon found out why he was so insistent on getting us a 'comfort'. As we

walked up the parking lot where the 'compacts' should be, there weren't any. Which meant we got a bigger car for free!

 

The first stop on our way to hotel would be an electronics store to get our new camera. Because of the low dollar it saved my 90 dollars if I would have bought it back in the Netherlands. The second stop was to drive by those neat villa's you always see in CSI:Miami. I must say that if I ever get a gazillion dollars somewhere, I'd totally buy myself a house or two over there.

 

Eventually we got to our hotel, The Starlite. It was right on Ocean Drive, which basically meant that if you went sleepwalking, you'd have a great chance of drowning yourself in the nearby ocean. The hotel wasn't that

great, but the location and cheap prize made up for that. We spend the evening walking north on the beach, took a left into Miami Beach, ate something (cheeseburger for me, obviously), and walking back to the hotel.

 

I was amazed by how calm Miami Beach was. Having only been to New York before, it was a very different experience not to see the sidewalks crowded and taxi's rushing over the crossings. Ocean Drive was beautifully lit at night. I really enjoyed walking trough the beachside park at night. Hotels on one side, the beach on the other and palm trees above you.

1441758133_008OceanDriveatNight.jpg.21ddc616b666119a7e843b91f73c0298.jpg

Ocean Drive was amazing at night. Every hotel and club was lit like they were stuck in the 70ties

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One of the most awesome beaches, South Beach

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Our hotel, it wasn't much, but at least it was on Ocean Drive and cheap =)

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"...get on my knees and pray ...

We don't get fooled again, Oh No..."

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Our means of transportation for the next 12 days, a Chevvy Malibu (with added fuzzy dice!)

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Looking at Miami during final approach stages

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Our plane is awaiting in the wet Belgium morning

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Awesome, it's so cool to see places that are no big deal to me as vacation destinations. It's really fun driving on the beach. I like the picture from the airplane too, it would be awesome if more people posted those.

 

I look forward to reading more, and I'll be watching this thread for updates.

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Bas, I am so looking forward to the full post of your adventures! (He really does have some awesome pics in line to be posted, so keep an eye out for this one.) Maybe even an occasional, boring, old moon?

 

I was able to visit South Beach on a day trip once after a cruise. I really would like to go spend some time there as well. I love all of the art deco architecture. If the Starlite is reasonable, I may keep it in mind!

 

Good start Bas, I'll anxiously await more updates! KerryB

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hyyyper goes to the USA

Florida Day 2 - July 29

Key West

 

Today we were going to leave behind the beaches of Miami and head out to the far south of Florida, Key West. After the long, yet beautiful drive over the Overseas Highway we arrived at Key West. We boarded a catamaran (two-hulled sailboat) and headed west. Unfortunatly we didn't go I far as I had hoped. Basically, the captian was sailing up and

down the water, only half a mile from the Key. The first part of the sunset was absolutely beautiful, but a clould blocked the sun the second part of it's descend, which was kind of a letdown.

 

Back on land, we walked into the town and (by chance?) found a Hard Rock Cafe. Which meant that the diner would yet again consist of cheeseburgers. After a delicious meal we went back to the hotel to get the nessecary sleep for next day's drive to the Everglades.

209377118_008Cheeseburgers.jpg.b758b68a73a08526a61b9c67709f74cf.jpg

American Cuisine: Cheeseburgers !

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Sunset III

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Sunset II

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Sunset I

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My dad's on the left and I'm on the right, in case you were wondering.

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Instead of the water being brown like in the Netherlands, it actually is blue in Florida, how kind of the water.

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"..Standin' on the dock of the bay..."

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The road to the keys. I could insert a lame joke here. But I won't.

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hyyyper goes to the USA

Florida Day 3 - July 30

Driving Upstate

 

This day was one the least interesting of the whole trip. We would be driving from

Key West back to Miami and then onto Everglades City. The ride itself took 5 hours,

add a couple rest stops and you'll driving 7 hours.

 

When we reached the everglades, I was suprised by how dead it was. I tought the

Everglades were a tourist attraction in Florida, but the place was dead. Perhaps

it was the time of the year (which I doubt because it was the end of july) or

everybody is afraid of the mosquitos (which is very plausible, damn bugs).

 

The hotel on the other hand was very cool, they had the entire placed fenced of with fly

screens and double doors. Even the pool had a fly-screen cover over it. And it was

so good to be free of those bugs.

1264790890_006HotelPool.jpg.f3aa0bc59e64116aa400c78ce1ed7322.jpg

This was the cool 'bug-free-pool' in our 'bug-free-hotel'.

823350248_005Alligator.jpg.cdafce8c1bd422f4aa04d67f26262a73.jpg

You make one step in the Everglades and suddenly my dad has a thing for aligators, well, this one's for you dad.

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O noes, a thunderstorm, thankfully we didn't plan anything today.

1333832316_003PalmFactory.jpg.fba0f423fa8727171ad3ece03101a25c.jpg

So this is where all those palm trees come from. Seriously, there was like 5 miles of palm fields next to the highway.

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Great pics of SoFla, even though I'm feeling a bit homesick now. Glad you got to experience the Keys, and the best sunset in the world....yay for Mallory Square!

 

I was amazed by how calm Miami Beach was. Having only been to New York before, it was a very different experience not to see the sidewalks crowded and taxi's rushing over the crossings.

Yeah, you were there a bit out of season. From October thru at least March, it's much busier. Also with many more topless European models....which I'm sure is TPR approved.

 

When we reached the everglades, I was suprised by how dead it was. I tought the

Everglades were a tourist attraction in Florida, but the place was dead. Perhaps

it was the time of the year (which I doubt because it was the end of july) or

everybody is afraid of the mosquitos (which is very plausible, damn bugs).

 

Well, the 'glades technically are a tourist attraction, but I'd venture to guess that Everglades National Park doesn't see much action in the prime of summer. I lived near there for 28 years, and personally I'd rather spend a week on the surface of the sun than a day in the Everglades during a Florida summer. And yeah, mosquitos are definitely a HUGE reason the 'glades are a pain in the arse around that time.

 

By the way, did you do an airboat tour?

 

Anyway, awesome report so far.

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I knew you were going to Florida before the trip, but I assumed it was just the amusement parks. Some really cool pics so far. Also, great idea to wait until you got to the U.S. to buy a camera.

 

The original plan was indeed to just the Tampa and Orlando parks. But since I really needed a car to get around and some hotels required your age to be 21, I asked my dad to tag along. But he had some demands: Miami, Key West, Everglades and Cape Canaveral.

 

The camera was unhealthy cheap, I saved €60 ($90) on it just because I bought it in the US

 

By the way, did you do an airboat tour?

 

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hyyyper goes to the USA

Florida Day 4 - July 31

Everglades Airboat Tour

 

Today we had booked an airboat tour into the mangrove

swamps of the everglades. If you're familiar with airboats,

they're basically a shallow hull with a large fan to provide

thrust. This way they don't need anything to stick in the water

and get entangled in the grass or mangroves.

 

Our tour lasted a short hour and we got some beautiful sights

around the vast mangrove-filled landscape. That's basically all

I can say about it. To be honest, I'm not a nature fan and the

Everglades weren't the reason I went to Florida prior to the

East Coast Tour. That said, it was still amazing to see and the

experience was fun.

 

After the boattour my dad had the fun idea to take a walk on a

1-mile trail. By foot. In the Everglades. So you can image I looked

like a mushroom with all those mosquito bites, and I was very

glad to get back into the car and program the GPS towards Tampa...

126930006_007RandomTrail.jpg.3507eafca587875de2988a014bc11689.jpg

I tried to photograph some mosquitoes in this shot, but they were to busy stinging me!

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At some point the six airboats of the operator met up and raced back to the dock. We didn't win.

977844558_005Hyperdrive.jpg.8bcef34080e4f6bb8f0363512bdd8835.jpg

I was so glad this airboat had an hyperdrive, otherwise we'd be out in the swamp for hours!

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Boat Tour Exclusive POV Shot

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If you put a gazillion copies of this picture next to each other, you can image how this part of the Everglades look like.

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Your typical airboat neighbour, if you would live in the Everglades.

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I know this picture is horrid, but since it's one of the few with me actually on it, I'll just post all of them.

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^It's a Canon Powershot SX100IS, but a reasonable prize, you get a lot of megapixel, zoom and manual shutter/aperture control

 

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hyyyper goes to the USA

Florida Day 5 - August 1

Busch Gardens Africa

 

Yay, finally some coasters. We headed out early from our hotel, only

to arrive to the parking lot after 10 minutes. Getting into the park

with the pre-printed tickets was without any problems.

 

First coasters of the day was pretty obvious: Montu. Of all the coasters

I'd never had ridden Montu was by far the coaster I was most looking forward

riding. Even tough we rode it in the morning, Montu was running as hell.

I loved the pacing, the order of elements and especially the extra loop in

the second half. My only complaint/constructive critism was that the Zero-G-roll

would've been even more fun if it would've spun the other way.

 

After riding Montu half a dozen times (no line!) we headed over to the train ride

to get to Kumba and take some pics of the plains (my dad) and Montu (me). When we

(finally) got off the train we queued up for Kumda (lines were starting to form).

We rode backseat and the ride was amazing. I can't see why people think B&M is being

unoriginal because they allways use the almost same sequence in their loopers. All

I have to say to those people is to go ride a B&M and you'll see why B&M keeps using

that order. Never change a winning team. And B&M is winning already.

 

When I queued up for front seat to re-ride Kumba, they doomed message sounded from

the speakers: "Due to the approching imclement...." I knew enough, it was time for

some food and hope that the angry clouds would drift past.

 

They didn't. It poured for 3 hours and having eaten at the restaurant next to Sheikra,

we decided to queuen up for Sheikra, simply because no other coasters was operating and

we really wanted to ride Sheikra. Finally the skies cleared a bit and they let the

coasters operate in the mild rain. And how does mild rain feel like at 70 mph, well,

it hurts. But It was a small price to pay for riding Sheikra. The ride was amazing,

the holding brakes at the drop, the long-sustained floater, the twist out of the

immelman and the tunnel were incredible.

 

After Sheikra we headed up the ski-ride to get to the Crown Colony House and grab

dinner. Because we were in the area we re-rode Montu and after some amazing rides

we left for Gwazi. Being used to Troy, I was looking forward riding another GCI.

So obvious Gwazi suprised me completely. The ride was rough and jackhammering all

the way. Tough, it was a great ride, would've nicer if the ride operators figured

out that you can run two stations synchronus, but the ride had some decent pacing

and curves, it just wasn't smooth.

 

Having hit all the big credits, we hit the other coasters and then did a last round

trough the park for some nightrides on Sheikra and Montu. We stayed till closing and

then drove off to Orlando.

 

My overall impression of the park was that altough it was beautifull, the layout

wasn't thought off well. To get from one area to another you had to walk a fair

distance, now isn't that a big thing, but usually those distances are trough areas

where there's nothing else to do. Apart from that, the coasters were amazing,

food was good and basically the only two things that the place was clearly missing

was a big darkride and a hyper.

1349931249_019SheikraSplash.jpg.6e847bb3cc5eb35b410de6e62da09a6c.jpg

...and soaking pretty much the entire splash-zone.

1371642607_018SheikraSplashII.jpg.7c06f56da7ee338da74c197516d7ec07.jpg

...building a wave...

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Train entering the splash pool...

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Another one of those skirtless-upskirt-shots

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Rider's expressions on Sheikra's first drop.

146616446_014SheikraBottom.jpg.b66f0a10c9ebc09c780222b78d2f5119.jpg

But after 1,5 hours of rain, Sheikra came back to live, sending off happy riders.

1646221062_013SheikraQueue.jpg.053f485c2e523a140fcfcfd05bcd73d6.jpg

Everybody in the Sheikra queue is pissed on the inclement weather.

1274195506_012KumbaCorkscrew.jpg.d10d918bf477b8795a69b75ba1b0fd46.jpg

Exclusive Kumba Shot!

1348312955_011MontuBatwing.jpg.bc4ea81a8839a3d1b0c38bfd86d9dae3.jpg

Montu's Batwing, another amazing element.

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The ZGR again, without the trees, but also without train.

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Montu's Zero-G, through some random trees-that-are-totally-ruining-the-shot.

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Montu's batwing...Through Montu!

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Another train flies out of the immelman

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Montu's rediculously tall loop.

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This would qualify as an upskirt-shot, but since immelmans dpn't wear skirts...

811288160_004MeonMontu.jpg.69be30959e00cfb358974ca5aed798c9.jpg

It's me...on Montu...

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One of Montu's best elements: The Bonus Loop.

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If Montu could speak, I'm sure he'd be saying "Welcome".

1090101485_001Entrance.jpg.d61ecc30f937ed71c0664cc2f139863e.jpg

Finally, after 4 days of behaving like tourists, it's time for the real deal.

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Part II

1720166479_036CarandMontu.jpg.3b23c80bbbb033c0c5d5597b75bd6af3.jpg

Montu guarded our car well, but it's time to head out for Orlando!

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Montu, especially when warmed up, is ranking at #1 in my list.

607266372_034SheikraSplashNight.jpg.b794f92ed54587f79a203127031de75e.jpg

I'm sorry, I'm out of hyperdrive jokes...

866131876_033SheikraNight.jpg.24fc4054ad71712af921d3a56823e0f8.jpg

Sheikra looks (and rides!) great at night.

1196431896_032MontuTrain.thumb.JPG.6ef521eb15743e4984a7d711fdf75712.JPG

The jeweled bird is one of the most beautifull wheel covers found on B&M. (but Dueling Dragons's and Katun's are simply the best).

1682004594_031Metakingpicture.thumb.JPG.00ab57847097db2b1f3fe3eefe1bbe4a.JPG

Although it was not a bingo square, my dad took a picture of me taking a picture.

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Even the little Swarzkopfs have hyperdrives these days...where will it end?

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Montu's Zero-G

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Exclusive Montu Shot!

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The company selling hyperdrives is making a lot of dollars.

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The original caption was going to be "Montu+Cheeseburgers=Heaven", but I already at the cheeseburgers, thus ruining the caption.

1425550324_025GwaziDrops.jpg.70a8abc1d6c6123a419ee23cfda02c52.jpg

I want to express my gratitute to the Gwazi ride-ops for timing the trains with the skyride.

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Sheikra from the skyride.

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Talking about fast dispatch..

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For the close-up fanboys

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B&M zero-cars in front of the trains are cool. Even Santa agrees.

1757764856_020SheikraImmelman.thumb.jpg.1cab0fb91bfc4408a8d772fe8bfd1642.jpg

Sheikra's Immelman from a distance.

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This is a really nice TR!

You took some great photos. So far, my favorite is Sunset II. What a beautiful photo. The ship on the horizon just makes it perfect!

 

I agree about the Everglades being boring. I was there in January and did a lot of driving for not a lot of things to see and do. I was expecting a lot more. I was at least hoping to see a panther after seeing all of the panther signs.

At least there were no mosquito's when I was there though.

 

I also loved Montu. While I don't have it ranked #1, it is definitely near the top of my steel rankings.

 

I'm really looking forward to the rest of your TR.

Thanks for sharing!

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How did you do that kumba shot? did you clone the two trains in photoshop or something? I work at Busch and doubt thats even possible of happening. would be curious to find out though! (:

 

It would be possible, dispatch time would have to be minimal, like during ERT. But I'm not sure the 1st train would clear the MCBR by the time the 2nd reaches the top.

But as you guessed correctly, this aint real. I took two pictures from the same spot and merged them.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

hyyyper goes to the USA

Florida Day 6 - August 2

Kennedy Space Center

 

The last tourist day of the trip, today we went to Cape Canaveral, from

which a lot of rockets, space shuttles and an occasional X-wing are launched. The visitors centre has two IMAX-theatres a montion simulator and some mediocre exhibits and walktrshows (mix between show and walktrough). But the reason that drew me to the Kennedy Space Center was the NASA-up-close Tour, which, as the name says, takes you up close to the important big stuff.

 

We started tour around the facility, including random officies, small assembly and recovery buildings and astronaut prep. building. Then we headed out for the Space Shuttle launch pads. Those were huge and probably very strong and heat resistant, because they don't have to be rebuild from scratch after each launch, pretty impressive if you see what kind of thurstpower comes out of the rockets.

 

Next up was the Vehicle Assembly Building, where they assemble vehicle (who could've guessed that?). The thing is huge. From the pictures it may look large, but the damn building is even larger than it looks. Then can fit a 360 feet rocket in that place.

 

The last stop of the tour van at the Apollo/Saturn V-centre, where one of the never used Saturn V rockets is up for display. The rocket is placed on it's side, with all the stages disconnected. It's incredible to walk under, and the food's nice.

 

The day at Cape Canaveral made me realise once more how complicated and dangerous being a rocket scientist is. You don't want a rocket-booster exploding and blasting half the cape apart. It also made me realise how pointless it is to explore space beyond earth's orbit. I'm OK with putting satelites in orbit, but why are they spending millions to discover ice on Mars. We have ice too on Earth you know, you don't have to go all the way to Mars to get some. It's really odd that the money doesn't go to the problems on Earth, but rather to places we won't get for the first 50 or even 100 years.

 

Now that all the anger and frustration is out of me, I can prepare for DisneyWorld!

1168853994_009GalaxyMap.jpg.d25338637fcaae8c6592ed75cc95376a.jpg

Print this and take it with you. You'll never get lost again!

1623017001_008RoadMarking.jpg.a65d19f3be84966d4cc2fdc2793f73f6.jpg

Instead of your friendly arrow, they put up shuttle markings on the roads at the space center.

1662998688_007SaturnV.thumb.jpg.e9b8bb5941b0fa914274e968d81b0bc8.jpg

This is the 'ass' of a Saturn V rocket.

1487608489_006Crawler.jpg.11fe25de42c0755ff9d9f0a92e6492c1.jpg

The crawler. With a top speed on 1 mph (no typo) it transports any rocket or space shuttle to the launch pad.

1866519580_005MeinfrontofVAB.thumb.JPG.36b495ef096056c7ec5c0a01428452e2.JPG

I guess I'm pretty large too, I'm only one-third of the building, which means I'm 120 ft tall.

1642637554_004VehicleAssemblyBuilding.jpg.663b92a51f34cbfcd86aba1f4ce696fb.jpg

The insanely huge Vehicle Assembly Building

1488879923_003Mydadandmeatviewingplatform.jpg.3e00bd34378a5e903453227dba337b94.jpg

Once I get the ugly pink labels photoshopped-off the picture, I might put it in a frame

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One of the launch pads.

1176768871_001MeatKSC.JPG.d3f7e015aa8a537d351acd606c35494b.JPG

Yep, we're at NASA.

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hyyyper goes to the USA

Florida Day 7 - August 3

Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Downtown Disney and Magic Kingdom

 

DisneyWorld, basically the hightlight of our Florida trip. I was really

expecting a lot from it, and at the end Disney still rose above by expectations.

 

But anyways, we started our first day at the Animal Kingdom, mainly because we could hit Expedition Everest before the line exploded and because the lines at the character-meet/photo-ops where shorter over there. Other than that I liked the Dinosaur darkride and of course the overal theming, but we were done after 3.5 hours. The park is beautifull, but to me, it just doesn't offer that many great attractions like the other parks.

 

I liked the ride of Expedition Everest. Not in a way I like B&Ms, but the ride provided a fun experience. The coaster is to compact and hidden to give a vast feeling the mountain should provide, but nevertheless the ride is very enjoyable. From the large helix to the backwards parts and the large drop out of the mountain, it was all real fun. It was even better to watch my dad freak out when the track ended and he didn't believe we were going backwards untill we hit the next brake.

 

Since it was noon and our room wouldn't be ready untill 3pm, we took the bus to Magic Kingom to do some attractions, then head out for the hotel, eat something and come back in the early evening. We started with the river-cruise, which I really liked because of the word-jokes (Yes, I do share that lame sense of humor). And even without the jokes, the scenes were very entertaining. After the river cruise came Pirates of the Carribean, which I also liked very much. It had such an amazing setting and atmosphere (but could somebody please redo the burning houses, the flames look awfull).

 

After that we to a ride on the old boat (can't remember the actual name), which provided us with some rest and some nice views of the area. When we boared the boat, the parade had just started and was still going when we got off. This meant Haunted Mansion had no line at all, which was a golden opportunity to ride that. The Mansion was a fun ride, some of the 'scares' were funny and well tought off, while other were kind of lame.

Still, the ride was very entertaining.

 

Then it passed 3pm and we went back to our hotel, being the All-Star Movies, where we powernapped and took a short swim in the pool. After being refreshed we took the bus to Downtown Disney, and ate cheeseburgers at Planet Hollywood (I see a pattern emerging). The downtown area was nice to walk trough. The large disney shops were nice, but the layout was basically one long road, and Planet Hollywood was at the end, but hey, at least all the walking will help balance out those cheeseburgers.

 

When we got out Planet Hollywood it started to get dark and by the time we where back on the bus back to Magic Kingdom, night had fallen. When we got to the park we started going right this time, doing some Tomorrowland attractions, together with walking back to the castle for Wishes and SpectroMagic.

 

Both event were spectacular, the entire square in front of the castle was filled, and the crowds were all the way back to the train station. Wishes's timing and music was amazing and the best fireworks show I've seen in ages. Spectromagic was also beautifull to see, so different from the daylight parade. Yet for some reason I still prefer the daylight parade, perhaps because it is during the day and it's bigger.

 

Between the events We took fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear and queued up for Space Mountain (which, altough being a vekoma, is way better than the Paris one). Buzz Lightyear was really good fun, but then again, anything shooting game or ride is good fun to me =D. Before we headed

out to Fantasyland we did a quick ride on the Carousel of Progress (which was very funny but too long), Tomorrowland Transport Autority (which was kind of a let down, I expected more of it) and the Indy Speedway (which was pretty cool, only a bit slow).

 

 

Having heard good stories about Peter Pan we waited 45 minutes. All I can say is that I still want my 45 minutes back. The ride started out good in London, but after the next scene is was like the imagineers had to continue with 1/10 of the original budget. I love the theming and decoration at Disney, but this was just bad. Thankfully, we still

had half an hour left to go and ride Big Thunder Mountain in the dark. The ride itself isn't much, lots of slow moments, but it gives you time to take a good look at the amazing surroundings of the ride, and then trows you down the drop again to speed trough turns and end up at the next lift hill or brake run.

 

We got back to the hotel at 2am (thank you Extra Magic Hours) and hoped to get enough sleep to survive Hollywood Studios and Epcot the next day.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

CONTEST: I was in a happy mood and hidden movie quotes all over the captions. If you find all 5 and say which movie their from, you'll get a horonable mention in next day's TR, or something likewise.

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I end this day with a picture of Walt and the castle. Frankly, I don't think he gives a damn.

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Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Mining Company Rollercoaster. Or just BTM for friends.

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I shall remember this day as the day I almost forgot to ride Pirates.

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...and here's mine!

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This was my dad's final score...

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Time for a shooting ride. This time we a blasting toy-villians. I'm OK with that, I'm only here for the blasting part.

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Elissa approved, I guess?

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Since when is Mickey an Elvis impersonator?

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Another amazing event in the Magic Kingdom was the night parade, SpectroMagic.

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The next few photo's will be without caption, because the next few are all pics of the castle.

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The lit train station.

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Bye Planet Hollywood, loved your cheeseburgers, but we're heading back to the Magic Kingdom.

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Toby...Toby...Toby Wong? Toby Wang?......Toby ......Toby

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The interior of Planet Hollywood, looks larger from the inside than it looks from the outside.

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Stuffed mice, and a hell lot of them.

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Did you know there's an actual rule in the guidelines which forbids you not to take a picture of yourself in front of the castle?

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It's mansion, and it's haunted. Deal with it.

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Don't let the beauty of the mountain fool you, there's a vekoma inside!

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Our captian of the Jungle Cruise today was Jackie.

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Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Animals Kingdom any more.

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Mandatory character photo, came out nice, considering I always look horrid on pictures.

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Ducks, why did't have to be ducks?

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The amazingly detailed Tree of Life.

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Exclusive Everest Shot!

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First park: Animal Kingdom. Beautifull park to look at, but not that much rideable stuff.

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Our hotel for the night, twice as expensive as off-property, but hey, it's Disney.

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The entrance to The World, I'd imagined it to be more fancy. more Disney-ish

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hyyyper goes to the USA

Florida Day 8 - August 4

Hollywood Studios and Epcot

 

Because it getting quite late the previous day, we did a Tony with the Extra Magic Hours today. (For those not aware of Tony, we missed

the EMHs) We arrived at the park around 10am and it was already getting

crowded. As we already made ourselves a list of must-rides, Rock'n'Rollercoaster was up first, after we took fastpasses on Tower of

Terror. R'n'R was a fun ride, and because it's the same as the one at

Paris, the thing that makes one ride better than the other is your personal

taste for theming. I personally like the traffic theme better than the

on stage theming, but then again, it's very personal. Tower of Terror was an amazing ride experience, very good background story and amazing

theming, I only realised it after we got of the ride that it wasn't an

actual hotel that was converted into an attraction, they build the entire hotel just to put a drop tower in it. That's hardcore dedication.

 

Next up was the other side of park, Indiana Jones, Star Tours and the backlot tour. Indiana Jones was a fun show, especially the scenes that were taken from the movies. Star Tours, being a StarWars attraction in the first was fun to do. The simulator itself isn't on of the best, but it's StarWars, and it's in Disney, and that's makes up for a lot. And BTW, next time I get there, I'm so going to make my own lightsaber in the gift shop. The backlot tour was not that great. The harbour-attack scene was

fun and I liked seeing the movies props and the classic disaster canyon, but the ride took way to long to finish up.

 

Our last ride in The Studios was the great movie ride, which I expected to be a bit better than Phantasialand's. (FYI Phantasialand has a movie ride which is based on this one, but there are no live actors and it's short). But it was so good, a lot of classics, superb live actors and scene, truly amazing.

 

Then came Epcot, the park I liked the least, after all. For some reason, the attractions did nothing for me. Except for Test Track of course, being the only 'real' ride in Epcot. I have really not much to say about Epcot other than that it didn't impress me based on their rides/shows/expositions (or whatever they're called). Spaceship Earth was beautifull to look at, and the other building's architecture was fasicnating to look, but that's were it stopped.

 

And so did our day at Epcot. We drove back to the hotel to get in early and prepare for Universal the next day.

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After eight attempts, I finally got a picutere of a car speeding by.

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Close-up on the ball-texture.

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Golfball

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Old-Design-Mickey

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Crowds are gathering at the Sorcerer's Hat to see the afternoon parade.

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This truck caught fire because of an earthquake, and that same quake broke a dam which put the fire out. It turned out to be fake.

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This is a ATAT. If you know what the abbrevition stands for, you're a nerd.

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Happy clouds.

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Is this a Stratocaster or a Stratocoaster.

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Tower of Terror is a good ride. Even Santa agrees.

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The entrance to The Studios, I love the LA-20ties architecture.

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Say goodbye to the female dotted dog, proud guardian of our luggage.

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Then came Epcot, the park I liked the least, after all. For some reason, the attractions did nothing for me. Except for Test Track of course, being the only 'real' ride in Epcot. I have really not much to say about Epcot other than that it didn't impress me based on their rides/shows/expositions (or whatever they're called). Spaceship Earth was beautifull to look at, and the other building's architecture was fasicnating to look, but that's were it stopped.

 

How dare you!

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