disneyfan1313

One other thing which is a huge issue with IOA is that during the famous afternoon thunderstorms.. the entire park feels shut down. Most other parks in Florida have a larger selection of things to do indoors... Here is what gets shut down almost every afternoon. Dr Doom Hulk Ripsaw Falls Popeye Play Area Blutos Bilge Rat Barges Jurassic Park River Adventure Camp Jurassic Petradon Flyers Dragon Challenge Hippogriff Coaster One Fish Two Fish Carousel Seus Trolly Train If this was a park somewhere in the country where afternoon thunderstorms were not common... it wouldn't be as big of a deal.

^ Did you see that they are also going to have a Frequent Fear Plus (includes friday nights) and a Frequent Fear Express Pass? I might seriously consider the FF with the express pass if it is not too outrageous a price.

Awesome.

Awesome. Awesome. AWESOME! So cool to see a part of the world that very few of us have been to. I hope to go to India some day as well - one of my dreams. Please continue to post any photos you have!

Why do I have the feeling that the next corporate alliance that Six Flags will announce is with the Guinness Book of World Records to announce they broke the record for "Largest Amount of Corporate Tie-Ins in a Theme Park".

CBS News FAIL.

My favorite part of summer - reading the TPR trip reports! My least favorite part of summer - wishing I was on the trip! Can't wait to see what happens next!

Royal Caribbean announced a new partnership with DreamWorks Animation to bring characters from their films to Allure of the Seas when it debuts and possibly other ships as well. They mention things like Character Breakfasts, meet and greets, etc. I wonder if it is a direct attempt at DCL? Generally the demographic who likes Dreamworks animated films is different than the one who prefers Disney...but I am sure there will be some cross over. Interesting to see what happens! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtgESqEJNNM

Finally got to watch that horrible POV. I feel bad forming an opinion just off of that - but I am *shocked* how similar to spiderman it looks. Instead of a car on a motion simulator base looking at large scale projections you are on a kuka arm on a base looking at large scale projections. They could have pulled that off a bit more if it was at the studios but putting it so close to the original might seem a bit odd!

^ No. If they priced the park at $20 they would not have survived. A park *that big* can not support the infrastructure that it requires with $20 admission. Unless you are charging $40 for hot dogs... It really just comes down to location and the amount of capital spent on the park... it was doomed to fail from the beginning. Everyone in the industry said it would - the numbers the location and the demographics said it would... The only people that thought it would succeed were those so blinded by imaginary dollar signs before their eyes that they would believe anything.

I have to echo everyone and thank you for these awesome TR's of parks that most of us will not get to visit. Great to see the differences and similarities with foreign parks. Some rides looked a little sketchy - any time you didn't feel safe?

Love it! Haven't had a chance to do it much recently but we always try to find a cache when we are traveling. We also have our own cache in Orlando that 100's of people from all over the world have found! If anyone has an iphone the Geocaching app is actually pretty good and great to use for spontaneous geocaching adventure!

Not sure how I missed this - but Carnival was doing a test on 4 ships this last year with Laser Tag on board! Apparently this was so popular they are now expanding it to all ships except the Sprit. Kind of random - but cool! It is an inflatable arena so not too huge, but I think I would drop $5 to play. I'm kinda surprised laser tag is still around - it screams "Mid 90's" to me. Would you try it?

^ There was another part of the article that discussed Independence. For now they are going to take a "wait and see" approach - I think they know the changes would be popular on the other two ships since the market it is sailing to/from is the same. They probably aren't quite as sure if the cost to do them would show an ROI in the UK.

Royal Caribbean announced that there will be some changes from Oasis of the Seas (the worlds largest cruise ship) to her sister ship - the Allure - when she sets sail in December. Thanks to Cruise Critic for the details.. Interesting that the Boardwalk is having the most issues. No word yet on the Carousel - I wonder how popular that is? Also interesting that they are doing 3-D movies - Disney Cruise Line has had that for over a year now but no other line has jumped on board the bandwagon before now. Apparently more details will be announced soon of a few other small changes. They also announced some changes on the Freedom and the Liberty of the seas to bring them more up to date with the oasis.. Here are some of the things announced for their 2011 dry dock. Nothing mind blowing here although good to see RCCL jumping on the "Movies under the stars" bandwagon. Thoughts?

^ Thats a good deal! Go for it! I'm assuming its one of the ones pretty soon? What category of cabin is it?

^Not sure I buy that. I don't ever get sea sick but swinging ships do it to me as well. Really anything that has large repetitive motions makes me sick - if it has a long cycle time. Hmmmmm....

Thanks for the concept art! I'm guessing the portholes at the bottom must be a public area since they said all outside staterooms would have balconies. The "hump" area in the center is interesting also. I wonder if thats going to be like the voyager class RCCL ships?

^ Unfortunately for the summer New Orleans and Baltimore are going to be Carnival only unless you want to do a longer cruise that costs quite a bit more. The ship I mentioned, the Grandeur, really seems to be the best deal for that time frame for a "less than 7 days cruise." It actually sails out of Ft. Lauderdale which has a VERY nice airport that is a 2 minute drive from the port. Even if you decide on a cruise that sails out of Miami, it will generally be cheaper (and a much better experience!) to fly into Ft. Lauderdale and take a shuttle bus to the Port. Let us know what you decide to do - and post lots of photos when you come back!!!

Awesome! I love ridiculous European fairs! The concept of a stand-up pirate ship is so insane.

^^ If you are willing to do a bit of legwork you can really get some amazing last minute deals on cruises out of Florida. Are you locked into July? If so - that is really the worst possible month for prices.... August is *much* better - although you have the increased chance of hurricanes. Any preferred lines? My "good deal" level is $249 or less per person for a 3-4 day cruise or $599 per person or less for a 7 day. July will be a bit more pricey - prices will probably not drop any more than they are now. I personally like vacationstogo.com to track price movements (they are good about listing the % drop, etc) but then almost always book directly with the cruise line. Also - get on Norwegians and RCCL's mailing list - they often offer special 24 hour deals or stateroom credits. Probably the best deal now on RCCL for july is $569 on Grandeur of the Seas for a 5 day on 7/26 or 7/31. Let me know if you have any other questions or want suggestions!

Exciting news - Princess Cruise Line announced they are building two new ships set to debut in 2013 and 2014! Very few details so far... but these will be the first new builds for Princess since 2008. The one big announcement was that all outside staterooms will have balconies - no more "Porthole" staterooms! I personally really enjoyed my sailings on Princess and am excited to see what else they have up their sleeves!

What a cute little park! Speed Snake is an AWESOME name for a coaster... Was Wild Eagle an upcharge attraction?

Thanks Soren! That was a great TR - it is amazing to see how dead everything always seems to be in Dubai.

More Carnival FAIL! Why are all these dock accidents, near misses, etc happening mostly with Carnival?