Photo TR: Coaster Palooza X.5...I think, Florida Version

[Coaster Palooza]

Hi all,

 

We went to Orlando for Thanksgiving to visit my brother and his wife and to also go to the amusement parks. On Friday we went to Busch Gardens, Saturday we visited Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios and Sunday we went to Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios.

 

I will continue the rest as I post some pictures.

We leave you with another shot of us by the Christmas tree out front. Next stop, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.

Must get smashed pennies.

I just don't know sometimes.

OOOOHH...MONTU

Here are Jeff and Mindy

Have I said I liked the holiday decorations yet?

The bar IS OPEN

We thought this was totally cool.

Here's Gyendolynne trying to force a beer down the statue.

I don't think that I have EVER seen anyone post a picture from here before.

The report wouldn't be complete without the donkey.

I couldn't believe it! They named a horse after me!!!!!

Short wait here.

Here is my brother again

Gyendolynne from afar!

We went to ride the bumper cars next...um yeah...

What would expect the day after Thanksgiving?

It was a little crowded

Kumba was next on our list

My brother and his wife.

Just a quick photo of us!

Nothing that no one hasn't seen yet.

There will be more to follow too.

Another one...

Some classic Sheikra photos coming up.

Every one of their parks has been so nice. We went to all of them this year.

I have said it before, Anheuser Busch parks really have the BEST landscaping.

Busch Gardens Christmas tree. I love Holiday decorations at the parks.

Here is the Thanksgiving dinner table at my brother's house.

I love a free first class upgrade!

[NitroRider]

have said it before, Anheuser Busch parks really have the BEST landscaping.

They have the best EVERYTHING. Nice trip. Busch Gardens Tampa looks so awesome. Lucky you for getting an upgrade. Never even seen someone get one.

[Coaster Palooza]

Day 3 has us going to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. It wasn’t all that crowded which definitely surprised us. We also had our first trip to Mythos restaurant for lunch. It was pretty crowded there and a family got upset with the “reservation” system there. They left in a huff.

 

Hopefully the pics will speak for themselves.

We all went out to dinner at the Macaroni Grill.

City Walk had a cool cover band playing.

I thought it would just be better to take a picture by the car and leave

Men in Black had a 15 minute wait, Mummy had a 20 minute wait, but Back to the Future is 55 minutes! No way!

Since this was closed, we decided to go next door to Universal Studios

I was glad we rode this earlier

Just a look outside. What could I be pondering????

Gyendolynne needed some foo foo drink.

Hey Wally, this IS a Bud Light just for your 401k.

Hi Gyendolynne!

Mythos restaurant

Gyendolynne thought this would be clever until the tooth broke off...just kidding.

They were dueling a little bit later.

We decided to ride ICE

This was the last train for a little while

A MUST ride. The fire side broke down on our way up.

Where do you go next? The Lost Continent

The SNEETCHES entrance???

Time to ride the NEW trolley ride.

Another short wait

An all time favorite

I think everyone has taken this picture.

Yep, had to ride the Hulk with a 10 minute wait first thing in the morning.

Doesn't the adventure ALWAYS begin at the entrance?

We have already been to this Hard Rock Cafe, so we didn't stop there this trip.

Hey, we're in the right place.

[cprocks22]

have said it before, Anheuser Busch parks really have the BEST landscaping.

They have the best EVERYTHING.

Ya prety much, i still have no clue why people are complaining about Griffon .

Great trip report, i miss florida, and Busch Gardens is a great park. How bad was the wait for SheiKra?

EDIT: Awsome pics from Universsal too, you beat me too it lol.

[Coaster Palooza]

^Sheikra's wait was pretty bad. It was 50 minutes, but actually turned into an hour. I let my brother use my Platinum pass to ride it back to back. He hasn't ever ridden it before. The first ride was in the front row and his second one was in the back row.

[Coaster Palooza]

Sunday had us going to Animal Kingdom for our first ride on Expedition Everest. Jeff and Mindy (my brother and wife) decided to join us for Animal Kingdom, but left after we headed to Epcot. We also received a “Million Dreams” gift!

 

We wanted to see Illuminations at Epcot for the first time. We also met Soren!

We rode Mission Space a couple times before the Illuminations.

Getting ready for fireworks.

I like seeing the characters.

It had a train that went around it.

Another tree...

More places. They didn't have the beer testing.

My brother played in this last year.

Hey look, it's Soren. Nice meeting you.

Did I tell you we saw some Christmas trees?

Time to enter World Showcase

This show was good too.

I like what they did with the Living Seas. I scuba dove in the aquarium there twice.

Next park, Epcot. Home of Soren.

Here is our "Million Dream" award. It was a ride to our car! We didn't have to wait for the trolley.

Animal Kingdom's Christmas tree.

This band was playing Christmas music.

By the way, if you would like your own SMASHED PENNY KIT, just contact me and for $5.95 you too can have your very own kit. Complete with 3 shiny pennies.

Yep,

Leaving Everest

I have NEVER seen a photo of this...

more on-ride

Some on-ride photos

SCAT? At least it isn't Scat II...

Scared of the Yeti?

This is a great ride

I won't beat this to death...

MONKEY!

birds

some birds

Jeff and Mindy walking away from the deers

and more tigers...

We also saw some tigers.

We walked through the animal area and saw the bats. They were very active.

I thought this was cool. The T-Rex has a Santa hat on.

I think we will get out photo

Hey, anyone have a penny?

Now we wait. It said 50 minutes, but it turned out to be only 30 minutes.

Here is our group.

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!

Is it? Could it? Yes it is!

On the way to Expedition Everest, the monkeys were out and about.

[Chase]

Looks fun, nice Pictures!

[CoasterFanatic]

Looks like y'all had a great time. I really enjoyed the pictures.

 

Congrats on your "gift". Never knew that they gave away parking lot limo service. That would be excellent at the Magic Kingdom.

[bgwfreak]

So did you and your brother decide to marry women that look alike or something. For some reason they seem to favor each other to me.

 

Also, did we meet at Holiwood Nights? I don't remember seeing you there, but you've got the shirt so I know you were there.

 

Maybe I just didn't know you from TPR at that point. Not sure.

 

Unfortunatley I DID run into Zombie Ted...and I've got the scar to prove it!

[PhishyBrewer]

Whoa Rick!!! From the side, it looks like your getting beyond your aloud Intamin weight. And what's up with the fanny pack... you ACEr?

 

[Coaster Palooza]

I still have a few more days left. We stayed there until Wednesday. I will post the rest of the pics soon.

 

^Always great to see you pointing my weight out. Yep, I have gained a few pounds. I will have to lose it shortly. I'm thinking the Slim Fast diet....hmmmm??? The fanny pack has been with me for a while. I just can't seem to get rid of it. The cameras won't fit in my pockets.

 

^^I don't know if we met at Holiwood Nights. My wife and I were there. We hung out with Ted for a little while both nights.

 

^^^The "gift" really surprised us too Ted, but I was happy to get something.

[PhishyBrewer]

^Always great to see you pointing my weight out. Yep, I have gained a few pounds. I will have to lose it shortly. I'm thinking the Slim Fast diet....hmmmm??? The fanny pack has been with me for a while. I just can't seem to get rid of it. The cameras won't fit in my pockets.

 

 

Just remember Rick, I'm right there with you brother. Oh, and A-B stock did go up. Not because of your purchase though. We now have US distribution rights to Beck's, Hoegarden, Stella and many more. HELL YEAH!!! Finally some good beers in our pro-folio.

[robbalvey]

Hey Rick & Gwen! Great pics and TR as always. If you have any videos, please post them too!

 

--Robb

[Coaster Palooza]

We went to Cypress Gardens and MGM Studios on Monday. Tuesday we went to Sea World and also the World’s Largest McDonald’s. We were a little tired on Tuesday and just needed some recovery. Wednesday was our flight home in the early evening, so we went to IOA/Universal Studios.

 

I agree that Cypress Gardens is out of the way and there isn’t much there to justify the drive. A couple of good things about the trip were that it was free (SFMW Season Pass!) and the gardens are spectacular. Other than that, I wouldn’t want to go again. I also got a shot of the construction for Starliner.

 

We saw the Osborne lights at MGM Studios after we were at Cypress Gardens. That's about all the time we had for this day.

This turned out a little dark.

The hat in the dark

Complete chaos

It was really crowded when we tried to leave the area.

Hopefully it came out okay. I haven't downloaded it yet.

I took video of them lighting this.

More photos

Here are the Osborne light, un-lit

Neat hat.

It is sooooo crowded...Not at all

I'm glad that the cast members get into character.

Inside the lobby. No one has seen this before.

mmmm there is the TOWER!!!

The Chrismas tree at MGM Studios. Thank God we're at a different amusement park.

Just for all you Cypress Gardens/Starliner fans. Here it is!!!!

What do you know, a Christmas tree.

Yes even more garden photos.

It's a jungle in here.

Neat waterfalls too.

The grounds were just great.

This tree was really neat by growing within itself.

More flowers

The gardens area was really beautiful. Yep, I used that word.

After riding this at Beech Bend, I wouldn't ride it here.

This thing bashed my head so bad.

I can't believe they didn't have any padding for your head.

Worst coaster EVER!

Is that Survivor, nope.

I think most people have seen a picture of the sign inside the park. I remember taking a picture back in 1976 here. Now where is that picture???

I have to admit, this one spun pretty good.

A spinning mouse, never been on one of those before...

Gyendolynne rode alone after I rode alone.

Kiddie ride

Hey, what's that? It looks like some construction. Yep, that is the first Starliner construction photo. Maybe I should start a thread?

Second on-ride photo

They're BETTER rollercoaster

Cool lift hill shot.

On-Ride Photo

First Coaster

Thank You! We're here.

Those look like 2006 Six Flags Marine World Season Passes.

It was pretty crowded today...not really.

Park rules here at Cypress Gardens

[Coaster Palooza]

Hi,

 

I am sorry it took so long to update this. Here is the following day in Orlando. We went to Sea World and then had a late lunch at the World's Largest McDonald's! Our plan was to go to IOA after, but they close too early today. We went back to my brother's house to have dinner since it was our last night in Orlando.

 

Here are the pics.

Bill Cosby and I were just joking with each other.

It is actually very unique. There is an upstairs with an arcade in it.

WOW! I didn't know about this place.

Final shot of the Xmas tree as we leave.

There are new babies at Sea World

Another Polar Bear pic

I thought this was actually a cool picture of Gyendolynne with the walrus

The Polar Bear in the Arctic area

A neat alligator landscaping.

The #8 car...Ya all should know who it is.

Another Christmas tree.

The Hospitality Room, a favorite of most!

This was the first time we actually saw the Clydesdales move.

They were swimming overhead a lot.

I love sharks and the Shark Encounter too.

There I am again

It didn't stop me from taking a second ride on Kraken

Here is Kraken's queue line. They weren't crowded at all.

All the animals used in the show are rescue animals.

The one at Sea World San Diego is really good too.

If you haven't seen this show, you really must go.

We couldn't go to Sea World and not take in the pet show.

Arriving at Sea World, yet another Christmas tree.

[Coaster Palooza]

Hey,

 

It is our last day and it is raining! The day won't be ruined though. We rode Mummy around 7 times with no wait and all the other rides including Hulk. It was a great day.

 

Here are the final pics.

Ok, one final photo before we go.

Time to leave....NOOOO

hmmm....

Look at these wait times?

Time for a quick beer

I don't like green eggs and ham, I don't like them, Sam I am...

Just in case you didn't know where we were.

Must ride the carousel...or Suessel

More Smashed Pennies. I still have no takers on my kit yet...

Inside Spiderman's queue

Is that the same guy from Universal Studios?

Had to stop at IOA next door.

Why not? we were at the World's largest McDonald's, now we're at the World's largest Hard Rock Cafe.

We already did this. I think if you have been to one 4D show, you have seen them all at this point.

The parade was going by at some point.

Is that the actual train from the movie???

With no crowd, we figured what the hell.

See, so crowded.

It was really crowded.

This guy didn't make it.

The entrance.

So much theming.

Some kid tried to cut in front of me while I took this photo. Can you believe that?

Did I say we rode this a few times?

Just me with a couple of friends.

See how crowded it is?

Classic photo spot.

You know where we are.

[Masked_Maverick]

Awesome pics man and it is Elissa friendly great job.

[Coaster Palooza]

Thanks,

 

I just posted the Osborne Family Lights to the video forum.

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=302475

[the sound]

Nice pics. Looks like you guys had a great time at the parks.

 

BTW, was there anyone other than you guys at Cypress Gardens?

[Coaster Palooza]

^You know what was funny was that while we were there, I made the comment to Gyendolynne that I think there were more employees there than there were guests! Not a good sign.

[jedimaster1227]

^Well when I went to Cypress Gardens, there were less employees than their were guests, in fact it was probably something like 1 to 35. The park was understaffed. We had a cast member follow us around as we went between attractions. Not a great sign either...

[stingrock23]

Awesome report. I remember going during the first week of December a few years ago and it was just as empty as your last day at IOA.

[Coaster Palooza]

^I agree that the best time to go to the parks is the week after Thanksgiving. We have done this a few times and haven't had to deal with lines.

 

The only thing that I was upset with this time was that we were too early for Grinchmas. They started Grinchmas right after Thanksgiving in 2003, but this year it opens on 12/8, I believe. I think it is really neat to see IOA all done up for Grinchmas.

 

^^As for Cypress Gardens, I just don't know. It's a nice park, but it is just too far away from everything with nothing special to add. I know I am not reporting anything that hasn't already been said, but I just thought I would throw my 2 cents in.