dandaman Posted March 24, 2007 Posted March 24, 2007 Here’s the synopsis: Canadians have their March Break off for the second week of the month. I’d never been on a March vacation in my 16 years on this earth, but my luck changed this time around. Basically, we were going on a college tour for my sister (who, by the way, will now officially attend said Florida college!), and the rest of the trip was just extra. But heck, what a side trip! St. Petersburg, Downtown Disney, and the best part: a full-fledged vacation at Universal Orlando! Day 1: Waffles 'n OJ Not bad for a $150 point-and-shoot from a half-mile away. (Coming up shortly, Day 3: St. Petersburg/Downtown Disney) Kumba says, "Those horizontal lines are normal and will readjust to your television settings." So we arrived in Tampa later that night, at this really awesome Best Western that I think Barry suggested last year. Unfortunately, the rooftop view taunted me greatly. Like how this turned out... I suggest keeping left. Who needs knowledge and information when you could get totally free Florida orange juice? This can mean only one thing... It's the travelling Wisconsin State Fair! (Day 2) Joe's town doesn't look half-bad in silhouette... Alas, my first-ever Waffle House experience! (Even though I got a Patty Melt, I tried some waffle, too... more like paradise regained.)
dandaman Posted March 24, 2007 Author Posted March 24, 2007 Day 3: Serenity Eventually! So today, we went on that college tour (Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, by the way), explored the area a bit, and went off for a wallet-emptying good time at Downtown Disney. To cap off the day, just a few of Yeti Ball's relatives give a shout-out to Lou! Coming up tomorrow: Universal Orlando Better. Good... Who needs the real parks, anyway? Stitch does his Chernabog impression. Some random stage entertainment. (By the way, Downtown Disney was jam-packed that night. This shot is over about 10 rows of heads.) On the free samples now, they snip the tops of the squares for you. Dad found that out about 5 seconds too late when he held it by the wrapper and recalled how light it felt... Even though it was stationary, I still think this BB ski lift is faster loading than the real one. So, down at the Marketplace, they had some awesome displays at Once Upon a Toy... How's that for an upgrade? "What's your name, sir?" "Uh... pea... uhhhh... tar..." We got a good deal at Grosvenor Resort, one of those on-site not-officially Disney hotels. This is the view from the FIRST room... but a broken door eventually sent us to a complimentary upgrade! Mom translated this at first as "Circus of Soil"... All cursed hotel guests, please keep right. Hello, effigy of Good Tower! The home of Soarin' Over Soren, crazy delicious Ohana's, and the most insane ToT photo ever! ...Maybe next August I'll be visitng the parks... keep in mind all the rest of this was just extra after the college tour. omg omg omg it's... My TV forecasting internship was cut short when SOMEONE killed the lights! Anyway, St. Pete is a great city, and I highly recommend a visit to anyone. The Pier Aquarium is one of those little things that, no matter where you walk in it, you can still see the front entrance. Just a cute side attraction, and it was only $2. (Dory says hi.) They had trolley services running all across St. Pete and the Pier... it was easier (and nicer) to walk anyway. Hey Barry, the Lady Gay still needs a captain! Those little ripples near the middle are actually a few dolphins. Some famous hotel (Vinoy?), I think. When the commercial jets take off from this airport, it's amplified tenfold by the umbrellas and shade. Felt like it was coming at you ten feet away! The weather pretty much stayed this perfect until the very last day of the vacation. Sitting on patio + bay overlook + fresh raspberry lemonade = Red Dawn awesome A look back at downtown St. Pete, which from what I saw is infinite times better than Tampa. Caution: Will strike if provoked. Bratty 10-year-old found that one out the hard way. This section of the TR is brought to you in part by Cingular: Raising the bar. It's basically a 5-story inverted pyramid of shops, dining, and even an aquarium. I had lunch up where those umbrellas are to the right. Great bacon cheeseburger. So around noon, the family decided to explore my sister's future hometown. Probably the most surprising thing of the trip was the St. Pete Pier. I took a lot of pictures of the campus, but I'll just give you a general idea of the area. Taken from one of the dorm rooms. Yeah... it really is that beautiful. Hello downtown Tampa, and your gloriously godawful traffic! Many people don't realize that fish fart in the shape of musical notes. This is just one of many blurry pictures that I specialize in.
coastrfreak2000 Posted March 24, 2007 Posted March 24, 2007 LOL awesome captions! I stayed in St Pete's when I went in to Florida in July '05. It's a really nice city. Actually...the place I stayed was just down the road from that random pink hotel in one of your pictures....
dandaman Posted March 24, 2007 Author Posted March 24, 2007 It's amazing what kind of hotels you can find, if you try. A prime example of that's coming up after the Florida part of the trip, but that's later. That Best Western we stayed at, for some reason, had the best Mexican food I've ever had. Who knew a hotel chain could make such great chimichanga?
jedimaster1227 Posted March 26, 2007 Posted March 26, 2007 So, down at the Marketplace, they had some awesome displays at Once Upon a Toy... Its scary that they are using toys to represent these characters from the former Tapestry of Dreams/Nations parade from Epcot's Millenium Celebration... But, the puppets still are used at the park on special occasions like New Year's Eve.
mcjaco Posted March 26, 2007 Posted March 26, 2007 ^ Although there's some resemblance, I think you're making a big stretch. Nice PTR. Especially since you didn't really go to any parks! I was just at Epcot last week for about 7 hours during a business trip. Good old Erik Johnson, met up with me and my co-worker (who had never been) and helped us whore out the park. Crowds were pretty heavy but, we managed everything but American Adventure and Maelstrom. We could of fit them in as we had three more hours to closing.
jedimaster1227 Posted March 26, 2007 Posted March 26, 2007 ^I believe that the similarities are intended. At least one of those characters from the display is from the former parade. Here is a photo of the original puppet: http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/photos/millennium/tap03.jpg.
thefitness Posted March 26, 2007 Posted March 26, 2007 Mom translated this at first as "Circus of Soil"... Do you mean she thought that's what it said or she thought that's what it translated to? I'm almost positive it translates to "Circus of Sun" from French. Anyways, Nice TR I always like seeing pictures of my own area from a different perspective.
St.LouisBOI Posted March 27, 2007 Posted March 27, 2007 Awseome pictures! I went to Tampa and St.Petersberg last summer and I also went to the pier. You're exactly right, it's a very nice city and less crowded than Tampa. What was really fun was that we rented a boat and drove around the pier and into the bay all day. We were going to get out and swim for awhile until we saw a tiny hammerhead shark. That's when we decided to saty in the boat. Oh, and dolphines just about clutter the area all around the pier...it's insane.
dandaman Posted March 27, 2007 Author Posted March 27, 2007 Do you mean she thought that's what it said or she thought that's what it translated to? I'm almost positive it translates to "Circus of Sun" from French. I meant that SHE mistranslated that. As a Canadian I'm required to take French... if I mistranslated something like that, I'd be screwed. We rented a boat and drove around the pier and into the bay all day. We were going to get out and swim for awhile until we saw a tiny hammerhead shark. That's when we decided to stay in the boat. "Aye, that'll about do it." With regrets, for the third day in a row (this "tomorrow" stuff is so confusing), I can't get around to posting Universal photos. Heck, at the very latest, I'll shoot for the weekend. Thanks for (hopefully) being patient about it.
dandaman Posted March 30, 2007 Author Posted March 30, 2007 Day 4: A Starring Role Punctuality not being a high school student's strong suit, here is the promised (actual) theme park visit of the trip. Last time I was here was '95, and needless to say, a lot has changed since then! Stay tuned for tomorrow's update, folks! (And by tomorrow, I mean God-only-knows-when.) Well, my attempt to make a decent picture went horribly wrong, AGAIN... How...uh...creative Hey Wes, Gary says hi! True dat Those sculptures (i.e. tiger) were so realistic, it was downright freaky. Probably my favourite store here. Normally I don't even shop, but this one left an impression on me. CityWalk was better than I expected... or, at least a lot different. Whereas DTD has three separate areas, CityWalk combines all three into a tighter area, but spreads out the venues. Room service and a few in-house props helped make this photo op. Who needs Typhoon Lagoon anyway? The pool area was pretty impressive. Back at the hotel, a creepy frog silhouette in front of an otherwise decent portrait. The CityWalk pictures slowly get better... Goodbye for now, USF! El Deloreano (That one doesn't sound half bad) El Wharfo Whoa... Disney Marketplace flashback! I didn't really stay for Universal 360... it looked like the "poor man's Illuminations" Barry made it out to be. The Jeff Johnson Express comes rumblin' 'round the tracks! Well, Elissa, I'll have you know I've officially become a credit whore. All them fancy Hollywood types, with their handbag dogs and luxury rehab centers... I came back from the trip to find out this was closing soon... and somehow, I can see why. This was a fairly fun ride, until it got too long, and too Vekoma headbash-happy. Hasta la bye-bye! I spy with my little eye, a totally pimped-out locomotive: Doc Brown style! MiB is 10x better than Buzz, hands-down. On my first attempt, I got 490,000! (That fusion exhaust thingy came in handy...) Noteworthy: Sitting on the left of the boat nearly scalded me during the fuel depot explosion. I can't even imagine how unpleasant that would feel in July, let alone March! This photo is NOT Sharktums-friendly! Earthquake was just as gloriously early 90's as I remembered it! It also reinforced my theory that any precarious tanker truck will inevitably asplode. Louie's had some great spaghetti and meatballs. (Heh... Corleone.) Two guys were swearing at each other when I took this... just captures that NYC feel, doesn't it? The New York section surprised me the most for themeing at the Studios. Definitely beats the New York set at the other studio down the road! MUMMY! With Universal Express, I literally walked on, even at midday. An awesome experience from any perspective. Overall, the show surprised the heck outta me. Front row is pretty intense, and the ceiling/floor trick they did near the end nearly gave me a coronary! It's the Phillip-Seymour-Hoffmanmobile! Ironically, there was a tornado warning for the real Wakita, Oklahoma, just yesterday. I swear, this show was MADE for me. (Planning to study meteorology post-HS.) The best show NBC has going for them. Jarmor celebrates Mardi Gras! (This guy was EVERYWHERE for the celebration ads...) The castle height issue's just getting ridiculous... I can't even SEE it now. So the first of my two parks was the original Studios. Overall a lot better than I remembered from 12 years ago. (Usually, that tends to happen.) Believe me, there's a lot more where this came from. Not exactly open yet... This must be where Epcot stole all the sequins for the wand! Despite what this picture shows, the crowds weren't bad at all, especially for March Break. (My hotel benefit of Universal Express made sure my longest wait was 10 minutes!) Unnecessarily dark picture of CityWalk! These boats were pretty cool, but I was just a little too excited to wait for it. So apparently, Royal Pacific was like the Pan-Am of days gone by (or, really, the reality that never was). They had this big interactive pool area, complete with Red Dawn-awesome water cannons. Maybe I should've taken a close-up of the nudie statue just to qualify this as a TPR update. I was in one of those rooms to the left. Our hotel for the next couple of nights. Extremely nice, and a lot more elaborate than I thought. Wish I had more time to explore the property. Here's hoping this will slightly make up for it! Forgive me for slacking off on the reporting. High school schedules never work out the way you want to.
dandaman Posted March 31, 2007 Author Posted March 31, 2007 Day 4: The Call to Adventure If you’ve made it this far and wish it would stop, you will now be subjected to even more photos. (I like reverse psychology.) More photos coming up. See, this is the only one that looks nice in silhouette. I don't know why my camera only likes to show decent colour selectively... it just does. Alas, the ACEr's version of a "crotch shot". And now, for a 20-photo day-long montage of Bruce Bannerness. OMG! I thought this was a SHOW, but it was an entire 3-D ride! Lot of cool effects in this one. Doc Ock: Star of many blockbuster Japanese hentai movies. Sorry, folks! I'm dead. Moose out front should've told ya. Welcome to Stan Lee Island! More on the new-ish JJ credit tomorrow. It looks great even from afar! Even at 10:30 there's no one on... One of few rides I didn't experience. (Not that I wasn't already drenched from Ripsaw Falls...) Robb must be handing out his hot wings again. Hey Bill! Look! It’s the land where you find all the comic strip characters you forgot, never cared about, or knew existed! Sadly, this was the one credit I missed. =( OMGWTFBBQ! It doesn't look all that bad. Aah, a nice peaceful river ride. Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there... Wonder how many chicks you'd pick up cruisin' in this. Crap... what movie was that from again? Credit Whoring, Take 2 Considering I'm 6'1" tall... this part of the ride was just WRONG. What is that, a whole foot of clearance? That whipped me but good... It's like the blueprint designers had a wild tequila night before pitching the idea for this thing in the board meeting! I chose Fire first, and rode front seat, outer right, first train of the day! Then, Ice opened... outer left, ALSO first train of the day. Thanks for the tip Barry! "Help! I've been cryogenically frozen!... Oh, Walt? He's over there." Question: Are those supposed to be claw marks? Like I said... themeing = whoa YA RLY O RLY? B&M goodness! Good corn-on-the-cob... oh, and bacon cheeseburger, too. Barry was totally right: Nearly everyone went to the left at the park entrance, 'cept me. Walking through here by myself made it that much more surreal. "Why? WHY?!" "Apparently I used to have good balsamic chicken! What happened?!" My favourite land, and it's gotta be the most elaborate. The Lost Continent is truly the best single land in a theme park I’ve ever had the privilege of experiencing. I totally would have had this if it were open! Going in order of visited lands, I passed though at first, to get to a certain ride on the other side of the Great Inland Sea... Whoever says Universal doesn't hold a candle to Disney's themeing has clearly never visited IOA. I'm so sick and tired of Disneyholics viewing Universal as the "enemy". Huzzah! Not bad for a $150 point-and-shot from my hotel room.
dandaman Posted March 31, 2007 Author Posted March 31, 2007 El Continuoso Well, I'm back at the Port of Entry, so you know what that means. Thanks for reading this far, and being patient with my totally out-of-whack updating. 'Till tomorrow... Oh, yeah: The day before, Mom and sis were selected to be in a live television audience. No celebrities or anything, but they did get free curling irons. (Whoop-de-doo.) So Doctor Doom's "Ear Fal" seemed oddly more intense than Power Tower @ CP. The only other one I've been on is Marineland's Sky Screamer, though, so I digress. "I'm not dead!" Wait... if that's Captain America's ATV... Must have been partying alongside that Dueling Dragons blueprint guy. The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad was a surprisingly good show. Lots of humour, wit, pyro, and gratuitous damsel-in-distress cleavage! LOL, the best fountain of all time! I mean, it has a cool water tunnel and all, but it's just rather weird. I didn't quite know what to make of this attraction... I knew the electrical outlets in other parts of the world are slightly different, but this is ridiculous! "Bah! If you hadn't taken one of those dark and crappy shots of the Hulk, I could've been #3000!" Well, the backside of Mythos has the honour of being the subject of my 3000th picture taken. I just kinda liked the trees in Seuss Landing.
Erik Johnson Posted March 31, 2007 Posted March 31, 2007 Really great Photo TR so far. Yeah, I do believe that Dr. Doom's is my favorite S&S tower. Its pretty intense. Really the only way you could have earned that flying kiddie credit at IOA was to go to it right when the park first opens. The let anyone ride it during the first 15-20 minutes of operation. But honestly I think you made the better decision on riding Dueling Dragons first.
dandaman Posted March 31, 2007 Author Posted March 31, 2007 Really great Photo TR so far. Yeah, I do believe that Dr. Doom's is my favorite S&S tower. Its pretty intense. Really the only way you could have earned that flying kiddie credit at IOA was to go to it right when the park first opens. The let anyone ride it during the first 15-20 minutes of operation. But honestly I think you made the better decision on riding Dueling Dragons first. And I knew that. I went there at 10:00 anyway (rode Dueling Dragons 2 times each side in an hour, very front and very back), and the line was already at 45 minutes. No thanks.
coastrfreak2000 Posted March 31, 2007 Posted March 31, 2007 Yeah, that coaster's capacity is the WORST I have ever seen on any coaster. I went to IOA when it was completely dead and the line still topped 1 hour.
thefitness Posted March 31, 2007 Posted March 31, 2007 There are some really nice picture in this TR. My favorite is the silhouette shot of IOA.
dandaman Posted March 31, 2007 Author Posted March 31, 2007 ...Which one? Honestly... my camera just chooses to show colour or not by itself. Gets annoying after a while.
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