PTR: Hector's 2008 adventures!

[RCFreak]

YAY I'm starting my trip report! lol This one will be really short since it was my first day there and I literally slept about two hours before leaving so I slept most of the way there. My flight was freaking early in the morning so I had to leave even earlier (flight was at 6:40AM, left the house about 5:10AM finished packing about 3AM lol) and I'm definitely the type of person that can and will fall asleep anywhere so most of the flight time was spent sleeping.

 

After arriving, a friend picked me up and we headed off to my hotel to check in. After that it was my first trip to Cici's Pizza and to hang out at her apartment for a bit with some other friends. I ended the night with a trip over to the Kirkman Ale House.

I love me some Ale House and with that it was off to sleep to be up at the a$$ crack of dawn to catch my bus to Busch the next morning... er later that morning!

Bottoms up!

mmmm my second Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer and a Jolly rancher shot.

YAY that's me from Phoenix!

YAY Airport monorail!

YAY land! (Hey, I'm bad at geography AND took these pictures every few hours after I would wake up for a bit lol)

a body of water YAY!

some mountains with no snow...

some snow on some mountains...

[RCFreak]

Busch Gardens Tampa!!

Busch Gardens Africa!!

Busch Gardens Dark Continent!!

 

 

 

Whatever this place is calling itself this week, I liked it. I ended up taking the Mears shuttle running from Orlando to Tampa for $10 (amazing value by the way as it includes return or free with the flex ticket) the only downside is I had to be up WAAAAYYY too freaking early! Having barely slept from the night before, I walked over to Universal's bus parking lot to wait for the bus and slept most of the way there and back lol. I took a ton of pics so I'll let them do most of the story telling.

 

Be warned, There are a LOT of animal pictures about to be posted from the next few set of parks. But don't worry I have plenty of coaster pictures for some of you to get off on too.

Looks like a nice place to eat.

I really liked the show.

Bye Timbuktu

I approve!

mmmm old school B&M *WITH* forces.

Random Tiger statue somwhere in Timbuktu.

wheee I'm upside down!

Exclusive never seen before shot. no trains! 9they were only running one and I did NOT feel like waiting for another to load and go by, I wanted to ride!)

hey, come back!

Found you!

Which way!?!

Kinda random, but fun that they had characters walking around.

SFMM you paying attention?

Missed credit

Haven't been on one in a long time, but it looked pretty slow so I skipped it.

"I saw a squirrel and it was going like this *squirrel sound*" Bonus points for who can guess where it's from without google!!!

*ZOOM*

loop der loopy

I liked Scorpion, it sems like the perfect coaster to grow up on.

ooo pretty!

I love the grandparents who do that off to the side lol

Aha, there is a Carrosel!

It felt a lot warmer in this section of the park. I would hate to be here during summer. I also haven't seen a mennonite since I worked at Cedar point.

But you can see how far along they werei n construction for Jungala

Also didn't do the sky ride

I didn't do the log ride as it was about 60° out. I'm from Southern California, I was freezing!

These steps were annoying to run up.

I liked Sheikra, it wasn't the best ride ever, but being held right before the drop was awesome. My first ride was on the outside right seat in the first row.

close-up-that's-not-as-good-as-others-cause-my-camera-sucks-but-it's-still-decent-and-you-can-still-see-scared-faces!

Dive, Dive, Dive!

SKLOOSH! those people didn't know to move lol, there were lots of resulting screams lol.

Plunging into a dark hole. Ok, so it wasn't dark and there was plenty of space to dive into.

Twisty

Getting closer!

Doe, a deer, a female deer Ray, a drop of golden sun Me, a name I call myself

bird.

bird.

quickly took this between kids running in the pics, didn't want to look like a pervert lol.

They had a nice little dragon theemd area and a big play house

Man I wish I was a kid here, plenty of things to climb and play with.

Plenty of topiaries to look at while walking around.

One of the few commonalites (is that even a word?) of the Busch parks is the hospitality house which gives out free beer.

GCI is definitely my favorite ride designers of woodies, with this, Roar! at SFDK, and Troy near the top of my lists.

NO it's not! This qickly became my favorite ride at BGT (/ A/ DG?)!! I rode Gwazi about seven times throughout the day. I loved it.

ooo is it as bad as everyone says it will be?

ooo what's that I see in the distance?

the entry plaza was nice, very African I can only assume.

Doesn't look too bad so far.

awwww one of the rides I was really looking forward too

NO, I'm not high, but I did fall asleep about 10 minutes after this was taken lol

The bus driver was fun and upbeat and we watched Toy Story 2 on the way there... well I didn't, but it was playing.

My chariot arrives

Ugh, it's bright, early AND freaking cold!

It's about 7:30am in this pic and I'm freaking tired! There was this pond/lake thinging in between some of the hotels on Major Blvd (which turned into a nature walk as the sidewalk randomly ends for a bit crossing this) and this bird was chilling and took off as I tried to take it's picture.

[krazekiddd]

"I saw a squirrel and it was going like this *squirrel sound*" Bonus points for who can guess where it's from without google!!!

 

And weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I freaking love anything by Three Brain!

 

After the dade county fair and now this TR, I really want to go back to Orlando in the next few weeks

[RCFreak]

^^ Pardon that last picture it fell out of place lol. This half of the pictures has a lot more of the wildlife and landscapeing so if you're not into it, feel to skip.

 

^While that flash is freaking awesome, total FAIL! lol

The landscapers were all over this in the morning

*SPLASH*

WHEEEEEE! Tossing ina few more coaster shots to masturbate over

chilling before bed

australian beauties

I'm prety sure this is the guy that pooped on me.

feeding time before bed

kissing birds, awwwwww

blue bird, don't be sad.

pretty birds from the other side

I guess it's not a secret that they give free beer.

pretty bird

rawr yourself.

rawr

Little turkey like things

Flamingos

If you pay enough, you too can feed the giraffes.

Zebra's and birdies, and Giraffe's oh my!

rawr

blury picture, awesome show!

yes, I really am 12.

The theatre was freaking awesome! I stared at it for days without blinking

Lunch!

There were soooo many

Florida Alligators

the wide open plains

I liked the little video they played about one of the pregnant apes and the lengths Busch Gardens had to go through to ensure a safe birth of the baby ape.

There are the real apes!

Oddly enough, this one came out frist try.

This is like #400 of the same picture I took, just to try and get it to come out!

There, that's better.

No Apes on this side.

At least they live in a nice place.

lazy monkeys.

and monkeys!

and a lot of trees.

Myombe Reserve, home to some animals.

A little more detail from the front of the theater.

The Moroccan Palace Theater.

I liked the colors on this one

flower.

ooo pretty (deja vu?)

backat Gwazi, they only ran one train, but it still wasn't much of a wait.

ooo pretty trains (I lke the wheel covers)

At least they don't have to worry about the queue dilapidating

Like EGF, this would have been somuch more amazing without all the trimming.

super awkward banking off the block, but into the tiny loop. It's not the size, it's how you use it.

*Floaty*

*SWISH*

mmmmmm Plus size model

Hair net: The Ride! or Fishnet Stalkings: Return of the Run

Nice thememing and a tiny coaster in the back

Hello Egypt!

[Xxhershey818xX]

"I saw a squirrel and it was going like this *squirrel sound*" Bonus points for who can guess where it's from without google!!!

 

 

Im thinking Gir from Invader Zim?????

[jackskellington101]

"I saw a squirrel and it was going like this *squirrel sound*"

 

Definitely Gir from Invader Zim, pilot episode "The Nightmare Begins".

One of my favorite cartoons of all time.

[krazekiddd]

^While that flash is freaking awesome, total FAIL! lol

 

Oh wellz, still my favorite flash!

[RCFreak]

Like I said, freaking awesome flash, just not what I was quoting lol. And yes it is indeed is GIR!

 

[RCFreak]

Seaworld Orlando!

 

 

Having just been to San Diego's a few weeks prior, I was really excited for Orlando's that actually had two roller coasters and better Journey to Atlantis. A common theme I would come to find out is that the West coast's Parks were not THAT different from there East Coaster counterparts, and it may be bias, but I'll definitely stick with what I have over here.

 

 

We started our day with a few rides but generally we just walked around doing whatever we felt looked worth seeing. I wanted to do Journey early in case there was a repeat of San Diego (see page one for those pics) and wanted plenty of time to dry since it was freaking cold that day. I liked it, but again, it was freaking random with no clear story. I know there is one, I just can't tell you what the hell was going on. Next we headed over to Kraken, I've heard many many many good things about the ride so I was excited. Unfortunately, it places around my fourth favorite floorless. The drop seemed lackluster after having been on Sheikra the previous day, and the last turn leading to the main brakes was a very disappointing ending.

 

After a few rides we were thirsty so we headed over to the Hospitality House and got some free samples of Busch products. We also did beer school and got another free sample before heading over to see Odyssea, a Cirque-like show featuring the human slinky, the same one that was on the show America's Got Talent. I liked the show since I love anything to do with actual Cirque du Soleil shows, so this was good if not too short and lacking a proper ending. After that we headed back to the Hospitality House and got some more free samples of beer before heading off to the Sea lion and otter show. Orlando's show revolved around a pirate ship and pirate-ty hijinks ensued, which was a welcome change from San Diego's naval themed show. Next it was almost time for the Dolphin and whale show so we stopped by the water cannons on JtA and soaked quite a few boats.

 

Funny story about that, there was on really good water cannon (#4) that soaked a row or two of riders, way more then the little sprays the other six cannons gave. There was actually a big group of people distracting the riders by yelling and cheering and waving, as the person on the cannon hit the button and gave the riders a nice surprise, it was especially funny when it was people who put down their ponchos after the big drop got soaked lol.

 

So anyways it was off to Blue Horizon's which again, I know it has a story, but it was completely lost on me. The show features Dolphins, Whales, high divers, and bungee acrobats. After watching the show, it felt like that was the other half of Odyssea lol. The day was getting late and it was time for one more show, the one I managed to miss in San Diego and that was "Believe." I'm ok that I missed it in San Diego as the show wasn't that good and while the Orcas doing they're behaviors is always fascinating, the show was really lacking. Again the four screens were amazing and it had a really good sound system and soundtrack, but they tried to hard to get the "connection" between the trainers and whales to click with the audience and the show is a bit too slow paced. The video of the "trainer" as a kid felt like a big commercial to sell the wooden whale tales they just so happen to sell. And the show over all could have just been pulled off a bit better. Give me Shamu rocks any night.

 

 

After shopping for mattress' and making a lot of wii jokes, a quick trip to taco bell, and some more time at my friend's apartment, it was time to get to bed around 1am as I had yet another early day the next day at Universal.

Crossing the lagoon at night was pretty

Finale!

Don't piss them off, they might flip you off

Sparkly dance

And some jumps and wetness ensues

The main star is ready to perform after som chanting

Includes Lifts

Orca Ballet

Sing Along time

Get him!

Have I seen you before?

You look familiar...

probably not what they had in mind...

Photo-op!

Marine inspired carousel

Finale!

WHEEEE

YAY The dolphins are finally out!

I have no idea what the hell is going on in this picture...

Defying Gravity

Mom look, I can fly! *SPLAT*

Surf the whale dude

"WASSSSSUUUUUP"

"Dude, this costume is really gay"

 

"Totally, but my package looks fantastic"

I are Woman bird.

The set for "Blue Horizons" AKA Odyssea Part 2.

What do you do when you have a few extra bucks and some tiem to kill before your next show? Soak people!

"Dance party"

 

 

/lisp

Mouth to Mouth... ew...

Get him cute little Sea otter!

You get a great view of Kraken from the theater

Excuse me lady you have something on your back

The set of "Clyde and Seymour take Pirate Island"

Different color, different beer

Yet another sample of one of Anheuser-Busch products

There are no bounds to my dorkiness!

Some of the performers from "Odyssea"

Stupid Sun! oh wiat, I like this shot...

Fantasmic wannabe (The music was actually VERY similar to Fantasmic!'s main theme "imagination")

I think this is my favorite placement of the Anheuser-Busch logo

Another beer, I don't even remember what I ended up trying

I'm sure this diver would give you a nice pearl necklace

Quick stop into Orlando's Penguin encounter

Kraken babies!

Stupid sun!

"Rawr you have never seen me before"

Lift hill for Scott

I did manage to get a photo with a train on the track however.

With one train ops, I sure didn't feel like waiting for a train to pass by, I wanted to ride!

Sounds like they went to Jack Handey

Oh that busch!

This one is actually a "surprise" as you can only see it after you exit the ride.

except for the station...

Unlike San Diego's, this actually had a pretty decent amount of theming throughout.

First up was JTA, cause if I was going to get wet I sure as hell wanted plenty of time to dry off

A little chilly, but the sky is clear. Let's go ride!

[sfotfreak]

Nice sea world pics i really like the shamu ones!

[NINCUB]

Great TR! Very cute! The animals were cute too!

 

I love Sea World... Kraken made me scream like a girl! My parents are going in June.... but alas... I will be in Ohio.... at KI or CP. :0( or :0)

[krazekiddd]

Awesome! I love how these TR's get me excited to go to Orlando next week even though I've been a million times. Thanks!!

 

I'm sure this diver would give you a nice pearl necklace

 

HA I almost choked reading that! I wish Jenn would have commented on this before me!

[socalRCfan]

Great trip report Hector! So did you enjoy Sea World Orlando more or less than San Diego?

[TheRapidsNerd]

I haven't the foggyest why you like that sky tower shot.

 

Pretty cool that you got a pic with the cast of the one show. Impressive that those huge screens move and turn during the Believe show too.

 

Enjoyed the TR. Thanks!

[arrowfanman]

Yay! That was a great PTR Hector! Thanks for posting.

 

 

 

 

-Jahan

[Moose]

Nice report. I'd love a pearl neclace from that diver. Clutch those pearls, clutch those pearls.

[RCFreak]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I'll get to my final thoughts on Sea World after the next update (with a few more pics from the park) but for right now, it's time for Universal Studios and Drunk Hector!

 

 

So the only other time I've been in Florida was in April of 2005, and the only thing I managed to do out there was Universal for five days. It was buy two get three free so I figured why not and it made my flight cheaper even adding in extra hotel. So when it came time to plan out this trip, I figured I wouldn't be heartbroken if I missed Universal this time around as I would be back in Orlando possibly two more time this year. As luck would have it due to having amazingly awesome friends I managed to get an extra day at other theme parks in.

 

Now the only new thing to me would be The High in the Sky Seuss

Trolley Train Ride!™ and the rest of the rides and attractions were all repeats. I basically ran around and did every major attraction at both parks all day later being joined by some other friends and we stayed for Mardi gras where today's performer would be Gretchen Wilson. I ended up having a bit too much Voodoo Juice, but I had the time of my life and came out with some interesting pictures, some of which will not be posted here lol.

 

Onto some pics!

"Do I make you Horny, yeah baby!"

 

Thanks for reading (and hopefully laughing at least once! Sea World part 2 is up next then it's off to Disney!!)

We went over to Pat O'Brien's where I discovered I lack a gag reflex sometimes

I don't remember taking this picture but it's nice enough to include.

Maybe he'd like a necklace of some sort. I'm sure I could find some beads he could earn at least.

bye bye #4

I was taking a picture of the stage I swear

I think that was like Voodoo Juice #3

This is the lovely lady that kept taking my money.

Gretchen Wilson came on after the little parade they had

I wasn't drinking yours I swear!

Nicest guy you'll ever meet!

Best Bart ever.

I wanted a few of these books!

it was fun inside, we looked around at all the cool junk they had for sale.

Good to know.

I was really excited to see this in person!

He ran and got us some hats to wear, silly little guy.

After riding ET, we stopped in the store and I found a new friend.

We picked up some Tilt and headed to the parking structure (this was after we already parked, don't drink while driving kids)

After a quick change of clothes, we decided to eat at Cici's again and I saw this right across the street. lovely looking establishment.

After meeting up with some friends, it was off to Spiderman (not as amazing as people like to think but still pretty amazing, my #2 favorite attraction ever behind Disneyland's Indiana Jones) and I didn't realize I still had the galsses on until we were walking out of the park so I could change at my hotel.

Me being a dork again

This is me soaked, it doesn't look like it you say? That's because I'm literally wet everywhere, no dry spots at all. Did I mention it was a little chilly out?

I love water rides, and I'll usually ride them if it's new or a favorite so of course I decide it would be a great idea to hope that I'm not "the one" that gets all the water.

Oh dear lord, the cheerleaders were around, funny enough, they were there in April 2005 as well.

Boo!

I love Express pass so freaking much! I basically walked onto the back row while the rest of the ride had about an hour wait. Hulk ispretty meh overall though.

Tic-tac-toe Joe was a pervert, in order to get the bottom middle square take a real good look where you have to rub. Not that I minded, but there were kids around!

aww they got me

A parents blessing, the Kid tiring section of the park

This was a fun little ride. I probably won't ride it every time unless someone else wants to, but it was still fun

YAY credit! (ok, not really, I do count ride credits though, not just coasters so it does still count)

How about this one? I'm sure no one has ever seen this one!

I wonder if anyone else has ever taken a picture that looks like this?

Backside of Awesome, Sadly I missed Poseidon's this time around, but I had Templo del Fuego last summer so I'm good.

If that guy on top doesn't say "Best theme park restaurantt" then I don't know what does

get your good looks now before it becomes either Gryffindor or Slytherin (Not saying anything, just an obvious themeing choice to me)

"How's it hanging?"

 

"Low and to the left"

Is that kinda like 69ing? For some coaster geeks it's the closest they'll come.

HAHA you missed!

I wonder how much longer these guys will be there

I love me some Vekoma

YAY new ride!

IF I squint it feels like I'm back in Spain

While I would have loved to have seen the show, I've heard it's basically the same one they have at the Venetian in Las Vegas which I saw last December so I'm good this time around.

[RIP Psyclone]

This is the lovely lady that kept taking my money.

 

$5 tips? I think I could muster up a smile for that! Either way, this is a good ongoing thread, so keep up the good work.

[coolhandluke]

Nice pics! Nice report!

 

Boy, that misty tunnel sure does a number on that Hulk paint, doesn't it?

[jtizzle]

Yes!... unintentional hottie pictures. Fun time you had.

[NINCUB]

Very nice seeing you have a good time Hector! I think we would have fun hanging out....

 

Maybe that didn't sound too stalkish!? LOL...

 

More pics of Hector!!!!!!

 

Oh and how do we get to view the pics not "postable!?"

[RaptorBoyASU]

THanks for the great stalker shots.

 

I'd like a pearl necklace..... can you buy those at the parks?

[dino]

Great ongoing TR. Ohh and I'm digging the lucky charms hat .

[RCFreak]

$5 tips? I think I could muster up a smile for that! Either way, this is a good ongoing thread, so keep up the good work.

 

That was me buying yet another refill lol. thanks for the kind words (from you and everyone!)

 

Oh and how do we get to view the pics not "postable!?"

 

 

They're pretty much the same as the ones posted, just about five times as many lol, I'm a bigger camera whore with alcohol apparently.

 

 

THanks for the great stalker shots.

 

I'd like a pearl necklace..... can you buy those at the parks?

 

 

I can think of at least four people that would give you one for free lol.

 

 

Great ongoing TR. Ohh and I'm digging the lucky charms hat .

 

 

lol I only bought it cause it was on clearance and it has the stretchy rim ( no jokes please lol) but I've grown quite fond of the little bugger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick update on my 5th Day in Orlando, it was a trip back to Sea World to get the missing credit,s see some more animals and head over to Disney for the next four days!

 

 

So after getting completely plastered at Universal the night before and not getting back to the hotel until around 3, it was up at 9 to get packed and checked out to start my day and transfer over to Disney's All-Star Music Resort. We started with a trip over to best buy for a new camera Battery for a friend and ended up eating at Whataburger for the first time, which tasted exactly like IN-N-Out to me and was heaven.

 

We made our way over to Sea World again took another spin on Kraken (which still ranks like fourth or fifth on my floorless list), watched the Dolphin and whale show again (still didn't make any sense!) and I got my Shamu Express credit. During this time I also finally got to see my Sea Cows! The Manatee exhibit at San Diego's was closed when I went so this made up for it. The Alligator's was not an impressive exhibit compared to all the others parks I went around too). We headed over to Shamu's Happy Harbor and I got my Shamu Express credit and I also go to ride my first rockin' Tug. I also highly recommend the Jazzy Jellies which is a Zamperla Samba Tower, basically teacups (that can spin REALLY fast) that go up a tower. We headed out after that.

 

My overall impression of Orlando's Sea World was that it did feel bigger then San Diego's, but San Diego's had a much nicer feel to it. SWSD felt much less corporate then Orlando and I'm pretty sure it all has to do with Orlando using the lagoon to create more of a traffic loop and central focal point that modern amusement parks try to use instead of the hub concept. I also feel like San Diego has better exhibits, like the money that Orlando uses to add new things, San Diego uses to spruce up old exhibits. Orlando is still a great park that can add a lot more then SD (Stupid Donna Frye!!) and I can't wait to visit again in the next few years as it grows some more.

 

 

After a failed attempt at eating at Chuck E Cheese (and damn that's an expensive place to eat, I think it was like $30 for a large pizza or something ridiculous like that), we ended up at Denny's and sat at a penis shaped table with an awesome waitress who actually said the phrase "mouth orgasm" and some old guy with a dreadlocked bead wig on, who I think was either really drunk or literally a bit crazy. My Orlando friends then drove me to my new hotel where I was meeting other friends for some new Disney fun as it was my first trip to WDW and i took way more then enough pics there.

 

Pardon the smaller update this time around, but the Disney pics (I averaged about 150 pics a day at WDW) should make up for it. Even if you';ve seen the park like a million times by now.

Only part of the madness that happened at Denny's (and I was sober this night!)

Pretty Much the whole ride

ZOOOOOM this was the really awkward banked section of the ride

Another Postcard!

Sea Cow!! I love Manatees, they're so cute in a fat, lazy way lol.

What a beautiful creature this is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bird was pretty too lol.

Stupid Sun!

Postcard!

These are VegasFish (Jellyfish I re-named cause it looks like they have neon lights chasing around their bodies)

Here are the eels *blech*

Kinda looks like a really High Def TV

Above, Below, and all around, the sea encompasses those who Journey to Atlantis (was that corny enough? they should pay me to write this crap)

Totally missed the gift shop/ Aquarium last time so we went in for a gander this time. i really liked how they pulled off the water and animals literally on every side of you.

Baby Rays

Mmmmm

The closest thing to In-N-Out without being In-N-Out. I could feel my arteries clogging and I think I gained 2 pounds with that first bite.

The Medium and Large cups at Whataburger

[NINCUB]

OH my Hector. You so look like a blow-up sex doll eating at Denny's! :0) Too funny!