PTR: Hector's 2008 adventures!

[packfanlv]

^I think that since they have such a large building to work with compared to California, that they should design a completely new layout for Space Mountain that is not seen anywhere else. If they make the seating two across then it would have the same capacity as the two sides do now. If they are going to re-do the track then they might as well do it right.

[dino]

Cool pics once again Hector. Your Captions seem to get funnier/naughtier each time . Eventually they're going to start censoring you...hehe. Look forward to seeing the Animal Kingdom pics.

[gisco]

Nice PTR. I was there last year and miss the place. Keep the pics coming.

[larrygator]

Nice pics Hector.

 

Too much space! Those of you who are not joking are crazy. Now if they would just ban motorized chairs for morbidly obese people. Walking is good for you.

[RCFreak]

Thanks guys, I should have the last Florida update up tomorrow! It's of Animal Kingdom and it's going to be a HUGE update.

[RIP Psyclone]

He doesn't look too happy in this pic.

 

And he's probably not doing his share of the parental duties. Poor wifey. He's all buff and she's...well... you know. He might want to cut short his gym visits and watch the kids for a while and let her catch up before they wonder how that other woman got into the picture.

 

Ain't fair at all.

 

Terry "yeah I said it" Weaver

 

Yes! So true! Thanks for saying it, it needed to be said.

 

But...

 

The Magic Kingdom is the least visited of the Florida Disney parks; it's always too crowded and most rides aren't worth the wait compared to the other parks.

 

Wha?!?! Do you mean it's the one you personally visit the least often? It's the most attended of the four parks at WDW, in the state of Florida, U.S.A., and the world.

[RCFreak]

Last update for Florida!!

 

Animal Kingdom turned out to be my favorite park at Disneyworld, and I know if they can get a few more rides in it would really round out the park. I really enjoyed my day and I felt as if the whole day I spent there wasn't wasted or boring looking for things to do as I slightly feared.

 

The day started with the hike back to Expedition Everest. I wasn't really looking forward to riding this ride as it just seemed pretty meh, but I was pleasantly surprised with how fun it was. I still think they should put the actual yeti animatronic in the first cave scene, but I'm glad I got o experience A mode (the animatronic was fully working as opposed to B mode where the arm just moves or C mode where they just use strobes as the AA doesn't move at all)

 

Next up was Dinosnore... er... Dinosaur. I think the best part was when a cast member (management?) use a stuffed Carnotaurus to scare a group of girls walking by on the opposite side of a shelf. I can't believe this is a "clone" of the Indiana Jones rides. Don't get me wrong, I had fun on the thing, but it felt like I was back at Isla Magica riding Quetzal. The overall quality of the ride (aka darkness: the ride) was pretty poor, although a few of the Dino's were just freakin' cool, they couldn't save the ride. Then it was over to the crappiest theming I've ever seen at a Disney park. I seriously hated the parking lot Carnival theme more then anything at DCA (the only thing is there mouse's are better themed and that's just sad lol) Primeval Whirl was fun, but I liked it more in a box as Exterminator at Kennywood lol.

 

After walking around a bit, a showing of Finding Nemo - The Musical was showing so I had to go watch and I loved it! I loved it enough to actually be a dork and buy the soundtrack to listen to on the flight home. this would seriously be a great replacement for Aladdin in DCA and they already have some of the puppets in the Pixar Play Parade.

 

After the show we headed over to the Maharajah Jungle Trek and this is where I actually fell in love with the park. The animal exhibits were masterfully crafted and taken to the quality that usually only Disney can provide. I think I would have had a great time just walking around the "ruins" even if the animals were not present. All that walking meant that we were starving by the time our reservations at Yak and Yeti were up for lunch. The place was decent, it's your typical chinese restaruant (not even with a real Disney or culinary twist) with good food, but the inside of the building is what the true highlight of the place was. The dining room (and even the waiting room) was filled with Asian inspired statues that seemed just out there without fencing or gates or even glass.

 

While waiting for a friend to come out of the restroom, the rest of the group were talking to the greeter for Kilimanjaro Safaris. Turns out they were all from the same state so the greeter gave us fastpasses which saved us a TON of time off the line. the ride was great and The way Disney and the park's planners made the ride work was amazing in being able to actually see all the animals.

 

A quick drenching on Kali River Rapids, which was no where near as good as a few of the other rapids rides I've recently been on, but it was still fun. Even if I was the one who ended up at the bottom of the drop... Anyway, freshly soaked, we headed over to Expedition Everest again for a few more rides. by this point it started to rain so we decided to head over and watch Festival of the Lion King and were entertained for the show. Walking out of the park we decided to do It's Tough to be a Bug (The hornet's got them good! lol) and headed back to the Hotel.

 

I was meeting the other Orlando friends at Downtown Disney and contemplating heading to Pleasure Island as one of the friends had free passes and it was Thursday. Unfortunately it was steadily pouring down rain now so I went shopping for the family's souvenirs. I decided to say "screw it" and go to PI since I had to be up at like 3AM to catch the bus to the airport. We hit up the Adventure's Club, but didn't stay long then headed over to 8trax to watch the old people dance funny and Mannequins to watch the hot guys. We also caught a showing of the Comedy Warehouse, but there were only like 10 of us in the audience which made for much hilarity as we all pretty much participated. Of course it was raining still so I didn't take out my camera for much of the PI portion of the night. I ended up oversleeping for a bit and missed my initial bus, but got to the airport in plenty of time and got home without much fanfare.

 

And with this update, that brings the end to My Florida trip and probably the biggest updates of my year. I'll probably be adding a few TRs here and there, but nothing as "consistent" as these. Thanks for reading and have a good night.

lol I've been in that guy's shoes and I bet you he's thinking "some please kill me now before I have to put on this damn shirt again!"

ooo almost there

should be fun right?

Fail...

Sadly better themed then Mulholland Madness

They just watched Inidana Jones 4

I'mma scray Dino RAWR!

I have this itch behind my ear that I juuuust can't reach

So many things wrong in this picture.

Just stop trying Carl.

RWAR! did it work are you scared?

yes, yes it is

At least there's something decent to look at in this picture

oh no...

Opposite view of the lake

See?

they lead to Singing fish.

I loved the yeti prints in the ground.

When good Yeti's go bad on Fox.

But what ever they offer you, thought they slope in the trough for you, with whatever they offer you don';t feed the balls!

Mmmmm theming

Yeti hungry *chomp* *chomp* *chomp*

I loved the flags all over the place.

I'm totally obsessed with tribal-like masks

Don't be manhandled by the yeti. Unless your into that sort of thing.

My favorite part of the queue, the Musemum part.

Monkey shrine!

don't anger the Statue...

Most of that wait was walking through the amazing queue

YAY! (I'm so out of captions...)

I love the theming in this park, well, most of it...

Looking back

Artsy and my current desktop lol

Monkey Island?

The Monkey enclosure

oooo it's so fake but real.

SQUEEEEEE!

I love they're taking the educational route with the park

Later my scary friend

WEENIE!

biiiirduh!

oooo I can't see anything of the park.

YAY!

Luckily they didn't go here. but seriously,I have a confession. I hire the most adorable girls to be in my pictures for the "awww" factor

Remember that school group?

They should change that.

My Ghey Side is screaming for joy right now.

I love this Fountain. Seriously.

[RCFreak]

Part 2

Sit back and enjoy the ride

Our next adventure awaits

Something only Disney could do so well.

simply amazing

Tree of Life

Mmmm White Rice and Alcohol

We ended up sitiing right behind that statue

hi How are you welcome to my Restaruant

Like this guy

They have a few things to look at while waiting

You can ring my bell

Yak and Yeti was pretty good

really it is

Come on up and play, it's fine

There's some lol

where are all the birds?

Now that's a bird bath

More murals to drool over

No one's home

"honey they're peeping in the window's again!"

Happy water dance

It's like it's trying to tell me something I know it!

Disney's Bench: The Adventure

amazing job with the detail and theming throughout.

Somone has a flag fetish

It was this section of the trail that made me realize Animal Kingdom was the winner

Animal

Or not

I could see this as a quiet plce to reflect

Gorgeous dahling

which were beautiful and tragic

I loved all the murals

The lady or the Tiger?

AKA you're the one fenced in

Where's Roy?

just hanging out

nice crib

wasn't actually expecting that lol.

hmmm wonder what's in there.

O RLY?

ugh that last caption sucked.

to help you light the way

'sup

Bats and Tigers and Birds oh my!

[the ghost]

I loved Disneyword and so want to go back.

 

These pics are awesome.

 

If you ever want to meet up at Disneyland or something just pm me as I am a pass holder.

 

OUR DISNEYLAND KICKS ASS

 

Whats Disneyland without Indy

 

The Ghost

[RCFreak]

Part 3 the End

Expedition Everest.wmv

Video of my ride on Expedition Cloverfield. Sometimes, I even annoy myself lol.

I was pretty damn drunk by this point so this is kinda what it looked like at the time too lol.

See!? I think there were like 10 of us in the whole audience.

The Comedy Warehouse set

Adventure's club, I'm sure if we had time we would have stayed and wtached one of the little shows.

Elissa Bingo prize put to good use (I lost the connectors for the glow bracelets so I used them in my shirt's button holes) My friend also randomly had a Buzz Lightyear umberella in her car.

Switching to some of the few pics I have from Downtown Disney and PI, This is what I felt like the whole time.

Random pretty plant on the way to the ride.

Hello again Forbidden Mountain

These guys played us out, but not before heading over to EE again for a couple more rides.

Got my bug eyes and I'm still soaked!

One of the many reasons why I love Disney.

seriously I was really impressed with how many different animals they got on there.

hmmm some strange growths all over

getting closer to the massive weenie

I like taking people who have never experienced this before on it, it's great feeling them jump and hearing them scream next to me (also, my favorite part is when the kids start crying when hopper takes over lol)

best vomiting crocodile rock sculpture ever.

oh, there's Disney!

ooo two at once, I don't do that often.

YAY masks!

F'ing soaked. Good thing it started raining about this time.

Detail in the building

Load

We'll see about that

It's just so pretty

Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?

hello kitty?

When grow up, I want a dismembered statue garden too.

Again, the theming in (some parts of) this park are remarkable

oooo Time to get wet

heading back to Dinosaur... maybe?

banging away in public, shame on them.

really cute jewelry box

the headache tree

My that's amighty large... oh that's your trunk?

It's a squirter

the big O

"This people tour is getting so boring"

A hairy arm, a baby and a warthog walk into a bar...

There's a lion in there somewhere

Cute little fella

More Rhinos

This giraffe is waiting quietly in the bushes for Wes.

BABY ELEPHANT! it's behind it' mother

oo What's that?

The zebra is very well camouflaged against the grass.

You'll be fine as long as the gazelle don't stampeede toward you

The termites are happy to see you

These guys are always Horny *rimshot*

Vultures? I don't even remember.

Overexposed Birds YAY!

Don't worry, the natives tell me that they are only dangerous when they wiggle their ears and blow bubbles....

A HA I got you now!

hey come back I only wanna be your friend!

YAY Oakpi!

The people behind the whole ride's design are geniuses

Thanks for the info

[dino]

Great update Hector, love the pics. Was missing your captions at first , but they came back in the second half . Animal Kingdom has some great theming throughout (sans the Dino-Rama), and those murals look beautiful. Even their version of "Bench: The Ride" looked pretty good.

[RCFreak]

yeah, I've been freakin exhausted cause of work and life in general so the captions were sadly the biggest thing to suffer but hey, I got it done and that's all that matters lol.

[gisco]

I don't think you had enough pictures!

[TheRapidsNerd]

Awesome update! Had no idea there was THAT much detail and beauty in the park. Enjoyed the random movie captions etc. Had a good laugh of the video too.

 

Yeah, if I'm ever out in Cali, or you're back this way, we should hit a park. Comedy would insue.

[NINCUB]

Love the pics as usual.... but we need more pics of Hector! :0)

 

I miss WDW.... It has been a little over a year since I went last... but that was a rushed work related trip and didn't get to have a whole lot of fun!

 

OH Hector you were just a state or so away from me! You need to make a stop in TN! :0) We could so do SFOG and Lake Winnie!!! Maybe even Dollywood! :0)

 

Well have fun and you need to rest some.... you and Big Mike both are going to be exauhsted and not feel like doing anything for a year or more after these trips! :0)

[handy-andy]

Looks like you had an awsome time there. Your photos were all really great and the video was hilarious. Keeps some more Photo TR's coming in the future!

[NINCUB]

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!.... LOL....

 

 

LOVE THE VIDEO! I just now got the time to watch it! You are too funny!

 

Thanks also as I wasn't able to ride Everest last year..... but now I know what its like.... seems like the first half is kinda slow.. and it appears to pick up there toward the end... Makes me want to ride it really bad now.....

 

:0)

[RCFreak]

lol I'm glad people actually like the video! We were worried we wouldn't get one as a few times as soon as we left the station, we could feel the rain, bu I definitely think video does not do the ride justice, it was a lot more fun then every video I watched could show (the backward part in the mountain is fun if you drop your head, feels like you go through an inversion)

[NINCUB]

Yes... the backward part looks like it would be pretty fun! You so make me want to get out of this town and ride a coaster! :0) Actually I will be going out of town 06-13... visiting friends in Ohio! Probably going to KI or CP....

 

Want to come Hector?! :0)

[twistedmickey]

Do you scream OMG on all coasters? I agree it is a tad annoying.

 

I still am warming up to Animal Kingdom. Maybe in a few years it will have the magic the Magic Kingdom has or Epcot.

 

Thanks for sharing the pics.

[RCFreak]

^^Yes please! I'm actually hoping to get out there at the end of September, but we'll see if I can work that one out.

 

^No actually I don't, but ask Lou, I have an incredible set of lungs that let me hold out a yell if I wanted to for quite some time lol. That video was just the inasnity I was feeling at the end of the nine days getting very little sleep and finally being at Disney. But like I said, Animal Kingdom was definitely my favorite park out of all four and I hope it gets a few more good rides to really round out the experience.

[RCFreak]

VEGAS!

 

Like I said, not too many updates from here on out, but there will be new stuff. This update is mostly going to focus on a lot of the construction happening around the strip with a bit of my trip thrown in.

 

 

Let me start off by saying I love Vegas, like a lot. In the past 10 months I've been there four times. This time I was fortunate enough to stay in Marriott's new Hotel/timeshare, Marriott's Grand Chateau located near the MGM signature towers and Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. The location was great as it wasn't too far from all the Vegas hotspots.

 

This trip like most of my others was mostly walking around trying to find the new things to discover. I finally saw Cirque du Soleil's KẦ at MGM, which was pretty damn amazing. The moving set they had blew me away in terms of sheer size of it and how easy it moved around.

 

Not too much else to tell, let's get to the pics.

Until next time, goodnight and great tomorrow.

I love driving through the desert

ooo nature's fireworks

It's still so wierd not seeing the Hotel there.

And how do I finish a trip to vegas? A trip to the Cheesecake factory of course

not quite the same effect when it's full of water and working properly.

Not the first time I've heard that one.

The other side of the Volcano

The Volcano at The Mirage is still under construction

Boobies for the guys

The big waterfall a little further over at Wynn.

The waterfall's at Wynn.

Encore is coming along very nicely as well.

the bottom half of that two story fountain I pictured earlier

the pic says it all.

This wasn't finished when i was here in Jan so it's nice to finally see it all open and not under a ton of scaffolding

in case you forgot where it was

Another angle of the Fountain

the massive fountain outside of the valet area

Damn I love this Hotel

Amen sister!

Two story fountain in the Palazzo

cool little waterfall thingie in front of, well you guessed it, the Mircle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood (mmmmm Earl of Sandwhich).

Hair scrunchies?

MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

The screen was broke so it had this all day. What a great way to welcome people New York New York.

Beyond those doors lies magic that can only be described as awe-inspiring.

I'll take one of everything please

It was hard to time the picture while actually driving.

My first time in a convertible was this trip.

The Plazzo, the newest mega Hotel and Casino to open up on the Strip

AdventureDom'es newest Addition, The Disco. Also, Rim Runner (which besides having the BEST name for a water ride) was OPEN contrary to what Screamscae says. Who knows for how much longer, but it was indeed open.

Yes, I'm jealous

The Grand Chateau's pool is on the roof allowing for some great views of the Strip.

Just because it's so freakin' massive another pic of construction.

Look a roller coaster! had to tie it into the rest of my TR's somehow

the 9.2 Billion (with a capital "B") CityCenter

Someone else's home away from Home, but I got to crash (Thanks again Patrick )

Balls on my face

The TPR europe trip saw the real things.

Again, the ultra massive CityCenter

Another look at Marriott's Grand Chateau

The tower(s) at PH from ground level

Hard Rock's expansion is under way.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas, when completed at a cost of 2.9 billion, will be the second tallest structure in Las vegas at 725 feet.

The view from the room looking right toward the Hard Rock hotel and Casino

Marriott's Grand Chateau lit up at night

Still one of my favorite shows of all time.

Me being a dork yet again.

The completed model for project City Center

For those that like to get high

Bears represent

And creepy ass tree

Cute litle animatronic baby bald eagles.

Model train for a few to get tissues over

very patriotic

the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden currently has it's "Summer Garden Party Show" exhibit on until September 6.

I couldn't decide which picture I liked best so you get both!

ALso fun to have them close there eyes before having them look up into the lobby.

It's always fun to see people's reactions when they watch the Fountain's of Bellagio for the first time.

Vomiting fish fountain? check.

Paris definitely offers one of my favorite Hotel exteriors.

The lions are always cute to look at

the View from our 29 floor room offered great views of the new Planet Hollywood Tower(s) going up.

First was the demolisment of the Nevada landing riverboat shapped Hotel. The plan is to build a new Casino and community for the area, but it's still sad to not see the hotel on the drive over now.

In Jean, NV there used to be two hotel Casino's The Gold Strike and Nevada Landing. MGM mirage are said to have some new plans for the area.

I always enjoy the drive over.

[TheRapidsNerd]

(jaw hits floor) Wow....I think I peed a little. Never been to Vegas. Those pics are incredible. That City Center thing is off the charts HUGE!!

 

Ok, let's review. Botanical Gardens, Waterfalls, Boobs, Cheesecake Factory, Lamborghini, Fountains. There's no part of this TR I didn't like. Wow.

 

Great update and thanks!

[Jew]

For the record, the best thing in the miracle mile shops is the sin city brewing company.

[dino]

Cool pics with even cooler captions. I'm so jealous cause you got to see KA. Love the shot of the Fountains (my favorite thing in Vegas). As for the picture of you acting like a dork..."dorkshots" are always awesome. Oh and thanks for the boob pic .