Photo TR: Jake and Neil Do Florida

[televisedconfession]

So Jake (Schwarzkopf) had the opportunity to visit me on my birthday weekend in Florida all the way from England. My birthday weekend consisted of as many Florida Theme Parks we could fit into 4 days as possible. Plus one.

 

For right now, I will post the first day (his arrival), and then Thursday (Busch Gardens) and Friday (Universal Studios). I will first give explanations, then go into the PTR.

 

Disney (All Four parks in one day), Islands Of Adventure, and Old Town to follow soon.

 

Day 1:

 

Jake arrived into Miami International Crapport around 6:00pm Tuesday Sept. 2nd. While we were in Crapville USA, we decided to do the Dania Beach Hurricane before we started our major coaster weekend. Since I live on the other coast, and since I physically hate the Miami area, I had never been on this coaster before. Jake finally got through customs around 7, and we quickly headed north towards Boomers to do the Hurricane. We arrived and got lost inside the arcade. There was no clear signs of where to go or what to do. We asked someone how to get to the outside area and they directed us where to go. We went out the doors and only saw a few (crappy) flat rides. There was no path to the coaster, only flat rides with no one around. We headed back inside to ask where to go for the 'coaster', and finally found the right place to go. Right off the bat, we got the impression that the coaster was not the main attraction at Boomers, though it really should be. We do the coaster a few times, then met up with Scott (krazekiddd) for a little bit. It was great meeting him. But since we had to do a two and a half hour journey back to where I live across the state, we quickly left.

 

Also, I have a POV I will post once I figure out how to Edit it slightly.

 

Day 3:

Busch Gardens.

 

This park is what I consider to be my true home park. This is the park that really holds a special place in my heart. I was so proud to be the one to show Jake around. We had a blast too. The park was looking great! The only downfall were the operations. Gwazi only ran one side all day (Tiger), and ShieKra only ran 2 trains (using only one of the stations). But other than the small blubles, everything was in tip top shape. We went the thursday after Labor Day, so crowds were very low. I do have to say something before I move on: I love Gwazi. I know there are a lot of Gwazi haters out there... *CoughNatatomicCough*... but I will forever stick up for this coaster. Yes, there are days where it runs rough, but if you really give it a try, Gwazi is a woodie with great airtime and a tight and twisted layout. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's the best coaster in the world, but I don't think it's the worst coaster in the world either. That's just my little rant.

 

Day 4:

 

I forgot to charge my camera battery! DOH!

The night before, in Tampa, we decided to stay out late and go to my favorite club in Tampa (The Castle), so waking up Friday morning was difficult. We decided the night before the best park to do with limited time was Universal Studios.

We arrived around 10:45 and quickly made our rounds of the park. This was one of the best parks for me to show Jake around, because it was the park he knew least about. The only thing he really knew anything about was the Mummy coaster. Everything else was a mystery. Twister, Jaws, MIB, Earthqu....errr... Disaster, Terminator, and ET were all new to him. ET is probably still my favorite thing at the park.

We only were able to take 2 pictures that day, both in line for Shrek 4-D.

 

 

 

I'll update the rest of the parks later, when it's not so late, and I'm more sober.

In line for Shrek 4-D

Anyone else notice a rather LARGE grammatical error?! SERIOUSLY UNIVERSAL? SERIOUSLY? I realize I am no professional grammar expert, but at least I know the difference between They're and Their.

Terminator 2: 3-D

 

One of the only pictures we took that day.

Coaster Porn... mmmmmmm

This is a great great ride!

Jake: "Oh! We made it! What a surprise!"

Jake: "OH MY GAWD! A WATERFALL? WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

Jake: "Why is this called Rhino Rally again?"

ARGH! I'M A PIRATE!

How SEXY!

Sexy Zero-G Roll.

Kumba will never get old. NEVER!

This is a rather decent wild mouse.

I do love Wild Mouse Coasters.

Wild Maus..... I mean, Cheetah Chase

Mmmmmmmmmm.... This turns me on.

One day, I want to buy a huge house, not for me. I only need a 3 bed/2 bath area. The rest of my house will be a huge indoor desert for a big Meerkat habitat. I love these animals. SO MUCH.

OH MY F*CKING DOG I LOVE MEERKATS!

Your mom's a Zebra.

Jake: "TAKE A PICTURE OF THE GIRAFFE!"

Hahahahahahahahaha. This makes me laugh every time.

And why does it remind me of the Bingo Square "Robb Shaves?" Maybe I'm just crazy.

Hyaena's need sleep too.

 

This looked like me after the Behemoth/Ravine Flyer II Trip.

We were at the beach, everybody had matching towels. Somebody went under the dock, and they saw a rock. It wasn't a rock.... it was a rock... LOBSTER!

Swim away Jake!

 

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

Edge of Africa.

Does this remind you of anyone? *Cough Dave eats anything cough*

Jungala is AWESOME!

And it just so happened the tiger climbed right on top the glass.

They have several places throughout Jungala where you can peek up, look down, or climb around right next to the animals. This is only one example

How pretty.

I'm so glad they redid the white tiger habitat. Now it's better than ever.

How can you not go "Awww!"

When I say this kids area rocked, It was awesome.

I thought Zampala did this jumping star, but I was WRONG. Jake proved me wrong too many times on this trip.

In my opinion, it's the best kid's area i've seen in a theme park. It was practically empty when we went, but still very well themed.

Jungala. I love the Orangoutang

I love log flumes. I Absolutely love log flumes. Did I mention how much I love Log Flumes?

Gwazi. Don't hate the coaster, hate the train.

(anyone get this reference?)

This is more exclusive than Robb's ERT.

See... Nobody!

Jake and I had ERT on the coaster. There was almost literally NO BODY there.

Ok. So let me get this right. I can get unlimited rides cheaper than three tickets? Why the hell would ANYONE pay more for only three rides? Just get the danged UNLIMITED rides option. That's a bit ridiculous.

Walking up to the Dania Beach Hurricane.

I kinda wanted to do this... but I couldn't be bothered.

Boomers' Entrance. Kinda lame, isn't it?

[redfoot12]

Ah...that TPR really made me miss BGA.

And I agree. I don't understand all the hate towards Gwazi either. While it's certainly not the greatest, it's not even close to being the death machine I imagined it to be (based on prevailing online sentiment).

[YoshiFan]

If the tickets can be used by different people, it would be cheaper for a group of 3 to buy the 3 pack than have each one buy a single ticket if they want to ride once.

 

Or if they don't expire and you live locally and want to use them on different days.

[televisedconfession]

^ I don't think it would have worked that way, because we were given bracelets that we had to scan as we came in, so I don't think the rides could be shared. I could be wrong though.

 

I just remember Jake having a problem getting his bracelet scanned every time we went in. He had a problem with technology all week long thinking on it! haha.

[Jumboshrmp]

Actually I rode Gwazi with no previous expectations, and it is the only coaster that I can say I did not enjoy in any way, shape, or form. Absolutely horrible, and looking at some of the onride photos at the end, I wondered how many drugs some of the riders had to have been taking to be smiling like they were.

 

Other than that, cool trip report, and nice photos.

I live right close to boomers, and you should have gone on the GravityWorks skyscraper that they have there. It's the scariest ride I've ever been on, and probably the best too.

[halltd]

Like someone else said, the tickets for the Hurricane are priced that way because they can be given to other people and/or used over time. The unlimited option is only valid for one person on one day. So, if you're doing ERT, the unlimited is the way to go. If you live in the area (like me), you'd buy multiple tickets and use them over time.

 

Did you buy unlimited? If so, that's why you got a bracelet. If you bought individual tickets, I have no idea why they gave you a bracelet. LOL!

 

The Hurricane is a great little gem for those of us that live in South Florida and need a coaster fix. Orlando and Tampa are a good three hours from me, so driving 30 minutes South to Ft Lauderdale is easy enough to get a good ride in every now and then.

[krazekiddd]

Hey Neil! It was good finally meeting you after someone wouldn't shut up about it. I'm glad you guys enjoyed your vacation!

[Schwarzkopf]

I can't believe it hasn't even been a week since I got home... It feels like months.

 

Anyway.

 

So my flight from London landed a bit late, then it took ages to get off the plane and get my luggage. Customs was actually really quick!

 

But Neil had been waiting an hour... bless him! If i hadn't just travelled for 12 hours I might have had some sympathy, lol!

 

 

So we went to Boomers, which was probably one of the weirdest 'parks' i've ever visited... it was just, strange. weird. The coaster was a nice suprise though - it actually had some air time. I bet a full train would give a pretty crazy ride, especially after some rain! Oh, and, Scott. Mega <3 for meeting us. loveit. Crotchrot! hehe.

 

 

We then had the long drive back to neils, which actually went quickly coz we caught up etc. I don't know how i managed to go out for a few drinks/cigarettes/food untill about midnight, seeing as it was actually 5am for my body clock (and i'd been up since 5)... I guess with the excitement too I was overtired.

 

Oh yeah, I tried neils favourite mexican dish (i forget the name? lol) which was tasty. i want to move in for his dads food if nothing else <3.

 

 

 

Busch Gardens!

 

I'd heard bad things about this park (not the rides, but generally the atmosphere of the place) but I found it a lovely park. The animal areas seemed nice, the park was clean and they have some pretty fabulous coasters. Even Gwaz wasn't as bad as I expected (after the horror stories i'd heard, lol).

 

Montu <3 <3 <3.

 

The sandwich we had was fit aswell. yum.

Oh and Scorpian was my 350th. Schwarz! <3.

 

 

I'll write a quick universal report later, i've gotta go home and have dinner now (i'm just about to leave where I am now).

 

Thanks for reading... not that anyone bothered due to the lack of photos I was too busy having fun, and neil was taking them anyway so why bother?! xxx

[televisedconfession]

Oh yeah, I tried neils favourite mexican dish (i forget the name? lol) which was tasty. i want to move in for his dads food if nothing else <3.

 

It's called Carne en su Jugo. Translated: Meat in its Juice.

 

mmmmm. I'm hungry all of the sudden.

[mboy81]

The Castle rocks on Thursday nights! Too bad I always have to work on Friday.

[Mr. Starr]

SCUDOOBADA! HYUAHH!

 

my best attempt at typing these

[televisedconfession]

^^ The castle used to be my weekly hang out on thursday nights when I lived in Tampa. Too bad I now live too far away. I used to have 8:00am classes on Friday and would still go to the castle. Of corse, I was young and able to pull all-nighters.

 

Oh the memories.

[televisedconfession]

So this post is for all you skeptics out there. For those of you that say that Disney World can't be done in a day, well it can. And I will now let you know the best way to go about it.

1) Start with the park with the least amount of rides.

2) Go when you know crowds won't be overwhelming.

3) Go to the most popular rides first, and fast pass them first thing.

4) Use the boards that give you the ride time, it saves you walking all over the park.

5) Always link Magic Kingdom and Epcot for the monorail and use the transportation system wisely.

6) Never forget that parking in Downtown Disney is free. Though driving is quicker than the busses

7) Plan for the most popular ride, either do them first, or do them last.

 

Those are my Disney tips.

 

How we went about our day:

 

Park 1: (9:00am) Disney's Animal Kingdom.

We got to Animal Kingdom right as the park opened up. We bolted straight for Expedition Everest. First thing we did was fast pass it, then proceeded to wait in the 10 minute line. Following the ride, we headed towards Primeval Whirl. Now normally this is the part where you wait 2 minutes for each side, unfortunately for credit whore Jake, the ride was closed. Next stop is Dinosaur! Now, this ride blows my mind, because every time I go on this ride, there is always a kid under the age of 8 in the same car. When the picture is taken, every single adult in the picture looks like they're going to crap their pants, while the kids sit there with the biggest smiles on their faces. Anyway. After Dinosaur, you can then return to Everest. Fast Pass the crap out of it. After, you then can go ahead and do Kilimanjaro, but we chose to leave a bit earlier and get the next park.

 

Park 2: (10:45) Hollywood Studios.

Now this is a park subject to interpretation. I feel like every time I go with someone new, they want something different. Now, you have your two major rides (Tower of Terror and Rock 'N' Roller Coaster). If you can, fast pass the longest wait that you see. Normally Tower of Terror. Then wait in line for Rock 'N' Roller Coaster and hit up one other ride. Now, since Toy Story Mania had just opened up, and the day we went, the line was a considerable 50 minute wait (All Things Considered wasn't bad.)... we decided to get the ride we thought wouldn't be there too much longer: Star Tours. Unfortunately for us, there were no fast passes for Tower of Terror OR Rock 'N' Roller Coaster, but we did go on a day with very little lines. We got through all three rides in an hour and a half, which is pretty decent.

 

Park 3: (12:00-12:15 *with transportation to main center accounted for*) Magic Kingdom.

On a normal and very busy day, the first stop to make is to head towards Tomorrow land and get the first Fast pass for Space Mountain you can find. The day we went was only an hour and a half fast pass time. So we grabbed it, did splash mountain, and retreated to space mountain again. From Space Mountain the second time around, we then completed the circle in the park, hitting up all the major credits in the park. Barnstormer, It's a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, and Pirates. Yeah, it can be debated that there is so much we were missing out on (the Tea Cups, Peter Pan, Winnie The Pooh, The People Mover, Stitch's Great Escape, Buzz Light year, Jungle Cruises, ect. But you can easily replace your personal favorites with anything else we did. The key is to be out before 4:30pm.

 

Park 4: (4:00pm) Epcot.

By now we arrive tired, exhausted, and barely able to walk. But there is still SO much ahead of us. Now the reason I like to get to Epcot before 5:00 is because I like to make this park the major meal park. This is the best park with places to eat on property. First things first is to decide where you want to eat. Then you can pop off the three major rides, starting with Fast Passing Soarin' (if you can). Go ahead and wait for Test Track (normally a 20-40 min wait) and do Mission: Space (normally a 10 minute wait). Then, depending on fast pass times, hit up the Mexico boat ride (VIVA MEXICO! AAAIIII!), and Norway boat ride, then return for Soarin' just in time to go eat dinner. After dinner... it's normally around 9:00pm... ILLUMINATIONS!

Now Epcot is time chances. Doing everything risks time. Jake and I missed the majority of the show, but left the restaurant just in time for the fireworks finale.

 

My POINT... is that Disney CAN be done in a day. It just takes strict guidelines and good planning. Remember. Always start with the parks with the least amount of things to do, and end with your favorite park.

 

Now, onto my Photos:

 

 

By the way: It was my birthday the day we did these parks. Sept 6th! Though I'd hate to admit it.

The tree of life, waiting for the park to open.

Postcard from the Future!!!!!

We ate in Japan... which was a new Epcot restaurant for me. It was AMAZING!

Soarin'!

 

Probably my favorite ride at Disney!

Hopefully not to give away too much, but when they ask you to smile... make it good!

The new Spaceship Earth = Awesome

You know where this is from...

 

The update of the castle was great!

Just because I'm Mexican, I gotta represent my peeps.

 

Viva Mexico Cabrones!

"It's a much bigger world than Hong Kong Disneyland afterall....."

JOLLY JOLLY JOLLY!

The theme continues!!!

Of corse you can, though you're becoming more and more American every day!

That's a big piece of meat jake? Can your british appetite handle that?

I miss Alien Encounter SO MUCH.... I MEAN SO MUCH.

 

My heart breaks whenever I see stitch's face.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll love you tomorrow....

 

That was corny.

Made for a princess....

We're ghosts... (it is Halloween? almost?)

The attention to detail was fantastic.

Mickey Pumpkin.

And gave florida a more Fall atmosphere. Lord knows we don't get it naturally anyway.

Awesome Theme.

... Or this cute.

... But I never expected it this nice...

I had heard about a Halloween decoration...

Oh! Yes! It's the Contemporary Bay Lake Tower!

The Contemporary once again. Oh wait, what's that behind it?! Hmm...

GLORY!

We approach the Contemporary Resort.

Childhood! Here we come!

This always makes me think of Samantha Brown. I wish I had her job.

Approaching Magic Kingdom (Via the boat)

This is such a stoner ride.

Why doesn't Garbage have their own roller coaster? It could be called, "I'm Only Happy When I Coast!"

Jolly, jolly, jolly. I'm wearing a hat!

Hollywood Studios.

I do love this drop. Even more so, I love the helix. And EVEN MORE SO, I love the YETI!

Mmmm. Sexy Beast. (ahahaha get it?)

There's no place like home.

Mickey (Top Left) and Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto welcome us

[the ghost]

^ WOW!!!! I used to be a skeptic vut this completely changed my views lol. But seriousley it is very hard to do in one day and unless I was in a huge rush ( which you understandably were) to get everything awesome out of the way I would never do it in one day. The tree of life was so cool to look at even though we have its tough to be a bug here ( haven't seen it for years) and I needed to appreciate everything. In a few months a friend of mine from Oregon and my little sisters boyfriend(awkward) will be going to Disneyland and DCA for the first time and we will do it in a day but at DCA all you really need to do is to ride screamin and tower and now mania and you have a full day of all the must do rides. Then we will do the rest of the rides at Disneyland (he has been yo a Disney park about 8 years ago but I doubt he remembers)

 

Anyway awesome TR so far and I cant wait for more

[Schwarzkopf]

Disney was awesome!

 

What's weird is that I didn't feel like we were missing anything. We didn't really rush around too much, we got on everything that I was bothered about, and even had time to credit whore too.

 

This might have been my favourite day actually... but it's hard to choose.

 

Muchos gracias for Neil and his timekeeping/planning skills

[televisedconfession]

SCUDOOBADA! HYUAHH!

 

my best attempt at typing these

 

 

Wait... what?!

[Mr. Starr]

SCUDOOBADA! HYUAHH!

 

my best attempt at typing these

 

 

Wait... what?!

 

Ya know, in Rock Lobster! The girls are like Scadoobada! Hyuahh! If you listen to the song you'll get it.

[televisedconfession]

^Haha ok, ok. I get you.

 

I forgot I put the Rock Lobster lyrics in my PTR actually, so that just looked VERY random to me.

 

[halltd]

Great planning to get so much done at Disney in one day. I'm quite impressed. I also agree with most of your tips. However, I feel it's normally best to get a FastPass for Rock N Roller Coaster because the line is horrifically slow. It can't eat the people like Tower of Terror can. So, you're usually better off waiting in the standby queue for ToT on any given day.

 

Otherwise, great trip report. I can't wait to get back there in a couple weeks with my family. I'll try my best to block the Bay Lake Tower from my sight though - even though it will be next to impossible since it's such a huge eye sore.

[televisedconfession]

^ You know, we were walking to Space Mountain coming from Splash Mountain, and as we passed the castle I remember looking up at Tomorrowland and seeing the Bay Lake Towers rise above the park. It kinda brought the sense of being in another world down just a bit. I'm just not used to seeing anything BUT the things in Magic Kingdom, around me.

[televisedconfession]

So here are two videos before I do the Islands of Adventure and Old Town updates.

 

This video is of Push the Trash can famously found throughout Disney World.

The funny story behind that is Jake and I were just standing filming it, and when I came and asked us about our Orange Soda, it knowing that we had Orange Soda was odd because it wasn't in a clear cup, and it had a lid on it. That's what was weird about it.

PUSH.mov

Push the Trash Can!

[natatomic]

My heart breaks whenever I see stitch's face.

 

My heart doesn't break, but my blood sure does boil. I wouldn't hate Stitch so much if Disney didn't treat him like he was on par with Mickey or Goofy or something by plastering his face E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E.

 

The new Spaceship Earth = Awesome

 

AWESOME?

 

You and I are no longer friends. Hmph.

[televisedconfession]

The new Spaceship Earth = Awesome

 

AWESOME?

 

You and I are no longer friends. Hmph.

 

 

WHAT?? You don't like the new spaceship earth? It's SO MUCH better than it was last year. Dame Judy Dench as a narrator? Pictures, Interaction, updated animatronics?! How are we not friends? How do you hate this? I'm so confuuuuuused.

[natatomic]

^Psh, the ONLY thing better about the new version are the animatronic refurbs in the first half of the ride. I don't care for Dame Judi Dench at ALL (I definitely prefer a velvety male voice for this attraction), the background music is completely lack-luster and unnoticeable, and everything after the planetarium in the previous was my favorite part! Now all of it has been stripped away, and it's nothing more than a black, empty hallway that you sit in as you watch your haphazardly-plastered head move around in a cheesy cartoon. I used to find the end of SSE so inspirational, and now I feel like it's nothing more than a childish gimmick.

 

My heart breaks for Spaceship Earth like yours does for Alien Encounter.

 

I guess we can still be friends...but...I'm going to need some time to get used to stance on this.

[televisedconfession]

^Hey, if we can survive our political differences, we can survive our Disney differences.

 

Gwazi was a big blow for me too though.

Jeeze, why ARE we friends?