Scaparri Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Alright, so I originally had this big plan of a crazy solo cross-country road trip that was to take place in March. Well, that was until my mom and I were offered to use a friend's timeshare for a week. I've been to Florida as many times as years I am alive, but have only been to MGM, Epcot, MK, and SeaWorld. Not to mention, the last time I went to SeaWorld was 1992. How could I turn down the offer? So for the next few days, you'll see my week in paradise that was filled with theme parks, coasters, and lots of really funny lookin' critters. Segment 1 After a long drive down to Valdosta, GA on the first day, I was finally able to visit Wild Adventures for the first time on the second day. I was really surprised by this park. For what it is, it's a really clean and well themed park with a nice collection of rides. Unfortunately, a lot of those rides were closed, including Boomerang and Power Surge, despite being a Saturday. That was quite disappointing, but you can't get everything you want. I did finally get to try out a Screamin' Swing, which was a lot of fun. Nothing stellar, but a solid ride. I would never pay extra for it though. Overall, it was a fun couple of hours. I definately recommend a stop if you're ever in the area. Stay tuned, for tomorrow (and by tomorrow I really mean later today) will be Old Town, X Games-worthy whales, and much much more! Holy crap! Is this actually our room? I mean, I know these time share places are supposed to be nice, but wow! The tv is more expensive than my car! How many times do you walk into your hotel room and suddenly feel like you're rich? Normally, I'd smile a bit more, but I guess you could say I'm still bitter. Either way, it was nice to visit the campus again. Go Gators!! After a couple hours at Wild Adventures it was time to head home... kinda. I love this state. Hooray for another Vekoma! The ride op actually threatened to kick me off the ride because I was wearing a UF shirt. I like to pretend I'm a good photographer, when in all reality, I just take a crap-ton of pictures and every once in a while one isn't too bad. I'm a cheap skate. I just picked up the spilled food near the dispenser. I was also just too lazy to go break a dollar. Llamas are cool. I made some new friends at Wild Adventures. Crikey! What is that over yonder!?... Wild Adventures sure likes Vekoma. That right there, is a giant friggin' alligator. I had never actually seen a full sized gator in real life. Now I was staring one down 5 feet away. Sure there's a fence between us, but wow, that thing is a beast. They had some guys welding the loop or something. Whatever it was, it didn't look like it was going to open within the next hour or so. Dang it! First missed credit of the trip! Boomerang was closed. If you ever need reassurance that Gerstlauer trains suck, just go check out Cheetah at Wild Adventures. It could be an awesome ride if it weren't for those trains. First up was Hangman, which actually wasn't bad for an SLC. By no means smooth, but still the smoothest SLC I've ridden in the last several years. Yay! First park of the trip! Wild Adventures. My momma and I at the Nickajack Reservoir near Chattanooga, a family tradition when driving to FL. Yes, driving is the only way. You miss all the fun and excitement when you fly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hattuchili Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Nice photo TR, it looks like you had a good time at the park, excluded the closed rides! However, I am looking forward to your next update! --Sören Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Good pics and captions, sub-average park. I can't wait for you to get to some better parks, then it should be really good. It's weird to see someone in Gainesville on a Theme Park site, I drive past that stadium pretty much every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 The Florida stadium is about three miles from my house. Its always cool to see people come visit my hometown and post pictures of it on a theme park web site. This is that start of a really good Photo TR, can't wait to see the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socalMAN123 Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Haha, WA is obsessed with Vekoma! Great pics, looks like you're having fun so far! ---Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Cool Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Nice Photo TR! Haha that wwas a funny quote of the T.V. is more expensive than my car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillMontu Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 There's always lots to see in Gainesville. We have such attractions as: One of the best attractions in Gainesville is Erik. (and Target, of course) Krispy Kreme Donuts: Gainesville is ACEr friendly Orange and Blue McDonalds: Gainesville is Elissa Friendly. This is why Elissa's a Gator too. There's also a Carrabbas on the corner of 34th and Archer (though it opened after she left!) The Wacky Evangelists: According to these guys, riding coasters is sinning, posting on forums in sinning, and we're all going to hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haux Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 The Wacky Evangelists: According to these guys, riding coasters is sinning, posting on forums in sinning, and we're all going to hell.That's Jed Smock! Ahhh! He came to my campus for a week. He's insane. Some of the preachers are crazy, but this guy really takes the cake. Scott, good TR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Sweet report Scott, hope Orlando is fun. I jsut got back from Disney over Christmas Break and had a blast. Hit all the parks except Animal Kingdom, didn't wanna hit that one till Everest was open. Dude If your still planin a trip in March where you headin too and when, I'm tryin to hit some parks over spring break in either in Texas, Florida or maybe even Disneyland Resort/Knotts jsut depends. Keep the pics comin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Krispy Kreme Donuts: Gainesville is ACEr friendly That Krispy Kreme is about two minutes away from my High School, it's not a rare event for people to go there during first and second period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Hey, there is that picture of me while I was working. Heh cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtaylor Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 I only had 3 days in Orlando this go round, next trip I will have to hit Wild Adventures, the Star Flyer, and Expedition Everest. It was nice meeting you briefly on Tuesday. Sheikra is quite a ride. We got 7 cycles in. I will have to post some pics of my own from OTown. We hit Busch Gardens, Sea World, and had dinner with Mickey and Friends at the Contemporary. We also made stops in Old Town, Downtown Disney, and Universal(for a Jimmy Buffett margarita of course). And of course M&M World. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scaparri Posted January 31, 2006 Author Share Posted January 31, 2006 UPDATE: The night we got into Orlando, we went and checked out Old Town. This was nothing like what I expected. For starters, the place was packed! I think we ended up parking in the lawn of a hotel. I never imagined this place would be so popular. It wasn't really a park. More like a miniature town filled with novelty shops and a permanent carnival. Because it was a Saturday night, they had a massive car show which was actually pretty cool. It was definately a neat place, just nothing like what I imagined. The following day, I headed over to SeaWorld. I hadn't been to SeaWorld since I was like 6 or 7. I forgot how much I love the place. I was really impressed. The animal exhibits were great as always, the Shamu show was great, the rides were stellar, and the park was just really clean and well themed. It's not your full blown rides theme park, but nevertheless, it's one of my favorites. It was a great day at SeaWorld. Stay tuned tomorrow for IOA! I finally lost my Carrabba's virginity! Sorry for the blurriness. Stay tuned for IOA tomorrow! One more shot of the awesome Kraken. This is the real reason I came to SeaWorld. The Shamu bar. My was it tasty. Feeding and petting a dolphin was definately a highlight. Dolphins always look so happy. I definately don't remember SeaWorld being so nice. I mean, it was by no means a craphole before, but I was really impressed this time. The manatee is pretty much my favorite animal. The Shamu show is so awesome. This animal that weighs more than my car is jumping completely out of the water. I wonder if it hurts when they land? I like to call this the money shot. Kraken was incredible. And yeah, the zero-g roll was righteous. Kraken definately set a pretty high mark for the rest of the Florida coasters to match. How would they fair? The Main Event! I was pretty pumped to ride this bad boy. Up until this point, I had never experienced a zero-g roll outside of inverts. I had heard it was a completely different experience. Yeah, San Diego got the shaft. Atlantis was pretty cool. Definately my favorite wet ride of the trip. SeaWorld!!!! I was really excited to finally go back to this place. Partly because marine animals rock, and partly because of two awesome looking rides. Never in my lifetime will I bring myself to pay $40 to ride this terror contraption. Maybe if it were $20. G-Force was quite impressive looking, but once again, not forking out $30. There she is! If the Shelby Cobra was a woman, I'd make sweet sweet love to her all night long. I kind of hoped Windstorm would be similar to Runaway Mountain at SFOT. It had it's moments but didn't really compare. That near vertical drop is wicked awesome though. Wow, the picture actually turned out decent. Because the shutter speed is so slow on night mode, my pictures are generally very blurry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissie Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Great Photos Scott! Did you get soaked by Shamu?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Well if you liked Kraken's zero-g roll just wait to ride Hulk! Hulk's first inversion is insane, although it's debatable which is the overall better ride between Kraken and Hulk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Keep 'em coming Scotty, good stuff. I had TOTALLY forgotten Old Town existed, my dad used to love that place! This is the real reason I came to SeaWorld. To take a photograph of your crotch?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Keep 'em coming Scotty, good stuff. I had TOTALLY forgotten Old Town existed, my dad used to love that place! This is the real reason I came to SeaWorld. To take a photograph of your crotch?!?! Wouldn't you? Great pictures Scott. Old Town is the first park I'm hitting when I get there, and I'll proabbly end up doing that crazy Skycoaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 $40.00 for the Skycoaster?!?! For 10 bucks more you could get into any theme park. I guess it's worth the rush if you're into that sort of thing. I'm personally terrified of Skycoasters, I've only done SFNE's which was also expensive. Great Sea World photos, bro. I go there every October, the environment is very nice, especially the new waterfront. Me and Ali always eat at the Seafire Inn, which usually has a great live piana performance. This past October, we had the whole place to ourselves and had a private show. The environment of the whole place is really what brings me back every year. Oh wait, forgot about Kraken, Atlantis, sea creatures, and free beer... That place just kicks ass. Looking forward to the waterpark opening up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterEricHP Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Great TR so far! Keep it up! I didnt realize the Skycoaster was $40! I think when I rode it like.. 3 years ago it was $20. Maybe it was a Disney discount or something.. who knows. It was fun, but its over so fast that you'd really have to ride it twice to get the full effect.. and that'd be grounds for bankruptcy. Cant wait to hear about the other parks! Great Kraken shot btw! The one looks like the huge head is about to eat them.. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 I plan on whoring myself out at Old Town in March guys... anyone gonna accompany me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Depending on when you're going I might be able to, but if not you should see me around SFOG more often next year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scaparri Posted February 1, 2006 Author Share Posted February 1, 2006 UPDATE! Universal! Islands of Adventure! Wow! Holy Crap! Jeebus! Whammy! This place lived up to every bit of the hype. I was pretty much was blown away. I mean, I was pretty impressed with the theming at Wild Adventures and SeaWorld. This place was mindblowing. The 7 year wait was well worth it. -Hulk. This was one of my most anticipated rides of the trip. As with the rest of the park, I was pretty impressed with the theming. The ride itself was pretty awesome. The launch was much more intense than I imagined, and the zero-g roll drop was pretty sick. I was really surprised by how badly it has aged. I mean, it was by no means horribly rough, but it was very bumpy and jerky at times. The only Beemers that are rougher that I've ridden are Iron Wolf and Mantis. Nevertheless, it was an awesome ride. I could reride it quite a few times just for the launch and zero-g roll. For the record, I liked Kraken's zero-g better though. The end of Hulk didn't do it for me either. It really kind of died out at the end. -Spiderman. This was really the perfect time to come to FL. There is nobody there in January. I never waited in one line while at IOA. Anyway, Spiderman also lived up to the hype. There's no real good thing to say about it that describes it. The effects are just so great. Dueling Dragons- Once again, met all the hype. I'm still amazed by this ride. The whole weighing the trains deal and adjusting them is so cool. It is so wild to come that close to another train. I must say though, when they happen to not duel, the ride really loses some of the effect. Both sides are great, though I definately prefer Fire. It packs more of a punch, and like Hulk, Ice really dies at the end. The Immelman helix thingamajig definately kicks. USF- Wow, this was such a letdown. I'm really surprised that so many people come here year after year. It doesn't really seem like there is much to do and the attractions aren't all that thrilling. I mean, it's not like every ride has to be thrilling. I guess I just wasn't all that entertained by the attractions I did. But yeah, the lack of things to do was probably the biggest letdown though. The Mummy was pretty cool, but believe it or not, I prefer Italian Job. Overall, it was an awesome day. Probably the best day of the trip. Great rides, a great park, and lots of fun memories. IOA is definately my favorite park now. Well, that's my rundown on some of the big attractions. Now Enjoy the pictures and tune in tomorrow for Busch Gardens! You best believe I did! I don't care how old or masculine or whatever you are, how can you look at this and not want to ride it just once? I'm quite partial to Lost Continent, but Seuss Landing was definately the "neatest" island, even if it is meant for little kids. I took a break from my meal at Mythos to get a sweet shot with the Hulk. If you look closely, you can tell that I'm still fairly wet from Bilge Rat Barges and Jurassic Park, despite being several hours later and sunny. I was that soaked. My mom found a new man while at Universal. I'm not really into spinach though. Have you ever noticed that Popeye's forearms are obscenely massive but his biceps or non-existant? What if people were actually like that.... I really love Disney, but this place rivals pretty much any Disney park I've been to. This just shows off some of the theming in the Lost Continent. This bad boy had to be one hellacious construction job. What an awesome product though. Best ride at Universal. Unfortunately, judging by the paint, it's seen better days. Yeah, it's the shot that EVERYBODY has taken. Well, here's another. It's just that darn cool. But dear God, "wet" was an understatement. It wasn't a cold day, but it definately wasn't hot. It took almost the entire day to go from soaking to virtually dry. (Sorry for the blurriness) I had been told that I had to make sure I did the water rides at IOA. Now I knew I'd get wet... I really like this picture for some reason. The launch a zero-g roll is awesome. It's really a shame that the ride is becoming so bumpy and jerky. Finally!! I've wanted to ride Hulk ever since I laid eyes on it in '99. To make it even better, there was no line all day! After a 7 year wait, I finally make it to Universal. Looking toward the park from the CityWalk. I must say, the parking garages at Universal are monstrous. I was equally amazed at them. CP seriously needs to look into doing something like if they ever want to expand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scaparri Posted February 1, 2006 Author Share Posted February 1, 2006 More pictures! After quite a bit of time at IOA, we hopped over to Universal Studios, for what would be a short bit. Once the park closed, we capped off the great day with a meal at Margaritaville. Come back tomorrow for Busch Gardens! It wasn't long before we ditched Universal Studios to go back for some more rides on DD, Spidey, and the Hulk. The Mummy was pretty cool! Theming once again was crazy. Nothing else was that grandiose at USF. We also skipped MIB though. There wasn't a lot to do here that sparked our interest and the park was really wide open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 "I don't care how old or masculine or whatever you are, how can you look at this and not want to ride it just once?" I agree - I think the Caro-seuss-cel or however you spell it is awesome! "Looking toward the park from the CityWalk. I must say, the parking garages at Universal are monstrous. I was equally amazed at them. CP seriously needs to look into doing something like if they ever want to expand." yea, they are the overlooked wonder of IOA So friggen' awesome! "I really like this picture for some reason." 'cause it's a great photo, a shot which I will totally pilfer "We also skipped MIB though." aww you missed out IMO. It's really fun. Keep 'em coming Scott, these are GREAT! - Joe edit Depending on when you're going I might be able to, but if not you should see me around SFOG more often next year Oh yea where are you going to school anyway? If you say Georgia, I'd rather not know, but since you're from Gainesville I doubt it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally hyped about visiting Islands Of Adventure in 6 weeks. Great pictures Scott! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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