Ork1927 Posted April 21, 2006 Posted April 21, 2006 I've been meaning to do this for ages and as it is nearly a year ago that I went on a two week dream holiday to Orlando I thought I'd better get with the posting. Me and my girlfriends ventured to Orlando last year for two weeks of Theme Parks, Theme Parks and more theme parks. There was a concern about how we were going to fit everything in and the fact that my girlfriend, Clare wasn't a coaster fan but thanks to three rides on the Kraken on Day One and deciding that sleep was an over-rated pass time we went everywhere, rode everything and then went back and rode it again. I'll let the pictures tell the story but over the course of the two week holiday staying on International Drive - we managed three trips to Sea World (and nine rides on the Kraken), three days at Universal hitting both parks, a day at each Disney Park and then a triple header of Animal Kingdom, Epcot and MGM as well as another evening at Magic Kingdom plus half a day at Wet and Wild, a day at Busch Gardens, a day at Kennedy, a trip to the Everglades (including a boat ride in Naples), visited two malls and spent our time before we flew home at Blizzard Beach! Highlights included, well it was all a highlight, but - Getting to Universal Studios before opening and having the park almost to ourselves for the first hour and a half, doing everything and then popping over to Islands at 4.00pm and finding ourselves walking straight onto every ride one after the other totally gob-smacked at our first visit to this amazing place finishing with three rides on Dragons and a second ride on Hulk by 7.00pm (that was a long day). - Feeding a Giraffe at Busch Gardens and having a great day there (sadly we were a week too early for Sheikra). - All of Seaworld especially the Kraken and the Manatees. - All the film memorabilia at Universal and MGM. - Being terrified by the Tower of Terror (I hate lifts) and continuing to be terrified by it the next three times. - Marvel Super Hero Island having a comic shop (I'm a comic geek). - Eating all the food in the world and then designing the slowest but loopiest coaster at Disney Quest. - Actually - all of it - every single second of it - except Beetlejuices Graveyard Review. I'll be quiet now. On with the photos and counting down to Disneyland Paris in a fortnight!! Day 3: Kennedy Space Centre - A very interesting place. Thoroughly enjoyed our day. Day 3: Kennedy Space Centre - This beast of a building - you can drive a bus down one of the stripes on the flag. Day 3: Kennedy Space Centre - The shuttle on the launch pad, The next day it went back into......... Day 2: Magic Kingdom - Surprised how much I remembered from previous visit. Had a fun day, loads of rides, great weather and danced with a country bear. Day 2: Magic Kingdom - My girlfriend, Clare - isn't she lovely. Day 2: Magic Kingdom - I wore the goofy hat every day we visited Disney (well, its difficult to wear it anywhere else - although my girlfriend's sister is getting married soon.......) Day 2: Magic Kingdon - Don't say hello................ Day 2: Magic Kingdon - First ride was a blast with Buzz. Great fun Day 2: Magic Kingdom - I'd been here nearly 20 years before but it was Clares first visit. Day 1 - Seaworld: A great first day - three rides on the Kraken, two on Atlantis, stroked a penquin, rubbed down a dolphin and fed seals and sealions. Day 1 - Seaworld: Now that is a big Killer Whale Day 1 - Seaworld: Okay - Perhaps you'd prefer the fish! Day 1 - Seaworld: Mmmmmm Lunch!? Day 1 - Seaworld: My first and favourite coaster of the holiday - THE KRAKEN Day 1 - Seaworld: First ride of the holiday - the Awesome Atlantis
Ork1927 Posted April 21, 2006 Author Posted April 21, 2006 Some more photos Day 6 - Epcot - After Future World closed we strolled around World Showcase (and rode Maelstrom) and watched our first Disney fireworks Day 6 - Epcot - As well as finding Nemo, we hit all the rides including the brilliant Mission Space twice. Soaring opened that day but we weren't that impressed. Day 6 - Epcot - We arrived at Epcot via the Mall at Millenia taking three buses to get there and the monorail. Day 5 - Animal Kingdom - Finished another amazing day with an sandwich from Earl of Sandwich (please let them come to the UK) at Downtown Disney Day 5 - Animal Kingdom - Totally caught bu surprise at how brilliant Dinosaur was. Day 5 - Animal Kingdom - Rode the safari twice but was a bit disapointed with the Rapids ride (although we had rode Bilge Rat Barges the day before) Day 5 - Animal Kingdom - Loved the design of the park and the animal walks Day 5 - Animal Kingdom - We love Animal parks and couldn't wait to come here. Day 4 - Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure - We then got even more wet on Bilge Rat Barges (best rapids ever!!!) and JP before drying off with two rides on Ice and one on Fire before a final ride on the Hulk. An amazing, amazing day. Day 4 - Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure - Having not planned to visit Islands that day we proceded to go on all the rides cold as all the people at the park suddenly disapeared and we walked straight onto everything. Spidey was spectacular, amazin Day 4 - Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure - Except the Hulk was calling us. We arrived and the queue was an hour long BUT there were fastpasses available for 5 minutes time!!! Day 4 - Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure - At 4.00pm after a cracking day, three rides on the Mummy (bows down to the greatness of the Mummy) we decided to have a quiet evening........ Day 4 - Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure - SHARK ATTACK!!! We loved Universal Studios and were gob smacked at the rides, shows and effects Day 4 - Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure - After Men In Black, BTF and Jaws. I decided to get curious and got soaked for my trouble. Day 4 - Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure - Doors opened early so we ran to Men in Black but I quickly got distracted.
Ork1927 Posted April 21, 2006 Author Posted April 21, 2006 And even more photos. Day 9 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: A on-ride shot of the Mummy. Day 9 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: After Islands we headed over to the Studios for more Jaws, Men in Black and Mummy. Day 9 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: Nice and wet again. People were staring as we walked towards Bilge Rat Barges and wondering how we were so wet so early. Day 9 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: What do you do if you've been to all the parks and still have half the holiday left? Go to them all again. We took the front seat of the first Hulk ride of the day and then went round all of the park once Day 8 - Busch Gardens: If we had gone back I think it would have ended up as my favourite park. Day 8 - Busch Gardens: My only regret on the holiday is we didn't go back to Busch. Day 8 - Busch Gardens: Shiekra was a week away from opening but we loved all the animal stuff and went out on the plain to feed antelopes, giraffes and scary wood storks. Day 8 - Busch Gardens: We did get to ride all the other rides but only once but Montu and Kumba were awesome. Clare hated Gwazi but I loved it. Day 8 - Busch Gardens: Wanting to split our time between the rides and animals we missed out on a few rides - Cheetah Chase, Haunted Lighthouse, Rapids and Tidal Wave (which was shut) Day 8 - Busch Gardens: Animals and Coasters!!! We travelled to Busch via Seaworld and it was school trip time as there were kids everywhere. Day 7 - MGM: The backlot tour was great with all the vehicles from films. A great park and probably my favourite Disney park. We got to appear on the big screen at Millionaire as well. Day 7 - MGM: Nope! I'm amazed that not only was the ministorm accuratly predicted but the stunt show took place straight afterwards. Day 7 - MGM: The Indy show got called off due to a storm so we headed for Lights, Motors, Action which was debuting that day. Would the storm stop the show? Day 7 - MGM: And with good cause. A fantastic and terrifying ride. We rode it twice and it was just as scary the second time. Really really well designed and themed as well. Day 7 - MGM: I loved MGM, all the film stuff, the brilliant rock n roller coaster and the t t t t t t t t t ower - I'm not a fan of normal lifts so I was a bit scared of this
phazan Posted April 21, 2006 Posted April 21, 2006 Awesome pictures!! How did you get that close to the lion?
Ork1927 Posted April 21, 2006 Author Posted April 21, 2006 He was right up close to the glass and I was lucky enough to get the shot without any reflection.
Ork1927 Posted April 21, 2006 Author Posted April 21, 2006 One more set after this. Day 12 - AK/Epcot/MGM:We then crashed out and watched Fantasmic. A great and long day. Day 12 - AK/Epcot/MGM: Two rides on the Tower in the dark. The second being the scariest of all four rides plus Rock n Roller Coaster, Millionaire and a couple of the exhibits Day 12 - AK/Epcot/MGM: A ride on Figment and a goodbye to the mantees at Living Seas we headed off to MGM Day 12 - AK/Epcot/MGM: Then to Epcot where I got my Goofy photo, we rode Mission Space twice, saw Honey I Shrunk the Audience and played around in Innovations Day 12 - AK/Epcot/MGM: We managed to go on safari, re-ride the awesome dinosaur and go round all the animal exhibits before a great lunch at the rainforest cafe. Day 12 - AK/Epcot/MGM - Coming to the end of our holiday we decided to visit three Disney Parks in the same day. Staring at AK wishing Everest wasn't 9 months from completion Day 11 - Wet n Wild/Seaworld: We clocked up another three rides on the Kraken as well. Day 11 - Wet n Wild/Seaworld: Mr Pelican didn't like the outside world so he came back on his own. Day 11 - Wet n Wild/Seaworld: While watching the pelicans we watched this cheeky lad escape from the enclosure by jumping onto a boat and over the fence - we told one of the staff and she radioed for assistance. Day 11 - Wet n Wild/Seaworld: No photos from Wet n Wild as we used an underwater camera but we had a good morning riding the slides. In the afternoon we took the I-Trolley to Seaworld. Day 10 - Everglades Tour: In the afternoon we took a boat ride upto the Gulf before settling on a beach for a few hours. Due to the traffic we didn't get back to Orlando until 2.30am! Day 10 - Everglades Tour: A great day spotting animals in their natural environment - gators, racoons, antelopes, staggs, eagles, pelicans, dolphins, deers and ostrichs. Day 10 - Everglades Tour: We took a day off from the parks and headed down to the Everglades for an airboat ride and swamp buggy tour.
Ork1927 Posted April 22, 2006 Author Posted April 22, 2006 Last photos and I really wish I was doing it all again this year. Anyhoo - to finish off are my top ten rides from the trip: 1 - Kraken 2 - Amazing Adventures of Spiderman 3 - Tower of Terror 4 - Incredible Hulk 5 - Revenge of the Mummy 6 - Mission Space 7 - Dinosaur 8 - Bilge Rat Barges 9 - Kumba 10 - Dueling Dragons and then lots lots more Day 14 - SeaWorld/Magic Kingdom - The next morning we checked our bags and spent the morning at Typhoon Lagoon snorkling and slide riding before heading back to Blighty. The End. Day 14 - SeaWorld/Magic Kingdom - The last ride turned out to be Space Mountain before we watched the fireworks and sadly left the Magic Kingdom. Day 14 - SeaWorld/Magic Kingdom - We went on all our favourite rides - Buzz, the mountains, Phantom manor, etc and a couple we had missed. Day 14 - SeaWorld/Magic Kingdom - See ya next time! Day 14 - SeaWorld/Magic Kingdom - Three more rides on the Kraken to take it up to nine in total. Day 14 - SeaWorld/Magic Kingdom -Fed some more seals and sea lions as well as the Rays. Day 14 - SeaWorld/Magic Kingdom - Sat at the front of Atlantis. Who'd believe that this drop would get you so wet. Day 14 - SeaWorld/Magic Kingdom - Our last proper day and we headed back to SeaWorld for the third time. Day 13 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: Turned out to be a good choice to go to Islands first. Day 13 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: Our final ride on the Mummy and this fell onto me during the ride!!! Day 13 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: Signing monters???!!!!! Day 13 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: After saying goodbye to Islands we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for Lunch before our final visit to Universal Day 13 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: Islands was possibly our favourite park - great rides and we loved the clockwise walk around the lake going from ride to ride Day 13 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: Once again we got there early and walked onto all the rides even getting to ride Pteranodon Flyers as they were letting anyone on. Day 13 - Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios: We decided to go for Islands first for our third and final trp to Universal
Erik Johnson Posted April 22, 2006 Posted April 22, 2006 WoW! Thanks for spending the time posting all of these pictures. I am glad that you were able to do just about everything and more on your visit.
stingrock23 Posted April 22, 2006 Posted April 22, 2006 Lots of good pictures you took, Ork. Glad you got to do lots of everything. I'll be down there in 9 days.
s2pids2 Posted April 22, 2006 Posted April 22, 2006 it looks like you guys had a blast. thanks for the great pictures and for the detailed PTR. I still haven't been on Kraken, even though I go to Orlando every year. Maybe I will get a chance this year, when I'm there for 2 weeks in June!!
s2pids2 Posted April 22, 2006 Posted April 22, 2006 ^ by the way, what fell on you whilst riding the mummy? it looks like some type of stage prop from a pulley system?
Ork1927 Posted April 22, 2006 Author Posted April 22, 2006 I'm not sure - I handed it in and the staff member didn't seem too concerned.
Canadmos Posted April 22, 2006 Posted April 22, 2006 Damn dude, that sounded like an action packed 2 weeks. Great pictures!
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