I really need to get back to Disney. Seriously, it's my second home. It would be my first if I could afford it. My friends all know that Rin and I are Disneyphiles, but I don't think they understand. One of them almost does, but he's a Disneyland guy, not Walt Disney World.
And then, last week, a couple friends asked me to start planning a trip for them and her daughter, so now I have the joys of planning (yes, I like to plan trips), but I don't get to reap any of the rewards. I'm not sure if my body wants to be happy because it's reimmersed in Disney planning, or sad, because it won't actually be immersed in Disney.
Anyway, everything lately is reminding me of Disney. I've recently started playing Mass Effect, and the music in the startup menu reminds me of Space Mountain. I was driving home the other day, and a song came on that had been on a lot while we were in Florida. There were a couple of other things too, but they went out of my head as I started writing. Oops.
Sadly, Rin wants to go the England before we go back to Disney. Usually, I would call her a blasphemer, but I'll allow it in this case. Her sister, brother-in-law and only neice and nephew live in England, and she hasn't seen any of them in about 3 years. That's about half her neice's life. So, time to start saving for England!
Oops! There were supposed to be pictures today, since I'm sure you don't just come here to read my ramblings, but I just noticed the time. Off to work I go! I promise there will be another photo dump soon.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Monday, 19 March 2012
Africa - A Dream of Mine
So, I'll finish putting up pictures from our Disney trip eventually, but I felt like writing tonight. My plan was for this to be a travel blog once I was done my Trip Report (although we won't be doing much travelling in the near future, what with Rin being in school, and me going back once she's done), so this is my inaugural 'Travel Blog' post. Since we won't be doing much travelling, I'll be writing about places we've been, or places we want to go. And number one on my list (Rin has her own list, maybe she'll deign to write about it someday) is Africa, so I figure it's a good place to start.
Now, for those of you who don't know Rin and me (Yes, "me," not "I." Look it up. I'm tired of bad grammar online.), we don't travel cheaply. I blame this on Rin, she's high maintenance. I mean, sure, I like the high life as well, but I'd be happy sleeping in a tent if it meant we could go to Africa (or Disney, or Las Vegas, etc, etc). So, you can image, a trip to Africa means mega bucks. But, honestly, I think I prefer it this way.
Why? Well, because Africa is ridiculously beautiful, and has some ridiculously beautiful accommodations. I originally realised this 3 or 4 years ago when I stumbled across a website entitled Africa in Style (now journeysinstyle.com). The website has expanded and changed since I originally found it, , unfortunately, it no longer features the property that I originally fell in love with: Shompole.
Shompole is, for lack of a better word, breathtaking. Sadly, as I write this, I've just discovered that Shompole is currently closed Probably why Journeys in Style no longer features it.). But, in hopes that it will open again soon, and to pique your interest, I give you some pictures that drew me to the property.
I had planned to write more, but I'll save that for another day. Trust me, there will be more Africa to come, someday, hopefully, culminating in a Trip Report and some pictures of my own. And, if you want to help me get there, feel free to click the ads Google is so gracious to supply me with - every little bit helps!
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| Seriously, who doesn't want to wake up to this? |
Why? Well, because Africa is ridiculously beautiful, and has some ridiculously beautiful accommodations. I originally realised this 3 or 4 years ago when I stumbled across a website entitled Africa in Style (now journeysinstyle.com). The website has expanded and changed since I originally found it, , unfortunately, it no longer features the property that I originally fell in love with: Shompole.
Shompole is, for lack of a better word, breathtaking. Sadly, as I write this, I've just discovered that Shompole is currently closed Probably why Journeys in Style no longer features it.). But, in hopes that it will open again soon, and to pique your interest, I give you some pictures that drew me to the property.
I had planned to write more, but I'll save that for another day. Trust me, there will be more Africa to come, someday, hopefully, culminating in a Trip Report and some pictures of my own. And, if you want to help me get there, feel free to click the ads Google is so gracious to supply me with - every little bit helps!
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Trip Report Photo Dump Part 1
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| Waiting to get into Tusker House for breakfast. No one told me how bad that beard looked, but it had a purpose. |
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| If you've ever read any 'Overheard at Disney' posts on message boards, one of the most common is "You mean they paid to make it look like this?!" Personally, I love that attention to detail. |
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| Apparently the CM taking the picture knows how to use my camera even worse than I do. Still, Donald! |
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| And Mickey! |
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| Daisy. |
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| Goofy, my favourite. I think he's the tallest character in Disney. Except maybe Beast... |
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| Birthday cupcake for Rin. Nothing special, but a nice perk that Disney does for their birthday guests. |
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| OH MY GOD!!! BABY ELEPHANT! I have like 30 pictures of these two hanging out. Our driver on the safari broke character for a moment and said they're her favorite part of the attraction. |
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| Some of you may remember that I mentioned a snake at Conservation Station that Rin was terrified of, but wanted to touch. This is that snake. Not Rin's hand though. |
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| Just more of the attention to detail I love. |
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| I have several shots of these flags. They're the ones near the tigers on one of the walking trails. This is probably my favourite of the pictures, just the way the sun peaks through them. |
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| Bald Eagle. Absolutely massive Bald Eagle. At the Flights of Wonder show. |
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| For those of you who haven't been, this is the lobby of Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House. |
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| Haloween decorations at MK. |
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| Obligatory picture in front of the Castle. |
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| Obligatory picture of the Castle. I always forget how magnificent it is. |
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| Ah, yes. This was Oct 1st. The 40th Anniversary of Magic Kingdom. So we watched the festivities. Maybe it's just the military in me, but I think WDW needs some Pipes and Drums. |
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| A shot of the crowds also watching the presentation. |
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| Another shot of the crowds. This was the busiest I'd ever seen MK. |
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| Daytime fireworks. WDW sure knows how to throw a party. Apparently the fireworks that night were amazingf, but we didn't get a chanve to see them. |
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| Apparently I smile with a lot of teeth... |
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| So I was playing with settings on my camera, and this happened. I liked it, so I kept it. |
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| Trying to get the sword. It didn't come out. |
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| Didn't work for Rin either. |
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| Maybe we should have asked our Fairy Godmother to help us with the sword. Didn't occur to me at the time. |
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| I just really like this shot, Rin and her Fairy Godmother having a chat. She really liked the pink in Rin's hair. |
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| Cinderella wearing her crown. |
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| The Dapper Dans performing. I honestly took two shots as we were walking past. Sometimes youy just get lucky and your subject looks at you. |
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| Roy and Minnie in their secondary location. |
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| Just another nice shot. From the train station. |
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| Another crowd shot. This was later in the day, still on Oct 1st. |
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| The Monorail! |
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| Epcot. This was still Oct 1st, everyone was at MK. Epcot was almost empty. |
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| I got sucked into the show in Italy. Rin took a *lot* of pictures. You only get one. |
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| See the Hidden Mickey? |
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Day 12 - Departure, Dining Summary and Final Thoughts
So, day 12. Time to head out. Not much to say here. Got up, dropped the car off, checked baggage, got some Cold Stone Creamery from the airport (which wasn’t really Cold Stone Creamery), and flew away. Got a very disappointing burger in Toronto, got home around midnight, and went to sleep. Picked up our dog, Pan, the next morning, he was very happy to see us. He slept for about 4 days straight.
Dining Plan Summary
I’m only going to do a calculation for the Deluxe Plan, since the Platinum plan has too many things to take into account. Although I willl say we definitely got our money’s worth out of the Platinum Plan. I’m not sure I would do it again though, now that it’s a 3-night minimum.
Total Cost for Deluxe Plan - Rin and I upgraded to the Deluxe Plan during Free Dining, so it only cost us $33/person/night as opposed to the usual $78.99/person/night. Which totalled $396 for the 6-nights we were on the Deluxe Plan. With this plan, we got the following:
Narcoossee’s - $170.81
Tusker House - $55.45
Yak & Yeti - $79.28
Raglan Road - $74.55
Via Napoli - $77.75
Le Cellier - $142.05
Crystal Palace - $45.98
Cosmic Ray’s - $15.00 (A low estimate)
Mama Melrose - $64.36
Artist Point - $146.95
Tony’s Town Square - $63.42
Jiko - $136.73
Grand Floridian Cafe -$42.96
Plus around 15 bottles of water, a cake pop, popcorn, a couple of giant cupcakes, and a number of other snacks which I’ve probably forgotten about. The meals alone total:
$1115.29
For a total savings of:
$719.29
Even had we paid full price for the dining plan, at $947.88, we still would have saved money. Now, I know some of the naysayers out there will say we went to a lot of expensive restaurants, and bought really expensive food, but honestly, we only went to places we thought we’d like, and we only ordered things we thought would taste good. Never once did I look at cost when deciding whether or not to order something. There were a couple of disappointing moments, but that could have happened even if we weren’t on the Dining Plan (look at SeaWorld, that was easily the most disappointing meal of the trip, and I paid OOP for it).
Final Thoughts
Wow, this was a busy trip. But then, our trips always are. I learned one (major) thing this trip though: I’m happy just hanging out at Disney. Honestly, I used to have an urge to go back to SeaWorld, but that’s long gone now, and while US and IoA are cool, they’re just not worth it for me. The only thing that’s likely to draw me outside of the Disney bubble again is Busch. I just love their coasters. And possibly another ‘backstage’ thing at SeaWorld. I don’t like the park, but I love the animals. (And WWoHP! I swear, if he doesn;t take me back there, I’m out.)
While I love the Deluxe Dining Plan, I think next trip we may just do the Basic Dining Plan. There are two reasons for that. One, we’re broke, and it’ll save us money. Two, I want to see if I like it as much as the DxDP. I’m always advocating the DDP on the TA boards because of my experience with the DxDP, but I’ve never actually tried it. That, and we were so constantly full this trip, I didn’t get to try some of the snacks I wanted to.
I can’t wait for Splitsville to open in DTD. Just gonna throw that out there.
I think this is our last stay in a Deluxe accommodation again for a while too. Again, we’re broke. But, when/if we do start staying Deluxe again, I think I’d like to focus on a Monorail Resort. GF was just so convenient for some things. Speaking of, GF was amazing, and if any of you ever have the chance to stay there, do it, don’t even wonder if there’s a better option, just do it.
This was my first time renting from Alamo, and they’re now equal with National for my business. Pickup and dropoff were simple, and both have a good selection of cars, coming from the same fleet and all. I’m not sure if we’ll get a car next trip, but I think I’d always prefer to have one, even at a Monorail Resort like GF. Even if we only use it once or twice, it’s like a security blanket, knowing we can go anywhere at any time if we need to.
I think that’s it. Thanks for sticking with me through all of this. It was long, and probably dry. Next time, I’ll bring Rin in for more of it, if I do another. I hope it helped some readers plan trips, or at least gave you 1 new piece of information, and if (for some crazy reason) you want me to go more in depth into anything, just let me know!
Day 11 - Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Wizarding World of Harry Potter
I’ll say up front, most of today was actually dedicated to WWoHP. When we arrived at the park, it was pouring again, so we decided to get ponchos. I know people are always talking about making sure you have ponchos so you don’t have to buy them at exorbitant park prices, but we don’t usually use them, even in the rain, so we didn’t have any. $16 later, we both had ponchos. G showed up, already ponchoed up, so we went to brave the stormy weather and make our first journey into Hogwarts. Well, Rin’s and my first journey, G had been there once before, so she knew what was coming.
We waded through puddles, and slowly made our way to WWoHP. When we rounded the corner and Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the train all came into sight, Rin started to cry (I usually won’t make these things worse for myself, but I believe the phrase he’s looking for is “sob uncontrollably while gripping both of their hands” I was at HOGWARTS). Seems to be a pretty common theme. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but Rin cries constantly. I showed her the “One More Disney Day” video the other day, and she started crying.
G and I started cracking up in the middle of the Dr. Seuss land. We were wading through a puddle about a foot deep, and we realized we were essentially crossing the Great Lake to get to Hogwarts. Could. Not. Even.
First thing’s first, we headed into Hogwarts to do the Forbidden Journey. There was literally no line. We wound up not being able to see a few of the things we wanted to because the staff members were ushering people to move along the line and not stop to check things out. After our whirlwind trip through Hogwarts, we were on the ride. I have to say, not my favourite. The volume seemed off in certain parts so that I couldn’t hear the voices over everything else that was going on, and the overall ride just seemed kind of like “Hey, how can we cram as much stuff from the books into this 5 minute ride while trying to make it coherent?” There was just too much being done, and honestly, some of it didn’t make sense to me. Sure, the ride vehicle was cool, but I didn’t find it as ‘revolutionary’ as some.
And it was terrifying. No, seriosuly. Blind, unadultered terror. It started with the realization that a dragon was probably going to stick it’’s face it my face. This was when I closed my eyes a bit, peeking through to see when it was over. Then, we were entering the forrest. Ah, but this is where acromantulas live, the Potterhead in me warned. Eyes closed again, and let’s get a good grip on these restraints, shall we?
Then came the Dementors.
I like to draw on Lupin’s words of comfort when Harry’s Boggart is a Dementor. Because this was when it was over for me. Eyes squeezed shut, legs draw up, gripping the restraints for dear life. I actually screamed a couple of times, too. Then I peeked. Oooh, I should not have peeked.
I love you, Harry Potter. But you can keep your Forbidden Journey, I think.
After we finished the ride, we spent a lot of time just wandering Hogsmeade and checking out the shops and whatnot. I have to say, the area itself is well done, if a bit cramped. We saw a part of the Frog Choir show before they had to leave because of rain, but we didn’t get a chance to see the Durmstrang/Beauxbatons demonstration, again, likely because of the on and off rain. We got a few postcards, and bought some stamps off of a person who only needed like 2 out of the pack of 10 they bought, and sent them off to friends. None of them knew they would be getting them, so they were really excited when they showed up, Hogsmeade postmark and all.
My sister actually cried. :)
Rin got herself a scarf and t-shirt, both Ravenclaw, and got her sister a Slytherin scarf as well. Prices actually weren’t bad, imo. We looked for a wand, but at the time, they were still only selling the movie wands. Rumour has it that they’ll start getting in Pottermore wands once the site goes public, but at the time, the site had just started Beta, so there were no ‘unique’ wands yet.
This broke my heart a little bit. I really wanted my wand, the one JK in all her wisdom had deemed would choose me. Oh well, next time, I suppose... Hilariously, all we did was ask for an ebony wand and the guy was like “Pottermore, right?”
After all of our shopping, we picked up our camera from the locker we had stored it in, and put in our shopping bags. It was time to go explore Hogwarts for real. We spent a good deal of time going through, got lots of pictures, marvelled at the moving paintings, etc, etc. When we got through the ‘tour line’ (as opposed to the ‘ride line’), the staff member manning the exit was willing to let us go on the ride again. But, since I had our camera, and since Rin had closed her eyes for most of the first ride (scared of the spiders and Dementors), we passed.
It was getting close to 5:00 at this point, so we started to head back to the front of the park. It was about this point that the sun finally came out. We went to the locker, grabbed my backpack, and carried on. Then we realized that the purchases weren’t there. We couldn’t figure out what happened, and Rin was panicked, but finally we had the thought that we left them in the locker. Luckilly, no one had taken that locker yet,so the staff member manning that area was able to open it for us and retrieve our stuff. Yay!
Zife missed the Butterbeer! How could he miss the Butterbeer??
After years of dreaming and imagining and substituting, I finally had a Butterbeer. I chose to go with a cold one, where G actually got hers frozen. Both were amazing. I was not in the slightest but disappointed.
Also, we checked out Honeydukes and Zonkos - both very awesome. I really wish I had more money. :( The music playing in the background kept making me tear up, too. Le sigh, maybe Zife’s right about me...
We did Hulk on the way out, which is still awesome, as well as Spiderman, which was alright, and headed over to Universal. I was meeting some people from the DIS Boards to do HHN with them. We had a bit of time before the park closed and everyone got cordoned off in the ‘New York’ area of the park, so we decided to check out Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit since Neither Rin nor G had been on it. It was closed. So we thought we’d check out the Mummy. The sign said 10 minutes, we waited 10 minutes and the line didn’t move. It was about this time I had to meet the group at Finnegan’s, so we hopped out of line, I left Rin and G, and began looking. I looked for about an hour, until the park was about to open up again for HHN. I never found them, and since I was still wet from earlier in the day (especially my shoes), I was grumpy, and decided to just call it a day. I met Rin back in the parking lot, and we headed out.
Rin had planned to do the Titanic Exhibit while I was at HHN, and had already bought her ticket. So, on the way back to the hotel, I dropped her at the exhibit and went back to the hotel to get dry clothes, shoes, etc.
I’ve had a small Titanic problem since I was about eleven years old. I knew everything about it - I had books of facts, every fiction I could find, a replica newspaper, 3D puzzles, the works. The night before the movie came out on video I literally couldn’t sleep, I was just too excited.
So there was no way I wasn’t going to see Titanic the Experience. Not when it was just down the street from our hotel.
And to be honest with you, it was actually really cool. We were led on our tour by one of the ship’s cooks, and given an identity of a real person who had been on the ship. They had giant replicas, actual artifacts from the Titanic and her sister ships, and entire rooms done up (such as one of the dining rooms and the grand staircase, my favourite). I definitely had quite a few what we in the business call “fangirl moments”. Luckily, there was a very nice teenage boy there with his parents who kindly took a couple pictures for me so I could avoid the awkward SLR one-handed self-portrait.
I think that might have been one of the best parts of the whole thing - we were welcome to take as many pictures as we liked.
When we had to head out to the lifeboats, it was actually dark and very cold! Another cool thing they did. And in the final room of the experience, we got to search for ourselves on these giant lists of passengers and crew to see if we survived.
I did :)
After that, there were a couple more rooms revolving around this kid (his family runs the experience) who was the youngest person to go down to the Titanic’s wreck, and then movie props from the Cameron film.
Score.
Once it was all done, the second best part of the experience happened. There very nice boy who checked me in had an accent, and while I was waiting for Zife (all alone, everyone else had booked it once the tour part was over and I had lingered in the last two rooms), I went up and asked him if he was really British, or just put it on for the show. Turns out he actually was a legitimate Brit, so we spent a while talking about what brought him there, where I was from, what we both did as students, he asked me to psychoanalyse him (as a Psych Masters student I get this a lot, even though I’m doing developmental and am no more qualified to analyse you than Zife is), and so on. He actually also works at WWoHP ( a job, he confessed, he took on because he already had the accent and figured he was a shoe in) and told me next time I was there to ask the conductors to see their watch - apparently they’re very cool.
After a while, Zife showed up and I left my new friend, thus ending my wonderful Titanic experience.
Oh, and the guy was from Southampton, too. He made me promise not to make fun of him - all of his friends already did mercilessly.
Once Rin was done at the exhibit, she texted me, and we decided what to do for supper. I had a Restaurant.com thing for Il Mulino at Swan & Dolphin, but we decided just to hit the TGI Friday’s across the street. Yes, it’s a chain, and I try to avoid chains when on vacation, but I really like TGI Friday’s, and we don’t have them in Newfoundland (or in Canada I think). Also, this was a night that I just wanted something familiar and basic. Comfort food, if you will. I'm not going to review it though, because I simply don't care enough.
Food was decent, restaurant was loud, and someone thought I worked there because I was wearing my Magic is Might shirt that said STAFF on the back. Whoops!
We waded through puddles, and slowly made our way to WWoHP. When we rounded the corner and Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the train all came into sight, Rin started to cry (I usually won’t make these things worse for myself, but I believe the phrase he’s looking for is “sob uncontrollably while gripping both of their hands” I was at HOGWARTS). Seems to be a pretty common theme. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but Rin cries constantly. I showed her the “One More Disney Day” video the other day, and she started crying.
G and I started cracking up in the middle of the Dr. Seuss land. We were wading through a puddle about a foot deep, and we realized we were essentially crossing the Great Lake to get to Hogwarts. Could. Not. Even.
First thing’s first, we headed into Hogwarts to do the Forbidden Journey. There was literally no line. We wound up not being able to see a few of the things we wanted to because the staff members were ushering people to move along the line and not stop to check things out. After our whirlwind trip through Hogwarts, we were on the ride. I have to say, not my favourite. The volume seemed off in certain parts so that I couldn’t hear the voices over everything else that was going on, and the overall ride just seemed kind of like “Hey, how can we cram as much stuff from the books into this 5 minute ride while trying to make it coherent?” There was just too much being done, and honestly, some of it didn’t make sense to me. Sure, the ride vehicle was cool, but I didn’t find it as ‘revolutionary’ as some.
And it was terrifying. No, seriosuly. Blind, unadultered terror. It started with the realization that a dragon was probably going to stick it’’s face it my face. This was when I closed my eyes a bit, peeking through to see when it was over. Then, we were entering the forrest. Ah, but this is where acromantulas live, the Potterhead in me warned. Eyes closed again, and let’s get a good grip on these restraints, shall we?
Then came the Dementors.
I like to draw on Lupin’s words of comfort when Harry’s Boggart is a Dementor. Because this was when it was over for me. Eyes squeezed shut, legs draw up, gripping the restraints for dear life. I actually screamed a couple of times, too. Then I peeked. Oooh, I should not have peeked.
I love you, Harry Potter. But you can keep your Forbidden Journey, I think.
After we finished the ride, we spent a lot of time just wandering Hogsmeade and checking out the shops and whatnot. I have to say, the area itself is well done, if a bit cramped. We saw a part of the Frog Choir show before they had to leave because of rain, but we didn’t get a chance to see the Durmstrang/Beauxbatons demonstration, again, likely because of the on and off rain. We got a few postcards, and bought some stamps off of a person who only needed like 2 out of the pack of 10 they bought, and sent them off to friends. None of them knew they would be getting them, so they were really excited when they showed up, Hogsmeade postmark and all.
My sister actually cried. :)
Rin got herself a scarf and t-shirt, both Ravenclaw, and got her sister a Slytherin scarf as well. Prices actually weren’t bad, imo. We looked for a wand, but at the time, they were still only selling the movie wands. Rumour has it that they’ll start getting in Pottermore wands once the site goes public, but at the time, the site had just started Beta, so there were no ‘unique’ wands yet.
This broke my heart a little bit. I really wanted my wand, the one JK in all her wisdom had deemed would choose me. Oh well, next time, I suppose... Hilariously, all we did was ask for an ebony wand and the guy was like “Pottermore, right?”
After all of our shopping, we picked up our camera from the locker we had stored it in, and put in our shopping bags. It was time to go explore Hogwarts for real. We spent a good deal of time going through, got lots of pictures, marvelled at the moving paintings, etc, etc. When we got through the ‘tour line’ (as opposed to the ‘ride line’), the staff member manning the exit was willing to let us go on the ride again. But, since I had our camera, and since Rin had closed her eyes for most of the first ride (scared of the spiders and Dementors), we passed.
It was getting close to 5:00 at this point, so we started to head back to the front of the park. It was about this point that the sun finally came out. We went to the locker, grabbed my backpack, and carried on. Then we realized that the purchases weren’t there. We couldn’t figure out what happened, and Rin was panicked, but finally we had the thought that we left them in the locker. Luckilly, no one had taken that locker yet,so the staff member manning that area was able to open it for us and retrieve our stuff. Yay!
Zife missed the Butterbeer! How could he miss the Butterbeer??
After years of dreaming and imagining and substituting, I finally had a Butterbeer. I chose to go with a cold one, where G actually got hers frozen. Both were amazing. I was not in the slightest but disappointed.
Also, we checked out Honeydukes and Zonkos - both very awesome. I really wish I had more money. :( The music playing in the background kept making me tear up, too. Le sigh, maybe Zife’s right about me...
We did Hulk on the way out, which is still awesome, as well as Spiderman, which was alright, and headed over to Universal. I was meeting some people from the DIS Boards to do HHN with them. We had a bit of time before the park closed and everyone got cordoned off in the ‘New York’ area of the park, so we decided to check out Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit since Neither Rin nor G had been on it. It was closed. So we thought we’d check out the Mummy. The sign said 10 minutes, we waited 10 minutes and the line didn’t move. It was about this time I had to meet the group at Finnegan’s, so we hopped out of line, I left Rin and G, and began looking. I looked for about an hour, until the park was about to open up again for HHN. I never found them, and since I was still wet from earlier in the day (especially my shoes), I was grumpy, and decided to just call it a day. I met Rin back in the parking lot, and we headed out.
Rin had planned to do the Titanic Exhibit while I was at HHN, and had already bought her ticket. So, on the way back to the hotel, I dropped her at the exhibit and went back to the hotel to get dry clothes, shoes, etc.
I’ve had a small Titanic problem since I was about eleven years old. I knew everything about it - I had books of facts, every fiction I could find, a replica newspaper, 3D puzzles, the works. The night before the movie came out on video I literally couldn’t sleep, I was just too excited.
So there was no way I wasn’t going to see Titanic the Experience. Not when it was just down the street from our hotel.
And to be honest with you, it was actually really cool. We were led on our tour by one of the ship’s cooks, and given an identity of a real person who had been on the ship. They had giant replicas, actual artifacts from the Titanic and her sister ships, and entire rooms done up (such as one of the dining rooms and the grand staircase, my favourite). I definitely had quite a few what we in the business call “fangirl moments”. Luckily, there was a very nice teenage boy there with his parents who kindly took a couple pictures for me so I could avoid the awkward SLR one-handed self-portrait.
I think that might have been one of the best parts of the whole thing - we were welcome to take as many pictures as we liked.
When we had to head out to the lifeboats, it was actually dark and very cold! Another cool thing they did. And in the final room of the experience, we got to search for ourselves on these giant lists of passengers and crew to see if we survived.
I did :)
After that, there were a couple more rooms revolving around this kid (his family runs the experience) who was the youngest person to go down to the Titanic’s wreck, and then movie props from the Cameron film.
Score.
Once it was all done, the second best part of the experience happened. There very nice boy who checked me in had an accent, and while I was waiting for Zife (all alone, everyone else had booked it once the tour part was over and I had lingered in the last two rooms), I went up and asked him if he was really British, or just put it on for the show. Turns out he actually was a legitimate Brit, so we spent a while talking about what brought him there, where I was from, what we both did as students, he asked me to psychoanalyse him (as a Psych Masters student I get this a lot, even though I’m doing developmental and am no more qualified to analyse you than Zife is), and so on. He actually also works at WWoHP ( a job, he confessed, he took on because he already had the accent and figured he was a shoe in) and told me next time I was there to ask the conductors to see their watch - apparently they’re very cool.
After a while, Zife showed up and I left my new friend, thus ending my wonderful Titanic experience.
Oh, and the guy was from Southampton, too. He made me promise not to make fun of him - all of his friends already did mercilessly.
Once Rin was done at the exhibit, she texted me, and we decided what to do for supper. I had a Restaurant.com thing for Il Mulino at Swan & Dolphin, but we decided just to hit the TGI Friday’s across the street. Yes, it’s a chain, and I try to avoid chains when on vacation, but I really like TGI Friday’s, and we don’t have them in Newfoundland (or in Canada I think). Also, this was a night that I just wanted something familiar and basic. Comfort food, if you will. I'm not going to review it though, because I simply don't care enough.
Food was decent, restaurant was loud, and someone thought I worked there because I was wearing my Magic is Might shirt that said STAFF on the back. Whoops!
Day 10 - Busch Gardens
Ah, Busch Gardens. We’d never been before, and I’d always assumed it was just a cheaper version of Animal Kingdom (cheaper in quality, not price, I’m not actually sure which is cheaper in price). But, you good folks on the TA boards kept talking about the awesome coasters, and since Rin and I are coaster junkies, we decided to give it a go this time.
After our experience with SeaWorld, I was worried today would be more of the same, given that they’re both owned by the same company. But, I went in with an open mind, and I figured I’d be happy as long as there were a couple of good coasters. We also had the Endangered Species Safari to look forward to. So, as soon as we arrived, we caught the tram to the park (not as nice as Disney’s Trams, but what can you do), checked in for our Safari and were told when/where to meet up, then we were on our way. Oh the coasters we went on. I can’t remember the exact order, but today was basically just a day of coasters (which I’ve needed, badly), so I’ll do them as a list.
Cheetah Hunt - Busch Gardens’ newest coaster was probably also my least favourite. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, it just wasn’t as good as the others we went on. Yes, the launch at the beginning is cool, but so is the launch on Ro’n’R at HS, or Hulk at IoA. Otherwise, it was a bit tame. Long though, which I liked. I wouldn’t clamour to go back, but if the chance arose, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to do it again.
SheiKra - “Hey guys, I’ve got an idea. Let’s take people up a 200ft climb, make them think they’re going to drop, then stop as they’re perpendicular to the ground. We’ll just let them dangle for a minute while their lives flash in front of their eyes.” Genius. Pure genius. There’s even another little mini drop of the same type further along. I think we rode this 2 or 3 times, maybe 4, once waiting specifically to be in the front of the car. Rin usually hates the front of the car, so this had to be good to get her to wait to sit in it. Probably my second favourite ride here.
Gwazi - Ah, wooden coasters, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... I like to consider myself a coaster enthusiast, and while I try not to be biased toward any type of coaster, there’s just something about wooden ones that I can’t help but go “Yeah, you’re better than your steel brothers.” Gwazi was no exception. We did both Lion and Tiger, and I think the consensus was that we preferred Tiger. Lion is more spirals and turns, whereas Tiger is simply built for speed. While we did both several times to be sure, we kept coming away thinking that Tiger had the edge, if just slightly. I have to say though, I don’t like that Busch made the ride ‘smoother’ with new cars. My favourite wooden coaster ever is a tossup between Mighty Canadian Minebuster and Wild Beast, both at Canada’s Wonderland, and both of them beat the crap out of you. It’s part of the joy of a wooden coaster. I’ve actually come off of Minebuster with bruises, and it keeps me going back. Anyway, Gwazi = favourite coaster in Florida.
Kumba - I enjoyed this one, but there wasn’t anything ‘special’ about it for me. Other than the weightless feeling you get on the one loop, it’s probably the longest I’ve felt weitless on any ride other than ones specifically designed to drop you, like Tower of Terror.
Montu - Again, a good coaster, but not one that stands out in my mind.
Scorpion - So as we were getting on this coaster, we thought “Lap bars, how quaint, must not be a very intense ride.” Then we saw the loop. Lap bars with a loop, you say? This is something I’ve never experienced. The Busch website says that Scorpion is only one of three coasters of its kind that still exist. But as far as I can tell, the only other coasters of the same design model have been closed down. Probably due to safety codes. Either way, this was kind of awesome, and the ride itself was really good for having opened in 1980.
So those were the rides we did. Several of them we did multiple times throughout the day, some we did just once, but I don’t think there was a single ride that I was disappointed in. On to lunch!
After reading about Five Guys on TA, I decided I wanted to try it. I told Rin about it, she wanted to try it too. Alas, there are no Five Guys near where we would be in Orlando. But there was one right near Busch, so we figured we’d do it then. So we did. Onto the tram, into the car, off to find Five Guys.
I don’t think it was very far, so we arrived fairly quickly. I have to say, the outside disappointed me a bit. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. The inside did the same. Although I do like that they had peanuts out. I know this is an allergy issue for some, but if your kid is allergic to peanuts and he goes to my (non-existent) kid’s school, you’d best not get too attached. My kid will be taking peanut-butter sandwiches to school. I say this having a good friend with a severe peanut allergy, having eaten peanuts around him the whole time we’ve known each other. He’s still alive.
Anyway, back to the review. Although the place wasn’t what I was expecting, it was still nice, clean, and I liked the reviews painted on the walls. Knowing a bit about Five Guys from the helpful posts I’d read about it, we each got a burger, and we shared a thing of fries. I got a Bacon Cheeseburger and Rin got a Cheeseburger. Something to note: if you just order a burger, you get two patties. If you only want one, order a Little burger. I’m pretty sure it states that on the menu, but some people, like Rin, don’t read everything.
I have to say, I’m relatively new to the burger thing (I may have mentioned this on a previous day), but this was probably the best burger I’ve had. Maybe even better than my own bbq’d ones. Rin felt the same way, and was quite glad she had the double patty. The burgers were juicy, the cheese was nicely melted (although some of mine fell of the burger, it was so gooey), the buns were not too big (I hate a high bun to meat ratio), and the fries were probably the best I’ve had outside of New York Fries, who only make fries.
Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. It’s the only fast food burger I’ve ever had that was on par if not better than the burgers I make at home. And it was so much better than the meal we had the day before at SeaWorld.
Would I Go Back? - Yes. I really hope that they open one closer to Disney (namely in DTD) since I think our next few trips will be Disney-centric.
Rating: Me - 8/10
Rin - 8/10
Cost - $17.86 (I lost the receipt, so this is an estimate based off of their website)
Back to the park! We still hadn’t finished our fries by this point, nor our drinks (everything was so big!), so we figured we’d eat them on the way in. Turns out there’s no food or drink allowed on the trams, but no one stopped us, so we ate. Bad us, we’ve turned into the people I’m constantly cursing about under my breath.
I honestly can’t remember if we did the Safari before or after lunch, but I’m putting it here. We met up somewhere, I think it was in Timbuktu, but I could be wrong, checked in, sat under a canopy while the wind blew like mad, and waited for our guide. The guide has you put large items (like our camera bag) into a locker, provided free of charge, since the you’ll be in a confined area for the duration of the safari. I was expecting something like the safari vehicles at AK, where there are bench seats, maybe with an open top (no roof). However, these are more like cargo trucks, and you stand for the whole safari. Having worked on boats since I was 8, the movement wasn’t a big deal for me. But it was fun watching some people try to let go of the edge to get a picture. It meant the middle area was nice and open for me though.
You do a tour through the whole savanna area, but the stops are what I’ll focus on. The first stop is to feed the giraffe. There are several of them out there, but only two are generally brave enough to come to the truck. We basically fed them a head or two of lettuce, and you spend a lot of time with them, probably 10-15 minutes. There’s a photographer along for the ride that gets a couple of ‘posed’ pictures for you too, but we didn’t buy them, preferring our own pictures. Honestly, I’d gladly pay the $40ish again just for this. It was really enjoyable.
Next up, rhino. I think we met a white rhino, but I know she was female. Sadly, there’s no actual interaction with the rhino (I wonder why?), so it’s basically a question and answer session with the handlers while the rhino cavorts around. Because it was so windy today, she was very energetic. I guess because she could smell so much more than usual, she was running around trying to figure out where all the smells were coming from. A good time, but again, not much more than a question and answer period, especially if the rhino isn’t as active as she was today.
Finally, cheetahs. This is a new addition to the Endangered Species Safari, and, imo, completely not worth it. You go into a backstage area where the cheetahs are kept in what are essentially large, chain-link dog pens. Again, you meet the handlers, have a bit of a question and answer session, and they get one of the cheetahs to come over to the fence by giving her (him?) some meat, and that’s the extent of it. Don’t get me wrong, the cheetah was beautiful, and I did learn some new stuff, but this part just seemed kind of tacked on, not quite polished.
After that, you tour the savanna a touch more, then back to where you started, a bit of a talk about where your pictures will be available, then you’re back on your own.
Once the end of the day came around, we started back to our car, checked out a couple of shops, snuck on a couple more rides, then we were off to go back to Orlando. We literally got into the car just as the skies opened up and it started pouring. Perfect timing. We drove back in the rain, and it was still going by the time we got back to the hotel. I kept hoping it would stop, since I was headed to HHN later that night.
But first, we were meeting one of Rin’s friends (I’ll call her G), someone she’d known since middle school but never met. Online friends, I suppose most of us know what that’s like. She lives in the area ,and we’d tried to meet for the past two trips, but it just never worked out. Finally, the plans all came together.
We all went out to Outback for supper, and a good time was had.
After our extremely emotional bawl-fest and union (not really a reunion, given we’d never met before...) where tears, giggles, and cellphone pictures abounded (all in the hotel lobby, oh well, who needs propriety?) we were very ready for food. It was raining at this point, as Zife had mentioned. Pouring, actually. I’m not sure if he’d mentioned, but I tend to melt in the rain - like sugar, not like the wicked witch. So I take off for the door while Gi and Zife bond over mocking me.
After our experience with SeaWorld, I was worried today would be more of the same, given that they’re both owned by the same company. But, I went in with an open mind, and I figured I’d be happy as long as there were a couple of good coasters. We also had the Endangered Species Safari to look forward to. So, as soon as we arrived, we caught the tram to the park (not as nice as Disney’s Trams, but what can you do), checked in for our Safari and were told when/where to meet up, then we were on our way. Oh the coasters we went on. I can’t remember the exact order, but today was basically just a day of coasters (which I’ve needed, badly), so I’ll do them as a list.
Cheetah Hunt - Busch Gardens’ newest coaster was probably also my least favourite. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, it just wasn’t as good as the others we went on. Yes, the launch at the beginning is cool, but so is the launch on Ro’n’R at HS, or Hulk at IoA. Otherwise, it was a bit tame. Long though, which I liked. I wouldn’t clamour to go back, but if the chance arose, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to do it again.
SheiKra - “Hey guys, I’ve got an idea. Let’s take people up a 200ft climb, make them think they’re going to drop, then stop as they’re perpendicular to the ground. We’ll just let them dangle for a minute while their lives flash in front of their eyes.” Genius. Pure genius. There’s even another little mini drop of the same type further along. I think we rode this 2 or 3 times, maybe 4, once waiting specifically to be in the front of the car. Rin usually hates the front of the car, so this had to be good to get her to wait to sit in it. Probably my second favourite ride here.
Gwazi - Ah, wooden coasters, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... I like to consider myself a coaster enthusiast, and while I try not to be biased toward any type of coaster, there’s just something about wooden ones that I can’t help but go “Yeah, you’re better than your steel brothers.” Gwazi was no exception. We did both Lion and Tiger, and I think the consensus was that we preferred Tiger. Lion is more spirals and turns, whereas Tiger is simply built for speed. While we did both several times to be sure, we kept coming away thinking that Tiger had the edge, if just slightly. I have to say though, I don’t like that Busch made the ride ‘smoother’ with new cars. My favourite wooden coaster ever is a tossup between Mighty Canadian Minebuster and Wild Beast, both at Canada’s Wonderland, and both of them beat the crap out of you. It’s part of the joy of a wooden coaster. I’ve actually come off of Minebuster with bruises, and it keeps me going back. Anyway, Gwazi = favourite coaster in Florida.
Kumba - I enjoyed this one, but there wasn’t anything ‘special’ about it for me. Other than the weightless feeling you get on the one loop, it’s probably the longest I’ve felt weitless on any ride other than ones specifically designed to drop you, like Tower of Terror.
Montu - Again, a good coaster, but not one that stands out in my mind.
Scorpion - So as we were getting on this coaster, we thought “Lap bars, how quaint, must not be a very intense ride.” Then we saw the loop. Lap bars with a loop, you say? This is something I’ve never experienced. The Busch website says that Scorpion is only one of three coasters of its kind that still exist. But as far as I can tell, the only other coasters of the same design model have been closed down. Probably due to safety codes. Either way, this was kind of awesome, and the ride itself was really good for having opened in 1980.
So those were the rides we did. Several of them we did multiple times throughout the day, some we did just once, but I don’t think there was a single ride that I was disappointed in. On to lunch!
After reading about Five Guys on TA, I decided I wanted to try it. I told Rin about it, she wanted to try it too. Alas, there are no Five Guys near where we would be in Orlando. But there was one right near Busch, so we figured we’d do it then. So we did. Onto the tram, into the car, off to find Five Guys.
I don’t think it was very far, so we arrived fairly quickly. I have to say, the outside disappointed me a bit. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. The inside did the same. Although I do like that they had peanuts out. I know this is an allergy issue for some, but if your kid is allergic to peanuts and he goes to my (non-existent) kid’s school, you’d best not get too attached. My kid will be taking peanut-butter sandwiches to school. I say this having a good friend with a severe peanut allergy, having eaten peanuts around him the whole time we’ve known each other. He’s still alive.
Anyway, back to the review. Although the place wasn’t what I was expecting, it was still nice, clean, and I liked the reviews painted on the walls. Knowing a bit about Five Guys from the helpful posts I’d read about it, we each got a burger, and we shared a thing of fries. I got a Bacon Cheeseburger and Rin got a Cheeseburger. Something to note: if you just order a burger, you get two patties. If you only want one, order a Little burger. I’m pretty sure it states that on the menu, but some people, like Rin, don’t read everything.
I have to say, I’m relatively new to the burger thing (I may have mentioned this on a previous day), but this was probably the best burger I’ve had. Maybe even better than my own bbq’d ones. Rin felt the same way, and was quite glad she had the double patty. The burgers were juicy, the cheese was nicely melted (although some of mine fell of the burger, it was so gooey), the buns were not too big (I hate a high bun to meat ratio), and the fries were probably the best I’ve had outside of New York Fries, who only make fries.
Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. It’s the only fast food burger I’ve ever had that was on par if not better than the burgers I make at home. And it was so much better than the meal we had the day before at SeaWorld.
Would I Go Back? - Yes. I really hope that they open one closer to Disney (namely in DTD) since I think our next few trips will be Disney-centric.
Rating: Me - 8/10
Rin - 8/10
Cost - $17.86 (I lost the receipt, so this is an estimate based off of their website)
Back to the park! We still hadn’t finished our fries by this point, nor our drinks (everything was so big!), so we figured we’d eat them on the way in. Turns out there’s no food or drink allowed on the trams, but no one stopped us, so we ate. Bad us, we’ve turned into the people I’m constantly cursing about under my breath.
I honestly can’t remember if we did the Safari before or after lunch, but I’m putting it here. We met up somewhere, I think it was in Timbuktu, but I could be wrong, checked in, sat under a canopy while the wind blew like mad, and waited for our guide. The guide has you put large items (like our camera bag) into a locker, provided free of charge, since the you’ll be in a confined area for the duration of the safari. I was expecting something like the safari vehicles at AK, where there are bench seats, maybe with an open top (no roof). However, these are more like cargo trucks, and you stand for the whole safari. Having worked on boats since I was 8, the movement wasn’t a big deal for me. But it was fun watching some people try to let go of the edge to get a picture. It meant the middle area was nice and open for me though.
You do a tour through the whole savanna area, but the stops are what I’ll focus on. The first stop is to feed the giraffe. There are several of them out there, but only two are generally brave enough to come to the truck. We basically fed them a head or two of lettuce, and you spend a lot of time with them, probably 10-15 minutes. There’s a photographer along for the ride that gets a couple of ‘posed’ pictures for you too, but we didn’t buy them, preferring our own pictures. Honestly, I’d gladly pay the $40ish again just for this. It was really enjoyable.
Next up, rhino. I think we met a white rhino, but I know she was female. Sadly, there’s no actual interaction with the rhino (I wonder why?), so it’s basically a question and answer session with the handlers while the rhino cavorts around. Because it was so windy today, she was very energetic. I guess because she could smell so much more than usual, she was running around trying to figure out where all the smells were coming from. A good time, but again, not much more than a question and answer period, especially if the rhino isn’t as active as she was today.
Finally, cheetahs. This is a new addition to the Endangered Species Safari, and, imo, completely not worth it. You go into a backstage area where the cheetahs are kept in what are essentially large, chain-link dog pens. Again, you meet the handlers, have a bit of a question and answer session, and they get one of the cheetahs to come over to the fence by giving her (him?) some meat, and that’s the extent of it. Don’t get me wrong, the cheetah was beautiful, and I did learn some new stuff, but this part just seemed kind of tacked on, not quite polished.
After that, you tour the savanna a touch more, then back to where you started, a bit of a talk about where your pictures will be available, then you’re back on your own.
Once the end of the day came around, we started back to our car, checked out a couple of shops, snuck on a couple more rides, then we were off to go back to Orlando. We literally got into the car just as the skies opened up and it started pouring. Perfect timing. We drove back in the rain, and it was still going by the time we got back to the hotel. I kept hoping it would stop, since I was headed to HHN later that night.
But first, we were meeting one of Rin’s friends (I’ll call her G), someone she’d known since middle school but never met. Online friends, I suppose most of us know what that’s like. She lives in the area ,and we’d tried to meet for the past two trips, but it just never worked out. Finally, the plans all came together.
We all went out to Outback for supper, and a good time was had.
After our extremely emotional bawl-fest and union (not really a reunion, given we’d never met before...) where tears, giggles, and cellphone pictures abounded (all in the hotel lobby, oh well, who needs propriety?) we were very ready for food. It was raining at this point, as Zife had mentioned. Pouring, actually. I’m not sure if he’d mentioned, but I tend to melt in the rain - like sugar, not like the wicked witch. So I take off for the door while Gi and Zife bond over mocking me.
So glad I could bring them together this way.
There was a short wait inside, and soon we had a booth of our very own.
First, came the bread.
Oh, the bread.
I’m not even sure what kind of bread it is, but it’s one of the reasons I love Outback and go back whenever I can. That, and it’s where Zife and I had our wedding dinner with our families. Sentiment and whatnot. Anyway, the bread is amazing - sweet and warm and then G did something amazing herself. She asked the waiter for this special honey butter. H’oh my God. Mouth watering just thinking about it. Poor Zife, he doesn’t like butter, and so lost out on this amazing experience.
Oh well.
After that, I vaguely remember eating ribs, mainly because I always get ribs at Outback. They were delicious as always. Alex, I believe, had a steak which he quite liked, and G had an entree salad.
The main point of this meal was the company. Zife and I regaled G with tales of the military, G expressed her happiness with my choice of spouse (we have been friends since we were 14, if she didn’t approve I might have had to ditch the poor guy ;) ) and the waiter flirted outrageously with her.
Very funny, actually.
I don’t think we opted for dessert, but headed back to our hotel instead, hanging out a bit longer.
Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. I love Outback and there aren’t any in the entire country we live in, not just the province.
Would I Go Back? - Yes. Always, though I wouldn’t pass up an On World restaurant for it.
Rating: Me - 8/10
Rin - 8/10
Cost - $40...ish? We have no idea where the receipt is for this, but I know I got the ribs and I think Zife got the wood fire rib eye, so guesstimation it is.
After supper, it was still raining. But, I decided to brave HHN and see what it was all about. I should have gone the night before, silly me. By the time I got from the car to the park, I was soaked, so I decided to forgo a poncho. Now, this was my first time at HHN, and I have to say, I was disappointed. It’s probably just due to the rain, but it didn’t seem that ‘scary.’ None of the Scare Zones were operating, since then the actors would get wet (although there were a few other park goers hiding in areas and popping out at people), and since most of the lines were outside, it was almost a relief to get into the haunted houses where it was dry.
I wound up only doing two houses - The Forsaken and The In-Between. Both were decent, but The In-Between was definitely better, imo. You get fancy glasses that cause halos and stars around the lights, and distort things a bit, and everything is all blacklit. The people are better hidden as well, since they’re all black on the back, then when they jump out or spin around, they’re coloured on the front, so they just suddenly appear. The Forsaken was good, but it just didn’t seem as well themed.
I also did The Simpsons Ride, which I was thoroughly undewhelmed with. I mean, I’m tired of simulators. I’m sure they’re cheaper to build, and obviously they take up less space than a roller coaster (or other ride), and you can ‘do more,’ but I’d just like to see some more ‘proper’ rides at Universal, and not have them all trapped at IoA.
Oh hey, I’m about to contradict myself. I did do a ‘proper’ ride at Universal too. I went on Hollywood Rip-Ride-Rockit, but again, was underwhelmed. I like the idea of choosing music, although you don’t have much time, and there wasn’t a great selection. I found Daft Punk’s Better Harder Faster Stronger though, which made me happy. But, the ride, not so great. Maybe because I had hit so many awesome coasters at Busch, or maybe because I was wet and tired (and probably a bit grumpy), but, I just didn’t think it was that good. For all of you who’ve been when it was closed, you didn’t miss much.
So, I went back to my hotel where Rin and G were hanging out. Lucky I got there when I did, because Rin was about to change rooms. Turns out ours was leaking. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any more suites left, so they moved us into a basic room. After many phone calls, they eventually gave us the microwave and fridge from our original room, since we still had food in the fridge from earlier in the trip, and the basic rooms have none of those amenities. Plus the room we moved to was smaller, with no wall of windows like the other. Oh well, still a nice room, if not what I paid for. Once we finally had everything moved, G headed out, I finally dried out from my experience at HHN, we went to sleep. Last full day tomorrow, at the park Rin’s been looking forward to most.
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