|
| Destination - Sunshine State - 1 |
| Monday, January 07, 2008 |
One is left with very few options for a vacation given the following restrictions - 1. Warm enough to visit from CA 2. Within US and not already visited 3. Affordable 4. Exciting
I wasnt too excited initially. Theme parks excite you if you are a newbie in this country and havent been to one. And if you havent seen too many picture albums of friends who have been there done that. For the same reasons I have lost the enthusiasm to visit LA, Hollywood or Niagra Falls. I lost the window of opportunity I guess.
But I am digressing.
DH was very much excited about this trip. Main reason was because he planned the whole trip. Generally whenever we go somewhere I do all the research and prune the list of things to see and do and get his opinion. But this time since it was the other way around, DH was very much informed about the trip, he planned every day and evening to much detail.
We almost missed our flight at 7 in the morning, thanks to this friend who forced himself on us to drop us at the airport (hope I never ever decide to give him my blog url). We waited for him for 20 mins before he came to pick us up, and the line was extra long at the airport. We made it at nick of a time, however I have decided not to rely on friends to drop/pick us at/from airport. You can call me a 'control freak' but I dont like to miss my flights because I presumed the crowd will be less, or the traffic wont be bad, or anything of that kind. DH and I had issues in the beginning because of this, but slowly he has come to accept this as part of the package. We travelled on Southwest. As always late, by the time we booked the tickets that was the only airlines with a three digit price tag to Orlando.
The weather was great in Orlando. 60s-70s range. Heaven. We checked into the hotel and headed towards Universal CityWalk. DH was so excited about the place. We forgot our camera. I did feel a little odd coming out of the room with only my handbag. LOL. Walked a little, there was a live band playing great music, we ate at the PastaMore restuarant. Great food. Lately since we have been going on all nature trips, this one was a different experience, to see so many people around us. It was actually very crowded. I am a little claustrophobic, I hate being amidst too many people with too much noise, it gets on my nerves after sometime. But that was to be the case for the next three days.
The next day we went to Disney World. I was really impressed. The land that the park had. So much for kids entertainment, was a bit too much. I was impressed with the parking lot system too. No traffic jams, inspite of so many many people in so many cars. We went to Epcot, it was DH's decision. What I remember of this day is standing in neverending lines, legs barely withstanding my weight, the heat killing, stomach grumbling.. err, no DH did feed me well, the rest is true. I was reminded of the time DH made me sit in a long line in Thirupathi for the tickets for hours, when I was sick, only a week after the wedding.
Apart from the cribbing and leg ache and irritation, I had good fun. :--D
We went to most of the attractions in Future World, covered everything we wanted to. We also visited most countries in World Showcase. In Italy, I was like, 'haah, visited real Venice, with real Gondolas, whats with the miniature model' ;--) Same for the Eiffel Tower and the Colesseum shaped Hard Rock Cafe in CityWalk, we saw the previous day.
By the time we decided to take pictures with Micky Mouse at the Character Spot, I was sick of long lines. So we skipped it. Hopefully we will get to take those Patel pics in LA when we do visit DisneyLand.
The next day, we started off pretty late, thanks to my consistent cribbing about aching legs. We also changed our plans and cancelled Kennedy Space Center, and instead decided to spend more time at Universal. You see, yours truly was liking the rides more. We got the Express Pass, the thought of standing in multiple hour long lines haunting us.
Express Pass was definitely useful, we were able to cover so many attractions in little time. We went to Islands of Adventure first. I had to go on the Incredible Hulk first and foremost before I did anything else. My tyrst with roller coasters has been moderate. I thought I will never sit on one that turns me upside down. But one day with two hard- hearted guys(neither of them DH, of course), who didnt give a damn that I was a scared girl, made me sit with them on every roller coaster they went on. From then on, I love roller coasters. I am not afraid like a pansy girl. I even dared to go multiple rides, sometimes wait longer to get the first row.
It was there after the Hulk ride, I fully understood Eric's(Cartman in Southpark) dream of a whole theme park to himself. I agree with him one hundred percent. But I also think that half the thrill in rides is in the waiting. You wait almost two hours for five minutes of adrenaline rush. Its worth every minute I think. :--D
Then we went to the Spiderman adventure, superb, my first of its kind. One FearFall, and then we went left the Marvel Island and went to the Lost Continent to the other high speed roller coaster, Duelling Dragons. Lived to its name, twisted and twirled so much, we were dizzy when we were out.
We, next, went to Poseidon's Fury, which was a class in itself. Simply because I didnt know what to expect, it made me go spellbound. First time, the fact that I was in a place made by a Studio, which made real movies, surfaced. Amazing work. All this work for fun, it just kills me I tell you.
A quick lunch stop, and we went to Jurassic Park, my most expected adventure of all. I enjoyed the River Adventure tremendously, although I was kinda getting used to the idea, and was not as excited as in the beginning. But I do know now, how they must have made the dinosaurs in the movie move and 'act'. ;--) I could not help but think about Crichton, the man who thought of the whole thing. How much fame has his creativity brought him? Kudos to him, my all time favorite author.
All this we did in four hours thanks to our Express Pass. Then we headed to Universal Studios. We first watched Shrek 4D movie. By this time I was really tired of 4D movies. You can only be excited so much by them, err, in consecutive two days.
We headed straight to Revenge of the Mummy, easily my favorite attraction in this park. The whole ride was in the dark, with mummies and tombs and fire around you. I closed my eyes in one big plunge towards the end, too much fumes.
Then MIB ride followed by Jaws, I was tired already. The reason was, even the Express lines were 30 mins long, as the day went by. :--( We watched the Macy's Parade, as we walked towards the exit to our next appointment.
We went to a Pirates Dinner Adventure. Food was ok, the pirates show on a ship was also great.
The next day, we went back to Universal, took some pictures, went for some rides the second time, whichever had short lines, as we didnt have Express Pass this day. Crazy we were by now, the excitement had gotten to us, show me sane adults, going on rides, waiting in line for half an hour, for the second time just for thrills? I didnt crib as much these two days, inspite of leg ache, because I thoroughly enjoyed everything. :--)
I have to say that even though Orlando has so many attractions spaced close by, there were no traffic delays, or bumper-to-bumper traffic. I was very impressed by that, being from CA, where any attraction has to come with the side order of traffic congestion. By afternoon, we left the park to drive towards Miami. It was the most boring of drives, I have done in a long time. I would drive in the winding, curvy, non-zero sloped West Coast roads anyday. But also it has been a while since we drove in proper country, without a city cropping up every few miles ;--) So it was a fun, hot, tiring drive.
Hectic vacation was over. I had a lot of fun, I loved all the attractions, I only wished I were young enough to jump at joy. ;--) Miami was unplanned, according to us, we had no plans there that is.
PS: Only two parts to this story. |
posted by SK @ 9:01 PM  |
|
| 4 Comments: |
-
Nice! Disney is just awesome. Love the whole place! Just wish i did it without kids once before ;)
Last time I went was when I was 20 weeks pregnant with munchkin and got sick o pizza within a day. Kept craving rice! :|
kowthas.wordpress.com
-
cool cool, I think Florida is certainly next on my list. But I may not visit Disney or Universal, we'll just roam by the beaches and drink :)
btw 4D's are boring I mean everytime shrek's donkey was abt to sneeze we covered our face with a tissue :)
-
Ah, the rides sound like awesome fun :-D! Just those long lines get tiresome beyond a point. I hear you about the 4-D shows - show number 1 was like "Wow!". By the time show number n rolled around, we were like "whatever, get done with it!"
Sounds like a nice vacation :-)!
-
Rads,
Oh oh you went when you were pregnant! So many rides dont allow pregnant women :--(( You should go sometime to enjoy all the rides :--))
Maverick,
Yeah yeah beaches are fun for you guys, I am sure, :--)
Yes, same here with the 4D movie. ;--)
Archana,
Yes they were a lott of fun. :--))
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
|
|
Nice! Disney is just awesome. Love the whole place! Just wish i did it without kids once before ;)
Last time I went was when I was 20 weeks pregnant with munchkin and got sick o pizza within a day. Kept craving rice! :|
kowthas.wordpress.com