Randomness

My life, the people in it and any other shit I decide to throw at you.

Friday 6 February 2009

I Like to be in America!

So Ive been to Florida again!
About a month ago now ... but anyway.....

We drove up to stay near Gatwick the night before we flew, thanks to Jason for arranging that! It was beyond cold. Thick freezing fog most of the way and then Dans directions took us down some right dodgy country lane to get there..... then we think they had the booking backwards, as Jason had a mini apartment to himself and Dan & I had 2 single beds.... ;o) It was sometime around going to bed that it really hit me where I was going. Even though I had fully planned which outfit I was wearing to which park on which day.
Good flight out. Although I did recognise one of our flight attendants. I'm convinced it was Miss Foster. She must have survived the fall, got back in with the Adipose First Family and is secretly feeding us Apidose in airline food. And lets face it, a route betwixt the UK & USA is going to be prime feeding grounds for such a mission. And we had Mamma Mia on the films list! And Turn Left on the tv channel! Hurrah!

Hitch number 1 was when we got in a cab to go to the house. It didn't exist on his sat nav. Luckily, with the direction provided for fly drive passengers, we got there.
AND SWEET LORD WHAT A HOUSE.
Video tour is on youtube
Dan & I had a walk through the estate (it was very American Dad) down to the Winn Dixie and M&Ms Pizza in the evening.

We had planned a lazy day Sunday. It was scorching hot weather and we had a wolf sniffing around first thing. Presumably belonging to the pack Jason heard howling when walking back from the shops one evening.. We also had vultures circling.... it was all a bit Jungle Book frankly. The pool wasn't heated and was very very cold .... but I was determined to use it ... and managed about 14 minutes before it felt like my balls might actually vanish forever so I got out.
It was a glorious day, scorching hot .... and the only really hot day we had.

Monday was the Universal Day. We had just the one day to get round both parks. But it was so dead there, that wasn't an issue really. Jaws and ET were shut. Presumably off at some rubber creature convention together.
And the big issue.
The Simpsons Ride is NOT as good as Back to the Future The Ride.
Not happy.
We had a pootle around, had a world famous Nathans Hot Dog. We'd never heard of them until the Sunday but Dan & Jay had watched a documentary for over 2 hours about famous American restaurants (some of the burgers these places make ... one took 8 people to eat about half of it....), so we felt obliged after that. I wasn't impressed. Jasons looked like runny turds.
We went on to what used to Earthquake and is now called Disaster. They still pull people from the crowd to take part in the ride. When they asked for a good looking, confident, leading man, one hand went up. Can you guess?
I had to wear a boiler suit and so slo-mo acting on a stool in front of a green screen ..... and was later edited in as being blown out of a large ball of fire. Cool huh?
The afternoon was over at Islands of Adventure, where a section is closed for construction on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Which is just a load of mud right now - I craned a look from Duelling Dragons. Not easy at 70mph, upside down.
That night we ordered Chinese. And the rice came in those cartons like you see in films! YAY

Tuesday was a rest as it rained a lot. Jason and I went for a short walk, that became a three house trek around estates, the worlds biggest Pharmacy on Highway 27 up to Clermont ever, and climbing through fences, lost. We also found an internet cafe, bizarrely full of rich old ladies gambling, and looked up ways to try and get to Downtown Orlando, and a Bear Bar, on public transport ... it was a three hour trip for a 30 min drive...so we gave up on the idea.

Wednesday saw our first venture to Disney and the renamed Hollywood Studios. Because their contract with MGM expired. Not much had changed there although looking back at my videos, there were a lot of hot bearded men there that day, that I keep zooming in on. They have stopped the parade too ... and have a Pixar Block Party instead. I was very confused when Princess Atta leaned over to me I gave her a very blank look. And then a woman in the crowd pointed out she wanted a kiss ..... I don't think Ive pulled a female Ant before. At least she was royalty. And because of the hardness of the head on the costume, it was more a headbutt.
Dan took quite an interest in one of the dancers too......
In the evening, we met up with Jarrod from the Doctor Who Forum, which was cool. More than cool actually.

Thursday was our day in the Magic Kingdom. Stitchs Great Escape was under staffed, s went wrong as we walked past the bit that has all the set up .... but I was very impressed with the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. Its largely a stand comedy routine, but from CGI monsters - that interact with the audience in real time. I am sure its a few comedians sat watching the audience in full motion capture gear, buts it impressive all the same.
And the castle had a crane around it again. Why are they always painting it when I go? Again, with just one day, it was a bit of a highlights only stop, but I think we did pretty much everything worth doing. As we went on the carousel of progress thing, through Space Mountain, there had been a fault and all the lights were on. Holy Shit Id never have gone on that thing if Id seen it in the light before! Rickety hardy does it justice. Its clearly safe, but is a proper old wooden bone shaker. We tried to get pics and video but as we were behind a perspex sheet, they didn't come out.
And of course, parades, fireworks et al were fully in order.

Friday was home time ... and so of course the sun came back out.
We had a troll around Downtown Disney, saw Bolt in 3D - after which Jason and Dan started calling me Rhino (which between you and me, I actually quite like), fed a Crane french fries by hand.... and after a quick shop in Virgin Megastore (still open and not even a Zavvi!) had to head for home....the plans are on to return, October 2010!
LET IT BEGIN!!!!

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