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Josiah's Florida Travelogue
Year 2: August 2012 - April 2013
Year 2: August 2012 - April 2013
| Year 1: July 2011 - April 2012 |
Well, I've been back in Florida for several weeks now following my summer vacation in Colorado and Hawaii. One of the first things I noticed upon returning is that I still really hate the combination of high heat and high humidity. Things should cool down in another month or so but until then it's going to be kinda miserable outside... At least when it's not raining. While the weather has been fairly good this week, for my first two weeks back it rained every day.
Anyway, annoying weather aside, things have been going ok. Work kept me extremely busy at first, especially since I had to take over some classes at the last minute for a professor who suddenly quit due to health reasons. Fortunately, things have started to calm down and I'm getting into a comfortable routine.
Other than hang out with people at University of Florida's Japanese language tables, I haven't done too much yet aside from a trip to Disney's Blizzard Beach during Labor Day weekend. That was fun, but nothing has changed there since my previous visit so I saw no real need to give it a new write up. On that note, there are still some attractions I haven't visited yet on my list (such as Sea World, Wet 'n Wild, and the Kennedy Space Center) so you can expect write-ups for them eventually. I'll probably also be revisiting some the theme parks and festivals I previously wrote about over the course of the school year, but I'm not planning to give them new write-ups unless they've got something I didn't cover before. For example, Epcot's got a food and wine festival going on next month, and I didn't make it on all the rides there on my last visit either, so you can expect a bit about that, and Magic Kingdom has its new and expanded Fantasy Land opening sometime soon. So new travelogue entries will still be coming, though perhaps a bit less frequently than before.
Anyway, we'll see what happens. I'm sure I'll find plenty of interesting things to do and places to go this year as well.
They're mostly brown, though I've seen the rare green one. Not sure if those are a different type or if they can just change colors (if they can, they don't do it much). They also have this colorful fin beneath their chins that they extend when they're trying to get attention. The smallest lizards could easily stand on a nickle while the largest I've seen is could be close to a foot in length (that's including the tail, which accounts for at least half of that). I don't really mind having them around. They're harmless and kinda fun to watch. Plus none of them have made it inside my apartment (though a couple of really small toads somehow managed it). That said, seeing so many of them every time I go outside is a little strange.
While I love Epcot, I had a special reason for wanting to go this month. Starting at the very end of September and running through early November is their annual International Food and Wine Festival. And as you probably know if you've been reading my travelogues for very long, I love trying lots of different foods. I found out about the festival too late last year, but didn't want to miss it this time around. As a note, since I wrote all about my last visit to Epcot (see the last entry on the page), I'm not going to write about everything all over again. Instead, I'll focus on the festival and some things I didn't get a chance to see on my last visit.
So anyway, I got up early Sunday morning and headed off to Epcot. The World Showcase part of the park (where most of the festival takes place) opens a bit later than the rest so I had some time to kill after arriving. I liked the ride through The Land's green house last time, so I decided to sign up for the special behind the scenes tour and learn a bit more about it. The tour, as a note, takes about an hour and costs a bit extra. I was able to get on the first tour of the day, but it wasn't starting for a while yet so I checked out a couple of other things while waiting. I started out taking a quick walk through the Innovations buildings, which I didn't get around to last time. They were mostly devoted to some interactive exhibits designed to teach kids about some fairly serious topics such as saving money and home safety, though there was also a motion simulator ride and a place to sign up for Segway tours, along with a couple other things.
Moving on, I headed to the festival's main building. It used to have a bunch of attractions themed around the human body but that was back when I was a kid, now it's apparently a multipurpose building used for festivals and the like. There were some stores inside selling festival merchandise, fancy kitchen utensils, and the like, areas for book signings (by cook book authors, of course), demonstrations by professional chefs, and some training seminars. A lot of the demos and seminars cost extra, but I could see them being pretty interesting if I lived nearby and had a Disney season pass or something. There was also a chocolate exhibit, which featured some really impressive Disney themed chocolate art made by chefs at the various Disney resort hotels. I looked around a bit, grabbed a festival passport (more about that later), then headed back to The Land for the tour.
I gotta say that they research some pretty interesting things in The Land's green houses, especially when it comes to growing food using a minimal amount of space. If you want to learn about new and different gardening techniques (many of which you can do yourself with a bit of setup), it's definitely worth it. You'll get to learn about some interesting plants as well, though that's more of a secondary focus. I enjoyed the tour, but I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. I'd suggest taking the green house ride in The Land first, and seeing if you want more after that.
By the time the tour was over, the World Showcase had opened up and I was more than ready to get something to eat. On the way, I noticed another little festival attraction, a cranberry bog. Ever seen those juice commercials where the farmers are standing knee deep in floating cranberries? Turns out, that's actually how cranberries are harvested. The trees are grown in bogs, the berries fall into the water, and the farmers trap them all in one area and scoop them out. I never knew that before...
So, the festival. While there is all that stuff I mentioned earlier, the main attraction is the numerous stands spread throughout the World Showcase. There was 29 of them, each with a different theme (mostly countries, though there were a few odd ones such as "Cheese"). Each place has two or three thematically appropriate foods and a few speciality alcoholic beverages (although it's the "Food and Wine" festival, there was also quite a lot of beer, rum, etc.) and the goal is to snack and/or drink your way around the world. That's what the passport I mentioned is for, by the way, you can get it stamped at each booth as you go and mark which foods and drinks you've tried. As a note, I'm not a huge fan of alcohol of any kind (I just don't like the taste), so I paid far more attention to the food, but there seemed to be quite a large selection of drinks and each stand had a board with information about the history and taste of its wines/beers/etc., so aficionados would certainly love it. But back to the food. Since the goal is to try as many different things as possible, portions are rather small, but so are the prices, which most dishes falling somewhere in the $2 - 4 range (with $6 at the high end). And this is all high quality stuff.
So what did I eat? It's more like what didn't I eat. As I mentioned last time, Epcot is the place I'll really splurge on food and between the variety and low prices, I didn't bother with actual meals and just snacked all day as I made my way around the park. I didn't go to all 29 stands (small portions or not, I can't eat that much), but I hit a good number of them. I'm not going to give you a full list but a few highlights include tuna poke from Hawaii, griddled Greek cheese with pistachios and honey, Argentinian beef skewers with chimichurri sauce, lamb meatballs from New Zealand, filet mignon with wild mushrooms and truffle butter from Canada, and Mongolian beef and veggies wrapped in a steamed bun. Everything was excellent and there were some pretty interesting dishes available. I wasn't planning on getting any alcohol (China and Japan have some awesome tea stands (not as part of the festival, they're always there), which are much more my style), but I ended up getting one drink at the Caribbean stand since just about everyone in line was talking about how it was so great that they were back for seconds (or thirds). The drink in question? The Bacardi Frozen Dragon Berry Colada. It's a slushy of sorts made with rum(?) flavored with strawberry and dragon fruit. It was actually really good (you could barely taste the alcohol, which is always a plus for me), though I think I'd have preferred a virgin version if they had one.
So I worked my way around the world, snacking, re-doing some favorite rides and attractions from before, and trying to check out the things I'd missed. For example, I was able to get a better look at Canada (it was getting dark when I made it there last time) and the nice garden they have there. I also watched the 360 degree movie about Canada. Not quite as cool as the China one, but still good. Got a better look at England's tea garden as well, and watched the very nicely down American history show.
Last time I talked about how some of the different countries have little museums. While I found a couple I'd missed before. One was in Morocco and featured traditional Moroccan clothing and accessories, and the other was in Norway and was all about the Vikings. The Mexican museum had changed since my last visit as well, switching focus to the Mayans.
Another cool thing in different countries is the shows. Each country has one or two that take place several times throughout the day (and most of them have several variations on top of that). I haven't seen anywhere near all of them, but I came across taiko drummers in Japan, an interesting balancing act in France, a humorous Romeo and Juliet retelling in England, and a great acrobatic show in China. As a note, the Chinese acrobats seem to be the most popular show in the park and they draw a large crowd very quickly so if you want a decent vantage point be sure to check the times and show up 5 or 10 minutes early.
At one point, I also took a break to visit The Universe of Energy, another attraction I wasn't able to to get to on my last visit. It's part ride, part video, starring Ellen Degeneres and Bill Nye The Science Guy and it's all about energy. What are different sources of energy? Where do they come from? What are their pros and cons? It's not bad, but a bit on the long side (45 minutes, not counting any time spent in line). Personally, unless you're a huge fan of one or both of the stars, I'd say it should be a pretty low priority stop.
All that, and my day wasn't quite over yet. Like the Flower and Garden Festival, the Food and Wine Festival has its own concert series. The bands for this one are a bit more modern than the ones at the Flower and Garden Festival, and I don't really care about them much. But going this particular weekend meant I could see the one band I had any degree of interest in, Starship (a spin-off of Jefferson Starship which is in turn a spin-off of Jefferson Airplane), featuring Mickey Thomas. Not one of my favorite bands, but they do have some good songs. And, of course, what's a visit to Disney without a flashy final event?
All in all, I had an awesome day and, if you can, I highly recommend visiting Epcot during the International Food and Wine Festival.
I didn't buy anything, (other than lunch), but I walked around for a while and looked at the art. There were some decent paintings, but the photos interested me the most. And once again got me thinking about how much it would cost to make some really large high quality prints of some of my better photos. While I'm not a huge fan of art festivals, I think they can be interesting to walk through, at least for a little while, and the size and variety made this one a decent diversion for an hour or two.
Anyway, about the park itself. Wet 'n Wild seems to be a similar size to the other parks (a little smaller, but more densely packed), though its landscaping isn't anywhere near as nice. More cement and a lot less plant life and sand. The wave pool is also rather on the small side compared to the ones at the other parks. However, while I'd have to pull up some maps and count to be certain, I'm pretty sure it has the most slide out of all of them. There's the usual kids play area, along with speed slides, some funnel type things, and a large variety of tube slides (dark ones, fast ones, ones that exist entirely to drench you with water falls and water cannons) and more. They've even got a nice little faux beach on a lake. During the summer, you can pay extra to wake board there. Well, sorta. They have a cable system to tow you around instead of a boat.
One thing I should note is that quite a lot of the slides require a minimum of two people. Wet 'n Wild advertises having more group slides than any of the other parks and they're right. If you're in a group and like to ride with your friends, that's pretty awesome. If you're by yourself, not so much. At the other parks, nearly every slide can be ridden single and, for those that can't, they'll stick single riders in with the next small group that comes along. Wet 'n Wild doesn't, so you either need to bring some friends, try and find some people at the park you can hook up with, or pass on several of the most interesting slides. As for the slides themselves, the Black Hole and Disco are pretty cool looking inside (though otherwise fairly typical). The Blast is short but gets you absolutely soaked (those water canons pack a punch). The speed slides are normal speed slides, though one drops you out of a capsule. Not that it makes much of a difference over sliding normally, but it's a nice touch. And there's the Brain Wash (the side ways funnel next to the speed slides), and a few fairly ordinary tube slides. And the Storm, that dual funnel thing I posted a picture of. I've been on one of those before at Water World in Denver. You go down a tube, zoom around the sides of the funnel a few times, then fall down into a deep pool below. It's fun, and not a type of slide you see very often, though it can hurt a bit if you fall out at the wrong angle. Oh, can't forget the token lazy river. It's not especially long (not that that matters so much when it's an endless loop) but the water is pleasantly warm and there's a little lagoon in the middle where you can sit under some waterfalls.
So, overall? All four parks have some neat slides that the others don't, but Wet 'n Wild has the largest variety...at least if you've got a friend with you. If not, you're probably better off at one of the other parks. The others also have far better landscaping and general atmosphere, wave pools, and lazy rivers. Taking everything into account, I'd put Disney's Blizzard Bay and Typhoon Lagoon at the top of the list, Aquatica a fairly close third, and Wet 'n Wild at fourth. That said, if you're in a group of people and just want to go on a lot of different types of slides together, Wet 'n Wild is a rather attractive option. They also have a lot of specials on ticket pricing (I got mine for half price by showing my work ID).
On a side note, while Wet 'n Wild does have a paid parking area, it's right off of International Drive so you could probably park in one of the nearby shopping plazas and just walk a couple of blocks to save money.
After I finished at the park, I swung by a large Asian grocery store I'd heard about (finally managed to find some dashi base) then ate at a nice Ethiopian restaurant on International Drive. Gotta say, Ethiopian restaurants just aren't as common as they should be... While it's too bad my friends couldn't make it, I still had an enjoyable day.
I left early Saturday so I could go to services in Tampa, but I had time to kill after that. I'd read that the Florida Botanical Gardens is good (and free), and it was on my way. So I drove over and spent a couple of hours walking the various trails. I've been to a lot of botanical and ornamental gardens in the past and I've got to say that this one wouldn't make the top ten. That said, there were lots of pretty flowers and a nifty tropical fruit garden, among other thing, so I did enjoy my visit. Of course, this is Florida and there's nothing like alligator warnings to add a hint of danger to an otherwise pleasant stroll. For the record, I didn't see any gators, just some squirrels, birds, and what I think were a couple of snapping turtles. They also had a nature trail though the kind of natural brush land that would normally cover that part of Florida. Finally, there was the heritage village, a collection of old buildings, similar to others I've visited. It's still a work in progress, and it closes earlier than the rest of the gardens, so I only got a really quick look. It seemed nice, but not quite on the level of similar type places I've visited in Colorado and Japan, not to mention the relatively nearby St. Augustine. So, all in all, the garden is nice enough, though I wouldn't call it a must see by any means.
Moving on, after checking into my hotel, hanging out for a bit, and getting supper, it was off to the show. If I'd realized how much parking cost before I got stuck in the queue, I would have tried to find another place, but anyway... KOOZA is the second Cirque du Soliel show I've seen. After La Nouba, my expectations were rather high and I wasn't disappointed. Cameras weren't allowed, but here's a link to the official trailer. But that really doesn't do it justice. Like La Nouba, KOOZA had a loose story line tying everything together but the whole experience was very dream like, jumping from one surreal act to the next. The costumes, lighting, and soundtrack (which was performed live, by the way) were all fantastic. The clowns were hilarious. But, of course, the real stars of the show were the acrobats. A few highlights? The trio of contortionists were an early stand out. It wasn't only what they could do, but how fluidly they moved. They made it look easy. I have to wonder how much work it takes to get that flexible. And the wheel of death... It's unfortunately really hard to describe without a visual aid, but the stunts the guys on it pulled were breathtaking. There was also a tightrope act which included a sword fight (bringing to mind a favorite scene from Kaleido Star), and so much more. As corny as it sounds, I spent quite a lot of the show watching in wide-eyed wonder. The things the performers did were utterly amazing and, combined with all the other elements of the show, the overall effect is nothing short of spectacular. You feel like you're in the midst of the most incredible dream imaginable and you really don't want to wake up. If all of Cirque du Soliel's shows are on this level (and I have no reason to believe they're not), I really can't recommend them enough. They're more than worth the price of admission. If you ever get the chance to attend, just do it. I'm certainly going to be keeping an eye on their schedule in the future.
Before I start talking about the park itself, I should mention admission costs. While a single day admission costs about the same as at any of the other major theme parks, for the same price as a one day ticket, I was able to get a fun card, which gives me unlimited visits all the way through 2013. Which begs the question of why they still offer the single day ticket... But anyway, they're also affiliated with Sea World (which is still on my to-do list) and I was able to add on unlimited visits there for less than the price of of a single day ticket there. So, if you plan on repeat visits, it's a pretty impressive bargain.
Busch Gardens has a lot of similarities to Disney's Animal Kingdom, in that they're both half theme park, half zoo, with a rather strong Africa vibe, so some comparisons will be unavoidable. Like all the other parks in the area, Busch Gardens is broken into a number of different zones. They're mostly themed after different parts of Africa (Mongolia, Egypt, etc.). Though, for the most part, it's a fairly loose theme so don't expect anything like Disney's attention to detail. But there are plenty of African animals scattered throughout the park. They've got nice habitats and you can get excellent views of most of them. They've also got a large savanna type area with a bunch of giraffes, zebras, and the like wondering around. You can get a few views from the side, and there's a train around the park that passes through it, but there's no equivalent of Animal Kingdom's awesome safari ride. They do have special guided tours of the savanna area, which includes giraffe feeding, but they cost a good bit extra. Other than the animals, the big draw at Busch Gardens is definitely the roller coasters. They've got five big ones and several smaller "kiddy coasters". I love roller coasters and all the ones at Busch Gardens are pretty awesome. Good variety too. There's the fast and lengthy Cheetah Run, the fairly standard Scorpion, Montu (a long hanging coaster), the really twisty Kumba, Gwazi (the bumpiest wooden coaster I've ever been on), and Sheikra. Sheikra is the most unique of the bunch, as it has everyone sitting on a bunch of raised platforms (kind of like the seats in a movie theater) so you don't feel closed in and you get a great view no matter where you sit. It's really the best of the Florida theme parks for roller coasters, hands down.
But I wasn't there only for the coasters. I made my way around the park, checking out everything I came across on the way. The Egypt area had a rather neat recreation of part of King Tut's tomb and I encountered a few carnival style rides and games scattered throughout. There's also three water rides (a log flume, river rapids, and one of those where you go down a slope and cause a giant splash), though unless you're really lucky/unlucky, you're unlikely to get more than a good splashing. Getting soaked threw would likely require multiple rides. There are also two large and elaborate kids' play areas, which I would have absolutely loved when I was younger. And, of course, more animals! I managed to arrive at just the right time to watch the elephant trainers, which was fun. I even saw one elephant shoot water out of its trunk, just like they do in cartoons. And there's a nice bird feeding area. The nectar to feed them is kind of expensive, but you can walk in and look at the birds whether or not you bought anyway.
There were also some shows, though nothing especially thematic. The only one I saw involved a mix of popular dance songs from the 60's and 70's. It was entertaining, and had a lot of songs I like, but yeah, not at all Africa related. Sadly, the food followed the same trend and was all pretty typical American fair (burgers, sandwiches, BBQ, fried chicken, etc.). None of the restaurants were very expensive, but I wish they'd gotten a bit more creative.
As it turned out, one of my favorite parts of the park broke with the African theme entirely in favor of another part of the world, Australia. The area was mostly devoted to kangaroos and wallabies. You can feed them (if you want to pay $5 for a cup of grass), and pet any that wonder close enough to the fence. Yes, that's right, I got to pet a kangaroo! The kangaroos were actually really soft, though you can feel that they're all hard muscle beneath the fur. The wallabies were a bit rougher to the touch, but one of them was extremely friendly and liked to lick your arm as you petted it. There were some joeys (baby kangaroos) too. One was too young to leave its mother's pouch (no, its head wasn't sticking out), but a couple others were out and about, only sticking their heads back in from time to time to nurse. Here's one mother kangaroo with her joey. Isn't that cute?
Oh, as a side note, since the animals are such an important part of the whole park experience, Busch Gardens loses a lot when it gets dark (unless there's a special event like Howl-O-Scream going on), so it tends to close earlier than most of the other theme parks.
I had a fun day, but how does Busch Gardens compare to Animal Kingdom? Well, they've both got lots of great animals, I think I have to give Animal Kingdom the advantage there, mainly because of the safari ride, though petting kangaroos is a pretty awesome too. For rides, Busch Garden wins over all the other parks if you really love roller coasters, but other than that it's doesn't have anything special. And Animal Kingdom wins hands down when it comes to shows, restaurants, and atmosphere. So, while Busch Gardens is a lot of fun, if you only have time to visit one zoo park, I have to recommend Animal Kingdom to anyone who's not a complete roller coaster fanatic.
If you've been following my travelogue entries, you probably know that I've visited all the major Florida theme parks except one. And, since that fun card I got at Busch Gardens a couple weeks back is good for Seaworld as well, Thanksgiving weekend seemed like a good time to finally head over there. Like Animal Kingdom and Busch Gardens are part theme park, part zoo, Seaworld is part theme park, part aquarium.
While most of Seaworld does have a loose Mediterranean loose, it's not really divided into themed areas like the other parks. I decided to start off by heading to the right. Seems that was the less popular choice and I didn't encounter any crowds for quite a while. In fact, despite it being a weekend, the lines were never all that long and, while the shows were pretty crowded, I never had any trouble finding a seat either.
After passing a couple of stores, I came across a large lake. Since Christmas is coming up, a lot of Christmas trees were scattered across its surface. Also going with the Christmas theme, they had a motion simulator ride based on The Polar Express. I never saw that movie, and it was a fairly mild ride, but they had some arctic animals (including a polar bear and walrus) in there as well. Speaking of which, they're actually building an entire arctic area that's supposed to open in the spring.
Moving on, I passed by one of several theaters (Seaworld has a lot of shows) and through a kids play area. Looks like a lot of fun for the younger crowd. Then there was were some gardens. Yep, even though they're not exactly in line with the theme, Seaworld actually has a few small but nice botanical garden type areas. A bit further in, I reached Shark Encounter, the first of the park's aquariums. There were a couple of underwater tunnels where you could see sharks and other sea life swimming by, and a number of more ordinary tanks as well. Nothing I haven't seen before (I've been to some pretty nice aquariums) but it was all well done.
I hadn't really had breakfast so I decided to get a brunch of sorts (beef brisket) and then it was about time to go see the first of a number of shows. And what better one to start with than the big Shamu killer whale show? It was pretty cool, with six killer whales doing all sorts of jumps, flips, and the like. As a note, despite numerous warnings that I was sitting in the splash zone and would get soaked, I stayed completely dry. I'd say that, unless you're in the first two or three rows, you're not going to get anywhere close to soaked and beyond five or six rows you're unlikely to even get splashed.
I had a bit of time until the next show, so I took a ride up that big tower I saw earlier to get the lay of the land. I also paid a visit to Pacific Point Preserve, the seal and sea lion habitat. While watching them is free, for $5 you can buy some fish to toss to them. As a note, all those birds aren't actually part of the exhibit, they're wild. They just hang out there to try and steal the fish. Sticking with the sea lion theme, my next stop was the Clyde and Seamore show, a comedy featuring a couple of trained sea lions, along with occasional appearances by an otter and a walrus. While not as impressive as the Shamu show, the animals were well trained and the whole thing was kinda amusing.
Continuing on, I finally reached one of the park's three big rides, the Manta. It's a pretty cool roller coaster. After getting strapped in, the seats tilt forward so you're facing the ground. It's a little uncomfortable, but makes you feel like you're flying, and I've never seen another coaster like it. As an added bonus, you can check out some real rays (among other sea creatures) while you're waiting in line. If you don't want to ride the coaster, or just want a closer look at the various displays, you can go right into the aquarium itself. In addition to the rays and fish, there was an octopus and a bunch of different types of sea horses, including some with very impressive camouflage. On a related note, if Manta and its aquarium aren't enough rays for you, there's another area a little ways away where you can touch and feed the rays.
And then it was time for the dolphin show. It wasn't all dolphins though. Birds, trapeze artists, and high divers all played a major role. But there were plenty more dolphins at the nearby dolphin cove. And, once more, you could feed them for an extra fee. Right after seeing the dolphins, I visited the nearby sea turtles. They have their own building that's divided into three sections. First there's the manatee aquarium, then the sea turtle aquarium, and then you watch a movie about the life of a sea turtle. But this is no ordinary movie. You're standing inside a dome and they project it all around on the walls and ceiling for the whole 360 degree experience. But that's not all. It's also in 3D. I've seen plenty of other 360 degree movies (though they just used the walls, not the ceiling) and tons of other 3D movies, but this is the first time I've ever seen the two combined. It actually worked really well, making for the most immersive (and disorienting) movie I've ever seen.
By that point, I'd explored most of the park, with only two more attractions. First up, Journey to Atlantis. You hop in a raft, take a ride through the famous sunken city, and then take a big drop, sending water flying everywhere just like in the picture. I've been on a lot of rides like that. Some will leave you completely and utterly soaked through, others barely splash you. Journey to Atlantis is one of the latter. You'll get splashed a bit but you probably won't get especially wet. It's got a little aquarium as well. and right nearby is Seaworld's other roller coaster, Kraken. It's a standing coaster (even though you're strapped in, it's attached on the bottom rather than the top). It's fun, but Manta is the better of the two.
It was starting to get dark, and I was starting to get hungry, so I walked around a little more (and took a quick look at the little Christmas village that opened up around sunset) then chose a restaurant. Speaking of which, all the restaurants at Seaworld are fairly typical American food. There are a couple of fancier (and more expensive) ones and a couple all you can eat buffets, but even then you're not going to find anything unusual. It's all burgers, sandwiches, steaks, pasta, seafood, etc. Not especially exciting, but I was able to get the turkey and stuffing I didn't have on Thanksgiving, and it was pretty good too, so I can't complain.
After the meal, it was time to check out the Christmas lights and go to a few more shows. There were special Christmas versions of both the Shamu and Clyde and Seamore shows, along with a few other things I didn't get to see. And it all wrapped up with some fancy ice skating followed by fireworks.
So, overall opinion of Seaworld? It's a fun park, especially if you like sea creatures. But, while the rides it has are good, there aren't many of them so expect to spend most of your time watching shows and looking at animals. The atmosphere and dining options also aren't on the same level as what you can find at the Disney parks or Islands of Adventure. Still, the shows are great and you can get up close and personal with lots of interesting creatures so it's definitely worth a visit, especially if you prefer shows to rides.
The first thing I should mention is that the Kennedy Space Center isn't in Orlando, it's 30 - 40 minutes east, on an island off the coast. You also have to go through quite a lot of toll booths, some of which are ridiculously close together. But anyway... When looking for a good site to launch rockets, NASA settled on Merritt Island for several reasons and bought up all, or at least most, of it. Quite a lot of the land was turned into a wildlife refuge (keep an eye out and you can see lots of birds, alligators, and more), but there are numerous NASA facilities scattered around. The main one, at least as far as tourists are concerned, is the Visitor Complex, which is a theme park of sorts (albeit a very educationally focused one) all about space exploration.
Chances are, the first thing you'll notice once you enter is the rocket garden, a collection of old rockets from various periods of space exploration. There are free tours of the garden several times throughout the day, though each rocket also has some signs you can read on your own.
Jon, Hadyan, and I decided that we may as well start with the park's most popular attraction, the bus tour and Apollo Center (as a tip, try and sit on the right side of the bus on the way there and the left on the way back to get the best views). While on the bus, you get a look at the massive Vehicle Assembly Building (where they put together the rockets and shuttles), which is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume and also has the world's largest doors. You can also see some pads where they store the completed rockets, the tracks for the machine they use to transport them to the launch pad, and more. Sometimes they stop at the launch pads themselves, though only when they're not doing any work in the area. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of those days. Our guide was interesting, if a little difficult to understand, and spent a while talking about NASA's upcoming plans now that the space shuttle has been retired. They're currently working on a new space ship, which is the beginning of a planned manned mission to mars. All that is way in the future though. The new ship is targeted for completion around 2020 and the mars mission somewhere in the 2030 - 2050 range.
The main stop on the bus tour is the Apollo Center, it's a museum type building all about the Apollo missions (which included the moon landings). There's a few shows inside and a lot of interesting items including the original mission control center, an actual Apollo rocket (which is about the length of a football field), various space suits (including some odd looking prototypes), and more. While I wouldn't necessarily call it fun, it was very interesting.
Once we'd finished exploring the Apollo Center, we took a bus back to the Visitor Complex. The bus dropped us off right by the Shuttle Launch Experience, so we decided to go there next. It's the Space Center's only ride and is supposed to be a very realistic recreation of a shuttle launch. It's essentially a motion simulator and, while it does seem pretty realistic (not that I've ever been on an actual space shuttle), I'd say that Mission Space at Epcot does a much better job of simulating the go-force and, as a result, is a bit more intense.
Lunch came next though, unless you're interested in freeze dried ice cream, the Space Center doesn't have anything particular special in the food department (it's pretty standard burgers, pizza, fries, etc.). If you want to pay extra and make reservations in advance, you can eat with an astronaut though. Then it was straight to the IMAX theater. They have two 3D IMAX movies playing right now. We opted for Hubble 3D, which was a history of the Hubble Space Telescope, complete with lots of lots of photos it has taken over the years. There were some amazing images and the 3D actually worked really well with them.
After the movie, we checked out the two remaining museum type buildings. Exploration Space talks about the challenges and tech involved in future space exploration plans. They're also got a presentation about those things by a real astronaut. Speaking of astronauts, they's an auditorium where they often give speeches as well.
Finally, Early Space Exploration is about the Mercury and Gemini programs which led up to the previously mentioned Apollo missions. There was more old equipment including the Mercury control room and a Gemini Capsule (yes, the astronauts used to have to ride in that). There was also a display of space related media, toys, and the like from back in the time those programs were running. The coolest thing was this rather famous robot...
All in all, it took us from around 9:30 to 3:30 to see just about everything going at a fairly leisurely pace (taking time to read most of the signs and all that). We could have gone to the Astronaut Encounter or watched the second IMAX movie, but those were pretty much the only things we skipped. However, it's worth noting that they're currently working on a new museum building dedicated to the space shuttle Atlantis which is set to open this summer. Sometimes, there are also special tours available for an added fee which will let you see things like the inside of the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Tickets to the Space Center also get you into the nearby Astronaut Hall of Fame and, since we had time, we decided to stop there as well. Despite the name, the real focus is a very nice timeline of space travel (complete with photos, old equipment, and the like), which winds through the entire building.
And that was the day. Or most of it anyway. Since we were passing through Orlando on the way back, and Yano wanted to see a bit of the city, we drove down International Drive and stopped for dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant (I like introducing people to Ethiopian food) and then it was time to drive back home.
So, final thoughts on the Kennedy Space Center? Of all the major attractions in the Orlando area, it's certainly the most educational. The museums are well done and it's really interesting to learn about all the different space programs and see the actual suits, rockets, and the like. That said, unless you're a big space and/or rocket buff, you're bound to have more fun at one of the theme parks, and they also have a whole lot more to do. If you're just visiting the Orlando area for a few days and are looking to make the most of your time, I probably wouldn't recommend a trip to the Space Center unless you're really interested in space exploration or determined to get an extremely educational day in (though you could combine fun and education at Epcot or Animal Kingdom instead). However, if you're going to be in the area for a while, it's definitely worth a visit so long as you don't mind a day without big rides and fancy shows. While a trip to the Kennedy Space Center might not be one of the most fun things to do in the area, it's certainly one of the most interesting.
Originally there was going to be five of us but one person got sick at the last minute (get well soon, Marisa), so it dropped to four. Here's a photo of our tour group in our wet suits right before heading out on the boat. I'm the third person from the right. Continuing left is Rosey, Yano, and Akira. Oh, on a side note, the photos are a mix of mine and ones taken by the captain of our boat, who had an underwater camera (the four of us split the cost of a photo CD).
But anyway, after the drive to Crystal River we watched a safety video, put on wet suits, and took a quick ride over to the pier. Then it was onto the boat and off down the river. As a side note, you'd think that this might not be the best time of year to go swimming, especially in the morning (northern Florida doesn't stay warm all winter like the south does). But the water in Crystal River is supposed to stay in the low seventies year round and, luckily, that happened to be the air temperature as well, so it wasn't bad. Plus, the manatees are more likely to hang around the area during this time of year.
Crystal River itself is a pretty place, lined with expensive houses. It wasn't long before we spotted some manatees, if at a distance. See the "rocks" back and to the right? They're actually the backs of manatees floating at the top of the water. Unfortunately, we couldn't get close to that particular bunch. There are a number of areas (marked by buoys), that people aren't allowed to enter, to give the manatees places to rest when they don't want to deal with a bunch of curious humans. So, after a quick look, we continued down the river. We passed some more manatees along the way, including a mother and child (a calf?). Before long, we came to a popular manatee watching area outside the entrance to the Three Sisters Springs. There's another one of those blocked off manatee sections there, but they often hang out in the surrounding area as well so we headed into the water.
The water was surprisingly clear. Shallow enough to stand too, but we were told to float rather than walk to avoid kicking up a lot of sand, which reduces visibility and can scare off the manatees. The manatees weren't coming out of their area (though we could see them in there) so we swam back into the Three Sisters Springs themselves. It was a pretty area, with clear water and some fish (nowhere near as impressive as in Hawaii, of course, but pretty good for a river), but unfortunately there weren't any manatees there either (there are no guarantees when it comes to wild animals).
However, once we left the springs and returned to the river, we found that a couple of manatees were out and about. Despite their size, and the fact that they have no natural predators, manatees are pretty shy so the trick is to float quietly and let them come to you. At which point you can pet them if they're close enough (though there are some rules about that, since they're endangered). There were some photos at River Ventures of people getting nuzzled by manatees (they apparently rely heavily on their sense of touch). That didn't happen with us, but they did swim around and beneath us and we got to pet them a bit. If you're wondering, their skin is kind of rough (not at all like a dolphin or seal) and often covered with algae (which helps protect them from sunburns).
Eventually the manatees headed off so our captain decided to go back to that area where we'd see a lot way back at the start of the tour. Most of them were still in their protected area, but one was not only out but in a pretty playful mood. It seemed to like hanging out with us and getting its stomach rubbed. After a while he/she (kind of hard to tell) got distracted by another another manatee and swam away, and we'd used up our time, so we boarded the boat and returned to the shore.
All in all, the tour went for around three hours (three and a half, if you count the time spent getting wet suits and the like), which is pretty good for $45 a person. While it took a little while for the manatees to come out and play, it was a lot of fun and the people at River Ventures really know what they're doing. If you're looking for something to do in Florida that's more outdoorsy than a theme park, you may want to look into swimming with the manatees.
Aside from just having fun, there was one other reason I chose Magic Kingdom. As I mentioned in my visit last year (see my January 15th entry), they're making some major expansions to Fantasyland. While they're not completely done yet (and won't be until next year), a lot of the new attractions are open so I naturally wanted to take a look.
New Fantasyland is actually divided up into several different areas. First, there's the original Fantasyland, which is mostly the same as always. Then there's the Storybook Circus area, based off of Dumbo. It's appropriately the new home of the Dumbo ride and also features a little water play area and the Barnstormer (a kiddy coaster and all that's left of Toon Town, which used to occupy the space). Next is the Little Mermaid area. It's got a place to meet Ariel and a nice but very mild ride which takes you through dioramas of various scenes from the movie. Note that the Little Mermaid ride is extremely popular right now. Wait times were pretty much consistently 90+ minutes throughout the day. Naturally, I used a fast pass. Then there's the Beauty and the Beast area. No rides there, but there's some kind of attraction which involves Belle reading stories (it had very long lines and no fast passes, so I didn't do it myself). There's also a shop and two restaurants. One is set in Beast's castle and has a somewhat French menu. It looked pretty good but had ridiculously long lines for lunch and dinner was entirely booked via reservations very early in the day, so I wasn't able to go (next time, for sure). While I've had a decent bit of luck with walk-ins at nicer Disney restaurants in the past, I'd say it's always better to get a reservation as early as possible, especially for dinner and especially on weekends and holidays. I did, however, go to Gaston's Tavern. The decor was pretty awesome and Gaston has one of my favorite Disney villain songs (which they were playing inside), so that was fun. It's a quick service restaurant, so the menu is pretty limited but they have some really big cinnamon rolls and an interesting drink that looks like beer but is actually frozen apple juice with a bit of marshmallow flavoring covered with mango passion fruit foam. The rest of New Fantasyland is still under construction. There's what looks to be a pretty awesome roller coaster set in the dwarves' mine from Snow White and something based on Tangled (Rapunzel).
Other than checking out New Fantasyland, I just went around to different parts of the park and had fun. I got to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was closed last time, and is pretty good despite not being especially intense for a roller coaster. Not much else to say other than that I still love Space Mountain and the Monsters' Inc. comedy show is really funny, and changes a bit every time you see it. And, unlike last time, my camera batteries lasted the whole day so I got some nice pictures of the electric parade and the fireworks show.
So, it was a fun day and New Fantasyland is shaping up to be a nice addition to the park, even though it'll be a while yet before the last couple parts are finished.
It's been a while since I've been to a theme park on a day that's not a holiday or weekend. While I don't think Busch Gardens is ever as busy as Disney or Universal, the lines were especially nonexistent. Well, except for getting into the park (their ticket machines were running slow). But the rides had almost no lines, letting me enjoy the roller coasters without having to wait.
The way concerts work at Busch Gardens, they hand out free tickets near the park entrance and the theater. They open the theater around half an hour before showtime for people with tickets (there's no assigned seats though) then, a few minutes before showtime, they'll open it up for anyone if there's still room. Thanks to that line at the park entrance, I wasn't quick enough to get a ticket for the first concert (they did three throughout the day) so I grabbed one for the second and went on a couple rides. But I was passing the theater shortly before the first concert started and saw them open it to everyone, so I got to see it anyway (and then go back for the second one). The concerts were a lot of fun. While Peter Noone (the lead singer) is the only remaining member of the original Herman's Hermits, he's the most important one and the other band members did a good job. Peter still sounds great and seemed like a really nice guy, joking with the audience and even giving free CDs to some of the kids. The song lists varied a bit by concert, but they played a lot of their biggest hits in both. And, with such a small theater, there really weren't any bad seats.
Other than the concerts, I decided to check out some of the things in the park I hadn't seen last time, rather than just riding roller coasters for the rest of the day. Something I didn't realize last time is that there are a couple of free rides that take you through the savannah area. One is a train that just goes around the park, the other is the Rhino Rally, which is an off-road type jeep ride. Neither is on the same level as the safari ride in Disney's Animal Kingdom, but I still got some nice views of the animals. While they're not in the savannah, I also stopped to see the cheetahs and the tigers. Did I mention last time that there's a little windowed cylinder you can get in to get an up close look at the tiger? It's cool, but not all that useful if the tiger decides to sleep on top of it. And, of course, I had to go and pet the kangaroos and wallabies again. I kinda want one for a pet...
One other thing worth mentioning is the Iceploration show. I heard that it won an award for best theme park show, so I figured I should check it out. As the name implies, there's ice involved. Ice skating actually, combined with trapeze and trampoline acts, nice music, and fancy costumes. It's really well done. I don't know if I'd call it the best theme park show, but I'd put it in the top three with Festival of the Lion King (Animal Kingdom) and Fantasmic (Disney Hollywood Studios). Though, if you get a bit outside of the parks themselves, Cirque du Soleil at Downtown Disney easily beats them all.
It was a fun day and, while Busch Gardens isn't my favorite theme park, it does have a lot going for it and the fun card (a whole year of admission for the price of one day at most other parks) is a really great deal.
This year, there were some new additions to the festival. First up, there were some larger themed gardens scattered around the park. Some were based on various movies (like Cars and Oz), while others had a more natural theme, like the butterfly garden. Even better, they took some inspiration from the awesome Food and Wine Festival and placed a number of food stands around the park, all of which serve a selection of special food and drinks. With prices from $2 - 5, and appropriately sized portions, they encourage you to snack your way around. While there were only ten booths (as opposed to the 30 or so at the Food and Wine Festival), they were just as good and made for an excellent addition. I tried some great dishes like baked goat brie with kumquat chutney, Moroccan pancakes with argan oil, and frushi (sliced fruit and coconut rice wrapped in rice paper). I did end up getting a full meal as well, at a restaurant in France. While I've had assorted French food before, I think this was my first time eating at a French restaurant. It was a nice place, and they even had a waiter wheeling Remmie around. The food was good, especially the French onion soup (an old favorite of mine that I really should eat more). Unfortunately, that was when I figured out that the reason I was feeling kind of lousy the previous day was due to some sort of stomach bug. Fortunately, it wasn't much of an issue so long as I didn't eat too much at any one time. Unfortunately, it took eating a big meal (and feeling pretty lousy as a result) to figure that out. But it didn't take me too long to recover and I was careful to avoid any further problems after that.
While waiting for the concert, I decided to focus on some things I hadn't done before. For example, I took a tour of the tea garden in Britain, which was pretty interesting. I already knew a bit about how tea is made, but our guide was nice and I picked up a bit of new information. Plus, free tea samples. We also happened to spot some baby rabbits hanging out in the garden. I also watched the music and belly dancing show in Morocco and went on the newly redesigned Test Track ride. It's a fun ride, by the way. It's a bit less realistic than the old version (which I went on years ago), but sports a rather interesting Tron-esque design and gets up to 65 mph at one point.
I ended up watching two of the three Paul Revere and the Raiders concerts. Interesting trivia bit, they've played at Epcot every year since 1971. Oddly enough, despite being the front man, Paul isn't the lead singer. The original lead singer isn't with the band anymore, but their current one is really good. (More trivia, he was the original lead guitarist for the Backstreet Boys.) They played all their biggest hits and Paul turned out to be a real joker (it was practically half concert half comedy show). Anyway, I really enjoyed the concerts though they asked the audience not to take any videos, which I why I only have photos this time.
The rest of my day at Epcot was spent revisiting stuff I've already written about so I'll end this with a photo of the fireworks taken by the tori gate in Japan.
Like La Nouba, tickets to Blue Man Group aren't especially cheap. However, you can usually get a good discount on La Nouba tickets if you join Cirque du Soleil's free online fan site. I couldn't find anything similar for Blue Man. Plus, parking at Downtown Disney is free while parking at Universal City Walk is another $14. I was originally thinking I'd spend most of the day at Universal Islands of Adventure, which I'd like to go back to. But, to save a bit of money, I decided to go someplace I could get in for free. I still have a bunch of admissions to non-theme park attractions left on my Disney pass, and the weather was good, so I decided to go back to the Typhoon Lagoon water park (see the September 2nd entry if you want to read about it). It hasn't changed since I was last there but, as I said, the weather was good and the lines were pretty short so I had a nice relaxing time there.
I left a little before the water park closed and drove over to Universal City Walk. While I've been there a couple times in the past, I was always just walking through on my way to or from the Universal theme parks, so I never had a chance really look around. Much like Downtown Disney, it's a collection of shops and restaurants, along with a movie theater and a couple other minor attractions. The focus is very much on night life and, as such, it wasn't all that crowded when I arrived but was fairly busy after the show. Overall, I'd say Downtown Disney is a bit larger and has a bit more variety, and the free parking is a plus. But if you like fancy clothing stores or late night dance clubs, you could have a lot of fun at City Walk. None of the restaurants particularly stuck out to me at first glance but I eventually ended up at a place called Latin Quarter, as it sounded like the most exotic of the bunch. It turned out to be a very good choice. I got coconut breaded tilapia on rice with a mango sauce and a pudding covered with caramelized bananas. Both were excellent.
After my meal, I headed over to the Blue Man Group's theater to pick up my ticket (I ordered it online, but they don't let you just print tickets). Side note, I got one of the cheaper tickets and that's what I recommend. Like at La Nouba, the theater is small enough that there really aren't any bad seats so, unless you really want to be up close and centered, you might as well save a bit of money.
As for the show itself, cameras weren't allowed, though here's a teaser video on Youtube. Honestly, even now that I've had a couple days to think, I'm not really sure how to describe the show, other than give a complete blow by blow write-up, which I don't want to do. I guess you could call it performance art, though it's also part concert (featuring very unusual instruments) and part comedy show, with some oddly education bits mixed in. Add in lots of bright lights, paint, and sheer craziness. While La Nouba was strange in a dreamlike way, Blue Man Group is more acid trip strange. Although the stuff they do isn't as impressive as the acrobats in La Nouba, the show is really entertaining and funny. If you're in Orlando and only have time to go to one show, La Nouba wins hands down. But, if you've got the time (and money) for a second show, Blue Man Group is definitely worth seeing. As a warning though, they're pretty big on audience participation (clapping, hand waving, showing up on camera, etc.). The best seats actually include raincoats (in case you get splashed with paint), and a couple of random audience members even got dragged up on stage for various skits. So if you've got serious social anxiety issues or some such you might want to go elsewhere (or get a seat way in a back corner or something).
To wrap up both this entry and the travelogue as a whole, here's one last picture, Universal City Walk at night. Will there be another Florida travelogue starting up in the fall? We'll see. In the meantime though, I'll likely be doing a travelogue for at least some of my summer travels...
