Florida

NEW YEARS 2006 - 2007

I have been to Florida a few times at this stage but never did a blog on what we got upta or where we went. This is all going from memory since it was almost a year ago we were there.

We had rented a house and this is the only way to stay if in Florida. The houses in Florida are amazing and have their own pool. Some really good deals and they are usually cheaper than staying in a hotel if there is a gang of you.

The house we stayed in was AMAZING! It had a great Renaissance/Venetian kind of feel to it an I wont lie, there was times that I didn’t want to leave it. Big comfy beds, separate games room and it was just the job. We stayed in Orlando. Other times we stayed in Tampa, Clearwater to be near Busch Garden but this trip was all about Disney!

We headed over jet lag was not even an issue on this trip I don’t think as you wear yourself out and sleep whenever you put your head on the pillow. Other time adrenaline is pumping through you so you are not tired.

NEW YEARS EVE

Disneyland here we come! Off we all trooped to the Magic Kingdom. This park opened in 1971 and was the second park to open after California. The layouts of all the Disney parks are kept pretty similar. There are loads of stories about the Magic Kingdom and its attention to detail. According to a story, Walt Disney once saw a Frontierland cowboy walking through Tomorrowland at Disneyland and thought this might ruin the illusion within the park. The whole park was bulit over a series of tunnels which is how staff get around the place. There are other parks in Florida built like this but this one was the first. I would to get down and see how the busy underground works. The place was buzzing with people, the air was nice and fresh and the place smelt of sweets and candyfloss. Very magic and very appealing to the eye as it was all done up for Christmas.

As the time approached for New Years Eve, we all timed it to get a fast pass so we would be on Splash Mountain and coming down the shoot for midnight. I don’t know how we did it but we managed it and when we came down and got soaked the first firework went up and it was 2007. Sad??? I don’t think so. Acting out your childhood is what I put it down to. Anything you want to do in this park goes and you can act like the biggest baby and get away with it. Even to throwing tantrums for ice cream even though it was the middle of winter.

INTERNATIONAL DRIVE

Myself and Ray headed out by ourselves one day and saw a few bits and pieces.

Titanic – The Experience

I am fascinated by the story of the Titanic (and not because of the film) for some reason but Ray wouldn’t be. And just went to show whether you were interested what happened or not, this is well worth going to see. It features full scale recreations of the ship’s most famous locales and there are historians in period costume portraying different characters that were on the ship.

When we went in your ticket was a replica of the actual ticket people were issued at the time. Ray was a second class minister and I was a first class passenger. There are items in the museum rescued (well I think they were stolen, don’t reckon the ship should be touched at all) and they are on display. There is a room in the museum complete with dry ice and a massive dry ice iceberg that you are invited to place your hand on for 15 second to experience how cold the water was on night the ship sank. Yep, was fairly cold alright. There was a full scale replica of the Grand Staircase, the First Class Parlour Suite and the Promenade Deck.

When we came to the end there was a list of all the passengers, those who lived and those who died. Plenty of Irish on board didn’t make it as they were 3^rd class passengers.

Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum

This place looks great from the outside. It’s a massive house that’s up-side-down and inside is Orlando’s only Odditorium. www.ripleysorlando.com

This is a self guided tour and took us about an hour and a half to get through. This museum has the weirdest stuff in it. We saw siamese piglets, genuine shrunken heads from Equador, South America, the smallest bible in the world that had to be read through a microscope, the smallest violin in the world, weird and wonderful stuff. Some of it was a bit fucked up but interesting to see. Went to see Apocalypto aftewards which combined with shrunken heads, made it a strange day.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

There is old Universal Studios which has all the classics and then Islands of Adventure. We decided to do both in the one day. The Back to the Future Ride in Universal Studios was being replaced and was the last time we would get onto it. I didn’t go onto it as it’s a motion simulator and they always make me sick cause I have motion sickness. I was on it a few times before so didn’t feel like I missed out. This is where my parents turn into children and get excited going on stuff like the ET ride which is very cute. There was a new ride called The Mummy which myself, Ray and Niamh went on and it was definitely worth queing up for. I remember it being very hot and the parks in Orlando are great as they have areas that spray a mist of cool water over you. I do love old Universal, it’s a little dated but it has the classics and Jaws is still going. Compltely crap ride but just for the nostalgia of it, its kewl.

On our way to Islands of Adventure we stopped at the Hard Rock Café for food.

The Islands of Adventure is definitely a fun park! There is loads to do. Popeye Ride, Spiderman (which is an updated version of Back to the Future ride – yes I did get on it and both Dad and me were sick afterwards for about half an hour!). Duelling Dragons is here, massive roller coaster, Ripsaw Falls and lots of other very cute things to do. Great little shops, fudge shops and the place is packed with fun. The Hulk rollercoaster dominates the skyline when you come in first and this was Ray’s first ever roller coaster. Ray and Niamh were the rollercoaster junkies on this trip. It was gas to see the two of them running to the Hulk Rollercoaster. It then started lashing out of the heavens, really pelt down and the two of them were soaked. I was watching them from a little café and they were hilarious to see trying to shelter under a tiny umbrella when the two of them couldn’t get any wetter. Fun times!

When we got back to the house I realised that the dye had come out of my shoes and stained my feet. They were purple. To add to this no matter how hard I scrubbed my feet stayed purple. My feet were this colour for two days until my mother brought me to a salon not too far from the house and treated me to a pedicure. It wasn’t pleasant but after serious work feet were restored to their natural colour.

BUSCH GARDENS

On our last day in Florida we headed to Tampa Bay. This is where the cruise ship was leaving from the following day and also where Busch Gardens is.

This is, by far, my favourite park! It’s a giant safari wilderness and has some of the best rollercoasters in the world. The Kumba definitely rates up there as one of my favourite roller coasters of all times. I love the way the park has different parts to it and different cultures in each part. You can visit tombs of Egypt or drink in a native café. The Clydesdale horses (from the Budweiser add) are also here.

The Rapids were my favourite on this trip. Years and years ago, about 13 I think, myself and dad constantly went on the rapids to try to drown each other. I always won and dad never got me. Subseqeunt visits to Florida resulted in more drowned father and no drowned daughter. This was the first time in 13 years that I got drenches and I got absolutely soaked. Dad was in his element roaring “13 fuckin years, waiting for that”. Obviously people who were in the ride with us did understand and thought the man was nuts, which he probably clinically is!

Other things that happened……

- Ray bought himself some fireworks. They only had a few small shitty little ones and we were never home in time for him to set them off. He set them off the day we were leaving with a small audience of a few children who thought it was great. Ray said adrenalin levels didn’t even move. He loves the big rockets and love fireworks more than anyone I have ever met.

- Myself and Ray eating in a little Mexican restaurant. Not sure what we ordered but was ok. Atmosphere was definitely better than the food.

- Going to eat in the Red Lobster on International Drive. Lots of food and if I remember some drink involved.

- Going to find Belts factory only to find out it was no longer there and some other shopping complex was in its place. Not half as good as the original but mom still managed to shop like a lunatic.

- Heading to a supermarket to buy some plasters and realising it was the “scene of the crime” once upon a time. (We were heading out to a meal one night, stopped at this supermarket and bought so much food we had to cancel our meal and go back to the house to eat it, total gluttony!). We made the same mistake again.

- Getting up in the morning and wondering which flavour ice cream you were going to have for breakfast.

- The heat, the sticky hot heat of Florida.

- Ray went to see Rocky IV by himself one day, and the rest of us went into Hooters for some food and a pitcher of Sangria.

- On our first night in Florida staying in some deadly apartment that had a little balcony.

That’s all I can remember for the moment.

Any more and I will update it.