Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Monday, February 16, 2004
Partly prompted by the fact that im still working on American eastern time and therefore not tired and partly by mike i thought that i would recall a few things from my holiday to florida (i only got back on the 15th of feb). I think the first thing worth mentioning is the fact that it was a fantastic holiday, it sorta feels like a dream at the moment, like i went to bed and I've just got up. It felt like 2 weeks whilst we were over there (we being my mum, brother and sister) but upon returning its like...i dont know, weird i suppose is the best way, a sort of feeling of acomplishment aswell that we actually did it, went all that way and did what alot of people i know have done. Its the family holoday that you have to do, and being twenty years old or older shouldn't stop anyone, i mean i was buzzing with childlike excitement when they did the special night time parade at the magic kingdom, and the fireworks at cinderella's castle where, without doubt the best firework display I've ever seen.
We got a fantastic deal on the holiday, for well under £400 we got the flight (virgin transatlantic) and 2 weeks accomidation in the Disney resort area, staying at the pop century hotel. The hotel was basic, room, two double bed's so we had to share but it was ok, i mean when your on a holiday like disney you dont spend alot of time in the room anyway and the beds where big so we had loads of space, my mum snores tho so that annoyed my sister a fair bit. What was great was that we had 2 week passes to everything disney so we could go anywhere without having to rush. Also because of the time of year we never had to cue for more than 20 minutes, most of the time the most we cued was 5 mins.
What i was trying to lead onto though is that fact that a disney holiday doesn't feel like a holiday at all, your in this world that they've made and your part of it, take the rides for example. The rides at disney arn't just rides, you become a part of the the story that the rides about. The Rock n' Roll Rollercoaster has Aerosmith in the recording studio and they invite you to come to their gig so the manager organises a limo for you (obviously the rollar coaster). Universal was the same aswell, they had some great rides, more on that later though. Disney even call the staff cast members, even the guy selling sweets in a shop, the whole vibe is that your in this world, its great, everything has a theme. It puts any theme park in this country to shame, i mean all you get at Alton Towers is "dare you ride the oblivion" i mean thats shit, disney puts so much effort into their rides.
I think, no i know my favourite park in disney was disney mgm studios, it was just more geared up for an older audience, bigger rides (tower of terror, rock n roll roller coaster) plus they had star tours which was ace, especially when they show the safety bit and chewbacca is there putting his seat belt on, quality stuff. Naturally alot of money was spent in the starwars shop between me and my brother. I think it was around $130 i spent, the most ive ever spent on starwars stuff in one go (although ive got my eye on the lego AT AT) I loved the japanese shop they had at epcot aswell, both mike n sy sadly I was running out of money quickly at the times we visited there, specially as on the 1st day i did spend loads at star tours.
The other parks all had there quilities, animal kingdom whilst not the best park had some cool stuff. The animal safari was cool, going back to everything in disney being an adventure there was a story to the safari where you have to rescue an elephant from poachers and at one point the bridge 'breaks'. I mean its just little things like that which makes the experience more enjoyable.
Epcot was not what i was expecting, mission : space was a whole new experince, Neil armstrong actually worked with disney whilst designing the ride to make it feel like you were actually travelling in space. The only bad thing about epcot was the 'land' attraction which, whilst going through the green houses they tell you that they use, lets say methods of growing crops that i dont agree with, especially when your not told about them whilest your eating the food.
The magical kingdom was a cool. We were there on a really hot day aswell which made us all tired. Again it was more geared to kids but still great all the same, the parade had me buzzing with excitement and to an exstenct there was that feeling of magic, i know its childish but hey. Pirates of the carrabian was great, specially as it's so old. Unfortunately my mum got the shits that day and after getting off that ride disgraced the nearest toilet. The new 3D cinema they've got there is freakin awsome, its called disneys phillermagic, whilst not as good as shrek is still damn close, all the great disney storys like lionking, peter pan, aladin, they all come to life, i mean you actually felt like you were riding aladin's carpet it was that good.
Downtown disney, whilst not a theme park still had some good stuff, especially disney quest - an arcade where they have all the biggest and newest arcade games and there all free - inc. continues, they had an 8 player link up on daytona, it was great. My brother became addicted to outrun 2 which they also had at the arcade in our hotel. It also had the best restauraunt I've ever been to - the rainforest cafe. It was crazy, they have all these electronic animals that move and look at you and they have thunderstorms in there, its great, the foods excellent to. Unfortunately as we were on a budget and new to the tipping thing we didnt tip that much, i think the most we ever tipped on the holiday was $7, in the rainforest cafe aswell. We also went to planet hollywood there for my sisters birthday on the last night. We saw 50 first dates there aswell at the 24 screens cinema.
Blizzard beach was great fun, me and my brother did the huAge slide there, my sister bottled it. The wave machine was great although nothing compared to the wave machine at Wet n Wild on internatinal drive which was amazing.
Personally i enjoyed the parks outside of disney more, my mum's favourite was going to seaworld, the day we went was seriously hot, in the 80's, so maybe gettin soaked on journey to atlantis wasn't such a bad thing after all! Wet n wild, again that was another scorching hot day and a fantastic water park. Both universal studios and Islands of adveture where my favourites. Some of the stuff they've got is amazing, shrek 4d was the best at universal studios, naturally we did the jaws ride, and all the other stuff like MIB, twister, back the the future, T2-3D. At Islands of adventure the marvel area is quality, the hulk is an excellent rollarcoaster although you do come off feeling slightly disorientated. The spiderman 3D ride was fucking cool as fuck, combing a 3D experince and a ride, unforgetable!!
We sort of chilled out the last few days, just tying up things we hadn't previously done, like honey i shrunk the audience which i know is old but was nothing compared to the other 3D cinemas, especially shrek 4d and spiderman.
At the end of the day it was great, it cost alot, we spent alot but it was great, everyone really enjoyed it and everyone will have some great memories for ever, because lets face it, you have to do something like disney as a family, I'ts just one of those things. We did all the big rides and all the parks apart from tampa bay which, because of travelling difficulties we couldn't do. The weather at its hottest was in the 80's but most of the time it was pleasent. It was cloudy the first 2 days and towards the end of the second week but that didn't matter, the important thing was everyone getting a well deserved break and having a great time which we did. I just wanna go on holiday again now, think I've caught the travelling bug!!!
We got a fantastic deal on the holiday, for well under £400 we got the flight (virgin transatlantic) and 2 weeks accomidation in the Disney resort area, staying at the pop century hotel. The hotel was basic, room, two double bed's so we had to share but it was ok, i mean when your on a holiday like disney you dont spend alot of time in the room anyway and the beds where big so we had loads of space, my mum snores tho so that annoyed my sister a fair bit. What was great was that we had 2 week passes to everything disney so we could go anywhere without having to rush. Also because of the time of year we never had to cue for more than 20 minutes, most of the time the most we cued was 5 mins.
What i was trying to lead onto though is that fact that a disney holiday doesn't feel like a holiday at all, your in this world that they've made and your part of it, take the rides for example. The rides at disney arn't just rides, you become a part of the the story that the rides about. The Rock n' Roll Rollercoaster has Aerosmith in the recording studio and they invite you to come to their gig so the manager organises a limo for you (obviously the rollar coaster). Universal was the same aswell, they had some great rides, more on that later though. Disney even call the staff cast members, even the guy selling sweets in a shop, the whole vibe is that your in this world, its great, everything has a theme. It puts any theme park in this country to shame, i mean all you get at Alton Towers is "dare you ride the oblivion" i mean thats shit, disney puts so much effort into their rides.
I think, no i know my favourite park in disney was disney mgm studios, it was just more geared up for an older audience, bigger rides (tower of terror, rock n roll roller coaster) plus they had star tours which was ace, especially when they show the safety bit and chewbacca is there putting his seat belt on, quality stuff. Naturally alot of money was spent in the starwars shop between me and my brother. I think it was around $130 i spent, the most ive ever spent on starwars stuff in one go (although ive got my eye on the lego AT AT) I loved the japanese shop they had at epcot aswell, both mike n sy sadly I was running out of money quickly at the times we visited there, specially as on the 1st day i did spend loads at star tours.
The other parks all had there quilities, animal kingdom whilst not the best park had some cool stuff. The animal safari was cool, going back to everything in disney being an adventure there was a story to the safari where you have to rescue an elephant from poachers and at one point the bridge 'breaks'. I mean its just little things like that which makes the experience more enjoyable.
Epcot was not what i was expecting, mission : space was a whole new experince, Neil armstrong actually worked with disney whilst designing the ride to make it feel like you were actually travelling in space. The only bad thing about epcot was the 'land' attraction which, whilst going through the green houses they tell you that they use, lets say methods of growing crops that i dont agree with, especially when your not told about them whilest your eating the food.
The magical kingdom was a cool. We were there on a really hot day aswell which made us all tired. Again it was more geared to kids but still great all the same, the parade had me buzzing with excitement and to an exstenct there was that feeling of magic, i know its childish but hey. Pirates of the carrabian was great, specially as it's so old. Unfortunately my mum got the shits that day and after getting off that ride disgraced the nearest toilet. The new 3D cinema they've got there is freakin awsome, its called disneys phillermagic, whilst not as good as shrek is still damn close, all the great disney storys like lionking, peter pan, aladin, they all come to life, i mean you actually felt like you were riding aladin's carpet it was that good.
Downtown disney, whilst not a theme park still had some good stuff, especially disney quest - an arcade where they have all the biggest and newest arcade games and there all free - inc. continues, they had an 8 player link up on daytona, it was great. My brother became addicted to outrun 2 which they also had at the arcade in our hotel. It also had the best restauraunt I've ever been to - the rainforest cafe. It was crazy, they have all these electronic animals that move and look at you and they have thunderstorms in there, its great, the foods excellent to. Unfortunately as we were on a budget and new to the tipping thing we didnt tip that much, i think the most we ever tipped on the holiday was $7, in the rainforest cafe aswell. We also went to planet hollywood there for my sisters birthday on the last night. We saw 50 first dates there aswell at the 24 screens cinema.
Blizzard beach was great fun, me and my brother did the huAge slide there, my sister bottled it. The wave machine was great although nothing compared to the wave machine at Wet n Wild on internatinal drive which was amazing.
Personally i enjoyed the parks outside of disney more, my mum's favourite was going to seaworld, the day we went was seriously hot, in the 80's, so maybe gettin soaked on journey to atlantis wasn't such a bad thing after all! Wet n wild, again that was another scorching hot day and a fantastic water park. Both universal studios and Islands of adveture where my favourites. Some of the stuff they've got is amazing, shrek 4d was the best at universal studios, naturally we did the jaws ride, and all the other stuff like MIB, twister, back the the future, T2-3D. At Islands of adventure the marvel area is quality, the hulk is an excellent rollarcoaster although you do come off feeling slightly disorientated. The spiderman 3D ride was fucking cool as fuck, combing a 3D experince and a ride, unforgetable!!
We sort of chilled out the last few days, just tying up things we hadn't previously done, like honey i shrunk the audience which i know is old but was nothing compared to the other 3D cinemas, especially shrek 4d and spiderman.
At the end of the day it was great, it cost alot, we spent alot but it was great, everyone really enjoyed it and everyone will have some great memories for ever, because lets face it, you have to do something like disney as a family, I'ts just one of those things. We did all the big rides and all the parks apart from tampa bay which, because of travelling difficulties we couldn't do. The weather at its hottest was in the 80's but most of the time it was pleasent. It was cloudy the first 2 days and towards the end of the second week but that didn't matter, the important thing was everyone getting a well deserved break and having a great time which we did. I just wanna go on holiday again now, think I've caught the travelling bug!!!
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