4/10-4/12/04-The Good, The Bad, and the Florida Turnpike

Ok, so this last weekend, myself and my good friend Tyler decided to take a trip down to Orlando. We left around 6am, hoping to get to the parks around midday to get a few rides in on Mummy. We planned to go to both Universal parks using our annual passes, and to all Disney parks in one day using passes we got from someone we know. Well, the trip down was going surprisingly well. We were making good time, and the time was going by surprisingly fast as we watched Family Guy and Linkin Park: Live in Texas on the DVD player in the car. Well, as we got on the Florida Turnpike, all hell broke loose. Tyler was accelerating, when he let his foot off the gas to slow back down. However, the car didn't and kept accelerating. He acted quickly and got the car stopped in the median of the Turnpike, 20 miles from Orlando. We called a tow truck, and after 3 hours, we were back on our way, except while watching the car ride behind us on the way to the dealership...

Well, after all the details were settled, we left the car and got a ride over to our hotel. The car couldn't be fixed till Monday, so we knew we would have to employ unconvential means to keep this trip a success. After getting settled in the room at about 6:30, we headed over to Universal to catch a ride on the Mummy.

After getting my annual pass processed, we headed over to the Mummy. The ride was broken down due to "technical difficulties", but someone in line was showing everyone pictures on his digital camera he had just taken of someone being carted off on a stretcher from the ride. This guy really got on my nerves b/c he was getting all sorts of people worried when if it was the ride's problem, they woudn't still have all of us standing around waiting for it to open. Nonetheless, after about 30 minutes, sure enough the ride opened. We were on one of the first cars after the ride reopened. All I can say is, I love this ride. I would go into details, but I don't want to ruin the ride for everyone. To me, it really felt like a decent dark ride, but more of a Rock n' Roller Coaster style dark coaster, complete with the flat cutout effects that you fly by. I definitely reccomend that you try this ride, as it is a great addition to USF, and gives a whole new group a reason to go over there. We then did Twister and Men In Black, and then headed over to IOA to watch the fireworks. We walked halway down International drive to my favorite non-Mythos restaurant in Orlando, Darryl's. When we got there, they were only serving appetizers, but we ate anyway. We then headed back to the hotel, ready for the big day ahead of us.

We got up around 7 and called a cab to get over to Animal Kingdom for opening at 8. As we tried to swipe our cards to get in, we found out that all the visits had been used up on them. We decided to just pick a Disney park, pay for it, and spend the day at it. Since I had never been to Epcot, we decided to head over there using Disney Transport and spend the day.

I really like Epcot. Sure, if you dont like "Edutainment", then its not the park for you, but I really enjoyed all the very unique rides. We rode all the rides in Future World, before heading over to World Showcase. Test Track is really fun, and it quite franky caught me off guard. My only gripe with it is the braking after the high speed section. It had us bouncing around everywhere as the brakes released then hit hold again about 50 times. Mission Space is great. The feeling of the Launch is incredible the first time you do it, and it has a great rerideability factor. The ride was a bit short though, but not too short to feel "cheated" after the long wait. While we were in Future World, I decided to try the dreaded "Beverly" at Ice Station Cool. This drink lives up to its reputation. When you have to chase a drink down with the nasty Chinese watermelon drink, you know you have a problem.

We walked around World Showcase in a counterclockwise motion, doing virtually everything there was to do in every country. We ate at Le Cellier in Canada. Great steaks and wonderful staff are to be found at this restaurant. We had a great discussion with our French-Canadien waiter from Montreal about hockey (my favorite sport-Go Thrashers!). It started raining right before Illuminations, but of course as soon as I bought a poncho, it stopped raining. I love Illuminations, but I think I like Wishes better just because the ending is so much more powerful in Wishes. We decided to take the Lynx public transportation back to our hotel. We took the 50 over to Sea World, but when we got to I-Drive at Sea World, we found out that the 8 line that runs up I-drive was done for the night. We then walked all the way from Sea World to our hotel across from Wet n' Wild. Obviously exhausted, we crashed for the night, ready for our trek to the dealership the next day.

We took a taxi in the morning, and got over to the dealership around 7:45. Surprisingly it only took about 30 minutes to fix the car. Apparently, it was just a minor issue which could be easily fixed. Very relieved, we got in the car and decided to go spend a few hours at Universal before driving back to Atlanta. We got a ride in on Mummy First, then went and experienced Shrek 4-D. This was my second time doing Shrek 4-D. If you love the movie, you have to do this 4-D film, as it is absolutely great. Unfortunately, the lines also reflect how great this attraction is. I've never seen the line under 60 minutes for a prolonged period of time (Only at opening is it small. Even then, that changes quickly). We also went over and did Men in Black. Both Tyler and I got 999,999 for the first time on this ride. We then headed over for lunch at the Enchanted Oak at IOA. We got a spin on both Fire and Ice (Dueling Dragons) while in the area. On the walk to Marvel Super Hero Island, Tyler and I terrorized a few guests with the free water cannons on Me-Ship the Olive and the pay cannons on the Dudley turnaround. We then rode Spiderman and Hulk before calling it a day. We, thankfully, safely got back to Atlana around 11pm due to heavy storms below Atlanta. I'd have to say this was the trip where anything that could go wrong did, but thankfully we returned safe, and with a few more rides on our favorites, and many new experiences.

Nice TR Chris...sorry about the car, I've had an accelerator *stick* on me once...it would be more enjoyable if that burst of speed had been controlled, like on an amusement park ride, LOL. Glad you're safe.

Mummy surprised me too...more impressed than I thought I would be....of course I'm told that I love everything...;) Overall, even without the inversions (not really "giving anything away" in that, I assume), I thought the overall *experience* was better than RnRC...then again, I'm no Steven Tyler fan...;)

Test Track had better acceleration than I expected too, and I thought that *it* was the re-rideable EPCOT thrill ride....but I have a bit of a "tender tummy" for M:S....:)

The water *cannons* on The Olive are laughable...I get wetter at an average water fountain...

Now for the SAT portion of this post....
Beverly: Moxie :: Battery acid: ?

I hold my thumb over the end of the cannon to produce the "water hose" effect, to spray it all over the trough. However, I find the pay cannons at Dudley completely worth it. Theres no way to avoid them, as they are completely drenching! I agree about Test Track, but to me both are very re-rideable, barring you don't look to the sides while ridding M:S...

*** Edited 4/14/2004 4:48:56 AM UTC by Chris the Coaster Freak***