Lena's Mix of trips!

Good Day All!

Inspired by Big Mike, I have been thinking about doing some PTR’s of my travels this year in a single thread. Not that I am all that great at verbalizing the funnies in pictures like some of you are great at, nor do I want to really bore anyone with too many words, I will probably be sticking to what I do best - posting the pictures. I love reading in depth descriptions of trips, but I am afraid if I did this, everyone may want to shoot me. I encourage everyone to give my photos captions. This will be funnier. So anyway, my first park this year should be Six Flags Great Adventure on May 16th, if the nasty weather holds out. As of now, it seems rain is in the forecast. If not, my first park will be in Orlando the first week of July. I should be going to the Flex Pass Plus parks.

Until then, I wanted to go back in time, and post some pictures of my previous trips. My very first trip on my own was to Orlando. I really haven’t been too many places away from home, so I apologize if you wanted to see more variety. Maybe in the future. J (Next year I plan on going to VA!) But this will show us how things have changed in the last 15 years. And if some of you are like me, you just like any types of old pics, even ones without coasters. (Yes, I was a big coaster chicken!)

So first up is Orlando - June 1993

Enjoy!

Back in 1993, you could purchase tickets from NY to Orlando for $223.

My Mears Shuttle ticket. I couldn’t tell you how much it was back then, it was included by the travel agent.

We stayed at Days Inn, Lakeside. I knew nothing back then of what I was missing out on!

First up, MK. I really do not remember much from this trip, other than my friend got homesick after three days. She ended up leaving me after going to three parks. Probably selective memory? This is before I drove. We took the shuttle bus, and passed Epcot on the way. To this date, I have never been too interested in going there.

I couldn’t tell you where I took this from. I originally thought the skyway.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - in operation!

This will always be one of my favorites. IMO, You cannot beat Disney and the length of their rides!

Riding Space Mountain was like the scariest thing for me back then. I was 18, had already conquered the Coney Island Cyclone, but felt I had enough… for now. The drop to me was enough to turn my stomach. Riding it again in 2005, I must have been on crack in 1993 think that!

I didn’t attempt to ride this until the following trip.

This is just a great ride.

And all of the tombstones totally crack me up!

Why I took a picture of this, (someplace to eat? The one with the burgers?) is beyond me. I didn’t bother with any of the ride fronts.. Lesson learned!

My least favorite ride at MK. BUT, I always find myself on it somehow!

Who told that lady to ruin that picture of me by the fountain? UGH!

Next day we stayed by the pool. Note to self: when in Florida, wear sunscreen!

Walking around Sea World was pure torture for my friend and I. Sunburned beyond belief… Aloe was my best friend.

Shamu Stadium. Hasn’t changed too much.

Still lots of splashes…it is upside down?!! Sorry!

Big Fish…and crowds!

Then off to see the dolphins!

I learned that they always make a small jump to “look” at their intended target

One dolphin thought he was funny!

Pseudo Whale… aka false Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassiden). My friend didn’t mention them when he went in April. Do they still have them or did they do away with them upon changing Dolphin Stadium? I will find out in July.

Now that the hospitality center is done, do they plan on keeping the horses?

Well, after SeaWorld, my friend decided to get home sick, and left me alone. >:O I was mortified! I never traveled anywhere further than Coney Island alone! That was just a train ride for me. But, I was a trooper, and pushed on. Learned a few lessons this trip!

Star Tours, always one of my favorites. I wonder if they are really changing it after all this time.

How much has the scenery here changed?

While I assume it is in the same spot (Beauty & the Beast), this show was uncovered my first time out!

And this concludes my first trip in 1993.

Next up, I hit up Disney & Universal Studios with another friend in 1997.

Travel back to 1997. It was Disney World’s 25th birthday and the castle was a big birthday cake. The sky ride was going to go by the wayside shortly after my trip, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea had become a memory. This was a time before IOA and AK existed by 4 or more years. They knew exactly what they were going to build, even if they did not have the exact names for everything at the time.

Well, on with the show!

Single Day ticket

See, I told you, it was a birthday cake.

That other pic looks like it was from the sky way. This one definitely is.

I think this is the only picture I ever took of the carousel.

I just love Tigger. I had to show him my outfit I picked that day specifically for him.

No, this wasn’t the closest I got to this ride on this day… I actually rode it. It was a trade off. My friend is not scared to ride stuff, and I told her she has to go on the Black Hole in Wet N Wild if I went on Splash Mountain… she psyched me out on the mini drop, it was payback time!

The Black Hole. My favorite ride in Wet N Wild

A better shot of Big Thunder

And closer to the Mansion

Does this look familiar? This is conceptual art of……. Animal Kingdom!

Bye Bye 20,000 Leagues, I will miss you. But what is that in the background???

King Tritan is in the sea now! And Ariel’s Grotto is born.

A castle miniature… I guess this was because the castle was currently a cake. Lol

I have never been up here… I must make this a priority on my next WDW quest in 2011

And my friend did not take well to my warnings. Wear more than just Coppertone in Florida. Hey, I was nice and… not burned!

Next up, we went to Universal Studios. This was the ticket this time around.

The Delorian with the train behind it…

Me in Central Park. I live in NY, and only have been there once. It is just a big park to me.

Beetleguise Review

The entertainment in front of Mel’s is always fun

Hollywood? Hmm… did the camera line up correctly?

Hey, wait a second! This is in the wrong park! But before they put in um… you know, I am thinking it was the Nick studios, but anyhow, they used to have a prop junkyard, and it had Jurassic Park stuff in it…

(Along with a Jaws part and other stuff)

Later on they would be moved over to….

Universal’s new park! That would be Islands of Adventure to you…

A model, before bringing their (IMO) best idea to life…

And this concludes this installment of Lena’s Mix of trips!

Next à Another Orlando Visit (yes, I told you, this is where I go..) 1994

Awesome pictures! Great timing considering I JUST returned (literally today) from my Orlando trip. These are really cool. I, too think Super Hero Island/IOA is one of the best (if not THE best) areas and ideas I've seen in ANY park.

FeelTheFORCE, Thank you! I look at my pictures from back then, and wish I took more. It has taken me so long to post these because I feel they are almost not worthy of all the greatness I see from people on here such as Hanno, and Electerik, and so many more that I cannot even begin to remember right now, but it only encourages me to go nuts on my upcoming trips. But, I have to take into consideration that it was film, and not digital. I was coming home with 20 rolls of film from a 7 day vacation during the later trips I will post. I remember having 6 rolls from my 97 trip. When I used digital for the first time , I took 1200 pictures. Half digis and half film. Because I was scared something would happen. Now, I am fully digital, am armed with my Nikon D40X and Kodak Z612, and am prepared to be a coaster geek. LOL.

I couldn’t agree more about Marvel Superhero Island! The theming is awesome. I still find new things and I go here every time I am in FL! I totally cannot wait for the Harry Potter stuff to get finished! I cannot imagine what they have conjured up!

Now, onto my 1994 trip. I somehow forgot to keep it in order. I tend to forget about this trip because it was a side trip that ended up being totally last minute! We hopped in a van, and off we went. An 18-22 hour drive ended up being only 16 hours. I stayed at Port Orleans this trip. It was the first time I saw a card as a key to open the room door, and the only Disney Hotel I have ever stayed at. I think other than the theming, they are just basic hotels, and are totally over rated. I remember liking the café in this hotel though. My daughter liked the statues. And anyone who says a 1.5 year old would not enjoy something like this, is out of their minds! She enjoyed every second of it…well, except for Minnie Mouse! Lol

Here is the hotel map

And the room key

Just in case you get lost… I hear there was an addition after this.

Courtyard

This hotel does have a cool pool

See, my daughter and the statue. She is now 16, I cannot believe it.

Inside the gift shop. There was a button you could press to make the music start to play.

Back to Sea World

Had better seats for the shows.

And I got to see my third favorite whale. (1. Orcas, 2. Belugas 3. Pseudo, in case you were wondering)

It is hard getting pics of Jaws if you sit in the middle

They did not put the Delorian here yet.

So maybe the Nick studio was there for my 1997 trip. I just cant remember…Maybe it was the Shrek building. I know that “bone yard” was to the left at the beginning of the park.

No flash photography allowed. I had a point and shoot Canon back then

To get a pic of the big ape, you had to pay $10 for a polaroid

My daughter was in every pic..lol.

I took the ferry to MK It is usually less populated than the tram. (OOPPS… maybe I shouldn’t have let you in on that…)

The castle and it’s pre-birthday bash status

My daughter totally enjoying a show

As usual, lots of singing and dancing

A one day pass

Is this still there??

My daughter trying to run away from Minnie.

A better view of the non covered Beauty and the Beast show

Wow, these PTRs are hard work. Just posting and linking… posting and linking. Make sure your comment goes with the pic… preview, preview…. Proofread… preview… LOL. I give major props to everyone who does those major trip reports!

Next trip is the year 2000.

Wow, these PTRs are hard work. Just posting and linking… posting and linking. Make sure your comment goes with the pic… preview, preview…. Proofread… preview… LOL. I give major props to everyone who does those major trip reports!

Yes, they are.

But you might find it easier to upload the photos directly to TPR, rather than using photobucket. At the very least, you'll avoid problems like the broken last photo of your first set. (And I know the admins and mods prefer it as well.)

Of course, if you do start uploading directly to TPR, don't freak out when the photos preview in reverse order--that's normal, and they'll switch back when you post.

Anyway, I'm liking the historical angle. I grew up in Southern California, so it's always interesting to see older photos of the Orlando parks.

Keep at it!

/Happy to be mentioned in the same breath as Hanno.

Erik, I actually have tried using the TPR to post my pics recently. It won't take them. There is always some sort of problem. It is not the size either. I have a program to make them whatever size I need it to be. It won't let me load more than three or four at a time. I found myself so frustrated after three times, that I just scrapped what I was doing. Also I do not want to double/triple/quadruple post. Unless when making a TR, that is ok? I will try again after the 2000 installment, since I have done much of it already. As for that last pic in the first batch... I do see it. I hope most people can too. I personally have never had a problem with Photobucket, but I know what you mean, because I see it all the time on Myspace.

And yes, between you and Hanno, I find myself just in awe all the time!

Thank you for your words of encouragement! I shall do my best to bring time back for a moment!

^ Just post the pics in segments. You don't really need to post 50 pics in one post not to mention, I can see them all from my junk computer. Double/triple/quadruple posting is acceptable when posting a PTR. A lot of members do it all the time.

BTW: Awesome pics. It's so cool seeing what the Orlando parks looked like back then... Do you have anymore pics of models and concept art? I'm very interested in seeing those.

PS: Now I know why so many Disney fans complained about the cake facade on the castle...

PPS: The Earful Tower is still there, but it's not MGM's official park icon anymore.

^^ Well, I'd certainly rather you posted them this way than not at all!

Maybe the problem with that last photo is on my end. Sorry. I'll check when I get home and back on Firefox.

Keep up the good work!

I love those pics! Seeing WDW back in the day brings back alot of memories to me. I remember the 20,000 Seas lagoon, with the ride operating in 1989. The next time I went in 1995, the ride was shut down but the lagoon was still there. I think seeing the castle in the birthday garb would have ruined my vacation for me. To be honest, I'd rather have a crane hovering over it while they are repainting the spires instead of all that fake candy and pink paint. Great PTR!

Netdvn: I am sorry, I do not have any more concept art pics. I could pretty much kick myself for not taking more. They had things from all the different lands for IOA, and I only took the pic for Marvel. I actually do have one pic of my friend in front of a .. cauldron? I guess for DD?

Looking to the left behind my friend, I think I see dragon scales. OK, I would rather not think about what I missed. GRRRRR!

Erik, I shall try next upload. As you see, there are more, and more pics as the years go by!

HPCrazy: I thought the castle in its cake outfit was cool. Only because I have been so many times before. I also liked when they had all the characters around it…that will be another report though. I kind of do not include many castle shots because I think they are pretty much all the same. So the cake kind of throws something different in it.

Our trip in 2000 started kind of off… First, we get to the airport, after checking constantly about when my flight was, I found out that it changed times at the last minute and left over an hour early! They got us in a few hours later. The wait at the airport was agonizing. This trip was my son’s first airplane ride. (That was just funny!) We got there, went to Muvico, checked out the mall there. This time out, we went to Magic Kingdom. My husband, and son’s first time. My daughter’s first time being old enough to “remember” it. It has been three years since I had been there, and I wanted to share the park that I love so much with them. Unfortunately, on the Peter Pan ride, my camera (Up until this point, a Canon Sureshot zoom 105mm) decided to just STOP! I was devastated to say the least. How on my family vacation does something like this happen. But, being me, I had a back up! Not as good as my trusty Canon, but it would work. I had to spend the rest of the day in MK with a Kodak one use camera. It actually had 40 pics on it! Nice buy for $18! Nowadays, that wouldn’t be even remotely enough for me. Even though we had some bumps, the trip still was great! We went to Wet N Wild, (I won’t bore you with those pics), IOA, US & MK.

Waiting for the plane. By this time everyone just wants to get on the plane.

My son’s first plane ride… WOAH!

The plane.

I made this the cover of the photo album. I save all this stuff. I have it from several trips

Very obligitory

Globe…

The dancing man on the top… my kids got such a kick out of that. It wasn’t up my last trip

When it is hot, thank goodness for water fountainy spout things

Very dizzying

I really need better shots of this ride

I never knew what this was before TPR

Beautiful Site. I wonder if they are going to put the dragons back up after construction is done.

Yes, I know… no sitting. But just for a second. Look … the fire is on!

Triceratops seems to have found a home. (Yes, I know it is a different one. The one laying down on the ground is in the building.)

So this is where they moved it

Tee hee…this ride scared the bejesus out of me! It totally felt like it was coming off the track

This was so funny. He didn’t catch us, but he sure caught the lady after me.

Very colorful for Marvel Island

Yeah!

I do not think I will ever go on one of these

My son seems a little weirded out by the spinning

Cool colors…

I love this pic…it’s bigger than he is!

How fast the kids grow.

My only monorail picture

Had to take a pic where I once did

His first coaster

What is his name again?

She loved Ariel.

WATCH OUT!

I have a few on ride pics, but I liked this one better

The MK pics above are with that disposable, this being the first one. Not too bad

Obligatory Castle shot.

Entrance.. These are slightly backwards. OOOPS!

Always remember where you park

Decided to get a carriage. They have been walking all over this entire trip. They are only 5 and 8 here.

This is that lot… is that Nickelodeon’s bldg? OK, so it was right behind it. I knew I remembered it at the beginning of the park!

Jaws.

Terminator bike.

Twister… I tried and tried.

Kong outside. I regret not having more pics of this attraction. I did not know this would be it for me.

Kong inside. Just a bunch of graffiti, that really didn’t look real. Maybe from the 70’s. But definitely not after that.

Earthquake models - the story is interesting.

I remembered to stay on the outside! Gotcha!

This is always longest line I ever waited on. More than any coaster… and yes, I always find myself getting on that loooong line.

I’ll miss you professor!

Believe it or not…this was cute. And I knew all the words!

Our mandatory picture.. every time there are glasses involved, there must be one!

Congrats Lena on diving into the photo trips reports

Thanks for the shout out also, glad I inspired you! hehe

Now you know how hard it is to post these trip reports lol, they are wayyyy time consuming for the whole process!

I really enjoyed reading your posts, but I already knew how cute you were back in the day from going through your whole Facebook profile too!

Your still great looking, your hubby is very lucky

The first couple times I went to Orlando, I stayed at the Days Inn Lakeside too!!

It was really nice seeing Ameilia's photos from when she was a baby after seeing her pictures in your botanical gardens album.

I can't wait to hang out with you soon, I know we will get along great and have a really fun time in the front seat of Kingda Ka!!!

Keep up the fantastic work!!!

Peace, Big Mike

PS - How could you only have been to Central Park once and you live right here??? We need to go together and get you the coaster credit there this Summer!

How can you upload multiple pics in one post?I was thinking about uploading some shots from my KD trips so far this season but have no clue on how,or where to start.

You can either host them on another site like Photobucket or Imageshack, copy the link to the pics, and wrap them in the image tags (Img) button...

Or you can upload them directly to TPR by using the form below that says Add Photo, Video, or Other Attatchement.

Big Mike, we could definitely make that Central Park trip a plan! I literally live twenty minutes from the city. Yes, I know, that makes me not going to the park just that much worse! You put so much work into your reports. Not only that, you remember everyone's names, up to the spelling of my daughters! No one ever gets that right! Muchos Kudos! That just shows all the extra hard work you do on your TRs! Thank you for the compliment also. As far as my FB pics, you ain't seen nothing yet! I haven't even begin to post really! Did you see my status not too long ago? I took over 18,000 pics last year alone! I get nuts. LOL.

I tried to upload via TPR. It just wont. To boot, somehow my program to change the pictures sizes just stopped working! I uninstalled it, reinstalled it, and it still didn’t work. I am extremely upset… because it wont completely come out of my computer so I can try it one more time. But its not in programs. I now need another program!!! (Anyone have a name of a good editing/file name changing/size changing for multiple pics at a time?) Photobucket will have to do I guess. Sorry for those of you that prefer other methods.

Our next trip was in 2003. Basically, we wanted to do something different. So, we drove down. This was our first trip after 9/11. I didn't want to scare the kids by flying the first time. 18 hours later, with only gas and bathroom breaks, we arrived. Who needs a hotel when you have a mini van!? I cannot sleep in a car. Something about the pelting rain and lights flashing by that kept me awake. That really was not good. On top of it all, I had worked that day. So I took the first shift. I drove from about 6pm through 1am. Then I couldn't take it anymore. My husband drove until about 6am, then I drove the rest of the way. Hey wait, does this seem fair? How did that happen? Especially since I really didn't sleep. The drive home was even worse. We ended up leaving a day early, because he came down with strep incl. fever. Needless to say, I did all but 3 or 4 hours of driving, with one break at about 5am. I had to pass out! What on earth makes me think that I really wanted to drive this year? Hopefully it turns out better than the 03 drive! I have a plan this time, but I thought I had a plan last time too. LOL. We shall see! After we got to the hotel, we pretty much showered, then hopped back in the car to go pick up some friends that lived 2.5 hours away. We slept there though. This way we didn't totally kill ourselves. (I'd love to hear some long term driving advice!) The following morning, it was right to the parks with our friends.

And onward we go…

Driving our own car was a nice change of pace

OOOPS! Watch out for that moving walkway!

My son gloating to my daughter that he got it down pat!

The beginning of my coaster pictures… I have this thing for catching people I know on rides since this pic. Unfortunately, it was a gradual realization. Anyhow, second row.. My friend Maggie (her priceless face), her husband Chad, my daughter (you see the top of her head) and husband.

My son chose to stay on the ground. (He is still a coaster chicken, where at least I have been riding since 2005)

Splashdown!

And some familiar faces in the second row!

I have never been on this…

Partly because I wanted to take pics of people I knew on it.

And my son went um.. Rock climbing while we waited

I didn’t quite know where to stand. Must find better angles!

Back to Sea World

Gotta see my #1 fish!

Be jealous of things I am not allowed to go on…

look at the beautiful topiary....

And take pictures of friends in front of crushed beer cans

Dark pictures are always hard for me…

But the ones I took with the flash seemed to have come out ok.

Do you see my son down there? My daughter seems to think she can rush down to save him.. LOL

Results:

This dude is hilarious!

They seemed to have changed this show slightly

But as of this trip, this one not so much

A different angle than I normally see of this

What is in there?

I usually do not come here often

But I was determined to catch some stuff with my then new camera (Canon Elan 7 35mm)

This was different by this time last year. (08) With HRRR, I guess the queue is moved?

Results of the twister:

OH NO! ---- OH YES!!!!!! - but I will always miss that big ape

Why she could go on Hulk, but be terrified on Earthquake, is beyond me!

Hiding from Jaws

Apparently not!

Amity

Told you I loved this ride

On ET - I took this pic b/c of the speak and spell. LOL

Next up... something really different for 2004!

So back to taking it easy... back to being really different. I surprised the family with tickets to Discovery Cove. Swimming with the dolphins was just extremely cool. I keep meaning to buy the pictures they took too, as they never throw them out! The disc is about $130 for everything but the video. So, I got three passes to swim with the dolphins, as I figured I would stay out of the water and take pics, which still costs you almost $200 a person. My husband opted out, and did the picture taking. You also get a seven day pass to either Busch Gardens, or Sea World. We love Sea World, so we took that, and ended up going twice. We spent a few days with friends also.

Everything about Discovery Cove is beautiful and serene.

The lazy river goes between only a few feet to about 12 feet deep, and even has an aviary. We unfortunately didn’t take advantage of everything.

The lazy river goes through caves as well

You get to swim with Rays

And feed them if you want. But be careful, they can take a finger if you don’t hold the food just so!

Time to swim! We had Hutch the dolphin. They showed us the basics.

And then when we were done, we got an up close show!

It is just so beautiful here

Sloth anyone?

So yes, back to Sea World. I won’t bore anyone with too many pics from here. But I will show the tower, as you always see pics FROM the tower, and never really OF the tower:

I always love this part…

They used to change the shows up slightly… the one pseudo looks like he’s smiling!

Just great fun at Sea Lion and Otter Stadium

And this time at Shamu stadium, we have fog…

We spent some time feeding the dolphins.

And I went on Atlantis

While the family went on Kraken,

My son and I contemplated what to do next

Back to Shamu stadium! And we got a slightly different show.. With more whales.

While we were over there, the kids wanted to check out the play area

And finally the Sea Lions. They are LOUD!

Well, let’s see… this was 2004. In 2005 I went on a trip to Orlando with my family. That was fun, but it also started the year I went on my first upside down coaster, oh yes, and my first real

SFGA trip. J

1. I can't get enough retro Orlando pics! Keep it up!

2. Open up the picture in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer (or any photo-viewing software if you have anything different)

Press Alt+Print Screen (Prt Sc on my computer)

Open up Paint and then select the dotted line square in the righthand corner of the toolbar.

Right click the white window and select Paste

Remove any excess around the picture by using your cursor and selecting/dragging the cursor over whatever you want to delete and hitting the Delete key on your keyboard.

Move the picture into the top lefthand corner.

Shrink the white window into the size of the picture by dragging the bottom righthand corner toward the picture.

Save the file as a .jpg file.

It takes a bit of work, but this is how I've been able to resize all my pics to fit TPR's standards without having to download any programs to my computer. I hope my instructions were clear and they helped.

netdvn - Thank you for your advice. I really won't do it if I have to do it one by one. I do not have the time. My program that came with my Nikon (it is called Picture Project), edits and does the resizing all in one step for however many pics you have. It is not CS3, which I have also, but that was the main feature I used. I used to do it the other way also, but once I got that program, it was all over. I can use two other computers in my house with it, I suppose.. It is just more conveinient being able to do it on my own, with my trusty 1TB external at my side. Thank goodness for plug and play.

I must report that I do not have many more retro reports. The last time I went is 2005, which I am getting ready right now. Then it's switched to SFGA.

For image resizing, I highly recommend the free VSO Image Resizer.

You just select the images you want to resize, select the new size and file type, and tell it where to save the new images, and off it goes. Super easy to use.

I'm not sure why you're having trouble uploading images to the site. Do you get any error messages when you attempt to do so?

dt

Meteornotes, thank you! That is awesome! I totally love it. While it is not what I am used to, it will greatly help me out with all my resizing I do.

Well, when I try to upload, it has the normal screen, browse, etc. I do that, and put in the description. Then I click the add button. Usually a second one would open, and I would do it again. It won't do that anymore. It keeps the one section there, the description stays, and the info for my upload disappears. I learned this the hard way after trying to post a PTR and the incorrect pic was with a description. It hasn't worked ever since. For me, the Photobucket way is easier anyway. I was just annoyed that the TPR way wasn't working for me. I guess just as long as the pics get posted, it's all good. So far all the links have been working. I make sure to not make the picture too big upon upload. That I noticed causes problems.

Hey Lena!

Very nice reports.

Reading your reports bring back great memories of when I was married with my 3 step kids and we did all the same stuff you guys did!

I have to go find my Discovery Cove pictures and swimming with the dolphins!!

I totally gave up on resizing, so I just take all my pictures in the lowest form so it is easy to upload to TPR.

Hope to see more updates, they are a pleasure to read!

Peace, Big Mike (your riding buddy)

Big Mike, I would love to see those DC pics! That was such a great experience. Now they have changed the way the packages are done slightly, to include more options. Not sure about the pricing though... I haven't checked since last year, but we will one day do it again.

2005 was a pretty good year. I convinced 7 other family members to go on the trip with us. Sadly, a cousin with her daughter, and my hubby’s sister’s family did not make it down. The later mostly due to his brother in law being scared of flying. Even though everyone didn’t come - we had an awesome time. My only complaint was with so many people, no one but me knew what to do first. I had it mapped out, but I really didn’t want to sound bossy. But everyone was just standing around contemplating. So I took charge. Before this, I had never been on an upside down coaster.. So I had my mind made up. RNR would be my first one. I figured, hey - it is a Disney ride, how bad can it be, right? So onward we went. Straight to RNR! So we are waiting on line, and we are at the gate where we can see the cars. All of a sudden the lights come on and you hear “switching to manual mode”. UM. NO! Not while I finally got the courage! Immediately after, they switched back to automatic, and the cars went off as normal. Five of us made it to this ride… so we were two, two and one. We shoot off, amazing I’m thinking. Then we get to the straight away, which I guess now being a member here, I know that should be the brakes? The car completely stops, lights come on… back to manual mode! We sat there for a bit…so we are all talking. The only ones. Everyone must have thought that we were nuts. We were singing “just keep swimming” from Nemo… what a lame train! LOL. They were probably thinking … them darn Nyers! Then the ride finished out… No evacuation necessary. That would have been cool. So that was my first ride. I went back later in the week and rode again, since I didn’t have the complete experience. Just as amazing. I totally love that ride!

OK, that is the only story I will tell… You all really don’t want to hear my incoherent babble anyway. (right? LOL)

I love taking pictures on the plane. The now old yankee stadium:

We stay at Magical Memories Villas, when in Orlando. It is the comfort of home, for a really decent price. They have all types of different accommodations. It is really worth it.

Behind the villa - a body of water… I wouldn’t call it a lake..and some of the houses they also rent out.

We are almost to RNR! I am still too chicken to ride ToT. Maybe next time…I need to see a good POV I think…

Yeaah, yeah, dude looks like a lady…

Some character love

Oh yeah, I planned this weekend around Star Wars Weekends. Pretty cool to see all the extra characters out and about. Peter Mayhew was there

My son’s first picture with a character. I told him, you have to take a picture with the Jawa!

mermaid

Great Movie Ride

I do have a few more pics of this ride, but they didn’t all come out so well. I used a Kodak dx7630 for the inside rides. I suck at taking dark pictures…

My first time back since they covered this area

This is a great show…. The Muppets (3D?)

Darth TRIED to get a grip on me

My daughter and Pluto

Undershot

My family is in this shot of Hulk…2nd row… Empty seat, my husband, and cousins

Nope, still too short. (by about 3 inches here) Not that he would ride anyhow.

Hey Anthony, what do you have that look on your face for…you must be up to something..

Ahh…shooting his sister and cousin with the water gun! Lol

From The Olive

The ride that scared me, and my son to death… We must try it with the restraints. (I really didn’t like the car)

Family… Looks like they are screaming their heads off. lol

Something about this sight, and the music you hear as you enter… I get chills every time. I just love Jurassic Park

I never did this up to this point… I finally got to it my last trip out…

More family shots

First time here

My son was sick, so we weren’t staying long. But we had to do Dinosaur

I felt so rushed though this park, I can’t wait to go back!

It’s Tough to Be a Bug… Cute show. I won’t give anything away though for those of you who haven’t been there.

AK standard shot

Remember when this was just an idea? (concept art)

Being built.

Some relief on a hot day

These were all around…

Cool topiary

Lucky… this had us staring for quite a bit. It was just too cute

My first mouse

And finally, a pic from

My daughter splashing down riding the above ride

Wave pool

One of the slides

I am a real slacker it seems when taking pics of things. I get too excited and miss half of what I wanted to get.

I <3 STITCH. I dont care if its a cheap knockoff of Alien Encounter…

Not sure which boat this is...

This visit was during the 35th birthday celebration. There was a special parade (of course)

Right after a rehab….not going to bore you with Small World pics. I do have more if you want them though…

Photo spot. (had to)

Jafar was very interested in moving his fingers around, and didn’t seem to want to take pics even though everyone was asking..

I never really looked at the inside before

Tiki room

Starting to get dark

Some fireworks…

And a little parade action:

I don’t want to bore everyone with lots of firework & parade shots (I have MGM’s parade, and both Disney parades) ..so id you would like to see more, let me know, and I will do another update.

Next up... My first Great Adventure trip.. during frightfest (2005)

Thank you for posting those pictures.

I find it interesting how you seem to love theme parks....you're posting a report on a theme park site....but yet are too afraid to ride the big rides?

You have to go on ToT!!!! There is nothing to be scared about (I swear).

LOL. I now do go on big rides... Just not ToT. I haven't been back there since. The thing with me is, that I do not like things that go straight down. It does something horrible to my stomach. I actaully have been looking for someone to describe ToT as best as possible. Is it really a free fall type of ride? How far does it fall? That kind of thing. Back home, I have yet to go on Kingda Ka as a result. I didn't go on Nitro for two years because of its 1st drop. I over came Nitro, now KK will hopefully be conquered in Aug with Big Mike.

ToT isn't like Stuntmans Freefall...the drop(s) are so mild that you only need a seat bealt. It isn't one massive drop (just little drops), but you do get the stomach in mouth feeling.