Lena's Mix of trips!

Awesome job as always Lena! Great shot in Twister. Bad Girl is one of my least favorite songs, but one of my favorite M videos! I've always found Christopher Walken creepy, but I love him! He was cool in the music video and the Disaster attraction. For all the non-M freaks out there that have no idea what we are talking about, here is the video in reference. Cira early 90's/Sex book Madonna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmX29GpZMvc

Eric, Really? What is your favorite "era" then? I love that song. I so wish for her to do that live ...on tour. My favorite was when she did it on SNL. Who knows when the next album will come though. OH! Forgot to mention I finally got GA tix for Gaga! YAY!!!! For April, so we won't be seeing her in the Garden, but it will be warmer for the "wait".

 

Hmmm... USO done. Next is.... Aquatica!

 

My first impression of this place is that it is "pretty". SeaWorld-esque, of course. But then it feels incomplete. Things did not seem close enough together. I felt more annoyed navigating from ride to ride. Most of us just ended up in the lazy river, and then the rapids. This was super fun though. We spent most of our time in there actually. I cannot remember the name of it... too lazy to look it up too. There was this guy who was in there. I was watching him as we circled around. He would stand up, and take both of his hands and smash them into the water - palm down. He did this a few times to the life guards. Led me to believe he knew them, or even worked there. They said nothing to him. Then he was coming my way, and just as he had his hands up to me...my husband turned to him...stood up and told him to go ahead and try it. He looked at him...like he had no clue. UM REALLY? Had the nerve to say he wasn't doing anything. Right. We pretty much left after that. It was a short day. The day we go to a water park always ends up being short. The water just wears me out. I love that we rented a villa. We BBQ every day, instead of spending money on eating out. I just hate eating out. For July, I have rented a house. I cannot wait! (Sorry if that sentiment is a bit redundant! )

Pics aren't all that from here. I just wanted to capture what the place looked like.

 

P.S. Christopher Walken = CrEEpy!! EEK!

 

Next up: Busch Gardens Tampa

Getting ready to go, we saw this little guy. Tiny is not the word!

signage

pay for parking... (not this year, thanks to my platinum pass!)

SeaWorld always has nice landscaping

It is still slightly overcast

Come back at 4pm for something cool

The lines were a little long...

How do you get there?

Nope, not this way!

Ahhh...here we go.

Ameilia says - 'PEACE'

Empty seats

Did you know they swim upside down?

ToPsY TuRvY!

last years prices

I never even made it to this one

And off he goes! This river was THE BOMB!

And there he is...that dude... bottom right corner. His back is to the camera...I wasn't trying to capture him. I was taking a pic of the river... but there he is splashing away!

I love your photos! Seeing them really wants me to get back to Florida!

I'm a little late here, but I just read the first few pages and wanted to say thanks for posting all of them! I used to live in Orlando when I was about 4 years old, and seeing the SeaWorld, WDW, and USO pictures REALLY brought back some awesome memories!

 

Keep up the awesome TRs!

Great Pics !! Love that Manta Pics !!!!!

^^Thanks! I really wish I took more on my early trips. But 'them were the film days' and I was more selective. Every time I go back, I have a different approach, although rushed as always. This time, I am hopefully going to have new gear. (I just sold my "good" camera, in hopes of an upgrade - ASAP!)

 

Since everyone seems to be at WCB this weekend, I figured I would take this opportunity to do an update. So, on to the next installment of my 2009 trip to Orlando. Just a recap - it was 4th of July week, the crowds were light, the heat was excruciating, and the day we went to Busch Gardens Tampa was cut short by some nasty torrential rain!

 

I must say, that I was not completely fond of the drive from Orlando to Tampa. I felt confused... and I do not get confused while driving too often. I am the type who remembers dirt paths and can navigate them in the dark after one trip. It had a feeling of being out of place to me. Especially the parking lot being across a main street. But that gave us the view of Montu! The excitement builds up when I see the first coaster. And naturally, we headed directly for Montu upon entering the park. We meandered through the park, and sort of took our time. This being a new park, I did not know where to go first. In the end, we got to Montu, we rode the train, Kumba, and headed to SheikRa. Needless to say it was the longest line of the day. I started to chicken out because someone had to stay with my son. They did not want him to go on the line, holding our stuff, even though he was not riding. After about 30 minutes, we realized there were some technical problems going on. Not too long after that...it began to POUR! My son became the official..."unclog the drain" boy. We were soaked through and through. Everyone rushed under the little awning we were under when it started. Boy did it get crowded - QUICK. They allowed me to switch places, and we were on the stairs... and everyone decided they wanted to leave! ARE YOU KIDDING?? Really... total fail. The ride had started to go and the line wasn't that long from where we were. They did not want to re-ride anything at all. So no SheikRa credit for me.

 

I most certainly look forward to getting back to Busch Gardens this year. With Chetaka - I mean Cheeta Hunt, it will be a great year!

Montu, here we come!

Topiary, in case you were wondering...this is a lion.

It is kind of empty. Seems to be a trend on my trip so far. (And I like that!)

Park map. It does not look like this anymore I guess.

We stopped at the gators and crocs

Some info to read later. Like I said, we rush through stuff.

So...How you doing?

Everyone was hiding.

Here we are! Hanging in the shade.

A thing of the past

Some more Montu love

Through the tunnel

Long horns!

Obligatory

Clouds seem to have cleared... Who would have guessed that not long after this, the sky would just OPEN up!

Getting ready for our first time....

quickly became a FAIL!

And now everything was closed...

Loved the hippos....

....minus their nasty water!

These guys were so cute and fun to watch

Mr. Bird, how are you today

He came closer to my son

Pondering I suppose...

Should I eat him??

So much love for manta!

I love Manta! I wanted to get back actually to spend more time around the area, but never made it that trip. This year, I plan on doing just that!

I just went through your pictures. They are awesome. I love the old ones. It's so funny to see the styles of people too. We all thought we were really hip and now we look back and laugh at some of the clothes we wore...even just 10 years ago.

 

Yoy really need to give Epcot a try though. It's a really pretty park.

wow. That was my first impression. I didn´t saw this Thread until it was marked today.

I watched all pages with this nice pictures and the story behind.

I´m impressed. The trip Reports are nice to read.

And the fun doesn´t comes to short.

Thank you for sharing and uploading all the really good stuff!

 

(and sorry for my wacky language, can´t do better at the moment )

Wow, thank you so much for the nice compliments!

 

Jenseib, I agree. Styles were definitely so different back then. But if you notice - they are slowly making its way back! I just hope that the horrible hair that went with it does not creep back into style! Have fun cruisin' next week! I look forward to the stories you come back with! I cannot wait to go myself.

 

FreefallXL - We definitely have lots of fun when we are out! I honestly was thinking that my pictures seem to fall short of lots of others on here, and even to my own pictures on a daily basis. I don't update this too often, as I don't always have time. So it will make it's way to the top every now and again! I am so far behind, but, there are more days in the year than I have trip reports, so eventually I will catch up!

 

 

We are almost done with my Florida update from 2009! There is so much to come after that, including SFGAdv with Big Mike, then KD, BGE and CP in 2010! The next day we went back to the Universal parks to get some last rides in. Not too many pictures from this day. In Universal, we continued on where we left off, and then headed back to IOA. Sadly this was my last park day.

 

Next up SFGAdv!

Overcast...SHEESH! I cannot catch a break, can I? I just want one day where I can take a picture of the Hulk, and be able to see the faces.

Some cool photographers posed for us as we walked in toting similar cameras of the same species.

We left off at T2 3D. And wow...first time ever NO LINE!

I mean seriously - OK, so maybe I welcome dreary days more than I would like to admit. My park self wins over my photographer self.

blurry...fail.

waiting at the doors

As the room fills up

Cute little show

I really never paid much mind to this part of the park

My daughter will forever love Barney!

And on to Shrek 4-D... but first let's just take a look...NO...HRRR was NOT testing. OH well.

The most positively BEST idea ever. Who really wants to hold a bunch of crap while waiting on line for rides? I know I don't.

Some HRRR pics as we leave the park

And just b/c I love JP

Random sky shot on the way back to the villa

...thank you for this nice update!!!

 

I had to look at it twice,.. this guy is having exactly the same Hairdoctor (hairdresser) as I

 

 

I never noticed that before: you are having fingerprint storage boxes, over there

That looks really interesting. Germany should have more of these!

How much costs a storage box? I see a slot for a credit card *shock*

 

(In germany i heard a word for people wich don´t want to use storage boxes and carry their whole inventary into the station: "storage box Nazis"

Ps.: had to change the word loc*ers so i did choose storage box and xD

Why is loc*ers a bad word? )

 

 

Thank you for uploading all the pictures! It´s real fun to watch and read =D

You found a way to make that word stay! I don't know why it is a bad word, but it is hilarious to read a report and see lockers. I have tried a few different ways and spellings too, all with the same result. I am surprised your * made it. I wonder if there is a thread relating to it. Last time I was there they were free for up to 45 minutes, and then not too much after that. $1 or so, depending on how long you had your stuff in there. Great Aventure by me has a similar item, except you scan a ticket and the locker is $1 for up to two hours. I'd hate to loose the ticket though!

I'd hate to loose the ticket though!

I totally Agree with that

 

Thank you for your detailed response Lena. Yes, the price sounds acceptable.

 

(And now, the fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo thingy makes much more sense to me * * )

 

I'm looking forward to the next trip report,..

I wish I had earlier also parents who love theme parks like we all here do.

...have FUN \o/ =D

 

..greetings, freefallXL.

Doe Universal have photographers? I they like photopass at Disney or just a front of the park picture when arriving?

Universal does have photographers when you walk in. Honestly, not too sure if they are throughout the park, but they don't offer anything like Disney as far as scanning a card and looking at home. That would be great, because then I wouldn't have to worry about lugging a picture around the park, and could order it at home when I have time, and more money.