Elga's Florida Adventure Thread

[Elga]

I mentioned to a few people tonight that I probably won't be on next Sunday, so I figured I'd start my Florida Adventure Thread! I'll post pictures, videos, and trip reports up in here. Here is our proposed itinerary:

Sunday May 3rd

• Depart 8am-Arrive at Baltimore International Airport @ 11am
• Depart 1:45pm flight on Southwest Airlines
• Arrive 4:05pm at Orlando International Airport
• Pick up Rental Car from Dollar (I'm a Dollar Express member-VIP in da house). Got me a $150 week for Mid-Size. Thanks MouseSavers!
• Arrive at Parkway International @ 5:30pm.
• Go grocery shopping to stock the fridge.
• I've been told internet access is available for $30 a week. But most likely I will not make the Sunday events. You may have to find ur own counter person!
• Crash, full day tomorrow.

Monday May 4th

• Arrive at Epcot 8:15am. 45 minutes before rope drop as we need to purchase tickets and to have first dibs at the good rides.
• 9am we walk quickly to Soarin to get Fast Pass.
• Head to the GM Test Track to get in main line.
• Go to France for a Grand Marnier Slushie!
• Those are the must do's, the rest of the day is exploring all of the countries and eating/drinking in all of them!

Tuesday May 5th

• Today is an chillin day. Bumming at the pool, shuffleboard, tennis, and doing the tourist thing.
• The CiCi's Pizza Buffet eating challenge. Whoever eats the most pizza pays for the other person. I will win this! This may not happen today, but it is in the plans.
• We have 7pm reservations at Medieval Times Dinner Show. This looks like a fun show, and you eat everything with your fingers!

Wednesday May 6th

• SeaWorld!
• Dinner somewhere, maybe Steak N Shake?!

Thursday May 7th

• This is another rest day. Chillaxing!
• Might be going to the Ice Bar!
• Dinner at Angels Lobster & Seafood Buffet. My friends ate here before and liked it. A lot of reviews say the opposite. I'll take the word for it!

Friday May 8th

• Disney Hollywood Studio's. Just like Epcot we will arrive at 8:15am for the 9pm rope drop.
• The must do ride is The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We'll probably go straight there.
• The rest of the park is whatever they want to do. I'm flexible!
• Afternoon Snack at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater.
• The evening is going to be played by ear!

Saturday May 9th

• Last full day.
• We are hopefully going to either Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon today. The guy I'm going with said he got stuck in a slide when he was a kid for some odd reason and is scared of waterparks..lol His GF and myself plan on dragging him there anyway. If not, we'll at least chill back at the resort.
• We might be doing the Al Capone's Dinner Show to finish off the week. Unlimited Booze!

Sunday May 10th

• Packer up and return to the airport by 6AM to drop off the rental car.
• Board Southwest Airlines flight @ 8:10AM to Baltimore.
• Arrive in Baltimore at 10:20AM.
• Drive 3 Hours to home!

The Top Toon Review will be posted on Sunday May 10th upon return. Stay tuned!

 

[Little Sadie]

Wait! No Magic Kingdom? WTH! You can't go to WDW and not go to the MK! I know, don't tell me. You think the rides there are lame. Sigh........ I could live at the MK. Actually, when I die my daughter has instructions to secretly toss my ashes throughout the MK. I'm totally serious!

The Tower of Tower is my favorite ride at WDW and a must do for me too. Don't forget Rock and Roller Coaster. Eat a turkey leg for me too! Have a great trip. I'm jealous. I have 6 weeks and 6 days before I got but whose counting.

 

[Granjell]

Sounds like an Awesome Adventure! Have a great time!

 

[Elga]

Wait! No Magic Kingdom? WTH! You can't go to WDW and not go to the MK! I know, don't tell me. You think the rides there are lame.

No MK! Well originally I voted fro MK & Epcot. My friends want to go to Hollywood Studios. I also want to go to HS and we all want to do Epcot. We settled on a 2 Day Magic Your Way pass. So we had to trim a park, and this time around it's going to be MK. But We'll see it in the distance at night to get that tingly inside magic feeling! Plus with Sea World and all of the dinners shows and food outings, we'll have a full week. I'm definitely practicing for the heat today, it's like 93 degrees here! Weather.com says it's 83 in Orlando. What up with that!

 

[soupandquackers]

The rockin rolling coaster is the best ride there but it is constantly breaking down. Also, if your going to epcot ride mission space, its a thriller. Never been to the water parks though, have fun!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

The rockin rolling coaster is the best ride there but it is constantly breaking down. Also, if your going to epcot ride mission space, its a thriller. Never been to the water parks though, have fun!

Both fun, but if you want to try that new Toy Story Ride, Go right to it and fastpass it. I Went to MGM like, three weeks ago and when the park opened, we waited 20 min to get a fastpass, our fastpass was for 7:30 at night! The park opened at 10:00 that day, and at like 10:30, the fast pass was all the way at night! Yikes!

 

[Elga]

Thanks for the tips! I see at SeaWorld they are having a Manta Coaster preview starting on May 5th. It looks insane, but who knows we may end up on it! Right now I'm waiting till 1:45pm EST to check in for our flight and print the boarding passes. We are trying for the coveted "A" boarding group on Southwest. Shouldn't be a problem, but I'm on it exactly 24 hours ahead.

The next obstacle might be the weather. Everytime I fly, it's always the weather. Last time it was the ice/snow. Now it may be rain and t-storms. Rain is OK, but t-storms are no good. We are on Flight #1347.

#1347 originates in Nashville leaving at 9:15am to Cleveland. Nashville will be experiencing T-Storms and rain.

#1347 then leaves Cleveland at 12:05pm to Baltimore to arrive at 1:15pm. Cleveland looks rain free.

Then in Baltimore it calls for rain and T-Storms all day.

So as long as it gets out of Nashville without any troubles, we should be good for an on-time departure if BWI is good to go. It wouldn't be the end of the world if it was delayed, but it would be my luck I think..

The Orlando weather looks sunny and high 80's all week though, so at least that is a plus! A Boarding group here we come! lol

..And SCORE: We got A23,A24, and A26.

 

[Crazy Fireball]

Thanks for the tips! I see at SeaWorld they are having a Manta Coaster preview starting on May 5th. It looks insane, but who knows we may end up on it! Right now I'm waiting till 1:45pm EST to check in for our flight and print the boarding passes. We are trying for the coveted "A" boarding group on Southwest. Shouldn't be a problem, but I'm on it exactly 24 hours ahead.

The next obstacle might be the weather. Everytime I fly, it's always the weather. Last time it was the ice/snow. Now it may be rain and t-storms. Rain is OK, but t-storms are no good. We are on Flight #1347.

#1347 originates in Nashville leaving at 9:15am to Cleveland. Nashville will be experiencing T-Storms and rain.

#1347 then leaves Cleveland at 12:05pm to Baltimore to arrive at 1:15pm. Cleveland looks rain free.

Then in Baltimore it calls for rain and T-Storms all day.

So as long as it gets out of Nashville without any troubles, we should be good for an on-time departure if BWI is good to go. It wouldn't be the end of the world if it was delayed, but it would be my luck I think..

The Orlando weather looks sunny and high 80's all week though, so at least that is a plus! A Boarding group here we come! lol

..And SCORE: We got A23,A24, and A26.

And! Remember Sunscreen!

I Forgot it and i was Lobster Sean!

 

[Elga]

And! Remember Sunscreen!

I Forgot it and i was Lobster Sean!

I bet that sucked!

Got it! That and about 50 other things. We are now leaving at 7am, because my travel mates need to stop for a frozen mocha before we depart. I was like okey dokey. So yeah I'll probably touch back in when we arrive tonight. Daily recaps to follow through out the week. If I get the swine flu, I understand if you guys don't want to hang out with me anymore!

 

[Elga]

Hello! First off I have to say that we have Free Wifi, but it's only good at the pool area. So I'm sitting here by the pool in 90 degree heat trying to catch up! So I'm just going to make this kinda brief. We had no delays or anything getting here, actually arrived 15 minutes early. Was raining like a mother in Baltimore. We got a Dodge Avenger, black. It had bloodstains on the ceiling and is kinda ghetto, but it has the giddyup and go! We then went to Publix and got some groceries and some adult beverages. That's so cool you can buy booze in the grocery store, unlike PA! Then we went to Golden Corral and pigged out. Came back to the condo and hit the pool for a bit. Went to sleep and was up by 6AM.

Day 1-Epcot

We were up at 6AM and made breakfast. Arrived at Epcot at 8:15am and purchased our 2 day passes. We got hopper, but not sure if we are going to hop today. I got a First Time pin for being my first visit..wow! We went straight to Soarin and actually just got on right away. Very cool ride. Then we did some of the less popular tour rides. Finally we got to test track and just waited the 30 minute line. It seemed to go fast. Test Track rocked! The picture for that was priceless, should have bought it but we ended up passing. Then we rode Spaceship Earth, which again was interesting.
Just watch this video..lol

After that we took the boat across the lake to World Showcase. We ate in Morocco, which I have a pic of. Then we just walked to France and I got my $9 Grand Marnier Slushie! Good stuff, and the French guy didn't even card me. I have a pic also, but I'm going to wait till I get home to upload them all, this wifi is SLOW. Other highlights included my photo with Donald Duck that looks like I think he has the swine flu, going pee in Mexico, and giving a high five to the Norway chick! Overall it was a good day.
Well I'm roasting out here. We are probably going out to eat later, going to try for Steak N Shake, but we'll see if I get my way! Tomorrow is be a bum day with Medieval Times at night. Until later peoples!

 

[Trish]

I think I speak for all of us when I say we don't wanna picture of you peeing in Mexico Sounds like you're having fun!

 

[Little Sadie]

Thanks Trish for speaking for the rest of us. LOL! I will pass on the pee pic too. I can't wait to see the one of Donald and you though. Sounds like you are having a great time. Keep us posted!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

I Third the peeing picture, the video made me laugh!

Glad your having fun, remember, wash your hands and stay highdrated!

 

[Elga]

LOL Don't ask...

Sorry it's huge...
We also had the Disney Photographer take one, I'm hoping it's a little better. I look stoned and scared of his Swine Flu like vibes!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

Lol, you kinda do a little bit, but thats okay, we all have our bad pictures.

But glad your having fun!

 

[Elga]

haha here is the one the Disney Photographer took, a little better..

Yeah it was fun! We just got back from the mall, we all bought wet suit shirts for our waterpark visit. We are probably going on Thursday now, we just have to decide on which one. Narrowed down to Typhoon Lagoon, Aquatica, and Blizzard Beach. It's still freaking HOT, but a breeze comes throughe every once and awhile . Peace out till later!

 

[soupandquackers]

Typhoon lagoon looks like the most fun to me. You can swim with sharks and they have a waterslide that shoots you up and down. You and the other person look almost look exactly alike in that picture.

 

[Little Sadie]

Blizzard Beach has that awesome slide that you go straight down into. Typhoon Lagoon is fun but BB has a lot more high speed slides. Typhoon does have the swim thing but you can't stop and watch while swimming. They make you keep moving across the water and you freeze your ass off too. The water in that tank is very cold. You know what they say about cold water. Beware!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

Blizzard Beach has that awesome slide that you go straight down into. Typhoon Lagoon is fun but BB has a lot more high speed slides. Typhoon does have the swim thing but you can't stop and watch while swimming. They make you keep moving across the water and you freeze your ass off too. The water in that tank is very cold. You know what they say about cold water. Beware!

yeah, BB is better, and more fun to me. TL was really cold, as Terri said, pick your choise!

 

[Elga]

So your saying I'll be walking around with crunchies? lol
Medieval Times was a lot of fun, except our knight didn't win..
I took video of the final battle, which I'll upload to YouTube when I get home, it was pretty cool to watch. OK and for the picture of the day..
This is me after drinking my $12.50 Rum and Coke from the bar. It was GOOOD, but still the $12.50?!

Me with my new knight friend..:

Today is Seaworld!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

Hahaha, im glad you and the king had fun.

Ive never been to seaworld! Dont let the fish eat you!

 

[soupandquackers]

What knight did you have? We had the blue one and he lost.

 

[Elga]

We had the green one! He was cool and made it to the final round and everything. Poor guy..

Well today was fun at Seaworld. We got there at gate opening and went right onto Atlantis (which is basically a log flume) that goes down and then back up around some twists. Then off to some of the animal exhibits, petted the sting rays and such. I was then talked into going on Kracken, the big coaster. Manta was half working and was up and running in the afternoon, but the lines were over an hour wait. Kracken was my first going upside down coaster, and it took my stomach with it! Afterwards we went in the shark exhibit which takes you on the moving walkway and underneath the tank. Just the movement of that and looking up at the water almost made me lose my cookie! I managed to get out and sat down for a few seconds and after that I was fine. I thought for sure i was going to be barfing in the flowers..lol
Then we catched Believe with Shamu. We were in the splash zone but didn't get any splashin. I took video and pics. After that we went and ate an overly priced sandwhich. We then talked around and did the rest of the animal exhibits. Around 2pm we were just HOT and felt we did everything we wanted to and we headed back to the hotel. We chilled in the pool for about an hour and then went back inside for two hours of Maury Povich! The first one was I'm 15 and I want to have baby and then the second was I had a threesome and I don't know who the father is. Good stuff! We are just killing time now to go to another mall to get some things. I guess we still are going to try out Typhoon Lagoon this time. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[soupandquackers]

Did you do the penguin exhibit? That things smells horrible! Kraken was the only good ride to me but that was before manta was out. Also, what mall did you go to, millenia mall?

 

[Elga]

Did you do the penguin exhibit? That things smells horrible! Kraken was the only good ride to me but that was before manta was out. Also, what mall did you go to, millenia mall?

We did do the penguin exhibit, I took a short video of it, but yeah it stank! Nothing different though than cow manure in Central Penn! We went back to Festival Bay Mall and then over to Millenia Mall last night. Millenia is very upscale with like Gucci and some very insanely expensive stores. The only cool one was the Apple Store where we could surf the net. We ended up coming back and hanging at the pool, as nobody was there.

We made it to Typhoon Lagoon at 9:30am for the 10am opening. We only stayed till about one, but had a lot of fun. The wave pool was awesome, I ended up keeping my glasses on with a strap I bought at Ron Jons last night. I had several small children slam into me when the big wave came, it was like woah woah. We used the lazy river for our main transportation and went the whole way around the one time, lot of fun. We did the speed slides and the raft rides, all very wild! The water wasn't really that cold, the wave pool was actually like bath water. I also had the famous turkey leg for lunch, is that really turkey? It tasted and looked a lot like ham..lol?

Now I'm back at the pool, obviously checking the net. They are having a party with karaoke and free hot dogs! Mmm. The people really suck, but it's entertaining in a weird kind of way! We are going to Angels for the lobster buffet around 4:30 and then to Downtown Disney tonight to check it out. Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios and then we are going to use our hopper to go to Magic Kingdom at night. I had a really good picture of Shamu from SeaWorld yesterday, but the wifi keeps going out and it can't finish uploading. Anyway, that's the latest from Florida!

Alright I finally got it to go:

 

[Crazy Fireball]

Oh cute whale!

Thats what i look like when I dive into the pool

 

[Elga]

Just a quick recap of yesterday. We went to Hollywood Studios for the opening and went ride on Tower of Terror. Was quite Terrorific! Then we went to the Toy Story ride which we waited about 20 minutes tops. That was fun, but I only scored like 64,000 points! We saw the Indiana Jones show and the Lights Camera? Action show, heck I forget the name already. It was entertaining. After that we did the Little Mermaid show, which we didn't expect to get rained on. We then boarded the Great Movie ride, which was funny. Our tour guide got kidnapped in the wild wild west and then we had this random chick driving our car. I was gonna be like "What did you do with Meg?" then start crying..hehe But then Meg magically appeared back in the Indiana Jones section..phew. It was then time for our 2:40 reservation time for the Sci Fi Diner. I had a burger and a shake, which the burger tasted up to par with say an Applebees burger. I read all of these reviews that it tasted like hospital food? Every place I read bad reviews on, we liked. So we must be very unpicky people. It was like 96 degrees, which was a record I saw on TV. We made it back to the condo about 4pm. Here we just chilled and I took a quick dip in the pool to cool off. By 6:15pm we were back in the car for the Magic Kingdom. Now I didn't realize you had to part like 4 miles away from the park. We had to board the monorail from the parking garage to the MK itself. Which of course we had to stop for delays, etc. I think we did make it in the park by 7:30pm, and they were only open till 9pm. All I wanted was a pic of the castle and be able to ride splash mountain. So we did just that and I got wet on Splash Mountain. The drop wasn't bad at all, it was on the way up when you get sprayed on from the cars coming down. Back to the monorail system where we got jammed in a section with two strollers, a electric scooter, us three standing, 8 people in the seats. I got to know my neighbor! The monorail got delayed at the Polynesian so I got a few pics of that and the Grand Floridian. Back at the hotel we then hit the pool till about 10pm and ate chicken tenders till we couldn't anyway! We still have a bag that needs aten. This morning I was back at the pool by 7:30am to get checked in for our return flight. Got A20, 21, 22. Then we went to Golden Corral for the breakfast buffet and stuffed our faces. And then...yes and then..I hit the pool again before it got busy. Then I came back here to type this. I'll probably be home by my next post where I'm going to upload my pics, which might take a day or two..lots of pics. Overall we had fun, but I'm scared to look at my credit card balance..

 

[Elga]

..And we made it to the airport! My GPS took us a really great back road, that bypasses like two of the tolls. We weren't sure we'd end up to where we could take back our car, but we did. Take that Florida Department of Transportation!

The biggest highlight of my overnight was me walking in my sleep...
All I remember is waking up and I'm standing and I'm supposed to be on this ride that you walk through. BUT It's dark. So I start walking and manage to rip my cell phone plug from the wall. I then find myself into a wall near the headboard. I was like OK this must be my bed, wrong. It was the other bed where I had all my luggage stacked. So I manage to find my way back to my bed without injuring myself. They said they heard some thumps from my room, who knows what else went on..

Anyway, I'll be back home early afternoon and will be at the events tonight.
Thanks for reading! Oh and all the pics will come probably tomorrow. Bye 4 Now.

 

[Crazy Fireball]

LOL! you sleep walked? I Do that sometimes, thats why i have to have my door shut in my room

We miss you, and dont bring back the swine flu, or H1N1.

 

[Elga]

It was messed up, probably a combination of alcohol and riding so many rides. I've never done that at home, so it was strange. Anyway, yeah we made it back with no swine flu! Rest assured I saw more people than usual washing hands in public restrooms. When Obama says wash your hands, I guess people listen!

Alright here are the pics. I have so far only uploaded to Facebook, but here they are:

Random Florida Pictures-2009

Epcot 2009

Seaworld 2009

Medieval Times 2009

Disney's Hollywood Studios 2009

Magic Kingdom 2009

I have some other photos, but lets just say I choose not to share..
I'm glad to be back to 60 degree weather, that 90+ stuff was starting to get irritating!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

Whenever i click on the link it takes me to my facebook, so you did something wrong

And i want the 90's! Its freezing here!

 

[Elga]

Try logging out of your Facebook and then it should go!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

Now it says Page can not be found xD

it dosnt like me.

 

[Elga]

That's weird, it works on mine when logged out. Well I'm in the process of uploading them to Wink Flash to get hard copies, I'll share that link when I get them all uploaded. Stay tooned!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

I'll wait till then

 

[Trish]

Worked fine for me, even before I was facebook buds with Elgs.

 

[Crazy Fireball]

For some reason Safari didnt like it, on windows, it works fine!

Mind if I add ya elga?

 

[Elga]

Darn Macs anyway! You can be my friend, just don't come stalking me or nothing and it's cool!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

Darn Macs anyway! You can be my friend, just don't come stalking me or nothing and it's cool!

Haha dont worry, i wont.

 

[Little Sadie]

Your vacation sounded like a lot of fun. The pictures were great!

 

[Crazy Fireball]

Hey Elga, I sent a friend request too on Facebook. I am skiwee. I make no guarantees that I won't stalk you though.

Your vacation sounded like a lot of fun. The pictures were great!

LOL!