Orlando link festival - Part 2 - On terra firma

OK I'm BACK!

and it is about time I continued with my Orlando Link Festival.

You may remember in Part 1 we got about 40 seconds into this video:

and it was up in air and out on the water and getting out of bed at sparrows.

Let's keep going but now we have some more options for staying firmly on the ground (but not for long):

2013 UPDATE: On the anniversary of this post, Visit Orlando have updated this video! Below is an update list of activities - see how I care for you and keep checking if the videos I have stolen linked for you still work!

10. Horseriding! OK - so perhaps not on the ground yet. There are heaps of horsey things to do. Once again those Eco Safari chaps can take you to a cowboy ranch (think City Slickers without the slack jawed yokel jokes).

10.a  now there is a hanglider in there

11. Tiffany Glass at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art.
This museum contains the world's most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany - the son of the famous Tiffany jeweller. This chap developed a very distinct line of leaded-glass which was used in lamps, windows and a whole chapel!  You would never guess all this was there given there was only 2 seconds shown in the video!

12. Shopping! I have no idea what that building is Mall at Millenia has been inserted - but ladies hauling shop bags is a bit of a give away. There is miles of shopping - and for Australians the volume and bargains make it the world's theme park of shopping. Given the price gouging often faced in Australia on brand names, the outlet malls offer incredible bargains on top brand names. The Mall at Millenia is an enormous plush luxury centre offering the highest level retail brands down to some medium level (that is - ones I can afford) and yet it is still cheaper than Aus.


13. Sea World - part of the international Sea World chain, although Shamu has developed a taste for trainers, he has been aquitted of all charges.

14. Also run by Sea World, Discovery Cove is unique in park offerings. Discovery Cove is a water / swimming park with a twist. You pay $200 + for a day and get everything - all food/bevvies and equipment included for your coral snorkling, lazy river float AND a 30 minute "swim with the dolphins". This place is unique - have a look through the website for yourself.

15. Walt Disney World - finally! By 2014, Dumbo flying elephants will have completed their make over and you'll be seeing double; crappy princesses by the dozen, TEST TRACK BABY! - also with a make over;  Zippee dee do dah Splash Mountain is the tallest mountain in Florida!;  blink and miss half a second of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; lose your lunch on Tower of Terror; take an african safari; have fun in the resort pool or sit by the foyer fireplace in your robe (for some reason??); get a wedgie at Blizzard Beach.

16. Islands of Adventure - the jewel in the Universal Studios crown - IoA includes Harry Potter Land - the building of which led to doubling attendance.

17. Universal Studios - the rival theme park. Requires a small amount of planning: they offer 3 hotels and Citywalk: a shopping/restaurant district. Worthy of a look - they offer good packages.

18. Wet 'n Wild water parks - another Universal owned property Wet 'n Wild is the obvious competition to Disney's water parks. If you bring kids to Orlando, highly likely you'd be interested.

19. SkyVenture - except you don't even see the sky, let alone venture into it. Skyventure is fake skydiving! With the aid of a giant wind machine you can pretend you have jumped parachute-less out of a plane - whilst only 3 feet off the ground.

20. Gaterland - the "alligator capital of the world" and "orlando's best half day attraction" WOW! there's some marketing that leaves itself open to unwanted witticisms!


21. LegoLand Florida has been inserted here


21. Kennedy Space Centre - just over an hour's drive to Cocoa Beach remember how that's where I Dream of Jeannie was set?!

 

KSC at Cape Canaveral is NASA's premier space launch site and open for tours.

well - I think I may have given you enough to think about and click on for now. That little video is full of more than you would of thought!

Enjoy

Kwik-e-mix

Trip Report  Days 1 & 2 continues

As previously mentioned, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure were so light on crowds that I managed to do each park in only five hours each - which is rather extraordinary in comparison to say, Epcot, which takes 2 days.

E.C.U.  that wait time of 90 minutes! The reason why you are never out of a Disney park by lunchtime.                    (photo source: http://sheila0gh.wordpress.com)

I am not a "free fall drop" person so there was no way I was getting on the big roller coasters such as Dragon Challenge, The Hulk or even Dudley DoRight's Rip Saw Falls. But I do love interactivity and simulators. So I loved Men in Black (a moving carriage dark ride where you shoot the aliens - much like Disney's Buzz Lightyear - a moving carriage dark ride where you shoot the aliens).

I laughed all the way through The Simpsons Ride - this is a small simulator ride set to a cartoon film. It had all the wacky wild motion and scenery of the TV show. This is definitely a winner of a ride. I found this POV video on You Tube. When watching remember one is sitting in a simulator which gives the feeling of all the twists, turns and falls.

My favourite bits: "Honey, a theme park will never let you die whilst you have a dime in your pocket" and the Pirates of the Caribbean parody.

Universal also has the Jaws ride. People my age would remember Jaws. I wonder what the kids of today make of it?! So there is a little pretend Amity village and we all boarded little boats for a tour. Suddenly over the radio - there's a giant shark terrorising tourists! Go around the corner and DISASTER! Now we are being chased by a giant rubber white pointer shark with sharp gnashy teeth and splashing water everywhere. And this thing is persistent. No matter how many times the boat driver trys to scare it off with his fake shotgun, it keeps coming, again and again and again.

So did I tell you that late October/early November in a fairly quiet time in the parks? School was in so it was mostly families with four year old kids. In fact, there was at least half a dozen four year olds in my boat. And at the first shark attack the first 4 yr old went off with an ear piercing squeal, and it was like dogs and car alarms - the rest of the boat joined the chorus. This wasn't just crying - this kid (who was sitting directly in front of me) was SCREAMING - that high pitched squeal that bursts your ear drums. In fact, all the people sitting in front of the kid had their fingers in their ears. Now I know why they banned photography and filming.

And the boat driver? He didn't miss a beat - he kept on with his disaster routine - kiddies screaming over him, parents and adults bemused and laughing - who could keep track of what was happening to that danged shark? It kept bursting up out of the water and kids kept screaming their heads off. At the final scene, the shark is lying dead, mangled, bleeding, with huge shotgun holes in its head and that scared the bejesus out of them all more than anything previous.

So no pictures of that then.

Loved the Amazing Adventures of Spider Man. This is a 3D simulator which actually moves along a track - similar technology to HP Forbidden Journey. Among the most technologically advanced rides, worked smoothly, gave a fantastic ride experience, very engaging experience, and I came off, a bit shaken and excited! It's the kind of experience that keeps me going back. 

My least pleasurable experience? Poseidon's Fury. Never before has the external set promised so much and then the experience delivered so little. And worst of all - I had to stand up throughout this whole debarcle!. The acting was the hammiest, cheesiest, lamest attempt at comedy cum drama I've ever seen. The whole set and story was was this weak attempt at Fire vs Water, that bore no resemblence to the actual stories of Poseidon. The wonderous special effects? A few water canon and gas flame bursts. And I had to stand up all the way through this debarcle. Have a look at this entrance set up:

Look at how detailed the entrance is

See that tiny tiny cleaner? This show the scale of the thing:

Poseidon's Fury?? more like Poseidon's Fluffy

Now go to the top of this post and look at the Toy Story Mania wait time, now look back at this picture at the queue waiting to get in. This should have given me a clue. No wonder photography was banned in this thing. Honestly, I couldn't be bothered taking pictures of it - my feet were tired from all the standing.

Anyway - the remainder of my day was spent at the Mall at Millenia - doing lots of shopping in the Lindt shop (hooley fadooley Batman - I haven't seen a range like that before. I did get a lot of halloween Lindor balls which had wrappers that looked like orange carved pumpkins and with cute cartoon ghosts)

Bwah ha ha ha - I shall scare you to death with my chocolatey goodness!

 ...  and basically avoiding the designer label shops on the top floor.

Later in the day, the Mall was full of kids Trick or Treating the shops. I had imagined that T&T was a residential neighbourhood, house to house kind of thing. But apparently the new deal is to do it in shopping malls as it is considered safer for the kiddies and they are probably less likely to be offered fruit instead of candy.

Saturday night I went to dinner with an old (yes I am old enough to say "old") high school friend who emigrated to Florida many years ago and lives with her family about 90mins south of Orlando. I met her entire family and we went to Emeril's main restaurant in Universal City Walk. No photos unfortunately - it would have been a bit strange in front of her whole family - but frankly I thought the restaurant was a bit average. I had grilled salmon, with herbed roasted root veges and a sweet, sticky, black pepper sauce. The servings were HUGE - so many points on the Mr Creasote scale, but average on the Spoonfuls scale of happiness. (I really have to come up with some graphics). Go to the link and check out the menu - and think about the descriptions - it is really not so complex.

So now you know - how I spent those early days.

Food Porn: what you sick people come here for.

Most people when they think of theme parks think junk food and Orlando certainly has plenty, some of which I have previously covered. 

WDW is driven by an underlying principle of being a destination for anyone, and they also want to keep improving and keep pace as one of the world's most frequented tourist destination. ( with more than 47 million tourists going to Orlando each year they are valid competition against Paris).

Ohh - the decisions! Do I go to France and eat at the Paul Bocuse restaurant? Or do I go to Epcot and eat at the Paul Bocuse restaurant (Bistro de Paris)?

On this trip I went to WDW to eat and certainly did consume vast amounts of delicious comestibles representing most areas of the globe (allegedly). ( I say 'allegedly' because the travesty of the Disney version of a lamington leaves me wondering a bit about the other nations represented.).

"I'll have the meercat - not raw, a few chips, bit of broccoli"

Two major elements were in play:

1. I was on free dining at Disney (which, frankly, only sets up the temptation to pretend that I am taking Disney for a ride, by jamming as much as possible in my cake hole) and 
2. the Epcot Food and Wine Festival was underway for my entire stay.

With some strange belief that you, my sole reader from Poland, may be vaguely interested, I have photographed every dish, every drink and have chronicled the festival and my restaurant visits.It will take me several - numerous - posts to get it all out and through these coming posts I will lay out the culinary offerings awaiting you for your trip to the World.

So let's not waste any time and get started. Join me after the jump for my first dining report.

Day 1 - Harry Potter Land

After not sleeping, I was up in plenty of time to get to gate opening for early entry to Harryworld. There must have been only 60 of us at most but we were all going to the same place!

oh - and it was pouring rain - but doen't that just add to the atmosphere?

First stop was Olivander's wand shop. I got into the first group of about 20 (no queuing for me!). Ollie picked a delightful young woman of about 12 and she went through the motions of waving twigs around until (insert angelic music) she found her wand ! Very quick and nicely done with everyone in role.

 Then I was first customer of the day in the store with a wand for my niece according to her birthday. She scored an ivy wand. And none of the characters in the book used ivy (I suppose we can't all be holly like Harry!). Don't worry - she's 16 - she couldn't be bothered reading this.

brussellus sproutus extinctium!

Then it was straight to Forbidden Journey , which was fantastic from the gates all the waythrough. A showstopper of a ride, so technically wonderful and exhilarating! Again - no queue, the ride was a walk on. This ride would have to be one of the most advanced available. It looks great, has incredible range of movement  - think of it like a moving simulator - and of course the theming from the Hogworts Castle through the 'flying a broom' effects were excellent.

Next up was brekkie at the 3 Broomsticks. I had the Trad English bfast - which wasn't completely trad - wrong beans and potatoes?? A nod in the right direction though with blood pudding and english bacon (a strange thing, of which Disney has no experience)

What??? just tilt the screen. Geez you people are demanding.

"Trad English Breakfast"contains: sauteed potatoes, sauceless baked beans and a croissant. The English have obviously been holding out on the rest of us.

 BTW: I had a 'Darth Vader in the Deathstar canteen' moment

I like it so much. I had to use it again.

"This tray is wet, this tray is wet, this tray is wet - what is this? a traditional english canteen breakfast experience?"

Honeydukes sweet shop and Zonko's joke shop contained lots of referred items, like every flavour beans, fanged frisbee,  exploding bon bons and chocolate frogs. The butterbeer is good fun somewhat reminiscent of a creaming soda float without the scoop of icecream.

Continuous Puking Pastilles - replicate the emotional experience of a life in middle management

Honeydukes amazing supply

More Disney than Hogsmead

Shelves and shelves of sugary goodness

Ahhh - the miracle of modern chemical engineering

Oak brewed for precision baterial develoment and fine beading

Ill thought through games that actually cannot be played - and questionable aerodynamics

Embiggen to look at all the fireworks! YEAH! EXPLOSIONS! (Unlike Canberra where we've had fireworks available forever)

After that thre was lots of wandering around enjoying the space and shopping. The fake snow works in photos but looks very fake in real life. The shops and the whole design look fantastic. easily one of the most well done pieces of theme parkery I've seen.

Given the very low crowds I did WWoHP in only a couple of hours, and the whole park by 1pm! I don't think many others have the same luck.

Many of the shop fronts had animatronic displays in them - this one had moving and squeeling plants

The famous castle - and location of the Forbidden Journey ride

Embiggen to see the owls in the owlery - with real fake owl poo and everything