Day 1:
Flight was described in a post below. lol.
Due to flight delays, we didn't get into Orlando until the evening. We incurred $440 USD of unanticipated car costs =[ for insurance, gas, and whatever other bs fees. Slight bump in the road I suppose. We eventually agreed to it since some man in line was being impatient and rude. Plus, we had already paid $300 for the rental fee with Dollar. Well, what can we do? After the little fiasco, we did not have time to visit Epcot as per our original plan. Instead, we started our week off with some light shopping at Premium Outlets. I bought 2 pairs of Levi's and a Henley for only $43 USD! We ended off the night with a steaming bucket of Popeye's chicken. SO good, but SO bad.
Day 2:
After our ridiculous sleeping hours from the night before for the flight, we slept in a tiny bit and hopped on the hotel shuttle to Disney's Animal Kingdom. The sun was hot and I brought a sweater and a jacket. -_-" (Needless to say, I ended up mixing up all the days for the various things I should have packed but didn't or packed but didn't need.) I was slightly disappointed with Animal Kingdom. I thought the park would be bigger, but I suppose to a kid it would seem humongous. Some memorable experiences include the Everest ride and the Bug's Life 3D movie. I love the special effects they add e.g. the "bee stings" and the "bugs" crawling under everyone's butt. Could this be the future of movie theater experiences? Their 3D graphics were amazing -- Avatar is basically the embodiment of Disneyworld's 3D graphic film rides. We also visited Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. Finally, we went through a Safari ride with real safari animals. We were finished the park quite early, so we went to Millenia mall so that Eric could find his Tiffany charm (they didn't have it =[ ). I managed to pick up a Fisheye camera at Urban Outfitters. I'm looking forward to developing my first set of lomography photos! Dinner was at Cheesecake Factory. My first time there and we loved it. Their tiramisu cheesecake is to die for!!!
Day 3:
We went to Universal Studios this day and it was frickin' awesome!!!!! I loved all of the rides there -- especially the 3D Simpson's motion simulator ride and the Return of the Mummy. The new ride, Rip, Ride Rock-It was overrated. The line up was way long and our music didn't even work when we went up! We finished all of the good rides by about 4pm, grabbed a late lunch and headed off to Epcot. We only got to go on 2 rides in this park because 1. we didn't want to miss the fireworks and 2. we were freezing our butts off. Waiting for the fireworks was worth it though! We finished the night with take-out from Olive Garden. Their chicken gnocchi soup was AMAZING!
Day 4:
Today was our 3.5 hour trek to some huge outlet mall called Sawgrass Mills. We also used the opportunity to visit the beach in Fort Lauderdale (absolutely beautiful! But still cold..). This was a long day of shopping and running around looking for good deals. Bought 3 pairs of shoes for $60 USD o.O The ride there was me brainstorming for my essay, and the ride back was me typing up my essay that was due the next day. Brutal.
Day 5:
The boys slept in a bit while I woke up to finish my essay that was due that day. We headed out to Millenia once more so Jason could exchange his blackbird camera at Urban Outfitters. We then headed out to MGM Hollywood Studios and headed straight for the Tower of Terror. Fantastic! Loved the lead-up story with their special effects and the rapid rises/drops of the ride. The Aerosmith ride was unfortunately too long of a wait for us, so we enjoyed such attractions as the Muppets 3D (love). We ended the day with Fantasmic, their much anticipated show. It was absolutely magical! They used a cool projection technique where they projected videos onto spewing fountain water. It looked sick! Well worth the freezing 2-hour wait (on the bright side, the crowd got a wave going across the 2000 seated people for about 5 minutes or so. It was fun while it lasted!) Dinner was again at Olive Garden.. we are so creative with our food choices!
Day 6:
Island of Adventure -- my favourite park of them all! Awesome rides: The Incredible Hulk (high-speed incline), Spiderman 3D (detailed 3D graphics while moving through a track), Dueling Dragons (roller coaster where 2 tracks intertwine and 2 coasters come awfully close together), Dr. Seuss (memories of childhood -- a reading of the Cat in the Hat animated by moving figures), Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls (we got soaked but it was awesome). We had decided in the morning that we wouldn't go on wet rides because of the weather. However, after we saw the ride, we were convinced that we had to go on it. It was well worth the shivers and uncomfortable dampness!! Of course our day would not be complete without Olive Garden or Cheesecake Factory, so we went again to Cheesecake Factory, this time trying the Snickers chunks cheesecake. Good, but nothing beat the Tiramisu one.
Day 7:
Our last day already! Magic Kingdom was saved for last (also because it closed at midnight that day). It was HOT! I got a little burnt even! The rides weren't as good as those at Island of Adventure but that was to be expected. At the expense of the fireworks (due to wrong time assumptions), Space Mountain was the most awesome ride. The coaster takes you into a huge dome that is pitch dark, simulating space. You have no idea where the coaster takes you and it goes FAST. It was outrageous! We watched a show (Poseidon) that was basically an attraction that used the projection onto water technique again. It was mind-blowing how they put it all together! We went through It's A Small World but unfortunately were not able to convince any one to drink the water lol. Some of the rides suddenly reminded me of some of the ones I went on when I went to Disneyland in LA. Good to know I remember some of that trip! =P We starved until about 6.30 and each had a turkey leg for dinner. It was really for the novelty of it and for our picture-taking hunger. However, the huge portion of meat made me feel sick and I barely ate half of it. =[ Because we missed the fireworks we stayed for the 9pm light parade. Perfect way to end the night/week. Because Eric and I were not hungry, Jason went to McD's for dinner. It was a McD's bistro so they also offered such things as pastas, cheesecakes, waffles, paninis etc. It blew our minds!
Day 8:
The journey home was way smoother than the way there. We played Monopoly Deal (wicked game) the whole way, except I never won a single game. =[ It was all good until Jason and Eric's bags got left behind in DC during our transfer..
General Thoughts:
In general, I felt so wasteful and consumptive during my time there. I appreciate that Toronto even with its issues is a greener city. I felt bad throwing out recyclables because there was no recycling bin around (especially at the hotel). I can't even imagine how large the theme parks' ecofootprints would be! Imagine all of the emissions from the thousands of people flocking to Orlando, their wasteful practices staying at hotels and all of the energy consumed (both building and operating the park) and waste produced at the park. I am such an econerd now. =P
At Animal Kingdom, I felt sorry for all of the animals in the safari ride. Of course it was enjoyable to embark on an imaginary journey through the African Safari. However, I am sure the animals don't enjoy it. They are confined to their own areas and have thousands of tourists flashing photos of them every minute of the day. They barely have any privacy nor any room to roam freely. At least this 'safari' is located in a place that is relatively hot year round. Imagine the Ontario African Lion Safari? Are they just stored inside for the winter? -- Even less room to roam around. Poor guys..
On the drive to the mall we saw a lot of Barbie doll house-like homes. We also noticed that many old people worked (at service stations, toll booths etc.). I suppose that once they retired and moved to Florida they realized they were bored, so they went back to work. Very admirable. =]
Disney World owns the 2nd largest parking lot in North America. It was literally a sea of cars. Related to my Day 2 post below, all this wasted land for parking lots! Although I don't know much about the significance of the ecology in the surrounding area of Orlando, what a waste... But if you have money, you can do anything like buy out acres upon acres of land to build a theme park.
This a little bit mean, but it was in Florida that I realized that the issue of obesity is indeed rampant in America. It made me sad that these people don't realize what they are doing to themselves. People need to stop focusing less on short-term gains and more on long-term ones. They need more public education about eating healthier etc. I wonder how effective their public health departments are and what they tend to focus on? Of course, corporations don't help. There were $1 value menu items everywhere! This is also related to how the city is built. I mean I haven't been to that many American cities, but most of them are quite sprawled. Well, forget active transportation and perhaps a significant part of one's daily exercise. If only we'd all realized sooner, we'd build our cities from the ground up differently. The question is what to do now?
On the way to the beach we passed by a project housing area. It was literally an area between expensive beach homes along the coast and a suburban area further down the road. A random thought occurred to me during this car ride. It is obvious that putting all the government housing together does not necessarily help build better lives for these people. What if governments invested in building homes for these people but avoid communities of them? What if governments built 1 or 2 houses in normal suburban areas spread throughout the metropolitan? Perhaps that way these people would have the opportunities to mingle with people different from themselves and abolish the mindsets that would otherwise be created by being with the same people living in near poverty. Of course I can already see problems with protesting from suburban parents who don't want to lower the value of their homes or for the government to acquire land in this way (although I am not sure how this system works down there either). There is also possibility that children attending the normal school would be scrutinized by wealthier children. However, there are many cases of this even in Toronto. I have personally seen this and these people have turned out fine..
Well, I'm starting to ramble now. I had other reflections as well but this post is getting awfully long and I don't remember any others at the moment.
On a brighter note, check out the most amazing wedding proposal ever at Disneyland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itPfJWCdyBI
No comments:
Post a Comment