The intelligent pupil among yourselves might be wondering 'hmmm, I wonder why Calum and Jenni have decided to greet us in Spanish today?' I'll tell you why! Because no one speaks bloody english!!! We all know that I have slightly anti-foreign tendencies but here in Florida even Saint Calum of Baynham has been known to roll his eyes at the various shrieks emitting from loud colourful families. Anyway. Rant over. Calum will begin with our arrival in Florida.
So we made it so a not so sunny Florida after are longest Drive EVER. It seemed to last forever, and my 3rd degree burns and sun sickness were taking their toll, didn't think I would make it. But we arrived safely (sorry for letting you all know we are still alive after the last post). George and Donna's Florida house is lovely, and it was really nice to arrive in a homely place after two weeks of hotels/motels/guesthouses.
So we made a list of activities which we wished to accomplish while we were here. Perhaps the purpose and the most important destination in our minds of this trip was visiting HARRY POTTER LAND. So like second day in we went to Universal Island of Adventures. I was fully stoked to hit up some good rides as the only roller coaster I have been in for a long time is the one in Aberdeen with George and Michael which is fairly lame.
(you will note at this point that I am wearing my Atlanta braves t-shirt. A little boy got his photo taken with me in it. Also look how gross Calum's burst-blister juice is on his shoulder. Bleeeeuuuurgh)
We obviously are in Florida at the right time of year because we were very lucky with the lines- there simple were not any. First up was the Hulk, which was pretty cool. The Elliott Dr Evil picture on the ride is hilarious but Jen and I are still stuck with doing the peace sign. Jen hates this ride, or the start of this ride but it was soooo much fun.
Jen: I hate it because it goes 10...9...8... as you climb up the hill but then it shoots up on 7. Nightmare.
Next was Spiderman. Great rind combining movement, 3D and other effects. The Second time we went on the ride we were lucky enough to be sharing a row with Santa! Unfortunately the jolly man with the white beard and hair also had an oh-ho-ho jolly stomach which meant the lap bar was about 3 feet off Calum and I's knees. We were thrown about evvvvverywhere it was hysterical.
Look at the increasing blister juice on Peter Parker...
Calum said his brother Matt would have loved this section of Islands of Adventure because it was Marvel comic themed. We looked into getting him a t-shirt but shops are such a rip off in these places, figured it would be cheaper to order him one off ebay.
Next - my worst nightmare. Dudley Doorights Ripsaw Falls. I HATE water rides. I especially hate water flumes that consist of one vertical fall that you plunge down in a tiny little log transporter. The ride broke down about four times when we were on it which only added to the tense climb. I was in near tears but of course I had my go get'em image to maintain and I didn't want to endure Calum's mocking so I was a brave girl. This added to the other water ride we had been on made my denim shorts a VERY unpleasant affair:
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| at least the blister juice was now disguised! |
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| deadly. this photo doesn't even do it justice. |
Next, after one more water ride (sigh), we arrived in Hogsmeade: Harry Potter Land! I got a bit snap happy here so here's a little selection....
Outside Hogsmeade... excitement building (even though still drenched)
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| Cal and Hogwarts |
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| The famous mirror of desire... |
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| Even though the queues were sometimes a little long (although not HALF as bad as they could have been), the design of the set was really interesting so it didn't feel like you were queuing. This part was supposed to be the herbology classroom). |
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| Screaming Mandrakes |
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| House Cup Colours. Big fights ensued as to what house Calum and I would be in. Both claimed to be Gryffindor but.... |
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| entrance to Dumbledore's office |
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| the pictures were fantastic!! They all moved and talked. One even told me I was going to be the next big thing at Hogwarts!!! Calum will deny this, just like he claims one told him that he was going to be a big Quidditch star. It's these sort of lies that would definitely result in him NOT being a Gryffindor. Maybe Ravenclaw on a good day. Although with his love for chocolate milk Hufflepuff could still be an option.... |
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| Holograms were used to make it look like the characters were there in real life talking to you. It was hard to snap a picture of these but you can kind of see Dumbledore in the middle at the top? It was very Mission Impossible-esque, so cool. |
When we entered the ride a lady said 'Muggles this way please!' and Calum shouted back in her face 'I AM NO MUGGLE'. Was extremely funny / slightly aggressive.
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| Ah the sorting hat... (told Jenni she was a slytherin!!!) |
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| Hagrid's Hut |
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| Buckbeak |
We were DESPERATE to try butterbeer after the Elliotts had so highly recommended it. You can buy it either frozen or cold. It is delicious. It's kind of like cream soda/wherthers originals with a caramel-y foam on top. I would DEFINITELY buy it if it were stocked in the Muggle world.
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| Calum went for the frozen option, we both preferred the other variety though |
Here are some general Hogsmeade photos. You can tell how much we enjoyed this day due to the high level of photographic evidence haha
Our next challenge was the Triwizard Tournament. This consists of two entwining rollercoasters that were supposed to symbolise two different types of dragons. I LOVE these rollercoasters but Calum was very scared and informed me at the top of the hill that he didn't want to do it; not much I could do at that point! However by his wide eyes and feeble voice I think that he might have just been mocking me on the water rides...what a prankster.
We weren't sure if this was the actual car from the movie but it was quite cool.
Again, the queue for this was fantastic. The 'wait time' displayed outside was 5 minutes. However it took us about 20 minutes to walk through the castle!! When we actually arrived at the coaster there was infact no queue!
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| The cup / horcrux |
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| the singing eggs |
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| the different types of dragon |
After annoying the various hispanic families in the queue around us with my constant snapping and conquering the dragons, we had another little stroll through Hogsmeade.
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| Chocolate Frogs ($10 so we didn't buy one) |
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| extendable ears, equally ridiculously prices |
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| my new ride to school |
There were a few little shows on around Hogsmeade. It seems if you were slightly chubs and English then you are guaranteed a job in this part of Universal. Perhaps a good way to get a working visa?
So by now you will be aware what MASSIVE Harry Potter geeks we are! We heard lots of murmurings by Americans saying that 'all Brits love it' in response to our obvious delight. Stupid Americans and their 'sorcerer's stone'...
ANYWAY move on we must!
The next day we went to Universal Studios. It could be considered a little bit more dated than Islands of Adventure but we still had an absolutely brilliant day.
I seem not to have taken a picture of Rockin Rollercoaster sorry. It is a wide spanning new rollercoaster that has a MASSIVE initial drop. Calum absolutely loved it and to my utter disgust we were allocated the front row. The initial climb is so steep that you ride up horizontally. My stomach is churning at the thought. It has a delicious thrill to it though and Calum loved it so we ended up riding it a few times.
Universal is also home to rides such as the Simpson, Men in Black (which Calum won at, I won't go in to any more details, but I will hahaha, I destroyed Jenni twice without out knowing about the secret 100000 bonus) and The Mummy: an underground rollercoaster. We had a brilliant day here, the longest thing we had to queue for was jaws which was about 20 minutes, not too bad.
The next day we found a deal online that gave us cheap tickets for Medieval Times, a medieval dining experience. This proved to be a HIGHLY entertaining night. We were placed in the red and yellow knight's team and we got VERY involved. With slanderous calls flying and drinks flowing! You have to eat with your hands which is a little gross but it is all in good fun! Unfortunately my asthma totally kicked in and by the end I was wheezing like that little penguin in Toy Story.
Calum kept yelling JJJJJJJJOOOOOOUUUUUSSSSST at the actors. Was hilarious. When the King was toasting lots of things Calum also shouted loudly 'TO RED AND YELLOW, CHEERS' which prompted a light ripple of laughter from the crowd.
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| look how much chicken we were given!! |
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| I ploughed in to mine whole-heartedly |
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| Calum had already finished his, what a natural. |
The next day we went to Sea World. Calum wants to describe this day as it was his BEST. DAY. EVER.
p.s when will we learn? when you don't update the blog frequently it takes aaaaaages! Only just over a week left of our trip now so there can't be that much to write about, right? With us hitting the road again this weekend, who knows!?
Bay Bay reporting; SO I think Sea World was probs the best park because we got a good mixture of excellent rides and incredible shows. I woke up early (standard) to get to the park for the opening when Jen said 'Calum, the animals sleep too,' and I was instructed to sleep a little longer. Finally we left and as we arrived at Sea World the heavens opened. I was told we could come back another day but nothing was stopping me from entering Sea World.
So we bought these awesome cloaks. I got to meet Shamu straight away!
'must be love love love'
Then we went onto the first ride:Manta. This was a really cool ride as your arms and legs were strapped in and you lay down. We both did are own impressions of Manta's before embarking on the ride.
We were given front seats for the ride again, which was awesome. This was one of Jen's favourites and I really liked it the first time too, as you could see what was coming. Later on we went on the ride again, and it was not so much fun because I was so focused on pulling out a great photo and not ready to be thrown on my back and proceed towards the ground backwards at great speed- may have freaked out a little. (he looked at me with really wide eyes again like 'jen, i just wasn't ready.... i just wasn't'. It was hysterical)
After Manta we went to watch the first of the shows. SHAMU! Jen does not like the shows as much anymore because the trainers are not allowed in the water (after a trainer got eaten). Jen believes that this is a risk that comes with the job and the trainers should still be allowed in.... hahah, which I guess makes sense. However I still think that watching a live killer whale show is pretty amazing.... not something you see every day!
I got some good snaps!
So pretty incredible. We sat in the wet zone and not one splash hit us! So that was my only disappointment..... I was looking forward to seeing a wave of water hit Jen!!!!
Next was Clyde and Seamore, which is a sea-lion, otter and walrus show! It was fairly funny and the walrus was definitely our favourite.
After this we had some lunch and ice cream! mmmmm
BIGGER THAN JENS HEAD!!!!!
After lunch we went to the dolphin and and whale show. I believe that the whale in the show is called a false killer whale. This was probably the best show as the trainers were in the water and so much was going on. Including some colourful parrots!
The last two pics are of the whale.
Following the show we went on another water ride, which of course put a huge smile on Jen's face......... Atlantis was a large log flume type ride, which I thought was great fun, Jen not so much. After we went on the Kraken roller coaster which I think was the best out of all the coasters.... but I keep changing my mind. The roller coaster put a smile back on Jennifer's face though!!! YEY!
The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing some more animals; this included alligators, manatees, penguins, sharks, polar bear, beluga whales, sea lions, Walrus's and lots of other fishies. The sea cows were funny, and we both do a mean impression of a manatee.
That evening Donna's good friend Laura Mixon set us up with sweet tickets for Cirque de Soleil, which was glorious. The show was fantastic and extremely captivating. My fav were the wee chinese girls, while Jen really liked the juggler. The acrobats had both of us on the edge of our seats fearing for their lives! Scary stuff
Another day, another adventure. It was a casual cool 32 degree celsius when we walked in to Aquatica, Sea Worlds water park. Water park was really fun, and Jen finally played with me in the pool, instead of working on her tan!!!!! We both deduced that the best slides were the double ring rides, although it was cool that there was a slide that went through the Commerson dolphin enclosure. These dolphins were beautiful and looked like 'mini shamu's.' (I'd like to point out at this point that i DO play with Calum in the pool and I went on EVERY slide but there's only so long a girl older then 8 can be interested in counting how many times you can throw a beach ball to each other!! Calum wished my brothers were here to play with him in Florida...I do too!!!)
In Florida we have also played mini golf and enjoyed some other hot spots that Jen and her family love. Think I want to move into Golden Corral. And having dinner while in the movies!!!!! Only in America
We have both had a lovely time in Florida and its been great to relax by the pool and sometimes just to stay in and have dinner. I have really enjoyed hearing about all the great past times that the Elliott family have had in Florida and I wish that you could have been out here this week.
We are hitting the road again Sunday...... First stop Savannah
Peace out!!!!!!
Calum and Jenni
xxxxx
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