Orlando, Florida Aug. 10 - 15

Theme Park Mania!!

August 10, 2005

Well we have taken the first step on our year long trip. It was raining and cool when we left Calgary this morning. We won’t miss the wet summer we have had this year. As we were passing through US customs the power went off, leaving us in blackness. It was a strange feeling to be surrounded by large men in uniforms and bullet-proof vests in a cavernous room. It took a while for the computers to come back on line. So we had a nice chat with the customs officer, Hernandez. As we were describing our plans to him, it still seemed unreal to me. I guess it will hit home when we have been away from Calgary for a couple of months. The trip to Orlando on Westjet, was smooth, uneventful and not very full. PERFECT!

Orlando at 5:30pm was hot (33C) and muggy!! Brian broke out in waterfalls of sweat on his forehead just walking from the airport baggage claim to the car rental pick-up area. We relaxed this evening at the Sheraton Safari Hotel, preparing for a busy day at Disney World the next day.

August 11 -14, 2005

These four days were an example of extreme theme park adventure. If this is the pace that Brian is going to set for us on this trip, I think we’ll all be dead by September. Every morning we have been awakened at 7 am (5 am body time), after spending the night in a room colder than a meat locker. Brian loves his air conditioning. A quick breakfast followed our room departure and then we were off to at least one theme park for the day. Our first day was spent at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot at Disney World. Our second day was at Animal Kingdom and MGM, also at DW. On the third day we ventured to Universal: Islands of Adventure theme park and then back to Epcot for the evening. The last theme park was Universal Studios. On average we walked at least 20km a day, in hot (over 34C) and muggy conditions. We had lots of fun watching shows and doing all of our favourite rides. We even talked Sierra into doing some scary ones. She was not thrilled about the Tower of Terror at MGM studios. The ride has been made even more intense since our last visit. I think that she did it with her eyes closed. She also mustered up lots of courage for Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Mission to Mars: Space, Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl, at Disney World. We are always awed at the spectacular fireworks shows at the Disney parks and this time enjoyed Fantasmic at MGM, as well as Illuminations at Epcot. It is amazing that these shows are done every night. They are incredible. Somebody told us the fireworks at Epcot cost over $50K USD per night. I believe it!

The rides at the Universal theme parks are more intense than those at Disney. So Sierra really had to be brave at these parks. The funny thing was that after most of the rides, she was so excited and loved the experience. She made it worse in her mind before doing the ride. We all loved the thrills of the Hulk and Dueling Dragons roller coasters. We could have done without the obnoxious teens who caused delays and who were eventually kicked off the ride. In one area of Islands of Adventure, we got soaked. Not just wet but water running down the legs, dripping wet. We did a raft ride twice and then a log ride down a large flume. Yes, Sierra did this believe it or not…… She wouldn’t do the small log ride we had at our local theme park. The funniest experience was at Doctor Doom’s Fear Fall. Brennan and Brian were here in May 2004 without us and they did it then. Brennan hated the ride then and nothing seems to have changed. It involved sitting in a chair suspended outside of a very tall tower (175m), which is then rocketed from the bottom to the top. At the top, the chair is released and we were dropped. Our stomachs landed in our throats and we experienced freefall. We were dropped a couple of times. At the end of the ride, both Sierra and I were thinking; “Is this it? Because we expecting more after all the build up from Brennan.” We looked at him and he was absolutely white. It was definitely not his favourite ride.

Today we also visited the Universal Studio’s park. It was incredibly hot and we felt as wet as we were yesterday but we didn’t go into the water. The highlight of the day was either the Mummy ride (really scary) or the Fear Factor Show. Despite Brennan’s enthusiasm for volunteering the show co-ordinators opted for the cute girl dressed in pink. Sierra was put in charge of weather control for the final stunt of the show’s competition. She was seated up front with a couple of other volunteers. During a part of the show where the producers were pouring big Scorpions on the participants, they brought out a giant bird eating spider that hadn’t been fed yet that day. The spider suddenly “escaped”, bouncing onto the kid’s laps. You could hear Sierra scream from rows and rows away. Big joke… It was a rubber spider. After the show it was off to Marguerittaville for a late lunch, drinks, and music.

By day four, we were really “theme parked out”. I think it was the combination of the heat, humidity and the crowds. We escaped and hit the pool at the hotel instead. I think that breaks from the plan will play a large part in the next year.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Amsterdam and what I think is really the first part of our world tour. I am very excited and looking forward to it all.