Aceman in Orlando 2003- Day 1

[Aceman88888]

Just a quick report & a few comments

1. Flew from Manchester yesterday morning. Beware any fellow travellers- Manchester terminal 1 airside is a building site at the moment and an absolote disgrace. Don't even think about getting food from there as there is nowhere to sit unless you are a smoker.

2. Flight was uneventful & tedious into Sanford but the arrivals system worked very smoothly indeed and were in our hire car within an hour of landing.

3. Got a villa in North Haines City, about 20 miles south-west of Kissimmee. Backs onto a golf course with a nice private pool etc etc. Seemed a long drive to Disney but the I-4 takes out the delays from central Kissimmee.

3.5 Dinner last night quickl at Ponderosa (192) after filling up the beer fridge from Walmart!. Steak & shrimp were fine but the 'grand' buffet is certainly not grand any more!

4. Off to Animal Kindom today (It's 6.45am here today!!!) with Magic Kingdom electrical parade this evening. Should be able to try out Primeval Whirl today (spinny mousey type) as it was not open on my last visit along with all the other things. It will be nice for my little one as he is now old enough for most rides.

5. Weather is already 22 degrees C at daybreak!!!! (No sign of any rain though)

 

[KayleeUK]

I'm so jealous I love live trip reports.....Thank you

 

[Disney owl]

sounds great!!!!!!!

Write more , please

 

[UKDEB]

This is great - almost realtime trip reports. Hope you are able to carry on posting.

 

[matty624]

I hope our villa this summer has a computer in it (I don't think it can have, I think they would have highlighted that!) It'd be great to post trip reports whilst actually there. Brilliant!
By the way, I agree with Aceman, Manchester airport (certainly the arrivals area) does seem in turmoil, and if you don't smoke, definitely forget eating!!!
Ian

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

Hope you've had a great time in AK - did you enjoy Primeval Whirl

 

[Aceman88888]

Primeval Whirl was great!!!

Please see below trip report (make allowances for the fact that it was written for a coaster site that I also post on!!)

Saturday 3rd May- Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Got to the park at about 9am, crowds not excessive to say the least. Loads of shade which was useful as the forecast was for 92 degrees.

First ride of the day was the Kilimanjaro Safari. No Q at all and because it was still early in the day, all of the animals were out and about.

Next onto the Kali rapids which were my favourite water ride in 1999. Again no Q really at all and the ride certainly lived up to its wet expectations. The water drop got us completely soaked but only took an hour to dry.

Onto Dinoland USA next which had definitely improved from my last visit. Primeval Whirl was the obvious centrepoint, but really is only two back to back spinning mouse coasters with a Q shed (albeit a well themed one) in between. It was a good ride but no real different from the one at West Midlands Safari Park for the basic ride experience.

Dinosaur was the next ride with only a 5 mins Q. Seemed much more violent this time but still one of Florida’s top simulator/motion rides.

After as few photo opportunities we went across to Tough to be a Bug which was excellent with all the special effects working (water/smells/good ‘ol poke in the back etc)

All of this and a full walkthrough of the animal reserves in a morning!

Got some lunch and more photos and then went back to the Kali rapids for another soaking. Big Mistake!…… Q time of 45 mins. Well worth the wait though again with a thorough soaking for all.

Left early-ish (3pm) and went back to the villa for a BBQ and a few beers.

Temperature tracker- Peak of 92 degrees with very few clouds. Yet again no sign of rain ;-)

END OF REPORT



Sunday 4th May- Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Got to the park about 10.30am after a 60 mile drive. Again on first impressions, park did not seem too busy.

First ride of the day was on Gwazi (Lion). What an awesome woodie!!!!! Back row ride with Airtime in all the most perculiar places. I could not believe the speed of this beast. Obviously drops are not the big feature here but some of the banked turns and helixes were very intense indeed. Wobbly leg richter value was probably about 5.5 on exit.

Next up to the water rides, Stanley River Falls, Tidal Wave and the Rapids. All 3 were ok, Stanley was like a well maintained and I think older variant of Altons Flume (Tussauds take note!), Tidal was about half the height of Thorpes one but the soaking was as good, and a damn sight warmer and the Rapids were ok but nothing spectacular.

First B&M of the holiday now…… Kumba!. 5 mins Q and then on. Back row as usual. Best inversion was the Immelman but it was all very good. Wobbly leg richter value on exit….. about 4.5. Nice & refreshing.

Next took my little one for his first looping coaster experience (he’s only 5) onto Skorpion. We survived and he loved it (with only a lap bar!). Truly a memorable moment.

New ride for 2003, the haunted Lighthouse was not quite open but hope to experience it next week (I think it’s a 4D attraction)

Onto the Rhino Rally next for which I had high expectations. 20 mins Q and then onto ride. This certainly is not a rally to speak of and the 1st section consists mainly of the driver failing to justify himself as a standup comic but the 2nd half was certainly different with the rafting section on the river. Land rover stops on a pontoon bridge and then it becomes detatched and goes down the river on a track. This is more like a slow moving meander than a rapids ride but the vehicle spins this way and that, missing rock faces and the like. A very unique ride, but I was not really sure what the point of it was.

Over to Montu for our first B&M inverter of the trip. Looked splendid as ever with the cobra over the entrance but as we were in the Q it broke down on the lifthill. Seemed like a lengthy downtime so we went onto Gwazi (Tiger).

Tiger seemed like a completely different ride to the Lion variant and markedly rougher. Again on the back row with airtime but left with bruised ribs and a determination to only go on Lion in the future. Wobbly leg factor- 5.0

Decided to take an early finish as we are coming back next week to ride Montu!

Evening spent in Old Town, Kissimmee. Nice evening atmosphere with a few rides (at extortionate prices). These included a Bomber ($10 a go), a zamperla coaster ($5 a go), a reverse bungee which had no riders all night and the mighty skycoaster (Is it still the largest in the world????) at 400ft high. This was busy all night but not for me! (wobbly leg factor just from watching….4.0)

Went onto the Outback Steakhouse for a nice fillet/shrimp combo and a welcome ice cold Samuel adams.

 

[KayleeUK]

Sounds like you had a great time at Busch

 

[Minniespal]

I love trip reports - keep them coming!!!!!