Category Archives: attraction

The Eye has it or Not!

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Remember when I started this series I said “Now remember, no trip is without its pitfalls. If you keep that in mind you will be able to handle the little trials that come out of no where.”

Well Our lovely day was about to hit one of those little trials. Up until this point the Orlando Eye had been slowly turning above our heads but as we finished with the SeaLife Aquarium they announced that it was temporarily down. Trying to get any information out of the desk attendants was an exercise in futility.

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We sat for a bit in the food court but pretty soon even a dedicated people watcher gets bored so we took a walk outside to see what restaurants were nearby. We might as well grab some lunch while we waited.

There wasn’t much in the “Eye” complex but we settled on the “Tin Roof”, a typical bar/pub. I can’t say it was a quiet lunch because there was construction going on and the whole side of the building was open so no sound buffering at all. The waiter was pleasant and the food plentiful. But I caught an “ear worm”. I kept hearing the B52’s sing Love Shack in my head….Tin Roof – Rusted!

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After lunch we headed back to the desk and were told the Eye was still offline and they didn’t know when it would be back online. It seems the “Eye” is down more than it’s running. From what I gathered it is something of a joke in Orlando because it is either offline or they are rescuing guests who are stuck on it.

Joe tried hard to get our money back but since we’d done 2 attractions and we’d only had to pay for 1 ticket there wasn’t much to refund. The best he could get was a promise to honor the tickets for 1 year. Of course I don’t know where we put the tickets now. I guess we’ll both have to search for them if I can get back to Orlando before the year is up.

It was time for plan B.

Orlando Sealife Aquarium

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Sea World it’s not. There are no killer whale shows or chances to swim with dolphins but as little aquariums go this is a fine educational experience.

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As an aquarium aficionado I am really glad we went to this but if you are looking for the big WOW factor I don’t think you will find it here. This is great for youngsters. I saw many with their noses pressed to the glass.

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There is no Great Ocean Tank like in Boston but they do have a 360 degree Underwater tunnel. Those are always fun. You get to walk through the clear tunnel while fish and rays swim over and under and around you. Pretty cool.

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They didn’t have a mermaid tank like they did in new Orleans but they did have a pretty spectacular jelly fish display.

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Thus was really my favorite. The lights in all aquariums are dim so the animals are not bothered but the lights are very dim in the jelly fish section. Glowing models suspended from the ceiling light the way to the wall of the tank which is filled with floating jelly fish.

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The ray tank was fun. It’s really hard to get a good shot of these guys. They are fast! No flash photography allowed. The light bothers the animals.

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There’s a scavenger hunt for the kids. Joe, of course, had to participate. In each gallery there was something the kids needed to find. Once they spotted it there was a place to stamp your card. If you found all of the items there was a little prize at the end.

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The emphasis here is on education and I have to say they did a great job at that. This is the perfect size aquarium to introduce the next generation to the beauty and importance of the oceans of the world.

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Welcome to Madam Tussaud’s, Orlando

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Getting to the Orlando Eye was easy enough. They even had free parking! Once in the entertainment complex there were three attractions, Madam Tussaud’s, Sealife and The EYE.

I can’t remember the last time I went to a “Wax museum”. I think it was the House of Frankenstein in Lake George, NY when I was just a teenager.  I suggested we do the attractions in the order of interest topping off the day with the ride on the EYE.

Turns out Madam Tussaud’s was the best! It was lots of fun.

The displays were all interactive so you could take pictures with everyone from Marilyn Monroe to ET.

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I got to dance with Michael Jackson

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and see how it felt to be a white house secretary while Joe and Obama looked on.

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There are photographers sprinkled about but they don’t bother you and since Joe and I both had cameras we hardly saw them at all. Of course when we first entered we had the “airboat” ride with attacking alligators. Act scared they said!

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The categories were things like “I will call it La Florida” with Juan Ponce de Leon.

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Or People Change the World….Neil Armstrong…Martin Luther King

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Arts and Culture and Play Time

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Music …Elvis and Michael

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Big Screen to Big Time…Oprah. Joe Loved Oprah.

A night at the Movies…We couldn’t get near John Travolta as Danny Zuko. All the “Pink Ladies” were lined up for their photo op.

Finally there was the A list with celebs like Will Smith, Leonardo Di Caprio, Brad and Angelina and more.

Tons of fun!

 

Epcot 2015

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Please understand that my plan for Disney  was to spend one day at the Magic Kingdom to photograph decorations and hopefully get some shots I can use for Christmas cards.

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That was it. The rest of the time I planned to check out other venues like botanical gardens that I hadn’t been to before. I am not now and never have been a Mickey fanatic.

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Those plans got side tracked very quickly when I told my friend Joe that I was coming to Orlando in December. I booked the dates in March and that led to a continuous series of emails and phone calls with  everything Joe wanted to do while I was in town. It pretty much revolved around the Disney parks.

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After much suggesting, pleading, assuming and just charging forward, Joe finally convinced me to book the Candlelight Processional with dinner. The two possible narrators while I was in Orlando were Neil Patrick Harris or Whoopie Goldberg . I enjoy both so it came down to when we could get a reservation. Dinner/show spots were all sold out so we settled on lunch/5 pm show. I booked Thursday because, I confess, I was doing this  more to appease Joe than because I wanted to go so I wanted to get it over with.  Thursday was the last night Neil Patrick Harris was the narrator. By having a 1:15 lunch reservation at Les Chefs de France it pretty much guaranteed we’d be spending the day at Epcot.

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Joe met me for breakfast at Kenzie’s and then we headed for the park. Epcot was beautiful as are all of the parks at Christmas. We enjoyed a few rides/shows before scrambling to make our reservation for lunch.

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We had a small two top (that’s restaurant speak for a table for 2) right next to the window so we could watch Father Christmas and other characters pass by. Lunch was acceptable. I’m just a plain and simple person when it comes to food so french cuisine is just “over the top”. Sometimes a grilled cheese should just be a grilled cheese.

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I chose Les Chef de France because I wanted escargot but I’d just had that in New Orleans and it’s not an item I can eat every day. My favorite part was the dessert, puff pastry with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

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Joe had the mousse.

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Then with several hours to kill we went Soaring. This is a really popular ride and usually has long lines so I had never been on it before.  All I can say is that it’s terrific.  I hated to have it end. I guess it’s as close to flying as you’ll get unless you are one of those glider suit people.

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Kris Kringle was entertaining all comers with a series of Holiday Stories. He was funny even if he looked a bit intimidating.

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We followed up with a visit with Tigger and Poo Bear and then it was time to get in our seats for the main event.

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Love Poo Bear

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And Tigger!

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The Steamboat Natchez

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Back at the Lighthouse we considered our options for the afternoon. The paddle wheel steamboat Natchez was right there at the dock so we decided to take a ride up the Mississippi. We had about two hours before our trip so we went in search of lunch. The menu on the Natchez didn’t “speak” to me.

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Instead we had lunch at the Gumbo Pot on Decatur St.

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We both tried the Po’boys. I had shrimp and Sandy had hamburger. They were HUGE! and very good.

We also had a little excitement. It was clear that a storm was approaching as the wind began to gust pretty good. Suddenly it caught one of the umbrellas and over it went right on another table. That certainly got everyone’s attention while the waiters hustled around taking down the umbrellas so it wouldn’t happen again.

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After lunch we made our way to a table on the dock where we could watch the river traffic while we waited for our turn on the Natchez. We had a front row seat for the steam Calliope concert.

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Boarding was like going on a cruise.  Photos were taken to documents our trip.

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The cruise was fully narrated and there was a jazz band playing inside.Both of us did a lot of our New Orleans souvenir shopping in the gift shop.

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Remember those sugar cane fields we saw from the train? Well we got to see where a lot of that goes when we sailed past the Domino Sugar Refinery.

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The narrator pointed out areas where the docks had been destroyed by many things from Katrina to fires. We passed huge ships and other refineries. The river it self was really wide and bustled with barges and tug boats.

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In spite of the “iffy” weather it was a great ride.

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Back on the dock we spotted a street performer. His “shtick” was to pretend he was walking his toy dog and freeze in place in mid-stride. Still pictures really don’e do it justice but he was quite good and very personable. His tip bucket was the white bucket you can see in the picture.