Harry Potter land

Jonathan had a free ticket to Universal Studios that expires at the end of this 2010. We calculated the perfect day to go would be 12/5/10. The Christmas decorations would be up, and it's the perfect time in-between Thanksgiving and Christmas so the parks would be dead.

Were our calculations correct?

Heck yes they were!

Did you hear news stories about people waiting for hours and hours and hours to ride the new ride? (That's not an exaggeration - when "Harry Potter land" first opened this summer you had to wait multiple hours just to GET IN to the land, much less do anything.

We walked right on the ride. No waiting, no nothing ... walked right on.

The ride is inside the giant Hogwarts castle. The queue line is fully decorated like the inside of the castle, so I honestly wanted to wait a little tiny bit so I could look at all the details.

Later on in the day we walked thru the queue line again. This time the line was a whopping 15 minutes (ha!). When we got to the front we said, "we don't want to ride please", and went thru the chicken exit.

The ride is pretty cool, but it's 1/2 looking at stuff and 1/2 virtual reality. My inner ear can't handle that virtual stuff. Even Jonathan was a little queazy afterwards.

The ride was kind-of scary. A dragon and a bunch of dementors are in your face (I mean, inches away!).

More on HP land (better known as "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter") later!

Kennedy Space Center

A year ago, Buzz Lightyear came back from a year long stay inside the International Space Station. He was welcomed back to Earth with a big parade at the Magic Kingdom. His good buddy Buzz Aldrin was on hand to welcome him back as well.

Jonathan was able to skip out of work for a few hours and meet Buzz Aldrin, and get his new book autographed.

Ever since he read that book, he's been dying to visit Kennedy Space Center.
It's over $40 a pop to get in to KSC, so I always put off going until we could find some great Florida resident coupon.

Queue the Star Wars Celebration and a SWAG bag. Insert 50% off coupon! The only kicker was that the coupon expired in 1 week. So off we went!


I was not overly excited to visit NASA, but it was surprisingly fun. The highlight was meeting a real astronaut! Jon McBride was a space shuttle pilot for 1 mission. He was a really cool guy.

So, I highly recommend a visit to KSC. I can't imagine paying full price (it would've been close to $90 for the both of us), so be on the lookout for coupons!

Evacuation!

I did something awesome on 9/9!  We got to evacuate off the MCO monorail.

If you’ve never been to the Orlando International Airport (MCO), after security, you hop on a monorail to go to all the gates. It’s only about a 1 minute ride. It just goes up then back, up then back all day long. I don’t think there are any drivers.

Our monorail stopped about 3/4 of the way there. We waited and waited (while watching the 2nd monorail pass us a couple times). No announcement or anything.

A Southwest employee on a golf cart on the tarmac noticed us and signaled that he was going to call somebody. A couple minutes later, a businessman picked up the emergency phone, but nobody ever answered on the other end.

After only about 5 or 6 minutes, our car (there are 3 cars to the monorail) decided to escape. Another business man managed to manually open the door, and we one by one stepped out onto a concrete slab, and walked towards the airport.

It was funny to look at the people still standing around cars 1 and 2. They were all looking at their door and wondering how we all managed to escape.

About 2 minutes later, some airport workers came to fix the issue and the monorail finally made it to the terminals.

I wish I had my camera handy (it was at the bottom of my bag) to take a photo of us walking where were weren’t supposed to walk!

Florida birds

It's hard to tell how massive these birds are, but that bush is about 4' tall, and the birds are totally hunched over eating who-knows-what.

When these sucker stand up, they are scary!

And they sound like dinosaurs. Well, I base that off the movie Jurassic Park, who made up their dinosaur noises ...

When I opened my curtains one day to wash the windows, these things were standing RIGHT THERE. Made me jump!

The complete OPPOSITE of Muppets ...

I believe the Orlando Museum building used to be a courthouse.

Inside they had a replica (or maybe it was the original) courtroom.

Ted Bundy was tried at this table for a murder he committed in Florida.

The sign by his name carved in the table said that there is no proof that he made this carving.  I'll admit it, I kind-of enjoy reading about serial killers.  I mean, they are horrible people, but I guess I find it fascinating that they are so horrible.  That didn't make much sense at all.  No, I am nowhere near the level of collecting their memorabilia or anything!  Ok - I've said too much now ...

I think I've found my calling!

So as I'm playing and posing with a Bert and Ernie puppet, another family walks in the puppet room.  Since I'm hunched behind the puppet show window, I can't see a thing.  I hear Jonathan giggling and I hear some little kid say "hi!  hi!  hi!".  I popped my head up really quick (to see where he was), and did the WORST Bert and Ernie impression ever.

Our friends Bill and Melanie grabbed a puppet too, and this kid was eating it up!

Can you tell me how to get ...

... how to get to Sesame Street!

One fun part about the Muppet exhibit was a little kids area.  They had a bunch of Sesame Street puppets, and we just couldn't resist.  I think Jonathan looks pretty convincing talking to Big Bird and Grover.  Grover looks like he has a lot to talk about!

Fuzzy Muppets

More fuzzy photos from our trip to the Muppet Museum.

I'm sure you recognize Bert and Ernie, and Rowlf (sp?).

But the guy in the Sir Linit can is from a com

mercial from the '70s.  I guess Jim Henson did a ton of commercials in the '60s and '70s with muppets.  He looks a lot like Ernie huh?  Check out his little iron feet.  I guess Linit is a starch like substance.

Do do do do-do ...

... manamuna!

Jonathan and I went to the Orlando Museum of some kind last weekend.  They had a special exhibit on Jim Henson.

Unfortunately, there was no photography inside the exhibit.  My camera has a 'museum' function on it, so I knew I would be able to take photos with out hurting any of the exhibits, but there were people watching every so often.  So I had to be really stealth like!  Hence, the fuzzy muppet photo.

Having a bad day?

Well, it could always be worse!

Sunset

You might be saying to yourself, "Wow - what a beautiful sunet! Did you take that in Hawaii? Maybe Key West, FL? I bet you'll never see that again."

The answers to those questions would be "no, no, and yes I will!"

This sunset is a every day occurance in Florida! Well, everyday in the winter months anyway.

This the view from my back porch. Pretty sweet huh? Somedays, when it is really, really bright, it lights up my entire kitchen in pink. (which clashes with my decor - but I'll still take it)!

Coming soon to Orlando!

http://www.greatwheel.com/orlando/home_english.htm

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet! And a little scary.

I guess I can get over my slight fear of heights in 2010.

Tuesday TV

I don't watch any TV on Tuesday! *gasp!*

Although I recenlty finished watching The Biggest Loser. I watched the first season (back in, like 2004?). I didn't mean to watch this show, but I accidentally started watching, and then I could not stop!

Baseball

Every baseball game we go to, I bug Jonathan by jamming my camera in his face and taking a photo of the field reflection on his sunglasses.

I think I can stop bothering him, b/c this one is pretty sweet! Thank you Indian's minor league baseball stadium!

More Florida ghetto-ness

Driving home today, I pass 2 college kids, hanging out on the side of the road -- underneath a highway underpass.

They were shirtless, sitting on some lawn chairs with refreshments, just waiving at people. I didn't see any cars parked on the side of the road, so I really wonder how they got there.

*cheers* to the weird-os!

You know your drive home from work is ghetto when . . .

. . . you aren't phased to see:


1. A boat selling fresh shrimp.

2. 5 cars for sale

3. People fishing in a 5" lake

4. A bright orange stalker van selling turtles

5. $10 orchids

6. DVDs $3 each!

7. Tourists peeing (hide your shame!)

rub, rub, rub

I drove past a Walgreens last night. The electonic sign said:

5:58pm
85 degrees

Gotta love it!

Top 10 hazards of living in Florida

10. The air conditioning bill
9. Love bugs (impossible to clean off your car)
8. Tampa Bay Rays (man, they are awful!!!)
7. Locals driving
6. Tourists driving
5. Hurricanes
4. Frizzy Hair (from the humidity)
3. Sunburn
2. Roaches
1. Lizards (those suckers are fast!)