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2006.10.21-28 - Orlando, Ho!

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Our last day at Disney was a whirlwind spent between 3 of the parks to re-ride all of our major favourites.

We met up with Steen and John at the entrance to Animal Kingdom. Dave and I elected to drive, I'm not sure why, but that's what we decided to do. :) Oh yeah - it was because Steen wanted to see/go for a ride in my car. An enthusiastic elderly man raced ahead of his family to follow Dave and I and asked me questions the entire walk from the parking lot to the park entrance. His family was a good couple hundred metres back behind him by the time we got there. :) As soon as the park opened, we rode ExpEv a few times before it went DDM (Down Due to Mechanical reasons). Then we rode Dinosaur once, and that was our morning at Animal Kingdom. :)

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On-Ride image from Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom.

Dinosaur is one scary mother of a ride!!!

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On-Ride image from Expedition Everest.

While and John and Dave took the bus, I gave Steen a ride in the smart back to their hotel - Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge or something like that (since Mighty Ducks wasn't good enough for them! LOL!). It's crazy! Well, all the hotels there are really amazing, actually. My favourite is the Contemporary Resort, or as a friend of mine likes to call it, the "A Hotel".

We took a bus from there back to EPCOT, where we got on the monorail and finally got a cab ride. For those who don't know, you're allowed to ride in the cab of the monorail with the driver, as long as they're not too busy! I always feel so weird up there, because I want to tell the driver "Hey, I want to be a monorail pilot - seriously", but I know every single kid that goes up there says that. How do I prove I'm genuine?? It's not worth it... Steen filled in and embarased me though by pointing out how "The Canadian over there is proud of his train!" etc... LOL!

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Monorail Red arrives at the Magic Kingdom.

Once we arrived at the Magic Kingdom, we hit up all the big stuff again - Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain... a couple of other attractions, and had a nice late lunch in Tomorrowland. The weather this day was probably the best the entire trip. Low 20's, not a cloud in the sky, no wind. It was just perfect. The crowds were light... it was just great!

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My second favourite ride at Tomorrowland in the MK is the WEDWay PeopleMover, or as it's called now, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. This is a LIM (linear induction motor) powered transportation system that Disney had since contracted out to 3 other locations (including the Senate Subway in Washington DC and the interterminal transport system at Houstin International Airport). Every few metres the small, continuously moving 5-car open air trains pass over a 3-phase electromagnet, reacting with an aluminium plate under the train. The induced currents in the reaction rail set up their own magnetic feild and the traveling magnetic wave pulls the train along. Linear motors are commonly used in a lot of Bombardier automated transit systems now - a technology they got when they absorbed the government-owned UTDC (Urban Transit Development Corp) which produced initially 3 systems (Toronto's Scarborough RT, Vancouver's extensive Skytrain, and the Detroit Peoplemover).

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Mission: Space pavilion at EPCOT.

After we were done at the Magic Kingdom, we again took the monorail back to EPCOT. We took our last rides on Mission: Space, Test Track, and Soarin', before settling down to a nice dinner at Moraco in World Showcase. We stuck around and watched the fireworks... and then began the looooooooong, dreadful walk back to the bus terminal, to catch our ride back to our hotel.

At this point... I bet we must have walked 50 km in the past few days!

So Thursday (Day 6) was going to at least be a (much welcomed) part-day off! Stay tuned...

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Test Track pavilion at dusk.

-Iain

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If I had to spend money buying a picture at Disney,

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that's the one I'd buy :D

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I think Steen and John bought that one... but Dave bought this one instead! :)

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-Iain

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Monorail Silver quietly rips through the atrium of the Contemporary Resort.

After 3 full days at the theme parks of the Walt Disney World resort, it was time to kick back for half a day and take a breather. Dave and I were both feelin' it from all the walking. I kind of wished I'd bought a pedometer before I'd left, just to see how many kilometres I'd put on over the course of the week! Our first stop was the Contemporary Resort, in hopes we'd be able to sneak into breakfast at the grille located directly under the monorail beamway inside the hotel's concourse.

Unfortunatley, they'd already finished serving breakfast, so we wandered around the massive hotel for a bit, which gave me a chance to take some more photos of the trains as they glide effortlessly in and out of the hotel. Try doing that with light rail! Any city that is considering putting in any kind of transit system really needs to hit up Disney before they look any further. There's simply no better option for urban transit than a good ol' Canadian MK VI (now VII!) Monorail.

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We hopped aboard good ol' Dive and took off to Downtown Disney. This is a section of the resort that features shops, restaurants, and venues for things like Cirque du Soleil and concerts. It is located right on the edge of a big lake, the location is pretty nice! When we got there we parked, with a few off-duty security guards flagging us down to ask "just what the heck is that!" before parking. :)

We spent a good deal of time at the LEGO store. As some of you may know, I'm a fairly big LEGO enthusiast, I participate in robotics competitions in Toronto as part of rtlToronto, Canada's most active LEGO group. They had pick-a-brick, where you buy a container and fill it from a variety of bins with whatever pieces you like! Out front there was a decent display of characters. The German Sheppard was my favourite!

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After hanging around for a while and looking frantically (and unsuccessfully) for a size 14 pair of Heelys, we decided to watch Jackass 2 at the movie theatre in there. I had gone with several of my coworkers a month or so ago to see it, but I loved it so much and Dave hadn't seen it (and he is the king of raunch!) so of course we had to see it again. They had DDR Extreme in the lobby so we pounded out a few mad 6 footers for half an hour or so until the movie started.

That evening was to be our second night at Haloween Horror Nights at Universal. On our way over I wanted to check out a new machine that I had thought was to be installed along the strip in Orlando... a Funtime Star Flyer. After we parked and I saw it up close - no EFFING WAY I will ride that shizz!! Ohhhhh man! Just look at this thing!

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The horrific Funtime Star Flyer, straight from Austria.

It's essentially a Wave Swinger... grafted onto a 70 m tower. Oh, and it spins at 70 km/h.

No thanks!! I stood there thinking "I'll regret it if I come home and don't ride this" but I kind of think I'd still have chills from the absolute fear of being on board that I would not be able to sleep even now. So maybe it was for the best!

However going donw the strip did give us a chance to cruise a bit in the smart, and check out the local reactions... it was hilarious! A quick bite at Steak and Shake and then we were off to HHN for the night.

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I'd waited so long for this day.

Like car manufacturers, there are varying "grades" of amusement ride manufacturers. You've got your Kia's, GM's, Toyota's and your Mercedes'. It kind of goes without saying that the world's best manufacturers are from Europe (The Netherlands, Germany), but the worst might surprise you - Italy! A country well known for their automotive prowess also spits out the absolute worst junk you'd ever seen when it comes to rides. :) Those who have riden Canada's Wonderland's Tomb Raider: The Ride will instantly know exactly what I'm talking about.

Thankfully, there would be none of that on today's visit to Busch Gardens.

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Spotted this xB as we left our hotel on our way to Busch Gardens Tampa!

While my heart lies dearly close to "flat rides" - the huge, towering, ultra high-tech revolving "spin-and-puke" rides you'll find at Canada's Wonderland - like Psyclone (Video) or Sledgehammer (Video) - from manufacturers like Holland's mondial and Germany-based HUSS, when it comes to coasters, hands down the highest quality stuff comes from Switzerland, from a pair of engineers known as Bolliger and Mabillard - or B+M for short.

For me to go on a love-thread about B+M would be silly - it'd take far too long for me to explain even a slight hint of just how perfect the Swiss duo really are. B+M produce steel roller coasters with immense dimensions; none of their rides will ever be hiden away in a corner of a park. But their rides silently boast; they don't brag "Look at me, I'm the best!". Rather, a B+M coaster sits quietly, proudly, firmly gaining not just attention but respect from anyone in the area.

B+M are the shizz.

Busch Gardens realises this, obviously, for they're home to 3 of their coasters.

, their first, came along in 1994 and was only B+M's second coaster project at the time. The ride is massive; it's 4-person wide trains glide along it's track ripping through 7 inversions through jungle plantations and along track so twisted you wouldn't even imagine it'd be possible to fabricate.
, later, was built in the park's Egypt section and takes advantage of the varied terrain by diving into underground trenches and through ancient ruins, with passengers suspended helplessly beneath the track.

It would take a lot to top this duo.

B+M continued their development of new ride concepts. The prone (flying) coaster, floorless coaster, hypercoaster... all butter-smooth and graceful with massive, overbuilt track lacing the sky. I'd travel all over just to ride their new machines. Then they came up with a totally new concept. They called it... the Dive Machine. It premiered at Alton Towers, in England, as Oblivion. Giant 8-wide, 16 passenger vehicles plunge down a 90 degree drop 60 metres below Earth. It's insane.

Busch Gardens, thankfully, decided, that they wanted some o' dat. And so, they built Sheikra.

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Sheikra stands an impressive 65 m and includes 2 vertical drops.

Sheikra... was beyond anything I expected. It was just indescribable bliss. Classic B+M - glass smooth, silky transitions, engineering perfection. Everything just works. To even go back and look at anything by another manufacturer is almost insulting and painful. So why didn't I take more photos of these 3 machines? Well, we were too busy riding them. :) With very light crowds, we didn't stop very often at all to try and take any photos. Shamu Bars, Kumba, Montu, Sheikra.... does it get any better than this??

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Free beers at Busch Gardens! Let's get hammered at 10:30 am!!

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As you can clearly see in this shot of Montu's loading platform, the park was packed.

As the evening rolled around, guests who were staying for the evening's Haloween events were cordoned off in the centre of the park, while the rest of the people that were there ushered out of the park as it closed in preparations for the night event. After a fulfilling feast (thanks Dave!) we were let out into the park to go through the park's haunted houses and areas!

Busch Gardens did something I'd never seen at any other park before, and the effect was incredible. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but... as you go through these things you're in a long train of people, basically - and people and stuff jumps out at you as you go through the scenes. Dave and I were going along, and suddenly there was this lady behind us, we didn't really think much of it. Suddenly, she SCREAMS, and is captured through the walls, backward!! We did that house again to see what was going on - an actress quietly joins the train of people, nobody notices because it's so dark, and then she gets pulled backward through a tiny hole in the wall!! Crazy!! Scared people so bad every time. :)

We caught a few more night rides on Montu and Kumba. They were probably the most incredible coaster rides I have ever had in my life. Those two rides were running so, so incredibly well, so smooth, so fast... the weather was perfect (though it was getting a bit cloudy). We saw the crowds were really pouring into the parking lot and decided that, we were getting pretty tired and it might be time to head home. The park though was open until 2am! I think we stayed until about midnight, but still got everything done we wanted to do.

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As the evening rolled in, the Haloween events started.

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Sheikra at night, dotted with white lights, like a glorious constellation.

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Base of Sheikra's first drop.

What an incredible day. Totally fantastic way to wrap up our trip to the parks.

-Iain

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Dude.. Iain, I went to Busch Gardens on Tuesday. I've never seen the park so empty... there were more employees than guests in the park. Amazing day. We were re-riding Sheikra without getting off... ON THE FRONT ROW. Which free beer are ya sipping on? I've become a bit partial to the Beach Bum AleI adore Busch Gardens... I just hate everything else about Tampa :)If you want, I'll search for a pair of Size 14 Heelys for you next time I am on International Drive.

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Dude.. Iain, I went to Busch Gardens on Tuesday. I've never seen the park so empty... there were more employees than guests in the park. Amazing day. We were re-riding Sheikra without getting off... ON THE FRONT ROW. Which free beer are ya sipping on? I've become a bit partial to the Beach Bum Ale

Argh, the pain!! You're so lucky. :) When I was there in 2001, it was like that. I ran into my friend Sean from Ohio randomly on Montu, too! So bizzaire.We both tried the pumpkin flavoured beer - which, for the record, was terrible. But I'm not a big fan of beer anyway.

If you want, I'll search for a pair of Size 14 Heelys for you next time I am on International Drive.

No, don't worry about it. I'm done with "Heeling" - I'm just not coordinated enough at all to figure it out. Know anyone that wants a pair of 12's? :)-Iain

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Saturday morning, Dave and I packed up all our things and began the ardrurous task of loading everything into the smart. Dave's luggage at the begining of the trip had been transfered automatically by Disney staff from his other hotel (he was down earlier for a convention) - so this meant we had to fit all of his luggage plus mine into the tiny car.

That was quite a feat!

I don't think we possibly could have fit another single thing into the car. Dave had stuff piled up on his lap to the roof, I was sitting on my motorbike boots, it was just a mess. But we made it. :) After I dropped him off, I stupidly got on the wrong road, and ended up wasting probably an hour driving the wrong way toward I-4! :( That was no fun at all!

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Headin' er home.

The winds that weekend driving home were so insane. It was a fight the whole way. But the scenery... oh, the scenery. What a beautiful drive. I stopped in Morgantown in hopes that I would sneak a quick ride on the PRT, but alas, it was closed. Drat and blast!

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Horray, only 17 more hours to go. That's awesome.

I rolled over 70 000 km at some point in the mountains. Which is where I stopped for the evening on the first night. A crazy woman in a Prius with a large dog I think was hitting on me at the motel!

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Nooooooo!! :(

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The drive down and back was worth it alone. Here's a lil'

of driving through the mountains of West Virginia.

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Home stretch - 403 in Ontario.

So let's recap:

* Soarin', Test Track and SheikraKumbaMontu are the greatest things on earth

* Walt Disney World operates the sickest monorail evah

* smart fortwos garner automotive interest in the USA

Distance Traveled: 4 750 km

Cost: ~$150 CAD

Average Fuel Consumption: 4.5 L/100 km

Thanks for readin'. Hope you guys enjoyed it!

-Iain

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It certainly was enjoyable reading about your trip. $150.00 for fuel? You're going to make vacation air travel obsolete. :)

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