Category: USA2014

It’s a lot better now…. maybe it just needed to settle down a bit. I visited the dentist this arvo who is fitting me with a “night splint” (lower jaw mouth guard) that prevents me from grinding my teeth – which she says was the likely culprit.

They hadn’t seen me for 4 weeks. Theo had been looking after them so I got him to record my entry….

When Ellie was organising this trip, I decided to return slightly earlier than the girls as I had already “done” DisneyWorld a while ago, and roller-coasters weren’t really my “thang”. After the motion sickness, I’m VERY glad I didn’t stay longer otherwise it would have been a big waste.

So, this was my last day. The kids rushed out the door for Disney – Animal Kingdom I think – leaving me to mooch around, do some blogging, and work out how we were not going to exceed our baggage weight limit. We were going to have to get Anne to post some stuff back for us.

We were staying in Disney’s Port Orleans Resort. At check-in, you get a wrist band (with RFID embedded), that is your room-key, credit card, ride entry, etc. for use throughout the parks. Quite high-tech.

I left at about 2:30 to catch the Disney shuttle to the airport for my 6pm departure. I was a little unsure why I had to leave so early, but the bus was late and it visited 5 other hotels en-route…. it took 1.5 hours to get to the airport. Add security, immigration, etc. and I had consumed much of my lead time – I wasn’t waiting long before we pushed back.

Some 25 hours later and Theo greeted me in the Perth domestic terminal – home at last. It was a great holiday, but I was looking forward to a shower with good pressure, a shave, sleep, bland non-restaurant food, and a bike ride.

Today we boarded a bus to Cape Canavarel and the Kennedy Space Center. Back in 1999 when I was in Austin Texas for a month I made the trip to the Johnson Center in Houston. I thoroughly enjoyed that and have been wanting to get to Kennedy ever since.

We met Anne & Bob in the carpark.

Continue reading “Day 26 – Kennedy Space Center”

I still have about 4 days of posts to complete. I’m almost there but the Hard Rock are a bit stingy with their wifi.

However, rather than wait to finish them first, I figured I’d post some observations while I sit waiting for the kids to come out of The Mumny for about the 23rd time.

So, after 2.5 days in theme parks:
– these theme parks are a lot of fun for most;
– Universal and Disney spare nothing when it comes to detail. After all, the more authentic it is, the more people will want to come, stay at their hotels, & buy their merchandise.
– it is sensory overload: sights, smells, motion, & noise – oh the non-stop noise!
– there’s a very surprising number of people using gopher carts across the age groups. Not sure why, but I doubt our own parents would do a theme park in one. They’d rather die first.
– a lot of parents and grandparents line the streets parking themselves on any chair/seat/wall they can find. Some of them have been there for hours & many are very grumpy… they should have a) left a long time ago, or b) never come in the first place. They on their phones like me. D’oh!

This is the second Universal Park located right next to the other one visited yesterday… about an extra 10 minutes walk away from the hotel.

No chances taken today – I performed the role of navigator, courier, & financier. In between I wandered about and just looked. I did actually wake this morning still bit feeling terribly well – I’m now thinking I might have a little bug.

The 2 children hit it running. An early retreat on my part left them to do as they please without concern for my well-being. First stop was Gringots in the first park from yesterday (cos they open earlier then the Islands of Adventure) so the kids could hit the ride again.

Continue reading “Day 25 – Universal’s Islands of Adventure”

We headed to the Universal Studios park from the hotel only a 10 minute walk away. Then on to the Harry Potter ride. Carrying a bag & phones we needed to find a locker, but all were taken. We were beaten by the other 1 hours worth of muggles. So instead we headed to the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster. We’d go back later.

Big mistake.

The roller coaster pretty much set me on edge for the rest of the day, given my poor showing at EPCOT the previous day. While I suffer from sea-sickness (a real burley generator) I haven’t experienced motion sickness since before the kids were born. So, the last 2 days have been a bit of a shock.

The biggest problem was that both Grace & Ellie are roller-coaster junkies – obviously they don’t suffer. We then moved on to Revenge of the Mummy, Transformers 3D, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, and Terminator 2 3D. All just adding to my grief. Even a cute little Nemo ride targeting 10 year olds didn’t agree with me.

Continue reading “Day 24 – Universal Studios”

On advice from the hotel, we jumped in a taxi early to get to Newark Airport just in case we experienced bad traffic. So, we ended up with a 2.5 hour wait in the departure lounge – very annoying. When we checked in the airline scales said we were over. They wanted $100/lb for excess baggage! So, we jettisoned some things like washing power, and a few other items, moved others to hand luggage (!), and tried again – this time at a different set of scales. We were under by about 8 lbs, so I reckon the scales were wrong.

We landed in Orlando at about 2:15 in the arvo and stood there for over an hour waiting for our luggage:

We finally got to the Hard Rock Hotel late in the day, dumped our bags, quick change, and jumped in a taxi to EPCOT. Ellie had organised this half-day visit mostly for me (cos I’m into science [TBBT joke]).

Continue reading “Day 23 – New York to Orlando”

This was our final show for the trip – and it was excellent. It was billed with Emma Stone as the “star”, but she didn’t really have a big part to play. She can sing well enough, but the real star of the show was Alan Cumming (Golden Eye, The Good Wife, Burlesque) playing the role of a rather bisexual Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Club in 1930s Berlin. I didn’t realise how risqué it would be, but it didn’t seem to faze Gracie. Unlike the other shows that were in a regular theatre, this was laid out like a cabaret lounge – ie. we had a table, drinks and nibbles (not cheap!), etc.

Well, it’s clear that 7 days in New York just ain’t enough. 2-3 weeks world probably be the right figure.

We tried to start early. The girls get a little pissed when I go from under the sheets to walking out the door in less than 10 mins. What point is makeup, eyebrows, & hair-dos when you’re rugged up like the Michelin Man anyway?

Washington Square Park (another Glee location):

A fantastic but freezing cold walk over the Brooklyn Bridge: Continue reading “Day 22 – Last day in New York”