I honestly can't even begin to process the fact that it's the 31st of December already. RIDICULOUS. Anyway, instead of doing my usual year in review post with a million links to a million posts that no one will actually bother to click through to, I figured that I'd do this year's wrap up in vlog form.
Happy New Year, y'all. I'll catch you in 2014!!
K xx
Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Actual longest day ever
Previously, Lor and I discovered that our version of crack is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
The following morning, we were up stupidly early on account of Lor had to drive back to South Florida, and I had a flight to Phoenix at noon. We had breakfast at IHOP, because OBVIOUSLY. Also, it was two doors from the motel. We didn't meet any deranged billionaires there though, which was more than a little lucky. Instead, there were just chocolate chip pancakes, syrup, and a small amount of regret because OH GOD SO MUCH SUGAR.
After breakfast, Lor dropped me off at the airport. I headed inside with a secret hope that I'd be able to get on a different flight to Phoenix, because I was leaving Orlando at noon and wasn't due to arrive into Phoenix until 9pm. Eleven hours of travel. Sadly, I was informed that there were no alternate flights. AND that I was stuck with middle seats for all three of my flights.
Obviously, I was thrilled with this.
The flight from Orlando to Cleveland(!!) was uneventful and relatively short - just over two hours. I was only meant to have an hour or so in Cleveland, so I ran off the plane and went in search of food. A chicken panini and some abuse of the free wifi later, I had every intention of making a John Green style vlog in the airport. I was defeated by a total lack of spaces in which to record, and generally feeling a little weird about doing so. I mean, I'd already taken photos of a plastic velociraptor in the airport. That was weirdness enough...
Eventually, I boarded my flight to Chicago. They closed the door, the plane pushed back, we made it to the top of the runway, and...we stopped. Five minutes later, it was announced that O'Hare had been closed due to bad weather, but that they were hoping it would only be a 15 minute delay. Half an hour later, we headed back to the terminal. And then sat for 20 minutes waiting for a gate to open up... When we finally got off the plane, a queue formed immediately to change flights. Of course, I got to the front of the line the second they started reboarding the plane. But it didn't really matter, because I was going to be on the same plane all the way to Phoenix.
So we reboarded, several hours after we were supposed to have left, and the minute they closed the last door, they announced that we'd have to undergo deicing, and that they'd need to turn the air circulation system off so that we didn't all die of deicing fume poisoning. Or something... It took them another 15 minutes or so to get around to our plane, then about 20 minutes to actually deice the plane. The one highlight was that the woman in the seat next to me had changed her flight, so I was able to sit NOT in the middle. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
The flight to Chicago was uneventful in the end, although by the time we arrived I was pretty exhausted. And hungry. And sadly lacking in books. Thankfully, there was a news stand thing opposite the gate, so I was able to procure a new book easily enough. Food, however, was a different story. The only place that was a) selling food and b) still open was a Starbucks. And considering it was like 10pm, their selections were rather limited...
Starbucks Employee: Hi, how are you?
Me: I've been better. Can I get a toasted bagel with cream cheese?
S.E.: Sure!
Me: Great.
S.E.: Oh wait. We don't have a toaster.
Me: *sigh* That's fine.
S.E.: And we've run out of cream cheese.
Me: Do you have anything else that I could spread on a bagel?
S.E.: Nope.
Me: Of course you don't...
And that's the story of how I ended up eating a stale, untoasted plain bagel for dinner. Upon boarding the flight to Phoenix - which was the longest yet at over FOUR HOURS thanks to stupid weather - I discovered that I was sitting between a broad shouldered businessman and a morbidly obese man. Said morbidly obese man announced that he was sorry I had to sit next to him, but that he flew all the time and had techniques in place to make sure he didn't get all up in my space. He then pulled out a long piece of elastic, looped it around his left arm, and attached the other end to the arm rest on his right hand side.
It was thoughtful(??), but a little weird. And I can't imagine it was comfortable. The broad shouldered businessman promptly fell asleep and snored all the way to Phoenix, while I alternated between reading the book I'd bought at the airport and watching the marathon of Buffy season 7 that happened to randomly be showing on the TV in the seatback.
Eventually, over SIXTEEN HOURS AFTER I LEFT ORLANDO, I arrived in Phoenix. Even though it was 1am - FOUR hours after I was meant to arrive - my bloggy BFF Gina met me at the airport. In her PJs, because OBVIOUSLY. It was 1am, yo. And because she's the bestest, she swung through McDonald's on the way to her place so that I didn't starve to death in the (remainder of the) middle of the night. In short, bloggy friends are the bestest friends.
And then I pretty much passed out forever.
Next up, Gina's kids are HILAR. Also, singalong Les Miserables and a trip to Outback.
K xx
The following morning, we were up stupidly early on account of Lor had to drive back to South Florida, and I had a flight to Phoenix at noon. We had breakfast at IHOP, because OBVIOUSLY. Also, it was two doors from the motel. We didn't meet any deranged billionaires there though, which was more than a little lucky. Instead, there were just chocolate chip pancakes, syrup, and a small amount of regret because OH GOD SO MUCH SUGAR.
After breakfast, Lor dropped me off at the airport. I headed inside with a secret hope that I'd be able to get on a different flight to Phoenix, because I was leaving Orlando at noon and wasn't due to arrive into Phoenix until 9pm. Eleven hours of travel. Sadly, I was informed that there were no alternate flights. AND that I was stuck with middle seats for all three of my flights.
Obviously, I was thrilled with this.
The flight from Orlando to Cleveland(!!) was uneventful and relatively short - just over two hours. I was only meant to have an hour or so in Cleveland, so I ran off the plane and went in search of food. A chicken panini and some abuse of the free wifi later, I had every intention of making a John Green style vlog in the airport. I was defeated by a total lack of spaces in which to record, and generally feeling a little weird about doing so. I mean, I'd already taken photos of a plastic velociraptor in the airport. That was weirdness enough...
 |
| She didn't approve of the snow. |
Eventually, I boarded my flight to Chicago. They closed the door, the plane pushed back, we made it to the top of the runway, and...we stopped. Five minutes later, it was announced that O'Hare had been closed due to bad weather, but that they were hoping it would only be a 15 minute delay. Half an hour later, we headed back to the terminal. And then sat for 20 minutes waiting for a gate to open up... When we finally got off the plane, a queue formed immediately to change flights. Of course, I got to the front of the line the second they started reboarding the plane. But it didn't really matter, because I was going to be on the same plane all the way to Phoenix.
So we reboarded, several hours after we were supposed to have left, and the minute they closed the last door, they announced that we'd have to undergo deicing, and that they'd need to turn the air circulation system off so that we didn't all die of deicing fume poisoning. Or something... It took them another 15 minutes or so to get around to our plane, then about 20 minutes to actually deice the plane. The one highlight was that the woman in the seat next to me had changed her flight, so I was able to sit NOT in the middle. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
The flight to Chicago was uneventful in the end, although by the time we arrived I was pretty exhausted. And hungry. And sadly lacking in books. Thankfully, there was a news stand thing opposite the gate, so I was able to procure a new book easily enough. Food, however, was a different story. The only place that was a) selling food and b) still open was a Starbucks. And considering it was like 10pm, their selections were rather limited...
Starbucks Employee: Hi, how are you?
Me: I've been better. Can I get a toasted bagel with cream cheese?
S.E.: Sure!
Me: Great.
S.E.: Oh wait. We don't have a toaster.
Me: *sigh* That's fine.
S.E.: And we've run out of cream cheese.
Me: Do you have anything else that I could spread on a bagel?
S.E.: Nope.
Me: Of course you don't...
And that's the story of how I ended up eating a stale, untoasted plain bagel for dinner. Upon boarding the flight to Phoenix - which was the longest yet at over FOUR HOURS thanks to stupid weather - I discovered that I was sitting between a broad shouldered businessman and a morbidly obese man. Said morbidly obese man announced that he was sorry I had to sit next to him, but that he flew all the time and had techniques in place to make sure he didn't get all up in my space. He then pulled out a long piece of elastic, looped it around his left arm, and attached the other end to the arm rest on his right hand side.
 |
| Like this, but he had the window seat... Also, source. |
It was thoughtful(??), but a little weird. And I can't imagine it was comfortable. The broad shouldered businessman promptly fell asleep and snored all the way to Phoenix, while I alternated between reading the book I'd bought at the airport and watching the marathon of Buffy season 7 that happened to randomly be showing on the TV in the seatback.
Eventually, over SIXTEEN HOURS AFTER I LEFT ORLANDO, I arrived in Phoenix. Even though it was 1am - FOUR hours after I was meant to arrive - my bloggy BFF Gina met me at the airport. In her PJs, because OBVIOUSLY. It was 1am, yo. And because she's the bestest, she swung through McDonald's on the way to her place so that I didn't starve to death in the (remainder of the) middle of the night. In short, bloggy friends are the bestest friends.
And then I pretty much passed out forever.
Next up, Gina's kids are HILAR. Also, singalong Les Miserables and a trip to Outback.
K xx
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Thunder Mountain junkies
Iiiiiiiiiiit's time for another exciting installment of Kirsti Tells You About Her Trip to the US Four Months After It Happened. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!
Previously: velociraptors, Downtown Disney, and Jeremy Renner.
Bright and early the following day, Alice and Emmy came to pick us up from our motel, and we headed to Disney World. Now, the last time I went to a Disney park was in 1989, and I was *just* old enough to have worked out that there were PEOPLE inside the costumes. So I spent about half the day completely terrified because OH GOD PEOPLE LEGS AND CARTOON BODIES AND I'M BEING ENCOURAGED TO HUG STRANGERS DO NOT WANT. See?
That's the only photo of me with a character. Also, please marvel at my dad's stunning acid wash jeans. And my general toothlessness. And the many bumbags in the photo...
ANYWAY. We made it to Disneyworld and Lor and I started judging other people's outfits pretty much the minute we hit the car park. Because we're super nice like that. Eventually, we made it into the park - we'd decided to just do The Magic Kingdom - and headed up Main Street USA:
We headed pretty quickly over to Tomorrowland and headed into Stitch's Great Escape because there was no line. That wasn't all that exciting, and once it finished we jumped in the queue for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. The queue moved pretty quickly, and soon enough it was our turn. But shortly thereafter, the ride stopped. And the place where the cart thing that Lor and I were in stopped right next to a laser point. So I quietly sat there hitting the trigger on my laser gun and giggling to myself as my score increased. After a minute, Lor noticed my score going up, and was like "HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT NOT FAIR". The answer? "Taking advantage of the situation".
Mwahahahahahaha!!
From there, we foolishly decided to ride the Carousel of Progress, which was hilariously awful and which we snarked our way through because OBVIOUSLY. Snarking is what we do best. By that time, we were all pretty hungry (Lor and I had Pringles and fudge for breakfast), but in our search for a restaurant we found the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. And we figured it was best to ride that BEFORE we ate rather than after. Somehow, we managed to cram all four of us into one teacup, which caused rather insane levels of spinning. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
After lunch, we headed up past the new section of Fantasyland (it was too crowded to actually visit) and ended up in the queue for Peter Pan's Flight. For some inexplicable reason, the queue took over AN HOUR AND A HALF, and by around half an hour in, Lor and I were into the giggly stage of "I have been standing in this queue for too long". So when we spotted a woman in the next row of the queue wearing a full body jumpsuit that was lemon yellow with grey and pink chevron patterns and bright orange running shoes, it was all over. We broke into hysterical giggles any time we passed this poor woman and her insane outfit. After that, the ride itself was something of a let down.
Our next stop was It's a Small World because apparently we're masochists. And you guys have probably already seen the results of our ride through that... After that, we stopped for Mickey Mouse shaped ice creams and a trip through the Haunted Mansion, then into Frontierland. Lor and I got express tickets for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which Emmy and Alice didn't want to ride, and then the four of us headed over to ride Pirates of the Caribbean while we waited. The movie-ification of the ride would probably disappoint those who are Disney classicists, but pfff. Captain Jack Sparrow is awesome, and I don't think they could really NOT include him after the success of the movies.
Then we rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, because apparently we're seven years old, and got pineapple Dole Whip, because OBVIOUSLY. Clever Girl enjoyed it rather a lot.
Once we'd finished our enormous ice creams, we split up: Lor and I headed towards Thunder Mountain, while Alice and Emmy headed back to Main Street to go and visit the princesses, with an arrangement to meet up in an hour and see the fireworks. We had a total blast on Thunder Mountain, so much so that when we got off and the wait time was only 10 minutes, we jumped straight back in the line again. We had just as much fun the second time around. We still had some time to spare before we met the girls, so on our way over there we jumped on the teacups and recorded some ridiculous video footage, because OBVIOUSLY.
Alice and Emmy had snagged a prime spot from which to see the fireworks, although I will admit that I saw a decent chunk of it through my camera...
Once the fireworks were done, we headed over to Main Street to grab a spot for the parade. Except that just after we found a prime spot, the security guards came through and ushered everyone back from the curb and into a much smaller area. So we grabbed a bite to eat from a nearby snack place (I'm pretty sure I had a bucket of chips), and then discussed what we were going to do. Emmy and Alice wanted to see the parade, while Lor and I had the following conversation:
Me: So...
Lor: So......
Me: Thunder Mountain?
Lor: SO. MUCH. YES.
So we raced back there and rode our favourite ride all over again, giggling hysterically throughout. The view over the park was rather spectacular, I must say.
Then we wandered back towards Main Street past the parade, which was kind of insane in parts:
And then we met the girls by the entrance to the Magic Kingdom and made our very weary way back to the car, then to the motel where Lor and I bid Alice and Emmy a reluctant farewell. And then proceeded to rearrange the furniture in our room so that we could vlog even though it was after midnight, because OBVIOUSLY.
Next up, the longest flight from Orlando to Phoenix of EVER.
K xx
Previously: velociraptors, Downtown Disney, and Jeremy Renner.
Bright and early the following day, Alice and Emmy came to pick us up from our motel, and we headed to Disney World. Now, the last time I went to a Disney park was in 1989, and I was *just* old enough to have worked out that there were PEOPLE inside the costumes. So I spent about half the day completely terrified because OH GOD PEOPLE LEGS AND CARTOON BODIES AND I'M BEING ENCOURAGED TO HUG STRANGERS DO NOT WANT. See?
That's the only photo of me with a character. Also, please marvel at my dad's stunning acid wash jeans. And my general toothlessness. And the many bumbags in the photo...
ANYWAY. We made it to Disneyworld and Lor and I started judging other people's outfits pretty much the minute we hit the car park. Because we're super nice like that. Eventually, we made it into the park - we'd decided to just do The Magic Kingdom - and headed up Main Street USA:
We headed pretty quickly over to Tomorrowland and headed into Stitch's Great Escape because there was no line. That wasn't all that exciting, and once it finished we jumped in the queue for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. The queue moved pretty quickly, and soon enough it was our turn. But shortly thereafter, the ride stopped. And the place where the cart thing that Lor and I were in stopped right next to a laser point. So I quietly sat there hitting the trigger on my laser gun and giggling to myself as my score increased. After a minute, Lor noticed my score going up, and was like "HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT NOT FAIR". The answer? "Taking advantage of the situation".
 |
| Our final scores. |
Mwahahahahahaha!!
From there, we foolishly decided to ride the Carousel of Progress, which was hilariously awful and which we snarked our way through because OBVIOUSLY. Snarking is what we do best. By that time, we were all pretty hungry (Lor and I had Pringles and fudge for breakfast), but in our search for a restaurant we found the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. And we figured it was best to ride that BEFORE we ate rather than after. Somehow, we managed to cram all four of us into one teacup, which caused rather insane levels of spinning. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
After lunch, we headed up past the new section of Fantasyland (it was too crowded to actually visit) and ended up in the queue for Peter Pan's Flight. For some inexplicable reason, the queue took over AN HOUR AND A HALF, and by around half an hour in, Lor and I were into the giggly stage of "I have been standing in this queue for too long". So when we spotted a woman in the next row of the queue wearing a full body jumpsuit that was lemon yellow with grey and pink chevron patterns and bright orange running shoes, it was all over. We broke into hysterical giggles any time we passed this poor woman and her insane outfit. After that, the ride itself was something of a let down.
Our next stop was It's a Small World because apparently we're masochists. And you guys have probably already seen the results of our ride through that... After that, we stopped for Mickey Mouse shaped ice creams and a trip through the Haunted Mansion, then into Frontierland. Lor and I got express tickets for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which Emmy and Alice didn't want to ride, and then the four of us headed over to ride Pirates of the Caribbean while we waited. The movie-ification of the ride would probably disappoint those who are Disney classicists, but pfff. Captain Jack Sparrow is awesome, and I don't think they could really NOT include him after the success of the movies.
Then we rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, because apparently we're seven years old, and got pineapple Dole Whip, because OBVIOUSLY. Clever Girl enjoyed it rather a lot.
Once we'd finished our enormous ice creams, we split up: Lor and I headed towards Thunder Mountain, while Alice and Emmy headed back to Main Street to go and visit the princesses, with an arrangement to meet up in an hour and see the fireworks. We had a total blast on Thunder Mountain, so much so that when we got off and the wait time was only 10 minutes, we jumped straight back in the line again. We had just as much fun the second time around. We still had some time to spare before we met the girls, so on our way over there we jumped on the teacups and recorded some ridiculous video footage, because OBVIOUSLY.
Alice and Emmy had snagged a prime spot from which to see the fireworks, although I will admit that I saw a decent chunk of it through my camera...
Once the fireworks were done, we headed over to Main Street to grab a spot for the parade. Except that just after we found a prime spot, the security guards came through and ushered everyone back from the curb and into a much smaller area. So we grabbed a bite to eat from a nearby snack place (I'm pretty sure I had a bucket of chips), and then discussed what we were going to do. Emmy and Alice wanted to see the parade, while Lor and I had the following conversation:
Me: So...
Lor: So......
Me: Thunder Mountain?
Lor: SO. MUCH. YES.
So we raced back there and rode our favourite ride all over again, giggling hysterically throughout. The view over the park was rather spectacular, I must say.
Then we wandered back towards Main Street past the parade, which was kind of insane in parts:
And then we met the girls by the entrance to the Magic Kingdom and made our very weary way back to the car, then to the motel where Lor and I bid Alice and Emmy a reluctant farewell. And then proceeded to rearrange the furniture in our room so that we could vlog even though it was after midnight, because OBVIOUSLY.
Next up, the longest flight from Orlando to Phoenix of EVER.
K xx
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Bloggy friends are the bestest friends
Whoops. It appears that I've been slacking off on blogging about my trip to the US. You know, the one I went on in JANUARY... #fail
Previously, HOGWARTS.
The day after the great Hogwarts expedition of 2013, Lor and I headed out to meet Emmy at a Starbucks somewhere near downtown Orlando. The three of us had absolutely no idea what to do that day - we spent some time abusing the free wifi at Starbucks looking up non-theme park related things to do in Orlando, but didn't come to any decisions. In the end, our lack of decisiveness was getting ridiculous, and time was rapidly ticking past. There was only one solution - send a text message to Gina:
Me: Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinaaaaaaaa. We don't know what to do today...
Gina: *immediately sends four responses each filled with well thought out suggestions even though it's barely 7am*
ACTUAL BEST.
Anyway, we ended up going to Downtown Disney. We wandered around some of the Disney themed shops, then bought some fudge because OBVIOUSLY. Somewhere along the way, we stumbled across a shop that sold nothing but dinosaur related stuff. It's possible that I Kermit flailed when I discovered that they had plastic velociraptors. And so it came to pass that Clever Girl joined our intrepid trio:
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
We wandered through the Lego shop:
And then an enormous Disney Store, which included all kinds of complete insanity. We took advantage of the free wifi to tweet/Facebook a bunch of pictures:
After a while, we decided we were hungry, and that we should eat at the Rainforest Cafe because of reasons that now escape me. We ended up sitting at the bar on ridiculously high stools that had animal tails, which was kind of weird. On the plus side, RASPBERRY DAIQUIRI:
Yup. Lunch at the Rainforest Cafe requires booze.
After lunch, we wandered around some more, and then stumbled across a movie theatre. By a happy coincidence, a screening of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was about to start. I'm pretty sure my realisation of that went something like this:
Me: OHMIGOD JEREMY RENNER CAN WE PLEASE GO AND SEE JEREMY RENNER PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE??????
Emmy: I guess so?
Lor: Eh. Why not?
Me: YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY OHMIGOD I HAVE TO EMAIL KIM SHE'LL BE SO JEALOUS.
Yup. That pretty much happened.
I can't speak for the others, but I thought the movie was awesome. And not just because of Jeremy Renner. Sooner or later, I'll rewatch it and probably do a Movie Monday post on it. Because of reasons.
After the movie, we still had an hour or two to spare before we had to be at Alice's for dinner, so we headed back to the hotel, watched the previous day's installment of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and then sat watching Maury for an hour because that's what happens when you ask me to find something to watch on American television.
We ended up leaving a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle later than we'd planned because.......well, we needed to know, dammit!
And of course then when we finally did get on the road and heading Alice's, there turned out to be a massive car accident on the freeway and instead of taking us like 20 minutes to get there, it took us the better part of an hour. Poor Alice, meanwhile, was slaving over a hot stove making us an incredible dinner as we texted her from the car, promising that we WERE in fact on our way.
Previously, HOGWARTS.
The day after the great Hogwarts expedition of 2013, Lor and I headed out to meet Emmy at a Starbucks somewhere near downtown Orlando. The three of us had absolutely no idea what to do that day - we spent some time abusing the free wifi at Starbucks looking up non-theme park related things to do in Orlando, but didn't come to any decisions. In the end, our lack of decisiveness was getting ridiculous, and time was rapidly ticking past. There was only one solution - send a text message to Gina:
Me: Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinaaaaaaaa. We don't know what to do today...
Gina: *immediately sends four responses each filled with well thought out suggestions even though it's barely 7am*
ACTUAL BEST.
Anyway, we ended up going to Downtown Disney. We wandered around some of the Disney themed shops, then bought some fudge because OBVIOUSLY. Somewhere along the way, we stumbled across a shop that sold nothing but dinosaur related stuff. It's possible that I Kermit flailed when I discovered that they had plastic velociraptors. And so it came to pass that Clever Girl joined our intrepid trio:
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
We wandered through the Lego shop:
And then an enormous Disney Store, which included all kinds of complete insanity. We took advantage of the free wifi to tweet/Facebook a bunch of pictures:
 |
| Pregnant looking Ariel |
 |
| Ho suspension Tink |
 |
| Apparently in his spare time, Voldemort dresses up as Cinderella |
After a while, we decided we were hungry, and that we should eat at the Rainforest Cafe because of reasons that now escape me. We ended up sitting at the bar on ridiculously high stools that had animal tails, which was kind of weird. On the plus side, RASPBERRY DAIQUIRI:
Yup. Lunch at the Rainforest Cafe requires booze.
After lunch, we wandered around some more, and then stumbled across a movie theatre. By a happy coincidence, a screening of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was about to start. I'm pretty sure my realisation of that went something like this:
Me: OHMIGOD JEREMY RENNER CAN WE PLEASE GO AND SEE JEREMY RENNER PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE??????
Emmy: I guess so?
Lor: Eh. Why not?
Me: YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY OHMIGOD I HAVE TO EMAIL KIM SHE'LL BE SO JEALOUS.
Yup. That pretty much happened.
I can't speak for the others, but I thought the movie was awesome. And not just because of Jeremy Renner. Sooner or later, I'll rewatch it and probably do a Movie Monday post on it. Because of reasons.
After the movie, we still had an hour or two to spare before we had to be at Alice's for dinner, so we headed back to the hotel, watched the previous day's installment of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and then sat watching Maury for an hour because that's what happens when you ask me to find something to watch on American television.
We ended up leaving a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle later than we'd planned because.......well, we needed to know, dammit!
 |
| Yeah. That. |
Eventually, we got there and had an amazing evening of good food, good company, a little cider, and so much giggling that Alice's neighbours probably thought we were bonkers. I also turned up with a bag of dirty laundry - literally - and was all "OH HAI, BLOGGY FRIEND. Thanks for cooking me dinner! Can I use your washing machine?" Yup. That happened.
Several hours later, our stomachs hurt from laughing and it was getting stupidly late, so Lor and I headed back to the hotel with a couple of "Whoops, we ignored the GPS and are now going totally the wrong way" detours because we were too busy giggling about everything that had happened that day.
Next up, Disneyworld and everything that happened.
K xx
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home
Previously: manatees, tacky souvenirs and why you shouldn't drink while taking cold and flu tablets.
When Wizarding World of Harry Potter first opened back in 2010, Sara was in Australia. And we spent a rather terrifying amount of time wishing that we could go and generally moping about the fact that we lived far away from Florida. Somewhere along the way, we started joking that we should meet there in between our 30th birthdays because AWESOME. And then with me going on the study tour in January, we were able to actually make it happen. And OH MY GOD, IT WAS FREAKING SPECTACULAR.
So Wednesday ended with us having dinner with Alice and Emily. Thursday started with Lor's arrival, which led to much squealing and flailing and hugging. Once we'd finished bouncing around like lunatics, we all piled into the car and drove to Universal's Islands of Adventure and promptly recommenced bouncing around like lunatics.
 |
| Pretty much like this. |
We headed straight to Wizarding World of Harry Potter, because OBVIOUSLY, and when we walked through the gate and into Hogsmeade I literally started bouncing up and down and squealing with excitement. Because it's freaking PERFECT, you guys. See?
We wandered around for a few minutes, just taking everything in, and noting that the Dragon Challenge was closed. To be honest, I was a little relieved, because Kirsti + upside down rollercoasters = NOPE. We then realised that the wait for The Forbidden Journey was only 40 minutes, so we immediately jumped in the queue. And let me just say, it was the most fun I've EVER had in a queue. Because the queue takes you through Hogwarts, and there are all kinds of props from the movie and interactions with the characters and it's just generally really freaking brilliant, okay?
 |
| Dumbledore's office |
 |
| Talking portraits |
 |
| Dumbeldore's study, complete with Dumbledore |
 |
| Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, complete with Golden Trio |
 |
| The entrance to the Gryffindor common room |
 |
| The Sorting Hat |
The ride itself? Was kind of amazing. I'm an ENORMOUS wimp when it comes to roller coasters. But this? Is equal parts roller coaster and simulator. So while I was nervous when it first started, I was grinning like an idiot by the end (although I will admit, I may have uttered a small scream when Aragog spat at me...). If I remember correctly, we got straight back on and rode it again. Although given that it was almost three months ago now, I might just be making stuff up...
Once we'd had our fill of Filch's Emporium (I MAY have purchased a Hogwarts crest Christmas decoration...), we headed over to the Flight of the Hippogriff. The wait time on that one was over an hour, and wasn't NEARLY as interesting as the queue through Hogwarts. Especially when the ride itself lasted about a minute... (In contrast, the Forbidden Journey is 5 minutes) So that was a little disappointing, but still fun.
After that, we were all starving, so headed over to the Three Broomsticks for a spot of lunch. I ordered the Cornish pastie, and was confusingly presented with three beef empanadas. Nice try, America. But NO. Lor, Emmy and I also had butterbeer, which was insanely sweet but also incredibly delicious. Sara had pumpkin juice, which mostly just tasted of cinnamon and nutmeg.
 |
| Stolen shamelessly from Emmy's FB page. |
After lunch, we headed out to explore the rest of the park. Somehow, this turned into "Let's go to Marvel Superhero Island". We all rode the Spiderman ride a couple of times (it's pretty great), and Sara and Julia rode the Hulk rollercoaster while Emmy, Lor and I waved from the ground.
Then we wandered through the other islands, without partaking in any of the rides. It was too cold for the water ones, which was a shame because you guys know how I loves me some velociraptors. We briefly considered the rides in Toon Lagoon and Seuss Landing before deciding that it was better to spend our time back in Hogsmeade. We hit the Forbidden Journey again before going through all the shops. I think my favourite was Honeydukes, where I bought the rather obligatory chocolate frog (I have yet to eat it because IT'S SO PRETTY I DON'T WANT TO OPEN IT) and a box of peppermint toads. We didn't get to go through Ollivander's, because there was a massive queue to get in the door, but we DID go through Zonko's and Dervish and Banges, both of which were pretty freaking awesome.
And then we headed back towards the car, with a little stop off at a shop in Seuss Landing where Lor and I bought cookies. Mine was raspberry and white chocolate, and was AMAZING.
And thus ended our day at Universal. It was quite possibly the best pre-30th birthday present EVER.
K xx
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Big grey blobby things and tacky magnets
Previously, I arrived in Florida, promptly developed a cold, and had the most epic milkshake of all time.
My second full day in Florida started once again with a buffet breakfast, followed by another long-ish drive accompanied by Orlando's one and only radio station, which once again played the same six songs over and over for the duration of the drive.
I'm pretty sure my cold and I took a nap to pass the time. The view on highways in central Florida leaves a lot to be desired in terms of entertainment value...
Anyway, we eventually arrived at our destination - Blue Spring State Park. And why were we there? To see manatees! The whole way there (in between napping, of course), I'd been bitching to Sara and Julia that "If we've driven all this way and I don't see a bloody manatee........". So of course, we arrived at the gate, and they had a board up telling you what the water temperature was and what the day's manatee count was.
What was the manatee count that particular day? NINETY ONE. Yup. Ninety one manatees. Obviously, I was pretty excited about the fact that I was pretty much definitely going to see a manatee. Aaaaaand the word 'manatee' no longer looks like a word. Well done, Kirsti...
Anyway, we parked the car and followed the signs to the hiking trail. Apparently America has a very different interpretation of hiking to the rest of the world, because said trail was a boardwalk, was perfectly flat, and took about ten minutes to complete. Still, the view was nice:
Plus, MANATEE:
Our first of the day! Although I think we were all more excited by this slightly ridiculous sign:
After staring at the manatee for a while, we wandered back in the direction we'd come and further down along the spring, where there turned out to be a ton more manatees, including babies. Sadly, the reflection on the water made it hard to take photos of them. For the most part, they were big and grey and blobby - about what you'd expect of manatees, really!
But rest assured, there were many more manatees, along with an enormous heron and a rather large alligator. And some Spanish moss, which I decided I quite liked:
Eventually, we reached the end of the path, which came with this delightful mosaic sculpture:
Isn't it pretty?? It's hard to tell from the picture, but all the mosaic pieces had a metallic finish. SUPER CLASSY.
Back in Orlando that evening, we decided to dedicate our time to finding the tackiest magnet humanly possible. You see, Sara and her brother-in-law have a competition where they buy tacky magnets from around the world for Sara's younger sister. And Sara was determined to win, by finding the ugliest magnet that International Drive had to offer. We failed to find any that night, but I DID discover this spectacular piece of ridiculousness:
Yep. Socks with Zac Efron's face on them. BECAUSE OF REASONS??
The following day, we headed down to Tampa to go to the zoo, which turned out to have all the usual stuff:
And the afternoon finished with finding a winner in the tacky magnet competition. Conveniently, it was at the tacky souvenir shop RIGHT NEXT TO OUR HOTEL. What's that? You want to see the winning tacky magnet? Well, if you insist:
The back shell was painted teal, there were strings of glue all over the place, the bear was just...random, the Florida label is slightly askew, and the whole thing was covered in a layer of dust. LOVELY.
That night, we headed across town to Rocco's Tacos to meet up with Alice and Emmy. And sadly, I don't remember a whole lot about dinner, because cold and flu tablets + margaritas = Kirsti fighting the urge to fall asleep on the table. Well done, Past Me. Well done.
Next up, the excited flailing reaches extreme levels when Lor arrives and we all head to Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
K xx
My second full day in Florida started once again with a buffet breakfast, followed by another long-ish drive accompanied by Orlando's one and only radio station, which once again played the same six songs over and over for the duration of the drive.
I'm pretty sure my cold and I took a nap to pass the time. The view on highways in central Florida leaves a lot to be desired in terms of entertainment value...
Anyway, we eventually arrived at our destination - Blue Spring State Park. And why were we there? To see manatees! The whole way there (in between napping, of course), I'd been bitching to Sara and Julia that "If we've driven all this way and I don't see a bloody manatee........". So of course, we arrived at the gate, and they had a board up telling you what the water temperature was and what the day's manatee count was.
What was the manatee count that particular day? NINETY ONE. Yup. Ninety one manatees. Obviously, I was pretty excited about the fact that I was pretty much definitely going to see a manatee. Aaaaaand the word 'manatee' no longer looks like a word. Well done, Kirsti...
Anyway, we parked the car and followed the signs to the hiking trail. Apparently America has a very different interpretation of hiking to the rest of the world, because said trail was a boardwalk, was perfectly flat, and took about ten minutes to complete. Still, the view was nice:
Plus, MANATEE:
Our first of the day! Although I think we were all more excited by this slightly ridiculous sign:
 |
| No harassment allowed |
After staring at the manatee for a while, we wandered back in the direction we'd come and further down along the spring, where there turned out to be a ton more manatees, including babies. Sadly, the reflection on the water made it hard to take photos of them. For the most part, they were big and grey and blobby - about what you'd expect of manatees, really!
But rest assured, there were many more manatees, along with an enormous heron and a rather large alligator. And some Spanish moss, which I decided I quite liked:
Eventually, we reached the end of the path, which came with this delightful mosaic sculpture:
Isn't it pretty?? It's hard to tell from the picture, but all the mosaic pieces had a metallic finish. SUPER CLASSY.
Back in Orlando that evening, we decided to dedicate our time to finding the tackiest magnet humanly possible. You see, Sara and her brother-in-law have a competition where they buy tacky magnets from around the world for Sara's younger sister. And Sara was determined to win, by finding the ugliest magnet that International Drive had to offer. We failed to find any that night, but I DID discover this spectacular piece of ridiculousness:
Yep. Socks with Zac Efron's face on them. BECAUSE OF REASONS??
The following day, we headed down to Tampa to go to the zoo, which turned out to have all the usual stuff:
 |
| Cranky looking bald eagles |
 |
| Teeny tiny frogs |
 |
| A bored looking chimpanzee |
 |
| The most ridiculously orange flamingos ever |
 |
| A very playful baby orangutan |
 |
| And home was apparently far closer than I thought... |
 |
| Shamelessly stolen from Sara's Facebook page |
The back shell was painted teal, there were strings of glue all over the place, the bear was just...random, the Florida label is slightly askew, and the whole thing was covered in a layer of dust. LOVELY.
That night, we headed across town to Rocco's Tacos to meet up with Alice and Emmy. And sadly, I don't remember a whole lot about dinner, because cold and flu tablets + margaritas = Kirsti fighting the urge to fall asleep on the table. Well done, Past Me. Well done.
Next up, the excited flailing reaches extreme levels when Lor arrives and we all head to Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
K xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
