Man, That Is Very Good

Florida trip-

July 18- Another day by the pool. My other sister arrived that evening.

July 19- The whole gang (except for Pati's husband, Calvin, who arrives tomorrow) head for Epcot. Would like to spend more time there someday exploring..got a good once-over view of the two sides- science & technology and the international pavillions.

July 20- Went to Universal's Islands of Adventure. Allie and I went on the Hulk coaster..man, I love that ride. Calvin arrived later during the day, after we got back from the park. Disgusted with the crowds.

July 21- Calvin and I went to Islands of Adventure, and I made a discovery, several days too late. If you get to the park when it opens at 9AM, it is still very crowded..you'd think, because of the "one main entrance" phenomenon, that it had been open for hours, or never closes, because of the throngs of people boittlenecked at the entrance. If you get to IOA, instead of following the crowd, turning left towards Marvel Super Hero Island and the Hulk coaster, turn right. Nobody turns right. We were practically alone in an empty side of the park. Walked onto Deueling Dragons and the Jurrassic Park River Adventure. Dueling Dragins rocks, it made Calvin swear. He said afterwards it was the scariest ride he's ever been on. This should have been my last Universal day for my pass, since it was a 5 consecutive day pass. We also park-hopped to the Studio side, saw Fear Factor Live and rode The Mummy's Revenge. Neat ride, I liked it.

July 22- Magic Kingdom..the flagship park of Walt Disney World. The one and only time I had such a rotten time at a Disney park that I wish I hadn't gone. It was the hottest day of the trip, 95 degrees (about plus 35) and humid..and crowded..and two of the rides we wanted were closed (Splash Mountain, which apprently reopened minutes after we walked by), and the Haunted Mansion (which had the courtesy to break down after we had endured the lineup, entered the indoor queue, and got packed in like sardines in front of the broken ride with two or three more elevators full of queued up riders, in an area not meant to pack people in. Was hot and miserable and disappointed with much of the trip due to the heat and the crowds by this point, and was pretty much ready for a mental breakdown by the time we got back to the hotel.

July 23- Allie's Universal pass was still valid, since she was sick the day we all went on the 17th. Mine was done, but I borrowed my sister's (the same one Calvin had used) which is technically against the rules, but they didn't check ID's or anything, so it worked fine. Disney, on the other hand, now uses a finger scan, not prints exactly, but "distances between key points on two fingers" to link your pass to you. Anyways, it worked, so I got an extra day, Allie got to ride Dueling Dragons (both sides, got really sick afterwards), had a very helpful employee give her an icepack to cool her down and showed her where to sit in the restaurant for maximum air conditioning effectiveness. Even going the "empty side of the park" route, after a couple of hours, the heat and the crowds are draining, so we left at about noon. Unknown to us at the time, this is the day my dad passed away back in Edmonton..we were probably cooling off in the restaurant at about the time he went.

July 24- Breakfast, packed up, and headed for the airport and the light to Calgary. Shuttle to the hotel, picked up the car, drove to Edmonton, and found out about my dad, beginning one of the most painful weeks I have ever had.

posted by Unknown @ 8:00 AM