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Florida Fun Fest Daily Trip Report

Check Out Member Dave Perry's daily update picture page here

The day started early at 4.30AM heading for Newcastle Airport. A very bumpy landing was experienced at Gatwick! On the flight to Georgia a very bumpy start after take-off then a very smooth flight.

Atlanta Airport is a nightmare, it took ages to get through immigration. We then picked up our luggage, went through customs and then gave them back our luggage. We then had to go through a screening point to leave the airport! Shoes/Belts off, No Liquids you name it. We then had to find Baggage Reclaim which is miles from where we were.

The coach was waiting for us, it was very noisy but the driver said all was fine. Then the fun began. Just 28 miles from Atlanta the engine blew up. There was loads of smoke so we had to evacuate the coach. We then had lunch at Locust Grove, Georgia while waiting for a replacement coach. This eventually arrived and we arrived 3 hours late in Valdosta.

We got a warm welcome to Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia. Our ERS started at 9.30AM on Cheetah which lasted for half an hour. This was well received by all. The ride operator struggled to do our Oggy Oggy Oggy chant, he kept slowing down half way through making us laugh so much. After the ERS we had the park to ourselves basically doing all the 7 available coasters as it was so quiet. At 2.00PM we headed over to the Wild West Show which ws so corney it was unbelievable. At the end of the show the cast took a bow then conversed with the audience in which Nev walked up and took part as if he was in the show!! At 2.45PM we all headed over to Cheetah for a photo shoot at the park's request. That left us with a few more rides, shopping and our journey down to Tampa. To sum it up Wild Adventures is a very nice park and I would recommend a trip to this park for anyone who is visiting Florida.

We arrived at Busch Gardens for our 3 ERS's which was supposed to be on Gwazi, Shreikra & Montu. We were first taken to Montu, then escorted to Shreika through the ride structure as this part of the park was cordoned off to the public. Shreikra puts Oblivion to shame it really does, absolutely awesome. Dan stood in the splash zone 4 times and got drenched! We were then taken to Kumba and that was supposed to be it but as we were such a good bunch of guys and girls we were then taken up the exit ramp of Gwazi and rode the Lion side, poor old Joe Public had to wait until we had a few goes, really cool. Rhino Rally was excellent, fully working and the guy took the mick out of Gareth Arkell during this ride! We did Scorpion & Cheetah Chase, a really good day was had by all. The evening was spent at The Hard Rock Cafe Hotel & Casino in Tampa, I won't say how much I lost on the slots!! Cypress Gardens tomorrow with an afternoon / evening at Old Town Kissimmee.

Day 4 Tuesday 14th November ( Day 4 Pictures am, Day 4 Pictures PM )

An interesting day today, firstly we headed off to Cypress Gardens. It's a lovely park but it was quite sad to see how quiet it was, there must have been 2 staff per visitor. The Triple Hurricane was a good coaster which the operator sent us all round twice in a row. Swamp Thing was a head banger, Fiesta Express which we tried was the smallest coaster I've been on. Galaxy Spin was a good spinning mouse and Okeechobee Rampage was smooth in operation.

We then headed down to Old Town Kissimmee where the club had a go on G Force and a few members beat Nev's high reaction time in half. They got 0.02 seconds whereas Nev and Barry have 0.04 as their best. The 300ft Skycoaster was next and it was a reallly good adrenelin rush for those who haven't done one so big. Then we ambled down Old Town and tried out their 2 coasters, We went on Dragon Wagon which went round 8 times, Windstorm was a copy of the challenging coaster at Playland Rye, ouch!!

Some of us went in to the Horror Walk Through, Dan led the way and ended up on his backside a couple of times which made the whole group laugh their head off! We then went to the Sling Shot (Reverse Bungee) where Dan had a ride, and what a laugh, he bought the ride DVD which was played on our coach and everyone laughed their heads off. We're now on International Drive where we are going exploring.

Day 5 Wednesday 15th November ( Day 5 Pictures )

We're now onto Day 5 which is our Day off. The coach departed the hotel at 8AM and made it's first drop at Discovery Cove. During this trip I played a message through the coach's PA system from fellow member Ryan Hackett as I had downloaded this to my PC. He was basically saying hello to everyone who he is missing. The next stop was Disney then the final stop including ours was Sea World.

The park was busier but first thing all the rides were a walk on. Our first ride was Journey to Atlantis. We had a party of 8 on this so filled the boat. Some members hadn't done this ride before so the reaction to the end of the ride was good. Myself, I got soaked. I was in the front seat and a big wave came over the top of the boat. My RCCGB cap had a lake in it!!

Next it was off to Kraken which is next door to Journey to Atlantis, this was a walk on so various seats on the ride were experienced. We then had a look around the park, did some shows and after the Killer Whale Show we did the small Shamu Express which was different. Then we had another look around the park before doing some final riding on Kraken. Next was some shopping followed by our journey back to the hotel. Tonight we are dining in Charley's Steakhouse which I personally have found to be the best steaks in the USA.

Tomorrow's photo's will be very bright, it's tour T-Shirt day at Islands of Adventure.

Day 6 Thursday 16th November ( Day 6 Pictures )

Day 6 of the Florida Fun Fest saw us visit Islands of Adventure. We had our exclusives on The Hulk and Duelling Dragons and got quick repeat rides on Duelling Dragons by going through the Baby Change area!! Cheers for that one Nev!! We were all wearing our tour T-Shirts as we were supposed to be having a photo shoot on The Hulk. However we had endured a storm through the night and as the weather was so bad in the morning the photo shoot was postponed till tomorrow, this just means we have another exclusive on The Hulk. We did all the coasters although once the operators had changed some members couldn't get their coaster count up on
Pteranodon Flyers as you needed to ride this with a child. Spiderman was cool. Later in the day as we had a hopper pass we ventured into Universal Studio's where we did 3 rides, Shrek 4D, Twister & The Mummy, all were walk on's.

Later we had lunch at TGI Friday's then went to the Irish Bar I know, Murphy's which has Buy 1 Get 1 Free on Draft beers, good job Ryan isn't with us!!

Anyway another exclusive on The Hulk tomorrow for the postponed photo shoot then a day in the Studio's, really looking forward to this as some of the visual effects are outstanding.

Day 7 Friday 17th November ( Day 7 Pictures )

Today we again started at Islands of Adventure where we had another exclusive on The Incredible Hulk for a photo-shoot postponed from yesterday due to the weather. We all had to sign a piece of paper to allow the photograph's to be taken! So we did about 3 rides on the Hulk before heading over to the Studio's for our exclusive ride on Revenge of the Mummy which is better than the one in California. After this we were treated to a piece of birthday cake as Harry Ross was celebrating his 15th Birthday having been given a birthday cake during the photoshoot.
 
We then did everything in the Studio's with most things a walk on, Jaws was 20 mins. We did Back To The Future, Men In Black Earthquake, Twister, Shrek 4D, T2, ET. After we had done everything in the Studio's and the fact it was such a lovely day we did some more coaster riding in Islands of Adventure and went on the wet rides, glad I didn't do them yesterday!!
 
Tonight was spent on City Walk with our evening meal in the largest Hard Rock Cafe. A long drive tomorrow down to Boomers, our last park of the Fest.

Day 8 Saturday 18th November ( Day 8 Pictures )

Day 8 saw us have a bit of a rest as we were not due to ride the Hurricane until mid afternoon. We arrived and after getting wrist straps went to ride The Hurricane, most possibly my best woodie to date, but not quite but it's the best ride on this tour.

At 6PM we took over the Hurricane for some dark riding before heading off.

After we checked into our hotels we were under way again, this time for an EWMS (Exclusive Wal-Mart Session)

We then went to have someting to eat and the girls (Heather & Carol) were in for a treat, Margueritas were $2.75 Buy 1 Get 1 Free!!

Anyway some things to do tomorrow, next update when we're in the UK

Day 8 Saturday 19th November ( Day 9 Pictures )

Day 9 was one of the laziest days on any trip. We had to be on the coach by 10.30AM, a real lie in. Then it was off to the beach at Fort Lauderdale for a paddle. After this we stopped off at South Beach Miami where most of us had lunch and a walk on the famous beach.

Then it was off to a shopping mall near Miami International Airport for some last minute shopping and souvenirs. Just before we left the mall we gathered around the coach in the mall car park for the traditional end of trip thanks to Nev and Bob our driver then off to the airport we went. Checking in was fun, the flight was over booked and they were asking for volunteers to stay another day for $200, all of us were seperated for the flight, we weren't in our group as we were on the flight out. Dan had bought his girlfriend Edwina some glass ornaments and was horrified to find he couldn't take them on the plane in his hand luggage. When we saw the ornaments they were full of liquid!! Luckily for him they survived the hold.

A great trip was had by all, well done Nev, everyone who is going on A Coaster Heaven is looking forward to the trip coming round, only 5 months away.