I love you all and may your days always be sun filled and happy.
ok yalls im going to make this short but sweet. I hate goodbyes but its time to say goodbye. This blog has ment the world to me and each and every reader made me smile. I thank you all for your love and support. I ask if you want more from me please keep your eyes and ears open, ive been lucky to make manynew friends and have had great things placed into my life. I may be back online soon and if i am i will send out a message on Facebook and Twitter.
I love you all and may your days always be sun filled and happy.
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Im going to make this one short and sweet due to things going on. but i want to say congrats to our newest friends at Skyplex Orlando. yesterday they went in front of the county board and got full support to move forward. They were met with some tough resistance from some bigger companies i wont mention.....Universal..... sorry i cant keep my opinion to myself. so soon we should start seeing the start of the future of I-Drive start to unveil.
I want it known that all of us working with Central Florida Tourist support Skyplex and will work with them with anything they need and we will back them to the end. We feel this is the best thing for I-Drive in a long time. If you want to find out more about this amazing project please check out our good friends website at Pixels at the Parks...http://www.pixelsattheparks.com/category/other-attractions/the-skyscraper-at-skyplex/_ We welcome everyone to the first of our blog posts about IAAPA 2015. im going to try to go in order for what happened so i don't mess this up to badly for you all. Starting Tuesday Morning we started are day by attending a press conference for DollyWood & Rocky Mountain Construction to talk about their new baby.....Lighting Rod. Lighting Rod is the worlds first and right now only wooden launch coaster. It will launch riders to a speed around 45 MPH and topping riders out at a high speed of 73 MPH and to a height of 206 ft before dropping down 165 ft. This ride is a one of a kind ride that demands respect from its name to its look. It will have multiple 90+ Degree turns and even a few High Speed Airtime hills. Lighting Rod is set to run for around 3 minuets and take around 24 passengers per train.
Ok now that the stats are out of the way. i will say at first we assumed this was another average coaster coming online. but oh my we were wrong after the opening video and getting a chance to see a 3D ride on video provided to us. and lets just say by the end of the video i think most if not all of us were planing trips to DollyWood for 2016. Keep your eye out on this new attraction i truly encourage you to go try it if you get the chance to. Well we finished our time at IAAPA and let me say it was eventful and we are beyond excited for next year, on my counter i have a good foot tall stack of press info, i have flash drives, pics, vids, and written info of people from IAAPA. Stay with me guys i thought daily i would be able to update yall on what we saw but if you were seeing what im seeing you would be overwhelmed too. youtube isnt working so next year we will have it. but i promise you i have tons of amazing things to tell yall's
Monday, Okay ladies and gentleman I told you that this week we have a special week ahead. Well time to strap in for the ride so to speak. We stopped by the Convention Center today and picked up our press credentials and got all our wonderful information for this week. Lets just say in the matter of 5 mins I gained about 10 pounds of programs and press releases. Lets just say it going to be a fun week. So stay tuned and get ready for tons of fun with us this week.
Well welcome back my blog family. i want to take this time to thank you all for your continued support. over the past 2 months my personal and professional life's have taken many different turns but im glad to say we are level and back up and running full blast! First off i want to apologize for letting this go for so long.
So im thankful to say the future of the blog is strong and to kick it back into full swing we have been invited to attend IAAPA 2015 here in Orlando, FL. so you want to know whats next and whats the new thing on the block for theme parks. well next week keep your eyes open because if i plan everything right it wont just be a blog but the launch of our YouTube channel with video from IAAPA 2015. I can tell you even though this is not our normal blogs we will be doing more of our normal blogs soon. but again any ideas you have feel free to drop us a line at our email address. or on our contact us page. We look forward to the new beginning soon Ok yall i said i have a amazing blog for you and omg do i. Today is all about Medieval Times in Orlando. We were invited by our new friend Raven in sales over at the castle to come visit their realm. so We had to take up the offer and check out this amazing place. so come join us...will you?
So welcome to Medieval Times Orlando as you arrive you are dwarfed by this amazing castle that hides the size of this amazing place (i still wonder where they hide it). about a hour and 15 mins prior to the show the King made a grand appearance from the castle welcoming you to his home. as you enter into the castle the king is right at the door to personally welcome you. and you are in a room surrounded by by suits of armor and crests as you wait to get your ticket. once you get your ticket you receive your seat and section and a crown to match your knights color. and you grab a quick picture with the King and for us the Princess of the castle. Once that is done you can enjoy something that’s a hidden treasure of this property. The village they have at this castle is special because it was brought here from spain and shows you a village of the 11th century and has tons of actual artifacts inside that you can see in the bedroom, kitchen, living room, dungeon, and even the barn. Now if you are lucky enough to visit the Orlando castle you are very lucky. the Orlando castle is the original castle on 9 properties around the country. Inside this amazing castle you will be welcomed by knights in armor, and amazing paintings and a gift shop like no other. I can only say the pictures do it no justice. Once it is time to join the king for the festivities you are welcomed by section color section by section. you walk into this amazing oval arena and walk down to your table where you can see right away this is no normal meal. you see no forks no knives no spoons, that’s right you're going medieval and eating with your hands. Once everyone is seated you begin the show with a amazing view of the knights and the horses. but don’t be fooled the falcons will fly high above you immersing you into the show. As the show goes on you will see different games played to this day in Spain. and you pick away at a amazing feast fit for a king. as the night goes on you dwindle down the knights down to one….one victor….or maybe not….to figure that out you need to go see the show! Now this show is a amazing trip with amazing upgrades available at reasonable costs.. everything from being knighted by the King to being in the King's Court…...in today's era the only court that is a good thing lol. So would we recommend this place...Yes this is a great hidden gem that some forge is here. Go enjoy them for we shall say they are not on a star rating but since they have 6 knights i think we will give them 5 knights out of 6. Guys please Go check out this original castle here in Kissimmee, it's not far away but it's a great vacation inside a vacation. Normally we have a few pictures to show you, well we got a little crazy with the pics and to many to pick from. so check out the album on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.710536229078328.1073741833.687804938018124& and check out Medieval Times Orlando on their website here : http://www.medievaltimes.com/orlando.aspx Ok ladies and Gents welcome back. So shortly after our Tin Roof blog we got a chance to go back to talk with them more about the property. and let me tell you this we feel our first blog does them no justice. so on top of what we all ready told you we are going to share with you more of what we learned.
So we got to speak with Eric the GM of the Tin Roof here in Orlando. and he really told us a lot more. everything from food to beer to music. and even shared with us a amazing drink called the brain freeze….we will get to that later. so lets start with the food. they are trying to give you a classic roadside roadhouse feel and to make you feel like this is a place you were raised with good music and food that is by opinion comfort food. We asked him if it changes much and he said only a few things have changed but he does not see it changing much in the future. We tried the Chicken and Waffles and their chips with queso both were absolutely amazing and a true delight for the taste buds. now the music is all up and coming and local music. Artists submit a audio clip to Tin Roof and try to get on their schedule and as of the time of our meeting they were booked up for 2 months. now not everything is country or rock or oldies but you will find something you enjoy. and they are even trying to work out themed nights or days. Now when it comes to music at Tin Roof you never really hear the same thing every night. one night may be vocals, the other be reggae or pop or even a little bit of classic rock n roll. now drinks this is where the brain freeze is a shot of this amazing slush that if i remember right (and i ask my friends at tin roof to correct me if im wrong) but i think its red bull and vodka mixed with something else. let me say i HATE red bull but i tried this and now i have a new drink i enjoy. now if you are a beer fan their tap is always rotating with the seasons and what the crowd is enjoying. and they even have the current Sam Adams Ale of the season. After being back and trying some new food and drinks i can't see why anyone would not fall in love with this location and i invited all friends of ours to come join us at Tin Roof for some amazing food and drinks while we enjoy of night of music. so with that being said Go enjoy it! Hello Friends and welcome back to the blog. Over the past month we have been able to share with you many amazing things with you all. One promise i made to you our friends is that i will not sugar coat ANYTHING and i will tell you exactly what we think. So today we are sad to post this blog because we are legomanaicas and we had very high hopes for Legoland Florida.
Ok so with that said we are covering Legoland Florida. Upon arrival to the property do not expect a big grand entrance like Disney or Universal or even Sea World. It is located in Winter Haven Florida and is on the old grounds of Cypress Gardens. As you park in their parking lot you are almost at a loss of where to go. no signs, no team members going ladies and gentlemen the entrance is right over their. so we found the entrance and got to the point to get our tickets, great staff at the ticket window and i love their name tags (name tags all made of legos) Before we went into the park we wanted to check out the hotel on property and i must say its a kids heaven and a parents hell. they have a pit of legos and legos all over the floor (note to self if staying in hotel wear shoes in lobby) honestly the hotel was nice and we really want to go back and check that out (it was the best part of our day) we then proceed into the park, now first and foremost let me warn you we are aware legoland was built for kids and we will not bash them for that fact but we will say they make adults visiting without kids feel very unwelcomed. time after time, attraction after attraction we were turned away due to us being 2 grown adults. but moving on….looking at the park as far as quality of rides and activities its a good match a lot to do and it can wear a kid out quick. first we decided that a show was in order so we checked out their pirates show (this is where things start going downhill quick). Before i tell you more let me tell you about my history I served honorably 2.5 years in the USAF and done over 8 years in security from hotels to casinos to theme parks. and am a huge person when it comes to guest safety….back to the story….we started by being welcomed to the theater by 2 team members leaning on the balcony ledge looking down and no signs advising wet floors going up 2 steep wet ramps. we get seated and me and my wife always grab a handicapped row do to personal problems i received in the military (i do have a VA disability card) i got yelled at by a team member and told my disability does not qualify…...ummm wrong answer…. so we moved. put on the end of a bench where the end cap was hanging off and could cut someone….throughout the show we were finding more and more problems. we watched 1 team member that his job was to make sure no one went on stage from the bottom of the bleachers, leave his post and pulled back multiple times by another team member. and no water safety equipment in site if someone did fall in. After the show we went for a walk through the old Cypress gardens…..this was the first time i was scared in a theme park. walking through a park with signs posted for snakes and spiders etc...so as we are walking their is no lights, no team members….and no security in fact we NEVER saw security our entire time in the park. but we did run into who we assumed to be part of landscaping wearing all black rain gear and hiding in the bushes. thats when we left that part of the park QUICK! but on the way out i found a spot i pointed out to my wife saying if i had kids this sealed the deal of them NEVER coming to the park, there was a path to a opening of bushes and a clearing by a tree where a predator or attacker could hide...and fairly easy since no one checks bags…..so we started to head out of the area we passed the other side of the theater we were just in and we see this huge hill with a hope fense (single rope draped between posts) at the bottom to keep people out….again no emergency equipment in the area just in case. at this point i was so shocked and floored by our experience i wanted to hull butt home but my wife asked to see one more show and do one ride. so we went to their fire show…..i'm going to give them benefit here but it was just bad, all lip sync lines. bad acting, and any fire fighter will tell you putting the wet stuff on the hot stuff DOES NOT ALWAYS WORK! so why are we teaching kids this...for those who don't know fires, there are certain types of forest that placing water on can make it worse. so after that we went on a ride that reminds you off buzz lightyear space ranger spin and Magic Kingdom but cheaper and didn't work. but we enjoyed the ride we could ride till the end….we pull up to the unload area to see 2 female team members in safety sensitive positions playing the game of slaps….if you don't know what that is look it up...lots of fun...after seeing that we had enough. but with my security and safety background i could not leave the park without bringing some major concerns to light. so we went to Guest Relations and i must say the nicest people i met the entire day. and they forwarded us to email Tyler who is their Guest Relations Rep who handles all major problems. now understand something i didn't just get home and write this up. it's been just under a month since i reached out to them, giving them a chance to reach back out to me. and even waited ther 5-7 day waiting time till i should receive an answer. i reached out to them via twitter and tried to have them message me in private so i didn't call them out publicly and they gave me the same email again. and honestly at this point i can't tell you guys they tried to make things better. or even inquire of me when or where such events happened. a month later i can say they don't really care. So let me end this before we have our longest blog yet. Is Legoland Florida recommended, NO in fact i won't give it a rating and i will recommend to you our friends that if you come to florida or you live here and want to visit that you run far and fast away from this property and forget it ever existed. It is not worth the cost, It is NOT NOT NOT SAFE, and it's not SECURE. Anyone could walk into their park with anything and NEVER be checked, so a pedofile or a criminal or a predator can walk in with a ticket and you have no idea. Like i said i HATE doing bad reviews and i HATE talking bad about people but for everyone's safety this blog has to be written. so everyone pay attention to our facebook and twitter for some new blogs coming out soon that i know you will enjoy.
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AuthorsCentral Florida Tourist's Authors are two young adults transplanted in central Florida from the Midwest. Been here for 4 years both spending time working in the local theme parks. We have a avid love for this and that is why we want to share it with you. Archives
November 2015
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