Toms Flyin Florida Photo Trip Jan.2007

[PcMan]

Florida Universal Photo Trip Jan.2007 - not in any order and all these pics are
about 15% of their actual size

Leaving NJ, Southwest Air, I got a Window seat,Delaware Memorial bridge



What you see here is a band of Snow on the ground a few miles wide coming from the west
very cool, this was over Delaware





Cold Front Following us to Florida  (we beat it by a few days)  \/



IOA and Universal onsite,  SPOOKY \/



Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando was in walking distance \/



Look Mom no crowds \/



Waiting in line for Hulk,  I mean waiting in no line, Front seat for me  \/



Piece  \/



Lets play spot the Cat \/



A little to cold today \/



Myself and Tina doing the shark thing \/




I got Tina on Her first coaster in years, she is on the front right, only a little scared \/



Last Day a little to cold for swimming, but plenty of room to



Florida / Georgia east coastline



Cape Hatteras North Carolina



Virginia Beach \/



Chesapeake bay bridge




Coming Home picture of Cape May NJ and WIldwood (Cape May county)
pic looks awesome at full resolution \/



Wildwood



Almost home



Ok I'm getting into this to much, Camden / Burlington county



to be continued

[ChuckR]

How did you like Dueling Dragons?

[PcMan]

It was cool
Rode both sides front seat
the middle seats was a walk on, front was about 5 ride wait.
but they only ran one train each coaster.
I like the way it interacts with each other

[PcMan]

Daytona Raceway and Beach

[PcMan]

Commodore Barry Bridge

[Dubya91]

Honestly, I dont know how you snap these clear pictures from a window seat...Amazing shots! I once saw GADV from the plane, the key is to NOT look for Kingda Ka but rather the Water Tower and the Parking lot as they are much more defined. Still, Those shots are awsome!!

Also, The IOA pics are sweet as well, but what I don't understand is how it can be cold in Florida...Although In Pompano Beach it dropped to around 50 one night....

[PcMan]

I use Google Earth (not maps) a lot so I know what to look for http://earth.google.com
download it then click here to be taken to
Gadv    www.techhi.net/files/earth/GreatAdventure.kmz
SFNE    www.techhi.net/files/earth/SFNE.kmz
Lake Compounce   www.techhi.net/files/earth/LakeCompounce.kmz
Dorney  www.techhi.net/files/earth/Dorney.kmz

this is also www.flashearth.com but you can't fly like Google Earth
you can select from different map providers

• Google
  Ask
  Microsoft
  Yahoo
  NASA
  Open Layers

Most of these pics are cropped/reduced to about 15% and touched up.
I used a 7mp Canon A620 the best price/quality combo I could find at the time.
here is the original pic from the bridge 2 posts back

www.techhi.net/images/COASTER/fl/com-big.JPG

it takes great video/movie almost as good as a camcorder check it out.

www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_a620-review/MVI_0030.AVI

It was warm the first couple days (in the mid 70's) then the
coldest air in 2 years the last 3 days  low 30's upper 20's (end of Jan.)

www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_a620-review/index.shtml

www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/a620_pg7.html

www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona620/page14.asp

[Dubya91]

Wow, Thanks alot for all the info!

[Robert T Ackerman]

Nice pics Tom.

I'm glad you had a good time... we went there and everything was PACKED... but we had warmer weather than you did, so I guess it evens out.

[PcMan]

Universal will spend $120M on attractions

Goal is to offset drop in visitors

http://tinyurl.com/32xau7

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070405/BUSINESS/704050341/1003/business

Universal Orlando Resort plans to spend as much as $120 million this year on the design and construction of new attractions, as well as on other capital improvements, to offset declining attendance.

[Robert T Ackerman]

That's awesome news. I can't wait to see what they have up their sleeve.

[PcMan]

Harry Potter
Simpson's

[WadeJ]

I'd bet the Harry Potter overlay is 50% and the Simpsons is the other 50% of that bill.  Its interesting that the article even mentions it being unwise to go for the Simpsons ride.

Sadly, these parks both need a whole lot more than this to catch up.  They need investment dollars like this for the next 3 or 4 years in a row!

[PcMan]

It's amazing how much these Florida parks spend on attractions.
IOA or Studies should add something different a world record ish like a B&M Hyper (Nitro type) with some awesome theming.Lets say 30-35mil for ride and another 10-20 mil for theming.
What did Nitro cost 20 million  ?
Expedition Everest cost what 100 million ? and they will get that back with the attendance increase.

At Universal you can only do so many T2 and Shreks I had the Hotel pass in January(no line) and I could only do so many Hulks and Dueling dragons before I'm dizzy.

They just don't have as much room as Disney but they have enough  just visit Wildwood and Indiana Beach and see how can have so much in such a small space.

Rap a B&M around the lake or have it run into Universal.