And what a long day it's been. I drove down to Orlando from Atlanta yesterday afternoon, getting into my hotel around 7:00, thinking I was going to drop from exhaustion. Instead, I ate dinner and managed to fall asleep around 8:30-ish, only to wake about half an hour later feeling totally refreshed. I think in part it was because I was paranoid about oversleeping and missing the bus out to Kennedy Space Center at Midnight (we needed to be out to the visitor center by 2:00am, because the buses out to the Causeway viewing area needed to start leaving around 4:00). And as I mentioned, shuttle launches are the most incredible and inspiring experiences! Once I get some rest, I'll see about writing more and putting up a few more photos.
I'd assumed I'd be ready to drop when I got back to my hotel... but after grabbing some lunch, I rebounded fast and decided to go ahead and do something fun with my extra time here in Orlando. I picked Disney's Hollywood Studios for my one park pass, simply because it has Aerosmith's Rock'n'Roller Coaster, Midway Mania and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I figured I'd ride them each once or twice, if I could manage it, and then head back to the hotel to crash.
( A bit about Hollywood Studios, under the cut. )And then there was the big surprise: the new Star Tours!!!!11!!Eleventy!!
I'd heard that they'd had a "soft opening" this last weekend as a dry run for the grand opening next weekend... but the ride was listed as one of the two that were closed in the park today, so I assumed I'd missed out. Ha! The lines weren't even particularly long! The short version: Fun ride! Really cleverly done to help keep it fresh longer (they can mix and match between various scenarios to create an overall adventure). Unfortunately, the 3D just didn't work very well for me. It wasn't bad, but aside from a few moments, it didn't seem to add anything to the ride. The new Star Tours definitely suffers from a problem that George Lucas has developed in recent years... the video is very busy and cluttered. There's almost more to see in each scene than the brain is capable of processing. More in another post (so people who don't want to be spoiled can avoid it), but that'll have to wait until after I'm rested (to be honest, I'm so tired I'm a bit worried about being coherent in this entry).
It's really been an almost overwhelmingly incredible day... the only thing that could have possibly made it better is if
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rackham could have been here.
Crossposted from my Livejournal
