Toof's American Road Trip!

[pognoi]

In 12 hours, I'll be navigating my way through busy streets of a working day London, trying to embark on a mystical, magical, really really long 4 week trip to America!

 

America, the land of Hershey, Hot Dogs, guns, awesome natural phenomenons and of course... theme parks!

I plan (and probably won't follow) to take you on the journey with me as much as I can, by recording parts of my journey in pictures and write ups on this page!

I'll try and post pictures from each major visit I go on... E.G. Each time I visit a new state, theme parks, natural wonders (like Niagra falls, Ucemity...)

Hopefully my reviews and reports will give people an insight of what I enjoyed and what to visit when they travel to the same places in the future...as well as provide entertainment to those who want to see me suffer by travelling along with my family...

anywho, banner!!:

[EC!]

I am very much looking forward to the trip reports and your views on the coasters, you lucky get!!! (Very jealous is I)

[pognoi]

Had a spectacular day today, local time 10pm,

Only just had dinner and my body tells me it's 3am... Fun jet lag. Pictures up tomorrow with a brief review, then again on Saturday!

[pognoi]

BOSTON

Day 1
After a nice and early waking up at 6:30 AM, I left my house soon after 7.
Barging my way through the busy streets of a working London.
Here... My journey begins.
To begin with, I'd never been on an airbus before, or over the atlantic. Infact, I'd never been out of Mainland Europe or UK timezones!
The trip just getting to the airport was all rather exciting. Shoving my way through busy communting crouds, getting on the heathrow express where the ticket masters were dressed like tall oompa loompas... It was all surreal.
It's all fine and dandy me rambling on, but lets add some pictures to keep your interest up.
Because of my Dad's work, I'm gonna get alot of privaliges on the trip... to begin with, first class baggage and the concord lounge.

The best bit about being in the T5 terminal lounge was that you got a view of thorpe park...

(Probably really hard to see but you can glimpse stealth in the middle left side)

After going through customs looking really dodgey with my older brother all wired up to oxygen tanks (he suffered from bad sleep the night before and couldn't walk properly in the morning) we had a quick look in the shops. I spotted these (Incase you don't know, theres a special place in my sweet book for hershey cookies 'n' creme):

Yeah yeah, all great having American candy in an airport. Fly for six hours and you can get 2 packs of the same thing for half the price! (I KNOW FOR SURE COS I DID IT INNIT BRUV).

Next, we got a little underground train to our gate. SINCE WHEN DID AIRPORTS HAVE UNDERGROUND TRAINS WAT OMG?!?!?!?!

After some security freaking out about the compressed cylinders stuck to the back of me for my bro, we finally entered to the gate, and for the first time I saw our plane.

Believe it or not but I have a horrid fear of flying. Being 27,000 ft up in the air scares me, aswell as knowing that the wings are full of compressed explosive stuff and fuel, and that the plane is essentially braking simple scientific laws in staying afloat. Also, during the descent of the flight, I get terrible migraine like head aches. This flight however was very pleasant. The food was great, they had a good selection of movies... and it wasn't very noisy, so I slept for a couple hours too.

After a 6 and a half hour flight (double my longest flight before) we finally arrived... 30 seconds after spotting land, turning on my iPod and yelling at my little brother to get out of the way I took this... the border islands of Boston.

tbh I didn't find the view that stunning. The oly other places I've flown are Iceland and South spain, flying over volcanoes, glaciers, mountains and cities glowing like fire flies stuck on a black tarpaulin. It was still nice (for me atleast) to finally see land.

Now this... This is the bad ass bugger off view from our hotel. Again because of my Dad's work we're getting all these fancy things, including the hotels (essentially) penthouse, complete with 3 bathrooms, 3 bed rooms and a sitting room. The price of these rooms for 3 days (the duration of our stay) is double the price of our whole trip. I spose if you had a good bit of money you'd probably want this more for the fantasmical, superblical view.

We unpacked our bags, yelled at each other a bit, and then went down stairs and had dinner. The restuarant we went to was called the salty pig, and they did great pork pizza's:

(That's my older brother with the heart condition opposite, looking at his phone, alot more energetic then earlier after getting some good food in him )

And that was the end of our first few hours in America


Day 2

After waking up at 6AM (11am British time) by my little brother jumping on my bed and turning on the TV, I got up and went to the pool with him. We stayed there for an hour, before coming back up to our room and then getting dressed to go out for breakfast. My mother had planned for us to meet up with some of her old school friends, who happened to both be history teachers, and took us on a detailed tour of Boston's 'Freedom trail'. Overall I wouldn't rate it very highly, the path was very repetitive and had lots of gaps between attractions. I did like the parks and architecture though:

This is one of the original state houses where the decleration of independance was signed. You can tell by the domed roof rapped in gold 'colored' tin foil.

Just outside our hotel was the trinity church. It's architecture is stunning, it just stands out in the modern city scape. Sort of reminds me of a french castle mixed with a middle eastern styled shape. In the first '10 most important buildings in America' list, of 1885, this featured. It is the only building that still features in the list today:

In the foreground of this picture you can see a baseball cap. That evening, we got free box tickets to a derby baseball game... Boston Red Sox VS Chicago White Sox.

To begin with, the game was just like I predicted. Dull and boring. Nothing really happened until the 7th of 8th inning, where the atmosphere of the stadium lifted, and finally things started happening. The home team (Red Sox, who we were supporting) fell behind, but soon gained it back with a huge double by 34, Ortiz. After that, everything was intense and wild. I really enjoyed the second half of the game, as it was so close and you could tell the game was something significant. And we had amaing seats.
The game ended in a 10th inning win by the Red Sox ending the game 4-3. I never realised how technical baseball was, or how much batters missed the ball haha.

Finally, on our walk back to the hotel (everything was so close) we walked past the Bombing area from the marathon last year. There were some flowers and flags hanging from the lamp post nearest the spot of the bomb, and the fire station had buckets out collecting funds. The presence in this particular area was dark, and sad. May the families effected sleep in peace.

But the fire trucks sure looked good. The sirens fascinate me in America, they sound like Skrillex is sitting in the back making a new track.
http://forum.maniahub.com/topic/10698-toofs-american-road-trip/#entry186719
After saying good bye to our pals who kindly gave us the baseball tickets, we got up to our room and it was very dark outside. The view again was breath taking... So I took this:

Beautiful, isn't it?


Day 3


For a second day, we ate breakfast at Au Bon Pain, which do nice sausage burgers, and chocolate muffins. to be honest by the time I ate breakfast I already felt fat.

Because my older brother is considering university options (or was), we had a look at Harvard today. As a whole, the campus bored me. I'm not particularly interested in going to university, and there was nothing exciting or different at harvard besides the fact that some major braniacs were walking all round you. I did pick up a couple interesting facts about the statue of John Harvard.
1. John went to St. Olaves in Orpington, England. It's a 15 minute drive from my house and my older brother goes there because his brain is too big for good.
2. The statue of John Harvard is the third most photographed in America, after the Lincoln memorial and the statue of liberty.
3. The statue of John Harvard isn't actually John Harvard. The statue was made in memorial of a library fire, in which all books, portrtaits and descriptions of John were burned, and the statue is actually one of an earlier president.
Aaaanyyyywaaayyyy, we soon left due to my little brother and I bleeting for food, and my older brother looking for a uni Shop.
We found this crazy little burger place where lovely gran's serve and cook for you, whilst yelling at each other loads. The menu is full of stupidly hilarious and offensive jokes about people too. (Please look over the jokes if you don't agree with them. I'm simply the person showing you this, not writing them).

Can I just point out that root beer, is disgusting. It's one of the first drinks I don't like, but I think due to it's similarity to coke (another drink I can't stand) I didn't much like it. My family described it as coke with caramel in it.

After ordering, my Dad was the only one brave enough to order one of the oddly named burgers... He went for the Justin Bieber. He said;

'I 8, woz gr8, no h8 8/8'

To be honest, it looked pretty crap. But my Dad thought it tasted okay. ^

Later on that day, we went to the Boston tea party museum. The experience was actually really good, and matched a theme park attraction in the quality of indulgence in the theme. However, if you are a Loyal Patriot, I'd suggest against going. Some of the tour includes some short movies which very much demonise the British, and some of the more Patriotic americans blurt out potentially offensive slurs.
I'd never thought I'd witness it, but after the tour and everyone was cheering for the tour guide, one of the guys yelled out 'GOD BLESS 'MURICAAAAHHHRRR!!!!' which was followed by a load of whooping. I can't work out if it's pationate culture or just sheer dumbness. Probably a mix seeing as the man also blurted several over stupid comments.

After going through the shop (and disputing if I should buy a shot glass for Josh here, or at Universal*) we headed over to quincy hall, which used to be the fishing trade hall back when Boston was a major fishing port. It's now a huge, 200m long food court with over 50 different stalls offering you a variety of food.
In the end, we didn't get anything from here, but headed over to the end of the freedom trail where it goes through an italian part of town. The architecture changed and reminded me of the streets you see in West Side Story, and places like Chicago. And then, we came across the supposed 'Best Pizza in America!!'... Regina's. The restuarant was really popular, and there was a queue to enter. Again it was kind of like a diner, and was really crammed full. The waitors seemed crazy, and were really cheerful and up beat. I certainly wouldn't suggest going there if you get head aches easily. The noise is great if you want to get immersed in the diner, but otherwise, it's a real headache, but the service is quick and you can take away at any time.

Look at the length of that queue.... LOOK AT ITTTTTTT. You know a place is good if it's got a queue. That's only half of it aswell, someone walked past me as I took the picture and his head blocks the rest of it.
anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the pizza and it had a good punch of flavour. The toppings were great and the base and crust were really well cooked. Great meal, would highly recommend if you're getting sick of typical American food.

Here's our pizza. It's 16 (well actually around 18) inches big, and we got 2 of em. A margharita and a pollo, and we still have 3 slices left over. It was delicious, huge and filling.

So now I'm sitting at the desk in the hotel, looking at this beautiful view with a full moon, and next to me is my little brother nagging me to use the computer. Tomorrow I head to Connecticut to meet my uncle, mess about on his lake, go shopping and hopefully go to at least one theme park if my parent's mood improves!

COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS WELCOME.

I managed to recover most photo's that my mother deleted, but all my videos are gone. * Josh C and I struck a deal and I agreed to buy him a shot glass in America. I have not bought it yet.
Due to the fact I was rude to my parent's after they deleted my videos I've been supposedly banned from visitng theme parks, but the amount of vouchers Dunkin' Donuts, the hotel and coke cans have been giving us, I'm fairly sure I'll at least get to go there.
Finally, restuarant count! (That we've seen but not necessarily gone into)
Dunkin' donuts = 11 - Iced cookies and Creme drink is amazing!
Starbucks = 10
Mcdonalds = 3
Burger King = 2
Wendy's = 1
KFC = 0

[pluk]

Root beer is like fizzy germolene. So rank. Loving the food based report!

[kinnaird]

10 trips to Starbucks in 4 days are you okay ?
and have a good time

[Kerfuffle]

...Meanwhile, CoasterDude prepares for HIS travels to Corfu tomorrow!

[J.S217]

6days till malta

[Benin]

There's a lot to be said by having parents who also like theme parks...

 

Baseball is still basically Rounders... Though I went to see the San Fran Giants back when the Home Run record was broken in a big old box... It was a laugh and kinda shows that American sports are all just about getting together and having a natter with friends, hence why they all last FOREVER...

 

Next report, please no bold... Please...

[pognoi]

Connecticut

 

 

Day 1 - 5

Due to the fact that this week has been lounging around meeting relatives there is very little in this week that I find entertaining and alot of it I'd rather keep private then sharing. Anyway....

 

These first five days included lots of fighting, thunder, fishing and rolling around with a giant dog. These first five days I found quite relaxing, and almost useful to get into the American spirit of getting into things. I haven't yet gona a day without eating ice cream. That is awesome.

 

I saw this on the way to my uncle's house. It looks like 3 little cars have all been squashed and reshaped into a motorbike. Yes.

Right so this part of the report will have no order whatsoever. I just chose a pile of the semi decent pictures I took that just about sum up my 5 days here.

My uncle's house sits on a little cove that links up to one of the 2 major rivers that runs through connecticut. He also has a boat, and a rubber wheel with rope attached to it. I bet you can't guess what I did...

It's called tubing. I'm sure if you look it up on youtube you'll see a bunch of skater doods making it look really insane and awesome. It feels that way but when you watch it, it just looks like mannequins tied onto a red board bumping up and down in the water.

These hershey drops were disgusting. They were encased in this plastic like shall, that tasted of nothing. I'm gonna stick with the bars and kisses..

Here's the mall where I went and spent my six flags ticket money. Six flags ended up being further away then I thought, and the man in the sky clearly wasn't in a good mood as he was throwing bolts of electricity and crying his eyes out. In the end only one day was actually ideal theme park weather. More on that l8r. (Everything mainstream clothes wise in America is really really cheap. I bought 2 hoodies, 4 shirts and a pair of shoes for around $120, which is about £70)

I lost my famiry in 'idiot's sports shop' so started taking selfies with mannequins. This is Chris. He's quite quiet to be honest.

 

Another good thing about being in America is that everyone is over the top stupendously lazy and rich. My good ol' unk's had a truck cart just to travel the 70m from his garage to the lake. And I got to drive it.

The lake this evening was so picturesque. Every other day I took a picture but this one turned out the best. I guess it's because it isn't green with algi and it isn't raining.

I caught some big fish aswell. Here's my biggest, an 18 pound carp. It wasn't very friendly and cut my Dad's leg with its fins, aswell as whacking me in the face about a second after the photo. It was very restless which is why I'm pulling a nervous face in the photo.

I said about Ice cream right? Between 5 of us we've eaten 20 pints of Ben and Jerry's Ice cream. In 5 days. We embrace diabeetus with open arms.

This is one evenings pudding. Flavours include:

Mixed up! Core ice cream. Chocolate fudge brownie and vanilla cookie dough

Vanilla cookie dough

Chocolate fudge brownie

Coffe toffee bar crunch

Just down the road was a driving range and a batting cage. I hadn'y hit a gold ball in a year or 2, and I could only dribble the ball with a driver. I hit a couple 170's with an iron though, but my little brother was hitting the back net with every hit (which was 270 yds with a driver).

On the other hand, I was the only one who could hit home runs in the batting cage on fast ball. We all had fun and gained some blisters from it too!

After all the pooey weather, we got a beautiful sun set last night. It was stunning to drive back from a friends BBQ to this:

Finally, I leave day 1-5 with this picture of my little brother casting his line for fishing 'crappies'. This species of fish are hilarious to make jokes about when people want to know more, without being rude. 'You need to go catch yourself some crap'. 'Woah, that's a big crap you got there!' 'Holy cow, that's the momma crap!' etc etc, immaturity etc...

 

 

 

DAY 6 OMG A TWIST WUT

The weather finally settled, and I had to choose where to go. Six flags, Quassy land or Lake compounce. I cancelled out Quassy immediately. Whilst I'd love to ride wooden warrior, the rest of the park lacked interest. Six flags is a 2hr 30 journey from this house, and other then bizarro and batman, again, the other rides didn't serve much interest. so I chose Compounce.

We left a little late because my Dad was supposed to be working and had to do a couple conference calls in the morning, alas, we left at midday and arrived soon before 1PM.

When I saw this sign my belly tingled a little. I haven't had butterflies for a theme park or ride in ages.

There was no queue, and the parks small car park was reasonably filled. We went in and bought our tickets, and had a look round, puzzled as to what we should do next. We turned left at the entrance and headed over to crocodile cove. On the way, we spotted this sign. I didn't realize this place was America's oldest amusement park

The light this day was amazing! 

Crocodile cove was jam packed, the lighthouse flumes queue was humungous and all the lazy rivers and pools were sardine full.

So rather then getting wet, on this not too hot day, we headed in the opposite direction after grabbing a bite to eat. (the food queue was the longest queue of the day) So I told my Dad about boulder dash, which you can see poking in and out of the trees. He said let's do it, why not.

None of the queues were longer then a half hour, which was great! 

Everyone seemed to be getting upset with angry bird signs, so I thought I'd show you this. 3-D NESSS AWESOME WOW.

They have a board of facts next to the entrance aswell, which saves me from typing too much.

 

Here's a really blurry picture of the ride flying through the first bend after the drop. It's very very very fast and rattley, but surprisingly not so rough.

First time, I rode it 4th row from back. I accidentally queued up for the back half of the ride, because they have a splitting system just before the station where you queue for either the front or back. We didn't see the signs and just went with the flow. My first ride to be honest, I wasn't overly joyed with it. I mean sure the ride looked great, and had a couple points of good air time, but most of the time you're getting flicked about in quite a nauseous manner. Maybe it's better if you sit in the very back row.

Any way, being my first wooden coaster ever, I went and purchased the picture! 

 

Just opposite the first drop on Boulder dash is a Screamin' Swing! Anyone who knows me from the meets may know I have a rather large appreciation for rush, so I was over joyed to see that Compounce had my 'bae's' Broski. 

And to be honest, again I was slightly disappointed. They reopen the restraints if you lock them down yourself, have seat belts, and the hosts do what thorpe are starting to do and push them down from the side so they lock down as far as possible. I tried every trick I knew to try and catch some air time, but honestly, I got next to none on it. So that made me sad, but increased my appreciation for rush.

 

Zoomerang was just round the corner, so we joined the queue for that. Having never ridden an inverting vekoma boomerang before, this was another experience I had been waiting for, for a while. 

 

The ride was very slow through the loop, but the cobra roll was great! Back row on it was just great fun, even if you get held upside down on a very shakey loop for a few seconds.

The queue died down so I rode it again in the middle. Same experience just not so much of a delay in the loop to be honest.

Zoomer's, a guided car ride curves itself round zoomerang, and again had only a small queue. So we jumped on that.

Das ma ride.

The ride was very well landscaped. You also get great views of zoomerang. It was the ride with the best theming, with a garage like station, and this terrain scaping.

 

After we headed over to down-time. The drop tower. Which had down-time, so we didn't go on it, because when down-time opened it's queue was coming out of the pen.

Besides... It's a drop tower. Ew gross.

 

Wildcat was next door, so we jumped in the again short queue for that.

The rides signage is very flat, but the ride itself has a lot of history behind it. I took a picture of the panel with the info on it to again save me rambling on.

The ride was very very rough. Not much air time, but all the same it was nice to ride a little slice of history. After the first drop and turn, you drag through the hill. Here I yelled to my Dad, 'It's surprisingly smooth!'. After the ride he was laughing at me, and just replied 'You should'nt've said that haha.'

The carousel was opposite the exit and so we headed over there. The ride is considered a historic monument seeing as it's the oldest standing ride in the park. It was very grand, with one of those orchestra-in-a-box things and lots of mirrors. But it lasts way to long. It was nice to admire a piece of old engineering like this. Especially seeing dunkin' donut's cups being used as weights in the percussion section.

We did the pirate ship, the disko and a couple other rides. All of which were a bit meh. There was nothing special about them, even Chessington kicked them out of the water. It was getting close to closing, and people were piling on Boulder dash to do for a last ride.. so we decided to join them!

Front row, green train, was the best ride experience I've had in a long time. On the chain lift the carriage falls back a bit, and makes you feel like it's gonna topple. Then at the top, you get the most incredible view of the literally cliff hanging drop. It is so steep so quickly! And then, on the first curve, by God it was like riding stealth but quicker. Honestly the wind was blowing in my face so fast I couldn't see without it being blurry. all the hills pulled off incredible insane air time, especially the final one before the ARB hill. That one got me virtually standing up. I'd definitely ride it again now, but only in front row

Finally, we headed over to the pirate ship again. The queue was nil, but was still the meh it was earlier on both back sides. Warning, this picture has been instagram'd.

And then, here's the view you get from the entrance.

Overall, baring in mind I only spent 6 hours in the park, and it was a hot summers day, it was still fairly quiet. This is a busy day for the park. 30 minute and down across the board. I was fine with that.

I'd love to come back, especially baring in mind my unk's lives so close.

 

Restuarant count:

26 Dunkin' Donuts

15 McDonald's

13 Starbucks

11 Subways

6 Burger King

2 Wendy's

2 KFCs

 

Off to the finger lakes, Niagra falls and finally New York before the next update!

 

 

There's a lot to be said by having parents who also like theme parks...

 

Baseball is still basically Rounders... Though I went to see the San Fran Giants back when the Home Run record was broken in a big old box... It was a laugh and kinda shows that American sports are all just about getting together and having a natter with friends, hence why they all last FOREVER...

 

Next report, please no bold... Please...

Yes Baseball, soft ball and rounders... They're all similar with miniscule differences. 

My Dad finally gave up the act and took me to one to shut me up. 

Aaand hopefully this report was better for you? Ain't much bold round here.

 

 

6days till malta

Nice! I'll have an eye out. 

 

 

 

...Meanwhile, CoasterDude prepares for HIS travels to Corfu tomorrow! 

I hope this 'hey I'm going here' on my topic doesn't become a thing... I didn't do it in anyone else's :/

 

 

 

10 trips to Starbucks in 4 days are you okay ?
and have a good time!

Thanks Kinny! I haven't been to 10 starbucks, but probably that many DD's.

 

 

 

Root beer is like fizzy germolene. So rank. Loving the food based report!

Wait this is food based? I didn't know that

 

YOUR COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED AND WILL KEEP THIS BLOG TYPE THING STUFF GOING!!

 

 

 

 

[planenut]

Interesting write-up, I wonder if the brands of root-beer vary, as the one I found was drinkable?

 

Enjoy your time and thanks for the updates.

[pognoi]

Finger Lakes, Niagara & New York

 

Day 1-3

Nothing special happened on these days to be honest. We visited an old camp site in New York state on the lake Seneca. Whilst we'd been staying in posh hotels and giant mansions beforehand, this was rather back to basics minimal stuff. In each room there was a bed, and a sink, and a small chest of drawers. To be honest though, I was even grateful for that as I'd prepared to be camping in a patrol tent.

 

The lake we stayed on (Seneca) was huge. It's about the same size as Lac Leman in Switzerland, one of the largest lakes in Europe, but only forms a scratch compared to the great lakes a few hundred miles north.

They had this little dock with a bunch of kayaks on it, but the whole time we were down by the lake we either fished (unsuccessfully) or jumped on the floating trampoline.

The whole area was surrounded by woodland. Full of deer, collapsed rocks and old scout masters playing the banjo from deliverance. Which just made the whole thing 10 times creepier and awkward.

 

Day 4

We went to Niagara. The place was a 4 hour drive away, but it was totally worth it. We got to our hotel by midday, but false advertisement meant that the hotel we were going to stay in had a view of a car park and looked like it was about to fall down. So me dad and me mam went and yelled at some people and waved flashy membership cards at the people at the desk and got us transferred to this.

It was obviously good, I could tell from the second we entered it because there were lots of fancy cars. America is full of them but this is the first (and probably last) time I've seen a green Lambo.

We walked along the cliff edge of the river on the Canadian side and God it was packed. I'd recommend going there on weekends. But the views you get are breath taking.

Bet you didn't notice it, but in the back ground is the only (?) triple drop tower in Canada. I'm all up for it BUT WHY DESTROY THE VIEW COME ON.

 

We went on to do this thing called 'Journey into the falls' or something. It was basically this elevator shaft dug 30 ft from the cliffs edge and you get to walk behind the falls. But there's nothing interesting. It's just cliff tunnels with the odd window of water falling in front of you. However there is this small island right beside the falls that it gives you access to, and you get the most stunning photos.

We came back up, walked round a bit more until we were behind the falls. Again a great photo opportunity.

One issue with Niagara is that when you look at brochures ETC it looks like a national park. The river is, but the surrounding area isn't, so they've completely urbanized it with metal glass and concrete crap, destroying any atmosphere it would have. 

 

On the ground, its frustrating...Still, from our hotel I'm not complaining... Great views

If you ever go to Niagara, I strongly recommend you go on the Canadian side. There's just so much more there, there's much better views and also there are much better views.

(Ironically this picture was taken on the American side)

 

And then in some evenings they have fireworks ON the falls.

And also, there is ALOT of night life. Take the 'Great Canadian Midway' for example.

The place had 4 haunt attractions on a 200m stretch of road. There was also a drop tower, paint ball, laser tag, a balloon tour ride, several shooting galleries, several museums and 2 mini golf courses. Not forgetting a giant ferris wheel thing.

Badically, The Canadian side is what you'd expect on the American side.

All of these are different shops/attractions, and there's a mall underneath the hotel I was staying in. Also next door is a roof top water park with 17 slides. Would have done it if we weren't staying overnight! Unfortunately I didn't even attempt any of these attractions because I picked up an injury from tubing and I've done something to my back.

 

Final fun fact for this day. There are 5 drop towers in operation within a 10 mile radius of the falls. 3 of them are operated by different parks/street attractions.

 

Day 5

Seeing as we were only staying for one night, we headed off to the big apple the next day... Not before an early visit to the American side of the falls, for the legendary 'Maid of the Mist'! There is a ferry attraction on the Canadian side but it is much busier and surprisingly more expensive.

You get surprisingly close to the falls (but in my opinion still not close enough) and if you focus purely on the falls it feels like you've hit the wall of the earth.

The ship is chaotic with tourists though (but alot quieter in the first and last hour, so if you do it go then), so choose a spot nearest the front quickly and be prepared to use your elbows to keep them at bay. 

Also with the Maid of the Mist you get access to a couple of extras, including a viewing platform and a photo opportunity of one of the worlds only 360 rainbows. And it never goes away.

And so we headed on a long car journey to New York. I watch some youtubers who recently went to America who were whining about how bad the traffic is, how the taxi drivers are kamikaze and how everything on the roads feels so dangerous. I hadn't had that until we came to NYC. And then, I was bracing on to anything I could in fear of getting hit.

The first thing we did when we came out of our hotel in NY was to have a little waddle to Grand Central. My Parents gawped at the roof which is a huge painting of some of the constellations you can see in the New York night sky whilst I took my little brother to the 'Whispering Columns', where you talk to arches and the sound is reflected in some kind of magical way to the arch diagonal to you. It's quite weird and exciting to be honest.

We then walked over to times square. There were tons of people, it was hard to stay together in a large group. There were also alot of posers who'd follow you if you didn't tip. ALL THE ADVERTS ARE CRAZY.

This is a bad photo of the Empire State Building.

Finally, we wrapped round the back of grand central. It's huge. nuf' sed fam.

 

DAY 5

 

We woke up very early and took the subway down to the very Southern tip of Manhattan Island. We jumped on a boat, and went to the statue of liberty! 

to be honest, she's smaller then I thought she'd be (we can relate very well in this way).

 

Then we went to Ellis island which was sort of the old entrance to America. It was quite interesting to be honest, and wasn't too busy.

You also get great views of New York and New Jersey.

We went to the 9/11 memorial aswell. It's very eerie round there, whilst the city is booming with life, people just pause and spare a second to remember those who were lost in the tragic event.

The new world trade centre though dominates the skyline once more! The building is the tallest one on the skyline.

We took the subway back up to central park, and cooled down there again for a bit, and then went to the Rockerfeller. THEY HAVE A LEGO STORE WITH DOCTOR WHO MODELS!!!111!11!!!1!

It's very tall, and I think I'd have preferred it over The ESB because you get to see it.

My Camera is really bad but the night time views are just extraordinary. Go up after 10pm as it really hushes down. 

 

Day 6

 

Packed our bags and flew over to San Fransicsco! Where I am now typing this and saving it regularly because the internet is bad.

I also flew for the first time in business class. It was amazing. And I found a new appreciation for Brick from anchorman. He's just so good.

 

Restaurant count:

37 Dunkin' donuts

30 Starbucks

32 McDonalds

24 Subways

15 Burger Kings

12 Wendy's

5 KFCs

 

 

 

Interesting write-up, I wonder if the brands of root-beer vary, as the one I found was drinkable?

 

Enjoy your time and thanks for the updates.

I dunno, I just wasn't keen on any of it. Tanks for teh comment!

 

Thanks for the comment and likes guys, some more support is always welcome

 

If you see me post, I suggest you check back 3 hours later. It takes a long time to make these blog posts and I need to save it regularly during the editing otherwise they could just get lost due to bad internet.

 

[JoshC.]

Loving the report so far toofy; thanks for doing it!

I hope this 'hey I'm going here' on my topic doesn't become a thing... I didn't do it in anyone else's :/

Oh and hey, I'm going to Tesco today, really looking forward to it!!!

[planenut]

Nicely written, well done.

 

Not being one for cities or shopping, I made my main visit in Manhattan the Intrepid museum which is an aircraft carrier, on which there is an aircraft collection, a space shuttle, and then on the dock a Concorde and a submarine beside. I too went to the Grand Central Station to marvel at the architecture beneath.

[Kerfuffle]

AMERI-CAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

[kinnaird]

so damn jelly looks so good

[pognoi]

San Francisco

Day 1 - 4

 

So on our first day we did a big bus open top tour. You get these things in London, they’re brown and yellow. Very touristy.

There was very little really interesting until we got to the golden gate bridge. Apparently we were very lucky, seeing as there were no clouds or mist near the bridge. Even people who we met up with said they’d rarely saw it so clearly.

We went all the way down to Sausalito and then came back up on a tram bus. The driver was really depressing and started talking about suicide off of the bridge and how he’d have to pay $10,000 if he tried to commit suicide but survived and was caught. It was sort of disturbing how long he went on for.

Later that day we also went to Pier 39 which is basically an outside mall over water. With lots of seals. And jelly beans. 

I went to a left handed store and bought a mug with a hole in one side, so if you tipped it with your right hand you’d get whatever drinks in it all over your shirt. IT MAKES ME FEEL SO SPECIAL AND EVIL.

Then, as the sun slowly set, we headed to Alcatraz! A spooky messed up old prison that was used for the worst crime committers of America. 

The prison never reached capacity. That was probably a good thing because there were countless attempts to escape, and even an internal war that lasted for a while, with grenades, guns and a few deaths too.

The prison held scars of the prisoners aggression in everything. There was something eerie and not right about it.

Then, as the sun set, I went up to the hospital wing. This was the home of the Birdman, a notorious criminal, and also the home of many prisoners who fell ill and/or died. Again, the darkness and emptiness of this mass space was disturbing.

Then, we left the main building. Just as I went to take the picture below, my camera picked up a face in the window second from right. Then, I refocused, and it picked up another face 4 along as I took the picture. I was quite creeped out by that, and so left the island.

Looking out as I boarded the boat I got a sense of how isolated the island was and how horrid it must’ve been to stay there. There was the grabbing site of normal life continuing without you, and yet it was just a little too far to reach, alas 3 prisoners escaped and to this day are unaccounted for.

We then went to muir woods. The trees there were huge, and it was a calm tranquil escape from normal city life. 

The forest is home to the tallest and potentially some of the oldest trees on the planet. These trees are called coastal redwoods and can grow in excess of 400ft tall.

After, I finally dipped my feet in the pacific ocean! It was warm, and clear, but the area we went to had lots of rocks, and my little brother managed to dive right into one of them. It was still a great beach to body board at!

Finally, we drove up a near hill to the golden gate bridge, and admired the once more clear view. It was stunning (And they were filming the new terminator behind us!)

Driving down to LA from San Fran took a long time. We drove along the coastal highway with big sur, and all of those interesting things (at least to my parents) however the normal weather had finally set in, and most things were blocked out by mist. We did manage to see some dolphins though.

On our way down to LA we spotted no less, but probably more then 174 ford Mustangs and Shelbys. It was surprising how popular the car was. 

Los Angeles

Day 5

After a long 2 day journey we finally arrived at our awesome super posh and stuff hotel! I had this view from my room, here you can see the Hollywood sign, Beverly and Hollywood and some film studios! Those of you familiar with GTA V will also know that the building opposite my hotel was the FIB building :3

 

Having done nothing in the morning par talking to some friends, gathering some stuff for them and swimming in the pool here, we decided to head out to a mall. 

It was inside out, and reminded me a little of film sets and amity bay. there was a tram track, a water piece, and lots of British and colonial styled buildings.

Universal have done a good job on advertisement. Their posters are stylish and slick, and represent the attractions well!

We also visited the observatory! Here you get the closest views of the Hollywood sign but I don't have any to show

Just down the road from the parks private lane is Hollywood Blvd, with the walk of fame. We walked down there and there were an awful lot of low riding homesless people, scammers and tourists. Both of my brothers got caught by people handing out mix tapes of them rapping, where after they took the CD's they were bullied for money. Sometimes it helps being small because you can easily get away from that kinda person in a crowd. (I chose this star because this guy created the simpsons and has a name very similar to mine )

Then my family finally took me to Hard Rock Cafe! I've been begging to go to this place for the past 2 years or so, and it was great to finally be able to visit. The food was great, the drinks were great, the atmosphere was great! Everything was awesome!! I even got a shirt and a cocktail glass thing.

12 hours later, I was on the subway travelling towards Universal! 

 

Day 6

First ride of the day was The Simpsons! With my little brother. My older brother was too much of a whimp to go on it and used the excuse of 'it says don't go on if you have a heart condition.' One thing is I really enjoyed the first time we went on it, the video was great fun and the movements weren't too bad (I found I get quite queasy on theatre simulators). Now this is what I call a facade!

Then we headed over to Despicable Me, Minion Mayhem. I managed to somehow drag my whole family onto this one.

[spoilerS WILL HAPPEN LOTS IN THIS SECTION]

The start up show was really enjoyable, and I loved how the fart gun actually smelt of Banana's and how the minions go crazy and blah it was prefect blah.

Me and my little brother headed down to the lower lot where they had revenge of the mummy and transformers. Some may know I'm really not good with haunty ghosty spooky theming stuff, e.g. Saw indoors, tomb Blaster and I found myself being very nervous on the mummy. It was a comfort to see my little brother being even worse, and in the end the only thing that got me slightly spooked was the falling guards just before the launch. I found the layout really enjoyable and quite intense for a low lying ride, although I do think they could've maybe done a better job then just use cartoon like light ups during the ride. Maybe lasers that light up models that come in close encounter with the ride, to keep the intense and well done spook up. The turn tables and the scarab part both got me jumping for joy, and begging to ride again. My brother did leave a little puddle in his seat tho EW GROSS.

Then we headed to transformers. The movements were very very clever and you get completely engulfed in the ride. I love transformers and boy did I love the ride. The movements were perfect, the scenery fitted in well, the only problem was the cheesiness of Primes speech at the end of it, but hey, you gotta have it.

We then headed to water world. Again absolutely stunning, it reminded me of the old diving shows they had at Legoland, but with more explosions and more explosions and explosions. Lots of explosions.

We had some lunch at gru's cafe, (which was really good, but also very filling) and headed over to the studio tour! Again the whole family went on any oh my did we all enjoy it. They take you round live working sets, old scene setups from movies and it was incredible.

My favourite ones had to be the King Kong 360 which is where the tram stops in a black room, and then each side is half a cylinder, and there's something going on all around you. Sitting in the back carriage for this one was the best because the effect where one of the cars is pulled off by a t-rex, and this happens right behind you. Because the tram is also on rollers and moving floors, it feels like the car is being torn from behind you. so clever.

The other one I liked was the flash flood set. I actually thought for a second we were gonna get flooded in the tram until our tour guide (this whacky crazy awesome lady called Katie) told us what was happening. 

Finally, the main other thing I absolutely adored was the plane crash set, and the earth quake set by Speilberg. This took 3 months to build, 3 weeks to film but only featured in the movie it was in for 3 minutes (fank wu katie  ) The earthquake set was also fun, it reminded me a bit of the launch of the Superman Accelorator in Australia. Does this plane crash not look slightly like the Swarms? Maybe some inspiration there?

Me and my little brother did the Simpsons once more, but this time I found the experience alot less exciting and fun because of the theatres shape, all the effects curved in to our view which made it feel cheap compared to our first ride. We headed down to the lower lot and did Transformers once more, and got into a good situation and found ourselves queuing for 2 minutes in the single rider. In the end he backed out, he doesn't much enjoy the movies, but I stayed on and boy did I enjoy it. The animatronics seem a little off compared to the ones in revenge of the mummy and the super animations in their other attractions, but the ride was still spot on. I'd have loved to catch the ride when they still had the falling car effect. I got quite nervous on the lift hill (again, I'm rubbish with this kinda immersive scary scenery) and the wonderful lady sitting next to me assured me she'd ridden it 52 times before and that I shouldn't be nervous. Also she asked where I was from because of my sexy badass accent, as you do. 

The drop was great. I love how they hide it from your view, and the T-Rex is such a beast. I really enjoyed it, and was a great way to end my trip. 

I was slightly dissappointed we left so early but my brothers conditions started acting up so we needed to get him his medicine back at the hotel. I'd have loved to stay for the extra 5 hours but that's life  . I'll save the extra stuff and long hours for a trip with SCB in the near future! 

I got a quick snap of what they're building. Phill and I reckon it's a hogsmeade attraction (mostly Phill) but I think the park needs another rollercoaster. The building area though is huge, it takes up about a quarter of the upper lot.

Day 7

Finally, I spent the last day in LA chilling at the hotel, going to the beach, meeting up with old friends and agonizingly driving past both knott's and six flags. Again, I'll save them for another visit soon.

We arrived at Yosemite in the evening and I went on a selfie frenzy around a nice lake with fire nearby. This one is my fave :3

BONUS POST: I saw a bear this evening. NEVER AGAIN OKAY IT WAS SCARY AND DARK AND I WAS IN A CAR AND IT WAS HUGE.

 

Restaurant count-eh!

38 dunkin' donuts

45 McDonalds

41 Subway

23 Burger King

19 Wendy's

5 KFC

 

 

Loving the report so far toofy; thanks for doing it!


Oh and hey, I'm going to Tesco today, really looking forward to it!!!

Oh Josh, YOU!!

 

 

Nicely written, well done.

 

Not being one for cities or shopping, I made my main visit in Manhattan the Intrepid museum which is an aircraft carrier, on which there is an aircraft collection, a space shuttle, and then on the dock a Concorde and a submarine beside. I too went to the Grand Central Station to marvel at the architecture beneath.

~sigh~

 

AMERI-CAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

bleep YEAH!

 

 

so damn jelly looks so good

So damn, jelly looks good 

or

so damn jelly, looks good.

If its the first one what kind of jelly and is it on a paper plate. Green jelly's on paper plates are really cool.

 

 

2 More updates until I'm done. Plz bare wiv and keep this going by continuing your wonderful support

[planenut]

Phill and I reckon it's a hogsmeade attraction (mostly Phill)

 

I think you are right - check out what appear to be the gables.

[Mitchada04]

Not just that but also the fact the Universal have announced that they are opening a Harry Potter land for 2016 with Forbidden Journey and Hogsmeade we'll have to go Matt so you can experience it