Orlando Villas · Florida Dream Villa
Orlando Park Tickets · Florida Car Hire · US Domestic Car Rental · Florida Car Rental · Enhanced Roadside Assistance
Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Dad's Taxi Has Two Successful Days - Part 5

  1. #1
    Florida Chatterbox Dads_Taxi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Posts
    603

    Dad's Taxi Has Two Successful Days - Part 5

    Dad's Taxi's 2016 Trip, Part 5

    Friday morning we spend by the pool, once again the weather is amazing. I nip out to get some pizza for lunch, then we point the car East and drive to Titusville. At 1643 EDT there is a launch scheduled from Canaveral Air Force Station, it’s a SpaceX Falcon 9 cargo flight taking supplies to the International Space Station.

    We have a couple of destinations in mind. On our last trip we went to watch a similar launch (as reported here:

    http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...2%80%93-Part-9 ),

    which was aborted at T minus 25 minutes. We had found a great vantage point called Nicol Park on the US1 Highway, so that’s a possibility today. We also know a McDonalds that looks straight over at the Space Centre, which we discovered shortly after watching a shuttle launch in 2010, and consensus today is that it might be worth cooling down with a McFlurry whilst we wait, so we look it up on Google maps, get the address and pop it in Mary-Beth the SatNav. It was a very easy trip over to the coast, and once we were enjoying our ice creams we wandered around to find the best view over the water. To our amazement, alongside the McDonalds is a little park, Rotary River Front Park, with a fantastic view, and even has a pier on which quite a few people had already chosen their spots for watching the launch. This screen grab will show it better than I can describe:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Rotary_Park_Aerial_View.jpg 
Views:	132 
Size:	38.6 KB 
ID:	1194


    And so we joined them

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Rotary_Park_Pier.jpg 
Views:	130 
Size:	24.9 KB 
ID:	1195



    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	me on pier titusville_resize.jpg 
Views:	130 
Size:	41.0 KB 
ID:	1196



    We find a bench seat about halfway along the main pier, and make camp. We only have about 40 minutes to wait, which the girls pass by trying to poke a dead fish out from under the bench, and return it to the water! The fish (the ones that are alive) are an energetic bunch and keep us entertained by jumping up out of the water.

    I find a countdown clock on a website, and when it reaches zero we are perplexed, where’s the rocket? We hear a shout - “there it goes” and everyone on the pier simultaneously realises we’ve all been looking the wrong way! There is a mass shuffling of people and we see the rocket a few seconds into its flight.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Launch.jpg 
Views:	130 
Size:	5.5 KB 
ID:	1197



    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Launch-Close-up.jpg 
Views:	128 
Size:	9.6 KB 
ID:	1198



    After it has disappeared from view we go back into McDonalds to cool down, it’s a scorcher and we’ve become very hot on the pier. A large cold drink sorts us out, then we set off for our next mission - to buy a Prom Dress at the Florida Mall.

    Read on below……………
    Dave.


  2. #2
    Florida Chatterbox Dads_Taxi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Posts
    603

    Dad's Taxi Has Two Successful Days, Part 5 Continued

    Part 5 Continued

    The day has been extremely successful so far, and I’m pleased to report that our luck holds, and after trying on quite a lot of dresses, Georgia picked a dress for the school prom at JC Penny

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Prom_Dress_Shopping.jpg 
Views:	123 
Size:	37.0 KB 
ID:	1199


    I’m not going to spoil the surprise by including a photo of her in THE dress. Maybe I’ll add it in June.

    And as the Florida Mall closes, we quickly call at the dreaded Toys R Us. Kayleigh has $$$s in her purse and this is what she has been waiting for. I’m not at all impressed to be at Toys R Us at nearly 10pm

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Toys-R-Us-Night.jpg 
Views:	128 
Size:	22.7 KB 
ID:	1200


    This shouldn’t happen!

    It’s a short visit, thankfully, and it’s now after 10. By now we are all wishing we had eaten something at the McDonalds, all those hours ago. We make our way towards home, and there’s not a lot open apart from Denny’s, so we call into one on the 192 for a late meal. It is absolutely packed in there, and the service is painfully slow. By the time we leave it is after midnight, with tomorrow evening not likely to be much earlier.

    Saturday morning we have a much needed lie-in, then move out to the pool to sprawl and enjoy the weather. Late afternoon we drive up to the Rolling Oaks complex on the 192 and enjoy an early tea at Sweet Tomatoes. This is probably the most healthy meal I eat, ever - apart from the dessert, which is very chocolaty and yummy.

    Then we drive up the I4 to Universal Studios, which is very busy. I’m pleased to find that after 4pm parking is reduced to $5, that’s an unexpected bonus. Eventually we’re in a parking space, then we trek the mile or whatever it is to the Universal Studio park entrance. It is Mardi Gras time at Universal, and tonight British singer Jessie J is performing live in the park. The open air auditorium is not far from the entrance, and when we get there we deliberate over where to make camp to watch the show. There’s already a lot of people in position, but we find some barriers marking off a wheelchair area, and decide to stand behind them. It’s an excellent decision. Although there are people in mobility scooters right in front of us, we can easily see over them as we are standing. We settle down to wait for the show

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	jesse-j-show selfie_resize.jpg 
Views:	125 
Size:	34.6 KB 
ID:	1201


    The Mardi Gras parade was before the concert, and we realised that all we had to do was turn around and we got a great view of the parade too. A feature of this parade is that people on the floats throw colourful bead necklaces into the crowds along the route, and Kayleigh was lucky enough to catch 12, so she shared some with Georgia.

    Eventually the “warm-up” guy came on stage, only his warm up act comprised of throwing more beads into the crowd, and he had A LOT. Eventually it became clear that something was amiss, he was stalling for time, and he wasn’t even very good at it. He threw beads for about 20 minutes, the show was due to start at 8.30 and it was almost 9 when he ran out of beads and left the stage. You cannot believe the noise when, five minutes later, he came out on stage again with another arm full of beads! This didn’t go down well. The boos could be heard all over the park, I’m sure. Poor guy. He assured us that Jessie J had now arrived, didn’t bother throwing any more beads, he just legged it off the stage and a very apologetic Jessie J came on, and sounded so genuinely sorry to have been late that we all forgave her, and she did a cracking show.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Jessie-J-1.jpg 
Views:	128 
Size:	233.6 KB 
ID:	1202



    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Jessie-J-2.jpg 
Views:	128 
Size:	33.7 KB 
ID:	1203



    The show ran for the full intended 90 minutes, so it was after 1030 when she finished. I did laugh before the show started, the guy next to me mentioned to his wife that she probably didn’t have enough material to fill 90 minutes so being late would get her off the hook. As it turns out, she talks an awful lot between songs, I mean A LOT, so she easily filled the time.

    However the late finish, and the mile or so we had to walk back to the car, plus the drive back to Davenport, made yet another after-midnight end to the day. Tomorrow is Sunday, the weather forecast is excellent, and we will be doing very little.

    Last edited by Dads_Taxi; 29-04-2016 at 15:01. Reason: typo
    Dave.


  3. #3
    Gold 5 Star Member eagleydo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Surrey
    Posts
    2,839
    Loving the reports
    Jan


  4. #4
    Gold 5 Star Member SDJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Windwood Bay/Tavistock, Devon.
    Posts
    4,554
    Sounds like you made the most of every hour of the day!!


  5. #5
    Gold 5 Star Member E. Cosgrove's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    7,487
    I'm exhausted just reading that! We have been here 12 days have moved the car four times and used less than half a tank of fuel including the drive from Tampa!
    I remember the days when we did used to do everything though and I wonder how we managed it.
    I guess you are back home now but hope you had a truly amazing holiday and are now looking forward to the next one!
    PS I believe it's been snowing in Manchester!


    Liz


  6. #6
    Florida Chatterbox
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    441
    I agree with both Sandra & Liz, you certainly have been very busy.


  7. #7
    Florida Expert Madabouttigger's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    1,864
    looks fab, thanks for the tip on watching the shuttle launch.
    Diane.


  8. #8
    Florida Chatterbox Dads_Taxi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Posts
    603
    I've found the address for the park with the piers now, should anyone want to note it:

    4101 S Washington Ave, Titusville, FL 32780, United States
    Dave.


Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •