Before coming to the States, what first comes to my mind when I think of the US is Disneyland. So how could we miss it! Managed to gather kev and raj, the only people left who haven't been to florida, to go there together over this weekend. Whee! On this first day we had only half a day so we popped by Kennedy Space Centre which resides on Merritt Island on the eastern side of Florida.
on the flight. There were some forest fires in the northern parts of florida, luckily it didn't affect our trip much! As we drove towards Orlando to pick up our Cirque du Soleil tickets, I felt this sense of familiarity looking at Florida. It was so much more similar to Singapore than say, Ohio. Must be the trees.. Having a tropical climate meant palm trees and those, i dont know, tropical trees and it really made me think of home.
There were also LOTS of insects. You know the scene in Man in Black where a bug flies and flies and goes smack into the windscreen as goo? It's true! We had tonnes of insects splattered over the front of our Dodge Calibre at the end of the drive. Really gross. As you drive you can actually see them flying towards their doom. After which you gotta use windshield liquid and attempt to wipe them off before they dry off.
There were also LOTS of insects. You know the scene in Man in Black where a bug flies and flies and goes smack into the windscreen as goo? It's true! We had tonnes of insects splattered over the front of our Dodge Calibre at the end of the drive. Really gross. As you drive you can actually see them flying towards their doom. After which you gotta use windshield liquid and attempt to wipe them off before they dry off.
Can't really see them? let me give you a closer look.
poor fellas.
sooo we reached the kennedy space center after ~1 hour's drive. It's kinda huge so we had to take their shuttle bus to different locations.
i was wondering what the guys were up to behind me.. they were laughing at my attempt to cut layered hair. =(
yup. space shuttley stuff.
yeah, unlike the one at the Smithsonian space and air museum in DC where they used mirrors to simulate what the back of a space shuttle looks like.. this is da real thing.
The space center was right next to the Blackpoint Wildlife Park so it was really interesting to see all kinds of birds and animals everywhere. We spotted this lil tortoise while on one of the shuttle buses. There are also many resident crocodiles in their drains and rivers.
the engine
the launch pad!
we were actually this far from the launch pad. A real pity there were no launches in May. It would have been AWESOME to witness a shuttle launch.
wilderness
we went to sit in this simulator.. gimmicky but fun!
shit i think i've put on a lot of weight since i've been back in spore. boo. I need less good food!
and so we left the centre to go to the Astronaut hall of fame which was just around the corner. Cos our tickets included admission there, and there is this g-force simulator ride there.
That's the ride. It's the 'G-Force Trainer that lets you feel the pressure of four times the force of gravity'. Basically it just turned round and round really fast and made me puke. Hey, i wasn't feeling well to begin with but I just wanted to try since we came all the way here. They have this bag in there and as the door opened the assistant peeped in and I was like, can I use this? bleeeargghh. Lucky guy ran away in time. Kevin sat in the ride after me so he wasn't so lucky. Looks like I can't be singapore's first astronaut.
photo isn't rotated.
After goofing around, we drove back to orlando and headed towards the disney area for our Cirque du Soleil show! Kev had caught one of them before so he went ahem, factory outlet shopping [the outlet there had lots of good stores, was it tag heuer or seiko..]
I was damn hungry so I bought a super overpriced drink-with-souvenir-cup + hotdog + chips set.
The show was fantastic! I liked it much better than 'O' that i caught in Vegas. 'O' was special cos it had water and diving and aqua ballet stuff.
The show was fantastic! I liked it much better than 'O' that i caught in Vegas. 'O' was special cos it had water and diving and aqua ballet stuff.
La Nouba was a lot more exciting cos it had so many different elements. The crowd's favorite has got to be the 4 chinese little girls who did acrobatic stunts while handling their diabolos:
i can still remember vividly the little dance they did. Not only did they perform the diabolo well, and did their acrobatic jumps and flips well, every little movement was synchronized, sharp and perfect. Down to their facial expressions to make you feel like they were truly enjoying themselves.There were also..
aerial ballet in silk
High wire act
German wheel
flying trapeze
balancing act on chairs
aerial cradle, bicycle stunts and powertrack/trampoline.
The powertrack/trampoline was another of my favorite acts. It featured the acrobats running up the walls of this building, and bouncing off them.. it was magic!
in front of the tent with my souvenir cup [it had free refills! how could i resist!] After which we drove through taco bell and got our dinner/supper before heading towards our Howard Johnson Inn to zzz.
