Wednesday, July 25, 2007

my florida adventure

last weekend, i went to florida (courtesy of my Ninang Aida who reads my blog) to see Universal Studios and Disneyworld. here's my story.

thursday, 3:45pm

i left the telos building with randy and mark. they're taking me to washington dulles international airport. my flight for orlando leaves at 5:40pm. i'm thrilled. i went down the van around 4:00pm and just walked straight to the inspection area. i already checked in online and i don't have any luggage with me. everything went well... until i arrived at my gate. they said the flight was delayed and will leave around 6:40.. then 7:20.. then 8:40.. then 9:30pm. crap! thankfully i bought a magazine after i had my dinner. it kept me company. then i thought i should've just brought my lapitapi. anyways, by 9:30, we were asked to board the plane. i got a window seat and a girl sat next to me. after sometime, the plane didn't even move a bit. then they said they are still waiting for instructions or whatever and we can't leave yet until they get the permission or something like that. i think it was the weather. so, i decided to take a short nap. it was already late. when i woke up, it was 11:00pm. i thought i was in orlando.. but to my surprise, i was still in DC. after 40 minutes or so, the plane took off. my flight was delayed for 6 hours. we arrived in orlando int'l airport around 2am friday. i waited for my ninang and her sister tita lyn to pick me up. and, well they got delayed too since some roads were closed. hahaha. i slept around 4 in the morning and hoped that i'll be up in 4 hours.

friday, 8:30am

i'm up. have to get ready fast. we went to Universal Studios Florida. of course i have to get a pix with the globe.


we made a right from the entrance and checked out the following:

1. Holywood: Terminator 2: 3-D
2. Kidzone: ET Adventure
3. World Expo: MIB Alien Attack
4. San Francisco/Amity: JAWS (just took a picture)
5. San Francisco/Amity: Earthquake
6. New York: Revenge of the Mummy
7. Production Central: Shrek 4-D
8. Holywood: Lucy - A Tribute (just took a picture with Lucy in the car)




around 4:00pm, we decided to transfer to the Islands of Adventure theme park. we passed by City Walk and took some pictures.

inside Islands of Adventure, we went left and visited the following:

9. Jurassic Park: Jurassic Park River Adventure (really cool)
10. The Lost Continent: The Eight Voyage of Sinbad (a show)
11. The Lost Continent: Poseidon's Fury (closed :'((
12. Seuss Landing: The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride (for kids!)
13. Seuss Landing: The Cat in the Hat (for kids too!)
14: Marvel Super Hero Island: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (winner!)


after Spider-Man, my ninang and i sat down for awhile while her nieces and nephews tried the Incredible Hulk Coaster. i didn't go with them since i saw three big loops and i know i can't take it. we saw some fireworks from where we're seated and just after a few minutes, they came back and we went back to home.

it was almost midnight when we got home. we slept and tried to get as much rest as we could for tomorrow is Epcot day.

saturday, mom's birthday

i woke up around 8:30am and took a quick bath before i had breakfast. ninang aida and i left around 10:00am and reached Disneyworld after a few minutes. Disneyworld in Florida has 4 theme parks - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM-Studios and Animal Kingdom. i told her i'd like to see Epcot instead of the Magic Kingdom since i was thinking it'll just a bigger version of what i saw in HK with myCoco. theme parks here has lotsa round shaped thingie. i had my pix taken on Spaceship Earth which is the icon of Epcot (says wikipedia).


our schedule says we'd go around future world first then we'll move to the world showcase.

first on our list was Spaceship Earth and well, it is closed and will re-open sometime November. crappy but no big deal. we passed by Innoventions and went to:
1. Universe of Energy: Ellen's Energy Adventure (cool, with dinosaurs and all)
2. Mission: SPACE (green team only.. can't take spinning so i took the lite version)
3. Test Track (just got a FASTPASS and will return later)
4. The Seas with Nemo and Friends: The Seas with Nemo and Friends
5. The Seas with Nemo and Friends: Sea Base (viewing area for the aquarium)
6. The Land: Living with the Land
7. Imagination: Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
8. Test Track (went back.. really fast cool ride.. i was a single-rider. ninang opted not to ride with me)

then rain.. rain.. while waiting for the rain to stop, we went to the character spot to have pictures with mickey. well, we got some bonuses.. they also have chip 'n dale, pluto, goofy and minnie! even after i had my pictures taken, the rain didn't stop. ninang bought some ponchos and we started walking again.. to the world showcase.

9. Mexico: Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
10. Norway: Maelstrom
11. China: Reflections of China

we just passed by Germany, Italy, American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, UK and Canada. it was still raining and it was hard to take pictures. we looked for a store where we could get souvenirs or something and stayed somewhere in the lagoon area near canada and waited for the fireworks - IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.

here's what ninang aida got for my little gabriel. i'm sure he'll like it. it's bigger than him though!


sunday

we went to Orlando Premium Outlet and heard mass in a nearby shrine. we had lunch at Florida Mall and headed for the airport afterwards. i'll fly from olrando to atlanta and atlanta to DC. my flight to atlanta was delayed for an hour or less (at least it wasn't 6 hours). reached atlanta before 7:00pm and boarded the plane to DC by 9:00pm. i was already in DC by 11:15pm and mike with pattie picked me up. i drove home to ashburn, virginia. by the way, my flight to atlanta was delayed because they closed all the gates and moved all flight schedules for some security thingie. i heard there was a bomb threat but it wasn't confirmed.

it was definitely a fun-filled, lotsa-stories-to-tell weekend.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

what's up with my babylove

almost everyday, myCoco sends me pictures of our little boy. he's really big and *kulit* now and i miss him terribly. i always chat with them though and whenever i'm out somewhere, dax calls me and i talk to gabriel on the phone. he usually makes some sounds and he cries at times. last monday was his 8th month. in 4 months, we'll be celebrating his first birthday. not sure yet on where we're goin to celebrate. maybe we'll get the outback kiddie party! right. time flies...
sleeping gabriel

gabriel in hat


trying to stand

being really cute


my july holiday and weekends

we've been going out a lot lately and I haven't updated my blog for quite some time already. now, I'm back with lots of stories and pictures from DC and New York!

July 4, 2007
nothing special, no fireworks even. since we went out on july 3 to watch Transformers, we all woke up late on the 4th of July. and after lunch, we just went to the mall to see what's on sale. i got some cute shirts from the disney store and it only costs $3 each! we all planned to watch fireworks that night somewhere in Leesburg but only the people from apt 103 saw it. why? we were on separate cars. they found the park and we got lost. first, we made the wrong turn. then, we drove and drove until it was too dark and the road was too narrow. it was so funny, we just watched silent hill in the apt a few days before that event. anyways, that's all i got for my first holiday here in the US.

July 7, 2007
our Washington, DC trip. we were supposed to leave early in the morning, but it was already past 9 when we left. we took the van and parked at the vienna station (metro) and took a train to DC. in 40 minutes, we were already on our stop in DC - federal triangle. we first went to the DC tourist information center (or something like that) and got our brochures, etc. then, we started our looonnngggg walk. first on our list was lunch. we found a food court and right after we ate, we went to the White House. it was too far.. and we keep on stopping to get pictures. from there, we went to see the washington monument, lincoln memorial, smithsonian castle (5 minutes), the capitol, museum of natural history (10 minutes with guards following us and guiding us to the exit) and everything in between. we weren't really paying attention as to what time it was that's why we weren't able to really go around and check out the museums - they close at 5:30, except for the museum of natural history which closes at 7:30. for me, DC = walking, no food, closing time. nice fun pictures though.

inside the metro - on our way to DC from vienna station to federal triangle

our first stop, the white house

at the lincoln memorial - such a long walk from the white house!

world war II memorial

the washington monument

smithsonian castle

at the capitol

see, still early and no more food!

on our way back to vienna

July 13-15, 2007
new york, new york. we left the office around 5:00 last friday and went back to the apt to get our stuffs for our weekend trip to NY. we left the place and headed to vienna again. our bus to NY will come from DC and since we already went to DC the week before, i would think that we are already experts in taking the metro! this time, our stop was gallery place - chinatown.

we reached the bus station around 7:00pm and we were supposed to leave around 7:50 but, we boarded the bus at 9:30pm and left for NY at 10:00. crappers. if it wasn't too expensive, i would have chosen to take train (amtrak). we reached downtown NY (this is where chinatown is) by 2:00am. my friend from college, edwin, picked me up. i'll be staying with him and he's in charge of my NY tour. we slept around 4 in the morning and woke up early to get breakfast at the hotel. after that, we got our all-loop-tours ticket from gray line (thanks, edwin!), took the downtown tour in a double decker bus and went down somewhere near the ferry terminal/station to see the statue of liberty and ellis island. we passed by 5th avenue, wall street, the empire state and a lot more. the double decker bus is soooo cool (and hot)! as we were approaching liberty island, i was so excited! then, i got the surprise of my life, lady liberty is green and not too big. oh well. seeing her still gave me a different kind of feeling. never did i imagine that i'd be in new york this year. edwin and i also saw edmar there! small world.

we went to ellis island afterwards.

around 3:00pm, we decided to eat. we walked from the chinatown bus stop and went to little italy. yummy. i bet dax won't enjoy much, he's not a pasta fan. after that, we went back to the bus stop to see the rockefeller center. we decided to go see NY at night at the top of the rock instead of going up on top of the empire state. my reason - i wan to see empire state. i'm sure it's still a different feeling when you're IN empire state, well i can do that when dax (and maybe gabriel!) is with me :) we heard mass first in st. patrick's cathedral (very beautiful church) then we spent hours at the top of the rock while we waited for the sun to set. but unfortunately, it was 845 and it still wasn't dark. we decided to go down and get the night loop tour - which we did not regret. manhattan at night is beautiful. we toured brooklyn and after going around downtown, we went back to midtown manhattan and stayed in times square until maybe 1:00am and went to see macy's (closed), empire state and madison square garden. we went back to the hotel after that. we were already too tired and sleepy.


we woke up later on the 15th but still were able to have the hotel breakfast. dax would be envious, i always get something like the big breakfast from mc donald's. oh yeah, no hash browns, he wouldn't like it very much then. our plan for today was to check ground zero and then get the uptown loop tour (and maybe get some gray's papaya's meal which was strongly recommended by dax - he hasn't tried it yet, don't know why he keeps on telling me to eat there). anyways, we took the subway (and got lost) to ground zero. it was under construction so you really won't see anything there. we decided to go to central park then and maybe have lunch.

we took the uptown tour and had lunch in a japanese resto somewhere in central park west. i was already running out of time so we went back to times square 'cus i wanted to go back to hershey's and mnmsworld. i also want to see the wax museum and ripley's. but like i said, i didn't have much time so i just got gabriel a really cute shirt from mnnmsworld and took a cab to the bus station in chinatown. our trip back to DC was more than 4 hours. when we reached DC, we got dinner in a chinese resto and took the last train to vienna. we reached the apartment around 1:00am.

waking up for monday morning office was tooooo hard.

next, i'll be in florida! i'll go see universal studios and epcot (thanks to my ninang aida!). wipeeee! after florida, i think we'll go back to DC to check our the museums or maybe georgetown.