| Hi Donal,
Where abouts in Florida are you going? I used to live in Boca
Raton on the east coast. I think the west coast is a nicer place
for vacation. Of course, Disneyworld is the vacation capital of
the world. It shouldn't be too crowded in September. Check out
Digital's Magic Kingdom Club. You can get discounted tickets.
If you like water sports (diving, snorkeling, jet skiing), I would
go to the keys. Pennekamp Park in Key Largo is an underwater national
park. There is a coral reef where you can go snorkeling and diving.
The keys are different from the rest of Florida. No high rise hotels!
Julia -whose on her way to Florida today!!
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| Donal,
Cead mille Failte to America!
I haven't seen any notesfile about Florida or its major cities. Maybe
someone else can say if one exists.
Similar to Ireland, it all depends on what YOU want to see that
will determine where you should go.
First of all, Florida is a very loooong state from north to south!
About 400 miles or so from the border with Georgia to Key West,
which is about 100 miles more than it is from the Giant's Causeway to
Schull, in West Cork (forget Kerry!) :^)
The biggest attraction in Florida is Disney World/Epcot Center,
just southwest of Orlando, (which is about half way down the east
coast of Florida) - and that one spot is growing day by day! It's
only a little bigger than Bundorn. :^)
You could easily spend 4 or 5 days there doing both places.
The Disney World part is a huge fantasy amusement park with a gazillion rides
from all the great Disney movies. Epcot is, I guess the best description
would be, a cultural theme park, almost a World's Fair, if you will, of
pavilions from different countries exhibiting all their stuff and technologies.
Orlando also has a Seaworld with all sorts of denizens of the deep.
Including some fantastic shows performed by killer whales, and dolphins.
Plus the usual exhibitions of sharks and fishes called Wanda.
About 90+ miles southwest of Orlando is Tampa and a pretty large amusement/
animal theme park called Busch Gardens. Great rides, 360 degree roller coasters
and a safari park filled with lions and tigers and bears, oh my! :^)
If you don't have much time, then the Orlando-Tampa location will
give you more than enough to see and do for the time you have.
If you just want to mellow out on a beach, maybe get the flavor of the
Caribbean islands without leaving the U.S., do nothing but soak rays
by day, and consume frosty libations by night, and also see where Ernest
Hemingway used to hang out, then Key West, the archipelego islands at the
southern most tip of Florida is where you want to be. If you know how to
scuba dive, the coral formations and exotic tropical fish around there are
stunning (quite literally too! What out for Portugese Man-o-War jellyfish
and lion fish if you do that stuff!).
There are other places to see as well. If you are into history,
then a trip up to St. Augustine (about 130 miles north of
Orlando) might be interesting to you. It is the oldest city on
continental America, established by the Spanish in 1508 (?)
with a lot of buildings and forts exhibiting the architecture of the
time.
Hope this helps.
You know, After you've seen Florida it will be tough going back to dull,
drab, dreary, cloud-covered, rain-soaked, boring, old
"Great Britain". Then again, you'll get to see why that term, "G.B."
is such a profound oxymoron!
Joe Drotter (Ambassador, Tir na Nog), concert promoter, and
travel guide
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| The Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral) is on the east coast (about
half way up). Go to "Spaceport USA", and ride the double decker air conditioned
buses through parts of the space center. We saw both of the shuttle pads,
the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building), a couple of crawler/transporters, and a
nice space museum, plus got a closeup view of a Saturn IB, and a Saturn V
rocket. The VAB is so large that, if it wasn't air conditioned, clouds would
form inside.
You may even see alligators from the bus (if there are any aboard!).
It's well worth the trip. Stop by the Bonanza steak house in Titusville, and
have a steak and some ice cream, while looking out the window at the launch
gantries across the bay.
Randy
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| An update on Disney World/Epcot Center: someone I work with
told me that there are three additional (and apparently, seperate)
theme parks located there: Typhoon Lagoon, (a water park with all sorts
of water rides/slides/wave pool/boat rides/etc); Paradise Island,
(a complete, caribbean island resort); and one I forgot, an entire
Hollywood movie set back lot/MGM studio including tour of same.
|
| Yes, the Disney/MGM studio is being heavily advertised on TV, in certain
magazines (People?), and at your local (New England, anyway) McDonalds
restaurants.
Also, Epcot's World Showcase has at least one new pavilion, Norway, which
opened in the past year, with at least two more (one in WS, one in the
techy part (FutureWorld? - the health pavilion) under construction.
Rumors last year were that they're planning for a high-speed monorail to
and from the Orlando airport.
Randy
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| There is a notesfile for Florida that I have just recently discovered,
and since I am an ex-Floridian thats where I spend most of my noting
time... I believe its 2EASY::FLORIDA
You'll find lots of good info there and check out the Disney file that
someone else mentioned. They are both excellent!!!
I have just discovered this notesfile also, and since my
Grandfather,(John Walker) was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, I have an
interest in tracing my roots.
Also, my daughter is named Alayna, which is supposed to be Gaelic but
I'm trying to find out if that is really true.
regards,
Lynne
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