Nataliya and Seth's Orlando Vacation

We headed off to MGM, first thing in the morning. We were hoping to hit all the "big" attractions before our 6 PM Cirque du Soleil show. First stop was to get a Fastpass® to the attraction. Then it was on the Aerosmith Rock & Roll Roller Coaster to see if there was a wait.

A little background history: Nataliya is not a fan of rollar coasters and she was really not looking forward to this ride. When we first planned this vacation, she agreed to go on one rollar coaster while we were here. I didn't expect her to agree to go on this one, since it was very fast - 0-60 in 2.6 seconds to start the ride - and because it does go upside down. Regardless, she pushed forward, probably to just get her obligatory rollar coaster ride out of the way.

The Aerosmith Rock & Roll Roller Coaster was probably one of the best rides at Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, a demonstration of how stunts are performed on a movie set. Through several set changes and wardrobe changes, they performed a few scenes based on the first Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. For some scenes, they asked for volunteers to help as extras. Nataliya tried volunteering me, but i just wanted to sit there and enjoy the show.

Then it was on to Star Tours, based on the original Star Wars movie. The story idea of this ride is that you're going to take a nice shuttle ride (to Endor?), but the driver happens to be an irrisponsible droid who ends up getting you in the middle of a fight between rebel forces and imperial forces. Well, if it was just a shuttle ride, it probably wouldn't have been a fun ride.

Next was the Tower of Horror. It was okay. The idea here was that you went into an elevator that goes up and drops... and it does it again, and again. It's not as impressive as I'd hoped, but it was impressive enough for most everyone else, including Nataliya. As they do on other rides in all the themeparks, take snapshots of each crowd on a ride and try selling them. The picture of our crowd featured me looking over at this other woman sitting next to me, trying to figure out why she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

After all these rides, it was time for lunch! Nataliya had already chosen a place for us: The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant. It turned out to be an excellent choice! The inside of the restaurant is huge and dark. There's a movie screen in front and you sit side-by-side in booths that look like cars. While you dine, black and white movie previews from the 50's, cartoons, and intermission ads show on the movie screen, simulating the drive-in movie experience - without an actual movie. Although there were many children, the movie screen kept them and the restaurant otherwise quiet! Nataliya had a turkey sandwich while I had a vanilla milkshake and an "All-American Burger". We both recommend this place!

After Lunch, we were off and running again; this time to Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3-D show! I especially enjoyed this because I grew up watching the Muppet Show, so all the characters were familiar to me. Nataliya enjoyed this who as well as it's very well done.

Then I dragged Nataliya to go to Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. Well, I didn't exactly drag her, but it was something I really wanted to see. The best part is that the entire audience plays and anyone has a chance to sit in the "hot seat". There's no way you could get the correct answers fast enough, so Nataliya and I just pressed all four buttons on our keypads to get the best time. The fastest time was under a second and it was by some kid from Chicago in seat 313. He did alright, but he guessed wrong and defaulted to the 1000-point mark, winning a cap and five pins. The next winner was this kid's friend's father in seat 314. Coincidence, or is this contest fixed? Hmmmm... Anyway, he did a little better but he wasn't a rocket scientist. Another difference in this version of the game is the phone call "life-line" - instead of calling a friend, they call a booth in the park and they grab a complete stranger to help answer the question! I enjoyed this part, since I used to do that sort of thing in college - calling people and asking questions! We both recommend visiting this attraction. (Other than someone's stinky foot odor in a nearby seat,) it was a lot of fun.

We walked around the park for a little while, enjoying the sights and sounds of the park. Along the way, we snapped a few photos:

By this time, we'd pretty much hit everything we intended to hit, so we left and went to the Orlando Premium Outlets to look around. We didn't get anything, but we had fun looking around.

Then we were off to see Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba. Like all Cirque du Soleil shows, this one was amazing! If you've never seen one of these shows and get an opportunity to do so, it's worth the price of admission! The costumes are beautiful, and the performers are in such good physical condition that they turn aerobic and athletic feats into a beautiful combination of art and form. For most people trying to duplicate these things, every muscle in their bodies would tremble in disapproval.

In one scene of the show, one of the characters tried to change a lightbulb in a chandelier. Every time he'd stack a piece of furniture on the pile, the chandelier would rise higher. After many pieces of furniture are stacked higher than any sane person would even attempt to stack, the chandelier is reached and he changes the lightbulb! Of course, it's not enough to change the bulb, but he had to show off by supporting his weight on one hand. (photo)

Afterwards, we headed out for some dinner. (Watching that show made us hungry!) We decided to try Bongos Cuban Cafe (reviews). This Cuban restaurant is owned by Emilio and Gloria Estefan, and it sounded like a fun place to eat. However, while waiting, I wipped out my palmpilot and read the review I'd downloaded on Vindigo®: "...Sadly, the food does not match the fabulous decor. It's rediculously overpriced and overcooked, with servers that don't seem to care." Whoa! What a horrible review. I showed the review to the girl at the front and asked what she thought - of course she's going to say she disagreed with the review. We decided to go ahead and give the place a chance. Well, the review was wrong ... well, not exactly wrong - it was just incomplete. They forgot to add that the service was slow, the food was served cold, and the place was so loud that we couldn't hear each other even though we were sitting next to each other. Yes, the decor is nice, but we didn't need to eat there.

We walked around Downtown Disney for a while, stopping in a few stores but ultimately not buying anything. The entire area is set up as a parent trap - if you're there with kids, you'll eventually have to give in a buy stuff for them! The Lego Imagination Center was kind of cool, and Nataliya got friendly with a Lego cop as we made our way around. I particularly liked the 50-foot Lego Sea Serpent. After getting a few chocolate samples from Geralldi, we headed to Pleasure Island.

We wandered around a bit and went in to see an improv show at The Comedy Warehouse which tried to do their version of Whose Line Is It Anyway. It was amusing, but not as good as the tv version. :) Nataliya has taken a liking to improv so she especially liked the show. After the show, we hung around until midnight, since every night at midnight (weather permitting) at Pleasure Island is New Year's Eve, complete with fireworks!

Then it was back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......