On September 4, 1999, I went to Orlando, FL instead of Auckland, New Zealand with my wife. There, I attended the Cognos International User Conference to see the latest and greatest products I'll be working with in the next year. It was a week of hard work (honestly) but I still managed to play tourist. During my travels, I went to the Kennedy Space Center, Universal Studios, Sea World, and Epcot. Below are some pictures from this trip as well as some excerpts of e-mail messages I sent to Peggy in New Zealand.

I went to Cape Canveral today instead of Universal Studios because I haven't been there since I was a very small child and really wanted to go again. There was a general visitor's complex that has a few exhibits as well as an astronauts' memorial and a full scale mock up of the Space Shuttle. They also had a bus tour to pad 39 which has a nice view of pads 39a and 39b from where all space shuttles are launched, a Saturn V exibit which included a full scale Saturn V rocket (very big), and the International Space Station assembly area where we got to see actual modules being prepared for future launch. All in all, a very educational day.

The famous hangar that used to house the Saturn V rockets and now house the space shuttle fleet as they prepare for take off. The launch control area is in the foreground.

I do not consider myself a "flag waving patriot" but I have to admit that I feel a sense of it everytime I see the famous footage of the letters U - S - A go by during a Saturn V launch. This time, I got to take the picture myself.

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Today I went to Universal Studios. How can I describe it in one word? FIRE!!! They really like fire at Universal Studios. Whether it is blowing up a gas pump in the Twister exhibit, or Jaws setting off a fuel pipeline, or a bunch of machine gun wielding people in speedboats blowing up a fuel depot, they love their fire. In fact, it got quite warm during the Jaws ride which turned out to be one of the best exhibits they have. Back to the Future, T2-3D, and Twister were also very interesting.

They also had some good shows. They had a Blues Brothers concert where the Blues Brothers actually pulled up in the Blues Mobile (I have some good pictures of that); an Animal Actors show that had Benji and Beethoven in it among others; Beetlejeuse's Graveyard Revue which was a rock 'n roll revue starring Beetlejeuse, Frankenstein, the Bride of Frakenstein, Dracula, and the Phantom of the Opera; and a Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show.

Right away, I knew I was at Universal Studios. Just like in all their movies, you see the Universal symbol before anything else.

Elwood Blues, waving good bye from the Blues Mobile after a concert with his brother Jake.

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Sea World had some nice dolphin and sea lion exhibits but I was very impressed with the shark exhibit. They have a tube you go through at the bottom of the shark pool and you can see them swim all around you. I took a lot of pictures but they didn't come out very well because of the lighting. They also had good dolphin, sea lion, and (of course) orca shows.

You can tell Sea World is owned by Anheuser-Busch because I saw a lot of Buschisms that reminded me of my days at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. The guy constantly walking around with a broom and a dust pan, the two girls talking who each have a broom and a dust pan, the Anheuser-Busch hospitality house with the two free beers per person (which I really appreciated), and the Budweiser Clydesdales. However, they did have something that Busch Gardens never did and that was the complete Clydesdale hitch with dalmatian and all. I must say, I was more interested in the dog than the horses. I saw the horses millions of times at Busch Gardens.

Not only was Sea World a place to see ocean going animals but it was a place to touch them as well. Here you can see a dolphin exhibit where you can reach out to feed and touch.

The famous orcas of Sea World, which all seemed to be named Shamu for some reason.

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Epcot was fun but there seemed to be a lot of things under refurbishment. I don't think the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow is as young as it used to be. There was some good shows in the park including a show on Energy by Bill Nye the Science Guy and Ellen DeGeneres and a fireworks display you would have absolutely hated. (For those of you that don't know, Peggy HATES sounds that are above the volume of a casual conversation.)

The best part of Epcot was the "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" movie. It's a 3-D movie based upon the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and "Honey, I Blew Up the Baby" movies. The neat thing about this movie was they incorporated some effects into the theater itself such has having the theater rock a little when the baby picked up the audience, and having puffs of air go on your legs as thousands of duplicated mice scurry around the theater. There was also a funny scene when a boa constrictor flicks its tongue at your face but the best part was at the end. Of course, the audience was returned to its normal size but they blew up the dog. They closed the curtains on the stage but the dog poked his head through the curtain to look at the audience. At that point, the 25 foot mut sneezed and a mist was sprayed on the audience. I couldn't stop from laughing after that. If you get to Orlando, you have to try it out. It may have been the best attraction I went to this week.

The Epcot center piece. As you can see, they are preparing for a big Y2K bash.

Ah, yes. The famous gondolas of Orlando, FL. Where else can you get a picture of a romantic Venetian scene with a 500 foot golf ball in the background?

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