Spook Hill & Florida's Natural

Today we drove about 25 miles south of Theme World to see a couple of items of interest in Lake Wales, Florida.

The first place we found was Spook Hill...located on a street that appears to slope downhill initially and then turn into a steep uphill. When cars stop on the downhill part and shift into neutral, they will actually roll backwards up to the beginning of the street. Legend has it...

Looking at Spook Hill from a distance.

The street appears to be heading downhill up to the bushes, but cars will mysteriously roll backwards as if the street is actually uphill at this point. This picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Here's a video in which we attempted to capture the essence of Spook Hill.
As The Travel Channel has pointed out, there are several such Spook Hills around the United States. Each is actually an optical illusion whereby observers are somewhat disoriented by the surroundings into believing the street is going downhill in a certain place when in fact it is not. Thus cars roll in the direction opposite what the observer would think they would.

After Spook Hill, we headed over to Florida's Natural Orange Juice Visitor Center for some free orange juice, raspberry lemonade, grapefruit and grapefruit cranberry juice.

Neither of us cared for the grapefruit juices. All the visitor center's interactive displays and movies were not operating due to a recent lightning strike. So if we really want to know about Florida's Natural Orange Juice, we will have to return in the future.

For a few more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/november/spook-hill-floridas/ .

To be continued...

Disney's Animal Kingdom Visit #1

Today we decided to go check out Disney's Animal Kingdom. We had visited before in 1999 when the park was only one year old...several attractions have been added since then.

The Tree of Life is an original focal point of the park. If you look really close, you can see the animals "carved" into the tree.

Expedition Everest is a great rollercoaster which debuted in 2006.

These are a couple of attractions that debuted long ago. Pluto-like dogs arrived on the scene in 1930 but Pluto first appeared as Mickey's dog in 1931. Goofy was originally Dippy Dawg when he debuted in 1932 but was named Goofy in 1934 at the same time Donald Duck and Clara Duck (who's that?) were introduced.

This guy was around as little as 65 million years ago. He is now part of Animal Kingdom's Dinosaur ride.

On the Kilimanjaro Safari we spotted this fuel-guzzling creature off in the distance.

For some odd reason, we only took one picture of animals on the Safari. Have no fear, we will probably be back for more.

As we were leaving the park today, our cousin---several times removed---decided to entertain us a little.

We caught him in action in this very short video.
For more pictures of Animal Kingdom, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/november/disneysanimalkingdo/ .

To be continued...

Disney MGM Studios Visit #1

Today we headed to Disney's MGM Studios.

Here we visited Munchkin Land on The Great Movie Ride.

Then Marlon stopped long enough for a quick picture in case The Tower of Terror (in the background) claims him as another victim.

Having survived The Tower of Terror we head on over to the Rock 'N' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.

As we were getting ready to leave the park at dusk, we happened upon The Osborne Family Dancing Spectacle of Lights.

This unique display features more than 5 million lights dancing to Christmas music.

The lights originated in Little Rock, Arkansas in the mid '80s at The Osborne Family home. However, neighbors took the Osborne family to court several times (including the United States Supreme Court) regarding the lights. Disney heard the story and offered to move the lights to Florida.

Watch footage of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and The Osborne Family Dancing Spectacle of Lights below.

For a few more pictures from Disney MGM Studios, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/november/mgmstudiosorlandovisit1/ .

To be continued...

Epcot Visit #1

Today we headed to Disney's EPCOT. The park, which opened in 1982, is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The first attraction we visited was The Universe of Energy where Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye "The Science Guy" take you on a trip through time to the land of dinos to learn about the origins of energy.

Over in The Land at Epcot, you take a boat ride through the Epcot greenhouse. Here they grow fruits and vegetables using the most modern techniques existing today.

This tomato tree, which has grown from a SINGLE vine, has yielded more than 32,000 tomatoes in its life---a world record! For more info on the greenhouse and the wide varieties of produce grown there visit http://www.wdwnews.com/ViewPressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=100253 .

Then we headed over to The Seas to see if we could help find Nemo...again!

Luckily, we WERE able to find him.

Marlon takes a break along a test dummy outside Test Track, a simulation of the road tests new cars are put through prior to being shipped for sale.

Then it was on to Mexico where we found these mariachi-playing skeletons.

Over in Italy, Marlon was excited to be chosen as the "young" hero of Romeo and Juliet. In the words of the Epcot cast members "we're looking for someone about 16 years of age...this one's seen 16 a few times over."

After his experience in acting, Marlon has decided to stick with his day job...whatever THAT is.

Here the sun begins to set over the Epcot lagoon.

The State of Oklahoma celebrates its 100th anniversary as a state this year and proud representatives of the state are at Epcot to provide tourism information.

The fountains at Epcot take on a whole different look at night.

Looking for a highlight video of our visit to Epcot? Here it is!

For more of our visit, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/november/epcotvisit1/ .

To be continued...

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios

Tonight we attended Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights which runs through Saturday. Unlike Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, Halloween Horror Nights prohibited ticket holders to wear costumes.

The entrance set up to enter was inhabited by fog and spooky music.

The first stop of the night was at the stage for Jack's Carnival of Carnage. This was the first indication that, no, the event was NOT geared towards children.

There were eight different haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights. Some were based on movies: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dead Silence: The Curse of Mary Shaw & The Thing were a few. Not based on movies, there was Vampyre Blood Bath, Psychoscarepy: Home for the Holidays and this one: Jack's Funhouse in Clown-O-Vision---a haunted house in 3-D!

Marlon prepares for his mission at the Men In Black attraction.

Haunted houses would not be complete without Freddy...

or Jason...

or Marlon and this tall scary woman.

Then there's Jaws ready to swallow Doug whole.

Outside the park is the scariness of The Hard Rock Cafe.

Marlon put together a neat video of a few of the attractions at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. View it below.

For more pictures, go to http://public.fotki.com/Marlonfleenor/1/2007/november/universal-studios-h/ .

To be continued...