2015 Day 12 - The long drive!

We set off from Atlanta just after 9 this morning.  With 450+ miles to do it was going to be a long day.  We stopped just after 10 for a McDonalds breakfast.  Once full it didn't take long for Sarah to start snoring gently in the back of the car.   Stephen followed not much later.

The journey down through Georgia was easy once we got out of Atlanta.  Georgia is known as the peach state and there were lots of signs advertising peaches and peach flavoured things for sale, along with pecans.  We also passed (what we now know was) peanut fields.

314 miles straight road, no turn offs!!  440 miles to destination.

A peach water tower!

We carried on south until we hit the Florida state border and pulled in to the rest stop and tourist centre to have our picnic lunch.
Then it started to rain.   Then turned to torrential rain and thunderstorm as we headed on down the interstate.  Very scary. So much rain! We managed to catch 2 more storms before we got to the Orlando area.  Obviously making up for the lack of rain over the past 11 days, and some!

Then the traffic came to a standstill on the i4.  We decided to ignore the sat nav and find our own way down I Drive.  Took us about an hour to do the remaining 12 miles to the villa.  A bit frustrating after being on the road all that time.

Stephen, as predicted, was straight in the pool.  We made a cup of tea and then Keith and I went to Publix to get some food for dinner.  Cooked chicken, salad and rolls, milk, fruit juice and fruit and breakfast stuff.

The kids then went into the pool for swim.

The villa looks fantastic, open plan and spacious, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms plus 2 extra toilets - hmm should be enough for 4 of us! large lanai, and inviting pool overlooking a small lake and conservation area. Most importantly it has an english style kettle!!!

Looks like the weather hasn't been too good in the Orlando/Tampa area this week, lots of rain. Should clear by end of the week.  Not to worry, it means when it is dry its quite a comfortable temperature.

Off to bed now.  Will see what tomorrow brings.

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2015 Day 11 - Six Flags over Georgia

We had our breakfast in 'the girls room' this morning before getting ready for today's park.

SFoG was about 4 miles from the hotel and after the short journey we were pulling into an almost empty car park.  We walked across to the entrance and found more cars using another part of the parking lot! Not so quiet then!

We were quickly through with our annual passes and after spending a dollar in a locker to store our belongings for an hour (bit of a rip off!),  we joined a small queue for the standup coaster 'Scorcher'. Although fairly unexciting it was very smooth.

We moved on to the next section of the park and purchased another locker!  The parks tallest coaster is Goliath, similar in design to Apollos Chariot, Busch Gardens,  and Intimidator rides.  It was a good coaster but for us, I think, we've been well and truly spoilt by other coasters this week.

Dare Devil Dive Coaster was next, similar to Saw at Thorpe Park but 3 rows of 2 sests per car.  It looked like a small queue, but it quite quickly became apparent it was very dlow moving.  The sun was very hot already and it was very uncomfortable in the queue line.  There was only one car on the track at anyone time,  which in practice made its thoughput about 6 people every 2-3mins.  We waited about an hour.  The only reason we could think of for this was maybe being of the same model as Smiler,  Alton Towers, guidelines had been set for how many cars on track.  The staff didn't seem very customer friendly and seemed to hold up the queue even longer by spending more time looking for single riders to fill spaces than it would have taken to get the car on its way.  We may have been spoilt by fast passes too this week, which we did have today.

Once we got off we headed for some much needed drinks.  Refreshed we went on the hunt for more coasters.  Keith, Sarah and Stephen went on Ninja, a corkscrew headbanger, then we all did the wooden coaster,  Great American Scream Machine, a bit rough but ok.

Ninja

We were already starting to flag with the weather today.   Forecast was for 96f and by hslf twelve it was getting tough.

After more drinks the others headed for Superman Ultimate Flight.   They all enjoyed this flying coaster, best one of the week, same manufacturer as Air and Manta.

After looking at the map, and thinking about the heat we weren't coping with, we headed for 2 last coasters.  Mindbender, I think, had a long queue and Batman the ride was down with technical difficulties.

It was half 2, we'd had enough.  It was too hot.  We had a quick look round some shops and uninspired left empty handed.

Don't regret doing the parks as we have wanted to visit for years and would always have wondered, but a shame really, altho there were some nice rides here we have been left a little underwhelmed by our Six Flag's experience.  Maybe cooler weather or purchasing Flash Passes may have helped.   Don't know how other Six Flags Parks would compare?  Certainly for us the other 3 parks were better.

We went back to the hotel and had a much needed swim and rest, then headed out for dinner at Ruby Tuesday.

The water in the pool was heated but it was in the shade and it was just what we needed!

The car has a weather app that showed '93f, feels like 101f', and an outside temperature showing 96f at 3.30pm.

Tomorrow is the big drive to Orlando.

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2015 Day 10 - Journey to Atlanta !!

Today was a car day.  Four and a half hour plus journey.

We said a sad goodbye to Carowinds as we left the Charlotte area and headed SW.

I wasn't feeling too good this morning so we set off with the intention of stopping for breakfast en-route.  Stephen wasn't feeling great either so we ended up carrying on til we stopped about an hr short of Atlanta at an Applebees, where we had a couple of appetisers and sides to share.  I will get the food blog updated sometime. Have been taking pictures.

Roads were lovely, quiet, wide and pleasant, til we got to Atlanta were it got really busy.  There were roads and bridges and lanes joining and leaving the interstate everywhere, and as for speed limits, we seemed to be the only ones slow enough to come anywhere near it!  Did breathe a big sigh of relief when we got out the other side.

The hotel was one of Keith's points freebies, Candlewood suites.  These turned out to be one larger than average rooms, with a 2 ring hob, microwave, full size fridge freezer and dishwasher.  Very comfortable.

Although Stephen and I were feeling better, Sarah now had the same symptoms that I had had earlier and took herself off to bed.  To be honest, with the heat etc I was surprised we hadn't felt unwell earlier in the holiday.

The plan had been to go to Six Flags over Georgia this evening to get a start on some of the rides but we decided to scrap that and relax instead.  As well as Sarah feeling unwell I think we all felt 'over coastered' and also felt that we had already seen the best.  SFoG had a lot to do to beat our last 3 parks.

Keith and I went to Walmarts, unfortunately we missed it and went straight passed then got caught in a thunder storm, with the rain coming down soo hard we could hardly see the car in front.  We pulled over into a car park to wait it out before retracing our path.  I do love a good storm, just not when driving!  We grabbed some breakfast goodies at Walmart - croissants, ham, cheese, juice etc and popped them back to the hotel ready for tomorrow, before heading out again to get Domino's Pizza to eat 'back home'!

About 9pm I took Stephen down to the outdoor pool for a swim.  It was lovely and warm and we had it to ourselves.  We spent a nice half hour chatting and swimming before we dripped our way back to our rooms.

Another hot day, mostly sunshine,  but with our first rain!  I'm sure we'll see more of that in Florida. We still haven't got used to the blast of heat and himidity that hits you every time you go outside.  Thank goodness for air conditioning.

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2015 Day 9 - Carowinds - we came, we rode, we conquered!

Ok, so today was all about the coasters.  Carowinds has 13 coasters.

We were a bit later getting up today, but after a light complimentary hotel breakfast, we were suncreamed and driving into the parking lot at 10am.

One of the parks coasters, a wooden racing coaster was having it's last day of operaion today.  So thinking it might get busy there later in the day we decided to make it our first stop.  Although they were testing the second side, there was only one side actually running.    No fast pass option here, it took about 30 mins til it was our turn.  The young man operating it was doing a fab job at encouraging the crowd to join in and make it a bit of a celebration.  Just as we were waiting to board, he asked if anyone was from out of town, he'd asked earlier and thought Florida was a long way to come to ride coasters,  anyway I put my hand up and said we were from England!  He was really surprised and got the whole station full of people to cheer and clap the English family,  I thought it was funny, Stephen though was not too keen :)

Seems a shame they are closing this, it was a good ride and reasonably smooth for a woodie - especially compared to some we have ridden this week.

The inverted (hanging) coaster Afterburn was next.  The park wasn't as busy as last night but we used the fast passes as it helped to keep us from queuing in the sun.  The forecast was for 93f today, no breeze and no cloud!

Sarah and Keith decided to be brave and ride Windseeker, a 301 ft high tower swinger.  They said it was good and the view was fab.

yep! they were on there!! 300ft up!!

Boo Blasters, interactive family dark ride was ok but some of the laser guns didn't appear very responsive.  Back on the coasters, Carolina Cobra was an older style boomeramg ride which pulls you backwards out of the station up a hill then lets go and you drop forward at speed though the station into a cobra roll, a loop an up a ramp next to the start hill.  A lift grabs the car and pulls you up to the top then drops you, backwards, through all the elements.

Carolina Cyclone was another older style coaster that the others went on, with a double loop and a double corkscrew.  Bit of a bone shaker.

The Hurler is very similar to the one at Kings Dominion, but Stephen and I especially, quite like wooden coasters as long as they don't shake you around too much, this one was ok.

Time to brave our biggest coaster of the week.  Stephen and I were nervous, 325 ft, 90 mph, and only lap bars!!   The fast passes meant we didn't have to wait in the station, we were up the steps and straight on the next car. Up the lift hill quite quickly, I kept thinking surely we must have got there? Down the first drop and we started to smile. Oh wow, super smooth, super fast, lots of air time after the turn around, loved it, new favourite ride time!  We were so excited when we got off we went straight back for another go.

The other big coaster here is Intimidator.   We rode Intimidator 325 a couple of days ago at Kings Dominion.  Carowinds version is 'only' 232 ft, but without the killer g-forces that affected 3, this one is great and very re-rideable.

Night Hawk is the parks flying coaster,  I can't really ride flying coasters so left the others to it.  They weren't impressed with it, too rough.  They also rode Vortex, a stand up coaster.

 Keith and I had a ride up the viewing tower to get some aerial shots of the park.

Charlotte city skyline

We were getting hot and tired now so had one more go on Fury before hitting the shops for souvenirs. We got our hands stamped at the exit as the plan was to come back later to ride in the dark, park open til 10pm.

 

 

The hotel was just across the road, still driving distance,  but after a couple of hours rest we headed back just before 7.  We rode Fury, Intimidator, Afterburn, and Hurler before it got dark, then made sure we did Fury and Intimidator when the sun went down.  These two really are fantastic rides. Think the boys managed 7 rides on each today.  Sarah and I weren't far behind on 6 and 5.

We left the park about 9.45 and stopped at Culvers, a fast food place next to the hotel.  All food was freshly cooked amd bought out to our table.  Really nice.

Feeling full and shattered and headed for bed.

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