Team USA

[VCheng]

America the Beautiful: Manhattan viewed from the East River at dusk.

 

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Thunderstorm and lightning strike NYC:

 

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Sunrise over NYC:

 

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Moon over Empire State building:

 

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The famous yellow cabs:

 

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America the Beautiful: The East River at night.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Aquatica wave pool (stock photo)

Was at Aquatica yesterday. First time in a wave pool. Pretty cool. I was expecting a big wave every 30 seconds or something but this place has continuous medium sized waves (as the pic shows) for about 15 minutes and then they let people rest for 15 minutes and then it starts up again.

Aqua shoes are a must in Aquatica. They do have little water nozzles spraying the sidewalks in some areas to cool them off but you don’t want to be walking around without any shoes.

The food however has to be the absolute worst of ANY park I have been in

 

[VCheng]

America the Beautiful: The ferries of New York City.

 

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America the Beautiful: The New York Metropolitan Museum.

 

[Humble Analyst]

American ingenuity, nothing beats it

Peach caramel crunch with ice cream:

View attachment 570763

I wish I could eat that much desert.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

SeaWorld Orlando

Shamu Show (stock photo)

Dolphin Show (stock photo)

So SeaWorld Orlando is not that bad. The Killer Whale and dolphin shows are pretty nice. The food is edible (vs Aquatica’s being 100% CRAP) and if you make a reservation at one of their finer dining areas (instead of grabbing the mediocre fast food) it is actually pretty good.

Ignore the Universal stuff since this isn’t Universal

Didn’t go here for lunch but it looks very cool

The kids weren’t brave enough for the roller coasters but we did do the Infinity Falls raft ride. BTW They have these walk in dryer machines after you get off to supposedly help dry you out. I have to say they were pretty useless.

“Thunder” by Imagine Dragons and that “I’m going to touch the Sky” song play over and over.

Free phone charging stations a plus.

WiFi reception was solid around the park. No problem responding to PDF members flaming the SpaceX spacesuit thread (with Kashmir stuff! WTF??) while on the go. Certainly one of the strangest off-topic tangent threads I’ve ever been involved with here.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaWorld_Orlando

 

[VCheng]

America the Beautiful: Lines at the New York Met.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Discovery Cove Orlando

So this is the “swim with the dolphins” place. Certainly cool...but rather short. You get about an 80ft ride by holding onto the fins of a dolphin. Other than that you are pretty much limited to petting the dolphins like a dog.

Cool thing to do

This was really nice.

Food comes with admission. It was edible. Nothing spectacular. They were filling up the fresh-squeezed orange juice dispenser with a gallon of juice you get at Walmart (groan). Not sure about the WiFi since I put my phone in a locker.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Cove

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Busch Gardens (Tampa)

So this is a great place to view animals. They have lots. Orangutans, Chimps, Gorillas, Lions, White Tigers, Hyenas, Hippos, Elephants, Alligators, Crocodiles, Cheetahs, Kangaroos, tons of birds etc. You take a safari ride and pass by Giraffes (you get to feed them), Rhinos, Zebras, Antelopes, Gazelles, and other animals.

Feeding Giraffes on the Safari ride

Talked one of my kids into gong on the tamest roller coaster there.

Food was ok. Nothing memorable.

If you make reservations you can have an awesome lunch with a view...food was better than the fast food places but definitely not SeaWorld restaurant quality.

Free WiFi worked everywhere.
Only 1 cell phone charging area (WTF??).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busch_Gardens