Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Bacon Butty Man on 19 November 2008, 17:49:22
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If you are going to Florida for a holiday then DONT, Change it to some where else while you can.
I just got back from two dissapointing weeks in Florida.
reasons not to go
Disneyland is for people with children under 6 only.
Each park has an average of two roller Coasters in each park, inc universal studios.
Food is crap, stodgy, fatty fast food outlets every 5 yards and i mean that, i swear you say, oh look a Dennys diner, then next door another similar place and on n on n on n on , International drive has as many crappy diners as Blackpool has slot machines.
Florida is expensive too, ok the fuel is only $2.00 a gallon but apart from that its expensive, We went to wallmart for shopping, a tin of wallmarts own beans $1.56, PG Tips T bags $4.99 (80's). a small jar coffee $5.50, multi pack of 12 crisps $4.99, and so on, a 1.2 kg joint of brisket $19.00, i know you have the exchange rate etc but even so, its still expensive.
They serve macdonalds burgers on Scones, ok they call them Biscuits, but its still a bloody scone.
Universal stusios was a let down, apart from the Hulk ride and the spiderman ride (if thats what you want to call it) all the other rides where pointless.
Jurrassic park ride was about as scary as an 18 year old kid in a vauxhall nova reving his lawn mower of an engine at the traffic lights next to my v6.
i am not kidding you, Florida was a big let down, i booked this holiday 13 months ago and was really lookig for ward to all the rides and attractions etc, but the place was so expensive that my £1500 spending money was not enough, if we ate out every meal which is what we thought we would have died of malnutrition and all come back as bloaters. if it were not for kellogs cornflakes and crispies n campbells chunky soupswe would have starved,
my wife thought she would treat herself to a chinese take away, we asked if they could deliver it to which they said yes, this meal cost $21 for 1, the owner delivered the meal to our hotel room in the Quality Inn International, we paid and the woman counted the money and shreiked (WHAT, NO TEEEP), i imidiately traslated this to WHAT NO TIP?? to which i said oh, er yes sorry, i'll give you a tip, dont forget to change the water pump when you change the cam belt on an omega, she looked at me oddly when i slammed the door in the cheeky wenches face, i thought cheeky sod.
the Virgin rep said they expect a 12-15% tip and its the standard norm, i said, i dont tip people for doing their job. barmen, taxi drivers or any one, NO TIP.
have i mentioned the food is crap.
its not cheap for clothes either, i bought my daughter a pair of reboks before we went for £18, the same shoes in the outlets were $85. i am going to pause this rant but if you aske the bbm to recomments the fun parks in florida you will be waiting a long time, square pound for pound the blackpool pleasure beach has more rides and attractions than disney/universal put to gether
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You had a good time, then? :y
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nowhere is better than your home :y
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I like the title, the uk is also a good place to live, people moan and groan about it but do nothing, if its such a bad place then move away as many people have done.
There are far worse places.
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A friend of mine (a Florida resident) once said, when I announced I was staying in the Holiday Inn on International drive, that everyone finds themselves on International Drive, Orlando once in their life - and normally only once, for a very good reason.
My opinion of the US is that the only places worth visiting are the places of natural beauty. Precious few of them in Orlando unfortunately.
Kevin
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A friend of mine (a Florida resident) once said, when I announced I was staying in the Holiday Inn on International drive, that everyone finds themselves on International Drive, Orlando once in their life - and normally only once, for a very good reason.
My opinion of the US is that the only places worth visiting are the places of natural beauty. Precious few of them in Orlando unfortunately.
Kevin
And the airport to get out. ;D
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baconbuttyman and Miggy, can you please resize your Avatars :y :y
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A friend of mine (a Florida resident) once said, when I announced I was staying in the Holiday Inn on International drive, that everyone finds themselves on International Drive, Orlando once in their life - and normally only once, for a very good reason.
My opinion of the US is that the only places worth visiting are the places of natural beauty. Precious few of them in Orlando unfortunately.
Kevin
Lived in USA 6yrs nr Chicago ! So Been there done it bought the T shirt etc, some 30 yrs ago & have to say US is great for sight seeing (but not a holiday like in Spain/Greece etc ) Its not geared for that & i guess it will now be a rip off resort (it wern't back then, but then having lived there stayed in accomadation out of the area..
PS .... there is cheap goods there though just not in places like Orlando ! need to go to non resort typo cities/towns i'm afraid..It happens in Europe too in your Benidorms/ Blackpools /Amsterdams /
Paris etc unfortunately :-/
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baconbuttyman and Miggy, can you please resize your Avatars :y :y
Hows that
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one of the highlights was hiring a 3.7L jeep for the 2 weeks, lovely car but was nice to collect the mig from the airport.
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the Virgin rep said they expect a 12-15% tip and its the standard norm, i said, i dont tip people for doing their job. barmen, taxi drivers or any one, NO TIP.
Your not getting in my cab then!! ;D ;)
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A friend of mine (a Florida resident) once said, when I announced I was staying in the Holiday Inn on International drive, that everyone finds themselves on International Drive, Orlando once in their life - and normally only once, for a very good reason.
My opinion of the US is that the only places worth visiting are the places of natural beauty. Precious few of them in Orlando unfortunately.
Kevin
:yquite agree,partial to New England myself,although havent seen much of the rest,its so big. :y
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Didn't see any launches then?
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:yquite agree,partial to New England myself,although havent seen much of the rest,its so big. :y
Did a skiing holiday in Vermont and it is pretty round there. Most of the snow was artificial, unfortunately.
Kevin
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I asked a friend to get me some clothes for my soon to be expected son a few years ago. Of course, she was staying on the Keys and went to Gap. Cost me an absolute fortune compared to what I'd pay here.., but well, it was a silly idea of mine as of course she'd pay more being on holiday (trapped audience etc) and not knowing the best places to go to for good value like u do here.
I think, unfortunately, going somewhere like International Drive and expecting cheap prices (when everyone who is ordering stuff is gonna be a 'trapped audience' tourist and so prices will be higher) falls into the same trap.
I know for a fact, when I was thinking of going to the US for a while, and I looked in Walmart for comparison prices to Asda's here for Christmas presents for the kids.., they were the same in Dollars as they were in pounds here.., which obviously means half the price.
Of course it does not justify the fact that prices may be raised on International Drive.., but to some degree u have to be prepared.
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You have to rememeber that you went to a tourist trap and thus the prices are horrendous. The cheap places to get things are rarely in these areas you have to Outlet Malls and shops. As Willyboy will contest there are many of these in Chicago for example but none in the center of the city (I love that place and go back every year at least once)
I also regularly go to Hawaii and you wont find anything cheap in Waikiki and Honolulu all the cheap stuff is in Eva Beach Outlets and the like.
An I will never forget going to Branson MI (long story) and getting fitted out with a quality fly rod, reel, backing, leader, flies, vest, net and DVD on casting for $200. The next few days were spent chasing trout and having a blast.
I think its all about Expectation Management and as for cost the exchange rate is going south :(
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In 2004 I went out to Detroit MI. I was right on the Canadian border. It's a different world to the tourist cr@p you saw. Yes there are KFC, McD's, Taco Bell, etc BUT they are NOT every other shop/store. WallMart, You can buy anything from a lightbulb to a HUNTING RIFLE. Buses, few and far between, so you have to drive.
When I arrived to the May they were just getting over the last snow falls. ie COLD. when i left in the August they were having 100oF
I tried to get a visa to emigrate but had some problems with that. But I all honesty I would go back out tomorrow if I had the chance, Maybe not permenantly now but I love the place and the UK now has nothing good going for it at moment, Apart from OOF.
My opinion.
Julian :y :y
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In 2004 I went out to Detroit MI. I was right on the Canadian border. It's a different world to the tourist cr@p you saw. Yes there are KFC, McD's, Taco Bell, etc BUT they are NOT every other shop/store. WallMart, You can buy anything from a lightbulb to a HUNTING RIFLE. Buses, few and far between, so you have to drive.
When I arrived to the May they were just getting over the last snow falls. ie COLD. when i left in the August they were having 100oF
I tried to get a visa to emigrate but had some problems with that. But I all honesty I would go back out tomorrow if I had the chance, Maybe not permenantly now but I love the place and the UK now has nothing good going for it at moment, Apart from OOF.
My opinion.
Julian :y :y
Absolutely agree Jue, Florida is just the Mickey Mouse playgound version of the United States of America, with the pound against the dollar not giving you much at all!
The real America and its people's are elsewhere in the States, like in New Mexico, Arizona (no not Los Vegas the adults 'Disney Land'!!) Colorado, and namely places like Santa Fa, Grand Canyon, Messa Verdi, Durango, Silverton, Colorado Springs, Old Colorado, etc, etc! :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :y :y :y :y
That is were you see the beautiful USA and some many great friendly people. :y Not in hell holes like New York (London is the same lets face it) or the over priced tinsel of Disney Land, Las Vegas, or Los Angeles, etc, etc.
If I could I would live in Colorado that's for sure! :-* :-* :y
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I'm off to Arizona in April - I've been to Florida and New Mexico / Arizona before and it's very different. I love the open space and the desert areas, some stunning scenery.
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I'm off to Arizona in April - I've been to Florida and New Mexico / Arizona before and it's very different. I love the open space and the desert areas, some stunning scenery.
Try if you can to get up past Four Corners into Colorado; it really is worth the effort!! ;)
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We have a pretty tight schedule already - doing a road trip but probably won't get that far East to be honest, but getting into a bit of Utah and Nevada as well.
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Try Illious :y
I found Chicago excellent, has a very good theme park very close, propper rides (like alton towers) loads of them, and hardly any queues.
City itself is really nice, prices are good too :)
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I enjoyed Chicago and stayed in Milwaukee
I have to say though that given the places to go and things to see on this great planet of ours......that the USA comes quite a way down the list of destinations to visit.
Still chuckle about the sign on the Highway between Chicago nd Milwaukee for 'The Bong Recreation Area'......
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Didn't see any launches then?
yes the shuttle lauch was quite visible from the 6th floor balcony of the hotel, got it on film, will put it up on the net when i get chance, we were going to go to cocoa beach to watch it but was told by a shuttle launch fan it would be best from the hotel, as the feds dont let people get near any more. also would have taken me about 4 hours to get back as the traffic would be really heavy. was good to watch tho
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We have a pretty tight schedule already - doing a road trip but probably won't get that far East to be honest, but getting into a bit of Utah and Nevada as well.
Yep, and no where in the US is just "down the road", although my American friends would sometimes talk about going for a short trip.......of 600+ miles!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;)
Until they knew the UK they couldn't understand why we didn't travel to Scotland more, until they saw our congested roads!! :D :D ;)
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Didn't see any launches then?
yes the shuttle lauch was quite visible from the 6th floor balcony of the hotel, got it on film, will put it up on the net when i get chance, we were going to go to cocoa beach to watch it but was told by a shuttle launch fan it would be best from the hotel, as the feds dont let people get near any more. also would have taken me about 4 hours to get back as the traffic would be really heavy. was good to watch tho
If I went there - would be main reason for me