Archive for » April, 2015 «

A Day at Islands of Adventure

The last day of our stay in Orlando, Dave and I spent at Islands of Adventure. We visited this amusement park a few years ago, but decided to re-visit it. We went through the attractions that we missed last time and enjoyed our favorite rides again. We started our journey with the most popular The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Island, which was already crowded.

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A Day at Sea World

Second day of our Orlando stay we spent in SeaWorld, which is very different from Magic  Kingdom. We were not disappointed in this park. SeaWorld has Marine life shows, thrill rides, aquariums and up-close encounters with dolphins, penguins and more.

When combined with its neighbor Discovery Cove and Aquatica, it forms SeaWorld Parks Orlando. As of Summer 2014, SeaWorld Orlando has been separated into 8 themed areas, that encompass the Port of Entry and seven “seas”, which are the Sea of Shallows, Sea of Legends, Sea of Ice, Sea of Delight, Sea of Mystery, Sea of Fun, and the Sea of Power.

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Magic Kingdom

Every time Dave and I go to see our family in Florida we try to visit some interesting places there. Among them are Disney World and Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando. This time we spent 3 days in Orlando and visited Magic Kingdom, Sea World and Islands of Adventure. Magic Kingdom is a beautiful park and a heaven for kids, but it is not as exciting for the adults.

Magic Kingdom was the only theme park of the 4 Disney World parks in Orlando that I haven’t seen yet, therefore we decided to dedicate one day to experience it. The other 3 Disney World theme parks are Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Epcot is our favorite Disney park, which we visited numerous times and I would visit it again. This one is the most suitable for the adults. Animal Kingdom is good for visiting equally by adults and kids, although we enjoyed  the Virginia Safari park much more. It was awesome! Hollywood Studios is more for kids as well.

The popularity of the Magic Kingdom park is impressive. Here is an excerpt from 25 Most Visited Theme Parks In The World. “Magic Kingdom was the first built of the four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, and is the most-visited theme park in the world. In 2013, the park hosted 18.5 million visitors, making it the most-visited theme park for the fifth consecutive year.” Cinderella Castle, the icon of Magic Kingdom is in the picture below.

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New Metro Trains

Yesterday Metro deployed the new 7000 series rail cars on the Blue Line, which runs from Springfield, Virginia, through the District to Largo, Maryland. The new cars replace the oldest cars in Metro’s system. It was some excitement for us, since we use the blue line periodically for commuting. I drove to work yesterday, so I didn’t get to ride a new car. Today I missed 2 old trains at the Metro station before catching a new one, waited extra 12 minutes. 🙂

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Cherry Blossoms in DC

Each spring, the cherry blossoms burst into color at the Washington DC’s Tidal Basin. But the peak bloom period lasts only a few days, and precisely when it happens varies each year. This year we had late peak bloom around April 10th.

Dave and I arrived at the Tidal Basin early in the morning to beat the crowd and catch the sunrise. We had no luck with the sunrise because of the clouds, but we did beat most of the crowd.

After enjoying the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin, we moved towards the Washington Monument to see more cherry blossoms there. I am glad that we came earlier, because it was getting very crowded by 10 A.M. Here are some pictures of the gorgeous cherry blossoms from this morning.

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