Photo TR: Dan Smith's Birthday Bash Stunt Spectacular 2/11 - 2/17

"How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my eighteenth year!"

Well, it's time for another WDW photo TR, straight from my twisted mind to your desktop. Brace yourselves for all of the joyfulness that is sure to be experienced by all Disney fans, and also purveyors of shameless puns and that's-what-she-said jokes.

For 18 years I've made it a point to let my parents know that I'm the only family member who hasn't celebrated their birthday at Disney; February just wasn't a convenient time for me to be born, apparently. So, as calculated and intentional corporate luck would have it, Disney decided to give me a free pass for my 18th birthday this year. Besides my awesome day at the Magic Kingdom on the 12th, I was at Epcot for Valentine's Day, and in between I took a campus tour at (my official new place of residence as of August) Florida Tech, which is like more awesome than Lord Vader driving in a Delorean playing "Don't Stop Me Now" with a nuclear explosion in the background.

Let's see you figure THAT one out, Einstein.

So, without further delay and slightly more entertaining blocks of text, I present my Floridian travels.

Day 1: A Fool And His Childhood Are Soon Parted

In case you were wondering (and I‘m sure you were), I share my birthday with Mr. Stovepipe down there. My 18th was his 200th. (I was also born in Lincoln Hospital in Lincoln, Ontario. Seriously. Surprised I wasn't named Abe.)

All you Losties out there can imagine how wary I was of my seat number...

Tunes all set.

The shot that no other traveller has.

For all those Tampa Airport POV enthusiasts of which I'm certain exist out there...

"Welcome to Tampa, where the local time is... DAMN you, Dali!"

Good. It's good to know I've arrived. Thought I was having an out-of-body experience. (13 minutes early, too.)

No one ever travels to see the Leaning Tower of St. Pete...

Canadian pirates unite!

"And it's a heave-ho, hi-ho, comin' down the plains,
Stealin' wheat 'n barley 'n all the other grains!
And it's a ho-hey, hi-hey, farmers bar yer doors,
When ya see the Jolly Roger on Regina's mighty shores!"

1. I finally escaped 15-below weather.
2. It's actually really freakin' windy up there.
3. I asked for raspberry lemonade but instead they gave me raspberry iced tea, which wasn't that bad anyway.
4. That photo looks nothing like me.

 

[Pongo]

Daniel. I like the TR so far. But, and I never thought I'd ever say this in my life, but I'd like to see less Disney World, and more of my hometown. Kthx.

:lookaroun

...JUST KIDDING! Keep up the awesome TR, Danny!!!! :sohappy:

 

[jjbuster2]

I would like to add an additional "Yay" to the comments.

This was probably the most enjoyable TR I've read yet (my co-workers must be wondering if I'm stifling giggles or sneezes). Can't wait 'til you go back...or wait can't wait 'til I go back...oh, somebody just go and post lots of pictures and say funny things about them!

:sohappy:

 

[ndiniz]

Man, it was absolutely fun reading this trip report! The blurred pictures, and the descriptions are very funny! Blur-o-vision 3000!

 

[dandaman]

This was probably the most enjoyable TR I've read yet (my co-workers must be wondering if I'm stifling giggles or sneezes).

Well, I've got the common cold from hell right now, so hopefully it's just the laughter that's contagious. :lookaroun

Sadly no park action today, but I did end up touring (and officially signing up for) university next year at Florida Tech, of which I am so excited for it's insane. For landmark purposes, it's about a 45-minute drive from the Space Center, meaning every time a shuttle launches the sky lights up like a hundred 4th-of-July's at once. (Almost as cool as that Vader-in-a-Delorean scenario.) Anyway, I'd be going into the lucrative field of meteorology, so let's hope in a few years you'll see me on your hotel TV when you're on vacation in Florida. Hopefully not telling you that a hurricane is coming to destroy you, but still...

Celebrate post-secondary education in paradise!

rawr

This is part of a larger complex which was nearing completion in early 2003 when the Columbia shuttle disaster occurred. Student council unanimously decided to name it Columbia Village, with each of the buildings named after one of the seven astronauts on the final mission. Florida Tech was originally founded as NASA's official place for educating their employees, so you can imagine how closely tied the campus remains today with the space program.

Meet Zeke. Zeke was found one day by a student who thought this particular tree stump had a discernible face, so students carved it to make Zeke's features stand out more.

...Holy crap, this is a university?! This is the memorial garden on campus, appropriately nicknamed the Jungle. Sure as hell beats a foot of snow walking to classes (uphill both ways) in Canada!

I think I'm in love.

This is a library. Libraries have books in them. This one has three floors of books. Yep.

The Crawford building was designed to look like a shuttle on the launch pad, and I guess with all the aspiring technicians running around campus the image is pretty believable. (Though a certain someone from Theme Park Review thinks it more closely resembles the Holiday Inn at DTD, but I digress.)

 

[dandaman]

This is either the recreation center or one of the engineering buildings...

Theme park tie-in! It was rumoured a couple of years back that Animal Kingdom was willing to pay a five-figure sum to have this unusual cluster of trees in the park; all of the trees appear to be coming from the same root. The rumour had since been disproven, though.

I want this rug.

The beach is under 10 minutes' drive from campus. This is already an improvement over Canada as no matter how close you are to the beach, it's either closed due to E. coli or too damn cold to wear a light jacket let alone flip-flops.

If you don't tune in for tomorrow's Epcot segment, you are WAKKIE NU NU!

 

[Nicole220]

Wow, the campus is really pretty.

So...you're going to be doing weekly trip reports once you're living in FL, right??

 

[diddy_mouse]

Loving it, Dan! Talk about a major climate change...heading south from Canada. I'm guessing the occasional weekend and school holidays will be held at The World?

 

[Monty]

I dunno Dan, You're starting to sound decidedly unpatriotic!

I may have to report you to Stephen... :lookaroun

 

[disneygirl1]

Lovin' the report Dan!!! As always, you're making me laugh! :ROFLOL:

 

[Uponastar]

Wow, Danny...what a campus!
You're going to college heaven!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Still lovin' on the TR! Very good stuff. I can understand the excitement over the different climate for college...the snow-n-stuff you have in Canada would be a novelty for me considering I've lived near the Gulf coast my entire life...LOL! Wanna learn about hurricanes/horrible-canes?! Come hang out with my family. Apparently we're hurricane magnets. Our neighbors informed us last year after Ike that we need to move asap. We know all the important stuff...like if you look outside and see Jim Cantore set up with a camera crew you need to go kick the sheet outta him, get all your stuff loaded up, and LEAVE. And, hey, we've got post-storm survival down to an art. It's aaaalllll gooooood!

More more more! I'll be tuning in...cuz I'm totally not Wakkie-Nu-Nu...unless you ask my now 13 year old son who will kindly inform you that I sit around mumbling and drooling on myself all day in a somewhat-vegetative-state... :hammer:

 

[Pongo]

meaning every time a shuttle launches the sky lights up like a hundred 4th-of-July's at once.

:lol: I wouldn't necessarily say THAT.

MMM I'm going to guess Indiatlantic.

 

[dandaman]

You're going to be doing weekly trip reports once you're living in FL, right??

Here's hoping!

I'm guessing the occasional weekend and school holidays will be held at The World?

" " !

I dunno Dan, You're starting to sound decidedly unpatriotic!

I may have to report you to Stephen... :lookaroun

Can I report on how bad an idea holding a second election was? :lookaroun

We know all the important stuff...like if you look outside and see Jim Cantore set up with a camera crew you need to go kick the sheet outta him, get all your stuff loaded up, and LEAVE. And, hey, we've got post-storm survival down to an art. It's aaaalllll gooooood!

Well, I'm more of an Anderson Cooper man myself... plus the running joke in my family is that, for an evacuation, I might be one of the few staying ON campus for "field research"... :lookaroun

I'm going to guess Indiatlantic.

Bingo. :lol:

Will try to post Epcot either tonight or tomorrow!

 

[meeskamickey]

Great trip report! Loved your captions...very funny! The pictures were beautiful.

 

[DMC-12]

Great photo TR as always, Dan! :sohappy::sohappy:

 

[disneymoc]

I feel like I've read this somewhere else. :lookaroun

 

[DMC-12]

I feel like I've read this somewhere else. :lookaroun

Ditto :lookaroun

 

[mcjaco]

^ Me too. Except this one lacks a specific stalker photo. :lol:

 

[EpcotServo]

Brand new...IN THE BOX?

YES.

Birthday and MAGIC KINGDOM?

YES.

I LOVE TRIP REPORTS!

:lol: :sohappy:

 

[dandaman]

^^ By popular demand...