. Florida 2025 Universal Orlando Resort Fun Spot Busch Gardens Tampa Sea World Orlando Walt Disney World Resort So many parts of this trip were done with Lyft since......HELL NO TO PAYING $40 PER DAY FOR PARKING AT UNIVERSAL AND DISNEY!!! But at the same time.....parts of this trip NEED A CAR (I will NOT pay for two expensive-ass Lyfts from Orlando to Tampa and back)!!! Plus, I have free parking at Busch/Sea World parks with my Platinum Pass and the Fun Spots also have free parking. So yeah. We got our rental car for the Non-Disney & Universal portion of our Florida trip (I'm amused that we're two dudes from CA, driving around FL, in a car with a NJ liscence plate). First stop with the rental car is......local Walmart? Yeah. Getting some.....unplanned necessary things here. Plus some drinks for the motel for just how hot and humid Florida is. To take a break from all the fun sh*t we're doing on this trip, we're also paying our respects with a somber visit to the Pulse Memorial (We've engaged in dark tourism on these trips many different times). Plus, we're both LGBT. So stopping at the memorial of the 2nd deadliest mass shooting in America (deadliest at the time) and solely targeted against the LGBT community makes extra sense for us. WARNING: Politics, along with LGBT issues, will be discussed in great detail during all photos of the Pulse Memorial. Skip down to after Pulse for the return to silly roller coaster fun and happy topics. Not so fun fact about the Pulse Nightclub Shooting. It actually took place while I was on a weekend trip. Yeah. Waking up to that news and reading about that on Facebook put a real damper on my morning (though I still had fun at SunSplash that day and put it out of my mind for the sake of fun). I know this is mainly just the exterior of the building with some makeshift memorials and a wall with the names of the deceased and some photos of them and of Orlando coming together after the tragedy. It's touching to see, but also minimal. I know they're wanting to construct a proper memorial. Still glad we stopped by, but as is, it was just a 5-10 minute stop. So this photo was mindlessly taken as a filler photo and was never intended to be part of the update since.....it's just a rainbow crosswalk. We have many of those in Long Beach. They're not that shocking. ESPECIALLY at the site of one of the biggest crimes against the LGBT community in the 21st century. Of course there's a rainbow crosswalk HERE! NO SHIT SHERLOCK!!! However, this photo suddenly became EXTREMELY valuable and meaningful when a couple nights later, WHILE I WAS STILL ON THIS TRIP (specifically the night after the BGT day and before the Sea World day), the current fascist regime, assisted by the wretched god-awful dog-shit state government of Florida went through in the dead of night, without telling anyone, to remove this rainbow crosswalk. Not just any rainbow crosswalk, but the one SPECIFICALLY AT THE PULSE MEMORIAL, HOME TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST CRIMES AGAINST THE LGBT COMMUNITY!!! Gee, it's almost like you knew what you were doing was cruel and wrong, and did this in secrecy in the middle of the night for a reason. FUCK YOU, YOU HOMOPHOBIC DEPLORABLE SCUM!!!! IT IS NOT A COINCIDENCE YOU CHOSE TO DO THIS SPECIFIC ONE AT THIS SPECIFIC TIME!!!! FUCK EVERYONE INVOLVED!!! FUCK FUHRER VON FELON FUCKFACE (AKA, Donald Trump)!!! FUCK SEAN DUFFY (The current Secretary of Transportation who officially orchestrated this)!!!! FUCK THE REST OF THE CHRISTOFASCIST GOONS IN THIS REGIME!!! FUCK RON DESANTIS!!! FUCK THE STATE GOVERNMENT OF FLORIDA!!! AND FUCK THE IDIOT ASSHOLE MAGATS IN FLORIDA (and everywhere else in the country) WHO SUPPORT AND ENABLE ALL THIS HORRID WRETCHED BEHAVIOR!!! FUCK ALL OF THEM!!! Sean Duffy initially defended this by saying Rainbow Crosswalks are a safety hazard because they're a distraction from basic road safety along with basically admitting that they're doing this because they're homophobic, I mean not wanting any non-traffic messages. BULLSHIT!!! WE HAVE A RAINBOW CROSSWALK AND NOBODY HAS EVER BEEN CONFUSED ABOUT IT BEING A CROSSWALK!!! I'VE BOTH WALKED ACROSS IT AS WELL AS DRIVEN THROUGH IT AND NEVER ONCE WAS CONFUSED ABOUT ITS FUNCTION AS A TRAFFIC LIGHT!!! BUT I DON'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN THAT!!! THEY FUCKING KNOW ITS BULLSHIT!!! IT'S SENDING A MESSAGE ALL RIGHT!!! AND IT'S NOT A FUCKING TRAFFIC MESSAGE!!! IT'S FUCKING VICE SIGNALING!!! Naturally, this caused an outrage. The mayor of Orlando (the one good part of Florida) condemned the action, and citizens began protesting, recreating the rainbow crosswalk with chalk. This quickly didn't last as it was washed away by Thursday afternoon's thunderstorm (which really put a damper on my Sea World day and will be complained about in that update). Not stopped by shitty weather, they did it again. Except this time, it wasn't mother nature who stopped them, but the shitty god-awful state government of Florida (STOP VOTING FOR THESE ASSHOLES, FLORIDA)! Though they kept doing it until they ARRESTED THEM!!!! OF COURSE THIS FAR-RIGHT LOATHSOME HOMOPHOBIC ANTI-HUMAN FLORIDA GOVERNMENT DID THAT!!! Though in some good news, all charges against them have been dropped right as I make this update. GOOD!!! THAT'S THE LEAST THESE ASSHOLES COULD DO!!! Now some may be wondering why this is such a big deal. It's just a crosswalk. Why even care? First off, this is a monument to a national tragedy, and doing this here specifically is a way to spit in the victims eyes and flip them off. And most of all, it's just blatent homophobia. I don't like discussing this. I don't want to play up something that should not be a big deal. My sexuality is honestly one of the least interesting facts about me and honestly is probably up there with pizza topping preferences in terms of self-importance (Pineapple does NOT belong on pizza). I RARELY bring it up here (only 2 times before today), unless you consider me being with Jason and acknowledging my partner on these trips as bringing it up, in which case FUCK YOU (this has thankfully never happened). I'm fortunate that the vast majority of people in my life see this and that it's treated how I want it treated. As not a big fucking deal. The extent of bigotry I personally deal with mainly comes from one member of Jason's extended family who I know dislikes Jason for being gay and hates me for being with him (Fuck you too. BTW, I'm also an atheist. Just throwing that out there to further give you a heart attack and show you just how much I disrespect your religion that you use to justify your bigotry), some random asshole who one time spewed homophobia at us in Huntington Beach, CA (the Florida of California lol), and occassional strangers who every once in a blue moon, call Jason and I fags they think behind our backs (I can hear you, assholes). Honestly, this does not play a big role in my life and I have far bigger problems than homophobia against me personally. But then you get this. A government and culture DESPERATELY trying to bring back hate and bigotry of the dumbest varity! Seriously, who I love (and others love) should be as relevant as hair color, or eye color (I would add skin color, but that too, is a big deal when it shouldn't fucking be, and I'm fortunate to know that I have the "correct" skin color than lets people leave me alone). And while this pisses me off, it won't hurt me NEARLY as much as the queer kid who lives in some god-awful shit-ass backwards rural hateful small town where the majority of people are bigoted (in the name of their shitty religion not worthy of respect), they're reguarly discriminated against, their own parents disown them, and potential violence from the worst people on the planet. THOSE are the people who have it rough. Not me. They're the ones most hurt by this. I know I often joke about building a sea wall around Orlando (plus one for BGT), and then just let climate change drown the rest of the state (they LITERALLY keep voting for this to happen. I'm just pitching building a sea wall around the best part of the state), leaving Orlando as an island. But the more Florida acts like a jackass, the less I'm joking when I say this. Cause at this point, I have as much respect for Florida as I do for places like Missouri and Tennessee, where I'll go for Dollywood and Silver Dollar City, but have very little interest in the rest of the state (Fine. I'll throw in WOF, SFSL, and City Museum in St. Louis for Missouri). Plus so many other states like that *cough* Ohio *cough*. Florida's become a place where I like it for the theme parks only and want nothing to do with it outside of that. Florida, get your head out of your ass and for once, be better! I officially endorse whatever Democrats are nominated for Governor and Senator, as well as all the Democrats running for Congress, Florida House, and Florida Senate. Not because these Democrats (who I don't even know) are amazing candidates whom I love (the current Democratic party has MANY MANY MANY flaws and infuriating aspects with HORRIBLE people whom I HATE), but because the other party is hellbent on destroying the planet, killing people (both abroad through pointless war and at home through cruel poverty-inducing policies, plus good old police brutality, as recently demonstrated in Minnesota), embracing blatent corruption, enriching socipathic billionaires, and protecting pedophiles. And frankly, the entire party needs to be launched into the sun (or at the very least, fired). FUCK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!! Yeah. The endorsement of a dude from California running a small silly coaster website wanting to explore, experience thrills, and have fun shouldn't matter and I shouldn't discuss this. But fuck it! You guys elected the old narcassistic mentally-challenged war-mongering pedophile-protecting Christofascist demon with dementia for President. If that guy can win, then fuck it! I can comment! Especially when you're so DESPERATELY trying to spread hate and bigotry, and in this case, against a group I'm part of (though that's honestly irrelevant and it'd be just as wrong if I wasn't)! And because having faith in Florida always results in me being angry and let down, I have zero faith in this state to do anything right that's not theme park or roller coaster related, I fully expect the state to shit the bed, yet again, and would dissapoint me if I didn't lose all hope in them. Reminder that I don't use censors for the strongest of anger. And needless to say, this REALLY pissed me off. A LOT!!! Grabbing a couple doughnuts at the Dunkin Doughnut across the street from the Pulse Memorial since.....we did use their parking lot. And hey. Doughnuts are always good. OK. Time for lunch. And......McDonalds? Believe it or not, but this isn't just any ordinary old McDonalds we went to for the sake of budgeting. No, this McDonalds is the giant party McDonalds featured in the Top 10 Most Unique McDonalds. I know I generally try and avoid McDonalds. Not only because it's not nearly as good in America (or Europe) as it is in Japan, but also, they got super expensive and I STILL don't forgive them for that disgusting PR stunt that helped f*ck America (and the world) over. So yeah. That, plus the prices (though to be fair, they did lower their prices) officially put McDonalds on my company sh*t-list where I generally try and avoid them. At this point, I really only visit McDonalds if I'm in Japan (cause it truly is better there), or if it's a special unique McDonalds, like the first ever McDonalds in Downey, or.....here. Plus even with their higher prices, this is still good for our budget. Plus, it's something of mild interest (and Jason really wanted to explore it thanks to Instagram) Another thing that makes this special is....the fact that they have special unique items on the menu that are ONLY avaliable at this Party McDonalds. So of course, that's what we ordered. So Jason ordered the McPizza, and I had a slice of that. And......yeah. There's a reason pizza isn't on the menu normally and that McDonalds isn't considered a pizza place. While not bad, it honestly did feel not as good as not only independent pizza shops, but also standard fast food pizza, such as Pizza Hut or Dominos. I'm glad I tried it, but I'm not clamoring for pizza to come to the normal menu. Meanwhile, I ordered the Philly Cheesesteak. And honestly, it's just a McDonalds burger shaped like a Philly Cheesesteak. It's literally burger patty, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, onion, and cheese. Just inside a submarine roll insted of in between two buns. It tasted good, but it felt less like a unique menu item, like the Gran Garlic Pepper Burger in Japan, and more like a standard menu item in a gimmicky shape. Honestly, the best new item I tried was the McDonaldland Shake, which was REALLY good. Except that wasn't a special Orlando-only menu item. That was just a limited time run item they were rolling out at all their McDonalds that I just coincidentally got to try thanks to good timing with coming here. Glad I did cause this was REALLY good. Looking at the Arcade portion of the Party McDonalds. And.....it honestly felt like walking through a Chuck'E'Cheese, only with Ronald McDonald instead of Chuck'E'Cheese. Yeah. It seems like a place I would've loved as a kid, but.....it just felt mildly depressing and ackward since.....arcades are dying thanks to free phone games (just watch these stupid ads instead of inserting quarters and spending money). Still cool that this is still here, and I'm happy they didn't just convert it into yet another standard boring McDonalds. Thumbs up for Party McDonalds. Enough is enough. We didn't fly out to Florida to run errands, pay our respects with dark tourism, and explore unique fast food. We're IncredibleCOASTERS. Time to focus on that. Yep. Time for some fun at Fun Spot Orlando. First coaster of the day, White Lightning. Excited to be getting on another GCI today (there are surprisingly more GCIs than I thought, with 3 in the U.S I still need, plus so many more overseas). Enjoying that view of the streets of Orlando? And....White Lightning is a fun little ride. Nothing amazing, but a solid family wooden coaster. =) It may be small, but that first drop still provides a decent amount of speed. Not a bad deal, but I'm good. I don't need a White Lightning T-Shirt (not a good enough ride or a cool enough logo to warrant a T-Shirt). Having fun on the carousel here. Moving on with the other credits, we have Freedom Flyer. This is a clone of Kvasten @ Grona Lund. Only not nearly as good since Kvsaten has good theming, and is at Grona Lund (which is awesome), whereas this is just.....plopped into existance RCT-style. Regardless, it's still a fun family coaster and a great fit for Fun Spot Orlando. Uh....the worlds biggest is at Fun Spot Kissimmee. Why would I do this when I could just go do that one instead? Aside from coasters, the other big draw to Fun Spot would be its huge collection of Go-Karts. Considering how much Jason loves Go-Karts, he was VERY happy to see so many tracks at Fun Spot. They actually enforce this rule. Mildly annoying, but hey. They gave me a pony tail holder, and......meh. Whatever. I'm gonna kick your ass! This Commander Track was actually a pretty cool Go-Kart track. Had a lot of action and.....I just had a ton of fun on it. HA HA!!! I'M LAPPING YOU!!! TAKE THAT YOU LITTLE PUNKS!!! Moving onto the Yellow Track. How are you holding up, Jason? Honestly, the Thrasher course did seem the most tame. But we still had a lot of fun on it. Go-Karts and White Lightning? Yeah. That's a pretty good summary of Fun Spot Orlando. Ugh. I have to actually hunt out the ride operator to get the credit? This is gonna be an embarassing bit of credit whoring. Luckily, the ride operator was totally apathetic, clearly didn't give a f*ck, just wanted to go home, and was only there for a paycheck. Hey. I'll take it. Cha-Ching! Come on, Jason! You gotta do better at the Fun House. ;) OK. A Florida thunderstorm (no rain, but lightning in the area) is in town. So all the rides and go-karts are closed. So what can we do to kill time? Hello, what's this? So it looks like Gator Spot teamed up with Fun Spot, and the two just merged. Hey. Fine with me. I'm happy to see some alligators. No feeding the alligators. That's our job. Part of me feels like.....it feels wrong to tape the gators mouth shut. Then again, these are mean little f*ckers who'll bite your fingers off. Yeah. Best keep that on. But seriously. It was really cool to see these alligators. Especially knowing just how dangerous crocodiles are (Yeah. I know these are alligators, and not nearly as dangerous, but it's still cool). For all you animal nerds out there. So, Fun Spot. Tell me about the benefits you offer. Cause over at Disney World down the road, an alligator there got to eat a child. Do you offer similar benefits, here? Yeah. This is the type of alligator I'd want to hang around and take home. Litterbugs will be fed to the alligators (Seriously, litterers genuinely are a BIG PET PEEVE of mine). Oh boy! Rides are starting to open up. So might as well tackle this random flat ride. Time for some White Lightning rerides. There's some nice pops of airtime and decent laterals. All in all, a fun GCI that I'm glad I stopped by to ride. Me on White Lightning (thanks for the on-ride photo, Jason). Well, everything is closed again for another sporatic Florida thunderstorm. So this is a good time to leave and head out to our next destination. OK. We had fun at Fun Spot Orlando. Now time to go to the 2nd park of the day. Fun Spot Kissimmee. How do we make our mediocre frozen burgers more appetizing? INVOKE IMAGERY OF NEW YORK CITY!!! Yeah. That's exactly why we stopped here on this trip. GAH!!! STILL CLOSED!!! How much longer is this stupid lightning gonna linger!? >=( Oh my. It appears that Fun Spot is part of the National Park Service. I didn't know this. While the rides may be closed, the go-karts technically aren't considered rides. So they're still open. Honest to god, this is probably my favorite go-kart track I've done (excluding the ACTUAL go-karting I did at Power Park. But I'm not counting that). They market themselves as the steepest go-kart, and.....that giant helix GENUINELY is a ton of fun to drive through. So glad I did this. What should we do while waiting for the lightning to pass? Hmm. What's Old Town? Old Town is basically a recreation of an old school Florida town that functions as an outdoor shopping center. Pretty cool, though not as cool as the old towns we have in California that ACTUALLY are old towns. Just in case you saw those crappy infomercials in the middle of the night and actually wanted to buy them. Hey bird. How's it going? Oh boy! I think the rides are starting to open up! =) Nearly didn't make it on this thing as they had to check to see if I wasn't too tall. Barely got on, and.....sheesh! This thing had some pretty uncomfortable hangtime. I see you hiding under the flyers, stray cat. =P Really? The kiddy coaster is the first credit here to open up? Well, might as well knock it out of the way. While technically better than the one at Fun Spot Orlando, it's still a mediocre kiddy coaster. But hey. The operator was overly friendly on this one. F*CK YEAH!!! IT FINALLY OPENED UP!!! This is a coaster that has intrigued me as I've heard ALL SORTS of conflicting opinions, with some loving it for its out of control nature, and others hating it for being so damn rough. Who will win out in the end? Dude! Mine Blower was GREAT!!! Sure, it's not gonna crack my Top 10 Wooden Coasters List, and I do understand the people who argue that it's rough. Cause it is. But it's not unbearably rough. AND GOD DAMN IT!!! IT'S SO CRAZY, INTENSE, AND FUN!!! The inversion (First time doing an inversion on a non-RMC woodie) was freaky. Yes, it was fast and forceful. But..... you also got upsidedown jackhammering. Which.....really felt interesting to say the least. And the rest of the ride was just a brutal rough insane experience with intense laterals and strong pops of airtime. You can call Mine Blower rough. That's fair. But you CAN NOT call this ride forceless or a cruiser snoozer. Moving onto the next credit, we have Galaxy Spin. The parks spinning mouse. I actually did notice a couple other coaster enthusiasts in line. But.....they seemed young, and to themselves. And I don't think Incrediblecoasters is big enough to know that we were here. As a spinning mouse, it was OK. It didn't spin crazy or anything, but at the same time, it wasn't hyper slow either. Just an average run of the mill Spinning Mouse. Credit whoring Kevin is very happy with this. =) For those of you with a micropenis, this truck is for you. ;) Oh look. They still have the small Screamin Swing here. It had been too long since I had done one of these. Cause these rides are just a ton of fun. Where am I again? It's time. Yep. Time to do the biggest skycoaster in the world. =) I know this is an upcharge, but F*CK IT!!! WORLDS BIGGEST SKYCOASTER!!! Plus, it was only $10. Totally worth it. The only other skycoaster I'd done prior to this was Dive Devil @ SFMM (which I last did at an Employee Party in 2011. So it'd been quite some time since I had done one of these). I know I've lost mainly all my fear on damn near any ride, including Skycoasters. But I'm not gonna lie. It does feel really freaky being held up at Millenium Force heights, just strapped in (And yes. I bought the video of myself on it. A little pricy, but totally worth it). The initial fall was freaky, but after that, the first swing out was a ton of fun. But unfortunately, because I was doing this solo, I lost momentum far quicker than I would've had I done this with a partner. Totally worth it, and honestly, probably the only skycoaster I see myself doing from now on (Only other ones would be the one at Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado, or if a park is offering theirs for free). OK. Why are we leaving Fun Spot Kissimmee and heading back into Old Town So there's one tiny little thing I left out about Old Town earlier. It actually was a tiny little amusement park for a while, until Fun Spot Kissimmee bought it out and the two merged (really wish G-Force was still here). Hmm. I'm really enjoying that retro-marketing they have for Pepsi. And yeah. We're here for the credit. Oh boy. This is I think the only Hi-Miler left in the world. This should be interesting. Yeah. Those ultra-tight turns are as brutally fun as they look. While not quite as good as Scandia Screamer (which found a new home in Texas. I'll stop by next time I'm there), this still was a really fun coaster and honestly, 3rd best coaster I rode today (best steel coaster). Gotta get some more rerides on Mine Blower since.....that ride GENUINELY is GREAT!!! =) Come on! Grab one of my ICEEs for dessert. They'll really help in the Florida heat and humidity! Well, I had a great time at both Fun Spot Orlando and Fun Spot Kissimmee. Both had some fun rides (particuarly Fun Spot Kissimmee with Mine Blower and the worlds largest skycoaster). And since I've technically been to Fun Spot Atlanta, I could say I've been to them all. Except I went there before it was Fun Spot Atlanta, and didn't have Arie Force One (probably the most anticipated coaster I still need in America with this trip now over). So I still BADLY need to get back there for practical purposes. Holy Crap! I found an A&W in Old Town! So A&W is most notable as up until today, it was the ONLY fast food chain I had never tried since....there's far less of them now than there used to be. The closest one to me in 90 minutes away from me in a part of Eastern California far from anything interesting, and it just had never been nearby on any of my travels. Only drove by one once and was vetoed. So it was really good to try this finally. I tried their Papa Burger, and.....it was good. A&W felt like a solid middle of the road Fast Food joint. Not as good as In'N'Out, Five Guys, Shake Shack, or Culvers. But still something pretty cool that I'm glad I got to try. Busch Gardens Tampa Home