The day dawned bright, clear and hot. I was about reasonably early, as is my wont, but sadly no one else was. The run out to the Space Centre was nigh on two hours and I sat there fretting about the place closing before we arrived there. The Tadpoles surfaced at about 10.30 am and even then didn't seem overly keen to get into gear. I'd been to Florida once before and been denied a trip to the Space Centre by awkward people and I didn't want the same thing to happen again. Words were spoken and we set off eventually at about midday, the Tadpoles having mysteriously given up their grumbling and become remarkably compliant. I found out later that Mrs T had spoken to them and that they were trying to be nice to me!
Anyway, on the road again, sans trailer of course, we went down to Orlando again, then east to the airport and beyond. I didn't count how many toll gates we went through, nor how much money we handed over, but I think we just paid for this years Orlando road maintenance programme. Once away from the city we entered the Florida coastal area which was flat and watery, but interesting for all that. The big central building of the Space Center hoves into view at some distance and is a good visual reference as you approach, and a reminder that everything at the Space Center is on a big scale. The good news on arriving at the Visitor Center was that the place was open until 8.30pm, so at least we were going to get a good crack at the place.
First off, they recommend the bus tour to the launch sites, so that's what we did being good obedient toads. It's a bit theme park-ish, lining up for the bus, having your photo taken in front of Shuttle launch backdrop and then being regaled with short and snappy videos on the bus. The drivers were good, though, all having their own tales to tell in amongst the facts and figures. The launch pads were impressive, although now redundant of course. The crawler roads even more impressive, still imprinted with the track marks from the final mission a month or so ago. The bit that was least impressive was the price of the snacks offered in the kiosk, which had obviously been set by Walt Disney himself, they being totally in the realms of fantasy.
From the launch sites we were taken to the Saturn V display area, which had interesting displays and video presentations. They use part of the original Apollo launch control room as a very funky presentation piece with lots of video, noise and vibration, showing what it was like when a Saturn V rocket took off. All very entertaining stuff but some of the digital readouts that were supposed to be from the late sixties looked remarkably modern. Still, it was all smoke and mirrors. The Saturn V rocket on display cannot be anything other than incredible, it's so big, as were the food prices in the cafe! There were some interesting artifacts on display, though, including the watch belonging to one of the astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 accident in 1967; macbre maybe, but fascinating.
Back on the bus and it was nature time, the driver pointing out the wildlife that thrives in the protected environment, a great spin off from the Space programme. Then it was back to the visitor centre where there were lots of spiffy displays and presentations and, as with all good theme parks, a ride. The Shuttle experience is a simulation of a Shuttle launch from inside the vehicle. I won't say too much about it for fear of putting people off, except to say that they talk it up well. As with Universal Studios, there were a lot of Brits at the Space Center, complete with footer shirts and red faces. At Universal, Liverpool won the battle of the shirts; at the Space Center it was Chelsea. Chelsea fans, as we know, are very cerebral bunch.
It was getting towards 8pm by the time we left and the heat outside was still immense. Mrs T had decided that we'd try to visit a Universal Studios store on the way home, to finish off the Potter-fest and we settled on the one in the entrance to the theme parks in downtown Orlando. Sat Nav duly programmed, off we went into nightime Orlando. It was only (!) $3 to park after 6pm, so that was better, but the place was heaving. There's a big shopping, entertainment and nightclub area built as the entrance to the theme parks and even at 9.30pm it was bright with lights, loud with music and thronging with people. Some were dressed for the nightclubs but there were many more families with young kids enjoying the place and overdosing their spawn with more theme park stimulation; lovely!
Shopping achieved, we departed and headed out of Orlando, back towards the campground and some supper. As we headed north we were driving into a huge thunderstorm, the night sky filled with lightening that showed the towering clouds. Strangely, though, although we drove on some wet roads, our campground was dry when we arrived, which meant dry washing. Even leaving the awning out couldn't bring the rain so we felt really quite pleased to be dry for once. Not really up to McDonald's or Dennies at that time of night, we settled for tinned spaghetti on toast in the trailer, which is a great way to round off a full and very long day. We'd seen much about the now completed Shuttle programme, seen lots of Florida, seen Downtown Orlando at night and helped the Orlando roads survive into the 22nd century. Tomorrow was to be a travelling day, 350 miles west to Grayton Beach, on the Gulf Coast, so alarm set for stupid O'Clock we finally settled down for night. Holiday? I think I'm going to need another one when we get back!
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