Thursday, December 25, 2014

Fun with Flickr - 2014 in a photo or 50

Well, I was lazy and skipped doing one of these last year...
Yeah..... So... Uh...Year end review via my Project365 on Flickr?
Looking back at some of the 360 photos I'd taken of myself over the past year and doing a "what I did this year" blog post.. Wooo... so here we go..

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My year started off much like it ended, at Fun Spot!
(the 6 fingers are for my 6th year doing Project365)
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Mr. Brian came down to visit! We were as thrilled as Cassy Jr.
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I went on my first ever cruise, on Royal Caribbean's 
MS Freedom of the Seas!
And along the way I got to visit....
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 Labadee, Haiti
Where I went zip-lining, mountain coaster-ing, swimming, and uh... enjoyed myself?
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Falmouth, Jamaica
(But took a van to Ocho Rios)
Where Deka and I climbed Dunn's River Falls (amazing!)
And also visited Green Grotto Caves
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George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Where I got to hold a little turtle!!
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Cobá, Mexico!
(technically the port was Cozumel but we took a ferry to mainland Mexico)
Where we climbed to the top of the Ixmoja Pyramid
(one of the coolest things I've ever done!)

Fair season came across Central Florida... 
and many trips were made.
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Comet II made its Florida debut at the 2014 Florida State Fair!
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TOPSPIN made its return to the Osceola County Fair!
And it was ridden a bunch :D
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MOONRAKER showed up at the Florida Strawberry Festival!!!
(it had shown up last year for the first time in years.... but due to technical reasons never operated)
I was super excited to ride it as the last time I had ridden one was in Sweden in 2006
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And rounding out the season was the 2014 Central Florida Fair (Orlando's Fair)
Where I went on my second ever Helicopter ride.
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Oh hey, and I had a birthday at some point and I welcomed the triumph return of the FLICKRCAKE!
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Polynesian removed its famous waterfall
I didn't really care... but I took a photo with it.
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SeaWorld parks celebrated their 50th season... I went to SeaWorld Orlando a whole bunch.
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I RODE THE DUCK THEMED BOAT DOWNTOWN!
"ride the boats at Lake Eola" was something listed on a '100 things to do in Orlando before you die' list... 
And well, it had to be done.
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I also visited the awesomeness that is Dinosaur World, for the first time
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Annddd SunRail opened to the public! <3
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A last minute trip to South Carolina happened.... And I got to ride this super fun looping StarFlyer!
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SMAC was born!!!
<3 <3 <3
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Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opened!
(and I got to ride it during Cast Previews)
((and it also caught on fire later in the year))
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Yatpay and Suz came to visit.... 
And I made Yatpay go to the Magic Kingdom!
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I visited my family back home in Massachusetts
Obliviously I went up to Canobie!!
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And Six Flags New England as well, to ride Sky Screamer....
The tallest swing tower in the world at 409 feet.

And that was just the lead-up to one of the most amazing trips I've ever taken.
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Where I went to Reykjavik, Iceland.... 
and it was absolutely incredible.
and from there I continued on to England...
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And visited Alton Towers, one of the greatest parks in
the world.
Where I got to ride The Smiler, the most inverting coaster in the world with 14 inversion!
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Ugh, and I mistakenly revisited Thorpe Park.
They had added 3 coasters since my last visit...
but its still just.. awful.
Thankfully the next stop on my trip would make up for it...
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Visiting Denmark was amazing and going to Bakken, the worlds oldest amusement park was great
(and uh, I rode Rutschebanen a few times!)
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I also got to go to Tivoli Gardens, a pretty much 'life goal' for me... It was almost surreal
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And I found The Little Mermaid while strolling alllll across Copenhagen!
and because... why go 1 place when you can go 10?
My next stop took me to Washington DC!
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Where I rented a car and drove down to 
Busch Gardens Williamsburg 
and got around to riding Verbolten
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But more importantly.... going to Kings Dominion and riding
Intimidator 305!
<3
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As well as taking some time to enjoy one of my favorite cities, Washington DC itself.
(where I was photobombed by a duck!)
((quack quack... quack!))

 And just a few weeks later....
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I was on vacation, again, at Six Flags New England... again!
This time to say farewell to Riverside Cyclone
(and I'm already planing my trip up for Wicked Cyclone!!)
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 Roar-O-Saurus opened at Storyland
(and of course I had to ride it)
The first woodie to open in New Hampshire since 1936
((annddd its dino themed!!))
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Oh man, a bear!!!
I had the chance to go to Clark's for the first time in 7 years! 
It was amazing :3
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And on my way back to the airport, I made a stop in Vermont to ride the Timer Ripper Mountain Coaster at Okemo.
(and pick up an extra county-credit)
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Went to the Paramore / Fall Out Boy concert!
First time seeing Paramore
(although I had heard them live before)
and first time seeing Fall Out since 09 :D
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Disney built us a new cast bridge to get to work.
woo?
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Old Town closed down its entire amusement park area and Windstorm was removed
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Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts opened with Diagon Alley at  Universal Studios.
I didn't really care... but I was given a free ticket 
(so I got my +1)
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Oh man, but way more excitingly... I got to meet, pet, and feed a Sloth!!!!
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Oh hey.. and the Monorail is still a thing in my life
and full of downtime, like in this photo.
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FALCON'S FURY finally opened.
After months of delay.... but sadly its almost lackluster.
I mean... its fun... but.. eh?
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I celebrated my fifth anniversary living in Orlando
(Bonus duck photo!)
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I carved 2 pumpkins for Halloween
(first time in a couple of years)
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Air Raid suddenly showed up at Fun Spot
(it had already been at the State Fair.. but now its down the street from my house!)
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DusaRob came to visit for the first time in 5 years... 
And much like last time
We went to a hockey game. Tampa vs Buffalo.
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Festival Bay, uh... Artegon was reborn... and they have giant stuffed animal cars you can ride around!
I had to ride the HIPPO, my first time <3
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The long awaited The Orlando Eye got built! Well, mostly... Its just 1.5 years behind....
But.. uh.. soon? maybe??
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And... well, I'll just wrap things up with a photo of me at The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.
(uh, Merry Christmas?)

Woo. 
Uh, and ...so for a recap.....
I visited Haiti (new), Jamaica (new), Cayman Islands (new), Mexico (new), Iceland (new), England, Denmark (new)... and the US states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, Connecticut, Vermont, and also Washington DC!
Got 4 new airport codes as well... Uh, 24 new for me coasters (3 new for 2014's), a handful of new counties and uh... yeah... I did a whole lot of other.. stuff!
And a I type this out.. I'm already getting things together for my first adventure of 2015, less than a week away now! :D