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First time USA: Impressions overdose! O.O
a year ago
Or alternative title: Swim Swam Swum - I swam with the Dolphins =D
Feel free to ignore this journal; there's no really important info here xP
It's just me rambling about my vacation in the US.
Effectively it's a diary so I remember my impressions better years in the future. I thought why not share it~
Tho I did not expect this to become 8000 words long...
Soo, this was my first ever trip to the United States. Living in Germany I've visited many places in the EU; London, Dublin, Paris, Pisa (and multiple beach locations in Italy), Barcelona, Prague and Timisoara (due to relatives). Would say traveling is my major hobby besides software development, art commissioning and roleplaying.
This however was the first time leaving the continent!
The destination was Florida and that was semi coincidental. I definitely wanted to go somewhere with a beach, having been missing the ocean.
So it came in handy that one of my oldest furry friends is a Floridian and even living close to the beach.
Flights to the US are expensive though - especially when it shall be a direct flight because I was a bit afraid of troubles from changing planes. Therefore I quickly decided if I go for such a trip, I should make the very best of it, not just stay in one location.
I am a moderate Disney fan and thus Disney World (Orlando) was a great second destination. And it turned out there are even more amazing things in that city. An incredible one even... More on that later.
Had it been just myself, I probably would have invested just one or two days into Disney, but I would have regretted that approach - luckily my friend who grew up in driving distance to Disney convinced me to do more >w<
**Anyways, one after another:**
1. Customs and arrival:
Gosh was I nervous and paranoid >_< Not because of the flight (albeit almost 10h in a plane were a tad tedious), I certainly had an internet-overdose of horror stories of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That they would be investigating all your luggage, going through your phone and laptop and/or sending you back home...
I even uninstalled Telegram off my devices juuuust in case that somehow makes me suspicious.
What actually happened was that they didn't even look at the "Form 6059B Customs Declaration" I thought I needed. The guy behind a glass window scanned my fingerprints and during that, asked three questions about my job and where I had been in the last 5 years. Afterwards the gate opened and that was it.
Been greeted with a sort of celebration music on the other side o.o' Quite the thing they put up there to make you feel "you made it into the USA, hooray" I guess xD
The rest of the airport was pleasant.. until I left it for the first time.
ORLANDO IS HOT! XD
Seriously, it probably would not be such a surprise if the buildings were not heavily A.C. cooled but as the first impression of stepping out was like how I imagine it to be to step into a dessert - just way more humid, I guess.
2. The east-coast beach:
Said friend was so kind to pick me up from the airport. Wasn't easy to find each other with how large the airport is but eventually we worked it out.
The little beach motel I stayed at was neat. It was some distance beneath the Space Coast.
Finally got to see the sea!
Having arrived well after dark, I went right the next morning out to walk along the water and then jump in.
The area felt way different from Italy where beaches are usually very crowded anywhere where there are hotels.
In Italy there are usually ~2 streets parallel to the beach full of multi-story hotels.
In that region of Florida it's just occasional hotels/motels and a bunch of single-story condominiums (the first new word I had to learn on this trip, lol).
The result was a wonderful free beach to swim at hearts contents without bumping into other people.
I did have one annoying incident where I almost got into two fishers long-distance lines, but that was the only time I saw them.
Two things I noticed was: The water somehow does not smell "like salty sea" as I remember from Italy. That may be just me not remembering so well; not sure. And secondly, the water was very blurry. I did not think to ask my friend beforehand about such a thing xD It's sadly not a snorkeling location, for which I heard Florida to be famous for. Turns out you rather gotta head down to the keys for that. That said, I did have the most incredible snorkeling experience on this trip anyways - more on that later~
All in all the beach time was relaxing. There was some interesting ice cream available as well as breakfast restaurants and of course I went onto two short trips.
3. Kennedy Space Center (visitor complex):
Being in driving distance from where NASA, SpaceX and others launch their rockets that was of course a must-see location.
Friend and I drove there for quite an impressive day. They had a really cool recreation of the launch sequence of the Saturn V for the Apollo 8 mission and of course the Saturn V and many other rockets.
https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/.....aturn-v-rocket
Being someone who finds robots fascinating, think my favorite were the Mars rovers. They had Pathfinder, Opportunity, Curiosity as well as Perseverance together with its cute helicopter (Ingenuity) which I would have missed if my friend did not point out that it was of course suspended in the air above us X3
They also had this.. thing: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/.....oncept-vehicle
Honestly that belongs to Power Rangers, not on Mars xD The vehicle from The Martian was way more realistic and they had a similar one near the rovers actually.
What I did realize only afterwards was that we somehow missed the building where the Space Shuttle (Atlantis) could be seen. Oh well, there may be another opportunity.
However it was a really cool day!
4. Boat trip on the Indian River:
That was not so super spectacular and the boat had no sun cover. Were of course looking for dolphins and we did see I think two peeking their heads out as well as some dorsal fins. Unfortunately I cannot really say that I felt close to nature through that trip. No manatees either :(
Watching rays swim right beneath the surface was cool though.
5. Weeki Wachee!!
Of course a major point to go to Florida was the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park - the place where mermaid shows were founded!
It was a very hot day and we didn't take swimwear, so we were only there for the mermaid shows.
It was quite fascinating to watch, albeit I do gotta say a bit that videos I've seen online of mermaid performers were a bit more impressive >w<'
The water was a little bit blurry (because it's natural river water, I think) and the girls were hardly freediving. Probably 20 seconds at most on occasions. Most of the time they had the hoses in their mouths. Plus the tails, quite qualitative, were fabric, not silicone.
Still they were moving very gracefully and performed a neat adaption of the original Little Mermaid folklore.
Additionally we also witnessed a training session of the mermaid performers. Was fascinating to hear how an instructor was telling the less experienced performers things like where the hose was when they dropped it for a short stunt.
All in all it was an awesome place and certainly cool to have this opportunity to see true mermaid performers <3
Little hint if you every plan to go: Do so during the week and come early. Their app was notifying me later on the weekend multiple times that the "park is at capacity" and thus are not letting people in anymore. There are no reservations or even online tickets.
Entry is cheap though (12$) - that was probably the cheapest event of my whole vacation, lol.
6. Disney World - EPCOT
After Weeki Wachee (at the west coast), friend and I did not return to the east coast but to the Disney Resort in Orlando. More on the resort later.
This is where my friend was shining, knowing those parks like his home XD
EPCOT was the first day. I vaguely had heard of it before, but I genuinely had no clue of the whole backstory.
The acronym stands for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" and was meant to be a futuristic place to live. This did not quite pan out and so they turned it into an entertainment park that celebrates cultures/people and.. life you could say.
Around a gorgeous lake are installations for many different countries including Japan, Germany, Canada etc.
Each of them incredibly unique. There's also various country-typical food available. Japan had a great, slightly higher level restaurant where we had our food cooked on a plate right in the middle of the table.
Of course all Disney themed - the chef made a 3D Mickey head out of onion rings and had it blow steam xD
The German area of EPCOT was of course more like Bavaria. Pretzels, huge beer "Stein" etc. - like most "German culture" is seen in other countries and movies. This video will tell you more about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgxGQct-Yao (and on top of that, the Bavarian ministry apparently purposeful scattered their culture across the world xD )
The "land and sea" areas on the other hand had a series of neat aquariums as well as green houses. They were growing crops vertically in there (and in sand) and you could visit that via a boat.
The Guardians of the Galaxy ride was really cool and my favorite roller coaster of all Disney World. I also dared to go to Space Mountain but while I wasn't at risk of loosing my food, it rocked me in the seat till it hurt and the light effects weren't my thing.
Finally another highlight was the fireworks and music show in the evening: Luminous - The Symphony of Us.
I would not have thought it possible that open space can achieve such good sound. They have some remarkable tech there.
Disney is probably singlehandedly financing a whole fireworks factory xD And I do feel a bit suboptimal regarding the environmental effect of that, but it was cool to watch/hear. Interestingly, they actually do work without gunpowder now: https://www.breeze-technologies.de/.....eir-fireworks/
7. Disney World - Animal Kingdom
No doubt this was my favorite of the Disney parks!
Call me uneducated but until my friend mentioned it at some point weeks earlier, I had no clue Animal Kingdom had.. well, real animals. I imagined mechatronic recreations and shows of various animals from Disney Cartoons xD
The safari (traveling in an huge rail-less truck with about 20 seats) was quite unique and the animal enclosures were probably greater than most zoos.
People knowing me well can probably guess another reason for loving Animal Kingdom: Pandora and the Valley of Mi'ara, I mean Mo'ara! (yep that's literally the name xD )
Absolutely incredible what they did there!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C-edbqVKbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpVMWo8wwRU
The alien plants look so real and are well intervined with real plants. The rocks are literally floating above your head and the sound effects are on point...
The highlight and my favorite ride overall is the "Flight of Passage", a ride on an Ikran! (Banshee in human language :P )
The bike-like device you sit on in a 3D environment literally inflates between your legs - the Ikran is breathing! That's as close as you can get to riding a dragon~
The Na'vi river tour was also very neat.
8. Magical Kingdom and Hollywood Studios:
When I planned the travel, Magical Kingdom was what I looked forward to a lot. After all it is the symbol of Disney and usually what we think of when referring to Disney World, I think.
Unfortunately we were a bit exhausted by the day we got to go there (more on this in #10 >w<). Still it was cool to see the castle, go onto a few rides.
The Haunted Mansion and especially the evening show Fantasmic was awesome. They used a flat sheet of water sprayed vertically in the air to project movie clips onto it. Very smart idea!
9. Disney Springs:
That is more like a shopping area (for which you need no ticket). There's an entire shop for M&Ms and one for CocaCola o.O
As well as a huuuge Disney merchandising shop. Quite crazy area.
Sadly I did not know that there's a Drone Show in the evening though.
10. Disney Resort, planning and other stuff:
Now this was my friends idea - we should get an actual Disney Resort to stay at. The Disney resorts are large, themed hotels near the park with good connection to the park. We stayed at "Art of Animation" of course in the room that fits aquaphiles best: "The Little Mermaid" room xD
More or less a coincidence that this fit tho because they way it works is, all rooms with one name/theme are in very similar configuration. The little mermaids room is made for 2 people having either a kingsize bed or two queensize. If you are more people you gotta get e.g. a "The Lion King Family Suite". https://www.disneyworld.eu/resorts/.....t/rates-rooms/
Aside of the hotel rooms themselves there was also a huge canteen and a main building with an arcade and an art-themed merchandise shop. A got quite a cool, large cup there, lol.
It was certainly cool, albeit to be fully honest, I'd probably not go with a Disney resort again unless I strike it rich xD
Yes, it was neat to have that 30 minutes early entry and the "Skylift" is bringing you to the park rather quickly, but that's about it with the benefits.
The decorations are fun, but not thaaaat much of importance to me personally. During all my city trips, I always saw the hotel as a necessity and not really part of the experience (maybe with exception of the 4-star hotel Estrel which hosted the Eurofurence back then - only got to stay there once sadly).
I made some calculations and staying at the hotel I was later at, instead, it would still have been way cheaper even accounting for generous 4 Uber rides a 20$ a day to get to the parks with a break at the hotel.
The location was not even that perfect - you had to walk on foot several minutes to the skylift and also to the breakfast hall as it was a different building.
One more thing I'd do different: Actually make proper use of the well thought out ticket offer for Disney parks. When you buy multi-day passes, e.g. for 3 days, you can use these days over a span of 5 days. Meaning you can give yourself some recreational time - and that is fricking needed >w<
Hence the title of this journal xD
We did not do that.. we filled the gaps with another park (#10) and chasing a Star Wars arcade machine that turned out to be in repairs XD
#10. Now finally to the main highlight: Discovery Cove!
It's a truly unique place. In 2017 apparently voted as the best park of the US by "USA Today" (not entirely sure how much that means, but still).
It consists of three main areas:
- Freshwater Oasis/Wind-Away river: A sweet water basin and slow lazy-river with a neat cave and some glass windows that let you look into an otter habitat.
- "The Grand Reef": A snorkeling area with an incredible amount of fish, corals and rays! Also some spadefish and probably many many other species. It was heavenly to snorkel in there! I wish I were better at going actually underwater but I'm too annoyingly buoyant >< Still it was amazing and made some incredible footage with my DJI Action 2 (an extremely compact action cam).
The fish were not scared of humans at all.. That alone was something I never experienced before.
- And of course... **The Dolphin Lagoon**!
Friend and I had booked the "Trainer for a Day" program that was in the meantime transferred into the "Ultimate Animal Experience".
Before I researched for this, I did not expect such a thing being possible on earth, let alone be affordable by a normal engineer. Besides some nice-to-have times like an hour in the snorkeling area before the park opened for other people and some photoshooting with an ant-eater and birds, this especially consisted of interactions with the dolphins... <3
They currently have 35 bottlenose dolphins in the huge area. The whole park is among other things a retirement home for former show dolphins from SeaWorld parks as well as an alternative, more calm place. Here the gorgeous cetaceans do not need to perform high speed stunts on a schedule anymore. Yet they can keep interacting with humans like they are used to most of their life if not their whole life (32 of the 35 have been born in captivity). As corona has showed, they do kinda desire that interaction to a degree... ( https://globalnews.ca/news/6973842/.....-brings-gifts/ )
First we had a backstage tour through the facilities. That huge amount of water for the very natural looking basins is being filtered entirely every two hours!
We also got to see a wall-sized whiteboard with info on every single dolphin. Each has their unique composition of fish that is updated regularly after examinations of each 'phin.
The digital age seems to not have arrived there yet tho. Guess you wont wanna handle a touch screen when you have gloves on and gotta haul fish buckets around xD
With that food plan they make sure the dolphins keep a mostly constant weight and it allows to react if they suffer of anything. The caretakers also provide them with unflavored (but colored for visibility) gelatin. The purpose is to contribute to their water supply! Just like us humans, drinking salty sea water would dehydrate them. In nature they get all their sweetwater from their food - which is why nearly all cetaceans have evolved to swallow their prey whole. Unfortunately fish does loose a certain amount of water when frozen which is why this addition is necessary in captivity.
Would be great if they could feed them live fish all the time, but guess that'd get pricey real quick since it's a fairly unique demand :(
At least it seems like they see the gelatin as a treat! The caretakers don't entirely know whether it's the texture that's so different from fish they like, or whether they actually feel it quenches thirst xD
After the backstage tour it was finally time to meet with the gorgeous swimmers face to bottlenose (okay, enough of the puns :P ).
Initially I had hoped we would go into deeper water, but at least in the waist-deep area of the large lagoon (of which there are 3), we could all focus on the dolphins instead of swimming.
They first told us about the individuals.
One of the two we interacted with was Capricorn - one of three last wild captured ones - captured 1972 and a movie star - he was "Sandy" in the movie Jaws III from 1983.
That means he is well over 52 years, probably in the realm of 60!
The other was "Prim", only ten years and born there at the Discovery Cove.
You can see a bit about their dolphins here by the way: https://www.cetabase.org/inventory/discovery-cove/
First they let us gently touch their backs. The trainer gave us clear instructions to be careful about avoiding the blowhole which is very sensitive to them.
Very obediently the cetacean swam in the shallow water along the five of us, as we formed a chain shoulder on shoulder.
Their skin feels so warm even in the reasonably warm water...
It's quite amazing that mammals function that way. Per bodymass they eat about five times as many calories as we do (e.g. 20K calories at 200Kg weight)! The swimming is surely a factor bur a major reason for that is to keep up the bodyheat that is lost to the water.
If I recall right, they next showed us their flukes and also brought attention to their dorsal fins.
The trainers said those are major ways they keep the 35 'phins apart (the first thing a new trainer gotta learn). Of course in this case that surely would not have been necessary. The elder one had so many bruises and scratches across its skin accumulated over the decades. Similar to humans, their skin looses its regeneration ability with age and thus it becomes obvious compared to the far younger one.
However, when they are of similar age, rostrum length (differs surprisingly much within the same species) and happen to not have distinct patterns on the skin, the fluke and dorsal fins are their fingerprints:
Small cuts in the skin and distinct shapes like the "median notch" which is the V-shape connecting the flukes. Except it's not the same V shape for all dolphins.
It was cool how calm the 'phins were showing us their tails xD We later got quite the demonstration how easily they can put their powerful muscles to use when they want to. The trainers accentuated how the 'phins all act voluntarily and indeed they were not always up for it, swimming a round in the area first before returning and that was fine.
The training methods they apply (also over at SeaWorld) is positive reinforcement.
I mention earlier how they are used to interacting with humans and appreciate the attention (not only the food, also the rubs and general attention via voice). Whatever the reaction from the humans is, it usually comes immediately - if it is a reward.
So when they do something right, they are rewarded with interaction and food and if they miss a cue, they receive no attention for 3 seconds.
We were supposed to count to three in our mind, not looking at them if they did something "wrong".
This was not something we saw in action at Discovery Cove as the ones we played with acted pretty much perfectly - but it happened with the Comerson's Dolphins over at Aquatica. More on that later (TODO: Number).
Yes, this has sadly not always been the preferred method. We gotta thank the outrages in the 80ies and 90ies that animal trainers (by far not only of cetaceans) have stepped away from negative training methods.
After what one could call body examination (which are what the researchers and caretakers do as well - e.g. they take blood samples when the 'phins present their flukes), the most fun part started:
Actually swimming with them! Or well.. they swimming for us? :D
We were carefully instructed where to hold onto, but it was quite like in the movies. One hand on the flipper, the other on the dorsal fin.. and gosh, 60 year old Capricorn was surely as lively as ever!
Pulled me forcefully through the water. I was a bit unsure what to do with my legs since we were told not to "ride" the dolphin obviously since the water was too shallow, yet I felt bad to let him do all the work XD
But after a few seconds I realized how futile that was and continued to just hang on and that was so fun! =D
My parents who have seen photos of this say they don't think they have ever seen me look this happy >w<
To my surprise we also got a second round - this time with Prim but her being on her back!
So she was holding her breath while pulling me with both her flippers >w<
Of course in both cases for 20 or 30 seconds at most but it was remarkable experiences.
In the end we had some photoshooting, sandwhiched between the 'phins and also them nuzzling our cheek. Admittedly that was very much led by commands. They do not act like, let's say overly friendly dogs or so with foreign people; that'd be too much to ask.
Think in total we were about 45 minutes in the water with the dolphins. A reasonable amount of time, I'd say.
It was also a really educative time as well.
Finally after a few more hours enjoying the rest of the park and watching playful otters, this concluded the most fun day of my life <3
If you do go to Discovery Cove yourself, unfortunately you will need to get the "Ultimate Animal Experience" (or guess the WIP experience if you are actually rich xD) since at least according to some online opinions, the "Signature Dolphin Swim Experience" is rather short.
Surely this made this likely the most expensive day in my life, but I have not the slightest regrets~ Besides commissioning art and supporting my parents, making experiences is what I work for :)
And honestly they were at least entirely honest with pricing. Food and softdrinks were included as well as parking and lockers (*looking at you, Aquatica, charging 35$ on site for a locker no matter the duration* >: ). You knew upfront what getting the photos would cost, etc. and only one person in the "party", aka friend and me, had to pay for all our photos.
Furthermore I got 14 days of SeaWorld and Aquatica for only 40$ extra which is a fraction of getting those separately.
Speaking of the photos, the photographers knew what hey were doing! Never ever could friend and I have taken good photos like that and while I may have been able to take some nice UW shots with the DJI, especially with that one, the risk that a 'phin snatches it was real. They love to play with everything and are only given toys that are too big to swallow xD
#11. SeaWorld and Aquatica cetaceans
Phew, I can't deny it, just like I'm right now a bit exhausted from writing all this (wrote this throughout several sessions from notes during the vacation), after the Discovery Cove plus the Disney parks, I was ready to travel home - but I had 6 more days booked in Orlando! xD
For these days the fellow furry had returned to his home since the other activities weren't his cup of tea.
So I took a day and a half "off". Recharging my "more or less introverts batteries" by watching Twitch (nice to finally catch an American streamer live without jeopardizing my sleeping schedule, lol) dabbling some code and RPing with an online friend.
The next days were SeaWorld and Aquatica. It was awesome to see the shows even if I do have to wonder if the dolphins truly enjoy those high speed actions they do. They do high speed in nature for hunting which they don't have to do there - that's the trade they have involuntarily made.
All in all I don't think the world would be a better place without captive dolphins though. It is the best way to remind people of the beauty of nature out there.
Real experiences are always better than documentaries or VR experiences (at least for the time being) and they inspire us to care about the real nature out there as well.
Meeting the two young Belugas was really cool. Had a short backstage tour with them as well and I felt like they were actually paying more direct attention to me than the dolphins at Discovery Cove xD
Of course that was far shorter and not in the water (you wouldn't wanna be in their arctic water anyways ._.' )
Over at Aquatica I got to meet the Commerson's Dolphins. That was actually not even advertised as a backstage tour (two were honestly enough for me), they just said "close up".
We were actually taken through the facility though and by crouching at their basin, even got to touch pet them. They were sooo cute!
In case you don't know Commerson's, they are way way smaller: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comme.....on%27s_dolphin
And they were also a bit more active than the Bottlenoses. Partially because of the smaller size which means more agility, but as we were taught by a really knowledgeable trainer, also because unlike their larger distant relatives, they are not near the top of the food chain. So they exhibit a bit of a territorial behavior and have to roam through their basin every few minutes to check that everything is in order.
Was fascinating to watch them. Their basin is also a special one. Since they do not try to eat or kill every fish around them (what Bottlenoses unfortunately do because they see larger fish as competition), they were actually held together with whole swarms of fish.
I've spent think two days total at SeaWorld. Cetaceans were of course not everything they had. The
SeaWorld Rescue Center had manatees and turtles who had been in trouble one way or another which are now being cared for. Of course also many, many other animals. There was also the by far most impressive penguin enclosure I had ever been at. .. I can't do all of that justice by writing >w<'
#12. SeaWorld rides
Animals are not everything even at SeaWorld. Giftsshops were at every corner, lol. But also roller coasters.
I was reminded of how I was at a classic entertainment park in Span as an early teen and I chickened out of all the rougher rides.
Later in life I never really cared, but here I thought I should learn my limits!
So I went onto the "Mako" as well as the "surf coaster" Pipeline. Certainly got my heart beating but no issues with keeping the food in or nausea. Will I hunt down more roller coasters in the future? Maybe, it's still not a must-do for me (especially if it means >30 min waiting), but reasonable fun. xP
#13. Aquatica waterpark
Besides the blurry water near Space Coast, Aquatica waterpark was probably the only disappointment of my trip.
I mean there were cool pools and stuff, but a place only a few dozen miles from where I live is cooler.
At Aquatica they have a waterslide that goes with a transparent tube through the Comerson's enclosure. That really is an idea that's better on paper than in practice. Splashing water doesn't let you see anything and even if you were to go with goggles, good luck spotting something in 1.5 seconds sliding through that tube xD
#14. Titanic Artifact Museum, Madame Tussauds and SeaLife
Three final stops were on my agenda.
The Titanic museum with a tour was very impressive and inspiring. They had a wall of ice there which supposedly was almost as cold as the water in the night of when the ship sank. The tourguide challenged us to touch it for 15 seconds. I made it, but... ouchy...
Madame Tussauds was cool albeit not my first experience by that since I had opportunity to go to the way more extensive original in London last year.
Certainly a must-see if you can't make it to Europe though.
Finally SeaLife was okay. It was inside the city thus smaller than e.g. the one I know at Lake Constance but at the aquariums with axolotl were really cool and so were the coral growing stations.
I remember how as a kid I was sad and worried to hear that we humans have not figured out how to grow corals. That seems to have changed.
**Other random topics:**
# Food
Of course besides the general culture and entertainment parks I also wanted to try out American cuisine. Gotta say except for one particular breakfast restaurant in Orlando where every was somehow tasting bland, all experiences were great!
Maybe it's not too surprising because we really are conditioned for American style food over here in Europe xD
An unexpected highlight was at the visitor restaurant/canteen at the space center. The dish was called "French Dip Sandwich".
I've been to France and it's definitely not something you typically find there though, lol. Turns out it's from LA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_dip
Was delicious though and I've found two spots in my home city that offers it too; gotta try some day.
Pancakes at a good breakfast restaurant were also awesome! Kinda like them more than crépes that are common here tbh.
Less American but certainly highlights were the two Japanese restaurants we were at. One had a grill directly in the table where the food was prepared and the other one had great Ramen and "fried cheesecake" OwO
Of course I also had to go to McDonalds - for comparison xP Apparently the German version of the "quarter pounder" is meant to be the Royal TS and Royal Cheese, but no they are not the same. The meat of the Quarter Pounder was smaller in diameter but thicker and overall way juicier!
Maybe it was because it was a late evening and I was very hungry but I found it better than what I'm used to at home.
Also had Wendy's and Taco Bell - those are like "meme food" to me because I only know them from internet memes xD
The dishes were okay, but not something I'd really seek out. While I do go to McDonalds at least once every two weeks, I can't say that I'm seeking out other chains that often.
Speaking of meme food, of course I had to try *sings in way too bright voice* **hot pockets** ;D
An add for that was one of the first things playing as soon as I went online with US IP adress, haha. Luckily the hotel at the beach had a microwave in the room!
Yummy, I can see myself getting those if they were available here. Wonder why they aren't since other Nestlé brands/products are quite common.
One more thing I noticed, food at stores is relatively expensive. Some things even very. E.g. a liter of milk was $2.20 at Publix.
In Germany you get milk for 90ct.
A mixed package with a few hundred grams (maybe half a pound) of different sliced sausage were 12$. I'm fairly sure that would not have been more than the equivalent of 6$ in Germany.
What I wish we had over here though was the really huge selection of premade meal components!
You do find various premade meal kits here too (usually not really good quality) but I have hardly ever seen just mashed potatoes or Mac'nCheese let alone a whole number of brands to pick from. Albeit.. maybe I should not wish those to be a thing here or I would be cooking healthily myself even less often X3
As for actually missing any food items from home - yes, but not what is expected from Germans, which is bread (it's something a friend of mine even confirmed that he missed the selection of breads when he visited the US). Actually I discovered "blueberry bagels" and am frustrated that I cannot find those here :(
What I was missing instead was sparkling water o.O If you go into any German supermarket at least 50% of all water brands/offers are sparkling (in two degrees).
In Florida I had to actively search and often it was only tiny bottles and one or two brands.
At ANY restaurant here if you ask for "water", you will either be served sparkling or will be asked whether sparkling or not. In the US I asked for sparkling and guess the waiter didn't hear it xD Maybe such have said club soda (which is a brand) so it's more clear, but it's likely they didn't have any.
Fascinating how there's such a difference.
# Public Transport and Uber:
Public transport really is kinda suboptimal. As much as we Germans like to complain about delays of the "Deutsche Bahn", at least there's a well frequented and dense chain of public transport quite literally everywhere (and I'm using it daily as I own no car).
My first drive with a bus was already a suboptimal one. Two people who likely didn't know each other and who were from different ethnicities got into a loud dispute. The bus driver was literally threatening to kick them out of the bus ._.
Those were not teens but grown ass men.. what the hell. I did not feel unsafe from that, but it was just ridiculous.
Also the fact that the bus drives a circle in only one direction is practically unheard of in Germany as it results in the way in one direction potentially being way quicker than the reverse.
Soon I got to use Uber, something I thought was actually not available at home but turns out it is.
Very convenient service and an acceptable price compared to taxi drivers. I know controversies around that since they don't have the same insurance etc. but the system seems to work...
Was amazed how quick there was a driver nearby.
# Safety
I had heard of things like "open carry" (which is not as much of a thing in Florida tho) which would have psychologically made me unsafe. But I have not seen a single gun except for the guards at the airport and other police officers and guards.
Except for the first few times crossing the road on those slightly different approaches at crossways, I can say I had no unsafe feeling on my trip at all.
Guess it helps that I'm just a normal looking white ._.'
Albeit my voice definitely gave me away as a tourist and as a German even since two people actually noticed immediately xD (one of them being an aquatic performer at SeaWorld who emigrated from Germany 20 years ago. Was quite cool.)
# Disney Vacation Club
Since my friend was reasonably interested, we had an info tour at a higher class resort about "Disney Vacation Club". Quite an unusual approach and am not quite sure whether I'd deem worth it, but it's a thing.
Somewhat inspired by timeshares. You buy a small fraction of a Disney Resort which is then represented as annual "points". You get fresh points every year for a predetermined time that's related to the lifetime of the resort. That can be up to 50 years!
Then you can spend those points for nights at ANY of the Disney Resorts, not only the only you bought yourself into.
It is pricey though and personally I'd feel too constricted by my hotel choice if I had such a thing. I wanna see the world with liberty.
Yet if you already have a house, car and retirement provision, I suppose it makes sense to put that as the next goal to buy. Don't forget the annual running cost of having that share though...
I'm still not even having a house and it doesn't make much sense for Europeans anyways xD
# Trying on a monofin!
On an entirely different topic and sadly a bit of a disappointing one. I brought with me a monofin as well as a lycra mermaid tail >w< (exactly one like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=d.....mmw&sns=em )
Public pools at home don't allow that and lakes are usually too cold. Thought this is my chance especially since it's not crowded at all - I would have been too shy in Italy among the masses of people.
Sadly the Florida coast didn't have what the Italian one usual has: Piers!
Putting on the monofin while being tossed around by the waves was a serious struggle. Not the slightest chance to have done that while also having the fabric of the tail on :(
At least I got to swim a bit with the monofin. Hard to tell whether I'd call it fun because obviously I had no prior exercise xD
Couldn't even take meaningful photos tho because of blurry water, lol.
Welp, I've tried ._.
I do plan to try again in high summer at Lake Constance though. That might work out.
# Tipping and service
Tipping in the US is expected to be higher than in Germany. I won't say much about that since there's enough online of why that's the case etc.
However what I do gotta say though is that service is certainly friendlier than what I'm used to. Paying more attention to you and ask whether everything is fine.
Albeit occasionally maybe too much as one time I was being offered another drink while the current one was only half empty xD
Got to experience packing service at some shops albeit something was a bit strange. In all places they had those EXTREMELY thin bags I had never seen before. And so when I got something slightly heavier like water bottles, they were using three on top of each other...
That brings me to the next point:
# Plastic
Oneway plastic stuff everywhere :/
At any visitor restaurant/canteen, McDonalds, hotel breakfast etc. Cuttlery, straws and cup lids were plastic. As mentioned, also the shopping bags were plastic with paper bags not even being offered as far as I saw. Good that I had some fabric bag with me.
I honestly was a bit disappointed about Disney in that regard. A company that claims to care much about the future of our children could really signal something by reducing plastic.
Hell if most of Europe managed to, it can't be "that" hard.
Hence McDonalds got rid of plastic here. Could they not have extended the supply chain efficiently to the US?
This unfortunately shows that change towards environmental care does not happen on its own with a fully free market. Governments need to take control.
I am proud of what the EU has achieved for us in this regard.
# Patriotism
That brings me to the topic of patriotism albeit I really don't have to say much. Think internet memes exaggerate a bit regarding Americans and their country.
Yes, there were US flags in many many places but that's it. I did not feel singled out by that fact or anything like that though.
Also luckily did not have any obvious interactions with MAGA supporters (not that I'd have started political discussions myself).
# English
All in all despite my weak hearing, I had not too much trouble understanding people. Especially all presenters at backstage tours and shows were having a clear voice and were using no regional words.
Only troubles I experienced were with my friend when we were both very tired or when he expected me to know american-only brands, games and other stuff like that xD
Occasionally there were new words for me since clearly there is a difference in vocabulary between what you speak in a business environment, what you write online, and what you speak in actual "every day real life". Naturally I only had experience with the former two (but many years of those). It was a neat to gather at least a bit of that "rl experience".
As for any Floridian accent or slang, I did not notice much. The English sounded to me the same like in American movies or by a streamer from the east coast. I may just not be good at hearing out the nuances though.
In every case I had no embarrassing incidents like in France or Italy where I was struggling to request what I wanted in a store X3
Or even like in England where a cashier was offering me a BUG... since "bag" is pronounced like that in British English apparently...
**Future Plans!**
Soo, for the very near future I don't really have traveling plans. I did save for almost a year for this trip (and by that I mean not adding money to long term savings for buying a house one far day) so I probably shouldn't do it too often.
I have the dream to see Singapore at some point (way shorter trip tho), maybe that's next...
Yet am quite sure some day in my life I'll return to Discovery Cove. It truly is an unique place...
Also gotta try out "SeaVenture" there where you dive with an air helmet!
There is certainly more of Disney to see as well. Checking out the Disney waterparks but that time hopefully swimming at the Florida Keys instead.
I do wonder where I could go to see another mermaid show though. Those are really hard to find.
Notes on what to prepare better in the future:
- Cable-bound headphones for the plane
- Actually watertight mini-spray with sun lotion! (having a small bottle of sprayable sun lotion was really really practical but it leaked twice in my pants >: )
- Cloth-sets separated as sets (e.g. everything for day 1-5, then 6-10 etc.), instead of by type. (that had been dumb of me and resulted in quite a mess among clothes on such a long trip)
- Plane seats on the side seem to have more space than the ones in the middle. So always reserve a seat. (I did only reserve on the initial flight and not the return flight and noticed a difference).
- Bring at least a pair of cargo shorts or similar that has solid zippers. On the roller coasters I was more afraid of dropping something than of an accident or nausea xD
Phew, Kudos to you if you have even skimmed over all this :P
Tl;dr: Had a lot of fun in Florida, visiting DisneyWorld and swam with dolphins =D
Feel free to ignore this journal; there's no really important info here xP
It's just me rambling about my vacation in the US.
Effectively it's a diary so I remember my impressions better years in the future. I thought why not share it~
Tho I did not expect this to become 8000 words long...
Soo, this was my first ever trip to the United States. Living in Germany I've visited many places in the EU; London, Dublin, Paris, Pisa (and multiple beach locations in Italy), Barcelona, Prague and Timisoara (due to relatives). Would say traveling is my major hobby besides software development, art commissioning and roleplaying.
This however was the first time leaving the continent!
The destination was Florida and that was semi coincidental. I definitely wanted to go somewhere with a beach, having been missing the ocean.
So it came in handy that one of my oldest furry friends is a Floridian and even living close to the beach.
Flights to the US are expensive though - especially when it shall be a direct flight because I was a bit afraid of troubles from changing planes. Therefore I quickly decided if I go for such a trip, I should make the very best of it, not just stay in one location.
I am a moderate Disney fan and thus Disney World (Orlando) was a great second destination. And it turned out there are even more amazing things in that city. An incredible one even... More on that later.
Had it been just myself, I probably would have invested just one or two days into Disney, but I would have regretted that approach - luckily my friend who grew up in driving distance to Disney convinced me to do more >w<
**Anyways, one after another:**
1. Customs and arrival:
Gosh was I nervous and paranoid >_< Not because of the flight (albeit almost 10h in a plane were a tad tedious), I certainly had an internet-overdose of horror stories of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That they would be investigating all your luggage, going through your phone and laptop and/or sending you back home...
I even uninstalled Telegram off my devices juuuust in case that somehow makes me suspicious.
What actually happened was that they didn't even look at the "Form 6059B Customs Declaration" I thought I needed. The guy behind a glass window scanned my fingerprints and during that, asked three questions about my job and where I had been in the last 5 years. Afterwards the gate opened and that was it.
Been greeted with a sort of celebration music on the other side o.o' Quite the thing they put up there to make you feel "you made it into the USA, hooray" I guess xD
The rest of the airport was pleasant.. until I left it for the first time.
ORLANDO IS HOT! XD
Seriously, it probably would not be such a surprise if the buildings were not heavily A.C. cooled but as the first impression of stepping out was like how I imagine it to be to step into a dessert - just way more humid, I guess.
2. The east-coast beach:
Said friend was so kind to pick me up from the airport. Wasn't easy to find each other with how large the airport is but eventually we worked it out.
The little beach motel I stayed at was neat. It was some distance beneath the Space Coast.
Finally got to see the sea!
Having arrived well after dark, I went right the next morning out to walk along the water and then jump in.
The area felt way different from Italy where beaches are usually very crowded anywhere where there are hotels.
In Italy there are usually ~2 streets parallel to the beach full of multi-story hotels.
In that region of Florida it's just occasional hotels/motels and a bunch of single-story condominiums (the first new word I had to learn on this trip, lol).
The result was a wonderful free beach to swim at hearts contents without bumping into other people.
I did have one annoying incident where I almost got into two fishers long-distance lines, but that was the only time I saw them.
Two things I noticed was: The water somehow does not smell "like salty sea" as I remember from Italy. That may be just me not remembering so well; not sure. And secondly, the water was very blurry. I did not think to ask my friend beforehand about such a thing xD It's sadly not a snorkeling location, for which I heard Florida to be famous for. Turns out you rather gotta head down to the keys for that. That said, I did have the most incredible snorkeling experience on this trip anyways - more on that later~
All in all the beach time was relaxing. There was some interesting ice cream available as well as breakfast restaurants and of course I went onto two short trips.
3. Kennedy Space Center (visitor complex):
Being in driving distance from where NASA, SpaceX and others launch their rockets that was of course a must-see location.
Friend and I drove there for quite an impressive day. They had a really cool recreation of the launch sequence of the Saturn V for the Apollo 8 mission and of course the Saturn V and many other rockets.
https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/.....aturn-v-rocket
Being someone who finds robots fascinating, think my favorite were the Mars rovers. They had Pathfinder, Opportunity, Curiosity as well as Perseverance together with its cute helicopter (Ingenuity) which I would have missed if my friend did not point out that it was of course suspended in the air above us X3
They also had this.. thing: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/.....oncept-vehicle
Honestly that belongs to Power Rangers, not on Mars xD The vehicle from The Martian was way more realistic and they had a similar one near the rovers actually.
What I did realize only afterwards was that we somehow missed the building where the Space Shuttle (Atlantis) could be seen. Oh well, there may be another opportunity.
However it was a really cool day!
4. Boat trip on the Indian River:
That was not so super spectacular and the boat had no sun cover. Were of course looking for dolphins and we did see I think two peeking their heads out as well as some dorsal fins. Unfortunately I cannot really say that I felt close to nature through that trip. No manatees either :(
Watching rays swim right beneath the surface was cool though.
5. Weeki Wachee!!
Of course a major point to go to Florida was the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park - the place where mermaid shows were founded!
It was a very hot day and we didn't take swimwear, so we were only there for the mermaid shows.
It was quite fascinating to watch, albeit I do gotta say a bit that videos I've seen online of mermaid performers were a bit more impressive >w<'
The water was a little bit blurry (because it's natural river water, I think) and the girls were hardly freediving. Probably 20 seconds at most on occasions. Most of the time they had the hoses in their mouths. Plus the tails, quite qualitative, were fabric, not silicone.
Still they were moving very gracefully and performed a neat adaption of the original Little Mermaid folklore.
Additionally we also witnessed a training session of the mermaid performers. Was fascinating to hear how an instructor was telling the less experienced performers things like where the hose was when they dropped it for a short stunt.
All in all it was an awesome place and certainly cool to have this opportunity to see true mermaid performers <3
Little hint if you every plan to go: Do so during the week and come early. Their app was notifying me later on the weekend multiple times that the "park is at capacity" and thus are not letting people in anymore. There are no reservations or even online tickets.
Entry is cheap though (12$) - that was probably the cheapest event of my whole vacation, lol.
6. Disney World - EPCOT
After Weeki Wachee (at the west coast), friend and I did not return to the east coast but to the Disney Resort in Orlando. More on the resort later.
This is where my friend was shining, knowing those parks like his home XD
EPCOT was the first day. I vaguely had heard of it before, but I genuinely had no clue of the whole backstory.
The acronym stands for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" and was meant to be a futuristic place to live. This did not quite pan out and so they turned it into an entertainment park that celebrates cultures/people and.. life you could say.
Around a gorgeous lake are installations for many different countries including Japan, Germany, Canada etc.
Each of them incredibly unique. There's also various country-typical food available. Japan had a great, slightly higher level restaurant where we had our food cooked on a plate right in the middle of the table.
Of course all Disney themed - the chef made a 3D Mickey head out of onion rings and had it blow steam xD
The German area of EPCOT was of course more like Bavaria. Pretzels, huge beer "Stein" etc. - like most "German culture" is seen in other countries and movies. This video will tell you more about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgxGQct-Yao (and on top of that, the Bavarian ministry apparently purposeful scattered their culture across the world xD )
The "land and sea" areas on the other hand had a series of neat aquariums as well as green houses. They were growing crops vertically in there (and in sand) and you could visit that via a boat.
The Guardians of the Galaxy ride was really cool and my favorite roller coaster of all Disney World. I also dared to go to Space Mountain but while I wasn't at risk of loosing my food, it rocked me in the seat till it hurt and the light effects weren't my thing.
Finally another highlight was the fireworks and music show in the evening: Luminous - The Symphony of Us.
I would not have thought it possible that open space can achieve such good sound. They have some remarkable tech there.
Disney is probably singlehandedly financing a whole fireworks factory xD And I do feel a bit suboptimal regarding the environmental effect of that, but it was cool to watch/hear. Interestingly, they actually do work without gunpowder now: https://www.breeze-technologies.de/.....eir-fireworks/
7. Disney World - Animal Kingdom
No doubt this was my favorite of the Disney parks!
Call me uneducated but until my friend mentioned it at some point weeks earlier, I had no clue Animal Kingdom had.. well, real animals. I imagined mechatronic recreations and shows of various animals from Disney Cartoons xD
The safari (traveling in an huge rail-less truck with about 20 seats) was quite unique and the animal enclosures were probably greater than most zoos.
People knowing me well can probably guess another reason for loving Animal Kingdom: Pandora and the Valley of Mi'ara, I mean Mo'ara! (yep that's literally the name xD )
Absolutely incredible what they did there!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C-edbqVKbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpVMWo8wwRU
The alien plants look so real and are well intervined with real plants. The rocks are literally floating above your head and the sound effects are on point...
The highlight and my favorite ride overall is the "Flight of Passage", a ride on an Ikran! (Banshee in human language :P )
The bike-like device you sit on in a 3D environment literally inflates between your legs - the Ikran is breathing! That's as close as you can get to riding a dragon~
The Na'vi river tour was also very neat.
8. Magical Kingdom and Hollywood Studios:
When I planned the travel, Magical Kingdom was what I looked forward to a lot. After all it is the symbol of Disney and usually what we think of when referring to Disney World, I think.
Unfortunately we were a bit exhausted by the day we got to go there (more on this in #10 >w<). Still it was cool to see the castle, go onto a few rides.
The Haunted Mansion and especially the evening show Fantasmic was awesome. They used a flat sheet of water sprayed vertically in the air to project movie clips onto it. Very smart idea!
9. Disney Springs:
That is more like a shopping area (for which you need no ticket). There's an entire shop for M&Ms and one for CocaCola o.O
As well as a huuuge Disney merchandising shop. Quite crazy area.
Sadly I did not know that there's a Drone Show in the evening though.
10. Disney Resort, planning and other stuff:
Now this was my friends idea - we should get an actual Disney Resort to stay at. The Disney resorts are large, themed hotels near the park with good connection to the park. We stayed at "Art of Animation" of course in the room that fits aquaphiles best: "The Little Mermaid" room xD
More or less a coincidence that this fit tho because they way it works is, all rooms with one name/theme are in very similar configuration. The little mermaids room is made for 2 people having either a kingsize bed or two queensize. If you are more people you gotta get e.g. a "The Lion King Family Suite". https://www.disneyworld.eu/resorts/.....t/rates-rooms/
Aside of the hotel rooms themselves there was also a huge canteen and a main building with an arcade and an art-themed merchandise shop. A got quite a cool, large cup there, lol.
It was certainly cool, albeit to be fully honest, I'd probably not go with a Disney resort again unless I strike it rich xD
Yes, it was neat to have that 30 minutes early entry and the "Skylift" is bringing you to the park rather quickly, but that's about it with the benefits.
The decorations are fun, but not thaaaat much of importance to me personally. During all my city trips, I always saw the hotel as a necessity and not really part of the experience (maybe with exception of the 4-star hotel Estrel which hosted the Eurofurence back then - only got to stay there once sadly).
I made some calculations and staying at the hotel I was later at, instead, it would still have been way cheaper even accounting for generous 4 Uber rides a 20$ a day to get to the parks with a break at the hotel.
The location was not even that perfect - you had to walk on foot several minutes to the skylift and also to the breakfast hall as it was a different building.
One more thing I'd do different: Actually make proper use of the well thought out ticket offer for Disney parks. When you buy multi-day passes, e.g. for 3 days, you can use these days over a span of 5 days. Meaning you can give yourself some recreational time - and that is fricking needed >w<
Hence the title of this journal xD
We did not do that.. we filled the gaps with another park (#10) and chasing a Star Wars arcade machine that turned out to be in repairs XD
#10. Now finally to the main highlight: Discovery Cove!
It's a truly unique place. In 2017 apparently voted as the best park of the US by "USA Today" (not entirely sure how much that means, but still).
It consists of three main areas:
- Freshwater Oasis/Wind-Away river: A sweet water basin and slow lazy-river with a neat cave and some glass windows that let you look into an otter habitat.
- "The Grand Reef": A snorkeling area with an incredible amount of fish, corals and rays! Also some spadefish and probably many many other species. It was heavenly to snorkel in there! I wish I were better at going actually underwater but I'm too annoyingly buoyant >< Still it was amazing and made some incredible footage with my DJI Action 2 (an extremely compact action cam).
The fish were not scared of humans at all.. That alone was something I never experienced before.
- And of course... **The Dolphin Lagoon**!
Friend and I had booked the "Trainer for a Day" program that was in the meantime transferred into the "Ultimate Animal Experience".
Before I researched for this, I did not expect such a thing being possible on earth, let alone be affordable by a normal engineer. Besides some nice-to-have times like an hour in the snorkeling area before the park opened for other people and some photoshooting with an ant-eater and birds, this especially consisted of interactions with the dolphins... <3
They currently have 35 bottlenose dolphins in the huge area. The whole park is among other things a retirement home for former show dolphins from SeaWorld parks as well as an alternative, more calm place. Here the gorgeous cetaceans do not need to perform high speed stunts on a schedule anymore. Yet they can keep interacting with humans like they are used to most of their life if not their whole life (32 of the 35 have been born in captivity). As corona has showed, they do kinda desire that interaction to a degree... ( https://globalnews.ca/news/6973842/.....-brings-gifts/ )
First we had a backstage tour through the facilities. That huge amount of water for the very natural looking basins is being filtered entirely every two hours!
We also got to see a wall-sized whiteboard with info on every single dolphin. Each has their unique composition of fish that is updated regularly after examinations of each 'phin.
The digital age seems to not have arrived there yet tho. Guess you wont wanna handle a touch screen when you have gloves on and gotta haul fish buckets around xD
With that food plan they make sure the dolphins keep a mostly constant weight and it allows to react if they suffer of anything. The caretakers also provide them with unflavored (but colored for visibility) gelatin. The purpose is to contribute to their water supply! Just like us humans, drinking salty sea water would dehydrate them. In nature they get all their sweetwater from their food - which is why nearly all cetaceans have evolved to swallow their prey whole. Unfortunately fish does loose a certain amount of water when frozen which is why this addition is necessary in captivity.
Would be great if they could feed them live fish all the time, but guess that'd get pricey real quick since it's a fairly unique demand :(
At least it seems like they see the gelatin as a treat! The caretakers don't entirely know whether it's the texture that's so different from fish they like, or whether they actually feel it quenches thirst xD
After the backstage tour it was finally time to meet with the gorgeous swimmers face to bottlenose (okay, enough of the puns :P ).
Initially I had hoped we would go into deeper water, but at least in the waist-deep area of the large lagoon (of which there are 3), we could all focus on the dolphins instead of swimming.
They first told us about the individuals.
One of the two we interacted with was Capricorn - one of three last wild captured ones - captured 1972 and a movie star - he was "Sandy" in the movie Jaws III from 1983.
That means he is well over 52 years, probably in the realm of 60!
The other was "Prim", only ten years and born there at the Discovery Cove.
You can see a bit about their dolphins here by the way: https://www.cetabase.org/inventory/discovery-cove/
First they let us gently touch their backs. The trainer gave us clear instructions to be careful about avoiding the blowhole which is very sensitive to them.
Very obediently the cetacean swam in the shallow water along the five of us, as we formed a chain shoulder on shoulder.
Their skin feels so warm even in the reasonably warm water...
It's quite amazing that mammals function that way. Per bodymass they eat about five times as many calories as we do (e.g. 20K calories at 200Kg weight)! The swimming is surely a factor bur a major reason for that is to keep up the bodyheat that is lost to the water.
If I recall right, they next showed us their flukes and also brought attention to their dorsal fins.
The trainers said those are major ways they keep the 35 'phins apart (the first thing a new trainer gotta learn). Of course in this case that surely would not have been necessary. The elder one had so many bruises and scratches across its skin accumulated over the decades. Similar to humans, their skin looses its regeneration ability with age and thus it becomes obvious compared to the far younger one.
However, when they are of similar age, rostrum length (differs surprisingly much within the same species) and happen to not have distinct patterns on the skin, the fluke and dorsal fins are their fingerprints:
Small cuts in the skin and distinct shapes like the "median notch" which is the V-shape connecting the flukes. Except it's not the same V shape for all dolphins.
It was cool how calm the 'phins were showing us their tails xD We later got quite the demonstration how easily they can put their powerful muscles to use when they want to. The trainers accentuated how the 'phins all act voluntarily and indeed they were not always up for it, swimming a round in the area first before returning and that was fine.
The training methods they apply (also over at SeaWorld) is positive reinforcement.
I mention earlier how they are used to interacting with humans and appreciate the attention (not only the food, also the rubs and general attention via voice). Whatever the reaction from the humans is, it usually comes immediately - if it is a reward.
So when they do something right, they are rewarded with interaction and food and if they miss a cue, they receive no attention for 3 seconds.
We were supposed to count to three in our mind, not looking at them if they did something "wrong".
This was not something we saw in action at Discovery Cove as the ones we played with acted pretty much perfectly - but it happened with the Comerson's Dolphins over at Aquatica. More on that later (TODO: Number).
Yes, this has sadly not always been the preferred method. We gotta thank the outrages in the 80ies and 90ies that animal trainers (by far not only of cetaceans) have stepped away from negative training methods.
After what one could call body examination (which are what the researchers and caretakers do as well - e.g. they take blood samples when the 'phins present their flukes), the most fun part started:
Actually swimming with them! Or well.. they swimming for us? :D
We were carefully instructed where to hold onto, but it was quite like in the movies. One hand on the flipper, the other on the dorsal fin.. and gosh, 60 year old Capricorn was surely as lively as ever!
Pulled me forcefully through the water. I was a bit unsure what to do with my legs since we were told not to "ride" the dolphin obviously since the water was too shallow, yet I felt bad to let him do all the work XD
But after a few seconds I realized how futile that was and continued to just hang on and that was so fun! =D
My parents who have seen photos of this say they don't think they have ever seen me look this happy >w<
To my surprise we also got a second round - this time with Prim but her being on her back!
So she was holding her breath while pulling me with both her flippers >w<
Of course in both cases for 20 or 30 seconds at most but it was remarkable experiences.
In the end we had some photoshooting, sandwhiched between the 'phins and also them nuzzling our cheek. Admittedly that was very much led by commands. They do not act like, let's say overly friendly dogs or so with foreign people; that'd be too much to ask.
Think in total we were about 45 minutes in the water with the dolphins. A reasonable amount of time, I'd say.
It was also a really educative time as well.
Finally after a few more hours enjoying the rest of the park and watching playful otters, this concluded the most fun day of my life <3
If you do go to Discovery Cove yourself, unfortunately you will need to get the "Ultimate Animal Experience" (or guess the WIP experience if you are actually rich xD) since at least according to some online opinions, the "Signature Dolphin Swim Experience" is rather short.
Surely this made this likely the most expensive day in my life, but I have not the slightest regrets~ Besides commissioning art and supporting my parents, making experiences is what I work for :)
And honestly they were at least entirely honest with pricing. Food and softdrinks were included as well as parking and lockers (*looking at you, Aquatica, charging 35$ on site for a locker no matter the duration* >: ). You knew upfront what getting the photos would cost, etc. and only one person in the "party", aka friend and me, had to pay for all our photos.
Furthermore I got 14 days of SeaWorld and Aquatica for only 40$ extra which is a fraction of getting those separately.
Speaking of the photos, the photographers knew what hey were doing! Never ever could friend and I have taken good photos like that and while I may have been able to take some nice UW shots with the DJI, especially with that one, the risk that a 'phin snatches it was real. They love to play with everything and are only given toys that are too big to swallow xD
#11. SeaWorld and Aquatica cetaceans
Phew, I can't deny it, just like I'm right now a bit exhausted from writing all this (wrote this throughout several sessions from notes during the vacation), after the Discovery Cove plus the Disney parks, I was ready to travel home - but I had 6 more days booked in Orlando! xD
For these days the fellow furry had returned to his home since the other activities weren't his cup of tea.
So I took a day and a half "off". Recharging my "more or less introverts batteries" by watching Twitch (nice to finally catch an American streamer live without jeopardizing my sleeping schedule, lol) dabbling some code and RPing with an online friend.
The next days were SeaWorld and Aquatica. It was awesome to see the shows even if I do have to wonder if the dolphins truly enjoy those high speed actions they do. They do high speed in nature for hunting which they don't have to do there - that's the trade they have involuntarily made.
All in all I don't think the world would be a better place without captive dolphins though. It is the best way to remind people of the beauty of nature out there.
Real experiences are always better than documentaries or VR experiences (at least for the time being) and they inspire us to care about the real nature out there as well.
Meeting the two young Belugas was really cool. Had a short backstage tour with them as well and I felt like they were actually paying more direct attention to me than the dolphins at Discovery Cove xD
Of course that was far shorter and not in the water (you wouldn't wanna be in their arctic water anyways ._.' )
Over at Aquatica I got to meet the Commerson's Dolphins. That was actually not even advertised as a backstage tour (two were honestly enough for me), they just said "close up".
We were actually taken through the facility though and by crouching at their basin, even got to touch pet them. They were sooo cute!
In case you don't know Commerson's, they are way way smaller: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comme.....on%27s_dolphin
And they were also a bit more active than the Bottlenoses. Partially because of the smaller size which means more agility, but as we were taught by a really knowledgeable trainer, also because unlike their larger distant relatives, they are not near the top of the food chain. So they exhibit a bit of a territorial behavior and have to roam through their basin every few minutes to check that everything is in order.
Was fascinating to watch them. Their basin is also a special one. Since they do not try to eat or kill every fish around them (what Bottlenoses unfortunately do because they see larger fish as competition), they were actually held together with whole swarms of fish.
I've spent think two days total at SeaWorld. Cetaceans were of course not everything they had. The
SeaWorld Rescue Center had manatees and turtles who had been in trouble one way or another which are now being cared for. Of course also many, many other animals. There was also the by far most impressive penguin enclosure I had ever been at. .. I can't do all of that justice by writing >w<'
#12. SeaWorld rides
Animals are not everything even at SeaWorld. Giftsshops were at every corner, lol. But also roller coasters.
I was reminded of how I was at a classic entertainment park in Span as an early teen and I chickened out of all the rougher rides.
Later in life I never really cared, but here I thought I should learn my limits!
So I went onto the "Mako" as well as the "surf coaster" Pipeline. Certainly got my heart beating but no issues with keeping the food in or nausea. Will I hunt down more roller coasters in the future? Maybe, it's still not a must-do for me (especially if it means >30 min waiting), but reasonable fun. xP
#13. Aquatica waterpark
Besides the blurry water near Space Coast, Aquatica waterpark was probably the only disappointment of my trip.
I mean there were cool pools and stuff, but a place only a few dozen miles from where I live is cooler.
At Aquatica they have a waterslide that goes with a transparent tube through the Comerson's enclosure. That really is an idea that's better on paper than in practice. Splashing water doesn't let you see anything and even if you were to go with goggles, good luck spotting something in 1.5 seconds sliding through that tube xD
#14. Titanic Artifact Museum, Madame Tussauds and SeaLife
Three final stops were on my agenda.
The Titanic museum with a tour was very impressive and inspiring. They had a wall of ice there which supposedly was almost as cold as the water in the night of when the ship sank. The tourguide challenged us to touch it for 15 seconds. I made it, but... ouchy...
Madame Tussauds was cool albeit not my first experience by that since I had opportunity to go to the way more extensive original in London last year.
Certainly a must-see if you can't make it to Europe though.
Finally SeaLife was okay. It was inside the city thus smaller than e.g. the one I know at Lake Constance but at the aquariums with axolotl were really cool and so were the coral growing stations.
I remember how as a kid I was sad and worried to hear that we humans have not figured out how to grow corals. That seems to have changed.
**Other random topics:**
# Food
Of course besides the general culture and entertainment parks I also wanted to try out American cuisine. Gotta say except for one particular breakfast restaurant in Orlando where every was somehow tasting bland, all experiences were great!
Maybe it's not too surprising because we really are conditioned for American style food over here in Europe xD
An unexpected highlight was at the visitor restaurant/canteen at the space center. The dish was called "French Dip Sandwich".
I've been to France and it's definitely not something you typically find there though, lol. Turns out it's from LA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_dip
Was delicious though and I've found two spots in my home city that offers it too; gotta try some day.
Pancakes at a good breakfast restaurant were also awesome! Kinda like them more than crépes that are common here tbh.
Less American but certainly highlights were the two Japanese restaurants we were at. One had a grill directly in the table where the food was prepared and the other one had great Ramen and "fried cheesecake" OwO
Of course I also had to go to McDonalds - for comparison xP Apparently the German version of the "quarter pounder" is meant to be the Royal TS and Royal Cheese, but no they are not the same. The meat of the Quarter Pounder was smaller in diameter but thicker and overall way juicier!
Maybe it was because it was a late evening and I was very hungry but I found it better than what I'm used to at home.
Also had Wendy's and Taco Bell - those are like "meme food" to me because I only know them from internet memes xD
The dishes were okay, but not something I'd really seek out. While I do go to McDonalds at least once every two weeks, I can't say that I'm seeking out other chains that often.
Speaking of meme food, of course I had to try *sings in way too bright voice* **hot pockets** ;D
An add for that was one of the first things playing as soon as I went online with US IP adress, haha. Luckily the hotel at the beach had a microwave in the room!
Yummy, I can see myself getting those if they were available here. Wonder why they aren't since other Nestlé brands/products are quite common.
One more thing I noticed, food at stores is relatively expensive. Some things even very. E.g. a liter of milk was $2.20 at Publix.
In Germany you get milk for 90ct.
A mixed package with a few hundred grams (maybe half a pound) of different sliced sausage were 12$. I'm fairly sure that would not have been more than the equivalent of 6$ in Germany.
What I wish we had over here though was the really huge selection of premade meal components!
You do find various premade meal kits here too (usually not really good quality) but I have hardly ever seen just mashed potatoes or Mac'nCheese let alone a whole number of brands to pick from. Albeit.. maybe I should not wish those to be a thing here or I would be cooking healthily myself even less often X3
As for actually missing any food items from home - yes, but not what is expected from Germans, which is bread (it's something a friend of mine even confirmed that he missed the selection of breads when he visited the US). Actually I discovered "blueberry bagels" and am frustrated that I cannot find those here :(
What I was missing instead was sparkling water o.O If you go into any German supermarket at least 50% of all water brands/offers are sparkling (in two degrees).
In Florida I had to actively search and often it was only tiny bottles and one or two brands.
At ANY restaurant here if you ask for "water", you will either be served sparkling or will be asked whether sparkling or not. In the US I asked for sparkling and guess the waiter didn't hear it xD Maybe such have said club soda (which is a brand) so it's more clear, but it's likely they didn't have any.
Fascinating how there's such a difference.
# Public Transport and Uber:
Public transport really is kinda suboptimal. As much as we Germans like to complain about delays of the "Deutsche Bahn", at least there's a well frequented and dense chain of public transport quite literally everywhere (and I'm using it daily as I own no car).
My first drive with a bus was already a suboptimal one. Two people who likely didn't know each other and who were from different ethnicities got into a loud dispute. The bus driver was literally threatening to kick them out of the bus ._.
Those were not teens but grown ass men.. what the hell. I did not feel unsafe from that, but it was just ridiculous.
Also the fact that the bus drives a circle in only one direction is practically unheard of in Germany as it results in the way in one direction potentially being way quicker than the reverse.
Soon I got to use Uber, something I thought was actually not available at home but turns out it is.
Very convenient service and an acceptable price compared to taxi drivers. I know controversies around that since they don't have the same insurance etc. but the system seems to work...
Was amazed how quick there was a driver nearby.
# Safety
I had heard of things like "open carry" (which is not as much of a thing in Florida tho) which would have psychologically made me unsafe. But I have not seen a single gun except for the guards at the airport and other police officers and guards.
Except for the first few times crossing the road on those slightly different approaches at crossways, I can say I had no unsafe feeling on my trip at all.
Guess it helps that I'm just a normal looking white ._.'
Albeit my voice definitely gave me away as a tourist and as a German even since two people actually noticed immediately xD (one of them being an aquatic performer at SeaWorld who emigrated from Germany 20 years ago. Was quite cool.)
# Disney Vacation Club
Since my friend was reasonably interested, we had an info tour at a higher class resort about "Disney Vacation Club". Quite an unusual approach and am not quite sure whether I'd deem worth it, but it's a thing.
Somewhat inspired by timeshares. You buy a small fraction of a Disney Resort which is then represented as annual "points". You get fresh points every year for a predetermined time that's related to the lifetime of the resort. That can be up to 50 years!
Then you can spend those points for nights at ANY of the Disney Resorts, not only the only you bought yourself into.
It is pricey though and personally I'd feel too constricted by my hotel choice if I had such a thing. I wanna see the world with liberty.
Yet if you already have a house, car and retirement provision, I suppose it makes sense to put that as the next goal to buy. Don't forget the annual running cost of having that share though...
I'm still not even having a house and it doesn't make much sense for Europeans anyways xD
# Trying on a monofin!
On an entirely different topic and sadly a bit of a disappointing one. I brought with me a monofin as well as a lycra mermaid tail >w< (exactly one like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=d.....mmw&sns=em )
Public pools at home don't allow that and lakes are usually too cold. Thought this is my chance especially since it's not crowded at all - I would have been too shy in Italy among the masses of people.
Sadly the Florida coast didn't have what the Italian one usual has: Piers!
Putting on the monofin while being tossed around by the waves was a serious struggle. Not the slightest chance to have done that while also having the fabric of the tail on :(
At least I got to swim a bit with the monofin. Hard to tell whether I'd call it fun because obviously I had no prior exercise xD
Couldn't even take meaningful photos tho because of blurry water, lol.
Welp, I've tried ._.
I do plan to try again in high summer at Lake Constance though. That might work out.
# Tipping and service
Tipping in the US is expected to be higher than in Germany. I won't say much about that since there's enough online of why that's the case etc.
However what I do gotta say though is that service is certainly friendlier than what I'm used to. Paying more attention to you and ask whether everything is fine.
Albeit occasionally maybe too much as one time I was being offered another drink while the current one was only half empty xD
Got to experience packing service at some shops albeit something was a bit strange. In all places they had those EXTREMELY thin bags I had never seen before. And so when I got something slightly heavier like water bottles, they were using three on top of each other...
That brings me to the next point:
# Plastic
Oneway plastic stuff everywhere :/
At any visitor restaurant/canteen, McDonalds, hotel breakfast etc. Cuttlery, straws and cup lids were plastic. As mentioned, also the shopping bags were plastic with paper bags not even being offered as far as I saw. Good that I had some fabric bag with me.
I honestly was a bit disappointed about Disney in that regard. A company that claims to care much about the future of our children could really signal something by reducing plastic.
Hell if most of Europe managed to, it can't be "that" hard.
Hence McDonalds got rid of plastic here. Could they not have extended the supply chain efficiently to the US?
This unfortunately shows that change towards environmental care does not happen on its own with a fully free market. Governments need to take control.
I am proud of what the EU has achieved for us in this regard.
# Patriotism
That brings me to the topic of patriotism albeit I really don't have to say much. Think internet memes exaggerate a bit regarding Americans and their country.
Yes, there were US flags in many many places but that's it. I did not feel singled out by that fact or anything like that though.
Also luckily did not have any obvious interactions with MAGA supporters (not that I'd have started political discussions myself).
# English
All in all despite my weak hearing, I had not too much trouble understanding people. Especially all presenters at backstage tours and shows were having a clear voice and were using no regional words.
Only troubles I experienced were with my friend when we were both very tired or when he expected me to know american-only brands, games and other stuff like that xD
Occasionally there were new words for me since clearly there is a difference in vocabulary between what you speak in a business environment, what you write online, and what you speak in actual "every day real life". Naturally I only had experience with the former two (but many years of those). It was a neat to gather at least a bit of that "rl experience".
As for any Floridian accent or slang, I did not notice much. The English sounded to me the same like in American movies or by a streamer from the east coast. I may just not be good at hearing out the nuances though.
In every case I had no embarrassing incidents like in France or Italy where I was struggling to request what I wanted in a store X3
Or even like in England where a cashier was offering me a BUG... since "bag" is pronounced like that in British English apparently...
**Future Plans!**
Soo, for the very near future I don't really have traveling plans. I did save for almost a year for this trip (and by that I mean not adding money to long term savings for buying a house one far day) so I probably shouldn't do it too often.
I have the dream to see Singapore at some point (way shorter trip tho), maybe that's next...
Yet am quite sure some day in my life I'll return to Discovery Cove. It truly is an unique place...
Also gotta try out "SeaVenture" there where you dive with an air helmet!
There is certainly more of Disney to see as well. Checking out the Disney waterparks but that time hopefully swimming at the Florida Keys instead.
I do wonder where I could go to see another mermaid show though. Those are really hard to find.
Notes on what to prepare better in the future:
- Cable-bound headphones for the plane
- Actually watertight mini-spray with sun lotion! (having a small bottle of sprayable sun lotion was really really practical but it leaked twice in my pants >: )
- Cloth-sets separated as sets (e.g. everything for day 1-5, then 6-10 etc.), instead of by type. (that had been dumb of me and resulted in quite a mess among clothes on such a long trip)
- Plane seats on the side seem to have more space than the ones in the middle. So always reserve a seat. (I did only reserve on the initial flight and not the return flight and noticed a difference).
- Bring at least a pair of cargo shorts or similar that has solid zippers. On the roller coasters I was more afraid of dropping something than of an accident or nausea xD
Phew, Kudos to you if you have even skimmed over all this :P
Tl;dr: Had a lot of fun in Florida, visiting DisneyWorld and swam with dolphins =D
Yep, next time I go it will be either the westcoast or the Keys. Is the water on the west side more clear?
Hmm, I do gotta think, since when I go to Florida again, I'd want to be some time in Orlando again and since that means traveling to the beach anyways, maybe heading down to the Keys may be the best approach... Anyways, it will be years till then >w<
Someday I wanna see about moving to the EU somewhere next.
Though I have a preference for places that have beautiful natural landscapes, like the fjords, vast forests and mountains. I also prefer to stay away from the south and the hot seas.
But it would be amazing to be outside of the US.
So plan in plenty of relaxation days!
Customs can be a bit erratic. Of course as an american citizen, they screen me a little less, but I'm still generally supposed to declare if I've brought anything unusual home, like seeds or cheeses or a russian nuke (I would assume at least). Once I came back from Italy with some cheeses, and not only was I not prompted to declare it, but the entire customs booth at the airport was closed! I can say I did my due diligence at least- so if the cheese apocalypse begins in america, i'm not the one to blame.
West coast and East coast beaches are very different in nature. First of all, the east coast has currents moving north from the equator, and the west coast has the currents moving down from alaska; as a result, for all the fame Malibu and Venice beach around Los Angeles might get, the water there is actually colder than in New York. Also, for whatever smell the east might be lacking, the west more than makes up in rotting kelp. All down the california coastline at least, there are fairly huge kelp forests a little ways out, and you can immediately tell any time you're within a mile of the coast without needing to see or hear a thing. Though it's remarkable how many of those have been destroyed in just the last 10 years...
On food: the US has a very different relationship with food than europe does in my experience. I think it all stems from the fact that in america, cooking/making your own food is much less focused on, and in turn it bleeds into most other aspects of the culture. Whereas there are some chain restaurants in europe, it seems most are individual "mom and pop" restaurants as we would call them there; over much of america chains are the norm, and it's probably a combination of the fact that you can travel anywhere in the country you want and expect to get about the same experience (a mcdonalds quarter pounder will be the very same thing in arizona or minnesota) and just the basic convenience of taking a 5-minute stop out of your work commute to have a pre-prepared meal (I wouldn't be surprised if the chunk lost from preparing your own meals is entirely taken up by increased work commute times) similarly that's why fresh foods & ingredients aren't quite so heavily focused on in supermarkets. Of course, they are there, but it's why you will find highly preserved sandwich breads instead of fresh-baked breads and lots of cooking mixes and cans much more frequently than the more primordial equivalents. Similarly, it's why you do have to get a bit off the beaten path to find some distinctive american food; the stuff you'll find in fast food is designed to be inexpensive, unexciting, and mass-producible.
I can also confirm that sparkling water isn't really a common thing here; people might have it in a fancy setting (essentially serving as non-alcoholic champagne) but many restaurants do not really have it on hand.
Tipping is somewhat interesting - there are some things where it's considered customary to tip (mainly, restaurant service, fast food restaurants, and food delivery) however companies have been increasingly preying on kind people of late, and adding tipping features to services where it's neither customary nor necessarily reasonable. Some like Uber may be fine, but tipping in stores is a silly one some business have been trying to put forward.
The plastic everywhere is an interesting one, and does somewhat vary on a state level. It's a bit of a political thing as well - I'm from california, which depending on which narrative you follow is considered by some to be a proto-communist state, and there has been a general partially effective effort to eliminate plastic; encouraging reusable grocery bags, certain restaurants using paper straws, the like. I think it's a good choice, but many people even here have been criticizing it for either being to controlling or too ineffective (sometimes both) - some states, florida being one, have somewhat purposefully taken the opposite approach, and in extreme cases use of lots of disposable plastics is a willful choice in opposition of the 'woke environmentalists'. For the most part though, it's just apathy and cheapness...
One thing that both domestic and foreign media like to overblow is how politically polarized the country is. Don't get me wrong, it is fairly polarized, but there aren't regular shouting matches and protests out in public between people on either side of the spectrum. The vast majority of people get along pretty well, and aside from the infrequent solitary asshole you're really not going to find politics shoved in your face too much in most places. I'm in a fairly conservative part of the country right now, and the most significant expression of that is every few houses having a MAGA flag flying under the american flag; not many people will proactively bring it up in friendly company, let alone strangers.
America has a much more universal accent than most other places in the world do, on account of the country being fairly new, originating from a fairly universal population in most places, and being quite interconnected. Much of europe is interconnected nowadays, but if you go back hundreds of years when the regional accents were developing, it was fairly uncommon to travel beyond your county for all but rare trips, and even less common to have people from different regions of the country intermingle with yours. For a good portion of recent american history, we've been getting the same countrywide tv shows and news stations, traveling all over the country and folks traveling between the states pretty frequently, and critically not having hundreds of years of countrywide history in an era before cars or planes existed. As an american, it's been interesting visiting europe and seeing how rapidly the accents will shift if you travel even 100 km in a direction. There are tiny regions of america where there are unique accents (like the tangier island accent) but these usually have some pretty exceptional circumstances to develop like that. I expect a lot of regional accents will disappear worldwide over the next 200 years or so, to be honest.
Probably very hard to find a perfect spot, let alone one that isn't overrun by visitors xD
What was the nicest beach you have been at?
Food culture is indeed a fair bit different. It makes sense what you say.
Same about the environment topic, hmm.. I do hope for some change in the future.
Thank you for so many insights!