11-18-2011, 02:59 PM
My grandparents on my dad's side retired to Deland, FL. We visited a few times when I was growing up. This was pre-Epcot. I'd never been to Disneyland (until we took my kids there about 10 years ago), but I'd been to DisneyWorld twice. I was a space nerd since the moon landing, so while we were there, we we took a Greyhound down to KSC for the tour. I must have been 11 or 12 so this was pre-Shuttle program, pre-disasters. We got to tour the VAB and we did the Apollo mission launch re-creation where they shut the blast doors on the room we were in. It was all pretty impressive, and I got that same proud-to-be-an-american feeling.
We got (mediocre) food that the cafe there. I got a burger that I couldn't finish. I recall that there was swamp right up next to the eating area with a 6-foot cyclone fence around it (I think to keep toddlers from getting eaten.) There was a big alligator half out of the water with face up against the fence and a crowd of tourists gathered snapping pix and pointing. I dropped my half-eaten burger over the fence and it landed on his snout and he quickly gobbled it up. It was pretty cool.
It must have been a different trip, as there's no way we could have got close to KSC, but we watched one of the Voyager launches (Voyager 1 in '77 I think). We were about 2 miles away (as that's as close as the public could get). We have a Super 8 movie of the launch. It looks like terrible UFO/dust on the lens footage. The flame from the rocket is a tiny, grainy spec. Still, it was pretty cool to be there.
--tg
We got (mediocre) food that the cafe there. I got a burger that I couldn't finish. I recall that there was swamp right up next to the eating area with a 6-foot cyclone fence around it (I think to keep toddlers from getting eaten.) There was a big alligator half out of the water with face up against the fence and a crowd of tourists gathered snapping pix and pointing. I dropped my half-eaten burger over the fence and it landed on his snout and he quickly gobbled it up. It was pretty cool.
It must have been a different trip, as there's no way we could have got close to KSC, but we watched one of the Voyager launches (Voyager 1 in '77 I think). We were about 2 miles away (as that's as close as the public could get). We have a Super 8 movie of the launch. It looks like terrible UFO/dust on the lens footage. The flame from the rocket is a tiny, grainy spec. Still, it was pretty cool to be there.
--tg