2013: Splended China and 2U

Everyday as we drive to our Florida house we pass by an abandoned property surrounded by a white wall. The area is perhaps a mile or two up the road from our house. The white walls have strange oriental symbols, heavy overgrowth, and as we drove around the outside it was impossible to tell what lie within. We thought maybe it was a mansion or an old country club left abandoned.

I did some Google research to find out what lay beyond that wall. You'll never guess what I found. Splendid China!

Splendid China was an amusement park that opened outside of Disney in the 90’s. It had a China focus, entertainers from China, and many of the important icons of China presented in a smaller scale. It took $100M to build the attraction and was a common park for many, and also attracted protests from human rights groups. After September 11, the travel industry took a hard hit, and Splendid China couldn't keep their park open. They closed in 2003. Ten years later? The park has been vandalized, many items stolen, and it is heavily overgrown.

We have been driving by this property all month and never knew! Mystery solved.

I was excited for Thursday because after work we were going to see a U2 tribute band called 2U. They were playing at Epcot. It is very difficult for me to get tickets to see U2 (and very expensive), so I was excited about seeing a free concert.

We showed up at 8pm and had third row seats! The band came out and were fabulous. When they reached the end of song number 5? They thanked everyone and walked off the stage. Walked off the stage? This was a five song concert? I didn't know that! They played for 30 minutes and then left. 2U played at Epcot for two week (I believe), 3 shows a night. Each show is 30-45 minutes. But I didn't know that and I expected a full concert! And they were really good too.

Our roach problem at the house continues. As we are approaching the end of our trip next week, we are concerned with bringing roaches home with us. So, Linda is washing all our clothes and sealing them in Space Bags. Space Bags, if you haven't seen them, are plastic bags that you suck all the air out of with a vacuum to make the bags very tiny. It also prevents the roaches from getting in. Our plan when we get home is to leave everything in the van until we can wash it down and bring it inside.

We are loving our time in Florida and can't wait to see what adventures we have tomorrow!