The Destruction Of Mystery Funhouse - Goodbye To International Drive Roadside Attractions In Orlando
Goodbye To Mystery Fun House
Transcript
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welcome everyone
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Adam's woo here has the recording of
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this Tuesday November 29th 2022.
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update
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mystery fun house
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is pretty much gone bulldozed demolished
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being erased from existence as I speak
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and stand here a place that I have
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covered a multitude of times over the
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years and the last time I was here
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just on a whim I put out into the
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universe that my thoughts were they were
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going to tear this out and possibly
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build you know condos apartments houses
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restaurants Universal Studios Florida
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right across the street over there the
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DoubleTree hotel where I attended a
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horror convention
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months and months ago and I started my
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video
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crossed the parking lot at the mystery
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fun house
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I am here to announce
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it is gone
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as of today as the recording of This
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history or at least a good portion of it
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in fact
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see all the trucks away here
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pulling out some of the debris
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for the former mystery fun house a
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classic Central Florida Roadside
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Attraction if ever
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there was one dang
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so basically I'm going to show this
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show what's left because soon all this
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will be removed there might be a little
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bit I could kind of see even though it
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looks like most of it is gone
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but this this place is something that I
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have featured many many times
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Charlie back in the 90s mid 90s late 90s
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I had the opportunity going in mystery
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fun house a number of times
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obviously in those days it didn't really
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take a lot of photos or video
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regretfully there's a lot of things from
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earlier in my life that I did not
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document to its full potential
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and now looking back I kind of wish I
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had a lot more personal memories for
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posterity's sake even though they are in
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my mind and as of now my mind is still
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kind of sort of working correctly so I
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can kind of remember those those
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memories but they're tearing up the
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parking lot over there
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the main building
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sat
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right over there
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used in the movie Parenthood they had
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some animatronics and last time I was
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here I was wondering if those
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animatronics were still in the building
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from the scene from Parenthood kind of
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reminded me of ShowBiz Pizza or Chuck E
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cheese type animatronics the band that
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would sing
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it's pretty much
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now those animatronics are not in there
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I know it might not sound like much to
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those who are not familiar with this
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place but this is a massive chunk of
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Central Florida
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roadside history when you think of
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classic roadside attractions
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think of 192. you think a Highway 192
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think of International Drive this is
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just off International Drive near
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Kirkman actually I think it's right off
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Kirkman and I drive this is one of them
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think of the big wizard on 192 the gift
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shops things like that well there used
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to be a big wizard
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here as well back to wizard sat on the
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front of the building
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which was right there gosh there is
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nothing left
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nothing
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they've been doing this for a series of
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days obviously I kind of missed out on
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the initial destruction I don't know if
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anyone really even knew only those who
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were in The know
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would have known
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they are really getting bound down to
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business there's a beehive of activity
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in there I'm gonna walk over here
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there's a piece of artwork kind of see
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what I can see Florida DOT has a storm
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sewer right here this great
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so they're doing some surveying too
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there's some gentleman down there in the
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middle of the road doing some surveying
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and it appears as if this piece of heavy
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machinery
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you can walk over here and I'm not
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allowed to walk on the property itself
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but I can walk up to the blue fence line
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but it looks like that this piece of
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heavy machinery is perched up on top of
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some of the rubble
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of the fun house oh yeah look at this
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oh this is the last glimpse
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dang that's sad the laser tag area there
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was a dinosaur themed mini golf course
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and then of course the mystery fun house
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selfie arcade now a lot of the inside of
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it was gutted out for a long time and it
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sat kind of desolate and empty
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truck pull again
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Whoever has bought this property is
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wasting no time with renovating it
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whatever's going to be here is going to
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pop up very very quickly
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yeah there is a lot of construction work
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going on inside there all right looks as
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if
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they are hauling away the last remnants
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of mystery fun house right here before
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my eyes so they've leveled the building
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keep an eye out for any of those
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animatronics they end up in the dumpster
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if I see the animatronics from
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Parenthood end up in that truck I might
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follow that truck back Follow That Bird
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remember that maybe Follow That Bird I'm
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gonna follow the animatronics man unless
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it's a bird animatronic
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this is a this is really a bummer now I
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know the place has been closed for a
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long time
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but still just knowing the history
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Orlando history of this
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it is kind of interesting also how that
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piece of heavy machinery is up on top of
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the rubble itself
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okay they're taking something out or
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putting something on
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this is fascinating to me
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look what are the trees over here has
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been uprooted
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it's the whole lot has been leveled a
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whole lot
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there's a whole
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lot of leveling
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but I'm gonna walk around a little more
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take a look at that open landscape this
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is some Prime real estate as
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ad months ago when I was here and I kind
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of wandered around the parking lot for
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the last time and I thought to myself
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they are probably going to do something
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with this property because I noticed
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that they had uprooted the signage there
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was a big heavy stanchion sign in the
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ground that was like an anniversary from
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like 20 years ago of the proper like a
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30th 30 or 40 or 50 year anniversary of
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mystery fun house that had been here
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forever even when it's had abandoned
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they uprooted that and that's what got
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me thinking they are probably going to
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tear this property down there's going to
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be a developer coming in my thought was
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correct my my inclination was completely
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correct so I want to know what happened
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to that little stanchioned object that
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heavy piece that was in the ground next
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to the front of the building probably
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more over here
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I wonder where that went
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over there you can see a lot of the
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metal
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the rebar rebar rebar
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gotta pronounce that
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all that that made up that former
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Roadside Attraction
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the classic dare I say probably one of
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the top 10 roadside attractions back in
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like the late 80s 90s that era
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you see kind of the foundation of what's
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still there but gosh they have really
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made this place unrecognizable at this
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point
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I would imagine by later in the day this
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last pile of debris will be gone
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it's like a dinosaur
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there's so many trucks pulling in and
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out of there
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uprooting it all this piece of art was
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placed here a while back had nothing to
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do with the property itself it was just
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off kind of the cusp of where the
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parking area was I noticed last time I
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was here too over on this corner there
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used to be a driveway over here years
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ago I guess I installed these electrical
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boxes and whatnot and they blocked off
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that driveway but this was around the
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back the laser tag kind of entrance was
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around the back on this way as well
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I always think about progress and you
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know obviously things that aren't being
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used need to be torn down and if they're
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not used the the exterior of a building
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isn't used for something else you need
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to move on to bigger and better things
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obviously
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but then I also think about
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documenting stuff like this
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I think I might have over documented
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this in the past
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and part of the reason I do that is a
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lot of things get leveled
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I want to say I yeah I guess you could
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use the word regret but sometimes things
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get leveled and then I think to myself
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gosh I I filmed that once five or ten
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years ago and never did an update prior
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to them destroying it
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with this place I can say I did an
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exhaustive amount of videos that will
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kind of stand the test of time you know
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you know the internet just completely
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goes away
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that is a quite a heavy piece of
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Machinery look at that
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it's fascinating to me
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you see all the pylons in there that
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made up the roof line
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this is a little piece that's over the
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fence
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that they haven't got to yet
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like x marks the spot here
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ah memories memories of a simpler time
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you know way before the internet in the
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90s see I think I got my first computer
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into the 90s early 2000s before that you
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had to do a lot of other stuff to
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entertain yourself and stuff like places
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like this were really popular
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where you know now I guess you know
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roadside attractions are still a thing
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they are making a little bit of a
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comeback
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in my free time when I wasn't working I
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would go to a lot of the the local
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Orlando roadside attractions this
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included being one of them
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might have some photos at some point
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when I get back to my home
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later on I'm gonna see if I have I might
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have a photo or two inside there but I
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don't really have many if I do it's
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probably less than three might not even
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have any I'm just kind of going off top
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my top of my memory if I have
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I actually got inside too when it was
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sitting desolate and abandoned I got
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inside to two videos where I got inside
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one where I didn't get inside the one
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where I got inside that was like
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2009 2010 one of my first videos
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the heck is that through the fence I'm
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doing through the blue hue of the fence
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obviously cannot go over this fence line
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you can only peek over it
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okay I think this steel caging
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might have been
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yeah I think the steel caging was the
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part for the one section that was left
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over towards the back area of the laser
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tag
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if I remember right
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so this is basically as another truck
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pulls some debris out
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so the parking lot started right here
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and went that way
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and then mystery fun house started here
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and went all that way so all over here
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was the parking area but it's just all
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being leveled
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now just about where that guy's standing
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doing the having the survey marker there
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that's about where the front Tower where
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the wizard was
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on the front of the building give or
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take
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and then over in here
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was the miniature golf course area and
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then the main building over there
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you know really once something is gone
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and leveled you really start to realize
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how much square footage and space
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very valuable real estate here
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Prime real estate in the tourist area
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right across from Universal Studios
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Florida right over there over that berm
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some sort of survey marker right here as
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well I don't know how the survey marker
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stuff works but this looks like
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something from the future like an alien
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space pod here
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is that a camera or what is that on top
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of that not really sure
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oh
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here's a relic look at this
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look at this little piece of signage
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a little PVC coming up here it's an
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electric box
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light bulbs
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one of the last relics here on the
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property
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you can see right here is still
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technically on the property
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but not over there where everything else
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is being torn out
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the trolley going by over there
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some of the original sidewalk not only
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here
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but also some of the original entrance
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in here being all torn up just kind of
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all scuffled and damaged down there
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probably like one of a half a dozen
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people who probably even really care
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the history of mystery fun house but
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yeah I don't know it's kind of kind of
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cool to reminisce I've been on a
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reminiscing mood about Central Florida's
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attractions like that
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I thought that was a leaf blower over
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there but it's a hedge trimmer makes the
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same sound
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I'm also noticing over here
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so this is kind of
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one of the lights from the property even
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though there's nothing on the sign is
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pointing up at you can find if you used
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to be able to find a few of these on
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site as well and this is kind of almost
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as heavy duty as that sign I was talking
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about
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that had the the logo or the
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establishment on it and everything that
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they uprooted five six seven months ago
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what gave me the thought that probably
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they're going to remove that and save it
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with something similar to this
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but it was located
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was located over there and that's what
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gave me the impression yeah they're
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probably going to tear all this out and
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they did here's a photo of what it
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looked like back in its Heyday back in
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its prime
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now they moved the wizard off years ago
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I think in 2002
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he took the wizard down but the exterior
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still looked the same all those years
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later of course till now but they just
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tore it out
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like this as well this is the guide map
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with an artistic rendering of what the
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wizard looked like
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look over here here's the wizard saying
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there's a mystery mini golf too One of a
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Kind carpet Golf Course
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and this shows where it was located
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right here
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this is like a
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little guide map to where you could find
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it
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'd be kind of cool to have one of these
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it's just something I found online but
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I don't I do not know at least I don't
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think I own a mystery fun house guide
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map anywhere
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not too far away just a few blocks away
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from where I just was
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also side note I've been contemplating
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starting another band
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not nothing too serious but I've kind of
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been thinking about it thought about
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maybe reinstating one of the Bands I
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used to be in trying to see if do we do
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like reunion or something but before I
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think about it it'd be kind of nice to
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start like a new project
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I don't know if that'll ever happen I
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did buy a bass guitar
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about a year ago a new one I mean I have
20:40
a couple of the older ones that not in
20:42
the best shape
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so I've been messing around with the
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bass guitar
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the last few days kind of getting the
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chops back up
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and stopped over here at George's Music
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the musicians musicians Superstore which
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has been around for as long as I can
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remember on International Drive
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to look at some you know other other
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things that you would need
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to start a project like that I'm just
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not officially announcing anything it's
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just kind of like thinking out loud it
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might not even happen I changed my mind
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kind of the way the wind blows but it
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has been on my mind
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but stopped off it here just to do a
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little window shopping
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and has closed George's music musicians
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superstored on International Drive
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gone
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closed down and there used to be a
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DeLorean not a Time machined out
21:33
DeLorean but there used to be a DeLorean
21:36
right out front that was perched up with
21:38
its Wheels
21:39
on these two rocks
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it's gone
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what happened to the DeLorean is there
21:45
like something that has to coincide with
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mystery fun house if mystery fun house
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goes
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then George's Music musician Superstore
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has to go
21:55
also over there you can see the volcano
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from volcano Bay water park you see it
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kind of through the trees
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dang
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this place was like a staple for a long
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time
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and according to the sign on the window
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it has been moved to an online division
22:13
so not even gonna be an active store
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anymore
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where's the DeLorean
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I showed this DeLorean a bunch of times
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too I drive around this circle and see
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the DeLorean show it
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wow
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two things was not expecting
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to be gone today I mean I kind of
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expected the mystery fun house but I
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wasn't expecting George music and since
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I'm on I drive in this neighborhood a
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stop off here at volcano golf golf
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volcano golf
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I showed volcano Bay which is a cross
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I4 but on this side of Interstate 4.
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is volcano golf
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I've showed this before in the past but
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one thing today has taught me and recent
23:08
events with progress has taught me
23:10
anything can be torn out
23:12
at any given time and who knows there
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might come a point
23:17
when this dinosaur this Mammoth this
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miniature volcano this whole Golf Course
23:22
could be tore down this also
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Prime real estate
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valuable real estate here on iDrive
23:37
I have a soft spot for miniature golf
23:37
course places too because I worked at
23:39
One River Adventure Golf which has gone
23:41
completely on highway 192. I worked
23:44
there like in the late 90s
23:46
and there's nothing left over there all
23:48
the theming has been removed and if
23:49
ready to remove this
23:51
where would that dinosaur go where would
23:52
this Mammoth end up going if they
23:55
leveled all this area
23:57
do not come over here to park because
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you're not allowed to park unless you're
24:00
going to Volcano Island
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which I guess technically I am I parked
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the next parking lot over but I could
24:07
have parked here because I am here for
24:08
volcano island even though
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they are closed
24:15
there's a big Tiki that's falling
24:15
outside over there
24:34
kind of hard to gauge how big that
24:34
lizard is but trust me it's pretty good
24:35
size look at the door frame
24:42
so that's a full-size door frame
24:42
and that lizard is like 10 times the
24:44
size of a normal lizard
25:04
it says open here they spray painted
25:04
over that
25:22
kind of wonder if that bridge is even
25:22
structurally sound anymore I wouldn't go
25:24
walking across it
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obviously but
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oh this angle of the dinosaur
25:33
it's got this Dino's mouth right here
25:36
saw the different angle but look at this
25:55
part of the unfenced off area of the
25:55
former mini golf course
25:56
I wonder which hole that is and that's
25:58
one of the holes
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this one is on the other side of the
26:01
fence on this side of the fence
26:04
see the theming there with the bridge
26:06
work and the stairs
26:08
and all that
26:25
just tore out another miniature golf
26:25
course recently over at the crossroads
26:28
which is the area when you're coming out
26:29
of the hotel Drive
26:31
by Disney Springs used to be downtown
26:33
Disney that kind of empties out
26:36
I think it's on 535 or connects with 5
26:38
35.
26:40
could be wrong in the name of that road
26:41
but
26:42
where the crosshairs used to be with the
26:44
Goodings and all that they tore all that
26:46
out used to be a Soup Plantation Sweet
26:48
Tomatoes there in a miniature golf
26:49
course
26:51
pirate themed Golf Course all that has
26:53
been leveled so
26:54
you never know when another mini golf
26:56
course is gonna
26:58
bite the dust
27:10
seems legit
27:10
okay
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highly doubtful just saying
27:23
what's the old joke
27:23
about go a person goes to the store and
27:26
signs US 24 hours they go up and it's
27:27
closed and they go what the heck the
27:30
sign says open 24 hours
27:33
and the owner looks up and says
27:35
not in a row
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got that old those old lamps up there
27:47
here's an old lamp kind of grown over
27:49
with some foliage
27:52
and there's the top of the dinosaur's
27:53
head up there protruding above the palm
27:55
trees I have now made the commute to
27:57
downtown Kissimmee
27:59
a little bit of a ways from where I just
28:00
was parked in the structure that's
28:02
behind me
28:04
and first thing I'm noticing is a
28:07
repainting of this classic mural that
28:09
has been here
28:10
for a long time but it was all Sun
28:13
bleached out faded
28:15
and has been extremely touched up
28:18
looking pretty good got the barber shop
28:21
got the clown over here with his
28:23
balloons
28:24
got the mustache man got the candy and
28:28
Cake store
28:29
this is great
28:36
years ago I did a little walk through of
28:36
this and showed all this but it was hard
28:39
to really tell what was here because it
28:40
was just so
28:42
faded out got the cats there the dog
28:45
chasing the cat that's going in the
28:46
garbage oh here we go
28:50
so in 1998 it was originally painted
28:53
then after it was faded out there was a
28:55
2022 refurb
28:58
looks good
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looks real good
29:03
a little tea time there
29:05
this guy always reminds me of Chevy
29:07
Chase I don't know why he's chubby Chase
29:09
and you're not and we got Richard
29:10
Dreyfus
29:12
over here
29:14
last I don't think that's how that's
29:15
supposed to be but
29:17
yeah looks good Uncle Jesse
29:20
the Dukes
29:30
there are two music stores down here one
29:30
is Lewis and one is Jammers I'm looking
29:33
at
29:33
little trolley right here matador's
29:36
trolley at Broadway Plaza
29:39
I got my first bass guitar
29:41
right up here on the right hand side
29:43
years ago I think it was 2001. I didn't
29:46
start playing baseball 2001. I was born
29:49
in 1974. so you do the math on that I
29:51
was what 27 years old before I first
29:54
picked up a bass guitar located right
29:56
over here by bet sprinkle
30:00
this little sculpture of her
30:02
is
30:04
in memory of her love of downtown
30:05
Kissimmee she was a member from making
30:07
downtown Kissimmee a better place to
30:08
live and friendly to shop and more
30:10
beautiful and colorful environment for
30:12
all to enjoy and she's over here by
30:15
where I'm just reminded as I walk over
30:17
here that Jammers has closed he used to
30:19
be right here no more jammers
30:22
no more Jammers music store but it was
30:25
right inside of here which is now a
30:26
ballroom an event
30:28
Center
30:29
yeah
30:30
I got my very first bass guitar
30:33
1001 started a first my first band
30:36
shortly after that
30:38
joined another band in 2003
30:41
well I should start another band 2002
30:43
and another one 2003 and then I was in
30:44
that band for a while
30:46
and then joined another one way after
30:47
that
30:48
but I can remember going in here buying
30:50
my first bass guitar was a PV
30:52
and I didn't even want to play it the
30:54
sales guy was like Hey strap it on and
30:55
try it on and I had never
30:58
put an instrument over my shoulder held
31:01
it you know held it
31:02
had no idea what I was doing I took it
31:04
home
31:05
and the comfort of my own home
31:07
in the apartment I had at that time and
31:10
that was that I never really got really
31:12
good at it but I could play I could hold
31:14
my own
31:15
and that ended up you know
31:18
becoming what it was never my fancy
31:20
myself as a
31:21
a great bass player by any means but
31:24
if I learn the songs I can usually
31:27
I can easily do all right so we'll walk
31:29
down here to Lewis and see what they got
31:30
I think Lewis might still be open but
31:32
Jammers is no more another place Bites
31:34
the Dust all right Lewis music was open
31:37
which was a block or two from where the
31:39
Jammers used to be asked the owner and
31:41
Lewis when Jammers closed said about 10
31:42
years ago
31:44
so just kind of been out of the loop for
31:46
a while I ended up getting an instrument
31:48
cable and for fifty dollars got this
31:50
little Squire amp that I can use to kind
31:52
of practice Basin that place and if
31:54
things progress I could buy like a
31:56
bigger rig
31:57
as well but I've been practicing the
31:59
last few days just trying to get my
32:00
chops back
32:02
without being plugged in so just having
32:04
a little bit of a plug-in
32:05
trying to you know just to hear it a
32:07
little more and feel that feel that Roar
32:13
help a little bit with the excitement of
32:13
playing again so yeah this is just kind
32:16
of for starters but
32:18
I bought a new P Bass about a year ago
32:21
pretty good shape so I'm going to plug
32:22
that into here and just see what the
32:24
future holds and now back over to
32:27
Celebration where they have the
32:29
Christmas tree
32:30
adorning Marcus Street down there
32:36
it's no celebration
32:36
which is snow
32:38
and soap mixed
32:40
started I believe last weekend
32:43
it's been pretty busy on the weekends
32:45
right now it's a little mellower
32:48
that's gonna do it for today
32:55
I bought a practice amp
32:55
downtown Kissimmee checked out the final
32:58
very final moments
33:00
of the destruction the mystery fun house
33:05
and also some other things
33:07
the volcano dinosaur volcano mini golf
33:10
place and a few other things
33:13
but the the whole point really was the
33:14
show
33:15
what's going on at mystery fun house
33:18
Another Roadside Relic
33:21
fight the big one
33:28
this Fountain is effervescently Flowing
33:28
I'll see you the next video thanks for
33:30
watching I really appreciate it
33:33
the Vlog
33:34
is over