The Holy Land Land Experience Theme Park Has Closed FOREVER - Last Peek Inside Before Its Torn Down
Holy Land Experience Has Closed Forever
Transcript
0:03
today's adventure begins
0:03
right off of international drive it runs
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parallel to i-4
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central florida
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orlando
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to be more exact
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i'm just noticing this
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now closed up
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not in the best shape ever
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hotel
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slash motel formally was here
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it's a bunch of toilets right there on
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that little ledge
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this place has seen better days
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and i heard news of a place
0:42
that had a pretty decent
0:44
run
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a theme park here in town has officially
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announced
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it's gonna be closed forever it's not
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coming back so i'm gonna swing by there
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and
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check it out welcome everyone adam the
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woo here behind me is a prehistoric
1:00
creature here at volcano island
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which is not the subject matter
1:07
and that will be about today's episode
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but it is an extinct attraction so a
1:13
little bit of a tie-in
1:15
if you will as a recording of this it is
1:17
august 20th
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2021
1:21
cars pulling up right there i think they
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might be getting a photo
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helicopter going by the slow moving
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vehicle there
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wondering what they're looking at
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probably
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that
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right there
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this very long necked
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dino
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if you will
1:44
this is located just uh a block or so
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off of international drive
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volcano interesting
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fun fact
1:54
volcano island which sits here empty and
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closed
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and desolate
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is within eye view of
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volcano bay water park universal which
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is on i-4
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right over there by the way i'm inviting
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you to join me
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as we discuss the holy land experience
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which is down i-4 a few miles
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has been sold the land will be changed
2:21
and will no longer be a theme park
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it's now going to be and it could be
2:26
since the announcement at the first of
2:28
this month of august
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21.
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they may have already started some
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demolition i'm going to check that out
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i'm inviting you to join me
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shall you it is a little toasty and the
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sun
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is permeating so i'm going to
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utilize
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my umbrella and do a grand circle full
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tour walk around the perimeter
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of volcano
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island
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former miniature golf
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before heading down i-4 obviously
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and as you can see they have the
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fence all up
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this gets a lot of a lot of traffic
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people driving by very curious so what
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is going on with this place
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it's all fenced up
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and plenty of helicopter
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chores
3:16
to go around this area also used to be a
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moat
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through here all filled up with water
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i never did play a
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riveting round of miniature golf here
3:27
but i bet it was pretty fun
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people walking over to their hotels
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hotels all surrounding this entire
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property
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one over there
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the one i showed at the beginning
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is just a block or two away
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and then there's this end
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on the back of the property as well oh
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look all right look right here
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i'm having trouble walking there the
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ground was very uneven look at this
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almost tripped
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right there on that little indentation
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in the pavement
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i was distracted
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by this beast
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i worked at a miniature golf course
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river adventure golf on highway 192.
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a couple decades ago very similar to
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this one that one is also abandoned but
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they bulldoze most of it so there's
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really no relics like this one that
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exists though
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brings back some memories though of my
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miniature golf days having this
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chain-link fence up
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probably a good idea because
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someone
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including me would be tempted to walk
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across that drawbridge well not a
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drawbridge but that bridge there
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and it's
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most likely not structurally sound
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so just to keep everyone's oh
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ooh there is
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an exposed element here
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of the golf green look
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that's not oh look right there
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you got a little
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little shrub
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peeking out of there where the fence
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line does not cover it
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there's even a dyno up there i can see a
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dyno up there as well
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another another helicopter going by
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i don't know if it's just me or not but
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my keys get more jangly
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as time goes on or maybe i'm just
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noticing it a lot more as i walk you can
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hear my
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what does this even mean you think
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there's a camera
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recording 24 hours or is there someone
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on site 24 hours i'm gonna say
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no to both
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highly doubtful there's any here is any
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out here there might be but
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yeah place your bets on there i'm not
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going over the fence either way but
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that made me chuckle how's it going up
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there
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a pretty good view from up on the little
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ledge there right
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you're the surveillance
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and you don't sleep right 24 hours a day
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no slumbering if you're on surveillance
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okay keep up the good work
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kind of a fun
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fun little area
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setup of it is unique with the moat the
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river around the side
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and then the the tusked
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over here
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don't want to get don't get the umbrella
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caught on this rusted out pull
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almost dead
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think of it this way
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you're lucky this is not the tar pits
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you're safe looks to be a very large
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tiki over there laid on side
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kind of gutted out in the inside
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see the inner workings probably some
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electrical work
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that went in there maybe to make the
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eyes light up
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turned over on the side though and no
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power so i can't really tell
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if the eyes were on the other side of
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that that lit up at all pretty awesome
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though that
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parts of this are left oh
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the foot down there is just kind of
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balancing on a stack
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of bricks he slid off of
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he slid off the concrete pillar it's
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kind of shifted and tip toeing there on
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those bricks
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very well done
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got to stay balanced
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all right i'm moving on i just wanted to
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show a little bit of this before going
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over to holy land experience
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shadow shows up pretty good down there
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just shows how sunny
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it is i have made the four mile commute
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over here to this little picnic area
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and on the back side well the picnic
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area is on the back side of the extended
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parking lot
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for the holy land experience which is
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over there not the main parking lot this
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was the overflow parking sometimes it
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would get so busy
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that you would need to park
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in here in fact they did a
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two-day
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opening
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months and months ago
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from what i heard for tax purposes
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in order to keep their tax-free status
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they have to be open two days a year and
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even though the park has been closed as
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far as being an everyday attraction
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for quite some time
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they did open for those two days
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and i was able to to show up
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and this car pulling in here is going to
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the convenience store
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attached to this parking lot
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so i was able to go in there for the
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last opening day
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well it was two days i went the first of
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the two days
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but i was one of the last guests to go
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in here and let me tell you there were a
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lot of people
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i would even wager to say that
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not not everyone even got in i got here
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early thankfully and was able to get in
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i would even
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i would even guess that over here also
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overflow parking this land probably also
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owned
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by the same company that owned the theme
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park
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so attached all through here
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there's a street sign in the way all
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right wow even since the last time i was
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here
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they have removed the signage the
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signage is gone
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uprooted well it's still rooted in there
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with the two by fours
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or the four by fours there
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but all the signage
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for the theme park gone
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taken down no indication
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of what it once was unless you knew if
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you drove by here
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you would just
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find it very interesting the the
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architecture
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all through here
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will this be torn down will it stay
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advent health has purchased it
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could be bulldozed and a hospital might
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take over while a hospital will take
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over
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whether the building
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will be
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you know
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inside of the already
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the already built structures that are
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here on property or if they will tear it
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all down
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that's my guess they'll tear it all down
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all right i had to look it up on when
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that free two-day
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open to the public event was it was back
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at the end of april and i started that
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video right here traffic was all backed
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up
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so three months ago
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three
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months give or take
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a go was the last time anyone
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any of the public
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set foot inside of there and never will
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be again
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permanently closed as of the 1st of
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august
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gone by walking along this direction you
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can see this is
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completely open
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get a better view here
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i'm just going to stroll up
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see what i can see
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not going to go inside the gates
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obviously or the fences
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but i'll walk through the parking lot
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when they did the two-day deal
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the line stretched all the way
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around the corner there the entrance is
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all the way on the other side instead of
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the main entrance
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because there were only two exhibits
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you can also see the traffic there
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of the off-ramp from i-4
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but
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the guests lined up all through here
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this whole parking lot was filled up
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they only had two exhibits open which
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was kind of disappointing i was hoping
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to be able to see the whole park
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maybe even have some of the actors out
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but that didn't happen
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but at least i got to to go inside
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one last time
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pretty much goes without saying there's
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probably a nativity
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set up there
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now over here
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was a very popular photo spot
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that had
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the words holy land written across in
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big bold letters
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and a lot of people would get their
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photo in front
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of them which was right here up this
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little brick sidewalk
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that has also been removed
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so any
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any phrase or lettering or logo
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is no longer here
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probably took them down immediately when
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the announcement
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was released on
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august 1st
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you can see this gate is open
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and i could
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walk back there
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i'm not going to
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i should notice the sign
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over to the side says private property
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i'm in the parking lot which i think is
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acceptable to some degree
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but don't want to go rooting around back
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so i'm just going to keep my distance
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i'm going to
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zip around the perimeter
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just for posterity you never know this
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thing
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could get bulldozed sooner than later
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and those that owned it well used to own
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it
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the property attached still
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watches over this place so this
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definitely has 24-hour surveillance
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100 guaranteed you see the
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cameras up top
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so don't want to do anything you're not
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supposed to do i'm not supposed to do
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this might be
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the last time i stand in front of this
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getting a good
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area that's going to be a good one
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nailed it now over in this area oh hello
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birds
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over in this area is where they would
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have
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some of the casts
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actors and actresses
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playing the parts of biblical
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figures
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and as stated
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when i was here before i would have
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loved to been able to get in here
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over the gates but you can see there's a
16:04
there's a lock
16:15
and the stone right there rolled away
16:15
just as mentioned in the the bible
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very noticeable when driving down
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interstate 4.
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so now our elements are already starting
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to take over the
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foliage growing up through weather-worn
16:47
posts here
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barely even see this one
16:58
the hedge has engulfed it
17:37
you can kind of make out a stairwell
17:37
over there between the
17:40
between the foliage and the ferns there
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and the lettering
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the lettering over there decorated in
17:54
the hedges
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will no longer be seen by any guests
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that'll be grown over soon enough or or
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just bulldozed
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one last walk here
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along the overgrown sidewalk there's a
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door open right there
18:37
that's tempting but
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you know what they say about temptation
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i feel like it's a parable
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i feel like they're trying to teach me
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something here
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lead me not into temptation
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stay on the course
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went here a couple times when it was
19:06
open
19:07
other than the two day
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free to guess
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thing that they had a few months ago
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went here a couple other times
19:15
it was definitely unique pretty
19:16
interesting
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would have liked if they would have
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reopened
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look at the lights up here
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little tiny lights
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right along the edge would have been
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nice
19:43
if they would have fully reopened
19:48
instead of just the two exhibits in the
19:49
last couple days
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for old times sake
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i don't want to say this was an orlando
20:03
staple well it is if you were driving
20:04
down i-4 did find one indication of what
20:08
it used to be
20:09
still states the name there
20:54
i could feel air conditioning coming out
20:54
of that yeah there's ac on in there
21:05
i feel like at one point as the traffic
21:05
goes by there was a sign right here too
21:09
kind of giving you the the nice little
21:11
view
21:27
is that a whale finn
21:27
i think that might be a whale fin
21:39
can't see that from ground level but i
21:39
went up here on the on the
21:41
off ramp you can see the whale fence or
21:44
at least a big fish film
21:46
i don't remember that in there
21:51
then again it's been a few years since i
21:51
went through the whole park
21:53
when i was here for those two free days
21:56
you couldn't get over to that area
22:13
can get a little bit better view from
22:14
about as best as you're gonna get
22:22
see the roof over there is kind of
22:22
dilapidated
22:24
falling in
22:27
if it were to stay open it would have
22:28
needed a lot of work
22:30
a lot of tlc and maintenance
22:33
that might have had something to do with
22:34
it as well
22:36
with why they wanted to sell it
22:38
and the demand probably over time may
22:42
not been what they expected could have
22:43
been a number of reasons
22:45
and truthfully right along here wrong
22:47
interstate 4 this is some very valuable
22:50
real estate okay definitely a whalefin
22:54
and another biblical character down
22:57
see
22:59
kind of oh that might be zacchaeus up in
23:01
the tree
23:03
yeah zacchaeus
23:05
he was a wee little man
23:07
he climbed up in a sycamore tree
23:10
and then moses over there
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wow i realized i'd be able to see all
23:15
this walking over here on the
23:18
on the off ramp
23:22
yeah moses
23:22
and i'm just gonna well i was gonna say
23:24
i'm gonna go out on a limb because he's
23:25
in a tree but i think that's psycheus
23:29
okay check out down in there you gotta
23:31
look closely but there is a painted
23:33
character
23:34
as well with some water
23:37
behind him
23:38
and then an item over there over that
23:40
wall too
23:42
and a fish
23:44
yeah there's a big fish there
23:46
and the top of a castle
23:48
and a gorilla
23:51
right there hiding behind that tree
23:55
there's noah's ark
23:56
the giraffe the two of every every kind
23:59
of the animals there protruding from the
24:01
front and that is noah's ark i'm looking
24:03
down upon
24:05
see all of this i had forgotten was even
24:07
in there
24:08
because this whole section during the
24:10
free days you couldn't even get into
24:11
this even a
24:12
rock wall that you could climb
24:15
over here and they have those pay rock
24:18
walls
24:22
that's what that is over there in the
24:22
distance there still has the the ropes
24:24
and everything
24:28
pretty dang neat all this is going to be
24:30
gone
24:31
which kind of stinks but
24:34
if you were in there
24:35
you wouldn't even notice that well you'd
24:37
probably hear the traffic but you
24:38
wouldn't be able to see it
24:39
the way they have the
24:41
everything set up
24:42
with the you know with your vision of
24:44
your eyes
24:45
down the lower level you wouldn't even
24:46
notice this but they have this wall set
24:48
a little bit better look at another fish
24:52
like swimming downward towards a big
24:55
shell
24:56
and that that gorilla up there
25:00
and one of the giraffes on noah's ark
25:04
and that rock wall the back side of that
25:06
rock wall i'm looking for the two
25:09
ten commandment
25:10
ten commandments next to moses i'm not
25:12
seeing them
25:13
now i'm just
25:14
i'm stating that's moses i don't know
25:15
for certain that that's moses but that
25:17
would be my indication
25:19
and then looking back this way you see
25:21
that whale fin
25:49
downtown orlando way off in the distance
25:49
over there
25:50
probably about five miles getting a look
25:52
at the skyline
26:01
i could see maybe this building staying
26:01
of any of them i think everything else
26:03
is on the chopping block
26:05
but even this one i have my
26:08
i have my doubts will stick around
26:11
that's the noticeable one when you're
26:13
driving down i-4 for sure
26:25
just a little walk around to an
26:25
attraction that will
26:27
very very soon not be here anymore
26:30
a little remembrance
26:36
of this place if you will
26:36
a very interesting history
26:44
and prime real estate along interstate
26:44
four
26:46
high four
26:59
the vlog
27:00
is over
27:01
still have the lights up
27:03
on the trees