Forgotten Theme Park In Atlanta - My Last Day of Dragoncon / Missing Coke Sculpture & Olympic Park
Dragoncon Atlanta Sunday
Transcript
0:02
today's adventure begins as a recording
0:02
of this sunday september 4th looking at
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the ferris wheel here right next to
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centennial park at centennial olympic
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park downtown atlanta
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and i'm going to be going to day four
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and my final day
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i went to dragon con thursday friday
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saturday and now sunday but i'm gonna do
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some other things before and after
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heading over there welcome everyone adam
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the woo here this sign designates that
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this entire park was built for the
0:27
olympics that happened here back in 1996
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i'm gonna walk through that park by the
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way i'm inviting you
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to join me not only today but every day
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shall you
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first thing before going
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centennial olympic park i'm gonna walk
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over to this building which used to
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house
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a theme park with a rather large
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escalator the world of sid and marty
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croft
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i believe is what it was called and they
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have the road closed where you're not
0:59
supposed to go
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that way i'm gonna walk over here and
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show this because it's pretty
1:02
fascinating history and it's kind of
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like a
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closed down theme park inside
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omni hotel cnn here and although the
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network began on june 1st 1980 ted
1:14
turner
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i'm not sure that's when they took over
1:17
the building i'm gonna have to
1:19
research that a little bit more but yeah
1:21
very fascinating with the little you
1:23
know not the little but the very
1:25
expansive windows here if you watch
1:27
videos of back when the sid and marty
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croft theme park was open you can kind
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of see a lot of these styles of windows
1:32
that are still here to this day okay it
1:34
appears as if it was only open for half
1:37
a year back in 1976
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so quite an expansive place that was
1:43
only open
1:44
for six months
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kind of curious if i could walk inside
1:48
here
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i went in here many years ago but let's
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see if i can go in here today too i
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always feel like clark kent when i go
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through one of these revolving doors
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i'm gonna turn into superman
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yeah
1:59
you can walk in here oh wow they even
2:01
have a cartoon network section over in
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here as well and the escalator from the
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sid and marty croft days is still in
2:07
here this is in all the old photos right
2:09
here yeah take a look at this it appears
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as if there was some sort of a like a
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ice skating rink or like a skating rink
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of like maybe not ice skate just regular
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skating rink as well right in here and
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they put the globe up there you know
2:21
since those days since the 70s but
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there's the staircase right over there
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and this is where the skating rink would
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have been i guess it was a skating rink
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and at this moment there's really not a
2:30
whole heck of a lot of people in here
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very unique architecture all these is in
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all this area up here in the old photos
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so all this looks the same just being
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utilized for different different stuff
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but i believe up top up there was a
2:44
carousel
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at the very very top this says do not
2:47
enter studio tours but it looks like i
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guess you can still go up the escalator
2:51
maybe not maybe you have to sign up for
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one of the tours which i don't think
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today because it is a sunday as a
2:55
recording of this they're not not
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working yeah this place is wild
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escalator right above me i'm looking
3:01
back the other way and evidently the
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omni hotel is what's right over that's
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the omni hotel over there pretty
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interesting the fact that it didn't last
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very long is even more fascinating some
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blame it on a lot of different reasons
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the say the area was going under a
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renovation they didn't they thought it
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wasn't the best to keep it open some
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blamed six flags in the area which had
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comparable
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no ticket prices but also
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had a lot more to do
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could be another number of reasons but
3:29
building's still being used and it was
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kind of strange being in there with how
3:32
it there was like nothing open only a
3:34
few people in there
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but i think it is because as i stated
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at this moment is
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a sunday
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so probably monday through friday it's a
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lot busier in there okay i want to walk
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through centennial park i might even
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walk over to world of coke which is kind
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of over there too and i'll show the
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aquarium the georgia aquarium all in
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this general neighborhood now this is a
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very unique piece of architecture right
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over in here so this whole thing was
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built for the olympics and still stands
3:57
today and gets a lot of use through here
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which is really nice it's kind of i
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don't know what compared to like central
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park but you know it's like a it's a
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centralized park around downtown and
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even have these pillars here with the
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olympic logo on the side of it and
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people have purchased and have their
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names engraved in the bricks from back
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then each each of the brick areas are
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numbered this is area number 44. this is
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area number 43 and you can see some of
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the people who have placed their names
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here and this is back in the 90s you can
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see 95 right there 93 94 all around the
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time that this is being built prior to
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the olympics so these bricks have been
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here for a heck of a long time and
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there's a fountain over there and the
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fountain makes up a splash pad says area
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slippery when wet please stay clear of
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the fountains during musical programs
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water spouts
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may cause injury and it makes up the
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five olympic rings and has water
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protruding up out of them
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which is kind of neat the hotel i'm
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staying at which is right up there in
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fact it's really nice there's a there's
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a rooftop pool i've been hitting the gym
4:57
up top up there in the treadmill and
4:59
whatnot you can see this
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down below you can see the the olympic
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rings and this
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and this splash pad
5:06
right here
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and there's people in this flashback
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that's why i'm not showing it in all of
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all its full glory so i'm just trying to
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focus where there's no people in the
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flashback and here's another
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water of well i'd like to call it a
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water if that's kind of bubbling up here
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with a
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little waterfall there
5:22
very beautiful park now across the way
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over there is quite a thumping going on
5:25
that is the college football hall of
5:27
fame they're having a little party a
5:28
little shindig is happening over in the
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in the area over there that's really
5:32
loud over in that area and this
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courtyard is dedicated to the first true
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believers atlanta's olympic quest began
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it was only a few business owners who
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believed it would happen
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and that is what this little courtyard
5:43
is devoted to okay went very very
5:45
quickly through
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centennial park because really really
5:48
loud from the college football hall of
5:49
fame with the party that's going on so
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now i am over at pemberton
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place named after john pemberton the
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creator of coca-cola who i went to his
5:58
resting place and
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in honor of him drank an ice-cold
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coca-cola a while back i don't know
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probably like a year ago or so now the
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georgia aquarium is right over here and
6:08
the world of coke which i have gone in
6:10
before and done an expansive
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episode on
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is located right over here there used to
6:15
be a sculpture of jaws somewhere around
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here and from what i recall i think it
6:19
was right here i think mr pemberton
6:21
used to be right here have they removed
6:24
it did someone steal
6:26
mr pemberton it's a possibility
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look at the big coca-cola bottle up top
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what the heck happened to john pemberton
6:34
definitely a pretty cool courtyard
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around here
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with the city skyline in the distance
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off over the top
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of world of coke
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missing
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john pepperton he's been erased from
6:48
existence and with more of the city
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skyline over there there is a quote here
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by john lewis
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you are the light
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you are the light never let anyone any
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person or any force dampen dim or
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diminish
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your light there's another museum
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in this little museum complex
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the center for civil
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human rights
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right here as well so in the courtyard
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houses quite a few different places
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not only world of coke and the georgia
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aquarium which i had contemplated on
7:21
going to the georgia aquarium with the
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line to get in was very lengthy i mean
7:25
it's a holiday weekend tomorrow
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maybe it's a holiday weekend tomorrow's
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holiday and no
7:31
it kind of expands into the full weekend
7:32
i need to find out
7:35
where the heck
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is mr pemberton it's going to be on my
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mind all day
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i want to know
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just i want to know one thing that is
7:44
kind of neat about this coke bottle
7:45
sometimes when you stand underneath it
7:47
you can hear it pop the top and the fizz
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and the fizz of what a coke bottle would
7:51
do
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i'm not sure if that effect works
7:53
anymore oh there it goes
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i heard the bottle top and i didn't hear
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the fizz though now this says no public
8:01
entry but look up here on the back side
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of the coca-cola museum is a topiary
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coca-cola bottle
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take a look at that
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topiary
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classic color now from across the road i
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thought this was these were stacks of
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books and they are however the stack of
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books
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makes up a person that is doing a
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handstand
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right here this is the head
8:28
right there
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take a look at the wheels on that thing
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now this whole area is known
8:36
as a centennial park district
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right there and you can see the
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the books down at the bottom that make
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up the handstand person right down there
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i'm you know heading to dragon con up
8:50
this way taking the scenic route this is
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also a very steep incline on the side of
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this road it's cheaper than some of the
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other areas
8:59
that i've walked around atlanta this is
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like
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giving me san francisco vibes not quite
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as steep but kind of close
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and that was baker street i just walked
9:08
up
9:09
now at the corner of williams and baker
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which dumps out here on the back side of
9:14
back over people at peace street now
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with the america's mark
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building which is where the vendor room
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was i went through the other day which
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had an hour and a half wait
9:23
and then kind of subside a lot of
9:24
honking going on to close the streets
9:26
off but it looks to be probably a good
9:29
hour away i think i first it was an hour
9:30
to halfway it came back a little later
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and then it turned into an hour away it
9:34
looks like it's probably an hour away
9:35
today getting the bedroom that i went
9:37
the other day also the convention runs
9:38
through the fifth today is the fourth
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i'm only going for four days i'm not
9:42
going for the five days i've never done
9:44
a monday
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maybe one year not this year though
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sunday's gonna be my last time i pretty
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much been getting to these
9:51
on wednesdays every year and then i will
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leave on either a sunday or monday
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last year i left on sunday and i felt
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like i needed one more day
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i just felt like i needed one more day
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so this year i decided to stay one extra
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day
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before flying to southern california
10:12
oh car going by
10:15
leaving tomorrow for socal
10:17
got dark helmet from spaceballs here
10:19
hello dark helmet
10:22
thank you so much this is a pretty neat
10:24
area to do some photo shoots out there
10:38
i think a little bit later they are
10:38
doing a big stranger things photo shoot
10:40
here which i want to come back and do
10:42
that also heading over to hilton where
10:44
they are doing wearing an appropriate
10:45
t-shirt
10:46
they are doing a harry potter
10:49
photo one as well so i'm putting over
10:50
the hilt now i popped over in the food
10:52
court to get a piping hot caffeinated
10:54
beverage now the line for caribou coffee
10:56
is extremely long so i'm not gonna i
10:58
think it's busier today than any other
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day but i like this little hairy a lot
11:01
of harry potter stuff tonight i like
11:03
this serious black coffee
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the line stretches
11:06
way down here so i'm gonna find another
11:08
spot
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yeah i think i'm gonna find
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find another coffee spot so i decided to
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head over to the what greg's game room
11:15
coined as the secret
11:19
food court the secret food court at
11:21
least today or maybe yesterday these
11:24
doors were locked too but now they put
11:25
up the sign to go to the other one so
11:28
you have to go to the main food court so
11:30
the secret
11:31
food court which is over here at truest
11:33
plaza food court and garage
11:35
no longer accessible maybe they decided
11:38
we don't want people over there
11:39
or maybe because of sunday fail and have
11:43
to check in with john of course this
11:45
board filled up within the first day
11:47
but john now has a blue wig on and he
11:50
has this unique little honeycomb looking
11:52
item like a beehive of activity and he
11:54
now has a coat a cloak on him as well
11:58
and a little hand there holding a couple
12:00
of dollar bills and there's the fedex
12:01
package down there that he's yet to
12:03
deliver because he's so bogged down and
12:06
weighed down by so much stuff
12:08
look at this and he must be a leo
12:10
i'm also aliyah
12:14
me and john are both the same sign
12:21
and on the middle floor here in the
12:21
marriott the line for starbucks wraps
12:23
all the way down that hallway but i was
12:25
saying this is probably the busiest day
12:26
i think yesterday probably was a little
12:27
busier crowd wise but right now the time
12:30
is lunchtime it is one o'clock so that's
12:32
why the food court was just so slammed
12:34
with people but this seems to be kind of
12:36
about the same crowds as yesterday maybe
12:38
a little lighter but still pretty busy
12:40
all right this is the shortest coffee
12:41
line that i've seen over here starbucks
12:43
what they call the bat cave area
12:46
probably 30 25 people in front of me so
12:49
getting in this line for some starbucks
12:51
even though the line was very very very
12:53
lengthy
12:54
very efficient they are really on top of
12:56
it over here
12:58
at this spot
13:00
and this thing is scorching
13:02
well it's piping hop it's also scorching
13:04
i'm glad they gave me the cardboard
13:05
lucas this thing is toasty
13:08
freshly brewed all right as indiana
13:10
jones walks by
13:16
quite a few people are showing up with
13:16
their harry potter gear on
13:19
it's going to be a good little little
13:20
photo group
13:24
thank you
13:25
oh they're all pointing at me
13:28
i was just giving a free muggle pin
13:32
pretty awesome i mean i'm not going to
13:33
keep it on top of my coffee cup but
13:35
i guess if this was a mug the mug would
13:38
be a muggle but it's a paper cup
13:40
they have just summoned
13:41
everyone
13:42
with a harry potter
13:45
photos heading over that way so i'm
13:46
following along
14:03
oh dang i've already spilled a drop of
14:03
coffee on my
14:04
mugly shirt
14:13
would you consider yourself a muggle or
14:13
a wizard are you a wizard
14:14
yeah i i think i'm a giant
14:17
i'm 6'3 and you were just yeah you're
14:19
probably like what are you six four six
14:20
five
14:21
i think
14:23
a quarter giant or something or i don't
14:25
know you're a muggle giant yeah maybe
14:28
i don't know
14:31
you're tall
14:32
i'm tall too but you're taller than i am
14:35
this is great bellatrex there
14:38
double door up there towards the top
14:45
voldemort he should not be named
14:45
over there harry over there
14:48
a couple of voldemorts up there
14:55
all right being told that unless we're
14:55
one of the pro photographers got to
14:57
stand behind the cord here
15:02
thanks that's how there's hairy right
15:02
front and center there too
15:04
oh someone has brought this sorting hat
15:06
as well
15:08
i'm a ravenclaw
15:10
oh look over here that's cool
15:23
they are all raising their wands in
15:23
honor of part of the from former years
15:26
that passed on
15:28
someone who played dumbledore
15:30
so in honor
15:32
in honor of them they're raising their
15:34
heads
15:48
thank you gotta represent the ravenclaw
15:48
all right now the house of hufflepuff
15:50
now if you were wearing your hufflepuff
15:51
glasses you could go up there yeah
15:54
you're a hufflepuff
15:55
i am
16:02
i know a lot of slytherins
16:02
i think everybody wants to be slytherin
16:04
it's like the cool one
16:06
but i'm ravenclaw
16:08
definitely slytherin
16:09
big grouper slytherin even got dobby
16:12
over there
16:19
whatever on the far in there snake
16:19
and of course
16:20
gryffindor okay stop turning around
16:32
i did see a sign asking if i had seen
16:32
this wizard but i don't think you're
16:33
you're not the wizard right you're not
16:35
the one i'm looking for i saw a sign
16:36
that said have i seen this wizard
16:39
it looked familiar
16:41
i think it must be something i'm gonna
16:42
it's not you it's definitely not yet
16:51
yeah check out the mentor up there
16:51
towering over everyone wow
16:53
that's freaking awesome
17:06
i got seymour over here and audrey ii
17:06
and then of course
17:08
edward scissorhands as well very nice
17:12
thanks so much
17:13
all right got the rocketeer here
17:17
always good to see the rocketeer out and
17:19
about
17:21
thank you so much you stepped outside
17:23
and it is coming down out here
17:26
raining
17:28
very rarely will i even walk the streets
17:30
through here usually i'll just take the
17:32
sky tunnels i like to call them
17:35
these little walkways up there
17:41
yeah it's raining out here i had no idea
17:41
until i stepped outside i also got some
17:43
refreshing water out of the
17:45
free water machines that they got which
17:47
is nice
17:49
very peaceful the rain
17:57
scooter is getting wet
17:57
turn my head back inside
18:11
under his
18:58
the america's mark building is where the
18:58
vendor room is but over at building
19:00
three
19:01
is where the gaming room this year is
19:03
the gaming building and i have not been
19:06
in there yet so i'm gonna head over
19:07
there no way is this really happening in
19:09
here right now is the harry potter the
19:11
exhibition taking place right now
19:15
that would be pretty dang cool if it's
19:16
true
19:17
unplanned i did a harry potter meet up
19:19
today wizarding world meetup i'm wearing
19:20
a wizarding world shirt
19:27
see if that's in there in the gaming
19:27
room
19:28
see what happens here
19:38
into the gaming room all right there's a
19:38
lot of role playing going on in here
19:40
role-playing games you know similar to
19:42
like d and d but not just dungeons and
19:45
dragons
19:46
it was like a whole community
19:47
role-playing board games and i also
19:49
looked up the harry potter thing it
19:51
doesn't even start in town in atlanta
19:53
until october so
19:55
whatever whoever's running it probably
19:56
just stuck it out front just as like a
19:58
teaser kind of a good marketing thing
19:59
because i'm kind of interested on what
20:01
the heck that even is yeah some of these
20:03
role-playing board games are so
20:05
detailed and expansive
20:07
that's a whole world and rabbit hole i
20:09
haven't gone down yet okay i have to
20:10
wonder if the stranger things
20:14
photo group will take place because it's
20:15
raining out there you see we've got
20:16
their umbrellas out i did not bring my
20:18
umbrella it might still happen i'm gonna
20:20
walk over there princess jasmine has an
20:22
umbrella
20:24
but barney is umbrella-less but if he
20:26
can brave
20:28
the rain i can brave the rain and a few
20:30
people are starting to accumulate over
20:31
here for these stranger things photo in
20:34
the rain
20:36
i'll be one of them watching yes the
20:37
hellfire club
20:39
is expansive
20:44
this is the roof this is the real life
20:44
hellfire
20:45
all right so evidently there is another
20:46
stranger things in a different spot this
20:48
is actually the hellfire meetup no fire
20:51
club from stranger things so basically
20:52
this is a what they're calling a year
20:54
hellfire club yearbook photo
20:57
and there's some you know i guess like
20:58
inside one of the buildings on one of
21:00
the upper levels they're doing like a
21:02
some more cosplay type style but this is
21:04
the yearbook photo
21:10
oh it looks like the dragon is gonna be
21:12
part of the hellfire
21:14
like the dragon's got the shirt off
21:16
that's amazing
21:32
doesn't have the do back patch though
21:32
he's the do back patch
21:33
it's amazing
21:41
that's the best thing ever
21:55
six
21:56
four
21:58
two everybody's saying christmas
22:26
that's amazing all right this is pretty
22:26
dang cool a meeting of the hellfire club
22:29
pretty dang cool first annual probably
22:31
because you know the hellfire club
22:32
didn't exist last year all right that is
22:36
my dragoncon weekend coming to
22:39
a completion
22:45
2022 dragon con for me does continue
22:45
tomorrow but i will not be here i've
22:47
done four days
22:48
got my fill
22:50
i feel like i have to you know whenever
22:52
i leave on a sunday and i don't leave on
22:54
a monday i feel like i'm leaving before
22:56
it's really over so
22:58
i've also heard i never stayed on monday
22:59
but i've heard monday it's kind of
23:01
already over the attendance is very very
23:02
low and it's kind of over so i've never
23:04
stayed on monday but i do like staying
23:06
on a sunday and just kind of it's kind
23:08
of like my wind down day
23:10
also high voltage and i'm out often
23:13
asked
23:14
i am often asked i should say
23:17
why dragon con is my favorite convention
23:19
i love all kind of conventions horror
23:20
conventions
23:21
sci-fi conventions comic cons things
23:24
like that and the thing that separates
23:26
for me
23:28
dragon con from the others is there's
23:30
really kind of no escaping it once
23:31
you're in those five host hotels it's
23:33
very immersive you do not have to look
23:35
for cosplay it's just right there i've
23:36
been to others we kind of got to either
23:38
walk the vendor floor to see cosplay and
23:41
cannot really find where the cosplay is
23:42
happening here
23:44
no matter where you look any of the host
23:46
hotels just go in the lobby
23:48
there's no escaping it it's just a
23:50
different vibe from the typical kind of
23:52
grid of a normal convention plus it's
23:54
one of those things where i really never
23:56
get bored i can just like walk aboard i
23:58
can just walk around for like days on
24:00
end going between the tunnels the host
24:02
hotels all the different hotels the
24:04
streets of atlanta never even really see
24:05
the same costume twice i mean you'll see
24:07
the same costume ty twice you know
24:09
figure of speech but it's just non-stop
24:11
amount of costumes and you don't really
24:14
have to be you know in in a vendor room
24:16
where you're walking around sometimes
24:17
like this whole weekend only went in the
24:19
vendor room one time and there's been
24:20
times you really don't have to even go
24:22
in the vendor room and experience the
24:24
convention without even really setting
24:26
foot in the convention if that makes
24:28
sense if you've been to a lot of
24:29
conventions you kind of understand maybe
24:31
what i'm talking about with you know the
24:33
whole grid set up where you get into a
24:35
room you just walk down each of the
24:36
aisles and after you do that a couple
24:38
times you think is there anything left
24:39
to this and there'll be a couple panels
24:41
here it's just so immersive so intense
24:44
so in your face no escaping it and you
24:47
know i have a little nostalgia because
24:48
this would have been my 10th year ninth
24:49
year but obviously 2020 did not happen
24:51
so this would be my 10th year
24:53
had 2020 not taking place and they had
24:56
you know not not had it that year
24:58
nonetheless i'll see you in the next
24:59
video
25:01
tomorrow morning leaving atlanta i'll
25:03
see you next video the vlog is over