The Weird And Wacky World of Highway 192 in Kissimmee Florida / Extinct Theme Parks & Gigantic Fun
A visit to highway 192 in Kissimmee Florida just outside Walt Disney World . A road full of unusual and fun roadside oddities . Former theme parks , closed attractions , Disney gift shops and more !
Transcript
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welcome everyone Adam the whoo here
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today's adventure brings us to Kissimmee
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Florida the thoroughfare you see running
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past the sign is highway 192 my old
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stomping grounds in fact back in early
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2010 when I first started uploading
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content onto YouTube a heck of a lot of
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it took place down this road but it's
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been a while since I documented and
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traversed this pathway that's what I'm
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gonna do today I'm inviting you to join
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me shall you if you'd like to follow
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along at home on a map I will be heading
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westward starting at the intersection of
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Orange Blossom Trail which is called
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Main Street in this area and going all
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the way up about 20 miles to the dead
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end of highway 27 turning around and
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coming back checking out the weird wacky
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and unusual things on each side of the
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road since last time I was here this
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Kmart has closed it's now abandoned a
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company I work for for about five years
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I worked at the one down the road it
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closed first but this one held strong
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for a little while and now it's been
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erased existence which is kind of par
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for the course for a lot of businesses
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around here when my family first moved
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here in the early 90s this was a surf
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shop later became a buffet now it's it's
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empty
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about 20 years or so if you would have
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turned down this inclined driveway would
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have taken you to the parking lot of not
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only the Viking motel which sat there
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but also the entrance to River Adventure
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Golf where I was employed for a short
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while this really does bring back some
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serious memories customers would begin
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their round of miniature putt-putt right
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over there one hole in particular I got
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really good at on slow days I would come
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down here you can see where the concrete
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still is and some of the moss has grown
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over but the destination where the ball
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went it's right there there's the hole I
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would always play this hole this was the
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first first of all of them so I just
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come down here stand right over there
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putt the ball along I got pretty good at
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this particular one not a whole lot left
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from those days except the lights modern
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day there's lots of shrubs probably some
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snakes and Gators down in that foliage
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wouldn't recommend running around in
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there however if you want to send them a
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letter the mailbox still here on site
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but on the opposite end of the spectrum
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not everything is closed Congo River
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course still going strong it's been open
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as far back as I can remember there's
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the Queen the boat they're in the water
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one thing you don't see too often in
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tourist areas are these huge
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markers with numbers stretching all up
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and down the streets the reason they did
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this is to give direction say you went
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to a store and you were looking for your
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hotel or an attraction the employee or a
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local to tell you oh it's over near mile
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marker 12 except I've never heard anyone
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actually do that they usually just give
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you the cross streets I don't think this
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game plan worked out the way they
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thought it would I like the bus stops
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very unique looking notice the turtle
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clock there at the top of the roof now
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we're getting into the section that I
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really enjoy
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the gift shops I doubt they still do
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20-minute photo developing that's a
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thing of the past but check out this
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artwork all along the side it's amazing
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big old alligator there on the side whoa
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people in the hot air balloon are
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getting a little too close watch out he
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bites I'm curious to know if these
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tourist info center stands are as
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prevalent and popular as they once were
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now that the Internet's out there
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there's still a few of them around
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however I just wonder if anyone utilizes
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them straight ahead is the Magic Castle
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in and Suites use quite a bit in a movie
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called the Florida Project where the
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main characters stayed here and right
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next door a helicopter is landing
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getting back from a tour for a few bucks
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you can go up inside one of those
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copters and get a bird's-eye of the area
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it might pass on that today what does
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that phone next to the registration desk
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entrance do it's super old-school and
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why is it in a glass box like that oh
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yes while we're on the subject of
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bizarre things - wizard I love this
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guy's good to see you still stand it
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strong
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I bet the helicopter tour going overhead
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probably looking down thinking what the
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heck there's even a couple
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fire-breathing dragons painted on either
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side of the banner they're holding I
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love it so much
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your daily dose of vitamin C would be
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complete you stuck a rather large straw
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from the top of this
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that's big in the side of the building
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as always reminding us it's always in
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the best interest of others to share
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this truly is a marvel of citrus glory
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I'm glad it's still here for all to see
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including those grabbing a bite to eat
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at Waffle House unless you're walking
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most people don't even realize this but
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on the backside of these ground-level
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billboards are brochures pamphlets and
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magazines all free just showing what's
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all around this tourist area just reach
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out open it up and grab one this one is
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adorned with a classic car hot rod in
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the middle surrounded by Elvis to the
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right Marilyn Monroe to the left and a
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jukebox there on the corner and adjacent
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to this property is yet another one with
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the facade painted very patriotic indeed
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even an eagle right there on the side
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code joined with machine-gun America
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where you can rattle off a few rounds if
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you so choose I guess they must be doing
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well because here's a brand new and look
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at the size of that one
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it's probably the biggest one on highway
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192 a slight jungle theme to this one
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elephants tigers I think I even see a
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gorilla up there a zebra on the woodwork
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not just that but also the rock
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formations down here a bit paint is all
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sorts of tropical animals a frog is
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looming down at the parrot
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does it even know it's watching I'm
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above word of warning however a lot of
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these places don't take kindly to
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filming inside you can take photos of
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video outdoors but once you go inside
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with the camera they don't like it too
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much some sea life is happening there's
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a manatee some penguins this is around
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the back of the building the front is a
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little bit more impressive
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a mermaid of enormous size next to her
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lighthouse just swimming around through
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the air or should I say through the sea
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they just have to take my word for it
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but in that store they have gadgets and
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gizmos aplenty
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they've got whosits and whatsits galore
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but if you want a thingamabob they might
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be sold out this one states that it's
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the number one gift shop I don't know
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what the ranking system is that because
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I must admit from the outside
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perspective this one looks much more
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spectacular the customers at that Cici's
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Pizza can be very disappointed if that
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volcano blows oh wait a second no it's
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not the Sala volcano just a rock
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formation with the waterfall ooh that
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would be dangerous I've reached the
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farthest westward portion highway 192 to
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continue in this direction it suddenly
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turns
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to highway 27 without any notice
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whatsoever I'm now gonna head back
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eastbound and see if it's a little more
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wacky the opposite way see what happens
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looks like we got Shamu and another
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member of his immediate family a wolf
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howling and that awning that leads to a
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unaccessible door there's a polar bear
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I'm starting to think a lot of these
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facades are all painted by maybe the
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same person or the same company decades
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ago sea lions just basking in the Sun
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really hard to differentiate the side of
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the wall from the real clouds nicely
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done
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if you want to keep a lake secret
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probably not the best idea to advertise
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it on the street side well that guy just
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went through that through that light
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really quickly this whole area has
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definitely changed over the past few
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years a while back this was known as
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splendid China a theme park now it's
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owned by Jimmy Buffett he's putting up a
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Margaritaville resort looks like it's
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gonna be a lot of fun when it's
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completed equipped with even a waterpark
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came around to the back end it looks
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like this gate is the only remaining
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artifact from the splendid China days
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not allowed to go in there because it is
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a construction zone but also these metal
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pieces that are all broken up they are
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also original as is the wall but
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everything inside completely gone back
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when the theme park was built so was
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this shopping center one thing is gone
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but another still remains oh wow and
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indoors I have to say this is pretty
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amazing that it still exists for one
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reason or another this place slipped
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past my radar I had no idea it was here
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till now directly above the produce
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section is a Panda and his friends next
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to the registers where the magazines are
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there's even a little moat a bridge
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there's water inside a grocery store
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there weren't a whole lot of customers
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in there the marketing idea about
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putting it next to splendid China
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probably sounded good at first but then
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when they closed WAMP WAMP WAMP WAMP
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there's a giraffe stop there's a giraffe
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well actually there's there's two of
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them I always loved that kid up there
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giving the thumbs up love thumbs ups
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don't be deceived this is not the same
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wizard we saw earlier there's two of
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them there's two wizard gift shops east
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and west bound nice I have one major
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question the tree to the left of the
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screen why is it so frightening
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has its mouth open has some eyes on the
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treat limbs very scary-looking right
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always like to stop off and see big fun
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the monster-truck use in the movie
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Roadhouse with the SWE's dog Patrick
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Swayze that's that's that's the nickname
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I think that's what he goes by the
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ferris wheel at Old Town looking rather
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glorious it's made to appear as if
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you're in a hot-air balloon with the
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ride vehicle attached to it but in
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reality you're not in a hot-air balloon
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you're just attached to very tall
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spinning wheel I never went in this
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attraction slash movie theater when it
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was open wasn't really available to the
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public for too long it's been sitting
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empty for years
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taking it true that I really don't know
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exactly what it even is called the
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antigravity theater you float around in
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there or did you float around in there
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while you watched a film
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huh there was a period in time where
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this was called the haunted mansion
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obviously didn't last because pretty
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sure Disney owns the copyright on that
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name but the building still stands it's
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used for something else now a church I
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believe pretty impressive looking
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nonetheless I kind of missed a huge
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Gator that used to be in this parking
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lot I was always told it was the second
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biggest in the world a structure that
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started here you can see where the new
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pavement is stretched all the way down
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near the highway itself at the Gator
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motel appropriately named and this
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building also still sits empty and
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abandoned a former roadside zoo the sign
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is asking not to go past that point over
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the bridge doesn't look too structurally
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sound either way nor does this gooey
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waterway look at all the green algae on
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top of it
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well if there's any real live alligators
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down in there
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you can almost picture the cascading
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waterfall greening down that rock
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formation it's been a while but I still
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see it in your mind's eye you try there
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be pirates in this I don't know why I'm
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talking like that there's pirates in
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this like to see them traversing the
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side of their ship here at this
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miniature golf course and those are
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headstones
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says rest in peace that's what happens
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if you don't get a hole-in-one it's
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pretty a pretty terrifying tourist
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attraction that's gonna do it for today
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if you enjoyed this particular episode
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up and down the jaunt down the weird the
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wacky the unusual and the strange things
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on highway 192 in Kissimmee around the
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Walt Disney World area not on property
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but just outside just shy by an inch or
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so give it a big thumbs up let me know
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you can't I'll see you in the next video
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the vlog is over