Florida People!

Tampa. I work mostly from home but go to Melbourne once in a while, so lots of driving between the Gulf and Space coasts.

Lived in Fort Myers during middle and high school. Got the fuck out when I graduated. My mom and brother are now in Tampa. I'll be visiting for Thanksgiving. It'll be the first time back to Florida in years.

Born in Hawaii, grew up in Houston, Texas and moved to central Florida (Lakeland) 4 years ago.

Hey Diva, if you have time while you're down here I'm sure I owe you a drink.

Or just get hammered.

I'm definitely down for a Florida Chewer gathering. I'll be in Tampa from Nov. 25 - Dec 1st, so I'll be itching to get away from the family.

And I consider myself a pretty decent pool player, but Eric kicked my ass heartily, even after I made him do numerous shots of Jameson.

Yeah, you were over doing shots pretty much from the get-go.

I actually play better once I've had a few drinks. I stop thinking about what I'm doing and just play. Although I haven't played pool in about five years.

Grew up in Coral Springs (Parkland), went to school in Gainesville.

Ha! Ha! I forgot about that guy.

I play better after a few drinks as well. It's after many drinks that my game goes to shit!

Grew up in south fla. Now reside in central fla. I'd like to get the hell out of here and move to CO or NC, though.

But I'd miss the surfing. And the love bugs.

Sounds like fun. All the other concentrated Chewers do it.

I'm in Winter Park now (suburb of Orlando). Came down about 3 & 1/2 years ago from NE Pennsylvania (lived there for nearly 30 years).

Ft. Meyers, Diva? I visit a buddy of mine at Bonita Beach every March (he flies over from Minnesota to watch the Twins spring training).

Ah, Winter Park. Went to high school and college there. The farmer's market in the old train station is pretty awesome.

Cordo, is that the one in the Winter Park Village? I love that theater but the parking in that place is an absolute nightmare.

Word.

It's a big theater, and closer to me than the AMC at the Altamonte Mall (and especially the one at Universal CityWalk) but it's a zoo there on most nights, weekends especially. It REALLY sucks when you're running late. You have to follow pedestrians out of restaurants hoping to get their spot.

I've been slumming it at the Picturehouse 2nd run $1 theater in Altamonte. 75 cent Tuesdays! Less scary than the Colonial Promenade fo sho.

I've been really disappointed in finding the perfect DVD/CD store down here (with an ample supply of odd and used stuff). While commuting to NJ up North, I had many more options. There's Park Avenue Cds and I found an out of the way MovieStop (that was nothing special) down here, but jeez... I'll just continue to shop online I guess. Bog box stores really killed the Mom & Pop round here.

I'd like to do something special for my wife's 30th birthday the weekend of Nov 9th. Any local suggestions? Great restaurants , spots, or shows that aren't the obvious touristy stuff (nix on Medieval Times, amusement parks, etc)? Also, unfortunately, it needs to be reasonable cost-wise. I'm thinking of driving to Tampa to take her to the zoo there. Orlando/Sanford zoological garden is pretty small... you'd think such a high-traffic area would have more than just Disney's Animal Kingdom & Sea World.

If you're gonna be in Tampa, drive across to St. Pete and hit the Dali Museum. Definitely worth it.

Yeah, it's only $15. Well worth the cash, but if money's tight, I think they have $5 entrance fees on Thursdays.

I love that museum, definetly recommended. You're planning on going to Lowry park zoo? It's not a bad one, there's always Busch Gardens too, Jungala is pretty neat.

I will say we were a little disappointed with the Florida Aquarium though. It's nice enough, but pricey for what's there.

Living up North, I've been to the New England Aquarium and would often go to the Baltimore Aquarium. Do you know if it's comparable?

St. Pete might have to wait for another trip as we'll have our 4 year old with us as well (I'd like to go to the Pirate Festival) and too much in one day might be tough. Maybe we'll board the dog and make a weekend trip of it sometime.

EDIT: The Pirate Festival is at the end of Nov (November 21st, 22nd and 23rd, 2008).

Yeah, very expensive.

For those of us with kids, the play area is very nice though and you can eat and drink while you watch the kids play in it, so very relaxing.

And it's got a bar in the middle of it, in case parental relief is needed.

Ive lived in Tampa most of my life but I had never heard of such a thing. I just assumed that when you said Pirate festival you meant Gasparilla but I had no idea St Pete had its own thing too.

Never heard of it either, sounds like fun!

I went to the Gasparilla parade a few years ago. What a worthless holiday, but a whole lot of fun! I was hammered by 9 a.m. Ended up drinking another 12 hours.


Me (oh yeah, rockin' the pirate shirt!), my bro, his friend Trey, and my friend Amy.

He, I live close to Busch Gardens. You've been to the park but not Howl-O-Scream right? I've only been to Horror Nights, but I've heard the Busch Gardens one is an ok but cheaper version of it.

I went to Howl-O-Scream I think two years back and it was fun. Capitan is right that its basically a smaller and slightly more low rent version of Halloween Horror Nights. I read in the paper that this year its a little bigger than before but it didnt elaborate very much.

The main difference is that HHN has several movie themed haunted houses while Howl-O-Scream is more generic.

You're going to HHN on a Friday night? You're a braver soul than I am.

I heard Howl-o-Scream kind of sucked this year. But I can't remember who told me that so I can't vouch for the validity of that statement.

HHN, on the other hand, is supposed to be pretty awesome. I won't be able to make it - first time in 11 years.

I have a friend coming into town from Iowa and she really wants to go but with the timing and everything we have to go on Halloween itself. Ive been a few times but never actually on the 31st and Im more than a little afraid of the lines Im going to see. The first time I went their were lines for over an hour at each place but last year it was only half an hour or so(we had a person in a wheelchair speeding up the process since not all the lines were wheelchair friendly so we skipped to the front). Im just hoping that most people are at real Halloween parties and not at Universal Studios and maybe splitting the difference in times.

Surprised to hear so many horror stories about the parking there, as I've never really had a problem with it. Last thing I saw there was Pineapple Express, and there's a bar right on the corner there. It's all outdoors, and makes for a nice little way to kill some time before checking out a flick...

I'm in Longwood, so I'm about 5 minutes from the AMC theater. Went there tonight to catch W, and I see they're putting in IMAX there. Hopefully it's for some of the documentaries as well as for the blockbusters...

Hey, we didn't earn our own Fark tag for nothing!

hahaha, they arrested Batman. Classic.

I've never seen this guy, I like his motorcycle. Funny how the comic book world could never exist in the real world ... I also didn't know about this law, why would they enforce this all of this sudden, it's not a problem during Halloween and Guavaween anyways ...

I liked the guy in the second part of that spot with the shirt that says "Alpacas are SUPER AWESOME". You dont see that kind of unbridled enthusiasm for miniature llamas every day

Your avatar better get that mask off, before the long arm of the Tampa police throws you in the slammer.

I just moved to Seattle, WA. But before I did I spent 14 long years in Bradenton, Fl. A small town directly North of Sarasota and about 45 minutes south of Tampa. I hated the place (which is why I moved to the furthest possible place across the country). I do miss going to metal shows at the Brass Mug, and punk shows at the State Theatre. Also this one sushi place on U.S. 41 in Bradenton who had this one crab roll that I've never been able to find in any other sushi restaurant anywhere else in the country. My Mom, my wife's Dad, and all my friends are still there though and that kind of sucks.

Holy shit was it cold this morning when I took my daughter to school. I put pants and a coat on her, but shorts and flipflops were NOT a good idea for me.

If it could just stay like this all through fall and winter, it'd be perfect.