Most overrated tourist attractions in the world
#796
Join Date: Aug 2012
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The coolest stuff at KSC is on extra-charge tours. Currently you can go walk through launch control, go inside the VAB, get up close to one of the shuttles in one of the OPF hangers, and other behind-the-scenes stuff like that. They also have a tour of CCAFS where many of the historic launchpads were, including a stop at the Apollo I memorial.
We did the historic Cape Canaveral tour back when it was included with normal paid admission. The tour guide was a guy who worked as an engineer at KSC for 30+ years and was now picking up a few shifts in a new role because it was a way for him to have a lot of fun while earning a bit of money for golf greens fees. He also had some great stories about the extreme measures they'd have to take about alligator and snake control on some of the launch pads.
That tour pretty much made the trip for us- so much history, and we got to get up close to it. You get to spend a few minutes in the press gallery at the launch control bunker for the Mercury program, and I loved how the building had just been locked up and left when they moved launch responsibilities to Houston- desks and a lot of equipment was still in place, and the ceiling tiles still had massive tobacco stains from an era when everyone smoked at their desks.
#798
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
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#801
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Join Date: Jan 2004
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Agreed. I was quite disappointed. It didn't help that the weather was very hot on the day we visited, and standing there in the sun listening to the loooooong narrations by the guide talking about uninteresting facts and figures was not pleasant.
#802
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
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#803
Join Date: Feb 2011
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#804
Join Date: Oct 2006
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#805
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 3
Instead of hijacking this thread, I created a new one. What are the best tourist attractions in the world, big or small? The ones that met or exceeded expectation.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ons-world.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ons-world.html
#806
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 729
Instead of hijacking this thread, I created a new one. What are the best tourist attractions in the world, big or small? The ones that met or exceeded expectation.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ons-world.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ons-world.html
Edit: This is the one I was thinking of.
Last edited by Schmurrr; Nov 23, 2012 at 8:34 am
#808
Join Date: Sep 2012
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Posts: 2,692
I'm thinking the great Salt Lake was the biggest letdown, followed by Ruby Falls and not far behind as millennium Park in Chicago
#809
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 206
New Orleans was such a letdown. Downtown was filthy, people were so unfriendly and then there was our hotel clerk suggesting we get back before dark as the county was #1 in murders across the country that year. Won't be back by choice.
#810
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 206