We started out the day fine. Drove the hour to Tampa, waited in traffic for another half hour to 45 minutes which was understandable and taken in stride. Then the fun began; we walked, and I'm NOT exaggerating here because I paced it out, more than a mile from the parking to where the line for security began. After finally getting to within 1/4 mile of the gate, we found out about the line for security. Again, I am not exaggerating here. there were TWO lines, each 1/2 mile long, and were growing longer as we watched. Enough is enough. Had I been alone, or just with the wife, I might have stuck it out, but with twin 5 year olds, there was no way I was going to subject the to any more of that mess. The best part? Instead of walking back the way we came, we cut across the parking lot and was back to the car in 10 inutes.On the good side, we set up our chairs out in the parking and watched some of the show. Where we were at, all of the planes flew directly over us, and when the Eagle flew over at about 200 feet, it almost deafened us. The memorial flight consisting of a Mustang, a Sabre, a Falcon, and the Eagle was a thing of beauty and moving, even from our disadvantaged view. We didn't stick around for the Blue Angels, but I'm sure it was an awesome show, as always.
Tonight, I am sitting down and writnig some serious letters to the Airfest promoters, the MacDill base commmander, the Blue Angels, and the DoD. There is simply NO excuse for what happened out there today, especially when you consider Disneyworld experiences the same volume of visitors EVERY DAY and there is nothing like this nonsense. The promoters could have at least sent some people over to learn from them.
