New girlfriend, new project, lol! Not sure this is a good thing.....

[gt2003 18]

Ok, so I just re-tiled her bathroom and installed new trim and all looks great! So, I'm talking to her today and she mentions repainting her porch(es). They aren't too big, maybe 150-200 sq ft total. But, they are layer upon layer of paint. Unfortunately, I don't know what kind of paint, only that it's a solid. She is wanting to repaint again with a solid paint, nothing transparent or semi-transparent. So, I need ideas on products I can use to help get some of the old paint off then sand with my orbital sander to smooth things out. 20 years ago there were products that would eat up much of the paint by bubbling up then allowing them to be scraped off. I'm not 100% sure of what's available nowadays so thought I'd check with the experts. Let me know and I'll get on the ball and be glad to provide pictures as the project progresses. Thanks in advance!