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We are in Orlando! It is our first full day in Florida and we are making the most of the sunshine.
Having spent the past three weeks in the cold and snow, it’s such a lovely feeling to be warm and wearing short sleeves!
I’m glad we experienced Boston, New York, and Philadelphia in winter. There’s something special about the snow on Boston Common and the frozen lakes in Central Park.
And equally, it’s great to be in Florida when it’s warm and sunny but not too hot.
Saving Our Galleons
Perhaps not quite the traveller vibe, but you can’t really go to Orlando without hitting the theme parks. And having never been before myself I’m really excited that we are off to Universal Studios today.
There was much debate over which parks to visit during our 12 day hiatus in Florida from the road. I would quite happily spend every day in Disneyland given the chance… but this is a group trip and so we compromise. Two days in Universal Studios (one exclusively for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter), and one day is Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
I bought our tickets for Universal Studios in advance from Attractiontix saving us a bundle on the gate prices. Also, by using their USA site we save ever more thanks to a favourable exchange rate.
My top tip: ALWAYS check the cost in local currency. If you have a good credit card then it’s often cheaper to buy things this way.
You can find excellent credit cards for spending abroad by doing a search on MoneySupermarket. We each got a card which has no foreign currency fees and also very low rates on cash withdrawals in any currency. This is a much safer and more cost effective way to spend money abroad as long as you pay off the full balance each month. (Or get a 0% balance transfer credit card when you get back to pay off the trip in interest free instalments!)
Off to Hogwarts
Universal Studios is HUGE. Even before The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened it was big. Now you need a whole day to fully explore just this area.
I could spend this whole post gushing over how amazing the Harry Potter park is. The detail is incredible. You can’t see anything out of place inside these areas of the park. It really is like stepping into another world.
I’ll try and keep it short here though. So, here are my top 5 things about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
- If you buy a wand here it is interactive across the park meaning you can cast spells all day!
- Butterbeer is amazing, and can be drunk hot or cold. It even comes as an ice cream flavour.
- The dragon atop Gringotts breathes fire every ten minutes
- The Hogwarts Express takes you between Diagon Alley and Hogwarts
- The 4D experience rides in Gringotts and Hogwarts are incredible. Even the queue line is fun
We fully indulged during our time here, only leaving the wizarding zone to get lunch.
Lunch was both awesome and awful however. Having eaten far too much greasy food from The Simpsons land (plus some Duff beer of course), one by one the Scooby Gang dropped.
First Ruth succumbed to her dairy intolerance after eating far too much cheese and ice cream. She ran off to be sick before we even got to Hogwarts. Then Hayley and Rosie experienced some post rollercoaster effect after visiting the castle. Alex and I survived unscathed thankfully. (Spoiler: we do not get away with it on our next Universal visit…)
Superbowl XLIX
Tonight is the 49th Superbowl and whilst only Alex has any interest in the NFL, we all feel like we should engage in this cultural pastime.
On the way back from Universal Studios we stop off at Walmart to pick up football food. Chicken wings, onion rings, pizza, and fries! *No cheesy pizza for Ruth!!
I tried to watch it. Really I did. But American Football is just Rugby for wimps. Plus they spend more time standing around than actually doing anything with the ball.
I just don’t get it.
The halftime show is performed by Katy Perry, which brought back some wonderful memories of watching The Interview in Philadelphia. But after that I check out and spend the rest of the evening attempting to do some writing.
More to Florida than Theme Parks
I do wonder how many people visit Florida and never see anything beyond the theme parks.
I certainly know some who have never even ventured outside of DisneyWorld.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Disney (as shall be evidenced later on…) but there are some many other things to see and do in Orlando alone.
Using the information gathered from the Florida Welcome Centre we book up an Airboat Gator tour and a Medieval Banquet dinner for tomorrow. Today however it is raining, which gives us the perfect excuse to visit the mall.
We fully live the stereotype, giving the credit card a bit if a bashing. Hours are spent looking at clothes and jewellery and lunch is had in the food court.
I even get a tattoo….
My advice to you all: don’t get a tattoo in a shopping mall. I loved it at the time but six years on the poor quality is obvious. And whilst I still like the sentiment, the design is no longer what I would choose.
Still, live and learn! And everyone should do something to regret at least once in life.
We indulge in steak and cocktails for dinner at the Outback Steakhouse, discovering our new culinary obsession: the blooming onion! It is the best thing to ever happen to an onion period. I live in hope of it making its way over to the UK one day soon.
A fairly normal day but a lot of fun.
The try something different day is up tomorrow….
See you later Alligator
We get up and have a big breakfast together before driving to Kissimmee to start our action-packed day.
First up is the Spirit of the Swamp 90-minute airboat tour of Lake Tohopekaliga.
It is the largest lake located in Osceola County covering between 18,810 and 22,700 acres (depending on the season) with a circumference of 42 miles.
Most importantly, the lake is populated by an array of fish, birds, plants, and literally thousands of alligators.
We depart on our airboat driven by Captain Andy at 12:30, speeding along the canal to the swamp in search of gators.
As we are a group of five we get to go out on our own with the Captain. It’s basically a private tour, and we can request when to stop and ask questions through our headsets.
He gives us a great tour providing lots of information. He knows so much about the area, animals and plants, answering all our questions with ease.
We get up close with several gators, and even find a nest of babies!
Snap! (Geddit?)
While we’re there Captain Andy tells us how the Florida Nature Commission pillages gator nests for eggs.
They do it to keep the wild alligator population down, but also to keep the farmed population up. Gator meat is apparently a big thing…
I don’t see the appeal.
(I hadn’t eaten alligator before we did this tour and had no desire to. In my onward travels I have however tried it and it’s weird. Salty, chewy, kind of like a cross between badly cooked squid and chicken.)
As well as alligators we see various species of birds and lots of swamp plants. We learn that the wood from the silver birch tree growing all around the marchlands used to be popular in ship building.
It really is a wonderful tour. I like the focus on conservation and whilst obviously tourist driven, the Spirit of the Swamp tour isn’t as commercial as some of the other companies around.
Plus, the airboat itself is really good fun!
Definitely an enjoyable must do experience!
Midday Munchies
After the tour we have some time to kill before our dinner show, so tried to find a supermarket to grab some lunch.
At this point the satnav turns on us and goes completely crazy! It starts leading us in many wrong directions and even sends us to the wrong destination. Not fun.
Eventually however we find a Publix and I get to eat the best Cuban sub ever! And for dessert I find my Mum’s all-time favourite thing, a cheese lattice! This is actually called a coffee cake, but she has been obsessed with it ever since first visiting our family America over twenty years ago. It won’t survive another two months though, so sorry Mum but I ate it all!
Crazy Golf
Now with happy, full bellies, we go on a hunt for somewhere to play mini golf, and yet again the satnav is useless.
Thankfully, we have driven past an adventure golf place already today. It looks suitably uncool and cheesy, so we turn Scooby around head there!
The place we end up at is called Congo River Golf. There is far from a shortage of Crazy Golf locations in the area, and this one is chosen completely by chance.
Turns out to be really good fun!
There are silly challenges along the way, like putting between your legs or with your eyes closed. And you climb up a mountain along the course so end up golfing downhill. A challenge in and of itself.
Rosie is crowned the winner, with Alex, Ruth and I somehow all getting the same score for a joint second place. Poor Hayley comes in last, but I did add up the scores very quickly so that could all be wrong!!
It’s the fun that counts though, and we do have a good time.
Until…
Now, we haven’t had a proper Stumbling Story for a while, and here is where that all changes.
Everything has been going really well and I’m having an amazing time in Florida.
But my fun in Florida is about to take a hiatus.
We have arranged to spend this evening at a dinner theatre experience called Medieval Times. I’m not even going to provide a link to them as I found the whole experience awful.
Medieval Times
I honestly don’t know what was going through my mind when I agreed to do this. The part of my brain that protects me from these sorts of experiences must have been so preoccupied with finding a cruelty free Alligator tour it forgot that horses would be involved in this show.
I abhor animal cruelty. It brings out the strongest, visceral response within me. It’s why I hate Sea World and avoid zoos that aren’t completely transparent about their animal care.
Medieval Times is essentially a banquet served whilst watching jousting and sword fighting. Harmless in concept, but as soon as the horses came into the arena I feel physically sick.
They are tightly bound, forced to bend in unnatural ways to do tricks, and endure horrible unnatural conditions. Horses belong in fields outside or in comfy stables. Not in the middle of concrete and kept indoors. Afterwards I do a lot of searches about animal treatment in this show and nothing I find puts my mind at ease.
I end up having to leave the show to go an cry in the restroom. I find the whole thing disgusting. But I don’t want to ruin the fun everyone else seems to be having so try to keep my anger inside as much as I can. (They all know how I feel now so this won’t come as a surprise!)
Then, to top it all off, there is a birds of prey element to the show where they sweep over the audience. I am still well in the midst of bird fear and want to crawl under the table.
I can’t even say the food was any good.
My feelings aside…
Still, Hayley gets a flower and Rosie is crowned queen. The sword fighting at the end is okay.
I think the others enjoyed it for what it was. And whilst I find it hard to look at the pictures I will include them as this is not just my story.
By the way, Hayley still has the cup six years later!
It’s Disney Day!!!
On to more pleasant things! It’s DISNEY DAY!!
At last, my dreams come true! I’m a complete Disney geek and have never been to Disney World before. Until today!!
(Okay, so I’ve been to Disneyland Paris once when I was 7 and once with the school at 14, but trust me, it doesn’t compare!)
I’m more than a little excited, and Rosie is just as enthusiastic. So glad she’s here to join me in childlike glee! I’m not sure the others quite anticipated just how much like five year olds we were going to be!
Rosie wakes Hayley up with Disney music blaring out from her iPad bright and early at 7am. I am up, showed, dressed and ready to go by 7:45. Imagine two small children on their way to Disneyland and that about sums us up. We have everyone up and out the house at 8:00 and are in the park by 9:00!
Magic Kingdom
As we are only doing one day and visiting one park we just buy our tickets on the gate. It’s only cheaper to pre-book if you are visiting on multiple days, there are no Disney deals for single trippers. Probably because they want you there for longer to spend more money inside.
I can’t even be properly cynical about the Mouse Machine though, as I honestly just love Disney regardless of how much behind the magic stuff I know.
Rosie and I head right for Minnie Mouse as soon as we get in the park and buy our ears before even getting on a ride.
The whole day is brilliant. We dance with Mickey Mouse at the midday party, ride all the rollercoasters, and indulge in many treats.
Must do magical moments
I won’t over describe the day to you all as I think everyone knows what to expect from Disney World after all. So here are my highlights and must do activities for one day in the Magic Kingdom:
- Meet the characters. Just embrace the spirit of it all. You’ll have a great time and get lots of hugs.
- See both the day and night parades. The parades are one of my favourite things about Disneyland and shouldn’t be missed!
- Visit the Christmas shop no matter what time of year it is. Collecting tree decorations is an addictive travel habit.
- Use the app to watch the queue times and book fast passes to make the most of the day. If you do it right then you’ll spend more time exploring and less time waiting.
- Stay till the bittersweet end. Watch the castle illuminations and fireworks and don’t worry about the traffic. There’s no firework show in the world than can even come close to this one.
After a brilliant day we get Chinese food on the way home and go to bed very full and very happy.
Dreams do come true.
Return to Universal
We return to Universal with the intention of spending the day on rollercoasters. This is hastily abandoned by myself however as the Hulk rollercoaster strains my neck. As I am already feeling a bit unwell, the ride kind of ruins what buzz I have.
To top off the mood, it rains a fair bit and is much chillier than we expected. So, the thought of going on high speed or water rides is pretty unappealing.
We stick to the indoor 4D rides which are cool (and pretty novel in 2015!): Spiderman, Transformers, and Shrek are all good fun, as is the Men In Black ride where you shoot aliens along the way.
The Twister experience is seriously cheesy and outdated, but a laugh all the same. The Disaster ride is much more impressive, a mini movie made by each group that goes round. And the Mummy ride cements my decision to avoid any more rollercoasters, so Hayley has to do the Rock It coaster alone.
We have lunch in Finnegan’s Irish grill (I’m a little concerned by their concept of corned beef…), but the cod and chips, and scotch eggs I have are a yummy reminder of home.
Great Scott!
Then I make everyone hunt down the DeLorean from Back to the Future so I can get the customary photo. Then stumble upon the train from Back to the Future III so several more photos are taken! If only I could sit inside, sigh.
We watch the Universal Parade but compared to Disney it is pretty lame. About six floats with just the children’s characters: no Transformers or Marvel stuff at all. Not even the classic Universal characters like Jaws or E.T. make an appearance. Just SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer. Universal are seriously missing a trick here.
The only cool part that Disney don’t have are the guys on pogo sticks who leap insanely high into the air! They are seriously impressive.
Very tired and worn out we pop into Walmart on the way home for evening snacks and I am in bed by nine. It has been a very busy few days and I need some sleep!
And then there were four again
After a week with us, Rosie is flying home today.
We commiserate her leaving by going to ihop for brunch. They really do make the best pancakes in the world!! Alex makes a good effort at the “all you can eat pancakes” on offer, but I only manage 3 with my bacon, eggs, and hash browns! Very yummy though!
We will definitely have to come back next week to fill up before the long day on the road. And I’m sure we will discover many more ihops to sample as the road trip continues.
We chill at the villa until it’s time to take Rosie to the Airport and all go for the drive. After saying farewell we head to a Comic Book store and Barnes and Noble so Alex can replenish his reading material.
And then, traffic. So much traffic.
I’ll admit, I get a bit tense driving. The satnav fails again, the traffic is really heavy, and Google maps on Hayley’s phone is contradicting the satnav lady. Not fun.
Hungry, tired and having been out way longer than anticipated already, we aren’t going to get anywhere to buy food let alone cook it till gone 8pm. So in honour of Rosie we decide to splash out on one last meal out in Florida.
Vindication!
We land on Red Lobster as it’s nearby and three of the four of us LOVE seafood. Ruth indulges us and manages to find chicken on the menu.
We have a great time and somehow end up debating whether Sebastian from The Little Mermaid is a crab or a lobster.
I take the side of the crab, Ruth the lobster, both of us certain in our positions. It’s amazing how stubborn you can get when google isn’t there to give you the answer right away. We manage to get four of the staff involved, along with the people in the booth behind us. The pressure is on to be right…
The waiter looks it up and it turns out… he is a crab! A Jamaican Crab to be precise.
Vindication!
Now firmly established as the crazy table we enjoy the rest of our meal. I’m not smug at all or anything of course. (yeah right lol)
As we head out again the traffic has thankfully waned, but due to our collective rowdiness I miss the exit twice and have to shout at everyone to shut up so I can concentrate. Sorry guys! It was all too loud and I was getting stressed out. Once back on the I4 all was well, and we make it back safely. Just much later than planned.
Celebration
We have crammed a lot of activity into a week in Orlando, and with just a few days left before we hit the road again, we take a much needed break.
A couple of days of relaxing by the pool and some more retail therapy. And by some, I mean a seven hour shopping session. Alex and Ruth sensibly did not join Hayley and I on this venture.
The final outing we make is to the township of Celebration.
Celebration was originally developed by the Disney company and remains directly connected to the Walt Disney World resorts via World Drive. It is a master-planned community fashioned after historical American small towns. The idyllic tree lined streets and spotless paintwork emulate the perfection of Disneyland even now. It has a kind of 1920’s architecture mixed with a futuristic clean energy ambition.
Subsequent to founding Celebration, Disney followed its plan to divest most of its control of the town. Now only a few Disney business units occupy the town’s office buildings and two utility companies operated from Walt Disney World provide services to the town.
The town centre is very pedestrianized and has lots of boutiques and cafes. And unbeknown to us Sunday is Farmer’s Market day! So we park up and walk over to the lakeside market which brilliantly/dangerously accepts MasterCard…
Miraculously we don’t spend too much. Hayley gets us some awesome wine slush mix (perfect for Mardi Gras!) and I treat myself to some turtle earrings.
The Scooby Gang’s first mystery
Of course, the best part of markets is we can taste a lot of random stuff. The one that sticks in my mind the most is the vegan, gluten free, flavoured kale chips. Specifically, the bacon flavoured vegan, gluten free kale chips.
Weirdest things ever. How can something vegan and essentially made mostly out of cabbage taste of bacon?!
We refuse to leave until he tells us what is in the flavouring.
The answer? Brazil nuts.
Mind. blown.
I think he found our reactions amusing as he kept giving us weird things to try. My personal favourite is the chocolate kale chips which tastes like choc-ices!! Freaky!
Sadly we don’t buy any, at the time being far too confused by their clearly voodoo magical properties.
Mystery number two
We brought a picnic with us and take a walk around the main lake to find a nice spot to eat. We have a charming luncheon in the sun overlooking Celebration. A most pleasant experience.
It is during lunch however we encounter what will become and ongoing mystery.
Hayley’s has had mild rash for a day or so that we assume to be heat rash. During lunch however, we notice said rash has now spread and is looking particularly angry. She then has a sneezing fit and gets a woozy head, so we conclude she is having an allergic reaction to something.
The problem is we don’t know to what.
The prime suspect much to her dismay is currently watermelon, or at least some form of pesticide that could have been on the watermelon she chowed down on this morning. (We don’t figure out the cause for another couple of weeks! Turns out to be a combination of things she is easting in excess!)
We finish walking around the lake and take a quick look about the town. We don’t spend too long wandering though as Hayley is now looking and feeling pretty bad.
I dose her up with antihistamines from my thankfully prepared mini first aid kit and she goes to bed around 3:30. We don’t hear nor see her again till gone six, but do sporadically check to make sure she is still breathing!
Stumbling around Orlando
It is our second to last day in Florida today and we spend it getting lost. A lot. Stupid Satnav.
We start off by visiting Books a Million (or BAM!) which is next to Target so Alex can get the next in his series of Jo Nesbo books. No problems there. Afterwards we type in the address for a nail salon we had found on google earlier, and head over to see about getting our nails done.
We arrive at the address, and there is no road… the road simply does not exist.
There is a dirt track where it could have once been perhaps, but certainly nothing there now! So we drive aimlessly towards Kissimmee hoping something akin to a salon will appear. After a while we spot a little shopping estate, and by pure luck there is a nail bar there.
Hayley, Ruth, and I all get Mardi Gras manicures, and it turns out one of the girls doing our nails is also heading to New Orleans this weekend. Alex has disappeared into a Sports Bar during this girl time, but when he returns, he submits to having a pedicure of his very own.
And he loves it! Massage chairs and a foot massage, what’s not to love?!
Pie makes every stumble worthwhile
And then, we get lost. Again.
All we want is a Starbucks, something usually ubiquitous across America, but even they seem to be hiding from us.
Eventually I just key in the villa address and we make our way back again.
We are all starving by this point as we have eaten nothing since our breakfast of fruit salad and vanilla yoghurt, and it is now gone three. Thus we end up in Perkins.
We honestly did intend to just buy pie then go home and cook, but smelling food breaks our dining out resolve. We cave in and eat a full meal there. And then pie.
Oh my god the pie.
A-maz-ing!
I have a chocolate peanut butter cream pie, and it is pure heaven in pie form. I believe Alex feels the same about his caramel apple pie, Ruth about her cherry pie, and Hayley about her lemon meringue pie.
Hayley has been raving about Perkins since we arrived in Florida and it lives up to expectations. Just typing this is making me hungry for pie. I wish they had Perkins here. If I keep saying it maybe one day it’ll become true…
Party time!
It’s time to say goodbye to Florida and embark on the long drive to New Orleans.
We are packed and ready to go bright and early in the morning. Leaving at 5:30am, and hopefully arriving around 6pm. 646 miles to travel, on only three roads, crossing through four states.
It is going to be one of the longest travel days of the trip, but will be worth it to maximise our time celebrating Mardi Gras!
Previously: Driving the East Coast
Up Next: New Orleans
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