Adventures in Orlando, Florida 2012

Virgin Airlines, Economy, Manchester to Orlando, Florida.

When we arrived in Orlando, and picked up our Dodge van hire car.

We drove to our self-catering apartment at Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa.

Room 31414

After everyone was up before 6am, because most (except me) were on UK time still - we all jumped into our car to head to the Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. 

First ride of the day was Jurassic Park River Adventure. I think everyone has agreed that this was the best ride of the day.

I have organised for our pictures to be emailed to me. So as long as we go to those parks over the next few days then it should be worth it.

In Universal Studios we saw a few famous faces walking around.

First was Penn, from 'Penn & Teller' with two buddies, one of which was Dee Snider from Twisted Sister. Then we saw three actors. Two actresses who were very plastic and we had no idea who they were and the male actor was Stephen Baldwin. 

After our last ride of the day - Shrek 4D - The gift shop was closed off on our way out due to Latoya Jackson doing her souvenir shopping. So no Shrek toys for us.

Today we certainly hit the 'tired' wall. Joseph said his favourite ride was 'Expedition Everest', which is a run-away train that went backwards and forwards sometimes in the dark. We also saw 'Festival of the Lion King' which was rather quite fun. 

In the evening, after a rest in our apartment, we went to "Downtown Disney". We had Cuban food for dinner and on our way back nearly got crushed by a mob of screaming teenage girls, as they all rushed to a balcony where 'Austin Mahone' was hanging out. Whoever he is!

Joe spent most of the time sleeping on me during our dinner. He barely opened his eyes for Pizza!

He did sleep much better this time though.

In the apartment we all discussed the 4D films we were experiencing. Like the 'Bugs' film which was very good. With wind, water, smell & touch all involved. I even got 'stung' by a wasp.

Today we went to one of Disney's waterparks.

Joe's favourite ride was 'Crush 'em Gush 'em'. I ended up with too much sun cream in my eye so after 2 tube rides and a raft ride I had to sit the rest out with a strawberry margarita for company. 

Afterwards we we went out to Charley's No.1 Steakhouse for our tea, where I fell for the tactic of Waiter's Choice red wine at $89 for the bottle - needless to say when the bill arrived, I nearly died. I did enjoy a lovely seafood mixed grill and afterwards Joe tried my lobster and enjoyed it.

Today my eyes ruined the 1st hour or so of the day. I simply couldn't see.

Took lots of pictures and films of the place.

Very sedate day.

Joe's favourite ride was Splash Mountain.

After getting some drops from the First Aid post, I cleared my eyes of sun cream.

Today's famous people spots were Nightwish's Marco & Jukka. Also Roger Black, the athlete.

Early start today.  Arrived for breakfast and afterwards got our wet suits and snorkel gear. Took Joseph to the 'training' pool to practice using his snorkel gear before we head off to the grand reef so he could swim with the rays and fish. Some of the rays were huge!

Just before lunch was our time to meet the dolphins. Capricorn was the granddad of the group and was in his mid-40s - it was this dolphin who we stroked and took our ride with. We then met his grandson Axl, who was the baby of the lot at 2 years old. He was very cute and soft. We kissed and cuddled Axl. We didn't buy the videos or photos of the experience unfortunately as it was so expensive but Neil managed to get a few shots for us to remember our day with.

We then had lunch and went back to snorkeling on the reef. In the end, Joe got very good at floating over the top. We also saw some Marmosets and watched the Otters get fed. They were very cute and kept climbing up the man's leg for more food.

After getting back to our apartment we showered and went out to the Olive Garden Italian for tea.

Busch Gardens is over an hour away from our apartment in the direction of Tampa so it felt like a long drive. 

Once we arrived we we soon realised it was going to be a very quiet day compared to what we were used to in Disney. We fed the Lorakeets, and went on some roller-coasters and had our lunch. Joe's favourite ride was the wooden roller-coaster. We also watched a show where they use rescue animals to perform "cast-away critters". I now know to use hot dogs on Harvey to train him up.

Afterwards, we got lost heading back to Orlando and saw the poorer side of Florida. We ended up returning to Tampa and starting again. 2 1/2 hours later we got home. For tea we went to TGI Fridays.

Joe's favourite ride was the Space Mar Mission simulator. It was a good easy day but we found that it was more geared towards small children therefore we did most of it in 1/2 a day. 

We decided to head to Downtown afterwards to book a table for 1930 at the Italian and we chilled in the apartment until then. 

After a lovely meal we retired for the evening and remained relatively untouched by Hurricane Sandy.