Oldies On Tour

Wednesday, and today we are having a day off, “hooray”, time to catch our breath.  A leisurely procedure getting up today followed by a relaxing time watching Mia in the pool with Mum and Dad.  Today we were going to have lunch out and use the $50 voucher we had as compensation for the pool not being heated on the day of our arrival, but first, Christine and I had a mission to go to the Florida Mall Disney shop to get a particular Mickey Mouse; believe it or not, we couldn’t get it at any of the Disney parks!!!!!  

We eventually got into gear and left, then realised we still had the pushchair and car seat so had to return.  After we had loaded our destination into sat nav, we twigged we would struggle to get there, buy what we needed and get back in time for lunch so stooped at the first suitable place we could get a coffee; “Dunkin’ Donuts”, nothing like a nice slimming doughnut to have with your steaming morning coffee, in fact we bought a box of a dozen to take home for tea?????.

Due to a miss communication, when we arrived back at the house, “they” had already left so when we arrived at Longhorns Steak Restaurant, we were late, ah well we are on holiday.  We had an excellent, leisurely lunch accompanied with a nice Malbec and finished off with an interesting “house” concoction as a digestif, wow, for the US it was powerful stuff.  So powerful, that as we left the restaurant Dave started to climb the wall by the front door but soon got told to come down by the restaurant manager: Health and safety spoils all the fun!!!!

Back to the house to enjoy pudding, doughnuts and other naughties Jane had bought earlier helped down with more alcohol.  We then headed for the lovely warm pool to relax, but no, instead we spent a very enjoyable hour or so playing on the lilos etc.  Later we all collapsed and had early nights.

Thursday 22nd November, Thanksgiving Day and everything is closed except for theme parks and restaurants which means only one thing, they will all be very busy.   To counteract this Dave, Jane and Mia left the house at 0700hrs, we of course stayed in bed!!!   It did pay off, as the most important attraction they wanted to do was the “Peter Pan” ride, each of the previous visits we found the queues to be well over an hour’s wait but this morning, getting there at opening time they were on within 20-minutes.  Apparently it was a very successful visit in spite of being very busy.  They managed to accomplish most of what they wanted.  We also accomplished what we wanted, we chilled out by the pool, getting ready for our up-coming cruise.

We did try and get some food shopping from our local Publix supermarket, but as I said, everything was closed so when the family returned, we headed to our nearest Denys; for a less expensive meal.  Five miles up the road we found one and enjoyed another steak , though this was not in the same league as Longhorns; but still enjoyable.  After a short evening, we all hit the sack.

Friday, and Jane, Dave and Mia left early again; they were meeting friends from Abu Dhabi for Breakfast, we on the other hand had a lazy morning.  All week we had been trying to get “this” Micky Mouse to match the Mini Mouse we had bought Mia on a previous trip to Florida and today we headed out again for the big Disney shop in the Florida Mall.  Now we knew it was “black Friday” and it would be crowded but, we don’t think we had seen crowds like this before.  Firstly parking was a challenge, though this was most probably the biggest car park either of us had seen, finding a place was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Eventually we found one and walked through J C Penny, a local department store.  Though the scrum was relatively genteel, people were all on a mission; all we wanted was to walk straight through the store and into the mall though the mall wasn’t that much better!!!!  Eventually we found the Disney store, packed to the gunnels with wall to wall people, still we managed to find a Christmas Micky that has to do.   After a quick cuppa we returned to the house though a half drive trip took well over an hour, still it was Black Friday; never again.

On the way back to the house we bought some steak and various trimmings for our last night as We knew Dave, Jane and Mia were doing their own thing.  We then packed our bags and went off to bed, ready for an early start tomorrow as we fly to New York.

Up and at ‘em early, everybody came to wave us off and we set off for the airport.  First we had to drop off the rental car; well signposted into a multi-story car park where there was an army of people to check the car back in and in the most efficient way.  Numerous cars were being returned and our car was checked-in by the attendant scanning the bar code on the windscreen, and giving us our receipt before we had removed the cases from the boot; incredible.  Orlando is an extreme busy airport and checking in of course is self service so we played the stupid oldies and had everything done for us!!!!!   The security check was rather slow to get through but more due to the volume of people, than inefficiency.  Being an internal flight, that was it we just had to wait.  We eventually loaded and just short of 2 hours, we arrived at JFK, collected our bags with minimal fuss and then searched for our driver who could not be found so jumped into a cab and headed for the hotel.

Our visits to the various attractions took us by surprise, they were so much busier than when I used to go in the late 80’s early 90’s but the real surprise was how short the rides were.  On one occasion Jane and Mia queued for well over an hour and the ride lasted 2 minutes.  We timed several rides and they were all very short. We got talking to one fellow who had worked at the Magic Kingdom and apparently it was not unknown on Christmas day for the “special rides” to have queues with up to a 4-hour wait and people spending all day and only getting on two of the big rides.  The general consensus is February is still the best time to visit though even then it is busy.   We don’t see us returning in the future to repeat the experience, still the bonus is our three week cruise starts tomorrow????

Sunday and again an early start heading back to Magic Kingdom.   It is so big and there were so many people the other day that we only

Mia with the princess

covered about 20% of the park so today we gave it our best shot.

Even though we were ahead of the game, the build up of crowds going through security bag search was daunting, at least with pre-paid tickets, we don’t have too

Another parade, they were brilliant

long to queue at the actual  entrance gates.

Today we attacked several rides, mainly  Jane type rides though I did accompany her on a number whilst Nanny Christine took charge of Mia.   Again we were tripping over people, being Sunday the park

More of parade

was again very busy and though it is still early November, Veterans Day (last week) seems to kick start the Christmas holiday period.  Xmas carols all the time, Christmas themes everywhere and “Santa’s” in their grottos.   We regret coming in November, speaking to locals, February is probably the quietest and therefore the best time.

After another hot and exhausting day we left the Magic Kingdom and headed back to the house to drop Christine and Mia off whilst Jane and I headed out to Orlando International to collect David and a

Beauty and the beast

second hire car: next week we have different itineraries.

Dave’s flight arrived a little early than scheduled and he had the good fortune to hit Border Control at a quiet time so didn’t have the long wait we did, the result of that was he was waiting for us, oops!!!!!  Whilst Dave and Jane got away very quickly, I had to queue for ages at the Alamo desk to collect the car.

Monday and away at 0700hrs as we headed to Tampa to visit Bush gardens.  Though just over an hour away we didn’t want to get stuck in commuter traffic and arrive late so, “up-and-at-em” and breakfast near the park entrance.  Jane and Dave had memories of a bumper buffet breakfast, all you can eat at a chain called Denys, so this was our mission.

Shortly before we arrived at Busch Gardens we spotted a Denys on the opposite carriageway, so a quick “U” turn and we were in, only to find they didn’t do a breakfast buffet.  The Disappointment on their faces was clear to see but never the less we did enjoy a very good breakfast, plus

Rhino enjoying the mud

numerous pancakes; no wonder everybody puts on weight!!!!!

Being early at Busch Gardens meant we could get onto several rides before queues built up; we started with a cable car ride across the “African Plains”, looking down on the “reserve” then onto a Log Flume.  Now we split, Dave and Jane went off to do their Kamikaze rides whilst the three of us did the more sedentary rides.  Our paths crossed periodically but one of the most enjoyable attractions was the train journey that weaved its way through and around the game reserve where we saw elephants, black and white rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lions, giraffes and many many more.   This has now encouraged us to bring forward our planned trip to South Africa to enjoy the “real” safari park; Harry is now on the case!!!!!  Another highlight was the ice show with a Christmas theme.  I have to say all the shows, though they may only be for around 30- minutes long, are full scale productions, and this ice show was no exception.

After a long and exhausting day in Busch Garden we left but being rather late for Mia stopped at the same Deny restaurant we had visited in the morning and have to say, again, we were really impressed; nice food and at reasonable prices.

Tuesday we went our different ways, Jane and Dave went to Universal’s “Islands of Adventure” park, on their own to get a full days

Seaworld

fix of “kamikaze rides”.  We on the other hand took Mia to “SeaWorld”, far more appropriate for young and old alike!!!!! 

We had a slight problem before hitting the road, we couldn’t start the hire car.  We have a brand new Hybrid Ford that had a mind of its own, we tried everything to

Dolphins performing

start it and by this time it had run down the drive into the road and we were stuck.  I thought I had done everything I was told when collecting it. Foot on brake then push start button, gear selector in neutral, hand brake on, doors shut doors open! Nothing so resorted to ringing the breakdown service.  All I wanted was to know what I was doing wrong, or not doing but no, first I had to answer all sorts of questions.  Eventually I was told, foot on the brake and press the start button simultaneously,

Whales splashing everyone

hey presto it started.  What a fool I felt still we were now on our way.

We arrived later than planned but hey, we were here now and  thoroughly enjoyed the 3 shows we watched, firstly the dolphins and their keepers entertained us

Brilliant show

with flips and tricks and gentle water splashes over the two front rows. Next we visited the Shamu stadium where the Killer Wales perform.  These

Back flip!

giants of the sea did some quite spectacular tricks though in this show the keepers don’t enter the water.  The highlight was when these giants of the deep splashed everybody in the first 15 rows, there was no escaping, these people were thoroughly drenched; all good fun. 

Sea lions having fun

Lastly we visited the sea lions, here the theme was “finishing school” and collecting their diplomas, an odd subject but thoroughly entertaining.  They were so funny that all the children including Mia were rolling about in the aisles, well they would have but health and safety here

Sharks

means they had to stay in their seats!  Our day was completed by walking around the park looking at all the various fish ponds, including sharks, sting rays and various species of seals.  There are of course roller coasters, all of which looked

Mia enjoying the carousel

really scary with vertical drops with upside-down sections; fortunately Mia didn’t satisfy the height restrictions!!!!!

We finally arrived back at the house, and

I had to go on as well!

after a light supper went into the pool and had a great time with Mia; needless to say it was very enjoyable.  Long after her normal bed time we eventually put her down one very happy little girl and she was asleep in moments.  Mum and Dad returned later in the evening loaded with shopping, they had taken advantage of the “Black Friday” bargains.

We even found Father Xmas

Magic Kingdom

Tuesday and today we’re off to the Magic Kingdom, our aim was to leave the house by 0800hrs, bearing in mind we are all awake very early, still we were out by 0830hrs, under the circumstances not too bad.   By the time we had parked in the attraction car park, taken the tram to the monorail station, and eventually arriving at the park, it was around 10.30 and the park was very busy but, most children were back in School though having said that, the area most appropriate for Mia, Fantasyland, was still heaving.  Jane and Mia queued for one ride for about 75- minutes and I timed the ride, two and a half minutes.   I take my hat off to Mia for the patience she has demonstrated so far.  Today the Magic Kingdom has a special event on this evening so the park closed at 1800hrs, probably just

Main parade

as well!!!   The highlight of the day being the grand parade at 1400hrs, we were in the front row as it went past.   Again an exhausting day but a salad for lunch and the only junk food were donuts and cinnamon rolls.

Wednesday, up early again, this time for Walt Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  We didn’t bother with salads as our plan is to leave early, around 1500hrs, and cook a proper roasted dinner tonight.  We

On safari

arrived at opening time, fortunately this

Giraffe enjoying his freedom

park is fairly quick to get into and headed straight across to the opposite side as we wanted to do the Safari trip before the queue got too long.  This is the most popular ride here, a truck takes guests through a game reserve where there are elephants, rhinoceros, both black and white, giraffes lions, wilder beasts, in fact every animal you would expect to see on safari in Africa.  It was very well laid out, the animals have plenty of space and are managed extremely well, this was worth getting here early for.   By the time we had completed our Safari ride, the park was filling up but fortunately not to the crowds experienced the previous few days.  There are several children’s rides we went on but most of the park is given over to animals.  Having said that, our planned departure time of 1500 hrs didn’t happen, it was so good we didn’t leave ‘till 1800hrs.  Back home, too exhausted to cook and eat, good job we bought a sandwich during the day!! And bed.o

Thursday and a day off, rest at last, we’ll that was the plan.  After a leisurely morning enjoying our pool we headed out to one of the many outlet shopping malls.  Again today we were DETERMINED to have a proper roast diner, so with that in mind, minimal food during the day.   Obviously we couldn’t get what we wanted in the outlet mall so headed of the “Florida Mall”, a very large space where Christine and I managed to find the Sperry Shoe shop we were looking for and stocked up with a couple of pairs each.  We now hot-footed it back home early enough for us to cook and eat a roast dinner at a reasonable hour, hooray, and enjoy a bottle of wine.

Friday and it was off to Epcot, it’s all go here you know!!  We arrived early and straight onto our first ride, the big round golf ball at the entrance, a ride that covers communications from time in memorial to the present day.  I have been to Epcot a number of times and I have never, and I mean never, walked straight up the ramp and onto the ride; great Scott we were early!!!  Surprisingly the park was reasonably quiet, not too many people so managed to do virtually all the rides with minimal queueing.  Once these rides were done, we headed around the lake, world showcase.  We stopped and had a pint at the Rose and Crown in England, watched a couple of performers in France who juggled and piled a number of chairs on one other before one of them climbed to the top and did a hand stand, we had lunch in Italy and finished with a charming water ride in Mexico.   We couldn’t stay for the firework display at 2100hrs, poor Mia wouldn’t have been able to make it so left around 1800hrs but on the way out re-visited the big golf ball ride, again, virtually straight on.

Saturday, and again a quiet day of rest and reflection, enjoyed a swim in the pool and after lunch headed out to Disney Springs, a Disney shopping mall set alongside Lake Buena Vista.  Today we were very very strict with our diets, in the last few days we’ve all added weight eating far too many naughties.  Of course this was a silly place to visit as between every store there’s a coffee kiosk etc., all selling fast food, cakes, buns, chocolate, ice cream, and then there’s numerous restaurants doing anything from Steaks to Oysters, pasta dishes to Japanese food, all very tempting but I can report, we were very disciplined, we walked by everything.

Tomorrow we are returning to the Magic Kingdom before heading to the airport to collect Dave.