Day 17, Coming home

Today is our final day…so we got up latish and headed to IHOP for breakie.   Then back to down town Disney and the Disney Imagination attraction.  This time we decided to checkout the other floors.

On the floor below the games is a Cyber Space Mountain kiosk, here you create your own ultimate roller coaster…this was a must for Ems..But the best bit is you actually get to ride it…Ems and Joseph created a relatively tame one to start with, after which Ems created a couple more…both of which Jules road with her….Plenty of Barrel roles and climbs….We purchased the video of the 3rd and ultimate coater ride, when I back at home I’ll upload it on for all to view…

This attraction is a hidden gem, as we spent from about 11:00 until 15:00 in there.  There is a couple of virtual reality kiosks, along with some fare ground style games….It is certainly worth checking out if you find yourself in Florida on a wet day or just want to escape the sun for a bit.

As I said here is Ems top five attractions based on thrill level.

1. Gawazi, wooden coaster at Busch Garden
2. Sheikra coaster with a 200ft drop at Busch Gardens
3. Kraken another vertical drop coaster at Sea World
4. Areosmith ride at Disney Hollywood studios
5. Everest, Animal Kingdom

Obviously Ems own coaster would have come top, but only Ems and Jules got to ride it…and it is now digital trash..

As for the lamest rides/attractions

1. Prince Caspian ride at Disney Hollywood Studios
2. ABC Sound show Disney Hollywood Studios
3. Thunder mountain Disney Magic Kingdom

Day 16, The final push, Blizzard Beach

We decided to spend our final full day at Disney’s other water park Blizzard Beach.  This water park is very wacky as it has a snow theme, that’s right…A Florida water park that looks like a ski resort.  Where possible everything is made to look like snow, and Christmas carols are playing in the background. All the water slides are made to look like ski runs or toboggan runs.

There is the longest family raft ride, which was totally awesome, the best raft ride Ive been on all holiday.  From a beauty perspective it is the best looking of the two Disney parks, but it does lack alot of the thrill rides the kids expect.  We queued for one ride, for twenty minutes and it certainly wasn’t worth it….

Jules and myself went off for a walk leaving the kids at the sun beds, when we stumbled upon the ice cream kiosk.  One thing we have found in the US is whilst the ice creams arn’t cheap you do get lots og Bang per Buck.  So being a tight Brit, I find that two ice cream fudge sundaes is enough for all four of us.  At this kiosk they had the ultimate ice cream, that basically was fudge sauce, strawberries, ice cream, cream, cherries…all inside a sea side bucket…This was ten dollars enough for four by miles, so we bought it..$2.50 each is a bargain.  So we got one,  when we got back to the beds the kids were gone…and we ended up eating the whole lot between the two of us…man it was has a real gut buster….

When the kids got back.Ems was not impressed….

 

Left the park at 3pm to go home and pack and then off for dinner and probably an early bed.

Day 15, Finishing off Animal Kingdom

Today we decided to finish off Animal Kingdom, in fact it turned out that there wasn’t that much that we hadn’t done.  Ems wanted to do the Safari again, and I must say it was a lot better this time around, the driver went really slow when we saw animals and made up the time by driving really fast round some bits….practically felt like a ride, ( Ems observed a moderate result on the thrills index ).

We went to the bird show which I must say was pretty cool, had a host of different types of birds performing various tricks.  Even got to see a true American Eagle. 

 

 

We left the park, and headed off for a late lunch in downtown Disney, and then went off to the cinema to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3D…This was a really cool movie, you soon forget you have the 3D specs on, and get immersed in the movie.  I hope Pixar make more 3D movies…a lot of fun..

After that we checked out another Disney attraction that we hadn’t visited before called Disney Quest Interactive centre.  This is four floors of electronic entertainment, the only floor we managed to check out today was floor 3, this features loads of arcade machines, but most importantly for free….Joseph was in heaven he couldn’t believe it…and we spent a good two hours in here playing games.  Ems found a pinball machine that each player controls a ball by standing on a large pedestal, you play this we eleven other players, the idea is to make your ball score the most points…you control it by moving left to right, forwards and backwards.  After a few goes she was winning each round…wow I thought she is pretty good at that…especially since when I tried I came last but three….When I asked her what the trick was she responded, “ I have no idea, I just keep moving…”….

 

Day 14, Relaxation and a splash of Disney

Decided we needed a rest this morning, so a slow wake up and the morning around the pool.  In the afternoon we headed off to Disney Hollywood studios to finish off the bits we missed when we left it on Monday.

Ems was desperate to do the Tower of Terror ride, which is a lift that free falls…So we got a fast pass for that, and then started to do the more sedate activities.  There still seemed to be loads of people in the park.  The kids managed to do Star Tours again ( groan )…

We went to an exhibit/show on Walt's life that was pretty interesting, seeing where he came from…we also managed to stop off at the Candy store and buy some scrummy chocolate delights.  Jules had an apple coated in chocolate and toffee, Ems is obviously missing fruit now as she was desperate to have a bite of just the apple part.

Ems got her ride on the Tower of Terror and thought it was pretty awesome, and I'm going to get her to rank all the rides at the end of the holiday, and publish them here.

After four hours in the park we were done, and headed off back home to get something to eat.  The kids were desperate to go to a US TGI’s why I don’t know…so we headed off there for dinner, and an early bed.

Day 13, Busch Gardens

13 was certainly not unlucky for us we awoke to a restored Florida weather pattern of Sun, Sun and more Sun….So after splashing on some sun cream accompanied by the normal groans from the kids, we set off for the park.

Boy how the park looks so different in the Sun.   The park was without doubt the best one we had visited so far, in terms of layout, low  number of people, and most importantly for Ems the best rides..There was no doubt these rides would score highly on the thrill index.  The lack of queues for the rides was especial welcome as it meant she was back round for more….Even little man benefited with multiple goes on the dodgems.

Ems is pictured 5th in from the right on the front row…Yep the front row…The ride features a vertical 200ft drop.

There were rides for us mere mortals such as log flumes and raft rides

Busch gardens is not just about thrills it has a host of animal attractions, with the centre point a recreation of an African savanna.  I must say the park was truly beautiful, and the enclosures for the animals extremely well thought out and generous in size.

We finally left the park around 18:00 for the drive back to Orlando.  Ems left having truly experienced the high end of the thrill index.  We had no way completed the park, and if we were to ever come back to Florida I would certainly be coming here.

Oh and the final highlight for the day a trip to Jamba Juice…something we experienced on the West Coast but failed to find here…

Day 12, Tampa Bay … bit of a wash out

Today we awoke early for the first of two days in Busch Gardens…but unfortunately the weather wasn’t what we booked.  Florida was experiencing a severe storm…there was even the possibility of isolated tornadoes…Being British we still ventured to the park but the rain was poring down and with the onset of lightning no rides were running….So after getting cold and wet we abandoned the park for the moderate safety of the shopping mall…I say moderately safe  as Jules is very dangerous when armed with credit cards and time to kill.

By 16:00 the storm has still not ceased so we went back to the hotel to checkout the Pink Panther 2 movie…the kids really enjoyed it.

Hoping tomorrow brings better weather

Day 11, Hollywood Studios

Today we set off for last Disney park we have yet to visit this trip, that being Disney Hollywood Studios.  This park is built around the idea of a theme set.  The streets are set out like a 1950’s American town.

Ems was keen to checkout the big rollercoaster ride in this park, Jules had previously done this ride in Disneyland Paris, but for some reason Ems wasn’t up for it then, but she certainly was today.   I'm pleased to say it scored well on the thrills index….

 

Whilst Jules and Ems where getting their thrills…Joseph and myself headed off for the stunt show…This features hide speed car chases in front of your very eyes, and various insights into how they perform a lot of the tricks…His words as we left “totally awesome!!”

We also checked out the Muppet 3D show which was extremely funny, well for us Adults especially who spent many a Sunday tea time watching the Muppet show. 

Oh and they had to do Star Tours for must be the 6th time at Disney…We left the park early for our trip down to Taper Bay where we were staying in a hotel for two nights.

Day 10, Aquatica

Today was a relax day and I think we really needed it…however still meant an earlyish start as we where off to a water park ( Aquatica) so it was a race for those all important sun beds.  Seriously rumour had it they closed the park a couple of days earlier at 9:30 for new admissions as they had reached capacity.

The park is run by Sea World and has loads of water rides down slides, but also a man made beach by a couple of lagoons that have wave machines, all be it a lot tamer than Typhoon Lagoon.  The kids had a whale of a time ( sigh I know bad joke ).  They went on various slides even one which went through a pool that contained dolphins.

 

Jules and myself spent most of the time using the lazy river that sped us around the park, this was a welcome relief as the temperature through out the day was around 29 degrees.

At the end of the day they couldn’t resist burying each other in the sand.  We finally left the park around 19:00, it was a great day plenty of R&R well for us adults any way, not so sure the kids…

Day 9, Epcot Completed

Today was a bit of a relax day, well get up late anyway and take thinks gentle…We did intend to sleep in but we were all awake by 07:00 and after bumming around the villa for a bit decided to go out for a late breakfast at IHOP, little man ordered his usual chocolate pancakes and Ems went for French Toast, 2 sunny side up eggs and a side portion of redskin potatoes..boy she has an appetite..

After breakfast went to a tacky but massive gift shop selling knock down Disney gifts, and then off to a town called Celebrations built by Disney as a regular town but built on the principles of 1950’s America.  Anyone can live there but you do need to abide by various Disney rules, like how your garden looks.  We had a pleasant walk around the town looking at the various restaurants and gift shops.  The kids managed to find some water to play in ( sigh )

After that we headed off to Epcot to finish the remaining part of the park.  The remaining part of the park focuses around a large lake with various countries represented around the lake.  At first it appeared that each country was represented by shops selling the given countries gifts, but it later became apparent that it was a bit more than that.  Some had informative rides, ( didn’t register at all on Ems thrills scale ).  However it was  a very relaxing wander around the park, the gardens for each country were pretty spectacular.  Some countries also had acts performing, the Chinese had gymnasts performing various feats.  

Almost the last port of call was the United Kingdom, which had the normal fish and chips and the Rose and Crown public house, along with a shop selling tea, shortbread, Walkers crisps and other typically British merchandise.  In the UK garden we did stumble upon a Beatles tribute band performing, which was a nice relaxing way to finish the day in the park.  We left the park around 20:00 and headed off back towards home  and a restaurant we had been meaning to try that cooked basic home cooked food…like meat loaf and mash potatoes, and the most important bit lots of vegetables…I have really missed basic home cooking..

Tomorrow off to try Aquatica the water park associated with Sea World, that will mean an early rise Imp sure if we are to beat the traffic.

No photos today, as had some technical difficulty as my nightly backup script kicked in and wiped the camera memory card that was in my pc, thinking it was my backup drive.  Luckily I had made a backup of all the pictures prior to today…Phew…

Day 8 , Sea World

Continuing on the sea theme, today we set off to Sea World.  Again bright and early as the traffic is certainly starting to get heavy after 8:00 am.  We arrived at Sea World as it was opening and Ems headed straight for a big ride, with lots of loop the loops, barrel rolls.

After that we headed off to see the Shamu show, this is the main attraction for Sea World, were they have a group of killer whales all performing tricks similar to what we  see with dolphins but obviously a lot larger.

 

Short break then off to see the Dolphin show.  Although it had a lot of dolphins in the show there was also a bit of high wire drama performed by humans….personally could have done with out that part.  There was also a brief guest appearance by a load of parrots, which were impressive…but again Id come to see Dolphins.  The dolphins didn’t fail to impress though with loads of acrobatics.

After that we were pretty much show’d out and we set about exploring other parts of the park, like the Shark encounter where you travel along a moving floor looking up at various types of sharks. 

 

There is a ray pool were you can stroke and feed the rays

and a dolphin pool were you can feed the dolphins…all be it for $7 each.

 

Other exhibits were manatees, penguins, sea lions, turtles

By about 16:00 the kids were suffering from the heat…so we headed off to the water park area of the park for the kids to get soaked and cool down, whilst Jules and myself relaxed on a grassy bank.

At 19:00 we had booked a table in the shark dinner for ourselves and friends.  The shark dinner has you sitting next to the shark encounter pool we had visited earlier so whilst tucking into your sea food you can look at the fish, pretty cool and great food..

Finally left the park around 21:00 Joseph extremely tired and ready for his bed, as were we all..

Day 7, Discovery Cove

Discovery Cove is a theme park with a difference, one such difference  being that it is  limited to 1000 visitors per day, this comes as a welcome relief when you consider Sea World has a 38000 limit, and the parks are certainly getting to their limit this week.  The second difference and one the kids love is once inside everything is included, drinks food etc.   This combination makes for a relaxing day in itself, no hassle and no queues…But the real reason for going to Discovery Cover is to swim with Dolphins, Rays and a  whole variety of other fish.

We set out even earlier leaving the villa around 07:30 arriving just before 8:00, on check-in we got told when are Dolphin swim would take place, in our case 8:40 so not much time to wait.  So we quickly got our masks etc and wet suits..and we were ready. 

For the swim we were put in a group with four other people, each taking it in turns to touch, swim and even kiss the dolphin.  Joseph wasn’t keen on that..and unless his kissing skills improve he has no chance with the ladies.  Ems was on cloud nine she couldn’t get over how soft and cute the dolphins was.

The best bit was the ride…you were taken out about 15 metres into the deep part of the pool, and were given a ride back by holding on to the fin of the dolphin.

 

The Dolphin experience lasted just over 30 minutes, after that it was a quick breakfast and off to swim and touch the rays..Whilst the dolphin encounter was pretty well controlled in what you could do, the other parts of the park you got to interact with the animals as much as you like.

In addition to the pool with the rays there is a large heated fresh water pool, connected to a slow moving stream that runs around the whole park, taking you through some beautiful gardens and a bird avery which you can also interact with various birds. The kids had a lot of fun here having various parrots land on them to be fed.

The other main pool was  a sea water pool which you could swim with a variety of fish including more rays…  Julie’s underwater camera worked brilliantly allowing us to capture stills and movies whilst we cruised around the pool. 

Whilst Discovery Cove isn’t cheap it was without doubt the best day I’ve had on holiday…It was both relaxing and invigorating.  Well worth a trip..We left the park 17:30 as it closed.  We were all exhausted and ready for an early bed.