Fun Times In Orlando

On Monday we thought about going to the Lion Country Safari but then had second thoughts when we realised that this meant the kids sitting in the car for a couple of hours driving slowly and not fighting. We thought this might be a bit of a push and didn't really want to test our nerves too much so instead we went and played adventure golf again! We went on the hard course this time which was pretty fun but we were held up by a few bus loads of kids on 'summer camp' programs. There weren't too many shaded places either so we spent most of our time standing in the baking sun watching a load of kids randomly smacking golf balls about! The kids enjoyed it though and that's the main thing.

Tuesday morning was spent staying out of the way as the final packing was done for Lisette and the boys' 2 weeks trip to England. Everything was OK and we got away on time to get the to the train station just before the heavens opened again! After dropping them off we headed for a quick stop at the mall for a haircut for Megan before coming back to an empty house for the next 2 weeks. As soon as we entered I thought something seemed odd and then I realised there was no dog about. I had a look around the house and eventually found him in the boys room wedged behind their bed and a toy chest. I have no idea how he got in there but he was facing the wall with not enough room to turn and it was too high behind him to back out! He'd gone in there probably because of the thunderstorm. He had also looked for other places to hide though as the computer had been knocked over and was subsequently not working. I spent the rest of the evening going around computer shops to try and fix it but to no avail. (Finally it is now working again but not all the time, stupid dog!)

Last Sunday I spoke to Mum and Dad (Fathers Day too, so good timing!) and had a good chat. I also told them about how we were thinking of going to Orlando but weren't sure because of cost. They then said that they would pay as a birthday present to me. That was awesome news and I got straight on the case trying to find the best bargains and deals. Eventually it was decided that we would go to Universal Studios and Universal's Islands of Adventure for 2 days and 1 night staying on-site at the fabulous 'Loews Royal Pacific Resort'. The hotel was a lot more expensive than some places but being on-site meant that our room key worked as an express pass for all the rides. We were going to buy some anyway so we ended up saving money by staying in a hotel more expensive and with more stars!!

We decided to go on Thursday and Friday so that we wouldn't miss any of our dancing classes (we're onto Level 3 now!). We arranged for neighbours to look after the dog, got up early and set off for Orlando at 7.30am on Thursday. The drive was about 200 miles and pretty boring but we got there sooner than we expected, arriving at just about 10am. The hotel itself was magnificent, decorated entirely as a south pacific tropical style resort. After checking in we walked through the statues, fountains and gardens down to the complimentary water taxi service to the theme parks. It was about a 5 minute ride or alternatively a 10 minute walk, proving how close we really were!

As Megan has been before we knew what we were doing and where we were going, for our first day we decided to go to 'Islands of Adventure', the more rides based of the two parks. We headed straight for 'Marvel Superhero Island' and went straight for one of the major attractions, 'The Incredible Hulk' roller coaster. We got straight on without queuing (with our room keys!) and it was fantastic, just so different from all the normal roller coasters, you're shot out at an incredible (get it?!) speed whilst you're still going up to the top, very unexpected and very cool! We were so happy with that ride that we ended up going another 4 times throughout the day. Also on the superhero island, apart from all the cool superhero shops, was 'The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman'. This was a really well done 3D ride following Spiderman around the streets of New York. In some points you really do feel like you're falling or flying, even though you're just sitting on a cart!

Onwards from here we headed through the funky looking 'Toon Lagoon', home to Betty Boop, Marmaduke and Popeye, to 'Jurassic Park'. The entrance to this area is excellent, just like the film with big arches and flames. As soon as you are in here everything changes, there are fossils and footprints on the floor, deep vegetation and animal noises all around you and of course the music playing! The actual ride is a log flume style water ride. You are taken on a ride through primeval dinosaur habitats on a nice gentle raft ride until suddenly you enter the velociraptor enclosure where the raptors have escaped and gone a bit mad. From there you go inside a building where more dinosaurs are on the loose until eventually with a T-Rex looming over you, you escape via a massive and really steep drop!

Again moving on we went to 'The Lost Continent' where the main attraction is the roller coaster called 'The Dueling Dragons'. This is two separate coasters that ride simultaneously and come within 12 inches of each other at some points, pretty scary seeing the other coaster right underneath you, especially with your feet hanging loose! After riding this one we got some lunch. It took us a long time to find somewhere that wasn't selling just hot-dogs, pizza, burgers and turkey legs. We eventually found a café in Jurassic Park where they sold some healthy stuff along with the usual crap! After lunch we thought it wouldn't be such a good idea to get straight on a ride so instead we went to a stunt show. It was aimed mainly at kids but was fairly amusing and let us sit in the shade for 45 minutes or so, always a welcome opportunity! Eventually we continued around and ended up back at the start ready to go round to the things we liked for a second time. One thing we saw that we had missed the first time was 'Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges'. We thought it looked like a nice gentle raft ride but we were wrong . . . . . . . . very wrong! We ended up getting soaked through to the bone, lucky it was a nice hot day really!

On leaving the park at 5.30pm (just as a storm started) we went back to the hotel, checked into our gorgeous and massive room, sorted ourselves out and headed straight back out to 'City Walk', the bar/club/restaurant area of Universal. Megan took me for dinner at the Hard Rock Café which is always good, and then we found a bar called 'Rising Star', which is a karaoke bar. It sounds dodgy but this is karaoke with a difference, mainly the full live band and backing singers! It was a fun night but we were absolutely shattered after a long day, eventually getting back at about 11.30pm, full to the brim with food, drink and happiness!

Yesterday we were off to Universal Studios, the main park. We thought we'd get breakfast at about 9am and get to the parks for 9.30ish, earlier than previously. This plan backfired when it took the restaurant about 45 minutes to pour a single bowl of cereal, shocking service, we were really disappointed, this was the only bad thing about the whole hotel experience which was otherwise amazing. Eventually we got to Universal Studios for about 10.30am to start our second day of adventure! Here there are more shows and smaller rides rather than big roller coasters. The first thing we did here was go to the Shrek 4-D show which continues the story from the original Shrek film. It was pretty good with 3-D vision along with wind, water and vibration effects. From here we went to 'New York' which was really cool, you really feel like you are in old style New York streets. It was here that we stopped and watched a 'Blues Brothers' performance live on the streets. It is in New York that the 'Revenge of the Mummy' ride is located. This was a great ride, not at all what you expect, started very sedately then launching into a full on, blacked out, backwards, forwards, sideways, everywhichway roller coaster! Just a short walk from here was San Fransisco and the town of Amity where the main draw is the 'Jaws' ride . This is really old but it's a classic and quite funny to see the old and slightly rusty Jaws come and try to attack you!

The big draw at Universal Studios at the moment, at least the one they are advertising most heavily, is the new 'Simpson's Ride'. Unfortunately it didn't really live up to all the hype. It was a 'Motion Simulator' ride, ie: you sit in a car that shakes around a bit whilst you watch a big screen. It was OK but definitely not as good as we had hoped. It replaced the 'Back To The Future' ride and Megan (who has now been on both) says it was exactly the same ride, just re-themed. The outside of the ride was pretty cool though, they even had a Kwik-E-Mart and a Squishee stand!

We finished our rides off on the E.T. ride, like Jaws it is really old but pretty funny so we enjoyed that! After walking through 'Hollywood' and 'Rodeo Drive' we went to the giant 'Universal Studios Store', had a look around, waited out a 45 minute down pour and then headed back home, eventually back at 9.30pm. A good two days had by both of us, a great birthday present!

P.S. Sorry it's such a long blog!