Thursday, October 11, 2012

Orlando - Disney World & Universal Studios

After the stopover in New Orleans we drove on to Orlando, Florida. Disney World and Universal Studios were the places we booked. On the way there we saw some warships:



As well as seeing that Raven would be with us everywhere :)



 Magic Kingdom!!



Simone with her pass, in the shuttle from the carpark to the entrance.


The monorail that transports people between parks and also between resorts. One of them actually goes through a hotel lobby, pretty cool.








In the "Sea World" which contained several smaller tanks as well as a giant tank with heaps of fish, turtles and a dolphin. When we went around, we saw divers in the tank trying to catch a small stingray with nets. A futile attempt it seemed, given the size of the tank and the speed of the fish....

They also had a tank for manatees, where two rescued manatees were kept. Both had been victims of boat strike.







In Epcot, displays made from chocolate.



Simone had to try some drinking chocolate - it was rich!!!


We stopped at the German Village and got lunch, German buffet.


More chocolate in the German Village.



The Tower of Terror. After riding it, Simone wasn't sure if she was too afraid to ride again. In the end she decided she could do it again :)

A little competition on the street for an unlimited "Fast Pass". It allows you to go to the front of the line for every ride, as many times as you want.

The motor stunt show. This was really cool, sample video below.






We stumbled upon a street parade on our way to the Indiana Jones stunt show.







Unfortunately it started raining really heavily and thunder & lightning as well, so they had to cut the show short and could only show the first of 5 acts :(

After two days, we had a day off to relax and then we had Universal Studios for another two days.


The Rock N Roller or Rockit - as you can see from the photo it's an intense ride that transports you up at a 90 degree angle before dropping you down and starting the ride.


At the start of the Despicable Me 3D ride, going through Gru's house.




At the end you're greeted by dancing minions!





At the second Universal park - Islands of Adventure. This contains the Hulk Rollercoaster as well as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter amongst other things.

The Hulk was probably my favourite coaster along with the Rockit. Video below!







The Dragon Challenge RollerCoaster. They only had one operating instead of both (the premise is a "challenge" between two dragons (rides)). Awesome ride, lots of loops and turns.


We had a lot of fun in Orlando, and we agree that Universal Studios is the more "adult" place, offering a few more mature thrill options. We had luck with the weather in that it was dry during the day, and only started pouring down during the evening/late afternoon. Our time allocation was also spot on, having 2.5 days for Disney and 2 days for Universal. You can actually do both Universal parks in one day if you're really organised.  

Driving on to Miami, where we stayed at the New Yorker Boutique Hotel, just down the road from the Seven Seas Motel where a scene from Dexter was filmed in season 1.


 Being Miami, I wanted to try some Cuban cuisine. On the first night we ended up at a restaurant fairly close to our hotel. The appetizer was a mix plate with pork chunks, chicken chunks, plantain fritters, fried yucca. The sauces were really nice too.


I had a fried snapper, with rice and beans and plantains. Unfortunately my fish was overcooked :(


Simone had a steak with chimichurri sauce. The cause was awesome and so was the steak, really tender despite being quite thin.







1 comment:

  1. oh! You went to DisneyWorld! I know one of the girls that plays Cinderlla ;)

    ReplyDelete