Orlando, Florida. Sunday 16 December 2012

An early start with us meeting at 6am so we could get the express departure from the ship.  Everything went smoothly and we arrived at our hotel just before 9am.



One small part of Dr Seuss' Landing

After leaving the cruise we were preparing ourselves to be a let-down in comparison.  Were we wrong!

Universal Studios in Orlando is awesome!  So much there, attention to detail and just a magical feeling.  I wish we could've taken the kids when they were younger.  It was especially good as I expect no-one does Christmas like the Yanks.  Grinchmas at Dr Seuss' Landing was particularly pretty



Grinchmas

We struck the conditions right with it being 26C (remember its winter) and not school holidays (although a Sunday).  While it got crowded later on, it was pretty good when we arrived.





Owl Post at Harry Potter

First up was Harry Potter.  Hate to say it again, but it was awesome.  Wonderful atmosphere with all the shops in Hogsmeade looking like the real thing.  Many had novelty tricks in addition to Harry Potter merchandising.  We even had a butter beer!



Hogsmeade

Hogwarts hid probably the best ride/attraction I've ever been on.  As you walk through in the inevitable queue, there was so much to see in the corridors. 







The ride itself involved you being held in a seat with a rigid over-the-shoulder harness to stop you falling out when upside down. Sometimes your capsule was moved through Hogwarts, other times you were rocked with an incredibly realistic video simulation that made you feel like you were flying a broomstick.




Lost World Statue - a few stories tall

We queued for ages at The Lost World for a show that was pretty tame in comparison.

Spiderman was of almost similar quality and style to Harry.

The Mummy was an out&out scary coaster ride and the Simpsons was another aweome simulation.






Jurassic Park entrance

Jurassic Park was a fun but very wet river ride - fortunately the heat dried us out. 

The Simpsons was our last ride being shortly after we'd consumed an unusual ice cream treat called Dipping Dots. These are flash frozen (liquid nitrogen) balls (around 5mm diameter) of ice cream along with Oreo lumps.  Quite yummy, but the texture of the ice cream was strange until it melted in your mouth.

Somehow in the middle of all this I lost my phone (in the toilet), but miraculously reclaimed it due to the generosity of a cleaner who found it!

More souvenirs were bought as the stores are pretty wonderful with the variety of merchandise.  Would've spent more, but dont' want to exceed our baggage limit (or Visa).

We went back tired, but happy to the hotel,  The only restaurant available for tea was an "American Bistro" specialising in pizza, burgers and ribs.  Feeling snobby, I was reluctant to go.  However it was wonderful!

Elegant food and I ended up having two starters - one of snails, the other of 'gator tail.  Yep you read it here - I had alligator in Florida.  It tasted like chicken - seri-arse!

Deep fried alligator nuggets

 Last night in the States tonight - back home on Wednesday morning after nearly a day's travelling.  Dreading the travel but looking forward to the destination!