Due to the late nature of our decision we had two options... pay $700 each for the privilege of flying cattle class or jump in the car and road trip the 16 hour, roughly 1000 miles.. guess which one we chose?
After driving through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama we finally arrive in Florida!!
First stop on the Florida experience was Homosassa, one of only two places in the world where you can swim and snorkel with wild manatees who migrate up into the natural hot springs to stay warm during the winter months. It was a freezing cold day when we jumped in the toasty warm water to cuddle and scratch these amazingly large but gentle and curious creatures... manatee belly scratches... a once in a life time experience (will elaborate more on this in a separate post)
Hello there little fella
We decided to spend our first day in Kissimmee, Florida (center of the universe for theme parks) at Disney's EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow) the more grown up Disney park mainly because of the evil anticipated weather forecast for the day... rain, wind, cold... ick!! The theme park consists of two areas; Future World, where you can explore, innovative applications of technology, or at least applications that were innovative back in the 80's and 90's and the second area; World Showcase, where Disney has 11 pavilions representing the culture and tradition (or at least the Disney interpretation) of Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom and Canada... yes soooo inclusive!!
Standing in front of the big golf ball / round pineapple EPCOT thingy
EPCOT was probably a little more dated than it should be, the rides and pavilions looked just a little old and tired.. one of the most telling activities was 'Spaceship Earth' - the ride inside the big golf ball / round pineapple thingy.. which describes the communications journey that the human race has taken over their existence.. the ride slowly picks up pace, beginning with prehistoric cavemen fighting for survival and eventually learning to communicate basically, on to the Egyptians who invented the written language, Phoenicians who invented the alphabet... Ancient Greece... Rome... Jewish and then Islamic Scholars... Christian Monks... The Renaissance... The development of the printing press.. newspapers... LARGE computers and then suddenly BOOM... you're in a quick scene from the matrix.. with 0s and 1s flying everywhere and the ride is over... they set the scene so well in the beginning and then rush through the ending.. has nothing happened in human communication since 1980 and the discovery of the internet??? Oh well, I guess the big golf ball is only so big after all right???
Scary leafy Stitch outside of Spaceship Earth
After a couple of hours of exploring Future World and with the weather beginning to turn, we decided it was time to head across to World Showcase... My favourite country?? Mexico!! We found this gorgeous little tequila bar inside the pavilion and treated ourselves to a couple of margaritas and chicken tostadas.. Paul had a jalapeno margarita and I had a hibiscus margarita... YUM!!
Enjoying and adult beverage at La Cava del Tequila in the Mexico Pavilion
Next stop on the Theme Park Extravaganza?? Universal Studios! Another theme park that is split into two different parks; Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We decided that we could do both parks in one day... after all its the middle of the week and the nasty weather (sub zero temperatures in FL!!) will keep some people away... Right???... Indeed!
Meeting the Cat in the Hat
Now this is what I expected when I thought I was going to a theme park!! My favourite parts?? Having the Cat in the Hat hit on me; when I approached the character for a photo he put his arm around me and proceeded to purr right into my ear the entire time!! Bad Pussy!! The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter; OMG how fricken cool is this place?!?! Its a miniature Hogsmeade complete with a Honeydukes for all your candy needs (Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans anyone??), Ollivanders, where if your lucky your wand may choose you, an Owl Post, where you can post an actual letter and it will arrive at its destination post marked Hogsmeade! And a Hogs Head and Three Broomsticks where you can wet your whistle with a butterbeer (mmmm butterbeer... creaming soda with a frothy foamy butterscotch cream on top... a delicious sugary nightmare!!) And I haven't even mentioned the rides yet!!!
Is it too early in the morning for a Butterbeer?? Never!!
The Flight of the Hippogriff is a cute little kiddy rollercoaster, The Dragon Challenge is aa double rollercoaster with some super awesome twists and turns BUT the real drawcard is the state of the art, groundbreaking, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.. talk about game changing!! It was so awesome I made Paul come back at the end of the day for one last ride!!
Hogwarts Castle at night - Home of the Forbidden Journey Ride
My other favourites? The Incredible Hulk Coaster; you go from like 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds before zipping thought multiple barrel loops... The Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, you get to pick the music you listen to during the ride and it begins by literally hoisting you upwards at a 90 degree angle before dropping you straight down.. gulp.. and the Simpsons Ride... a newer style interactive rollercoaster which entirely tricks you the whole way through... Yes I'm a coster convert!!
KrustyLand - Universal Studios of Florida
Final stop on the trip.... Magical Kingdom, Disney World!! And although I had originally come all the way to Florida specifically to visit this one theme park.. after spending the day before at Universal I kinda had reservations about Magical Kingdom... its blasphemous I know but lets face it Universal is more thrill ridey and Disney is more cutesy right?? Yup, pretty much!! But it was still a wonderful day out
Disney World!!
The only problem with Magical Kingdom?? I felt like I needed to steal someone's child to get the full effect... very cutsey, very geared towards little ones!! It was great to finally get to ride 'Its a Small World' see the tea cups and the Dumbo ride.. Space Mountain was actually really cool and would of been groundbreaking when originally opened however the lack of neck support on a pitch black rollercoaster was a little jarring and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was good although a little disappointing (apparently its been adjusted from its original to be more politically correct.. after all pirates wouldn't rape and pillage... they steal pies and kisses right?!?!) and I'm absolutely amazed they haven't taken advantage of all of that space in the Disney Castle and placed a ride or attraction inside it (guess it was built in the days before they did those sorts of things) All in all it was a cute day and I'm glad we braved the crowds to experience the happiest place on earth... just wish I had of had a little one to share the joy with... if only for the day!!
Country Bear Jamboree
Would I go to Theme Park, Florida again? Sure... but only in the summer so I could take advantage of all the water rides and water parks... then again perhaps next time we should head to California to also take advantage of Knotts Berry Farm and see some different parks?? OR perhaps we should head to Ohio to Cedar Point, the largest rollercoaster park in the US... maybe :D
