Monday 19 November 2018

Florida in November :)


A post-hurricane, pre-Christmas trip to Florida was very pleasant: ten days of sunshine with temperatures in the high 20s Celcius.

Shopping

We took a small suitcase each plus one empty one, so our first outing was a trip to one of the Designer Outlets just off the i-4, to buy our holiday clothes and save at least 50% off original $ prices. It wasn't quite straightforward as many shops were stocking for the 'cold' winter to come. Always a plethora of T-shirts and a good choice of sports shoes, though.

Theme Parks

Not too busy. Having avoided Disney parks during our previous visit, we spent two days exploring Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom - this time, we took the Jeep Safari in the dark and it was worth it! The animals, especially the lions, were more active at night than during the hot days. In the Studios park, we also enjoyed the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.

We spent two days at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, our favourite theme parks. At the Studios, we absolutely had to go on the Men In Black Alien Attack ride, an all-time favourite. The triple-decker Night Bus was parked outside the Leicester Square tube station fascia and, two doors along, Kings Cross station housed part of the Harry Potter world - you could also board a train to Hogwarts in the other theme park. We also discovered a great new ride, a 3D simulation, racing through New York (via the Moon) against Jimmy Fallon's Tonight-rider - great fun!

Leicester Square, Florida!
Harry Potter photos (and more) below.
 

At Universal's Islands of Adventure, we headed straight for the Marvel area. Sadly, Stan Lee's death had been announced only a couple of days earlier - but what a legacy he spawned! Another all-time favourite ride, Spiderman, had a short waiting time so we went there first, before exploring further. Discovering another new ride - Skull Island: Reign of Kong - we endured a waiting time of 45 minutes - and we are glad that we did. On board an old bus, we were transported through a land of rampaging dinosaurs under the protection of King Kong. There was so much going on all around that, had it been a 15-minute queue, we'd have gone round again to take it all in.

Our Villa

We stayed in a luxury villa with private pool in a gated community. It was the perfect place to relax.

Eating Out

The usual! We ate at the RainForest Café just inside Disney's Animal Kingdom, Bubba Gump in Universal's City Walk (tip: parking is free after 6pm if you want to use the restaurants) and Cheesecake Factory in downtown Orlando.

Summary

Our only regret is that we should have stayed longer!


Photographs


Sports Shop in Epcot

Harry Potter

Hogsmeade

Hogwarts