Florida 2013

Virgin Atlantic Wing

Florida 2013 – Day 1 – We’re Off!

Hello – this was our first trip to Florida together. I have been many times on holidays and when I was cabin crew. However, Hotdog is new to Florida and I wasn’t sure what his reaction was going to be? These trip reports were originally posted on Tripadvisor…

Arrived at Gatwick, straight to Virgin Atlantic bag drop and through security within 15 minutes. Got some few duty free bits. We then headed then off to the tranquility of the V-room. Our flight was running 20 minuted behind so we had a nice breakfast and watched the planes landing and taking off – well worth the money.

Haven’t flown with VA for three years, so was looking forward to the new Vera entertainment system. The old system was dreadful, however, we found Vera to be a little clunky compared to the responsiveness of most tablets. The movie choice was great and would keep you entertained for a long flight. Vera offers an adult and kids interface, which is a nice touch too.

Flight food – plain but not unbearable considering the junk people eat these days. Hotdog always plays an entertaining game of packaging Tetris, where he tries to get all the spent plastics and paper to fit neatly into each other.

We deliberately chose to sit on the left side of the plane, because if you’re lucky you get a view of the Kennedy Space Centre as you approach the florida coast. We weren’t disappointed…

Our flight was delayed by 20 minutes, which equated to 45 minutes by the time we landed. We were nearly last off the flight, amazingly, it only took 45 minutes (the longest 45 minutes ever though), to pass through immigration and we found the officer to be very pleasant indeed.

Picked up our cases and headed for our rendezvous with the Virgin rep. Because of the flight delay and the fact we were last off the plane we just about made it to our coach – phew! The journey to the hotel was uneventfully easy – we checked in at the Four Points Studio City. Our room was just what we requested, on the 10th floor with a great view of International Drive and Wet n Wild.

Our plan was to grab a quick bite at KFC, but after a few large Bacardi’s we could only make it to IHOP next door. Back to the hotel, we sat on our huge beds observing the bright lights of International Drive – Hotdog couldn’t quite believe he was here!

Doughnut and Jaws

Florida 2013 – Day 2 – Finding Our Feet

Up enthusiastically early for a Friday as there was a welcome meeting with the Virgin Reps, which we usually don’t bother with. Meeting was at the Enclave Suites a short walk from our hotel. This was a complete waste of time as the Rep was just there to answer questions etc. Not even the hard sell!

Not all was lost as our morning turned into a bizarre adventure to the so called worlds biggest McDonald’s on International Drive. We ordered what we thought was a Sausage McMuffin, which turned out to be a weird sickly sausage and pancake sandwich? It might be the biggest McDonalds, but not the best. The only decent thing was the the exit sign!

Making our way back to the hotel playing the 80’s classic arcade game frogger with the traffic – We’re both very good at looking the wrong direction and walking out in front of cars! Visited some of the gift shops, popped into Walgreens for some essential supplies.

Along we went to wet and wild with our Flexticket vouchers from Virgin, which have scant information about what to do other than going to guest services with photo ID and voucher. Guest services were closed, so we get in a line – get shouted at for being in the wrong line and shouted at again for attempting to take a bag in without a security check! Dear Virgin, we’re on holiday – we don’t want to be messed around by your voucher system!

Hotdog has never done a water park, first up, Brain Wash – we came off this laughing like little kids. Hotdog wanted to do the Bomb Bay – but was a little nervous about the height. We made our way over to The Storm – Hotdog rode it and I watched – after getting off The Storm Hotdog clucked like a chicken at me for not wanting to do it.

Next up – Bubba Tubs! For some reason we both got vertigo about half way up and had to embarrassingly make our way back down, so we went on the lazy river instead and embarrassed ourselves, even more, when trying to get into the tubes!

Headed over to the Black Hole – Hotdog was up the stairs with his double tube like a rocket, poor me was suffering from vertigo again, but managed to get to the top. A word of advice, avoid looking through the gaps!

We walked back to the Brain Wash ride and watched people doing the Der Stuka and the infamous Bomb Bay! Hotdog decided it was time to climb those stairs, fight his vertigo like a true soldier and do the drop. He got to the top almost shaking with adrenaline – there were five people in front of him – so plenty of time to chicken out, but before he knew it he was in the bomb and the door was closing – no going back now! The only way he could describe the slide was like being dropped out of an elevator and having your bottom spanked all the way down. We did a few more rides, then made our way back to the hotel.

Around 4pm we walked to universal studios – our intention was to get there for lockdown in the Halloween Horror Nights holding area inside the park. No such luck – we found a very long line for tickets and dreaded voucher exchanges. We so wished we had proper tickets and not vouchers. Next time We’ll buy all our tickets direct and not bother with reps as vouchers are just a pain in the you know what!

Finally, we got in and there were zombies everywhere – I was an easy target for them much to the amusement of other people! Feeling a little confused we headed for the Transformer Ride, which we walked on. It was out of this world! There were quite big lines for the horror houses so we did rides instead – it was better than having an express pass!

The wait for the Evil Dead house was 15 minutes so we decided to give it a go. The horror houses are based on the films and are walk through sets in the studios – The Evil Dead house was very scary and in true Scooby Doo style we were leaping in the air. We decided it was time for a beer and then spotted no wait for the despicable me – so went for it!

After a beer and a glass of wine we visited a few shops in City Walk, then headed back to the hotel in a taxi as we had done so much walking!

We decided to eat at Red Lobster – the food and service was great. I had seafood linguine and Hotdog ordered Mahi Mahi, a fish he first tried on our honeymoon in St Lucia.

Got into our room, poured a Bacardi and collapsed, day one done!

Transformers

Florida 2013 – Day 3 – Rip Ride Fear!

We were feeling a bit knackered – but decided we should stick to our plan of doing Universal Studios full on… Walked to US via the dodgy bridge crossing (more frogger), passed through the security and into the park. Spotted a 10-minute wait for Rip Ride Rockit, dumped our bags in a locker and got in the very short line! Literally there was no time to chicken out!

We were loaded in the 3rd row from the front – the park guys obviously spotted my fear and left my ride restraint open – even Hotdog was worried – It did cause a little panic! We were locked in and headed up 90 degrees with Donna Summer pumping out!

As the RRR tipped over the edge it was a full on swear box stuff! We were spun, looped and hooped – but survived! The RRR has another surprise in store! Apart from ride photos – you can get a DVD of your ride – the best $38 ever spent! The DVD has had friends and family crying with laughter back home.

Walked over to Transformers expecting a wait – again we walked on! This ride is so awesome and we recommend getting to the park early to avoid long lines! Walked over to Disaster, which was broken so headed to Krusty Land. The Simpsons ride is pretty impressive and Hotdog had a bit of motion sickness.

After Simpsons, we did E.T. which is proper kitsch 80’s entertainment. Next up was Terminator, which was 90’s. walked back to Disaster which was working but failed after we boarded the ride. We were given an express password but decided to give it a miss.

It was time for lunch at Mels Diner next to Transformers! The burger was good and the onion rings will cause a fight over the last one. As we left the diner we spotted a Transformer – another photo opportunity!

Made our way to the Twister, which was a very entertaining 90’s ride. It was coming up 2pm and it was parade time! We plonked ourselves down on the pavement and waited 10 minutes for the All Star Parade.

The day had been totally amazing and by 3pm, we were pooped so walked back to the hotel. Had a bit of a rest, a swim in the pool and watched ‘Too Cute’ an American TV show about the cutest adorable kittens ever! In the evening we headed to TGI, which was a bit of a disaster as it was Saturday night, it was packed and we hadn’t booked. Headed back towards the hotel where we spotted a sign near Wet n Wild saying ‘British Pub’! The George is a nice little English pub that shows daily sports including those from the UK.

After a few Drinks we headed to Red Lobster – again the food was amazing and the service spot on – we just need to get our reservations sorted!

Jurassic Park

Florida 2013 – Day 4 – Islands of Adventure

We took Superstar Shuttle to Island of Adventure. The park wasn’t too busy, however, we decided to get to Wizarding World of Harry Potter before the crowds arrived. Who thought it was a good idea to put the lockers in a dark room? The ride said 20, but by the time we got through the line it was probably 10 minutes.

Neither of us are fans of Harry Potter, we haven’t read the books, we started to watch the first film, but lost interest. However, the ride was so good we decided it’s worth going back. Hogwarts is pretty impressive too – the attention to detail is amazing and it was nice to see lots of quaint English touches here and there. When the extension is completed in 2014 – the Harry Potter section will be gigantic!

We did the Hippogriff and then walked onto Dragon Challenge, which was really cool as there are two roller coaster rides. Took the red Dragon first – this ride had a lot of tight turns, so we decided to rest our bones.

Made our way to Jurrasic Park – it’s a shame some of the dinosaurs aren’t animated. The wait for the River Adventure was 10, so we jumped in. The ride is highly enjoyable for its age, but it could do with some up-dating. Spent some time watching people getting wet on the ride before taking lunch at Thunder Falls Terrace, which was empty! Food was good though.

Made our way through the park towards Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. It looks fun – we won’t get that wet thought Hotdog. How wrong he was, we were soaked! He spotted a people drier, whipped out five dollies and all was forgiven. It was a fab ride, but will suggest this at the end of the day.

Made our way Super Hero Island. Didn’t fancy HULK as we felt we were over doing it after Spiderman ride, which was really fab. A storm had been forecast for today, so we decided to leave for the shuttle stop. Looking back towards the theme park we could see the sky getting darker by the minute. We made it to the covered walkway and the heavens opened!

It continued to rain into the evening – so we ordered room service and had a night in.

Five Guys Florida

Florida 2013 – Day 5 – Rain Rain Go Away!

After three days of parks, we decided to visit the Premium Outlets at the top of International Drive. We arrived enthusiastically early at 9.00 only to find the shops opened at 10.00 – but this gave us an opportunity to see what was on offer.

Unfortunately, Hotdog wasn’t feeling too well and had to make a dash to the men’s room. It turns out he took some laxative the night before and it was now having the desired effect! He returned about 10 minutes later pale as Casper and I thought we would have to return to the hotel. He also happened to pick the only restroom with two rather burly men fixing a leak! The expression on their faces when he exited the cubicle to wash his hands was one of wonder that someone could pass so much wind!

You can go mad buying stuff! There are some good deals, but we were only after trainers and tees. People dress differently on holiday – that t-shirt may look cool in Orlando, but could be a fashion disaster back home, so you have to be careful. Managed to get a pair of Nike running trainers each. Hotdog was tempted by the Levis – 2 pairs for $78 about £48. Back in UK 501’s are £75 a pair! (2013 Exchange rates)

Another lunch – another burger! Hotdog couldn’t wait to try Five Guys, which is fab and so glad they are coming to the UK (have since learned there is one in Covent Garden, London – YAY). Love the way the guy calls out – WE GOT TWO PATTIES! A pattern was beginning to emerge in Hotdogs holiday diet – he was slightly worried he’ll go home with a burger belly!

After lunch, it began to rain, and then rained really hard, so we made our way around the shops like we were walking on the outside ledge of a skyscraper. After a few hours of relentless downpour, we decided to call it a day. We had to run for the I-Ride shelter through deep puddles and were soaked through by the time the trolley arrived. Back at the hotel, the staff greeted us with much amusement.

The rain wasn’t easing and we spent the rest of the afternoon looking out of the window like miserable kids on a Sunday afternoon with nothing but Songs of Praise to look forward too. Eventually, the rain stopped, so we showered and dressed for dinner.

Tonight we decided to give Big Italy up the road a try. The food was OK – especially the pizza, however, we did have the most annoying waiter who insisted on rushing us. He actually brought the bill over before we finished our main course!

More rain is forecast for tomorrow so we decided on another day of shopping – this time undercover!