Orlando is one of those cities that I have visited during my childhood and it is one that I wanted to revisit as an adult. This was our first trip with my husband to USA. USA is one of the largest countries in the world and the distance between places is too large and in addition to the normal preparations a rented car was required.
United States of America requires a visa for every visitor, in case of UK citizen just a visa waiver is needed, which can be applied through their website. The plan was to fly directly to Orlando and then rent a car at the airport, as the attractions are spread over a 15 miles area.
Orlando is a city located in the Florida southeast USA and was established as a city in 1885. Orlando started as a popular resort during World War I and this started the housing development. Orlando has been the favourite place for servicemen to settle and raise their families. Orlando received an economic boost in 1965 when it was announced the construction of Walt Disney World Resort, which opened in 1971. Orlando is one of the most visited cities by tourist in the world as it hostes two major attractions Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort.
As part of my research, I check out all the most seen places of the city and its surroundings. This particular trip was designed to visit some of the theme parks and the wildlife park in the surroundings areas. The currency for USA is the dollar and it is recommended to exchange at the airport just after landing, as who has the time to search for it. My adventure started on Friday 26th March 2010.
On Day 1, we left London and took a direct flight from Heathrow and arrived to Orlando international in the same afternoon, as Orlando is five hours behind London’s time. We picked our rented car from the airport and pre-paid the TAG for the tolls. During that time, it was very expensive to rent a GPS, therefore, we printed out the map from the airport to the hotel and the fastest way was via the toll motorway.
After check-in, we decided to explore the hotel as it was too late and tired for going to any attractions. After a nice dinner near the hotel, we made a stop to the nearest supermarket to buy some supplies and after arriving to the hotel, we planned the next day.
On Day 2, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and started our trip east. We decided to start our trip with a visit to the Kennedy Space Centre. The Kennedy Space Centre is located in the Merritt Island and is NASA’s primary launch centre. The Kennedy Space Centre is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and both share resources and have facilities in each other’s property.
The Kennedy Space Centre is 34 miles (55km) long and 6 miles (9.7km) wide, which covers around 219 square miles (570km2), however, only 9% of the land is developed and the rest is an important wildlife sanctuary.
We arrived to the Kennedy Space Centre Visitor’s Centre and started our facilities tour. The site displays historic spacecraft and memorabilia from all the missions that took placed in their facilities. The admission to the centre includes a tour-bus that covers the Launch Complex and the surrounding properties.
The first thing that we did once we entered, was to check the bus tour as these tours have set hours. The bus tour drove in front of the vehicle assemble building on their way to the observation gantry. We were lucky to arrive to the complex and see the Space Shuttle Discovery (mission STS-131) in position and ready to launch, as it was due to be launched on 5th April 2010 for a trip to the International Space Centre.
After the observation gantry, we took the bus to the Apollo/Saturn V Centre. This building houses a restored Saturn V launch vehicle, other exhibitions related to the Apollo program including space suits, and a replica Lunar Roving Vehicle.
After the Apollo/Saturn V Centre, we went to the Space Station Processing Facility where modules for the International Space Station were tested. We were able to see some part of the International Space Centre in full size and see some of the equipment used at the real ISC, which was impressive. This was the last stopped off the bus tour and then we returned to the visitor centre. Currently, the facility is closed to visitors.
At the visitor centre, my favourite exhibition was the Mercury Mission Control Facility where we were able to see the consoles and monitors used for some early launches. In the open spaces, there are various exhibition including the rocket garden.
After an amazing day at the Kennedy Space Centre, we drove back to Orlando for dinner and a well rest at the hotel in order to plan the next day activities.
On Day 3, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel. However, we checked the weather and found out that it was a cloudy day with possibility of rain, and we decided to go to Blue Spring State Park. We decided that it was a good season to see manatees and we decided to go.
Blue Spring State Park is near Deltona around 60 miles from the hotel. We decided that our trip will be a mixture between wildlife and theme parks. This was our first visit to a state park and we were very excited to see manatees, turtles and waterbirds.
Once we arrived to the park, there were no boat tours as with the potential of rain the trails were too muddy to walk. While we were there, the rain was starting to increase and we decided to return to the hotel. On our way back, the rain was too heavy that the visibility was very limited. Instead of taking an hour, we decided to take it very slow and it took us around two and half hours to return to the hotel.
After a very stressing drive, we were happy to have seen some birds although we did not see any manatees it was a productive day. We returned to the hotel, had a nice bath and then planned our next day.
On Day 4, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel. After this, we decided to explore the pool of the hotel all morning and for lunch we decided to go at Downtown Disney.
Downtown Disney is an outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment complex built inside the Walt Disney World Resort next to Lake Buena Vista. The complex was divided into three areas: West side, Pleasure Island and Marketplace.
The Marketplace has a selection of nice boutiques, souvenir shopping outlets like a World Disney shop and some restaurants like Rainforest Café, and Wolfgang Pack Express. The Lego shop has built a Monster of Loch Ness in the Lake almost real size.
On Pleasure Island is mostly restaurants with some shops. The highlight is the Fulton’s Crab House which is hosted inside a typical river boat.
On the West Side is mostly entertainment like a state-of-the-art DisneyQuest with interactive games and a theatre with for Cirque du Solei. There are also some restaurants with entertainment like Planet Hollywood and Bongos Cuban Café by Emilio and Gloria Estefan.
With so many things to see and so many places to eat it was a difficult choice. We picked a nice restaurant to eat and spend all the afternoon browsing all the shops. My favourite shop was the Disney’s Pin Traders as I am an avid collector and they have amazing items. Every building had a different designed so it was the perfect photo shoot location and I took plenty advantage of this.
After the amazing day shopping and browsing, we finished with an amazing dinner and we left for the hotel to rest and planned the next day.
On Day 5, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel. After this, we decided that this was the perfect day to go to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. I was the most excited about this because the last time that I visited was when I was a kid, and I have been a fan ever since.
Magic Kingdom has the same layout as Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California as it is dedicated to fairy tales and houses all the Disney characters. The main feature of the park is the Cinderella Castle where seven themed lands are spread out over the 100-acre site. Every theme land has rides, entertainments features and restaurant all within the same theme.
We drove to the car parking and then we took the shuttle to the monorail station. We walked to the monorail station, where we bought our tickets and then took the monorail to the main entrance. After security checks, we were ready to start exploring. My plan was to take the railroad at the main entrance station and then do a full round before starting exploring. However, my plan was void when we stopped in the first station at Frontierland and we were forced to disembark.
Since we were already at Frontierland, we decided to start exploring there. Frontierland looks like the Wild West of the USA and it was fun. The first ride we rode was the Big thunder mountain railroad, the queue was long but the ride was amazing. While we were queuing for this ride, I decided to get fastpass to Splash Mountain. The fastpass allowed us to ride two rides and just queue once, as the fastpass allow us to jump the queue allowing us to be more efficient with our planning. Once we ride both rides, we were ready for lunch.
After lunch at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café, we saw the settings for the day parade and we decided to wait and see the all-signing, all-dancing parade that starts at Main Street and finishes at Frontierland.
The parade was named Celebrate a Dream Come true Parade, we saw many Disney characters like Chip N’ Dale, Pluto, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pinocchio, Snow White, Dumbo, Aladdin, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Belle and the Beast, Ariel, Baloo, and Donald Duck. After the parade, we saw the first era of animatronics on the Country Bear Jamboree.
After Frontierland, we went to Adventureland. In there, we queue for the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and got a fastpass for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The pirates of the Caribbean ride is something that has been as I remembered from my many trips to Disneyland. However, it was fun to find in some scenes the animatronic version of Captain Jack Sparrow from the movie series of the Pirates of the Caribbean. It was fun to take the same ride that I have taken many times in all my previous visits to Disneyland.
After Adventureland, we went to Fantasyland. On our way to Fantasyland we made a stop at Cinderella Castle and went through it. I always though there was something else to view but there is only a shop and the passage to Fantasyland. Fantasyland is the section that has changed the most since my last trip. Fantasyland looks like a medieval fair with each building housing a single Disney story like Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Dumbo the Flying Elephant. This was my favourite part of the park when I was a kid as this was the part that I was able to see, however, as an adult without kids is not as fun.
Although, we were not going to ride any of the rides, we decided to explore the entirely Fantasyland. In our exploration, we went to Mickey’s Toontown Fair where all the buildings looked like they belong in a cartoon series. This section was designed for toddles and the perfect place to have fun. We decided only to explore the shops as each has different content.
After Fantasyland, we passed through Liberty Square to our way to Tomorrowland. Tomorrowland looks like the vision that Disney had on how the future cities would look. My husband decided to ride the Speedway while I got our fastpass for Space Mountain.
After finishing the Space Mountain ride, it was night and the Cinderella Castle was lighted and looked very nice in their pink shades. We were on our way to Main Square when the fireworks displayed started at the Cinderella Castle and we decided to wait and enjoyed the show.
After the fireworks exhibition, we arrived to Main Square just in time to see the SpectroMagic night-time parade. The parade was full of lights and it was amazing to see how each character and their float was enhanced with the colours of the lights.
After the parade, it was time for shopping as Main Street has the best shops of all the park and after that enjoyed a night photo shoot with the lighted castle in the background. Main Street looks like the Victorian streets from Missouri USA.
After dinner and an amazing day at Magic Kingdom, we returned to the hotel for a good rest and to plan the next day.
On Day 6, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel. We decided to go to Gatorland, the land of the alligators and crocodiles; however, the side also has other animals.
Gatorland is located southeast Orlando and comprises of various pens and pools housing hundreds of captive “gators”. The pools have gators of all ages from babies to full grown. The main pool is populated with young crocodiles. Baby animals are handled to visitors for touching, as anything bigger than that will be too dangerous. The older crocodiles are few and they are too dangerous for any human contact. Other animals in the site are seals, turtles, parrots, macaws, flamingos, and white alligator which was hosted separately as they cannot survive in the wild.
After enjoying a tour of all the animals in the exhibition, we decided to see the Gator Jumparro Show. The show depicts a competition for lunch between a dozen of alligators fighting for a chicken which is hung high above the water. The trainer hangs the piece of chicken and waits for the alligator to launch their body and seek the price. The show starts with small pieces and it ends with entire chicken competition. The acrobatic increased depending the size of the reward. This was a very enjoyable show.
After the Gator Jumparro Show, we went to the other show of the park Alligators: Legends of the Swamp. The show depicts a daredevil of Gatorland and a 6-foot alligator demonstrating the survival features of the legendary creature. This shows how the daredevil opens the alligator’s mouth and does not fight back or move, this was very impressive.
After the show, we decided to go to the Parrot Playground as I love everything about birds. In this playground, we are able to feed the parrots with some seeds in a stick. Before leaving the park, we saw a fake real size crocodile and decided to have an amazing photo shoot. Our final stop was at the souvenir shop and then we went to our next stop for the day, which was Sea World.
Sea World is my favourite theme park as I have loved marine animals since childhood. Sea World was opened in 1973 and in 1989 became part of the Bush Entertainment corporation. The theme park is a mixture of rides and animal shows. Sea World has also a major role of animal rescue, conservation and research facility. The ticket for Sea World is multi-day/multi-park ticket including Bush Gardens and parking. Therefore, we decided that we needed two full-days to cover Sea World and Bush Garden, however, we had extra time to enjoy Sea World.
We decided since we did not have a lot of time in the afternoon, we should focus in attending as many shows as possible as this would allow us to cover the rest of the park during the second day.
Therefore, we arrived on time to see the evening show of Shamu at Shamu Stadium. Shamu was a killer whale (also known as orca) who appeared in the 1960s in the San Diego show. However, after her death the name Shamu has been continued to use in reference to the orca shows in all the Sea Worlds around the world.
The Shamu Stadium hostess the orca show, which consists on a group of four orcas with four trainers performing a wide variety of jumps and tricks. This is my favourite show as the whales are my favourite marine animal.
After the Shamu Stadium, we entered Sea lion and Otter Stadium. The show includes sea lion, otters and walrus with all their trainers. The performance includes these animals doing tricks and jumps. The show depicts an exploration of pirate ship where the animals are the crew and the trainers are the pirates.
After the Sea lion Stadium, we entered the Shark Encounter. This consists of an underwater tunnel completely surrounded by different types of sharks where you are able to see these animals in their natural habitat.
After the Shark Encounter, we still had enough time for my husband to ride the Manta. The Manta is a flying roller coaster which includes an exhibition featuring rays, sea dragons and other species.
After dinner, we left Sea World after an amazing day with nature and we returned to the hotel for a good rest and to plan the next day.
On Day 7, we decided to have breakfast on our way to Tampa as we were going to Bush Gardens.
Bush Gardens opened in 1959 and it is located in Tampa Bay. Bush Garden is situated west from Orlando around 75 minutes away. The theme park is the largest zoological institutions in USA covering 136ha and has more than 2,700 animals. The theme park has a mixture between rides and animal attractions.
After entering the theme park, the first thing we did was to take the Serengeti Express. This is a narrow-gauge railway consisting in a steam train that runs along the park and covers must of the grounds of Bush Garden. The train covers Edge of Africa, Serengeti Safari, Congo and Stanleyville; and has stops at Nairobi, Congo and Stanleyville. We took the train at Nairobi as it was the first station and covered everything, we wanted like the animals of Serengeti including the giraffes, zebras, and rhinos and we dropped at the next station at Congo.
After we dropped at the Congo station, my husband decided to ride the Kumba roller coaster as it has seven inversions. After the ride, we entered the Tiger Lodge and Trail which is an observation area to interact as close as possible with the tigers risk free. The habitat has many little observation bubbles where you are able to see the tiger just next to the glass, very impressive.
After the tigers, we made our way to the Rhino Rally via Timbuktu (currently Pantopia). The Rhino Rally is a small safari driver which gets the visitors very close to the exotic animal like the rhino ground and ducking on the alligator pond. Currently this ride has been closed due to the expansion of new ride on site. This was our last ride as the park closed at 6 p.m.
After leaving Bush Garden, we decided to have dinner on our way to Orlando and then returned to the hotel for a good rest and to plan the next day.
On Day 8¸ we decided to have a nice breakfast at the hotel. Since this was our last full-day in Orlando we decided to return to Sea World and complete our visit to the theme park. This time we decided to start from the beginning.
Our first stop was the Stingray pool, this pool allows you to touch the ray which are very rough on the top but is a sensation that needs to be experience. After the stingray pool, we entered the Dolphin Cove which has dolphins in their natural habitat. This was an amazing site as we were able to see the dolphins swimming together without any tricks and behaving natural under and over the water.
After the Dolphin Cove, we went to the Manatee Rehabilitation Area and saw many manatees. I never knew about this marine animal and it was fun to see them in their natural habitat, as I wanted to see them since we went to Blue Spring State Park but we were unable to find any there. It was very interested to observe them at close proximity over and under water. It was an amazing experience.
After the Manatees, we went to the Dolphin Theatre which hostess the dolphin show. The show consists of a group of dolphins, macaws, a stork and a condor with their trainers performing a wide variety of jumps and tricks. The dolphins are my second favourite marine animal. The showed consisted of dolphins performing jumps and tricks with their training, my favourite trick is when the dolphins jump in a synchronise matter. After the dolphins, there was an acrobatic routine of divers followed by a display of macaws flying from one position to another marked by their trainers.
The show ended with more acrobatics performed by dolphins, which were amazing including a synchronise group jump of all the dolphins. In my opinion, the dolphins’ show is the best of Sea World as the dolphins are able to perform a more variety of tricks than any other animal.
After the Dolphin Theatre, we went to the Penguin Encounter consisting in an exhibition of a variety of different type of penguins and seabirds, including my favourite seabird which is the puffin. The penguins were inside a temperature-control climate encounter as they are animals from the Antarctic region.
After the Penguin Encounter, we went to the Pacific Pont Preserve consisting in fairly large seal colony. In the pool, we were able to observe the behaviour of the seals interacting with their friends while swimming.
After the seal colony, we ended our trip to Sea World with another visit to the Shamu Theatre. However, this time we decided to seat closer to have a different point of view of the show. The show ended with a synchronize wave of the tails of the orcas. With the goodbye of the orcas, we said goodbye to our Sea World trip.
After Sea World, we decided to visit Universal Studios Resort and although it was too late to enter any theme park. We decided that we could walk around the entrance of the complex and find a nice place to have dinner. In addition to this, I am a Hard Rock Café pin collector and before going to dinner we went to the café to buy some souvenirs. On our way to Hard Rock, I found out that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was due to open in Spring 2010 but it was it was running late and opened in June 2010 instead and we missed it.
After spending the rest of our last night in Orlando walking around at Universal Studios, we decided to return to the hotel and packed as the next day we were leaving on the afternoon.
On Day 9, we had an early swim at the hotel pool, then a nice breakfast, and after that we were ready to check out at midday. After this, we decided to drive straight to the airport and wait there for our plane to depart. After eight uneventful hours, we returned to London and then we took a taxi to our home.
The Orlando trip had the perfect balance between wildlife activities and theme parks. In my opinion, the wildlife activities in this trip made the difference as theme parks tend to be the same all around the world but the wildlife is local to the place.
Visiting Orlando has the potential to be different trips to different people depending of their interest. However, due to the extensive amount of possibilities it is important to draft an idea of what to visit considering their interest, but be specific about the budget as this can easily get out of proportion. Therefore, my recommendation is to visit and enjoy Orlando but stick to your budget regardless of the number, as if left unchecked could turn into a very expensive holiday.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Comentarios