Sloco

Our first morning at Universal Studios proved to be a special one for our two lucky travellers. One of the perks of staying at the Hard Rock Hotel - which is a stunning property in itself - is that your room key allows you to get to the front of the line at every ride in the Universal theme parks. That is an awesome bonus when there is 4 people who all like different rides. With the Wizarding World of Harry Potter a new themed area that has only recently opened, resort guests can also access the park a whole our earlier than the general public. It is amazing to see how they have built a replica Hogsmeade village and the Hogwarts castle at the end of the street contains a ride called the Forbidden Journey ... read more

After an overnight flight via Miami, we arrived at in Orlando and boarded the Disney express bus to The Animal Kingdom Lodge. The Lodge is an amazing resort where most rooms overlook a savanah where African animals roam day and night. There are giraffes, zebras, antelopes roaming the grounds and it is a great day when you can sit on your balcony when the sun is rising and watch the animals graze as you eat your cornflakes. The Animal Kingdom park next door is a new direction for the Disney imagineers and it is impressive how they have created such a massive park from Florida swampland. The tree of life is a totally man made erection that stands tall in the middle of the park and has hundreds of animals impressions carved into its branches. It ... read more

Day 5 and we have made the drive from Anaheim in California to the lights of Las Vegas. We checked into the Luxor and had our first Vegas dinner at the Rainforest Cafe at MGM Grand. The next day was full of walks and checking out places. It's easy to forget how massive this city is and by the end of the day we had planned to close it off with a look at the Treasure Island Pirate show. As you can see from the pics however, the boys had had enough and thought it best to just lie on the floor while the pirate battle was going on around them. Vegas is having the best of them but tomorrow is another day....... read more

Well we made it the USA. It took 22 hours from the time we walked out the door in Melbourne to when we entered our room across the road from Disneyland in Anaheim but overall the kids managed to get through it fairly well. ... read more