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We left behind the magic of Disney for a few days on International Drive. The Wyndham Resort was nice enough but not quite as nice as expected. That was a shame but we made the most of it and all 8 of us had a great week there.
Trish and I left the others to their water parks and theme parks most of the time. Instead we made the most of the hotel pool and the good weather - in the mornings anyway! The storms came over with a vengeance most afternoons and early evenings.
One evening we ate at the NASCAR restaurant at Universal's City Walk. The food and drink was great and we were entertained by a balloon artist. Hannah got a little teddy and Dan got an infeasibly large hat consisting of a palm tree and a cheeky monkey. Hannah then insisted the guy made Russ a giraffe!!
We took a bus out to down-town Orlando one day. It was about an hour's journey there then we had a good walk around. Lake Eyola was nice with lots of swans, ibis and cormorants around. The civil war memorial was interesting and we were intrigued to
see statues of various global historical figures in the park too. We had a look in a cigar shop with thousands of varieties on offer alongside incredibly expensive whiskies of the world. Later we went to a plush new cinema.
We even got in a round of crazy golf. Pirate's Cove provided a good afternoon of fun! It was quite a tricky course and Daniel got the highest score!!
On Paul's birthday we went en-masse to Islands of Adventure at Universal all dressed in identical teeshirts advertising his "coming of age"! First stop was The Hulk, a roller-coaster which had Russ quaking in his sandals! Trish gave it a miss though. It was 90 seconds or so of pure acceleration, inversion and twists and turns. Fantastic!! Popeye's Bilge Barge had us all sopping wet. Russ seemed to choose the worst seat as he emerged soaked to the skin whilst Trish was merely damp. Still, the sun dried us out before the end of the day!!!!! In the afternoon some serious storms came over and the rides were all suspended. It had to happen just as we got to the front of the one ride Daniel really wanted to
go on. We never got to ride it so the rest of our party went back the next morning. Instead we had the psychedelic experience of Dr Seuss' "The Cat In The Hat" which must have been designed by someone tripping on hallucinogens!
That evening we had a party at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a cool place to eat with lots of musical memorabilia all over the place and the opportunity to play with their brand new interactive wall. Afterwards in the shop all the girls were fussing over Paul as he milked the last few hours of his big day!!
The following morning we had yet another buffet. Those things should be banned - they are seriously bad for the waistline!!! Then we said our farewells and went to pick up our rental car. It wasn't ready for us and we ended up with a free upgrade to a massive SUV. No doubt it will guzzle gas, but at least we'll look the part!
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