Orlando! What a fun time we had!

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Well I'm finally here writing my blog about Orlando...we have been so busy since arriving here it's been impossible to try and blog. So I'll make a start now while I'm sitting waiting for my laundry to finish.

We arrived in Orlando 23 January - staying in the Disney Fort Wilderness campgrounds. As you can imagine this was no small campground - in fact the campground is larger than Central Park NYC. We were originally booked in to stay until the 2 February but ended up extending that by 1 day - checking out on 3 February.

It was a great choice to stay here in the RV ($75 per night). Our campsite Had power, water and was sewered. The comfort station (showers and toilets) were just one minutes walk away from our site. The bathrooms were heated and incredibly clean - such a joy to use! To get around the grounds you can either catch buses or hire a golf buggy. The buses were quick and efficient - we didn't bother with a buggy - besides the exercise was useful considering all the food we were to eat here. First bus service starts around 6.30am and runs every 15 minutes or so until around 2am. The service is free for resort guests and although I had read negative reports about the service we thought it was fabulous.

In order to get to Magic Kingdom you need to catch a boat from the resorts marina - this involves a short bus ride (2-3 minutes) from our loop in the campground and then connect up with the boat service. The boat takes 15 minutes to get from fort wilderness to the front gates of Magic Kingdom and is also a free service for resort guests. The campground is like its own small town with pools, laundry rooms, restaurants, bar, a theatre restaurant, nightly movies, campfire sing songs with Chip n Dale, horse riding, carriage rides, Segway rides, merchandise stores and more. After check in we explored the park before heading off to Universals Citywalk.

This drive took us past some amazing hotels - for a moment we could have been forgiven for thinking we were in in Vegas. These hotels were absolutely Ridiculously large. Besides the hotels and resort areas entire streets are lit up with flashing signs of all shapes and sizes. Reminded me of how I felt when I first saw Times Square in NYC - you have to experience it for yourself.

At Universal studios parking is a premium. After 6Pm RV's pay $25 for the privilege of a carpark. Geoff was not impressed and told the lady at the ticket box we just wanted to turn around and leave. In order for us to turn around we had to drive through the carpark.....so Geoff had a sneaky idea....lets just park up on a deserted patch in the carpark and then go have a quick look at the Citywalk.

Off we headed - not as easy as it sounded though as the carpark is huge and took us about 15 minutes to walk through before reaching the CityWalk. We checked out the Hard Rock Cafe which is the largest of its kind and then had a quick look around before heading back to the car. That night we got settled in to our home away from home - had an early night in preparation for an early morning.

The morning came and so did the rain. We had planned to head off to SeaWorld but instead decided to go to the Orlando Premium Ounless at Vineland Avenue. These outlets have to be one of the biggest and best we have ever experienced. What was supposed to be a visit of a few hours ended up being an all day adventure. The rain didn't stay too long today but the day ended up being cold and quite windy - glad we didn't attempt SeaWorld. We found some great bargains that day and returned home to the camp site exhausted.

The following morning we awoke to another quite cold day and showers. Our day had been set out and we needed to do Seaworld today or we would miss out.

Before heading to SeaWorld we had a breakfast to attend but not just any old breakfast this was a speciality breakfast with Walt Disney star Cinderella. We booked tickets for this special event months ago. Reservations for restaurants in the Walt Disney Resort can be booked up to 180 days in advance and when it comes to character dining you need to get in quick. The breakfast was held at the Gland Floridian Resort on the WD property in the Citrico's fine dining $50 each and well worth every dollar.

Booking for breakfast was 8am. Early morning start leaving our camper at 6.30am - catching the bus, boat over to the Contemporary Resort and then a monorail connection to the Floridan - take a deep breathe - this was all accomplished in less than 30 minutes so we had a good look around this 5 star hotel before our reservation time.

First up we had photos taken with the beautiful Cinderella and then we were seated for our breakfast - starting with Champagne and then a choice of a la carte items from the menu. While we ate breakfast we were visited by Ariel, Jasmine, Belle And Snow White. It certainly was a grand morning. Lovely to see all the little girls - dressed up like Princesses - their eyes glowing with excitement the whole time.

Straight after breakfast we headed back to our camp site to pick up our RV and head off to SeaWorld. That's where the day went downhill. First up the que to get into the carparking area was extremely long. Once in the park the place was totally packed - it was a push and shove day for the whole visit.

We were lucky enough to get in to see 2 shows - Blue Horizons - the dolphin show and One Ocean - starring the killer whales. Both these shows were exceptional - we enjoyed every minute but that's about it. There was no way possible we could get anywhere near the rides or other attractions. We Could have purchased another days pass for $15 but we were totally over it by the end if the day.

Our next day took us for a day trip to Cape Canaveral to Visit the Kennedy Space Centre. It was a little over an hours drive from Orlando and well worth a visit. General admission was $50 which included a very informative bus tour lasting around 40 minutes - finishing at the Apollo/ Saturn V Centre.

A visit to the Space Shuttle Atlantis was also on the list - we were standing just a few feet away from this amazing spacecraft. I also did the Shuttle Launch Experience in a flight simulator -I was awestruck by the power of the launch. There was so much to see and do - it really is a total day trip. Included in your admission is a ticket to the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame - which is a few miles down the road. This museum houses the largest collection of astronaut memorabilia ever assembled. Well worth a stop on the drive out from NASA.

That evening we had reservations at Fort Wilderness for a dinner/theatre show - Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue - it was a great night. We loved it immensely. The show was old time American singing and dancing with audience participation. The meal was fabulous too - much more than we could eat though - long bench tables - bbq pork ribs, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, beans, cornbread and salad...dessert was strawberry shortcake - but we could only manage a few mouthfuls of that! Beer, wine and soft drinks were included in the price $50 pp. The musical revue topped off a fabulous day.

We were home late at 11.30pm so straight to bed as the next 5 days were spent in the WD parks and that meant early starts each day! Our five day pass took us to Magic Kingdom twice, Epcot, animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Hard to say which we enjoyed best as they were all fabulous.

We did decide that if we were to go back again we would like to spend more time in Epcot. In the Magic Kingdom we enjoyed the parades, attractions and rides and succumbed to purchasing mouse ears and a sorcerers hat to really get that Walt Disney feel happening.

We never stayed for the night time fireworks instead we watched them one night from the boat on our trip back to the campgrounds and another night we watched them from the beach at Fort Wilderness - that way we missed the madness of all the crowds leaving the park.

On our visit to the Animal Kingdom we had reservations for brunch at Tuskers House - another character restaurant. We had a fun time here meeting Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and Pluto...oh I forgot to mention I got myself an autograph book so now I have character signatures to remember my visit - when in Disney you gotta act like a local.

Animal Kingdom itself is over 500 acres in size and I loved the African style Savanna tour - Kilimanjaro Safaris. Geoff really enjoyed "expedition Everest" - a high speed trek through the mysterious Himalayas - lets just say I was feeling a little green after that ride and I'm never doing it again!!

At Hollywood studios we enjoyed a live on stage presentation of "Beauty and the Beast". We also watched the Epic stunt Spectacular which was fabulous too.

At Epcot we watched the fireworks show - Illuminations - Reflections of Earth - a fireworks show that includes laser lights which lights up the entire World Showcase Lagoon. It was great to walk through so many countries in one place - Norway, China, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Japan, Morocco, France, UK, Canada and of course The American Adventure.

At Epcot we did an early dinner in Norways Akershus Royal Banquet Hall where we once again dined with some more WD characters - this time the princesses.

Restaurant Akershus is patterned after its namesake castle found in Oslo. Soaring ceilings are accented with hand hewn wooden beams. This regal setting is the perfect backdrop for the Princess story book experience. While enjoying our meal, Disney Princesses and friends Visited us for photo opportunities - Snow White, Ariel, Aurora, and Belle were our visitors today. The meal was served Family Style and features a Taste of Norway assortment of cold appetizers followed by a selection hot entrees And then a share plate of desserts.

While staying in a WD resort you are issued with personalised wrist bands known as magic bands. They kind of work like sea pass cards on a cruise ship.

MagicBands are secure all-in-one devices that allow you to effortlessly access the plans and vacation choices that you’ve made with My Disney Experience on your phone, tablet or PC.

MagicBands are colorful, waterproof wristbands—resembling a watch or bracelet—that you can quickly and easily touch to a sensor called a touch point.

You can use your card or MagicBand to Unlock the door of your Disney resort hotel room, Enter theme and water parks Or Check in at Fast pass+ entrances, Connect disney photo passes to your account, Charge food and merchandise purchases to your Disney Resort hotel.

To enter a theme park you need to use your magic band along with your fingerprint...it's all high tech and works really well. We also purchased a memory maker pass which allowed us to have photos taken by photographers in all the parks and then after connecting our magic bands to the memory maker all the photos are automatically sent to our account for us to print and download.

Memary maker cost us $149 (advance purchase) and we well and truly got our monies worth of photos. At last count I think we had received over 300 photos into our account.

While staying in the campground our local merchandise store (the Meadows) sold refillable drinkng cups so we purchased one to share between the two of us. You can buy the cup for 1 day, 3 days or unlimited. The unlimited purchase is $18 and allows you to refill the cup with coffee, tea, hot chocolate or soda at ant of the resort hotels or stores but not at any of the parks. It was super value and we certainly enjoyed and unlimited coffees.

During our visits to the WD parks we took our cooler bag with snacks, fruit and water. You can take food and drinks into the Disney parks which is great as everything in the park is super expensive.

After 5 days in the theme parks we realised we hadnt had the opportunity to visit "downtown Disney" so we decided to stay one more night in the campground so we could enjoy this experience. There is major construction happening at Downtown so the WD bus is the way to get there.

Downtown was certainly worth the visit - plenty of themed dining, shopping and entertainment to keep you busy for a full day. Even a Harley store to visit! When the construction is all completed the area will have 150 shops (there are currently 70) and will be known as Disney Springs.

We had lunch at a store called "the Earl of Sandwich" - it was recommended to us by one of the staff at the csmpgrounds and it truly was very good.

Earl of Sandwich is a franchise organisation based in Orlando. It was founded by the current Earl of Sandwich and his younger son Orlando Montagu, and businessman Robert Earl is the founder of Planet Hollywood which can also be found at Downtown Disney.

The restaurant specialises is handmade hot Sandwiches, fresh omelettes, desserts and much more. Judging by the long lines it's obviously a very popular choice with locals and visitors alike.

By the time we had left WD we had visited the outlets 3 times - whoops the luggage is getting out of hand quickly!

It was a sad day when we had to leave the campgrounds. But it was time to move on - there was still more of Florida to explore before returning home to Australia.

In my next blog I'll tell you all about our final days in Florida. Till then - happy trails.

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Comments

[Home and Away]

Wow!!!
It sounds like you did Disney World and the rest of Orlando attractions just right. Did your Magic Bands make your bill go away?

[taracloud]

Kids at heart!
I love how you two really got into the spirit of Disneyworld! True confessions--for my last birthday in the states, I went to Disneyland with a friend. How great that you visited all the centers, went on the rides and attended special breakfasts and dinner shows--a proper way to do it! Must say, I'm shocked at the prices, but I'm so glad you two thought it was worth it. It was mighty fun experiencing it through your eyes.

[D MJ Binkley]

Fun in Orlando
Sounds like you had a good time and did it as cheaply as one can. We are sad that the past decade the prices have gotten so high. It is expensive for an average American family of 4 to take the kids on holidays with the prices of food and such but the crowds keep coming so the prices keep going up. Glad you had fun. Disney is about happiness and being playful.