Might do another live trip report...(ok I will do! This is it!)

[jtlover]

Have a great day with Shamu

[dixonsontour]

Hope you enjoyed first watch loving all your updates.

[juliebro]

Originally Posted by Netty

we are the same, we spend less time in the parks now as we want to explore more of the 'real' florida. we have been to state parks, boc tower st pete, clearwater etc and love it! I bought a book called 'florida on a tankful' which has a few good places in it.
info also here http://www.cfnews13.com/florida-tankful.html
hopefully we will be joining sil gaylie on the road trip too!
Julie, loving your trip report and all the different things you are doing, how did you get to know about these places?
have you been to http://wgriverranch.com/ we wanted to go last year but never got around to it!

Thanks for the info about the book and the link, Jeanette. We haven't been to Westgate River Ranch - yet! Thanks for the tip. We'll add it to the list.

We find out about these different things on the internet - by reading this forum, also DH keeps his eye on the DIBB forum, and the Attraction Tickets Direct forum. I also look at Travelzoo and Groupon for deals in the Orlando area. That's how we got half price tickets for the Festival of Speed.

We keep an eye out for things throughout the year.

[juliebro]

Another hot one! In the nineties again! Definitely scorchio.

We went to First Watch for breakfast. We both ordered the 'traditional breakfast' - item 1 on the menu - and were looking forward to it. We'd eaten there before on previous trips and enjoyed it.

It arrived and all seemed fine.



Disappointingly, the food wasn't very hot and the potatoes weren't cooked properly. We told the waitress and she did offer to get the kitchen to cook us another one each. As we were keen to get to the park, we declined. I'm also always reluctant to accept a replacement meal if I ever send food back. You never really know if the chef might take his/her revenge!

Such a shame. We've had so many excellent meals this holiday. We were not expecting this at First Watch.

Good day at Sea World though. Had some really great dolphin interaction on two occasions during the day too.

We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory at Mall at Millenia, which has been on our 'to do' list for about 3 years. The menu is huge! So much choice! We both ordered burgers. Looks like our bad luck was still with us. DH likes his cooked 'med/well' - but it turned out to be really rare in parts.





We told the waitress and again he was offered a replacement but declined. They did, however, not charge us for his meal.

It's unusual for us to ever complain and send food back -but it seems incredible that we ended up doing it twice today!

We did go for a piece of the cheesecake each, though. I also got a photo of the options available - to share with you all!

My choice - the Original.



DH's choice - Blueberry.



The options on display......




Finally -our last problem of the day! We went to Florida Mall to return something to Gap - only to find that a power cut had shut down about half of the shops. Yes - including Gap!

Ah well. Sometimes things don't go to plan.

Busch Gardens again tomorrow (day 14 already!).

[juliebro]

Originally Posted by juliebro

Thanks for the info about the book and the link, Jeanette. We haven't been to Westgate River Ranch - yet! Thanks for the tip. We'll add it to the list.

Ooops! DH has just told me that we had the Sat night rodeo at the ranch on our list - just had too many other things to do this trip!

[juliebro]

Originally Posted by wayneg

Would love to see more pics, I can then choose for when I win the lottery, never heard of a Bugatti Veyron but it looks good enough to get on my short list.

Hi Wayne. As requested.

[dixonsontour]

What a shame about your foodx2

[juliebro]

Originally Posted by dixonsontour

What a shame about your foodx2

Just one of those things, I guess. We've been so lucky with food for the rest of the time here, it was just a bit of a surprise when we got something a little below par.

Hope you had a good day at MK.

[juliebro]

Just a quick update on today.

Breakfast at Bob Evans. Although Sandra wasn't around today, service was still very efficient.



Weather forecasts this morning were warning of potential rail and thunderstorms in the Orlando area and further east so we were pleased we'd planned to go back to Busch Gardens again.

Weather was good over in Tampa all day. Very hot. As we left at about 5:30 pm the car was showing external temperature as 94 degrees F.

We both really enjoyed the day there again. Although we did some of the same things as we'd done last week, we were able to do many different things too.

Ate at Manny's again on the way back, after calling ahead.



Back to Aquatica tomorrow, as long as the weather is ok.

[Steve and Sarah]

[QUOTE=juliebro;44813586] After we left there we decided to visit Wilderness Lodge, which we'd never been to before, and to walk the nature trail between there and Fort Wilderness. We then caught the boat back via the Contemporary Resort.

Julie, just catching up with your trippie and loving it, the above has given me a great idea for occupying the kids one late afternoon when we're out there in August

Enjoy the rest of your trip

[juliebro]

[QUOTE=Steve and Sarah;44841264]

Originally Posted by juliebro

After we left there we decided to visit Wilderness Lodge, which we'd never been to before, and to walk the nature trail between there and Fort Wilderness. We then caught the boat back via the Contemporary Resort.

Julie, just catching up with your trippie and loving it, the above has given me a great idea for occupying the kids one late afternoon when we're out there in August

Enjoy the rest of your trip

Thanks! It's by reading other people's reports and just generally surfing the net that we have found a lot of ideas for our trip.

It's good to share!

[juliebro]

Day 15 - not many left now.

We wanted to get to Aquatica for opening today, so were up and about early-ish.

Breakfast was at Denny's today.



Had another fun day at Aquatica - except for the thunderstorm and downpour just after 1pm which lasted about an hour. It did soon brighten up again after that though.

Left the park just after 4 to go to Gap at Florida Mall after the failed attempt the other day. Were also pleased to hear of Blackpool's success in the playoffs!

Decided to go for dinner to Celebration Town Tavern which we'd never been to before. We really enjoyed it and plan to go back again.

We shared the onion rings appetiser.



I had the Cape Cobb Salad (with lobster)



DH had the Turkey Stack



We then sat in the rocking chairs at the lake for a little while. It was a lovely evening. A young boy was being taught to fish by his grandfather. Familes were strolling around. Very pleasant and peaceful.

We then treated ourselves at Kilwins. DH had his favourite vanilla shake and I tried the limited edition salted caramel ice cream.



We're going to have a very early start tomorrow. We're going over to Anna Maria Island for the day.

Will let you all know how it goes!

[juliebro]

Anyone got any 'must do's' for us tomorrow?

Any recommendations for Anna Maria Island or en route?

[dixonsontour]

Hope you had a good day at Anna Maria island

[juliebro]

Wonderful day at Anna Maria island. Even lucky enough to see wild manatees and a dolphin while we were there.

Great breakfast on Rod and Reel pier.

Full report to follow.