Hi all,
Well we are finally back in the UK following our 16 nighter in the sunshine state. Whilst over there we took in Orlando, Key Largo, Key West and finished up at Fort Lauderdale. Below I list a number of highlights and just a few lowlights of our magical trip.
Highlights (in no particular order)
Flight - Virgin Atlantic faultless from twilight check in, to safe landing back in UK, Premium Economy excellent once again and well worth the upgrade.
Hot Air Balloon - Booked through Orange Blossom, had to cancel our Saturday morning flight due to Arlene, but managed to get up the following Tuesday for a fantastic 3.5 hour experience. WOW!!!!
Hotels - Managed to stay in 4 excellent hotels on the trip. The Crowne Plaza Universal is great and I would recommend this hotel to everybody for a future stay. It is such a shame that Virgin no longer includes this hotel in the brochure. Also stayed at the Sheraton Beach Resort in Key Largo, Ocean Key Resort in Key West and finally the Marriott Beach Harbour in Fort Lauderdale. All top notch hotels, special mention to the Ocean Key for the best and biggest room ever...jacuzzi was awesome.
Top Rides - (in order of our favourites)
Mission Space
Revenge of the Mummy
Soarin
Spiderman
Shrek 4D
Test Track
Kilimanjaro Safari
TOT
Popeye
Dudley Do Right Ripsaw Falls
Places we ate at in Orlando (in order we visited)
Bennigans (I Drive North) - As ever, top notch service and food.
Houlihans - a big let down on previous visits. Won't go back.
Ruby Tuesday (192) - some of the best food we ate all holiday.
Chillis (I Drive) - Very busy Saturday night, but seated quickly. Very good.
Chef Mickey Breakfast - YUM!!!! AND HOW MANY CHARACTERS...!!!!!!!
ESPN - despite a huge storm, great food and service.
Budweiser Brew House (St Petes Tampa Bay Rays) - good food but not so slick service.
Bennigans (I Drive South) - see first Bennigans!!!!
Tony Romas (I Drive) - first visit ever, won't be the last. Excellent.
Sweet Tomatoes - very busy but got a table straight away. Very fresh food.
Golden Corral - first time visit, much better than Ponderosa, Sizzler etc.
Baseball - the Devil Rays won 5-3!!!!! Worth the long drive and the roadworks on the way back on I4.
Keane - live at the Hard Rock. Despite the obvious MTV influenced fuss at the beginning ("you're all on TV, don't look at the cameras, pretend Keane are on stage whilst we play one of the songs over the PA") it was a good show, probably an excellent show if you are real Keane fans and you've had more than 4.5 hours sleep!!!!
Shopping - Florida Mall, spent hours as per the norm and many dollars. Old Navy still the best around for good quality t-shirts at ridiculous prices.
Key Largo - John Pennenkamp State Park. Went on the glass bottom boat tour to the reef, kayaked the mangrove trails and ate ice cream. One of the best days weatherwise. Also the magnificent bay view from our upgraded room at the Sheraton and our visit to the Everglades Alligator Farm with airboat ride and snakes a plenty.
Key West - Jet Ski tour around the island, the fantastic hotel location, Ernest Hemingways house (plus cats), the Conch train tour and DUVAL STREET.
Fort Lauderdale - magnificent atlantic view from our room at the Marriott, Cheesecake Factory at Las Olas and excellent day time weather.
Lowlights
Mission Space fatality - the day after we rode 3 times on this fantastic ride.
Coming home - obviously.
Weather - very unpredictable. Arlene took over for our first 4 days, we didn't even need the sunblock. It did improve and was at its best for our final day or so in Fort Lauderdale on the beach!!!
Bad Disney rides Day - Wednesday 15th June, not a good day for Disney. Lots of mechanical problems meaning at MK no Pirates, no Space Mountain, no Transit Authority, no Stitch & at MGM, no R&RC. This led to more crowded areas on an already sticky day, where visitors' tempers frayed to a high level and built up big queues elsewhere.
Bad Service - Houlihans on I Drive & IHOP on US1. Houlihans was 3/4 empty yet they put us in the bar area tucked into a corner. The server seemed as though he would rather not be there!!! Not good.
IHOP lady rude and unhelpful, messed our order up and was generally being far nicer to the US customers. The only place ever we haven't tipped in the USA. We love IHOP, and this experience won't put us off ever.
Flight home - in economy class. Just so difficult to deal with after a Premium seat on the outbound journey.
Phew...that is about it. The holiday was amazing and went at such a nice pace, but we are back and staring work in the face in 12 hours time.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to PM or post.
Julian
Well we are finally back in the UK following our 16 nighter in the sunshine state. Whilst over there we took in Orlando, Key Largo, Key West and finished up at Fort Lauderdale. Below I list a number of highlights and just a few lowlights of our magical trip.
Highlights (in no particular order)
Flight - Virgin Atlantic faultless from twilight check in, to safe landing back in UK, Premium Economy excellent once again and well worth the upgrade.
Hot Air Balloon - Booked through Orange Blossom, had to cancel our Saturday morning flight due to Arlene, but managed to get up the following Tuesday for a fantastic 3.5 hour experience. WOW!!!!
Hotels - Managed to stay in 4 excellent hotels on the trip. The Crowne Plaza Universal is great and I would recommend this hotel to everybody for a future stay. It is such a shame that Virgin no longer includes this hotel in the brochure. Also stayed at the Sheraton Beach Resort in Key Largo, Ocean Key Resort in Key West and finally the Marriott Beach Harbour in Fort Lauderdale. All top notch hotels, special mention to the Ocean Key for the best and biggest room ever...jacuzzi was awesome.
Top Rides - (in order of our favourites)
Mission Space
Revenge of the Mummy
Soarin
Spiderman
Shrek 4D
Test Track
Kilimanjaro Safari
TOT
Popeye
Dudley Do Right Ripsaw Falls
Places we ate at in Orlando (in order we visited)
Bennigans (I Drive North) - As ever, top notch service and food.
Houlihans - a big let down on previous visits. Won't go back.
Ruby Tuesday (192) - some of the best food we ate all holiday.
Chillis (I Drive) - Very busy Saturday night, but seated quickly. Very good.
Chef Mickey Breakfast - YUM!!!! AND HOW MANY CHARACTERS...!!!!!!!
ESPN - despite a huge storm, great food and service.
Budweiser Brew House (St Petes Tampa Bay Rays) - good food but not so slick service.
Bennigans (I Drive South) - see first Bennigans!!!!
Tony Romas (I Drive) - first visit ever, won't be the last. Excellent.
Sweet Tomatoes - very busy but got a table straight away. Very fresh food.
Golden Corral - first time visit, much better than Ponderosa, Sizzler etc.
Baseball - the Devil Rays won 5-3!!!!! Worth the long drive and the roadworks on the way back on I4.
Keane - live at the Hard Rock. Despite the obvious MTV influenced fuss at the beginning ("you're all on TV, don't look at the cameras, pretend Keane are on stage whilst we play one of the songs over the PA") it was a good show, probably an excellent show if you are real Keane fans and you've had more than 4.5 hours sleep!!!!
Shopping - Florida Mall, spent hours as per the norm and many dollars. Old Navy still the best around for good quality t-shirts at ridiculous prices.
Key Largo - John Pennenkamp State Park. Went on the glass bottom boat tour to the reef, kayaked the mangrove trails and ate ice cream. One of the best days weatherwise. Also the magnificent bay view from our upgraded room at the Sheraton and our visit to the Everglades Alligator Farm with airboat ride and snakes a plenty.
Key West - Jet Ski tour around the island, the fantastic hotel location, Ernest Hemingways house (plus cats), the Conch train tour and DUVAL STREET.
Fort Lauderdale - magnificent atlantic view from our room at the Marriott, Cheesecake Factory at Las Olas and excellent day time weather.
Lowlights
Mission Space fatality - the day after we rode 3 times on this fantastic ride.
Coming home - obviously.
Weather - very unpredictable. Arlene took over for our first 4 days, we didn't even need the sunblock. It did improve and was at its best for our final day or so in Fort Lauderdale on the beach!!!
Bad Disney rides Day - Wednesday 15th June, not a good day for Disney. Lots of mechanical problems meaning at MK no Pirates, no Space Mountain, no Transit Authority, no Stitch & at MGM, no R&RC. This led to more crowded areas on an already sticky day, where visitors' tempers frayed to a high level and built up big queues elsewhere.
Bad Service - Houlihans on I Drive & IHOP on US1. Houlihans was 3/4 empty yet they put us in the bar area tucked into a corner. The server seemed as though he would rather not be there!!! Not good.
IHOP lady rude and unhelpful, messed our order up and was generally being far nicer to the US customers. The only place ever we haven't tipped in the USA. We love IHOP, and this experience won't put us off ever.
Flight home - in economy class. Just so difficult to deal with after a Premium seat on the outbound journey.
Phew...that is about it. The holiday was amazing and went at such a nice pace, but we are back and staring work in the face in 12 hours time.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to PM or post.
Julian