Friday Feb 11th 05
As wed only been in Florida a couple of days and already been to 2 theme parks, today was supposed to be slightly gentler on the feet. Well it needed to be. I had only brought my favorite Converse All Star boots to wear and although theyre really comfortable to wear around the office and ordinary use, theyre not comfortable for day long treks around theme parks. Consequently, my feet were killing me! Now Ruth, my dear wife, abused me to high heaven when she found out. She seemed to take great pleasure in having a go at my stupidity in only bringing one pair of shoes and then the kids chimed copying their mother! Ah well, I should be used it after 14 years of marriage! I had wanted to buy another pair of trainers whilst in the US; but that was only if the right ones came at the right price. I didnt want to have to buy some but no one believed me, least of all Ruth!
So a shopping trip was on the cards and what better place to start that than the Premium Outlets for Nike and Adidas shoes? We eventually found the PO after a minor detour after I took the correct exit off I4 but instead of going straight over I turned left - Doh!- and we ended up going parallel north with the I4. Not too bad a detour (there was a worse one later in the holiday!) and we eventually got there after navigating back via Sea World. The first shop we encountered was Music 4 Less and it had a good range of CD/DVDs for Emily and I to peruse. We managed to restrict ourselves to 4 CDs, which is good going by our standards, all of which were way cheaper than we couldve bought them for new in the UK.
Ruth then took Howard & Daniel into Adidas to try and sort them out while Emily and I (who both prefer Nike) shot off to the other store. Now Ruth is a typical woman shopper; see something she likes, tries it on, goes though another gazillion items and shops before going back to purchase the original item. Im definitely a typical bloke shopper. See it. Like it. Buy it. With this in mind I was able to walk into Nike see some gorgeous black and silver Michael Jordon boots, try em on for size and that was me sorted. OK, they were the equivalent of £40 but I wouldnt find these back home! Emily then chose some for herself and we went back to find Ruth still looking around for the boys. However, she did manage to get a couple of cracking bargains for the boys with Dannys shoes coming in at around £6 so her attention to detail paid off. We then went back to Nike for Ruth to try and find some shoes which she did reasonably quickly (for her!) whilst I had a look around the shirts. Last time we were there all the Nike shops had huge ranges of cotton t-shirts. This time the fashion seems to have moved onto a lycra / nylon material that would be horrible to wear. It must be popular though as there was rack after rack of the stuff the range of cotton shirts was very small, smaller still in sizes that would fit me
The only ones we found that were nice were top-of-the-range golfing shirts for $50 each and that, in Orlando, is over the top for a plain shirt.
Disappointed that Id not been able to find nice shirts at Nike, we carried on around the center and found some other great shops. One in particular was selling leather gear at huge discounts. Some these included NASCAR and American football leather jackets for stupidly low prices. Im talking <£50 for a fully licensed NASCAR jacket with all the sponsors labels. They looked fabulous! I resisted the temptation to buy one, not only for me, Im sure these would make a profit on E-bay back home, as it was too early in the holiday to blow a major wad of cash. The other reason was shipping. These jackets wouldve taken up a lot of suitcase space and might have prevented other buys! We also found a Disney Outlet store selling loads of genuine Disney gear at reduced prices. Although, they were still charging what we considered high prices for 2004 dated merchandise.
We decided to have lunch in the food court at Premium Outlets as its got something for everyone. The boys had pizza (where a slice is about as big as a whole pizza in the UK!) and Ruth, Emily and I had whopping Subway torpedo sandwiches. These things are awesome and I know that Subways are springing up around the UK but there is nothing like an American sub. Whilst we were there we all changed into our newly purchased shoes and a family vote decided that we should head off to Sea World.- might as well make use of the 14 day flex pass, especially as SW is so close to the stores.
We arrived at SW around 2pm and although we still had to pay for parking, there was no restriction/guidance on where to go so we parked in the Preferred Section right outside the main gate
.
Tip On subsequent visits to Sea World we found that they stop collecting parking fees after 4pm, you can just drive in and park as the collection booths are unmanned! This was handy for nipping back to see the late afternoon Shamu shows!
On our way into Sea World there literally hundreds of people leaving the park. It looked like a school trip was departing, anyway, that was less people to contend with! The kids were happy as we got to see the stingrays and the dolphins but the best is always below water when you really get to see them playing. We then used the map to try and find the dolphin stadium/show. Unfortunately, its not running at the moment as they are building a new arena called Blue Harbour for the dolphins that (I think) will open later this year. Next stop was the Manatees. These serene creatures always make me feel sad, just by their look and slow motion. Its a sobering thought that these really could be The Last Generation although I hope that the good work by the people of Sea World and considerate Floridians will mean they are around for many more years. After my customary trip to the gift shop (my good friend Dawn wouldnt ever serve me in the staff canteen again if I didnt bring her something back!), we headed off towards Atlantis & Kraken.
Grrr. Atlantis was closed for maintenance no getting wet for me! Then it was either queue for a go on Kraken or head off to see the Cylde & Seymour Take Pirate Island Show the show won, partly because the afternoon was getting decidedly chilly! Weve always loved the sea lions; they look like theyre having fun whilst interacting with their human trainers. Its a hilarious show that had us all crying with laughter. After this we went to see the Sharks and Penguin (blimey, they really stink, even behind glass!) exhibitions before moving around to Shamus Happy Harbour. My kids love this playground, the ropes, the climbing, bouncy castle and sand pits. Theyd be happy to stay there all day if we let them!
We stayed there for a while but it really had started to get cold. Even the tea and McDonalds chips that Ruth had bought didnt warm us up. It wouldve been a long wait for the final Shamu Rocks America show so we decided to leave the park and see that another day thats the beauty of the flex tickets. Still, it took us another hour to get to the car as we got stuck in the Sea World shops;, they really do have some nice stuff.
By now it really was dark, cold and not short-wearing weather! Something hot and filling was needed. The choice:
The I4 was absolutely chocca-bloc, nose-to-tail traffic. Things were no better on the 192 west. It was solid, move three feet and stop type traffic that really gets on your nerves. Eventually, almost an hour after left Sea World we reached the stretch of restaurants on the 192 between mile markers 4 and 6, I think this is called Maingate? Every restaurant we looked at (Sizzler / Cracker Barrel / Ponderosa) etc, had waiting times of 30-40 minutes to get a table! Besides that, each one seemed to full of British people, it wouldve been like sitting down in a little chef on the A52! The Sizzler was a sea of British football shirts and Burberry er, no thanks. As the traffic was still bad and our hunger hadnt subsided, we decided there was only one thing to do hit a McDonalds. We did just that, had a quick bite and then another fight with the traffic on the 192 to arrive home around 9pm.
So from not wanting today to be a busy day, weve done loads of shopping, had two meals out, been to another theme park, head to deal with mega traffic jams and arrived home very late. No wonder the kids are going to sleep quickly, reckon well need a week off after the holiday to recuperate!
As wed only been in Florida a couple of days and already been to 2 theme parks, today was supposed to be slightly gentler on the feet. Well it needed to be. I had only brought my favorite Converse All Star boots to wear and although theyre really comfortable to wear around the office and ordinary use, theyre not comfortable for day long treks around theme parks. Consequently, my feet were killing me! Now Ruth, my dear wife, abused me to high heaven when she found out. She seemed to take great pleasure in having a go at my stupidity in only bringing one pair of shoes and then the kids chimed copying their mother! Ah well, I should be used it after 14 years of marriage! I had wanted to buy another pair of trainers whilst in the US; but that was only if the right ones came at the right price. I didnt want to have to buy some but no one believed me, least of all Ruth!
So a shopping trip was on the cards and what better place to start that than the Premium Outlets for Nike and Adidas shoes? We eventually found the PO after a minor detour after I took the correct exit off I4 but instead of going straight over I turned left - Doh!- and we ended up going parallel north with the I4. Not too bad a detour (there was a worse one later in the holiday!) and we eventually got there after navigating back via Sea World. The first shop we encountered was Music 4 Less and it had a good range of CD/DVDs for Emily and I to peruse. We managed to restrict ourselves to 4 CDs, which is good going by our standards, all of which were way cheaper than we couldve bought them for new in the UK.
Ruth then took Howard & Daniel into Adidas to try and sort them out while Emily and I (who both prefer Nike) shot off to the other store. Now Ruth is a typical woman shopper; see something she likes, tries it on, goes though another gazillion items and shops before going back to purchase the original item. Im definitely a typical bloke shopper. See it. Like it. Buy it. With this in mind I was able to walk into Nike see some gorgeous black and silver Michael Jordon boots, try em on for size and that was me sorted. OK, they were the equivalent of £40 but I wouldnt find these back home! Emily then chose some for herself and we went back to find Ruth still looking around for the boys. However, she did manage to get a couple of cracking bargains for the boys with Dannys shoes coming in at around £6 so her attention to detail paid off. We then went back to Nike for Ruth to try and find some shoes which she did reasonably quickly (for her!) whilst I had a look around the shirts. Last time we were there all the Nike shops had huge ranges of cotton t-shirts. This time the fashion seems to have moved onto a lycra / nylon material that would be horrible to wear. It must be popular though as there was rack after rack of the stuff the range of cotton shirts was very small, smaller still in sizes that would fit me
The only ones we found that were nice were top-of-the-range golfing shirts for $50 each and that, in Orlando, is over the top for a plain shirt. Disappointed that Id not been able to find nice shirts at Nike, we carried on around the center and found some other great shops. One in particular was selling leather gear at huge discounts. Some these included NASCAR and American football leather jackets for stupidly low prices. Im talking <£50 for a fully licensed NASCAR jacket with all the sponsors labels. They looked fabulous! I resisted the temptation to buy one, not only for me, Im sure these would make a profit on E-bay back home, as it was too early in the holiday to blow a major wad of cash. The other reason was shipping. These jackets wouldve taken up a lot of suitcase space and might have prevented other buys! We also found a Disney Outlet store selling loads of genuine Disney gear at reduced prices. Although, they were still charging what we considered high prices for 2004 dated merchandise.
We decided to have lunch in the food court at Premium Outlets as its got something for everyone. The boys had pizza (where a slice is about as big as a whole pizza in the UK!) and Ruth, Emily and I had whopping Subway torpedo sandwiches. These things are awesome and I know that Subways are springing up around the UK but there is nothing like an American sub. Whilst we were there we all changed into our newly purchased shoes and a family vote decided that we should head off to Sea World.- might as well make use of the 14 day flex pass, especially as SW is so close to the stores.
We arrived at SW around 2pm and although we still had to pay for parking, there was no restriction/guidance on where to go so we parked in the Preferred Section right outside the main gate
. Tip On subsequent visits to Sea World we found that they stop collecting parking fees after 4pm, you can just drive in and park as the collection booths are unmanned! This was handy for nipping back to see the late afternoon Shamu shows!
On our way into Sea World there literally hundreds of people leaving the park. It looked like a school trip was departing, anyway, that was less people to contend with! The kids were happy as we got to see the stingrays and the dolphins but the best is always below water when you really get to see them playing. We then used the map to try and find the dolphin stadium/show. Unfortunately, its not running at the moment as they are building a new arena called Blue Harbour for the dolphins that (I think) will open later this year. Next stop was the Manatees. These serene creatures always make me feel sad, just by their look and slow motion. Its a sobering thought that these really could be The Last Generation although I hope that the good work by the people of Sea World and considerate Floridians will mean they are around for many more years. After my customary trip to the gift shop (my good friend Dawn wouldnt ever serve me in the staff canteen again if I didnt bring her something back!), we headed off towards Atlantis & Kraken.
Grrr. Atlantis was closed for maintenance no getting wet for me! Then it was either queue for a go on Kraken or head off to see the Cylde & Seymour Take Pirate Island Show the show won, partly because the afternoon was getting decidedly chilly! Weve always loved the sea lions; they look like theyre having fun whilst interacting with their human trainers. Its a hilarious show that had us all crying with laughter. After this we went to see the Sharks and Penguin (blimey, they really stink, even behind glass!) exhibitions before moving around to Shamus Happy Harbour. My kids love this playground, the ropes, the climbing, bouncy castle and sand pits. Theyd be happy to stay there all day if we let them!
We stayed there for a while but it really had started to get cold. Even the tea and McDonalds chips that Ruth had bought didnt warm us up. It wouldve been a long wait for the final Shamu Rocks America show so we decided to leave the park and see that another day thats the beauty of the flex tickets. Still, it took us another hour to get to the car as we got stuck in the Sea World shops;, they really do have some nice stuff.
By now it really was dark, cold and not short-wearing weather! Something hot and filling was needed. The choice:
- Should we drive onto International Drive and find a restaurant?
- Head back home and cook something?
- Try a restaurant on the 192?
The I4 was absolutely chocca-bloc, nose-to-tail traffic. Things were no better on the 192 west. It was solid, move three feet and stop type traffic that really gets on your nerves. Eventually, almost an hour after left Sea World we reached the stretch of restaurants on the 192 between mile markers 4 and 6, I think this is called Maingate? Every restaurant we looked at (Sizzler / Cracker Barrel / Ponderosa) etc, had waiting times of 30-40 minutes to get a table! Besides that, each one seemed to full of British people, it wouldve been like sitting down in a little chef on the A52! The Sizzler was a sea of British football shirts and Burberry er, no thanks. As the traffic was still bad and our hunger hadnt subsided, we decided there was only one thing to do hit a McDonalds. We did just that, had a quick bite and then another fight with the traffic on the 192 to arrive home around 9pm.
So from not wanting today to be a busy day, weve done loads of shopping, had two meals out, been to another theme park, head to deal with mega traffic jams and arrived home very late. No wonder the kids are going to sleep quickly, reckon well need a week off after the holiday to recuperate!
