Back Saturday - Highs & Lows

[pinktraceb]

Hi All

We got back on Saturday morning, and before I write up my trip report, I thought that I'd do a quick Highs and Lows report as it is all that my jet lagged brain can handle at the moment

Highs (in no particular order)
Sunsol International Resort Hotel - although this is a basic, 'motel' type hotel the location was fantastic. We walked to Universal one day and it took just 25 mins (with a slow walking 8 year old). It was just 10 mins to SeaWorld / Aquatica and there were a few restaurants within walking distance too. It was clean, the pool area was never very busy and the breakfast was OK for a freebie.

Blue Man Group - highly recommended, I was smiling the whole way through. The 1 hr and 45 mins that it is on for was the fastest 1hr & 45 mins of the whole holiday! Great fun.

The rides - my eldest loved all of the extreme rollercoasters at Universal / IOA / Busch Gardens - my youngest even went on a few too! It was fabulous to experience these through their eyes.

Busch Gardens - not been before and we had a brilliant day. We didn't wait any longer than 20 mins for any ride, we liked the fact it has a sky ride to get you from one park to another. The rollercoasters were great, the food seemed a bit more reasonably priced than other theme parks too.

Safari at Busch Gardens - we fed the giraffes, amazing!

Parking Pass from Discovery Cove - as we knew that we'd go to SeaWorld and Aquatica at least once and Busch Gardens, we picked up the parking pass from Discovery Cove on our first day. This cost about $40 and as parking can be $17 per day, saved us a fair bit of dosh and was really good value.

Clearwater Beach - the sand is amazing, my eldest described it as being as soft as flour! Although we didn't get to see the sunset due to a massive thunderstorm, we wished that we could have spent longer there.

Sea Screamer Excursion in Clearwater - being able to see the dolphins in their natural environment was just 'wow'!

Photo Connect - well worth doing to get all of your ride photos at Universal / IOA. Worked out at about £60 for 70 odd downloaded photos.

Lows (sort of, no real lows as such)
The food - it was amazing, but I think we only managed dessert once! We were so disappointed in our own inability to eat it all!

Kennedy Space Centre - this was the only day that wasn't as much of a hit. My eldest rated it as an 8/10, but the rest of us more like a 4 or 5/10. I think my expectations were too high.


Overall we had an amazing time and created some fantastic memories for our two boys! Not sure when we will be back though...

Thanks for reading

[RachF]

Loved your comments non not being able to each desserts! That was our upset on our visit. We will try harder in September to change this. Might need to go into training
Glad you had a great time!

[JudeB]

Sounds like a great trip. We are hoping to do some of the things you've done - Busch Gardens, Clearwater, Kennedy Space Centre. Was thinking about getting the parking permit at Discovery Cove, so will definitely add it to the 'to do' list. Really looking forward to Clearwater - we are staying 2 nights in the Hilton and hope to do one of the boat trips while we are there.
Getting so excited!

[missdopey]

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip! Can't wait for your trip report!

[4andcounting]

That's for sharing, love reading people's highs and lows, hope the post Florida blues are 't too bad 😟

[Tracydcp]

We got back Saturday morning too. Also did Clearwater but weren't lucky enough to see any Dolphins on our Little Toot trip. Highlight there was the aquarium. Went to Kennedy Space Centre too and we all loved it, DS 10 especially.

[JudeB]

Originally Posted by Tracydcp

We got back Saturday morning too. Also did Clearwater but weren't lucky enough to see any Dolphins on our Little Toot trip. Highlight there was the aquarium. Went to Kennedy Space Centre too and we all loved it, DS 10 especially.

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We hadn't thought about the aquarium - so you would definitely recommend it? We are a party of 7, me, DH, DD 16, DS 14, DS 11 and my parents. We will be doing SeaWorld, so I guess I hadn't really considered another aquarium, but if it is good I'll add it to our 'to do list'. We will be staying 2 days in Clearwater.

[pinktraceb]

Originally Posted by RachF

Loved your comments non not being able to each desserts! That was our upset on our visit. We will try harder in September to change this. Might need to go into training
Glad you had a great time!

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Haha yeah maybe we should've trained for it! Instead I was watching what I was eating before we went in order to loose a few lbs!

We often even shared meals so that we would have space but still no joy.

[pinktraceb]

Originally Posted by JudeB

Sounds like a great trip. We are hoping to do some of the things you've done - Busch Gardens, Clearwater, Kennedy Space Centre. Was thinking about getting the parking permit at Discovery Cove, so will definitely add it to the 'to do' list. Really looking forward to Clearwater - we are staying 2 nights in the Hilton and hope to do one of the boat trips while we are there.
Getting so excited!

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We did have to queue up for 20 mins or so to get it, but it did mean that the day we went to DC for our actual day it didn't take so long...

Enjoy ☺

[pinktraceb]

Originally Posted by Tracydcp

We got back Saturday morning too. Also did Clearwater but weren't lucky enough to see any Dolphins on our Little Toot trip. Highlight there was the aquarium. Went to Kennedy Space Centre too and we all loved it, DS 10 especially.

See more...

Ahh that's a shame about the dolphins. We were fully expecting to love KSC so we're surprised when we didn't. We thought it was ok but not sure we would go back. DS 12 did love it though!