Three Go To Orlando. Day 14 City Tour, Gospel Brunch & Blue Man Group 14th October 2012

[nickymouse66]

Today we were picked up by coach at 7.55 from the Rosen Inn, and taken to Crossroads where we transferred to a mini bus for the rest of our day.

We drove through down town Orlando – it seems to be a nice city, although it was sad to see several homeless people asleep on the street, and when we stopped at Lake Eola for 20 minutes to take pictures, this sign made sense in a sad way and it does bring home the fact, that this is the real world despite the sunshine



Lake Eola was very peaceful and, had it been later in the day, there were boats for hire etc, Cody was happy to see lots of dog walkers, most of who encouraged fussing of their pets,







then we got back on the bus.

It was a shame when we passed the now deserted Rosie O' Gradys and Church St Station, we had been there many years before and really enjoyed it, but it does seem like there is a push to bring life back into the district.

Our favourite things were definitely these




we could picture Ebony's sheer delight!

Our first proper stop was Winter Park where we had 90 minutes of free time – we found a gorgeous bakery where we sat in & had cake and drinks – I chose a lemon tart which was divine, Cody had an apple streudel and Mike had a lemon berry mascarpone cake which was huge, they served 'proper' English tea here to Cody's delight!



There were some beautiful shops which we browsed through



until we came to 'The Doggy Door' – well, we could've spent an absolute fortune in here! They had every conceivable item a dog could dream of (and some which would give them nightmares – can't imagine Ebs in a tu-tu) we spent far too much time in there, but Ebony & the rest of our four legged family members did quite well!

By now it was 11.00am and time we met up with the rest of the passengers for our



our captain was Wendell and to be honest, of all of the sight seeing boat trips, this one turned out to be our favourite. The houses and Rollins College properties were stunning, the Spanish Moss on the trees was amazing and I could've stayed on that little boat all day..





We (along with two others on the bus) had pre-booked the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues in DTD, so we were given our tickets for this and the rest of the party had free time in DTD. We had pretty good seats to see the show and were sat with nice people from New York – the man had recently returned from a business trip to Coventry, so was delighted we came from that end of the world!




The show itself was really good, especially when the singer introduced his 9 year old nephew to do a song – he was really sweet (I think he was called Q.T!), but Cody & I weren't too keen on most of the food, and an elderly lady fell and split her head open not too far from where we were sitting & had to be stretchered out by the paramedics, which was awful. We did end up on our feet, waving our napkins and singing along (you had to be there!) but if I'm honest, once was enough and we probably wouldn't do it again, although it was great experience and a lot of fun.

After lunch, we moved on to Celebration – wow!



We weren't able to get many pictures of the Halloween decorated houses through the bus windows, but they were marvellous! We were dropped off at the lake & left to wander around for around 90 minutes which was lovely, and long enough for me to try & persuade Mike to buy me a lovely little house I had seen



it didn't work and I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to return back to the sunny West Midlands once more.

At the end of the tour, the driver took us straight back to our actual hotel rather than the Rosen Inn which was lovely and saved us some time as we had tickets booked for 7.00pm for Blue Man Group at City Walk.



Our eldest daughter had seen BMG in Chicago years before and raved about it, but to be honest, I didn't really 'get it' and had never been that bothered, I almost didn't bother ordering tickets and I think they were the last thing I booked...HOW WRONG WAS I!



We absolutely loved it – and were captivated from the moment the curtain went up! I think it was the most I laughed at anything on the whole trip – it was amazing and will definitely join the ranks of 'must do' on my list if we ever come back. We were on the first row behind the splash zone, so it was perfect. Although it was completely different, I enjoyed it as much as I had enjoyed Cirque Du Soleil on the last trip.

After the show, we did some shopping for presents on City Walk, then we had a couple of drinks in the hotel bar before turning in.

I think this had been one of my favourite days.

[WileyCoyote]

What a different day, some great things there we have never done and will definitely be on alist for next time
Poor lady falling at HoB, hope she was ok,
We loved BMG too, its just so different and hard to describe to people who havent seen it
Lovely pics , thanks for sharing

[Guest]

love the pic

[Guest]

Can I ask where you booked this tour it sounds fab

[nickymouse66]

We booked it direct with Gator Tours or Grey Line
It was a lovely day but only runs on Sundays

[Guest]

You were right to watch the Blue Man Group .

My daughter & I saw the show a few days later. We were further back, but the acoustics and view were amazing. So funny .



The YouTube clips don't give it enough justice.

[nickymouse66]

I know, I just never really understood what the fuss was all about until I saw it for myself. So different & such fun!

[Cinderella]

I love celebration, picture perfect!

[nickymouse66]

It really is, I can't imagine living somewhere like that!

[DisneyBlonde]

Another great day, you certainly pack a lot in! We stay in a villa just round the corner from Celebration and when we visited it gave us the creeps, very Stepford Wives!