Final Florida Fling - the Orlando bit - Easter 2022

[archibald]

The pre-amble

The Orlando Bit

The middle bit

The final bit



Day 1 Saturday 9th April, Denny's, Walmart, Red Lobster, Old Town

We had rough plans to go to Aquatica today as it’s always an early morning– 3am for me, 5am for the others – but it was a given that we would be having a Denny’s breakfast as it’s a first morning tradition for us. This was the worst Denny’s we have ever been to – it was on the 192, full of English families and if it had been my first experience of Denny’s we would never have gone back. I wonder if it’s because they know that people aren’t going to be going back so they don’t try very hard. We’re usually somewhere a little more off the beaten track to be honest, where I guess they have to try harder to get the local people to return, rather than relying on a stream of people like us, only in town for a few days.

We changed our mind (this is something that happened surprisingly often, although plans are generally ‘loose’) about Aquatica and hit Walmart where we bought All. Of. The. Things. Travelling with only hand baggage means that we need a decent toiletries haul on arrival (nothing gets wasted, it all comes home with us which isn’t always a good thing, but more about that later!), along with a couple of huge beach towels, swim shirts, water, drinks, snacks, bagels, cereal, ice-cream sandwiches and the hideous Jimmy Dean breakfast biscuit sandwiches for the freezer. Lunch was a Walmart fried chicken – I hate to think how it must be grown, it’s so cheap that it’s quite horrifying really. We can tell that prices have gone up and the exchange rate has gone down from our 2018 trip – we spent just over £250!

The afternoon was spent at Bryan in the pool, kayaking and unpacking the last bits before we hit Red Lobster for tea.

The car park behind Red Lobster charges $10 to park for the car show, but this was happily waived when I said we were eating at the restaurant. The food was great, I do have an issue with the table height in the booths though – the others are all six foot plus and didn’t notice until I sat down - at 5’5 I felt like a little munchkin with the table hovering somewhere between my boobs and my chin which they all laughed at all of the time. We tried (and failed) to not eat all of the cheese biscuits so we’d have space for dessert. So that didn’t happen, still don’t know what the desserts are like. We rarely eat dessert in the US, and we all eat a lot – but the portions are just too big and our self control is too small, so plates are cleared before dessert is considered.

The cars were great, but the Old Town was very busy – can you see a bit of a theme here? Three of us wandered aimlessly down the car line and the fourth wanted to look at and photograph each bit of each engine and send it home to his friends (to be fair they are all engineering students).

We left him to it and walked back to the car ringing him to arrange a pick up point later on. We all had Three SIM cards for the holiday, (£15 for 12GB and unlimited calls/texts to UK numbers, USA numbers are pricey though). Mostly because the others are on GiffGaff which doesn’t do roaming well but mine is also a business phone and I didn’t want any calls, even though EE is actually pretty good for roaming. It was great being able to drop the kids off for a morning of rollercoastering (Seaworld & Busch) and for finding each other again in Walmart (is that just us? I feel as if I’ve spent hours of my life looking for my family in there!)

Sunday 10th, Aquatica, Ichiban Buffet, Oak Ridge Shooting Range

Those breakfast biscuits came in handy! We were at Aquatica at 9am on one of those ‘unseasonably cool’ days (24°C) which means that many Americans won’t visit the water parks and by 11.30 the kids had done all of the slides, some of them twice, and done a few laps on the rivers too. Dh & I completed two and a half laps of Roa’s Rapids before we even saw anyone else in there with us, and although the lazy river was deserted too, they’d decided to tip all of the rings in anyway which was an odd decision.

We decided that we’d probably had enough sun for early days and left, which made the $30 charge for the locker smart that little bit more. We don’t bother changing as we’re only minutes away from base and you’re usually fairly dry by the time you get to the car anyway (plus the boys have swimshirts & board shorts, I have a swimdress and take a sarong so we’re all quite ‘decent’) – we only needed a locker for a phone, passports (ID for first time we used the tickets, although it wasn’t needed) and the car keys, and I’m sure there used to be tiny ones just for this purpose for $10, although maybe I’m thinking of Adventure Island in Tampa.

Anyway, the next time we went in there was no locker fee as the keys and tickets went in a waterproof pouch around DH’s neck. The bag/book/towels etc are always left on a lounger somewhere and we already had the pouch ready for the kayaking later in the holiday from the army surplus shop (although used an additional ziplock inside just in case!).

We showered and hit the Ichiban Buffet on the 192 for lunch. It’s a sushi/Chinese buffet and does what it does very well (although you can only get sashimi at dinner). We all ate far too much for the rather embarrassingly low cost of $64.40 (+ cash tip) and set out for the Oakridge Gun Range. DS1 is an army cadet and DS2 shoots air pistols, coupled with living on a farm and shooting air rifle & shot guns they are reasonable experienced but still wanted to fire ‘proper’ guns.

It’s a great, friendly place, supervised, decent instruction on gun safety and if it’s something that you are thinking of doing I would definitely recommend it.

I’m not exactly sure what was fired by whom, but DH had to pay just to go in with them, (he didn’t shoot) and I know that glocks were involved, they both came out with some pretty tidy targets although DS2 was upset to have to shoot two-handed and had hit a ‘4’ – most people are just happy to hit the target! They spent $140 in total including the fancy targets, gun hire, ammo, and entry for three.

I decided to drive to the nearest big shop/mall to kill some time in the big, rather numb Toyota Forerunner – I’m glad that I turned around in the car park first, the turning circle was a shocker, and I was venturing out alone in an unknown area having not driven the vehicle before or on the ‘wrong’ side of the road for years. Anyway all went well, and unfortunately they rang to be picked up just as I’d left Target and was heading for the nearest Dunkin. I don’t really get the Target thing - it just seems to be the same quality stuff as Walmart, but slightly less of it at a slightly higher price.

I returned to Dunkin once I’d picked them up (never pass up the opportunity to get a frozen Dunkaccino, although some branches won’t do them), then hit the ‘wizard’s hat’ shop on the 192 that they loved when they were younger – they saw it through adult eyes this time but still bought cheap penknives (DS2 bought one engraved ‘#1 son’) and tacky souvenirs - it’s got to be done! We also hit the Dollar Tree close to Bryan – always need to buy a pair of scissors and only found the ones already in the condo when we got back! Some truly vile smoked sausage snack things were purchased, along with plenty of sweeties and a few of the ‘large’ travel toiletries – everything is bigger in the States.

Day 3, Monday, Seaworld, Golden Corral, Lake County Fair

Today I realised that I’d left the ‘things to do’ list at home. I knew there was certain things that had to happen on certain days – like Busch on Thursday as we travelled past, and was worried that I’d get home and find that we’d forgotten to do something, however we were in Orlando for 5 days so Seaworld was a given and off we went.

We got there for opening and it was really quiet - the kids went rollercoastering – we went to look at the sharks and penguins which is far more my kind of lifestyle pace before meeting them for the midday Orca Show. They were there really early having ridden the rollercoasters ‘enough’ times.

**Seaworld rant alert - don't read this bit if you're visiting soon**
I knew it had changed a lot since our last visit, but the Orca show really wasn’t good. It was the same whales doing the same tricks as they’ve always done, but with Seaworld pretending that it was for the whales own health monitoring benefits and when they talked about the ‘voluntary blood test’ I almost almost walked out.

Man up and own it Seaworld – the whales are doing tricks for rewards and live in small areas in numbers that are too few – exactly like almost every pet dog in the country. It’s almost like they have these highly trained animals and don’t know what to do with them – if people have chosen to go to Seaworld they know what they’re visiting, if people have watched Blackfish and become overnight experts in whale welfare they won’t be there – they’ve probably left their dog locked in the house for the day and gone to Disney instead and will give it a treat when it gives them it’s paw later ... Each to their own, but don’t pretend to be something that you’re not. Anyway, Seaworld rant over – in fact I’m including the dolphin show in this too that we saw on a later visit.

**You can safely resume now**

After the show DH & DS1 hot-footed it to the water ride – Infinity? DS2 didn’t want to get wet, and I’ve finally realised on this trip that I don’t actually have to pretend to enjoy the rides that almost kill me and leave me feeling extremely nauseous. By the time we decided what to do next, they were back – and very wet – so much for a 20 minute wait time!

We always say that we’re never going back there, but there was a Golden Coral between us and ‘home’ and although half of us were still slightly damp we stopped for lunch. A bit of strategic planning on my part meant that I had a small plate of tiny tastes and then properly hit the desserts table. I was very proud of myself as the bread pudding, the apple/peach thing and the cherry pie were really quite good – who knew!

Now admittedly the rest of the day probably won’t appeal to many people, but I’ve always wanted to visit a County fair and we’ve never managed it until today. This is also the first ever trip to the States (and I think it’s 12 now) where we haven’t been able to visit the rodeo. If you’re ever in Orlando in late March I can recommend the Ocala rodeo – there’s also a great horse tour up there if you’re into that kind of thing. I think the Kissimmee Silver Spurs rodeo is part of the same tour – it’s never been on when we’ve been in Florida, although I seem to recall having tickets booked for 2020 so must be some time around Easter.

I could remember that I had the Lake County Fair booked in for Tuesday evening, but couldn’t really remember why. I probably thought we’d be longer in Seaworld, but after a quick afternoon dip back at Bryan we decided that today was the day. It was the steer sales on Tuesday, but the showing was today. It all takes place in the evening in cooler conditions for the animals.

The Lake County Fair was in Eustis about an hour north of Orlando. The fair is a mix of fairground rides and food, displays put on by the local 4H groups (similar to the Young Farmers Clubs in the UK) and stock judging, showing and sales. We’re farmers and the kids are Young Farmers, and we always end up doing agricultural stuff when we’re away – even if it’s looking round museums full of stuff we have in the back of sheds at home in buildings younger than our house (see more of this next week!).

What can I say, we had a great night – I didn’t agree with the cattle judges at all – they judge so differently from us and their prize winners were big fat beasts that wobbled when they walked with a really stiff legged gait (probably due to their weight). Beasts like that would never be seen in a showring here.

We ate corn dogs and funnel cakes washed down with sno-cones and lemonade – a really good evening. On the way out I stopped to chat with one of the organisers and found out a little more about the 4H movement and discovered that she had relatives living less than an hour from us but she couldn’t remember exactly where. We said our goodbyes and headed for the restrooms before the drive back.

And while we’re thinking about all things lavatorial – you know that level of service that you probably associate with Disney but in reality is just the American way of everyone having a nicer and easier life? Like almost all shops having restrooms? I have to comment on the portaloos of the Lake County Fair. Clean, spacious, well lit, smelled amazing, when you lift the seat there’s a huge hole to aim for (that bit from DH) had water, soap, towels and sanitiser a beautiful experience that will probably never be repeated here.

As I left the restroom I was accosted by the organiser lady who had remembered exactly where her relatives lived – a tiny village that she was surprised that we knew. She told us when she’d last visited she’d been to our local agricultural show – I guess it’s not just us that seeks out the agricultural experience then! Photo’s were taken and email addresses swopped – it would be great if we could set up some sort of exchange on the back of all this.

On the drive back I realised that I’d left the map (we always take the Florida state map) which gave me a little bit of a panic as I don’t like relying on google maps in rural areas but it got us home safely and to be fair we didn’t use the map at all this trip other than the initial planning on the coffee table at home – it’s far better than a screen for that ‘where shall we go’ discussion.

Tuesday 12th April, Seaworld/Walmart, Cracker Barrel, Museum of Military History and back to Seaworld, Steak and Shake

Another bagel and biscuit breakfast and dropped the boys at Seaworld for another coaster fix. We went to Walmart as DH decided that he needed pyjamas then picked up the boys and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. This didn’t end well – we were later than we thought we’d be, had to wait 20 mins for a table, then the boys surprised my by ordering ‘proper’ meals when I’d though we were breakfasting so I panicked and ordered a ‘sampler’ which was a full portion of many things and a ridiculous amount of food that got shared between us all. Much as I love a Cracker Barrel breakfast, the rest of the food always seems a bit ‘school canteen’. We returned for breakfast albeit to a different one later in the holiday.

Almost next door was the Museum of Military History. I really want to say nice things about it because the people seemed really proud of it, but it was mostly a collection of old art that you’d pick up for a pound or two in the local saleroom. We all love a museum, we’ve been to many while we’re away, but this was a fairly soulless collection and if you did find something of interest, you could learn nothing further about it was lacking information about the exhibits. I have the price written as $41, which isn’t a lot, but it still isn’t really worth a visit.

10 minutes North and we hit the pool & the kayaks again, and then decided to go back to Seaworld to catch the Dolphin & the Sealion show. Thank goodness there was still a glimpse of the old Sealife experience in the Sealion show, and the mime artist, as ever, was excellent. The kids took DH on Manta and broke him – apparently it’s the last coaster he’s ever going on, and he’s the one that used to take the kids on the bigger stuff when they were smaller. We needed a quick bite on the way home, and decided to go to either Five Guys or Steak & Shake depending on which was nearest – S & S won, and we got decent burgers and shakes, and then two free shakes as there was a bit of an order mix up and the staff were convinced that they were ours!

Day 5 Wednesday. Aquatica, Showcase of Citrus, Ichiban Buffet

We’d planned to go tubing & snorkelling at Rainbow River today, but plans changed (due to family stuff) so went on Friday instead. This gave us an extra day in Orlando which we used at Aquatica (without paying the greedy locker charge) and I nicely divided my time between the Rapids and reading Riders (yes, the Jilly Cooper one from the 80’s – it hasn’t aged well!).

It was here that DH was a hero for a minute that sadly none of us witnessed. He’d been going around the Rapids again when a squirrel fell (or was he pushed?) out of a tree and splashed down right beside him. It swam towards the edge, then changed it’s mind and headed or one of the little islands where you get into the rapids (and would have been stranded as no trees) so DH picked it up by it’s tail and dropped it in the undergrowth next to a tree. His only witness was a rather bemused American boy who thought it was a rat – I would love to know what he told his parents!

The boys had ‘done everything’ before 12, so we packed up and left to go back and pack as it was to be our last night at Bryan. Packing didn’t take that long, so we headed out to the Showcase of Citrus for old times sake – and I wished we hadn’t to be honest. As with the Everglades trip later next week, we found it had grown into a monster – quite appropriate given the monster truck rides – but it used to be so quiet and nice, with loads of honey to taste, and juices to try. Now it’s a much bigger more commercial affair, more trucks, more stuff to buy – soaps & jams & stuff but it’s lost its quaint appeal.

It did however have one redeeming feature – you could buy a cup of wilting carrot sticks for $3 to feed the animals. There was goats, sheep, pigs, donkey, a tiny pony and a few proud hens with their chicks. They were sharing a pen with a big, evil, pecky thing (I don’t like ostrich) which was a shame, but it was a whole 5 days since I’d fed the goats, sheep, hens and ponies at home, and you do tend to miss it when you’re away! We went back to the Ichiban for the dinner buffet – that’s how I knew there was sashimi – brilliant! Ate too much again.

[katebush95]

Really fab and interesting report! So nice to get a picture of all the different things you can do in and around Orlando.

I love Riders it’s probably one of my fave all time books!

PS The link for your preamble doesn’t work for me?

[archibald]

I think I've fixed it now, thank you.

[AhoyShipmates]

Thanks, by writing about the County Fair you have demystified references in the lyrics of two country songs (Nancy Griffiths and The Chicks), especially the 4H Club!

[Joshie1]

Originally Posted by AhoyShipmates

Thanks, by writing about the County Fair you have demystified references in the lyrics of two country songs (Nancy Griffiths and The Chicks), especially the 4H Club!

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I have Goodbye Earl as a earworm now