Highs,Lows and in-betweeners 6-20/5.

[LOU68]

Arrived back Sunday and thought I would do a Highs, Lows and in-Betweens of our visit, rather than a full blown TR. I commend those who do and love reading them but I didn’t take note how much things were, or photo it so an epic Dibb failing.

We flew with Virgin from Manchester on Saturday 6th (fab price using miles), full size car hire with Alamo Brits, stayed in a privately rented home on Palm Key Davenport and purchased the DC Ultimate Non-Swim ticket. Also had tickets for Orlando City SC v Sporting Kansas. We ate at Millers, Texas Roadhouse, CiCi’s, Outback, Perkins, Steak’n’Shake, Applebees,Bubba Gumps,IHOP, HHAGG. Armed with vouchers for every single one other than Cheesecake Factory where we just had cheesecake to go on way to the Orlando game. We eat brekkie at home,other than IHOP and Perkins visits,and just snack at lunchtimes so saving ourselves for a splurge in the evening. This is our 12th visit to the Sunshine State, hence the lack of theme parks.

Highs
Virgin – outbound flight was good,took off on time,nice crew in our section,no recliners,good choice of films,food and drinks not bad (apart from the sandwiches cheese n pickle bleurgh)excellent landing (never felt it !). Arrived early and before all the other UK planes landing too.
MCO Arrival – Being at front of economy certainly helped as we were through immigration in no time, after preparing for a long wait. (I had even been tracking average times last few weeks and was showing 60 mins). Had to queue as usual to visit an officer due to an “X” who I may add was very pleasant. Luggage was on belt after a very short wait, through the final customs check and this was noted as 30 minutes from leaving plane.

Orlando Attractions – Purchased DC tickets from them much cheaper than anyone else. Had to change the date for our visit and were very accommodating and all done at no extra cost.

DC – just love spending the day here and even being there for over 8 hours it flew by.

SW/BG/AQ Parking – Great that this was included with our DC visit as we have always purchased a parking permit from DC before.

Mako - Love love love this ride, it now tops Sheikra and Cheetah Hunt! We would pop in for a couple of hours just to ride it 4 consecutive rides being the record and 17 times in all. Would’ve been 18 but it went rogue on our last visit. The back row is the new front.

Steak n Shake – Happy Hour milkshakes and lovely staff, would pop in after our Mako visits.

CiCi’s – Now I know this is a marmite kinda place amongst Dibbers but we always go to LBV and for the choice, price and quality it can’t be beaten. Don’t forget the BOGOF coupons.

Dollars – The exchange rate may be pants but we came home with more $’s than ever before, all thanks to coupons, vouchers and not going mad in Walmart/Target. Any non-food shopping has always been put on my Zero credit card so even the lack of that (see Lows) didn’t contribute. Ah well more for next time

Smirnoff Kissed Caramel Vodka $11.97 Walmart…I say no more.

Millers Ale House – A great server and the Dibbtastic Zinger Mountain Melt and free Cap’n Jacks dessert (Happy Birthday DH)

Orlando City SC Guest Relations – I had purchased tickets through them directly from the guest relations, a lovely lady called Monica, and got a visitors discount. She advises what seats are available and you pick them, we saved around $10 each. Not as much choice as buying resale through Ripoffmaster but our seats were fine. She emailed a couple of times since purchase early this year with advice for our visit and a reminder a couple of days before. During 2nd half of the game she even came to say Hi and ask how everything was. Excellent service.

Weather – No control over this element but had the best weather. A few hours of rain on the Saturday (matchday as it happened) and a heavy shower on our last day but that was it. Humidity was only just starting as we left too.

In Betweens

Bubba Gumps – Landry card worked well in getting seated and as DH birthday is next Wednesday he had his birthday voucher to use. We had an excellent visit last time but was a little disappointed this time. Did notice the portion sizes had got smaller and the quality of the sauces didn’t seem as good. Although our server was pleasant had no interaction from her, no offers of refills, and our bill bought to us without asking and providing the Landry card.

HHAGG – Now the food was great and had used the Travelzoo voucher but it is FREEZING in there. I wrapped myself in a napkin.

Orlando City game – Now whilst the atmosphere is great and the new stadium is fab, there is a little inconsistency with security. I took a small bag which I understood to be within the allowed size but was refused entry. I would need to take it back to my vehicle, or “dispose of it in a bin”. I probably did a round mile sprint back to the car only to find once entering the stadium fans inside with larger bags.

Lows
Servers – Not sure if previous experiences have raised expectation but this visit I did notice that quite a few of our servers, whilst being pleasant, didn’t really seem interested IYKWIM. A couple straight away bought refills without asking but others we never saw once the food had been bought out and the usual enquiring if all is ok when your mouths full . Applebees we had barely sat down and our server came to take our order and huffed when we mentioned we hadn’t had chance to look at the menus yet. Not all of this was at busy times and this has never seemed to have been a problem before. I know it’s a hard job they do but there definitely seemed to be an emphasis on looking after larger tables rather than just a table for 2.

Roadworks – in the 20 years we have been visiting I have never known there to be so many roadworks all across the counties as this time. Cones everywhere, lanes closed, roads closed just like being back at home. Also ruined some good photo opps

Traffic – A lot more congestion around in non-roadwork areas especially Exit 60 on I4 outside of rush hour, akin to sitting on M6 at rush hour. We witnessed many cars at roadside having been involved in “fender benders” but seeing how many of them drive it’s no wonder why. Lewis Hamilton would be proud of the fast lane changing, under/overtaking all without indication or spacial awareness.

Queue jumping – We always go in May and the downside is visiting parks at the same time as all the “Class of ……” school groups. Now this we have always accepted grin and bearing the ear-piercing shouts, screams and who can talk the loudest in an enclosed space. This year there was much queue jumping going on so as all the besties can ride together and general disregard for other guests. We did mention this to the kids and guardians if we saw any, but nobody seemed bothered Seems the decline of manners is happening all over.
Shopping – Now I look forward to a Florida haul as much as any other dibber but I must say this year there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm. I know we all have different tastes etc. but this year just nothing appealed and the offers didn’t seem to be as good, regardless of the exchange rate. But I did buy some of these beauties.

Kraken – This was closed due to the refurb over to virtual reality, which IMO seems a waste of a good ride. I know it’s optional but I don’t think I would like to wear a headset to experience it.

Water Fountains – All I can say is YUK, seemed even worse this year even squirty juice didn’t mask the taste. Bought little bottles water in end to freeze and left in car so I didn’t have to walk around with them.

Wet N Wild - So sad to see the bulldozers flattening everything,worked quickly in those 2 weeks though and by the end of it all that was visibly left was a bit of H2O

Overall another awesome holiday,hoping to return in 2019 possibly October as haven’t been there that season since 2001.

[Jaspercat10]

Thank you a great read x

[janeywaney]

Looks like you had a fab time thanks for sharing


Jane x

[Mexy02]

Loooks like you had a fabulous time

[mick]

Sounds like you had great holiday

Joan

[disneytrio]

Al in all sounds fantastic, thanks for sharing!

[Taffy1959]

Sounds like you had a good time overall, love the Disney shoes.

[DisneyBlonde]

I love reading highs and lows, thanks for sharing.

What would you recommend at HHAGG? We are visiting for the first time in September.

[Cocobean121]

Did we go on the same holiday?

I've been back a few days and echo everything you said OP! Same opinion on the servers, the weather, the traffic, the driving, discovery cove non swim, HHAGG being freezing and using a travelzoo voucher! Infact I'm sure when I was sitting in HHAGG I saw an English couple come in and say they had a voucher, maybe it was you!

Glad you had a fabulous time, we did too, it was our 4th once in a lifetime trip (and I've already been looking at flights again) x

[Cocobean121]

Originally Posted by DisneyBlonde

I love reading highs and lows, thanks for sharing.

What would you recommend at HHAGG? We are visiting for the first time in September.

See more...

I can give you my recommendation aswell

I had the ribs, bloomin lovely, really meaty and delish sauce. It came with lovely seasoned green beans and carrots and served on a massive slab of mashed potatoes, now this had horseradish in which I'm not a fan of, but it worked well with the sweetness of the sauce.

DH had a massive meal, it consisted of pork loin in a creamy BBQ sauce, I forget what it was called, rather a long name tho. He said he had no idea what he was eating but it was again delicious, and he is usually a very plain eater.

In my opinion one of the best meals we had, and lovely friendly staff, but as OP said, it's freezing in there!