Living the American Dream! Part 1

I am back from the most amazing 3 week holiday in Orlando, and wowza have I got a lot to tell you about. Lets start at the beginning and effectively break this down into two holidays by telling you about my first week.

For us the first 7 nights was full of firsts for us. We had been to Florida 3 time before however only ever stay on at Disney hotels using Disney Transportation, but we decided to try just one week staying at the Holiday Inn Express opposite Universal with a Alamo car hire. This hotel was a fantastic location 10 min walk from the Universal Studios and by offering free car parking saves a whopping $22 a day on parking at the theme park. Surrounded with local restaurant’s such as IHop, Pizza hut, Pondersa and many more a 5-10 min walk.

The hotel itself had its own swimming pool, TGI restaurant offering kids eat free for all hotel guests,24 hour reception, concierge, car hire services and a good size shop . Large rooms ranging from 4 to 8 people with coffee making facilities, fridges (larger rooms even had a kitchen with dish washer)  Here we had a great base to start our holiday.

During our first week we re-visited Universal Studios, Universal Islands of adventure, Seaworld, Aquatica and  new to us for 2016 Kennedy Space Centre.

Kennedy Space has been somewhere my space loving husband has always wanted to travel to, however we always felt the children were just a little young to enjoy it. Now they are all a little bit older we made the trip to Cape Canaveral and I must say it was a fascinating day and well worth the trip. We also found this the perfect choice for our first full day with Jetlag as it much more relaxed. During our day  we took a 40 min tour of the launch pad and where history is forever being made, we saw and admired the Space shuttle Atlantis which is now retired the exhibit. Plus used the space simulator, tried space food and a whole host of interesting space activities.

The next few days we spent at Universal and the main high light for my family was probably the magical world of Harry Potter . We had really been looking forward to this, and it didnt disappointed. The attention to details from the much loved films was amazing. The two main rides Forbidden Journey and Escape from Gringotts were technically amazing and probably our favourite part of the Universal parks (along with the butterbeer mmmmmm).

During our time in Universal we stayed just the one night in the Royal Loews Pacific hotel and for anyone travelling to Florida this is a great tip to making the most of your time in the park, as everyone that stays receives a free express fast pass and early entry to Harry potter. In the high season this was worth its weight in gold, as it meant we were able to ride every attraction without long queues and saved us $90 per person per day which is much  more than what it costs to actually stay at the hotel.

The hotel itself was stunning, very lavish and tropical. With 3 restaurant’s, Universal gift shops, cocktail bar and direct access to the parks either via a short walk or boat ride. This hotel is a great base for  making the most of Universal.

During the week we spend some time in Seaworld and Aquatica, as always seeing the spectacular shows and marine animals we fantastic.

DID YOU KNOW! At Seaworld although the original Shamu passed away years ago due to the bloodline all Orca Killer whales in Orlando are called Shamu as this is their family name like a surname.

These sadly will probably be the last time we visit Seaworld for a while. The park itself are still fantastic especially if you haven’t been before however over the last 11 years there has been very little change to the park therefore we personally feel there is nothing more for us to experience as a family.

So that is part one of my amazing trip. Join my over the next few weeks where I will tell you about our magical trip to Disney and how I ticketed off one of my life long Bucklist experience’s with a special day trip.

Until next time

Marie

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