Florida 2012 – Rosemarys Travels

Florida 2012

22nd March 2012 (Day 11): Seaworld and Leaving

Posted on October 19, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

Unfortunately it’s our last day in Florida and before our flight in the evening we used our tickets again to visit Seaworld. So we packed up the hotel room and got everything in the car before heading down to Seaworld.

Really wanted to make sure we saw the Seamore and Clyde show as we missed it on our first visit. So we headed straight there.

The Mime is a great part of the show and comes on for the period before it starts. He’s got a lot of tricks like starting to show people to seats and then just leaving them or trying to dance with them.

The show itself is really funny and Rosemary really enjoyed it with the antics of the sealions and the naughty otter who comes and steals things.

The shops were packed with Shamus.

And we had another trip around some of the aquariums. The fish and sea creatures are just amazing.

And finally a picture with the lighthouse as we were leaving.

And very unfortunately that was pretty much the end of our trip. After this we headed back to the airport and dropped off our hire car before going into the airport itself and checking in for our flight home. At the airport we had a burger at Burger King (not much in the way of decent places to eat to be honest) and had an uneventful flight home with a tired out little girl who will need some time to recover I suspect.

Once home we got this shot of all the things she’d been bought while there.

And now to start planning our next trip.

Florida 2012

21st March 2012 (Day 10): Magic Kingdom

Posted on October 19, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

Heading towards the end of our trip and we took a trip to visit the Magic Kingdom. We had just bought a 2 day Disney ticket, having used our first day at Animal Kingdom, and this was the second use of that ticket.

Magic Kingdom seemed to be a long way off and driving in we finally got a hint we were going the right way.

Though of course even once you park your journey isn’t at an end and you still have to get the tram from the parking lot to the entrance and then the boat or monorail into the park itself. But we eventually made it just when there was a Dance Party happening.

After that we took a few posed pictures in front of the castle. Think Rosemary was happy to be here.

We weren’t planning many rides but thought that one ride was a must, which was “It’s a Small World”.

We had a spot of lunch at the Cheshire Cat Cafe and had some cereal which went down very nicely.

After that we had a walk around the park taking some photos and seeing the sights. Particularly liked this one of the balloons.

We caught the afternoon parade which was a lot of fun and got a really nice viewing spot just opposite the Hall of Presidents.

We did a spot of shopping and trying on some ears after the parade.

After that Rosemary flaked out and we decided to call it a day at the park.

For dinner we headed back to Red Lobster and had a very nice started of Lobster, Gruyere and Spinach dip which went down very well with the red tortilla chips.

Julia was more keen on the giant cocktails! Unfortunately I was driving….again!

Florida 2012

20th March 2012 (Day 9): Aquatica and Universal City Walk

Posted on October 19, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

Heading towards the end of our trip to Florida and we used our Discovery Cove tickets to go to Aquatica, the waterpark by Seaworld. It hadn’t really been very high on our list of things to do but proved very wrong and we had a great time.

The main beach/pool has a wave machine which goes off every 15 minutes or so. When it does there is a bit of a rush for the water. This was a lot of fun for Rosemary being bounced up and down in the waves.

The other area we spent time in was the part set aside for smaller children (Kata’s Kookaburra Cove). This has a number of water jets, props and small slides.

The only other bit we went on was Loggerhead Lane which is the lazy river. This is pretty cool as it takes you past some transparent waterslides, the Commerson’s Dolphins and through an aquarium.

Even though it was a hot day Rosemary had been in the water for quite some time by this point and was starting to get a little chilled, so we spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the sand.

And looking at the Commerson’s Dolphins which spend a lot of their time swimming upside down.

Once we left Aquatica we headed for Universal Citywalk. As we arrived later in the afternoon the parking was half price, but you still have to pay to park there. Slightly annoying but you have to pay for parking pretty much everywhere. Think the only place you don’t is at Downtown Disney.

We headed to the Bubba Gump restaurant to have dinner. Had a short wait but not very long.

Rosemary slept through some of the meal but woke up to have a bit of dinner.

Afterwards we had a quick walk over to the entrance to Universal Studios.

Florida 2012

19th March 2012 (Day 8): Busch Gardens

Posted on October 18, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

Off again to Tampa to visit Busch Gardens this time. Nice journey over to the Gulf Coast and this time we didn’t need to drive through Tampa itself, so no city driving which was nice.

We visited Busch Gardens many years ago when we first went to Florida and made the mistake of going on a weekend, and it was really, really busy with local people. Fair enough they probably get a good value annual ticket and can go in whenever they want. But this time we planned to visit on a weekday and so went on a Monday. It was certainly a lot quieter but there were still long queues for some of the rides (not that we were going on any) and things like Rhino Rally, which we thought Rosemary was too little for anyway.

While getting our bearings and working out where to visit first we saw the crocodiles.

We started off by visiting the Myombe Reserve where there are Gorillas and Chimps.

The grounds are really nice and the enclosures are pretty big (not as big as a jungle obviously) but give the animals lots of space to roam and hide away.

As it was getting towards lunchtime and we took a break and went to the Kenyan Kanteen in the Nairobi area and got some chips (sorry fries) and a funnel cake. This is a fried dough, bit like a doughnut, but sort of swirled into the fryer so you get thin pieces all joined together. Was really nice and Rosemary wanted it.

We then headed into the Curiosity Caverns and Animal Care Centre where there are some smaller animals and some requiring attention for whatever reason.

From there we walked over to the Edge of Africa.

There was a nice display with some lions, set up like an encampment.

By the lions there is a Land Rover that you can climb into and the glass for the lion’s enclosure forms the windscreen.

And there was an amazing “stand” (the term for a group) of flamingos.

And finally in this area was the tank with hippos and a multitude of fish. Really nice to see them underwater.

From here we went to the Nairobi train station to get the train around the whole park and through the animal enclosures. This was a really nice little trip and you get to see the animals much closer up.

Getting off the train we headed further into the park and had a look at the elephants.

And then headed up into Timbuktu.

And from there we headed to Jungala to see the tigers. Busch Gardens has a number of white tigers (which is not good for conservation purposes but they are pretty spectacular).

As well as the normally coloured tigers.

The one on the left above looks like he’s halfway between the two.

And this guy really looks like a Disney cartoon of Shere Khan.

There is a hatch you can stick you head up into where you can look at the tigers directly.

As well as a high level observation area where there is a floor to ceiling window.

We went to do some shopping at this point and Julia tried on some rather fetching head gear.

And Rosemary got bought a white tiger, although she was a bit too sleepy to appreciate him.

And finally as we were leaving a picture in front of the main entrance.

Florida 2012

18th March 2012 (Day 7): Relaxing Day

Posted on October 16, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

After several days of hectic activity and already having visited 3 theme parks we had a day off (Sunday as it happens) to relax, do a bit of shopping and take things slow.

We went to the top of International Drive to the outlet stores there and had quite a successful few hours looking around and getting quite a few bargains, including some designer stuff for Rosemary. Including Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Laren Polo. Got myself some bargain walking boots in North Face which were reduced from $120 to $24. Great deal as they were 80% off. Woohoo!

We decided to go to Downtown Disney to have a look around the shops there but first headed straight for the T-Rex restaurant for dinner.

This is a big, big restaurant which is themed with animatronic dinosaurs and was really popular to the extent that even though we were really early for dinner we still had to put our names on the list. Fortunately we really didn’t have to wait very long before being led all the way through the restaurant to our table.

The designers had done a good job and there is foliage everywhere (all false I’m sure) and there are dinosaurs visible everywhere. We had some leaning directly over our heads. They move a little bit all the time but every 15 minutes there is a meteor storm when the lights go down and there is lots of flashing and noise. The dinosaurs move a lot during this and the “ice cave” changes colour. (apologies for the poor photos but I only took my iPhone and the little Canon Ixus camera went flat because I had forgotten to charge it the night before).

The food, considering the massive size of the place and the fact that people probably don’t really go there for the food, was actually pretty good. Rosemary particularly enjoyed her macaroni cheese.

And the non-alcoholic cocktail (which was quite frankly revolting) went down quite well. Not sure the colourings were a very healthy option though.

(Incidently, still don’t like the flash on the iPhone4S which always seems to wash everything out.)

Some posed shots with the dinosaurs.

That’s the same dinosaur as in the picture above but he had bent right down and was trying to bite us. Rosemary wasn’t too worried though.

By the time we left the queues were really big.

Once we had eaten we had a walk around the shops in Downtown Disney, where there is a really huge Disney shop selling literally everything you would ever want that has a pair of mouse ears on it.

Regretted not bringing my SLR as there were a lot of opportunities for some good pictures amongst the items on the shelves. Had a go with the phone camera but not as good.

Walking back through we couldn’t help stopping at the Candy Cauldron to have a look at the Toffee Apples which they make in the shape of Mickey Mouse ears.

Finally, a picture with Mr Potato Head.

Florida 2012

17th March 2012 (Day 6): Florida Aquarium

Posted on October 11, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

Early start today as we were heading over to Tampa Bay to visit the Florida Aquarium. But wanted to get a good breakfast first so headed into Perkins for our usual breakfast. They had someone in doing balloon animals and hats etc so as Rosemary was being such a good girl with her food she got a balloon dog as a reward. Of course the moment she got it the eating stopped as it was such a massive distraction. Oh well, she’d had a lot up to that point.

(Unfortunately he was left in the car while we were at the aquarium and it was such a hot day a couple of the bits popped, which was a shame).

We then got in the car for the drive over to Tampa, which was a bit slow (a bit of traffic along the way) but uneventful and the sat nav took us straight to the right place through all the Tampa backstreets. We got there just in time for lunch which we had in the cafe.

Arriving at the Aquarium we couldn’t resist a photo under the giant Manta Ray.

The aquarium is excellent and is laid out by different regions. If I remember rightly we started off in the Wetlands.

Some parts are a recreation of the Everglades.

In one tank there were some crabs which got a lot of interest.

After that there were more tanks which reflected the fish which are found in more open waters.

The fish were really spectacular, although my photos weren’t so good from this day for some reason (lots of blurred shots) and as Rosemary needed to be held up to see into some of the tanks I didn’t have both hands to take the shots. Enough excuses, here are some pictures of the fish themselves.

Another Fish (should have made a better note)

We found him!

There was a really massive open water tank with lots of sharks, rays and fish in it. Unfortunately all my pictures came out really badly of it, and it was really busy as it was feeding time when we reached it. So just got this one shot of a ray.

Just around the corner were some really nice jellyfish tanks. The tanks were round and the jellyfish were swimming around inside them. The lights changed colours slowly as well to make a really nice effect.

There were some really big shells for the children to play in and Rosemary enjoyed exploring them.

We finished off exploring the aquarium.

Rosemary was getting pretty tired by this point so the promised ice cream had to make an appearance and we got her a Dora the Explorer ice cream in the cafe.

We decided to start heading back to Orlando at this time so we could be back there for some dinner. Traffic back through Tampa was pretty bad as a lot of streets had been closed off for an event but the sat nav got us back onto the freeway with only one false direction (due to a road closure).

As we were coming into Orlando we saw Red Lobster and decided to pull in there for some dinner. A certain someone refused to sit in her high chair though and decided she was going to sit in the booth with us.

Florida 2012

16th March 2012 (Day 5): Discovery Cove

Posted on October 8, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

Our next trip out was a real treat and was to Discovery Cove which is pretty much a day resort part of Seaworld where everything is inclusive and there are lots of places to swim and chill out. We went a few years ago for my birthday and wanted to take Rosemary back. It’s actually pretty good value as the entry cost includes all your food and drink for the day and free entry to Seaworld as well. We paid an extra few dollars (I think it was $40) to get Busch Gardens and Aquatica as well. I noticed recently that Aquatica is now part of the entry anyway so it’s even better value now.

The park has 4 main areas (at the time anyway, there is the Freshwater Oasis that has since opened) which are the Serenity Bay/Wind Away River which is a lazy river you can swim round and is freshwater, the Dolphin Lagoon where you do the dolphin swims, the Explorers Aviary and the Grand Reef which is a big saltwater area where there are fish and rays.

At check-in we got lent the coolest buggy ever which had giant beachbuggy wheels. This was taken at the end of the day though, which is why Rosemary is fast asleep.

We had breakfast to start off the day.

After a spot of breakfast we got our wetsuits on and headed for the lazy river.

Rosemary looked particularly fab in her all in one.

We grabbed Rosemary a lifejacket, although it was really a little big for her and a float for us to hold onto with her.

Definitely going for an all in one next time as you can see this was too baggy and kept riding up. Wore a T-Shirt specifically because I got rubbed on my shoulders last time but it didn’t help.

The river does a full circuit of that part of the park and there are two waterfalls where you enter and leave the aviary. These weren’t too popular unfortunately as they were pretty fierce and when you’re little they pummel you quite a lot.

We stopped at one point and someone was kind enough to take a photo of the 3 of us together.

Here is a good shot of the Serenity Bay area and the lovely white sand.

And the waterfall and caves which are the start of the Wind Away River.

After a lap of the river and some more paddling about we got some lunch. Food was first rate and we were pretty stuffed having gone back for deserts (all included in the entry price).

I decided to head off to the Grand Reef, which as it was seawater and pretty cold we decided not to take Rosemary into and she had a chill out by the beach. I had an underwater enclosure for my FLIP video camera and shot some footage while swimming and these are mainly snapshots extracted from that.

Some of the rays like these Cow Nose Rays were quite small (about 2ft?).

Some like this Spotted Eagle Ray were pretty huge. I would say the wingspan was a good 6ft and this one came right past we, swam around behind and headed off again. Real close encounter and my videoing was pretty rubbish as I was trying to stay out of his way.

After showering off the salt water I grabbed a couple of ice creams from one of the food spots and headed back to see how everyone was doing. Bringing ice cream back made me quite popular.

Rosemary also decided that she was going to go for snorkle.

After one more swim around the main open water space in the Serenity Bay area the afternoon was pretty much gone, so we got showered up and changed and walked over the aviary so I could take a few photos of the birds there. Julia decided to sit at the bay instead and have free cocktails.

And Rosemary was by this point shattered and had a dose in the beach buggy.

And in the aviary:

We had dinner that night at Red Lobster and knackered to bed.

Will definitely be going back to Discovery Cove on our next visit.

Florida 2012

15th March 2012 (Day 4): Animal Kingdom

Posted on April 13, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

We headed out towards Lake Buena Vista today to visit the Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom park. We went there on our previous trip and as Rosemary is very keen on animals we thought she would get a lot out of a day there. The queue for tickets (we hadn’t prepurchased our tickets for Disney as there was no saving in doing so) was pretty long and we had to queue for quite some time. As we were going to Magic Kingdom later in the trip we got a 2 day pass which saved a grand total of about $4).

Unfortunately a lot of the things we might have wanted to go on (the Kilimanjaro Safari Expedition for example) were really busy with long waits even on the Fast Pass ( a 6 hour return time I noticed at one point). Plus we weren’t really clear if she was too small or not. Sure it would have been fine but didn’t want to queue for ages and then find out. So we really concentrated on the animal exhibits.

The park was very busy (it was Spring Break in the US) and the walkways weren’t really wide enough for the amount of people in the place. So we were constantly dodging and trying to get through tight spaces. Not much fun with a buggy (sorry stroller!). We decided to head off the “Conservation Station” on the “Wildlife Express Train”.

They have an “Affection Section” there which is basically an animal petting area. There were some pigs, goats and (behind fences) donkeys and llamas.

Inside the “Conservation Station” they have a number of smaller animals, mainly behind glass such as frogs, reptiles and insects.

While out at this area (which was reasonably quiet because the only way in or out was by train) we sat down and Rosemary had a lolly.

We headed back to the main area on the train and then went for a walk around the “Pangani Forest Exploration Trail” which is a pathway leading you through an African animals exhibit. There was a large tank of cichlids which Rosemary liked.

There were more cichlids in the large pool with the hippos.

And there is a large gorilla enclosure.

After this we headed to the “Maharajah Jungle Trek” which is an equivalent walk-through for Asian animals. The settings had all been very well done and there was lots of interesting details. The tigers had disappeared though (it was a hot day and they must have been on their siesta), so no pictures I’m afraid.

In one viewpoint there was a colony of fruit bats. I hadn’t realised that the windows had no glass in them and nearly dropped Rosemary through. Guess the narrow bars (although big enough for a child to fit) are enough to stop the bats flying through!

The theme is maintained in each area. This one was in the Asia area as well.

Next stop was the Dinosaur area. We popped into the Boneyard briefly but it was full of much older children and I think Rosemary felt a little bit intimidated by them running around.

We stopped to try on some Mouse Ears as well. Rosemary does a great mouse impression.

As it was time for the parade by then we headed to a relatively non-busy area (by chance just by on of the shops on the main island) and watched that. No good pictures as I was holding Rosemary at the time.

Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade — Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade

It was getting to late afternoon by this point so we decided to call it a day, as Rosemary was pretty tired by then and we were getting fed up with the crowds, and head back to the car via a quick photo opportunity in front of the “Tree of Life”.

We couldn’t leave without some animal print ears and a Minnie Mouse though. Although not sure Rosie was that bothered at the time.

Florida 2012

14th March 2012 (Day 3): Seaworld

Posted on April 12, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

Having had a restful day yesterday we went to Seaworld today. We had booked tickets before we left the UK for Discovery Cove and this gives up to 14 days unlimited access into Seaworld as well. We paid a little extra to also get Busch Gardens and Aquatica added to that deal, so a lot of our visits were already paid for and think it was a good deal ($199 for all that access). We didn’t rush down to the park but had some breakfast and then took the short drive down International Drive to Seaworld. Parking isn’t included in the pre-booked tickets and is now a $14 extra. First stop when we got into the park was the Dolphin Nursery so Rosemary could have a look at the dolphins in a relatively quiet place.

Greatly enjoyed that, asking for “More” each time a dolphin went past. We then headed over to try and catch the “Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island” but got there a bit late and the show was already fully seated. So we had a quick look around the sealion enclosure instead.

The sealions were unusually quiet (it’s always been really loud and raucous when we’ve been there before), maybe it was too early for them and they don’t get up before midday. Also didn’t seem to be as many as in previous visits.

We then headed across the park to the “One Ocean” Killer Whale show, and having missed the first one we decided to get there nice and early so Rosemary could have an ice lolly.

The show was great, although the trainers are no longer allowed to go into the water with the Killer Whales, and although there are a lot of pictures I’ll just add a few here.

As we were then nearby we visited the Wild Arctic area, skipping the video and hopping out the back, to see the animals there. The area is really dark so getting photos is really difficult so only a couple of shots worth showing.

Rosemary decided to have a nap at this point and we grabbed some lunch before doing a little bit of shop browsing.

Once Rosemary had woken up and had something to eat and drink herself we went over to the Shark Encounter where there are some great aquarium and walk through tunnels. Rosemary wasn’t too sure about the idea:

But she soon got used to the idea.

By this time Rosemary was getting pretty tired (we had crammed a lot in) and we decided to do one last thing and go and catch the dolphin show “Blue Horizons”. Rosemary snacked out while we waited and enjoyed the display, particularly the birds flying low over the audience.

We were all pretty worn out by this point and had done everything we could for one day, and as we planned to come back later in our trip we headed out for dinner. We rather randomly went to Sizzler, which was cheap and cheerful, and food was perfectly fine.

Florida 2012

13th March 2012 (Day 2): Chilling

Posted on April 4, 2012April 20, 2016 by Alun

So a few more words about the Hawthorn Suites where we stayed. It’s a good value hotel but some of it is a bit basic. The general decor is a little tired and maybe in need of a little update but the staff were really friendly and for the price it is really good value for money. I have read that the hotel is due to be rennovated in the next 12 months which would be good but hopefully wont affect the price too much. The hotel is just off International Drive, just down Sandlake Road, and would be a short walk to the restaurants on I-Drive, although we always drove I will confess. As with everything in the US, you drive everywhere. There is a complimentary breakfast each morning which is cereals and a couple of hot dishes (eggs, sausage or bacon etc). Nothing fancy but it is free and we used it a few times when we wanted to get something quickly before going out for the day. We had a twin queen room, so you get a bedroom, living area with dining table and small kitchen area and separate bathroom. This worked well for us as it meant we could put Rosemary to bed and then stay up a bit longer ourselves.

Our bedroom included a small child.

Kitchen including the banana thief.

Our room overlooked the swimming pool which was nice. We wanted a quiet day to start our trip so decided to go to breakfast at Perkins and then head to Walmart to stock up on food and snacks, nappies and such like.

Then went to the outlet stores and see what was available. Started off at the Vineland Avenue stores. Not very much unfortunately and some of the reductions weren’t very good. Just got a few things here and there, the Timberland store had the best offers I think. In one store they had a $100+ pair of trainers reduced by 60c. What a bargain! Mainly things bought for Rosemary really as the children’s clothes were where the best offers were. So not as successful as we’ve had in the past.

We went to dinner on International Drive at the Ming Court restaurant on International Drive. Which was quite nice. Food was OK, but portions were much bigger than really needed for 1 person and Julia’s food was a bit cold when it came out. Rosemary enjoyed her’s which was a nice box with various things in it. The decor was quite cool with a huge Chinese dragon on ceiling and Chinese roofs throughout the restaurant.

Enjoying the Fortune Cookies.

So nice quiet day and getting used to the temperature (mid 20’s oC) and overcoming the jetlag.