If you like Rock and Roll, there are top artists in their music hall on Thursday to Sunday at 11.00pm and not forgetting the Southern-inspired cuisine.

Planet Hollywood is not to be missed. As you sit in the celebrity styled museum, and eat your deep fried lasagne (it’s really good too) A big screen plays scenes from famous films and clips from groups, see how many you can recognise.

On those rainy days a trip to Disney Quest is not to be missed, just imagine 5 floors of rides and games you can interact with, you can even design your own rollercoaster , then ride it. Or how about a ride in a raft simulator over the rapids or surfing on the crest of the wave.

The Rainforest Café is out of this world! Fancy dining in a tropical rainforest where the animals come to life. If you eat here, you must order a ‘volcano’ for desert, (its not for the shy though) We order one with four spoons.

The world of Disney Shops are out of this world were little girls can have themselves  made up with make up, hair styling  and nail polish to be a little Princess. For all those gifts you want to take home Downtown Disney is a must.

The Lego Imagination Centre has every Lego toy you can think of, be careful where you sit as there are dragons made from Lego and wonderful creations on every corner.

Fulton’s Crab House is a lovely place to eat for that special occasion. It’s a boat docked on the side of the lake were the sea food is flown in daily, gorgeous.

If you go into Ghirardelli Chocolate shop you get a free chocolate, they are good too!

Written by Valerie Goymer

Islands of Adventure is a relatively recent addition to the Universal stable (?2001?) and it has a host of thrill rides full of Marvel Superheroes and cartoon capers. My personal favourite is The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman as a 3-D projection of Spiderman joins you on a chilling chase after evil Doc Ock… This one took my breath away as we lurched in and out of buildings at a thunderous pace. The lesson here is to expect the unexpected….The Universal website mentions a virtual 400 foot freefall though, so don’t say I haven’t warned you…

The Hulk ride is a neat one - though a pretty standard coaster – and the one ride that took me the longest to pluck up courage for - Dr Doom’s Fearfall – was the biggest disappointment. Despite the implication of ‘edge of the seat’ action this was a quite a tame up and down ride which promised much and delivered little. It was brief and clinical and without a single moment of terror. I’d go back to Spiderman everytime!

The Pteradon Flyers are a gentle flight for young children, though over very quickly, and there always seems to be a huge queue for the Jurassic Park River Adventure. The Duelling Dragons are cool, but to be honest (and this is probably sacrilegious in some quarters) I find that coasters are pretty much coasters and that the difference between them is pretty minimal… I’m sure it is just that I lack the ability to distinguish properly, but I have done Fire and Ice now, and, well, I forget which one was which… Up, down and all around…Oh well.

Children of all ages though will definitely enjoy standing on the bridge over the Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges and using the water guns to aim and hopefully soak the poor unsuspecting passengers below. Yes, lady in the yellow T-shirt and child with the Spiderman hat, sorry. It was me and I don’t think I have spent a better 25 cents. Ever.

One “tip from the top” is to try to get the last session of the generally quiet character greetings at the Confisco Grill. When we went, we found that we had Spidey & Wolfman almost to ourselves and the guys seemed happy to chat and pose for pictures with none of the usual time pressures that we have found at other famous parks not so very far away… This was a lovely experience for our children and as you know….happy children make happy parents!

On the one hand you have the more traditional film studio and special effects exposé of Universal and on the other you have the wonderful world of superheroes and cartoon capers. There are stomach-churning rides in both, but for my money Islands of Adventure has more of the ‘pzazz’ that I am looking for when it comes to escapism. You may have a different view!

Both parks are off I4 Junction 71 and are of course well-signposted from miles away. As you draw closer you can see the joint towers of Dr Doom’s Fearfall looming above you, and feel the excitement mount as the billboards showing Shrek’s beaming face multiply. Once inside the cavernous car-parks you ride the walkways all the way into the park and make your choice : left to Islands of Adventure or right to Universal Studios Florida. We usually start with our old favourites at Universal first - Back to the Future, Men in Black, Terminator (and even ET while it is still there!). We then walk past the lake and Hard Rock Cafe and into Islands of Adventure and start the queue for Spidey, the Hulk and the Duelling Dragons…

Universal Studios Florida

Our family has loved returning to the “old” favourites of Back to the Future and the Men in Black. The trip into the mouth of the dinosaur in Doc Brown’s De Lorean was a highlight of any visit, and we are wary of the revamped Simpson’s ride which will open this year. It just won’t be the same. On the other hand the whole family enjoys the competition of helping Will Smith find and shoot the aliens in the backstreets of  New York. (Well, ok, maybe I do take it just a bit too seriously, but these are A L I E N S for goodness sake!). Maybe just one more practice!

Jaws is fun, and Terminator is thrilling the first couple of times - especially for older children - but for me the Revenge of the Mummy was a slight disappointment (too rushed & disjointed with no flowing narrative) but this year I will be back to try it once again. The best, most wonderful and side-splittingly funny (and scary!) place here though is Shrek 4-D which is always a hit and has some ticklish surprises… One downside here though is the length of the queues to get in, and in the heat of the August sun it is very noticeable that there is not enough shade nor mist fans here….

That leads neatly on to another slight quibble. The price of the Universal Express tickets is hefty - for us almost the same price again as the regular tickets. That hurts. We did it once but in the future will just try to plan our visits better…

We still haven’t yet tried the Animal Actors, nor Twister, or several of the smaller attractions, which all goes to show that there is never enough time… The layout of Universal Studios Florida - around a lake and meandering through landscapes and timezones - is a good one but not as easy to navigate as, for example, Magic Kingdom or Islands of Adventure. Plan your visit!

(see our next review for Islands of Adventure )

As I write this, we are currently at our Florida villa, at Manors North, Westridge, and I am already well into ‘shopping mode’.

Winter Garden Village, newly opened at the end of 2007, and it seems as if just about all the stores are now operational.  It is a very large Mall, situated just off Highway 50 at 3251 Daniels Road, Winter Garden. 

It is beautifully designed and landscaped, and easy to drive around with ample parking spaces and pedestrian crossing points.  Christopher & Banks just opened this week – offering promotional discounts, and all your usual favourites are here…. Super Target, Marshalls, Old Navy, Bealls Department Store, Bath & Body Works, Ross (dress for less), Dress Barn & Barnes & Noble book store etc.  There is also a branch of Wachovia Bank.  There is a website link at http://www.wintergardenvillage.com  for more detailed information, including a complete list of stores and restaurants.

We particularly enjoyed shopping here – we found the mall to be well laid out, less crowded and very bright and clean.  There was lots of choice and plenty of bargains waiting to be snapped up by eager shoppers.

Posner Park - New Retail Outlet  – Interstate 4 Intersection with Highway 27.

Posner Park  promises to be another great shopping experience for our guests on Highway 27.

Belk and Target have already opened and many other stores are scheduled to open very shortly including J C Penny, Staples, Petsmart, Best Buys, Ross (dress for less) etc.

Posner Park is in the ideal spot for many villa communities.  Anyone visiting Florida in Spring 2008 may well find that as new stores open in Posner  Park, many will offer promotional discounts off certain items, so it is worthwhile to check out this location if you have an opportunity to do so.

One advantage of renting of villa for your Florida vacation, is that you can ‘travel light’ and take less clothing etc, as every villa will have a washing machine and tumble dryer, you can wash & wear your existing items, and then fill up your suitcases with all the wonderful bargains you will find in these outlet malls.  With the exchange rate so much in the UK pound’s favour, who can resist the temptation to stock up early on Christmas presents for friends and family?

All you need now is your credit card  -  and Happy Shopping!

We had been told that there was limited seating capacity and that it fills up quickly and so we returned in good time to ensure we got in but there was no problem for the late comers and there were spare seats, although these were at the sides.  (We visited on a Sunday in early March – it might be different in high season) For the best views you want to be in the very middle or alternatively in the middle of one of the two sides.  You can judge is when you arrive by looking at the high pillars that mark the edge of the centre area.  Towards the edges there is some slight distortion of the images.

It was completely different to any thing we had ever seen before with most of the effects being created by lights and lasers reflected onto water fountains.  Actually it would take a more skilled writer than me to describe the visions and atmosphere that was created.  We had my mother with us and she is still talking about it as the highlight of her holiday.  “It was fantastic!” she keeps saying. 

The show is set in an amphitheatre with a lake and a central island.  Without spoiling the plot or any of the surprises the story tells of Mickey’s dream and nightmare where a vast number of the good and then bad Disney characters fight for dominance.  The water displays are interspersed with activity on the island or on the water.  However, the experience is greater than the sum of its parts and it really appealed to all ages.  

There are no problems about returning to a park later in the day and you don’t have to pay for parking again.  It is also a good opportunity take some more rides or see some of the attractions again. 

We decided to visit the Dolphin Research Centre at Grassy Key on the way down, we looked into it on the internet before we left the UK and booked a dolphin experience as a surprise for our 3 girls.

We drove down from Orlando on a hot sunny day but as we reached the town of LaBelle the skies turned black and we drove through the worst weather we have experienced there. The temperature plummeted, the car was battered by hailstones and lighting struck a telegraph pole at the side of the road sending out a blue flash and smoke. We had to pull off the road for a while till the worst of it passed and I have to say it was quite scary. We pressed on and shortly afterwards the Florida weather changed again as it does and soon we were back in bright sunshine.

We stopped off at the Tourist Information Center in Key Largo to find accommodation for the night somewhere near to Grassy Key. (We found out at this point that it was mini lobster season and not the best time to visit the keys as everywhere would be full of fishermen!) We managed to get rooms in the Ocean Beach Club in Marathon Key, this place was right on the seafront and the restaurant next door was absolutely wonderful. It also had a tiki bar which was nice to sit outside in the evening and have a drink overlooking the sea.

The next morning we set off for our visit to the Dolphin Research Centre, the girls were really excited and it was a lovely day. We had done Discovery Cove previously and really enjoyed but this place was less contrived, more real and much less expensive! The girls stood on a submerged platform and were able to interact with the dolphins, there is an option to swim with the dolphins as well. They absolutely loved it, we had all the statutory photographs taken and they were in the water for about 20 minutes.

After that we were able to wander round at our leisure, watching the dolphins and finding out about the work being done at the center. We had a thoroughly enjoyable day, it was a great experience and we left there mid afternoon for the final part of our journey down to Key West.

Just a one hour’s drive from Orlando along the Beeline (528) to the east is a wonderful peaceful area.  Take the 95 to Titusville and then it is just a short hop across the water to Merritt Island.  Once on the island there is a choice of interesting thing to see and do.  Try the visitor centre, you can see and learn all about the wild life in the area, there is a board-walk that takes you to some quiet un-spoilt viewing points where you are very likely to see fish, maybe an alligator, birds and other animals.

A little further onto the island is the nature drive about 5 miles long. Take it slowly; we have always seen at least one alligator drifting in the shallow waters. There is a main stopping point where you can get out of the car and walk through to a high viewing platform.  Well worth a look as again there are usually many types of wading birds to be seen.

Next stop is the viewing observation platform for the weird but very lovely Manatee.  Try to imagine a cross between a big seal and a Walrus, they are like no other animal, they are large water animals that have to surface to breathe, slow moving and gentle.  They graze on the underwater plants very close to the platform, totally unconcerned that they have an audience.

After all the nature trails why not finish your trip with a visit to the beach, there are many to choose from.  Remember that the beaches are all on the Atlantic Ocean so are usually cooler and have rougher waves than the west coast.  Still a good way to cool down after a day spent nature watching.