Plan Your Florida Vacation
The aim of this blog is to provide as much information about things to see and do whilst you are on the holiday of a lifetime in the vacation capital of the world - The Sunshine State of Florida.
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Have a Magical Christmas In Orlando
Posted on November 27th, 2009 No commentsWritten by: Michele Chamberlain
Authors WebsiteThere are lots of magical things going on at Christmas time in Orlando, and I have listed a couple of them below.
ICE! at Gaylord Palms
This is a truly memorable place to visit and one you will never forget. We visited this atttraction a couple of years ago with my two young children and it was spectacular. It very different to anything that we had visited before and the children really enjoyed themselves.
ICE is an attraction made entirely out of “Ice”. The attraction’s main scene is a life-size Nativity carved completely of crystal-clear ice. There are sleighs and reindeers where you can sit in the sleigh and have your photo taken. There are also great slides which the children (or even the parents) can go down, all made out of ice!
Be prepared though it gets extremely cold in the attraction and you are supplied with Parka coats - do wear them as I have never experienced cold like that before. Also wear closed in shoes/trainers.
ICE! is open daily, including holidays. Event hours vary throughout “ICE! season.” For further information visit the website http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-palms/best-of-florida-christmas/index.html?source=http://www.gaylordpalms.com/ice
SeaWorld The Polar Express Experience
Guests are invited to jump aboard The Polar Express Experience at SeaWorld for a magical trip to the North Pole. SeaWorld’s Wild Arctic transforms into a thrilling expedition to the fabled Santa Town. The Polar Express Experience is based on the film from Warner Bros. The Polar Express Experience provides guests with lighting, scent, sound and motion to transport them to the North Pole … and into the spirit of the season.
When guests arrive at their destination, they step off the train and into the movie itself. Temperatures drop and holiday spirits soar as the travelers arrive at the frozen North Pole, complete with towering Christmas tree, gift-laden sleigh, village decor and Santa himself. The journey continues as guests also encounter other inhabitants of the North Pole — the animals themselves — including graceful beluga whales, powerful polar bears and giant walruses.
Visit http://www.seaworld.com/ for further information.
Christmas in Magic Kingdom
We have visited Magic Kingdom during a many trips to Orlando, but I do love going there during Christmas time. You get lots of Christmas sprit along Main Street, where you will find Disney elves have decked the halls with towering Christmas trees, colourful lights, bows and garland. Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, toy soldiers, and giant gingerbread men greet guests during special daytime runs of “Mickey’s Once Upon a ChristmastimeParade.” The parade is included in regular park admission on select dates. Pls visit the website for further details.
This is only a few ideas of what to do. Just enter “Christmas in Orlando” on the Interet and you will find plenty of information.
Happy Holiday!!!
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Walt Disney World Dining & Reservations
Posted on October 22nd, 2009 No commentsWritten by: Michele Chamberlain
Authors WebsiteAdvanced Dining Reservation
On-Line Booking System Now Available!
Did you know that you can now make dining reservations for Walt Disney World Dining online! Up until now the only way you could make reservations was to phone up in advance or during your vacation.
If you visit the following site
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/restaurants/
you can then narrow your search by checking through the various parks/hotels, etc to browse the various restaurants. If you are able to book online it will give you the “Book a Reservation” option by the chosen restaurant. This will take you through to the next screen where you can select your date, time and no. in party. Once you have done this you click ”Check Availability”. The next screen will then bring up whether there is availability, together with availability at other restaurants in the same vicinity. Once you select your desired time you then click ”add to cart”.
Once you have added your restaurants to the cart you are advised of the total payment due today (if any) and then you “check out”.
You will find that the majority of the bookings do not require you to make prepayment, although the very popular ones like Cinderellas Castle, Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue, etc will require full payment at the time of booking.
This online system is great - if you find your first date is booked, you can check another date/time immediately, saving you a lot of time. No need to make that call to the US before you visit to make all your reservations, which in the past I have done on many occasions.
It also gives you an idea of the cost of the meals in the various restaurants so you can plan in advance. I also found that you can browse all the different restaurants in one place and gives you a better idea of what is available at each one.
Effective 27 October 2009, Advanced Dining Reservations will go back to a 180 plus 10 day booking window.
I certainly will be using this online option for my next trip and have advised all our future guests of the website. I hope that you get to enjoy many of the restaurants in the Walt Disney Resorts by planning in advance.
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ORLANDO WATER PARK - Blizzard Beach
Posted on September 17th, 2009 No commentsWritten by: Michele Chamberlain
Authors WebsiteWe have visited Orlando several times now, but one of our favourite places is the water park, Blizzard Beach. Each time we go my children are becoming more confident and daring and go on more and more. The kids section is great and we get to sit down and rest while they play! You will normally find that entrance to the water park comes as part of your Disney ticket so you do not need to pay an additional fee to get in!. Like all water park in Orlando please bear in mind that if it thunders, it will shut. It will also get extremely busy during the summer months when it is peak period.
Blizzard Beach is set in an alpine ski resort complete with chair lifts, where some of the snow has melted turning the slalom courses, bobsled and toboggan runs into downhill waterslides.
The centrepiece of Blizzard Beach is Mount Gushmore where you will find a number of big thrill slides. You can access the top of Mount Gushmore either by walking up the steps or you can take the chair ski lift.
Blizzard Beach caters for children of all ages so even little ones can enjoy themselves in the water whilst the bigger ones can have fun on the bigger and faster slides.
Its attractions include:-
- Summit Plummet - at 120ft, this is the highest water slide in the USA where you can reach speeds of 55 mph
- Downhill Double Dipper - ride an inner tube at 25 mph down one of two parallel 230 ft long racing slides
- Slush Gusher - 35 mph slide with humps to add to the excitement
- Toboggan Racers - ride a mat down one of eight side-by-side lanes
- Runoff Rapids - a choice of three incredible inner tube rides down into a plunge pool. You can use either a single or double tube to ride with a friend
- Ski Patrol Training Camp - fun for the pre-teens including inner-tube slides, a T-bar slide and a walk across floating icebergs
- Snow Stormers - ride a mat down one of three different switchback slalom-style racing slides ending in a plunge pool
- Teamboat Springs - ride in a three to six passenger inner tube down a 1,200 ft white water rafting and waterfall course for the whole family
- Tike’s Peak - water play area for the very young with gently body slides, an inner tube slide, interactive fountains, pop jets and a wading pool
- Cross Country Creek - ride an inner tube on a gentle meandering river that flows around the entire park
- Melt Away Bay - a one acre pool for wading or swimming fed by a waterfall from Mount Gushmore
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ORLANDO ATTRACTIONS OUTSIDE OF DISNEY
Posted on July 25th, 2009 No commentsWritten by: Michele Chamberlain
Authors WebsiteI know the majority of visitors come to Orlando to vist Walt Disney World, but there are many other attractions to visit during your stay. I have list some below to give you a taster of what is available during your magical vacation to Orlando.
WonderWorksOrlando’s only upside-down attraction, WonderWorks is an amusement park for the mind featuring over one hundred interactive exhibits for people of all ages. Be blown away by 65 mile-per-hour hurricane force winds, get shaken by a simulated 5.3 degree earthquake, virtually swim with sharks, be elevated on a bed of 3,500 nails, make a 3-D impression of your entire body, measure the speed of your pitch to a famous baseball player, design and ride your own roller coaster moving 360 degrees in any direction, and engage in a one-on-one game of virtual basketball with a seven-foot player. Your imagination can run wild at WonderWorks.
Visit the website Web: www.wonderworksonline.com for further information.
Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center is just 45 minutes from Orlando and is NASA’s launch headquarters. Each year, millions of visitors from across the world visit Kennedy Space Centre, where many of mankind’s greatest accomplishments take place. At Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, you get the unique chance to tour NASA’s launch and landing facilities. Experience interactive simulators, live shows, and jaw-dropping encounters with massive rockets and have the opportunity to meet a real member of NASA’s Astronaut Corps. You may even be lucky and see a Rocket Launch!
Visit http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/ for further information.
Nascar Daytona 500 Experience
From the heart-pounding thunder of bumper-to-bumper competition on the historic high banks of Daytona International Speedway to the high octane thrills and spills of high-tech motion simulators, catch all the energy and non-stop excitement of Daytona 500 Experience, ‘The Ultimate Motorsports Attraction.’ ‘The Official Attraction of NASCAR,’ and your destination for racing excitement includes the larger-than-life magic of ‘NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience’. Feel the adrenaline of racing with state-of-the-art motion simulators like DAYTONA DREAM LAPS and feel the pressure of the 16-Second Pit Stop Challenge.
At DAYTONA 500 EXPERIENCE you can also enjoy a 30 minute, guided tour of the Speedway. The Speedway Tour takes guests on an open-air tram through Daytona International Speedway’s garage area, pit road, and the world-famous 31-degree high banks. The tour is narrated and describes each area of the track as you ride past. The tour also makes stops at Pit Road and Gatorade Victory Lane, track activities permitting. See what goes on behind the scenes at the “World Center of Racing.”
Visit the website for further information www.daytonausa.com
GatorlandGatorland is a 110-acre theme park and wildlife preserve. Today it provides affordable family fun with thousands of alligators, and crocodiles, plus an aviary, breeding marsh with observation tower, petting zoo, nature walk, gift shop, trainride, restaurants, Gator Gully Splash Park and much more.Gatorland has been entertaining people with fun, exciting and educational shows about dangerous and unusual animals for years! Where else can you help a gator wrestler pick out the gator they are about to wrestle or have an up-close experience with really cool reptiles or see crocs and gators jump high in the air for food? No where! So come and share the adventure at all of our fun shows.Visit http://www.gatorland.com/ for further information.Ripley’s Believe It or Not!The weird and wacky Ripley’s Believe It or Not! ‘Odditorium’ looks like it’s falling into a Florida sinkhole, but if you think the building looks bizarre, wait until you see what’s inside. Hundreds of fascinating, outrageous, and interactive exhibits entertain the entire family. Explore an unbelievable variety of artifacts, exhibits and displays in 16 unique galleries that pay tribute to the odd and bizarre. Marvel at the collection of weird and unusual relics and rare treasures. The Odditorium showcases an actual human shrunken head, an exciting dinosaur exhibit, an Egyptian mummy, a tribute to Robert Wadlow–the World’s Tallest Man, a two-headed calf, an interactive illusions gallery, a 10-foot section of the Berlin Wall, and a Rolls Royce made from more than one million match sticks. Cameras and camcorders are welcome on your self-guided, self-paced tour.Visit the website www.ripleysorlando.com for further information.These are just a few of the other attractions to visit whilst in Orlando. There are many others which you can find by just browsing the internet. Hope you enjoy some of them during your next visit to Orlando. -
Downtown Disney
Posted on June 21st, 2009 No commentsWritten by: Michele Chamberlain
Authors WebsiteIf you still wish to be in the Disney environment and dont want to enter one of the Disney parks, why not spend some time in Downtown Disney. My children love going here as you still feel you are in Disney, without have to pay. Its great for the evening time, although some times you can find it is busy, so please arrive slightly earlier if you wish to eat there.
You will also find on one of the Disney Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutiques here - this is where my little daughter loves to go and enjoys having her hair and make up down, as well as dressing up in one of her favourite disney costumes. The last time we went we went for the full package where you get a photo shoot included. My daughter looked amazing when they had finished and the photos are an ever lasting memory. It was well worth the money! Everyone was commenting on her as we walked through Downtown Disney. She also remembers that moment and she is only 6. A must for every little girl.
You will also find great shops with all the Disney Merchandise; if you forgot to buy a particular item in one of the parks, you will hopefully be able to purchase it here. There are also various other retailers, as well as some great themed restaurants.
There are also some great entertainment venues, like Cirque de Soleil which is located in Downtown Disney.
I have listed a few of shops/restaurants, etc, which you can find at Downtown Disney below:-
World of Disney - if you are looking for loads of fun whilst shopping, this is the place to go. It is one of the largest stores and has so much to choose from. This is where you will also find the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique mentioned above.
Once Upon a Toy - Play happily ever after at this amazing toy store that offers the largest assortment of toys and games in all of Disney. From princesses to pirates you will find some great toys in here.
Lego Imagination Centre - this shop is great, especially if you kids are into lego. Not only can they buy some great lego sets (which my son has plenty) they get to play and make models with the lego stands outside. This has kept my kids occupied for hours (for free) whilst we sat and watched enjoyed a cup of coffee.
Disney Days of Christmas - this is my favourite shop at Downtown Disney - its Christmas all year round. You also get to personalise a lot of the ornaments so they make them very personal to your visit.
Rainforest Cafe and the new T-Rex restaurants can also be found at Downtown Disney. We have visit the Rainforest cafe a few times now, and the kids love it. We have never eaten in the T-Rex one, but have had a sneek look inside. If you kids love dinosaurs this is the resturant to visit. It has large interactive models of dinosaurs dotted around the restaurant that move at certain times. You will also DinoBear (part of the build a bear workshop) in her. My son loved this as he was able to choose his own dinosaur and dress it. Quite appropriate for a boy!
This is just a taster of what can be found at Downtown Disney.
Don’t forget to make a visit on your next trip. We hope you enjoy it.
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Character/Themed Dining Options Outside of Disney!
Posted on May 27th, 2009 No commentsWritten by: Michele Chamberlain
Authors WebsiteDuring our our various visits to Orlando we have found that there are a lot of themed /character dining outside of Disney!. As a family we obviously love the Disney Character Dining (for info pleae see my previous article on Disney Character Dining), but as we have been to them several times now we have started to look outside of Disney for something a bit different. I have listed a couple which we have personally done and which you may like to visit during your next vacation to Orlando:-
Arabian Nights Dinner Show -
The most honoured dinner show in the world. Upon entering the arena you will be seated either side of the arena. You will be met by your waitress/waiter where drinks will be served (beer and local wine, and soft drinks are included in the price). The menu comprises of sirloin, chicken breast or chopped sirloin in gravy, all served with mashed potato. Children get the choice of chicken tenders or pasta. All dishes are served with green salad and chefs choice of desert. Whilst dinner is being served you are watching the Arabian Knights show. Please viist their website for further information http://www.arabian-nights.com/index_high.html
I would advise shopping around for your tickets are we found that they varied considerably. We actually found the cheapest from a tickets agency in Orlando called http://www.mapleleaftickets.com/ - we phoned them and reserved our tickets, then went to collect them personally. We were able to contact Arabian Knights beforehand to check availability and reserved our seats. I would certainly use them again!
Sea World’s Makahiki Luau Celebration - The Makahiki Luau Dinner Show offers a great evening of Hawaiian music, dance and food. Shows run nightly from 6:30-8:45 PM, at Sea World, inside of the Sea Fire Inn. The food Menu is served Family Style with Full table Service
Drink Selections:
Featuring Anheuser-Busch Beers
Pepsi Products
Coffee, Hot Tea, Iced Tea
Entree Selections:
Island Salad
Mahi Mahi in Pina Colada Sauce
Hawaiian Chicken
Polynesian-Style Barbecue Spareribs
Stir-Fried Vegetable Medley
Polynesian Fried Rice
Dessert:
Big Kahuna Seasonal Dessert
RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED IN ADVANCE AND PARK ADMISSION IS NOT REQUIRED AND IS SEPARATE
Prices range from £46 (a) $29 (c) but I would stongly recommend shopping around again to look for the special offers!
DINE WITH SHAMU at SeaWorld Orlando - now this is one dinner show that I would personally recommend you booking when visiting SeaWorld! You get to dine poolside with Shamu whilst enjoying a great buffet. The trainers and Shamu then give you a show close up to the diners. I must admit that my two children were a little scared at first but were reassured by the friendly staff and trainers that Shamu would come no where near them! When booking I also mentioned that it was my parents wedding anniversary and bought out a special cake and congratulated them in front of all the diners. A little embarrasing for them but it was a very memorable occasion for all of us. We will certainly be doing this dining option again. Park admission is required for this and I would strongly recommend booking in advance. We booked via the website and our reservation was confirmed at that time. Visit the website for further information
http://www.seaworld.com/sitepage.aspx?PageID=593
As I mentioned at the start of the article these are only a couple of options available for families visiting Orlando. There are many more that we have yet to experience ourselves, which we hope to try on our vacation.