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ujpest doza
 United Kingdom
583 Posts
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Status: offline |  Posted - 14 Mar 2005 : 13:18:43  
| The trip started with a drive through the blizzards on the M62 to the Hilton Manchester Airport for an overnight stay. Gave the carvery in the Hilton a miss (£27.95 per person for main course only!) and hopped in a courtesy bus for a look around the airport and a bite to eat there instead.
Saturday began at 0430 for a 0600 last check in, and after some people with visa problems were refused boarding and had their luggage removed we set off a little late. Skyservice plane leased to Mytravel was fine on the way out, no seat back tv's but plenty of leg room and we made good time and landed on schedule. We second off and through immigration in less than 5 minutes, superb! However, after collecting our luggage we waited ages for our car seat to come off the plane and that waited ages at Alamo due to there not being enough staff on duty.
Consequently, from 2nd off the Plane at 1315, we were one of the last out of the Airport complex at 1515!
Thanks to whoever suggested the cafe in the Domestic Bit at Sanford for cartons of milk!
Made good time on the Greeneway and checked into our Lovely Town Home at Emerald Island about an hour after leaving the airport. Very impressed, home overlooked the heated pool and as it was not a private pool took away the worry of our toddler falling in without our knowing. Thanks also at this point ot Nostromo for his Sherberth road shortcut tip, although by the end of the second week it seemed the whole world knew about it as it became as busy as the 192
The weather on arrival was warm and nice, bit cloudy but fine for those just leaving snowier climes.However, at 2AM on the sunday morning the heavens opened and stayed open until late that night. Cats and dogs all day long meant a day at the Mall at Millenia.
The weather was to disrupt our schedule a bit over the next 2 weeks as it became a bit unpredictable.We had 4 days of rain, about 4 hot days, a couple of cool but sunny days and 4 days when it was very nice but took until afternoon to warm up. On the thursday of our first week the mercury never got above 12C (54F) and the predicted late PM rain started at 12:01! The forecasters also predicted an awful day for the tuesday of our second week, with storm force winds and rain followed by a cool but clear wednesday to clear things up.
WRONG!
On that particular tuesday morning it was very windy and the skys were black, but it was very warm. We decided to go shopping and then do a theme park on the wednesday. By 11AM the skys cleared and it was glorious if it a little windy and then rained on the wednesday!
Another note is about the planning guide website link that i posted on here and had Blotted. Seemed to work quite well and the parks we visited on the days the guide did seem reasonably quiet, although the weather may have thrown it out a little. The parks all seemed reasonbly quiet when we visited, with the odd cluster of longer wait times on occaisons, however night times were hectic at restaurants which seemed busier than i have ever seen before.
Bike Week at Daytona seemed to be where the blame for this lies.
Daytona was packed out for Bike Week with Bikers from all across the USA and the UK and beyond. A couple of bikers on our flight (there were many) i spoke to said they were staying in Kissimmee because there was no affordable accomodation available in Daytona and they were just commuting up there along with many many others.
By far and away the quietest parks were agin the Universal Parks.
I walked straight onto The Hulk, The Mummy, Jaws, MiB, Duelling Dragons and my daughter shared Suess Landing with about a dozen other kids. Great 2 parks as well, just don't seem to be anywhere near as popular as Disney.
Made the mistake of going to Seaworld on a "Bud and BBQ" weekend and that was pretty busy. First time i've been to Seaworld since 1997, so first time i've been on Atlantis.Wasn't that impressive to be honest, think Splash Mountain is better. Too big a queue for Kraken so can't comment.
A Disney theme park summary :-
Magic Kingdom - Enjoyed it better this time as it was quieter and we raced straight to FantasyLand to get on the rides there before they got busy. Most people with little ones got waylaid at the beginning of Main Street by character greeting, which meant we were able to get on everything in Fantasyland without queueing and also able to take the little one onto Goofys Barnstormer which she loved.
Disney MGM Studios - A favourite of ours, Playhouse Disney and The little Mermaid in particular capturing Lucy's attention more than most things. TOT and RNR capturing mine!
Animal Kingdom - Tears and tantrums from Lucy because she did not want to get off the Safari! Neck and Neck with MGM as a Disney Favourite with us!
Blizzard Beach - Tikes Peak was great for Lucy and no queues meant i did all of the slide except the 2 biggies! better kiddies area than i remembered which means in future we will go to both TL and BB if both are open, TL had been our favourite in the past.
Anyhow, the missus is "all theme parked out" and wants to give Florida a miss for at least a couple of years so its beaches until i can i persuade her otherwise!
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caroline
 United Kingdom
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Joined: 29 Apr 2002
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CarolAnn
United Kingdom
4788 Posts
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 14 Mar 2005 : 14:09:21
| Fab trip report!!! I always feel sad when people say they are theme parked out There truely are so many other things you can do in Florida (and even a bit of the parks for those that need a fix),perhaps a two centre holiday for next trip there?? Week in the parks, week on the coast for that beach holiday experience
Caroline, we took our daughter to Typhoon Lagoon when she was just 3, it was lovely for her as there was so much to do, even for a non swimmer, but, I must say you need to watch them like a hawk, we almost lost her in a split second in the large wave pool  ,needless to say at 12, she is now a club swimmer, but it was a heart stopping moment I can tell you! Though we have been to Blizzard Beach a few times, we found TL was more suitable for the younger child | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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ujpest doza
United Kingdom
583 Posts
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 14 Mar 2005 : 14:09:28
| Lucy is 23 months and just met the height requirements for Goofy and also Woody Woodpecker at US and loved both of them!
We took her to Typhoon Lagoon last year when she was 13 months and she liked the kiddy part but seemed to prefer to sit at the edge of the wave pool. At blizzard Beach she played nearly all day in the kiddy pool at Tikes Peak which was much warmer than the rest of the water in the park. It also has 3 biggish slides and a smaller slide thingy.
BB might be better than TL for the kiddie part in my opinion, but still perfer TL overall as it is a most relaxing park.
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julieanne
 United Kingdom
2560 Posts
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 14 Mar 2005 : 14:11:26
| quote:
Anyhow, the missus is "all theme parked out" and wants to give Florida a miss for at least a couple of years so its beaches until i can i persuade her otherwise!
Tell her there is lots and lots of lovely beaches in Florida - I can quite happily spend 2 or 3 weeks in Florida without visiting a theme park |
Julie |
Edited by - julieanne on 14 Mar 2005 14:17:18 | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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CarolAnn
United Kingdom
4788 Posts
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 14 Mar 2005 : 14:12:54
| quote:
Originally posted by ujpest doza
Lucy is 23 months and just met the height requirements for Goofy and also Woody Woodpecker at US and loved both of them!
We took her to Typhoon Lagoon last year when she was 13 months and she liked the kiddy part but seemed to prefer to sit at the edge of the wave pool. At blizzard Beach she played nearly all day in the kiddy pool at Tikes Peak which was much warmer than the rest of the water in the park. It also has 3 biggish slides and a smaller slide thingy.
BB might be better than TL for the kiddie part in my opinion, but still perfer TL overall as it is a most relaxing park.
Agree, TL just has a more relaxed feel, if you can try both it is fab, but if you are only going to try one, would pick TL every time
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caroline
United Kingdom
6522 Posts
Joined: 29 Apr 2002
Status: online | Posted - 14 Mar 2005 : 14:18:17
| quote:
Originally posted by ujpest doza
Lucy is 23 months and just met the height requirements for Goofy and also Woody Woodpecker at US and loved both of them!
We took her to Typhoon Lagoon last year when she was 13 months and she liked the kiddy part but seemed to prefer to sit at the edge of the wave pool. At blizzard Beach she played nearly all day in the kiddy pool at Tikes Peak which was much warmer than the rest of the water in the park. It also has 3 biggish slides and a smaller slide thingy.
BB might be better than TL for the kiddie part in my opinion, but still perfer TL overall as it is a most relaxing park.
That's great, thanks! They'll be thrilled as they really want to 'do' a water park this time - she's quite a tall wee thing so I'll get them to measure her before they go, she's quite a daring little monkey so I'm sure she'd love the 2 rides if she's tall enough |
Caroline & Dave
http://www.orlandovillas.com/florida-vacation-rental-236.aspx
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E. Cosgrove
 United Kingdom
5947 Posts
Joined: 26 Apr 2004
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Ray&Sarah
 United Kingdom
10599 Posts
Joined: 11 Nov 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 14 Mar 2005 : 17:42:30
| | Great trip report, we were over in Florida at the same time as you, well for the first week anyway. We didn't do any theme parks at all though, go for the weather, the shopping and the relaxing by the pool (in between Home Depot for villa essentials). |
Sarah
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LiesaAnna
 United Kingdom
11989 Posts
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 15 Mar 2005 : 09:45:02
| | great trip report!! have been missing these! yes its a shame the Mrs is "theme parked out" but even we're going to look for the lovely beaches this year, and do a park or 2 or 3 just see how the mood takes us! |
Liesa | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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MaggieAllan
 United Kingdom
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Mo Green
United Kingdom
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Joined: 17 Jun 2003
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ujpest doza
United Kingdom
583 Posts
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 17 Mar 2005 : 17:20:32
| quote:
Originally posted by Mo Green
quote:
Originally posted by ujpest doza
Anyhow, the missus is "all theme parked out" and wants to give Florida a miss for at least a couple of years so its beaches until i can i persuade her otherwise!
Why not stay on the coast where you can enjoy the natural Florida with beautiful beaches, plenty of wildlife in natural surroundings, fishing, boating etc.?
To be honest she's also a bit fed up of jet lag and wants a couple of european breaks in the sun before going transatlantic again.
She was interested in The Mayan Riveria in Mexico, but as i say the jet lag hits her worse than me due to thyroid problems so she wants a few short haul trips instead.
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Mo Green
United Kingdom
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