Floppy Cuffs and Florida

[Tonish]

Did you see the Holiday programme last night with Lawrence Floppy Cuffs in Florida? I thought it was excellent and showed parts of Florida not normally seen.

It started me thinking about the theme parks. I've got a few friends who have been to Orlando with their families and come home swearing they would never go again - just found it all too stressful and busy. Last year, I have to confess, there were times when looking at the people around me, there were very few happy faces - mostly exhausted cross parents sweating and pushing their tired kids around.

Admittedly, it was August and very hot, but I could understand how, after two or three weeks of this, day in day out, and going back to a big, impersonal hotel on I-drive every night on a bus could be a living nightmare.

This year, we're taking the middle week of our three and going to Captiva to chill out, hiring a boat and spending the week waterskiing and fishing.

Are there many who feel the same way and what do you do to relax? Or is it the opposite and you simply can't get enough of the parks and the shops?


Tonish

[Snapper]

I think, Tonish, that what you have hit on is just how much Orlando does have to offer, and sometimes it can create a kind of sensory overload.

There are just so many attractions (and not only the main theme parks) around Orlando that trying to see everything and do everything in just a couple of weeks requires an operation of almost military precision.

Taking some time out between hitting the big theme parks, in my view, leads to a hugely more relaxing and stress free vacation than dashing around every day. Taking a week out on the Gulf Coast is about as good as it gets.

I know that people travel to Orlando and want to do everything while they are there, but to some extents this is kind of like those tours that claim to 'do' the whole of Europe in two weeks. For sure you would see Paris; but would there be time to revel in the architecture, drink a coffee in a street cafe, lose yourself in the artwork in Le Louvre or watch a street performer while eating a fresh crepe? Alas not, but isn't that what Paris is really about rather than just saying Louvre, tick, Eifel Tower, tick, Arc de Triumph, tick, right back on the bus and next stop Rome.

Orlando is somewhat like this. It's possible to dash around the attractions and tick off all the rides and then head somewhere else the next day or even the same afternoon; but to do this misses some of the hidden treasures that these places have to offer. Take the Disney theme parks for example. Whole teams of Disney imagineers work to create each attraction. The amount of theming, character setting and other cleverness that goes into some of the rides can often form the biggest part of the attraction than the ride itself. As an example, consider the Tower or Terror at Disney/MGM. The grounds through which you queue completely with overgrown (deliberatly) plants and dried out ponds and pools start to set the atmosphere straight away. Even while queuing there is something to look at. Then watch for the tricks inside the ride, the theming, the set, the background music and sounds, the way the elevator motor breaks down while you watch, the way the previous elevator appears for a split-second on the TVs. I'd never be the one to suggest that a Disney theme park could be compared to Paris; but what I'm trying to say is that they both operate at multiple levels. In some ways this is both their life and their death. It creates such an amazing sensation and alternate reality that it really can overload your senses. Do this for a few days on end and one is bound to feel tired.

The good news with villas is that they provide a base for a few days relaxing by the pool in amongst all the energy and excitement. It's no secret that heaps of people go back to Orlando over and over and over again. They've hit on the magic forumla of a few days around a theme park, a couple of days shopping and a few days by the pool in the villa catching some of the sunsine and recharging the batteries. Do this and you come home knowing that you've had a holiday (and an amazing one at that) instead of feeling like you need one.

[Macka]

Peter,

I actually thought that it was an awful bit of reporting. They didn't give a proper idea of how nice the gulf coast is, and if you went on that report to learn how nice a villa is you'd never bother as the place was a pigsty. Their dolphin watch ended in a tacky look at the stars homes on tHe intracoastal waterway and a quarter of the report was about the stand on bikes.

Really quite awful. Still, at least it's staying a relative secret.

As far as parks are concerned, we love them, but only do two or three now in a 3 week visit, and spend the second half of the holiday on the gulf coast.

If I were ever to move there, I would want to be on the gulf coast personally. It's just gorgeous.

[LiesaAnna]

i forgot to watch it!! if its repeated please let us know!![msnwink]

[Benny24]

There's just the two of us going in May, and as much as I would love to stay in a villa and relax in a private pool, it's a bit too much money for the two weeks, and we have to stick with the big impersonal hotel on I-drive.If there were more of us going, as I've done before, the villa would be the option.
However I don't think I'd be chuffed if I was the villa owner seeing the state the Bowen's had the place!

Leave something the way you would wish to find it.....I hope they did.[msneek]

[GrahamC]

I thought that the state of that villa was appalling. I dread to think what their own home must be like.

We spent three weeks in Orlando at Christmas and only went to the parks twice. We spent the rest of the time trying some of the many other things there are to do, and relaxing.

As others have said, the first time you go you feel that you have to cram everything in and come home needing a rest. You are far better off pacing yourselves and taking some time out.

It also gives you the ideal excuse to go back again and again to do the bits you missed.

[Cruella DeVilla]

We are not park poeple and only go once in a blue moon and normally soemwhere like Busch Gardens or Cypress Gardens, there are tons and tons of things to do and places ro visit all over Florida. We often go to Miami or the Keys, Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasotta and lots of places in between. Would like to visit the Panhandle at some stage and may do that this year.

The beaches are good too and you can do them in a day if you want. [;aces like Daytonna you can drive on the beach!

As a point to note I don't think you can do it all shops and parks in one fortnight trip without being cream crackered, great excuse to come back again and again and again

[julieanne]

I agree Macka, there is no better place to be than the Gulf Coast
Even when we stay in Orlando now we rarely do the parks.

Florida has so much to offer everyone [8D]

[sheenallan]

We also love the Gulf Coast,and having been up to Pensacola to take a friend of ours we also think that area is beautiful,so hopefully we will be going again this time.
We never do the parks unless my daughter comes with us and brings our grandson.we prefer the REAL FLORIDA, its so gorgeous choose were you go
Sheena

[andrewmckay5]

In case you haven't seen these recent photos of the "real Florida":

http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/topic_27368.asp

Well worth a visit if your visiting that part of the Gulf. Also some excellent Dolphin tours from Port Charlotte. I know there is one vacation home advertised on this site(not mine!!) where you are lucky enough to look out of your window and see the dolphins.

A 2 centre holiday gives you the best of both worlds.

andrew