So, whilst we have a full extended (Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Nieces and Nephews) family holiday booked in March 2014, Lynn and I thought we would have a sneaky week in Florida, just the two of us while Grandma teen sat at home.
Nothing really exciting to report about the flight, we flew Virgin and were about 3rd off the plane. Immigration was like a ghost town, I have never seen it like this and we walked straight up to an officer who was extremely friendly. Our bags were the 4th and 6th off the belt (this is going way to smoothly) and no queue at the Alamo desk. We had booked a convertible for this trip and despite my resolve not to upgrade, when I was shown a picture for the Chevy Cammy I couldn't resist!!
Quick car pick up and off to the Loews resort at Universal. It was raining so I took advantage of the valet parking.
Now, this is the first trip in a long time that we have stayed in a hotel rather than a villa. The key difference we found was that everything costs extra. Parking, tips, the gym, the on site restaurants are about double the price, breakfast, resort fee, tax, internet, the list goes on. When booking a villa you pay and then that's it.
The hotel room was fine, small, but fine and we headed down for a quick bite to eat. After a 45 minute wait we were shown to a table in a half empty restaurant, not sure why we had to wait. There were loads of staff milling around all over the place, but none of them seemed to want to take anyones order. We saw a couple of people leave in frustration. Once we had finally eaten, we were ready for bed.
Up early in the morning to enjoy the early opening time for hotel guests and we took advantage of an almost deserted Harry Potter World. Mixed feelings about this to be honest, it is nice not to have to queue, but there is no atmosphere without other people there. Quick visit to all the key rides and a first go on the transformers ride, great fun. We left the parks at lunch time, picked up the car (love, love, love the valet parking) and went to Logans for lunch. On from there to the Prime outlet mall in Vineland road to stock up on clothes for the children. The weather was a bit mixed, overcast, warm but lots of rain showers.
Day 2 was a sunny day so we spent most of it at the pool topping up our tans. The pool was really nice with a very attentive team. In the evening we went to city walk, dinner at Hard Rock and then on to see the Blue Man show - a first for us and we really enjoyed it. When we left we had a "party vibe on" so we hit the bars and clubs on City Walk... to be honest probably a little too hard, we are not in our 20's anymore.
Day 3 was spent getting over a hangover!! Once we felt almost human we headed out for some more shopping. This time we were planning to go to the other outlet mall (on international drive) and then onto the mall at Mellinia. On the way I spotted the Hash Hash restaurant and decided that this was probably a good place to clear the hangover. The portions were just huge, to the point of being offensive when you saw how much food was being thrown away. Loads of sugar, salt and fat later we headed to the shops with the plan to treat ourselves rather than the kids! After struggling to fit all the shopping into the boot (that is the size of a napkin) we headed of for dinner at the Olive Garden and then we had an early night!!
Day 4 was mostly spent driving from Orlando to Miami. A simple drive on one of the worlds most boring roads. It is straight, long and what appeared to be the same fields each side went on for ever. Anyway, it took us just over 3 hours to arrive at the Betsy Hotel on South Beach. The hotel is a small boutique hotel at the top of the strip in one of the famous art deco buildings. It is small but very luxurious. We had a late lunch in the hotel restaurant (a BLT steak house). It was fantastic, expensive, but probably the best steak I have ever had. Amazing.
We then headed out for a walk along the strip. I was not sure what I was expecting, but I felt like i was in Magaluf but with good architecture. Walking through the pavement cafe's takes a strong resolve whilst constantly getting bombarded with offers of 2 for 1 cocktails, free shots, lunchtime specials, all you can drink in an hour for $20 loud music etc etc. We walked back along the beach it felt easier.
The next day there was a bit of sun (the weather has been pretty poor the whole week) but very windy so we decided to relax on the roof terrace of the hotel - a very sophisticated space
In the evening, we decided if you can't beat them join them so off to take advantage of the 2 for 1 cocktails, free shots and cheap steak and chips we went. It was a lively night, what goes on tour stays on tour!!
Today, it is raining again so we are going to take it easy, probably visit one of the Malls here for some last minute Xmas shopping and a peaceful lunch and then an early night in preparation for our journey back to Orlando in the morning and flight home.
Things we have learnt on this trip:
Villa trumps hotel in every way
The Betsy Hotel is fantastic, I highly recommend it, we have had the best service ever here.
I am too old now to party on South Beach (although it was fun!!)
Judging by the adverts on the TV, the shops are going to give you money if you take their stuff away on black Friday!!
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks