Family trip to Florida

Stephanie Rea on 10 February 2011
Florida here we come in the cold month of February, the kids were off school for 8 days so 12 days of winter sunshine really appealed. We set off to Dublin airport with grandparents, parents, auntie and uncle and a 15 year old all in tow. We flew with Aer Lingus from Dublin and it was a long flight, but we found it to be very comfortable. There are lots of entertainment options on the personal TV monitors in the back of the seats, so you can make your own choices and not have toewatch what the kids want the whole way there….great start!

On arrival at the Orlando International airport we picked up our hire car, we’d chosen a minivan! The whole process went very smoothly and we were soon out of the airport and on our way to our villa, which was going to be our home for the next 12 days. Our villa was ideal, big and luxurious! We had paid extra to get the pool heated, which I do recommend to do if you are travelling to Florida in the winter months.

The whole family was looking forward to heading to Universal Islands of Adventure to visit Harry Potter World and it did not disappoint! It was extremely busy, so much so, at certain times when there are too many people in and you have to go and get a time ticket to return later at your allotted time. Lucky for us we did not have to do this. The queues for Hogwarts castle were quite long and so was the queue for Ollivanders Wand Shop. The ride and the experience of Hogwarts is one not to be missed for anyone Harry Potter fan or not, it is truly magical. You can also buy butterbeer and pumpkin juice, neither of which I particularly liked, but when your there you have to try these things! Before we left the UK, we had decided to go the Universal Parks, so the pass we purchased covered 5 parks in total; Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Seaworld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica.

Islands of Adventure, has lots of other attractions that are worth seeing and doing, The Hulk, is a must for all roller coaster fans out there! Spiderman 3D was another firm favourite with our family! Universal Studios has great attractions like Shrek 4D, just be prepared for the smell! Some other surprises were Men in Black – which was great fun and The Simpsons simulator ride - which we all enjoyed.

Seaworld is a lovely family day out, very relaxed and a great park for having a leisurely day in. The dolphin show was world class, but Shamu the killer whale show was a bit disappointing as they were working on producing a new show when we were there, so hopefully it will be as good as ever when you get the chance to go! There are also some big rollercoasters here to keep you entertained! The new rollercoaster here is called Manta….let’s just say I cried!

Busch Gardens is another park we all enjoyed, the boys loved the big white tigers and were excited at the fact there is a glass dome, which you can put your head into – once inside you are in the middle of the tigers lair! There are loads of animals to see and a trip to Busch Gardens will not disappoint.

Aquatica is a waterpark, I have never been to a waterpark before in Florida, but I will definitely do another one! Aquatica is simply brilliant; it is clean and very well looked after! The rides are thrilling but not really scary -another park that was a hit with the kids! We couldn't get Alex to come home! There is a beach beside the wave pool, so even grandparents who don't particularly like swimming can lie on a sunbeds beside the pool and read their books, maybe even going for a paddle every now and then!

This is really just a small overview of our holiday in Orlando, if you would like more information of our time in Florida, give me a call, I'd be more than happy to tell you of my experience...