Two Centre fun in the Sun

Back in 2015 we had a really fun trip travelling around Florida as a family but as the children were only 7 and 9 at the time we didn't get to visit Universal in Orlando...….so last summer in 2019 we travelled to Orlando again to see and do the bits that we missed the first time around. None of us felt the need to revisit Disney this time so we focused on shopping, visiting NASA, Water parks and the 2 Universal parks for the first 5 days in Orlando before driving West to Clearwater for 3 days. After some beach fun we drove down the west coast to Miami which took about 4/5 hours but we stopped at many beaches on the way for me to do some 'extra research'. We had an overnight in Miami with dinner at South beach, before flying onwards to Antigua in the Caribbean where we stayed in the fabulous Blue Waters hotel for another 6 days...allowing us to relax and spend some time exploring this beautiful island.

I thought for a change you may like to hear about the trip from my daughters perspective.....

Hello, my name is Millie and I am the 12 year old daughter of Sally. In July/August 2019, my family and I went on a fantastic and fun trip to North America and Antigua. During our holiday, we did a lot of amazing once in a lifetime experiences that I never imagined I would get to do, such as visiting NASA, staying in a luxurious Hard Rock Hotel and swimming in the clearest water I have ever seen.

At the start of our holiday, we took a trip to the NASA Space Centre where we were able to see lots of different rockets, watch videos and learn all about the successful and failing trips to space over many years. It was really hot that day and I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. There are loads of different exhibits and a great bus ride where you see the launch pad and where the rockets are built. After our day we drove for a few minutes to visit Ron Jons which is a great surf shop before we went to Cocoa beach on the east coast of Florida for an ice cream.

While we visited the incredible parks in Universal Studios including Volcano Bay Waterpark, Universal Studios Theme Park and Islands of Adventure Theme Park, we stayed in the absolutely amazing Hard Rock Hotel with a very grand entrance and a big drive way as you approach it . The hotel has a lovely pool and great rooms with extremely comfortable beds; you can even have an electric guitar put in the room for you to play. By staying at this hotel it automatically entitles you to Express passes for the rides in the parks....this was the best ever as we never had to queue for longer than 30 minutes to get on the fun rides....worth every penny my Dad said! It was a really busy few days but the rides in the parks were amazing...my favourite was the Hulk....sooo fast!

In the second half of our holiday, we took a flight from Miami to Antigua to stay in an all–inclusive resort that had beautiful views and endless things to do. Inside our suite, we had two bedrooms and a bathroom to share between 4 and plenty of extra relaxing space where the lounge and TV were. We had a massive balcony overlooking the Caribbean sea and even though it rained a few times it was never for long and we still did everything we wanted to do. We hired a jeep one day and drove the whole way around the island visiting lots of beaches, the capital St john and then ended our day a Shirley Heights for food and reggae music. Another day we went horse riding and even went in the sea on them! All of the staff at the hotel were very kind and fun and the best thing about the whole hotel was the chocolate milkshakes that were DELICIOUS!

On the way home from our absolutely fantastic holiday we flew via New York but it was a quick plane change so I only managed to see the yellow cabs and then we had one more surprise that even my parents weren’t expecting! We had been upgraded to premium economy where we had comfortable pillows and blankets, more leg space, wider chairs to relax in and even champagne given automatically to my mum and dad! It was a lovely surprise to end our fab family holiday to North America and Antigua.

So...there you have it....was it a bit full on? We did probably try to fit in a bit too much for the first week and your children need to be energetic and old enough for the long busy days ,but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend what we did. Even though July/August is essentially in the middle of the rainy season , the couple of downpours we had were quick, and as they say in the Caribbean...it is just liquid sunshine!