Alternative Orlando
Day 1 - The first is a bucket list item for many. It involved being up and ready at 5am to head to Orlando Balloon rides for our early morning flight, only confirmed the night before, and the weather was perfect. A mix of excitement and nerves, this was one where I really had to conquer my fear of heights. It was incredible, from standing inside the balloon to reaching heights of over 1400ft to see Orlando at sunrise. Such a smooth ride and a traditional champagne toast at the end.
Next stop - Gatorland, and if you are not sure you can believe the picture, trust me I fed the gators before I posed with my back to them. All gators pictured are real! Plenty of wildlife to see here, big truck off roading and gators galore.
Next stop - lunch at Planet Hollywood and a look around Disney Springs (shopping and dining) before evening entertainment at Medieval Times. Set within an 11th century European style medieval castle you cheer on your own Knight for a live jousting experience, whilst enjoying a utensil free 4 course meal! Great fun to round off a very long day.
Day 2 and a visit to I Drive 360 - another high start and 400 feet up on the Orlando wheel. Back down to earth we headed underwater to the SeaLife exhibition and brushed shoulders with some celebs at Madame Tussaud's. Still at I-Drive 360 we had lunch at the fabulous Yard House - can highly recommend this, the food was so tasty and they have a huge selection of beers.
Next stop Fun Spot Orlando - a smaller scale theme park but the same is not to be said for the rides - a traditional wooden rollercoaster - White Lightning, the tallest in Orlando and Freedom Flyer virtual reality coaster. I had to draw the line at Sky Coaster which pulls you up 300 feet in a harness then you launch yourself through the air and experience the closest thing to jumping out of a plane.
After a couple of hours there (great for the smaller children too) we headed to Boggy Creek. This was a highlight of the week for me, we met native Americans and watched a demonstration of how they hunted, cooked and lived many years ago. We mined for gemstones, ate alligator tail before dinner at Boggy Bottom restaurant and then experienced an airboat ride as the sun set hunting for gators in the Central Florida Everglades. Back to the fire to toast marshmallows to make s'mores and drink some swamp juice.
The following day was another early start, on the road at 7am heading for some off road fun at Revolution off road. We enjoyed a gorgeous breakfast in the blistering sun whilst we got our safety debrief for what I can only describe as one of the most exhilarating days I've taken part in. First stop clay pigeon shooting, hit one on my 8th shot, not so much joy with the archery but had great fun taking part!
But the highlight was the quad bikes - a 30 minute course on individual ATV's round a very muddy and undulating course, sunshine and beautiful views all around. Straight off these and onto the mucky duck ride. Another all terrain 8 wheeled amphibious vehicle - another 30 minutes, proved great fun in and out of the lake. Family friendly too - although some activities have a minimum age limit.
Rounded off with a very tasty BBQ, we did not want to leave and all located only 15 miles from Disney. We finished exhausted, happy and very very dirty!!! Do not wear your best clothes for this.
No rest for the wicked though, a quick turnaround and we hopped on the 'hop on hop off' bus to Wonderworks museum (located on International Drive) where they have over 100 exhibits to "spark imagination and challenge the mind" including 4D Xd simulator ride, a high ropes course and a laser tag arena. Round this off with giggles at the Outta control comedy and magic show complete with pizza and of course, unlimited sodas!
Day 4 and SeaWorld was the name of the game. This is a relaxed family day out, we saw lots of children and adults having fun, but at a lovely pace. So much for little ones to see; a dolphin nursery, flamingos, the incredible dolphin show and that of the Orcas too. Plus a log flume and thrills in the form of Mako and Manta and a new virtual reality ride coming in 2018. (I'd reached my limit with the hot air balloon so didn't need to push myself further). Lots of choices for food and gorgeous surroundings.
That evening our journey took us to the Amway Center ahead of the Orlando Magic basketball game against Cleveland Cavaliers! The atmosphere was electric, this is a very affordable fun night out for all the family and I highly recommend you do this if they're playing whilst you're in Orlando.
Day 5 - We headed 45 minutes drive East of Orlando to Kennedy Space Centre. Fun for all Space enthusiasts and budding scientists in the family, it's affordable and a good way to spend at least 3-4 hours away from the parks. See the Apollo 8 launch in the firing room from where it happened all those years ago and Space Shuttle Atlantis - all pretty spectacular.
From there we headed back to Fun Spot, in Kissimmee this time for the braver ones amongst us to try out the even higher Sky Coaster ride but the evenings entertainment took the form of us being privileged to ride in the classic cars brought in by locals, around 170 in total, to cruise the streets of Old Town. They do this every Saturday evening and similar on a Friday, this is the place to be to enjoy a bite to eat, have a beer in a saloon bar, join in lining the streets and enjoy the parade.
No trip is complete without a visit to the shops and after a full on and educational week, we were rewarded with some time to visit both the Florida Mall and the Premium outlets, where if you don't know, at the latter you can buy premium labels at heavily discounted prices, not just clothes and footwear but perfume, jewellery, watches, sports goods. Well worth a visit followed closely by trying to cram it all in your suitcase or on your back to get it home! Always worth leaving space in your suitcase or taking a spare soft bag (it seems I'll never learn)!
One very last working lunch with all our truly wonderful hosts at Buca di Peppo, in the Florida Mall where we enjoyed very authentic Italian food
Thank you Orlando, I had a blast and will absolutely be back!