Travel.
Two weeks in Florida
This site has not been getting a lot of traffic, so I
thought I would use part of it to put down memories of a trip we took in
November 2016. Any hints or tips really are for visitors that have never been
there. If you have, most will be familiar to you.
Every time I have flown to the USA, the flights normally
leave the UK in the morning just before midday, and get in late afternoon at
around four thirty or so. This trip would be no different. We left at 11.40 and got in at 16.20 on time.
Then of course it is the ‘rush’ through customs etc. I say ‘rush’ but if course that is the
opposite of what happens. Hundreds of people on our plane and others trying to
enter at the same time!
I lost my bag on the
carousel and was going to put in a claim, and then it mysteriously reappeared.
It was missing my address label, so I think someone took it, had a quick look
and found just clothes and put it back.
Eventually through customs and then onto find the car we had
hired for the two weeks. A nice full
size car for a small bit of luxury but if you have never hired a car over
there, then you will now be asked for $50 a week for ‘E-Passes’. These are now
fitted to most hire cars, and if you travel around Florida as we did, you will
almost certainly go through tolls.
The E-Pass lets you drive through automatically, but if you
do not take it up, you will have to stop and pay cash at the booth. You might think that you can just not pay,
and drive through anyway, but the charge is taken at the end of the hire, from
the deposit you pay, so if you go though just once a week, you pay it. Petrol or Gas as they call it is only $2 a
gallon, so you will make it up that way.
While I am on the subject of cars, much of the driving over
there is shockingly bad. Indicators are
rarely used, and the large truck type vehicle (F150 or RAM type) will hammer
past, and then cross three or four lanes to get off the Freeway. I am not
saying they are all like that and of course we have more than our share in the
UK, but far too many are, and the vehicles are very powerful.
Large trucks, or what
we call Artic’s are allowed to travel at 70 mph on some of the Freeways, much
faster than over here, and they will pass you going faster than that. Speed limits as a rule are generally ignored
by all. My advice? More or less keep to
the posted speed limited and give plenty of room to be passed. It is their road system not ours and you are
there for a nice relaxing time.
We stayed in a hotel on International Drive, so this piece
is more for visitors who do not want to stay in a Disney Park, but would prefer
to do their own thing.
Next, the large theme parks that you will almost certainly
want to visit. It of course very much
depends on your budget, and we decided that three parks would be enough, and
the Kennedy Space centre. Budget
somewhere near $110 each adult for the Disney/Universal parks and for Kennedy
space centre around $50 each adult. You
can of course get bulk passes before you fly, or buy them from places that
offer cheap entry. It is up to you, but I did not trust most of them There are
too many rumours about rips offs on the tickets and getting refused entry.
Our first major visit was to the JF Kennedy space centre. Not interested in space? Go anyway if you
have hired a car. It is about an hour and fifteen minute drive from Orlando,
and well sign posted. I took my Sat Nav, and I had downloaded the USA map
system on to it. You can manage without, but it made it so much easier. The place is just fantastic and the rocket
garden is worth seeing alone. Included is a trip by bus around the complex,
viewing the old take off sights, and where they are now building the new one,
and the HUGE building where they build the rockets. You can also pay to meet
astronauts etc, but we did not bother. But all in all a great day and highly
recommended.
We also visited Disney
land Magic Kingdom which if an absolute MUST even if you don’t have children. There are free shuttle buses
from most hotels to most of the main theme parks. I say ‘free’ but you will be
expected to tip the driver a dollar each way each person. If you drive there
the car parks are huge and charge $20 to park, so the couple of bucks on the
bus is well worth it. I have been to the
Magic Kingdom three times now, and would go again. Just the best theme park in
the world in my opinion. Below are just three of the MANY I took there.
Also Disney Epcot
was on my list. These places are massive and you will be shattered by the time you
leave, so take your time and enjoy it. We came by bus this time, hoping to stay
and catch the firework display at the end. However, we were there for several
hours, and had walked our feet off by seven in the evening. The fireworks were
not due until nine thirty and the last bus was ten, so we decided to call it a
day. But is you have the energy, it is highly recommended. I have seen it twice,
and the whole show is wonderful. Epcot is getting a multi million dollar
makeover starting 2017, so it could look a lot different soon.
The last of the huge parks we went to over the two weeks was
Universal Studios. Slightly
different to the Disney parks in that there are many things outside the park
such and a multi screen cinema and shops and restaurants that you can use
without entering the park. But carry on to the park and you have two choices.
The first is either the Universal Studios, and that is the one we chose, or the
Harry Potter themed park, or both. You will of course be encouraged to buy
both, but that will depend on your requirements and budget of course. Although I enjoyed Universal, I do think that
Disney is better. But there are some great shows and you will have a wonderful
time. The parade at about five in the evening however, cannot compare in any
way with the parade at the Magic Kingdom. Here Disney triumphs well over the
other.
Shopping.
This of course will very much depend on your budget, but one
thing is for certain and that is that the prices in all the main parks are the
highest. Sometimes eye watering. In
Universal for instance many of the girls I saw around were wearing Harry Potter
type cloaks, and they are over $100 in the onsite shops. As I say, your budget, your choice. But if
you want to get some small gifts, and cheap tee shirts, then head to the flea
markets in Downtown Old Orlando. These
are based in the Kissimmee area of Orlando, about 12 miles outside. They are basically a huge undercover area of
market stalls and you can buy just about anything there much cheaper than the
main shops. While you are there visit Old Town Orlando itself. There are some
really interesting small shops selling unusual stuff, and on most Friday
evenings, a vintage car run takes place. Check out the web site for times, and
realize the place will be packed with cars so finding a car parking spot will be
difficult. But if you can park, the car
run is great.
Days out.
If you go to the bother of hiring a car, you do not want it
sitting in the hotel a lot. Florida is about the size of England so well worth
exploring. I once drove down to Miami on a previous visit, but as it is a 250
mile drive we did not bother this time. But we drove to St Petersburg, and then
back to Tampa, and then another day to Winter Haven, and over to Cocoa
Beach. So if you have the car and are
happy to drive, look at the map and get out and see this wonderful place.
Eating out.
As meals are rarely put as part of the hotel cost, eating
out can be expensive. We managed to find a hotel with breakfast included, but
it was ‘continental’ breakfast, i.e. cereal, toast, coffee, tea, juice, fresh
fruit every day. It saved a lot on breakfast cost, but of course very samey.
So of course for the rest of the day we eat out. Are they
cheap meals? I would not say so really. Certainly much more expensive than the
last time, but that was eleven years ago, so they would be! Once again as always it will depend on budget,
but we eat a lot in Denny’s and similar. You will notice that fresh vegetables
are not really on a lot of menus and much of it is fried, and pancakes are very
common on lots of menus.
There are of course plenty of choices and we found a
great Chinese place with a huge choice not far from our hotel.
Stay in the tourist areas for safety is the general advice.
Of course most of Orlando is safe, but International Drive and that area have
plenty going on, Kissimmee is close to the huge Disney parks, and have plenty
of restaurants and Universal just off International drive has cinemas and shops
and restaurants even if you don’t want the parks. If you use a sat nav, search
for the malls for shopping etc.
Anyway, that seems to be it for now. If you enjoyed this,
let me know, and if I can help contact me via email.
No comments:
Post a Comment