Florida. part one.

Yes, absolutely, we are back in our most favourite place ever. No matter how many wonderful places we have been around the the World, and all the amazing things we have done, Orlando in Florida is our true Happy Place.

With monetary considerations our only deciding factor, I could have chosen any date to fly to Orlando, so for that and no other reason I decided to throw caution to the wind and book us a whole month here. It was always our intention to finish our amazing round the world trip here, and this particular destination was saved, booked and planned for moons ago. This was not a whim destination, or a where can we go next, this is our happy place and the place we wanted to share as a bunny trio for one last adventure.

* Be warned, this is going to be a whole lotta Disney/Universal waffle with almost all things Theme Park related with just a couple of exceptions. I shall try and keep things brief, but this is Mrs Bunny, and Disney is my thing.

With time on our hands, we chose to split up our residences and enjoy various other Florida adventures that we have not done in the past. Spending 11 days on a very quiet International Drive, we had time to spend around the pool doing a weird thing called `nothing`. We then went to Kennedy Space Centre, Gatorland, Busch Gardens and Seaworld. Disney Springs for a whole day, not just a speedy evening and also paid a visit to Volcano Bay water park. Each adventure was a singular relaxed event, a leisurely breakfast after a short lie in (for die hard rope drop Disney fans, a lie in is unheard of) followed by an unrushed taxi ride to each destination. I admit to being first in line at Seaworld, but it was only a 10 minute drive away. Each evening we were back in our wonderfully cool air conditioned bunny hutch for tv dinners from Walmart and a very very long tv (not netflix) movie. (9 minutes of movie followed by 4 minutes of adverts, rinse and repeat)

International Drive

We have stayed here on many occasions, always in the same accommodation, the very comparatively cheap, cheerful, centrally located Avanti, or for older readers, the old Best Western, and I have a hunch the Econolodge? It suits a purpose. No frills practical room with very comfortable beds. We have a fridge, coffee/tea maker, drawers, bath, shower and large TV. The pool is very nice, sufficient sunbeds with towels, a hot tub, and pool side bar and cafe. What else do you actually need? Years ago I would have added several things, like Ponderosa Steak house almost next door, Wendys (or Friendlies?) I cannot remember which, the shortest walk away, and a whole lot of interesting shops, fun restaurants eg I Hop, Ice Bar, (yes, still there but very laxy daisy) Ben and Jerrys, TGI Fridays to name a few, but now? Just so many empty buildings, all our favourites have disappeared with TGI`s vanishing in the last 18 months. Icon Park seems busy enough, but the old busy International Drive has long gone. A taxi driver told us he used to cringe when asked to take a fare to I Drive, describing it as a huge parking lot, but now he referenced it as a speedway. To say there has been some pretty intense new building work would be an understatement, the development here, not actually on I drive itself, is quite phenomenal. The latest of course being the brand new hotels around the latest Universal Park, Epic. Add that to the many huge hotels around Universal and Disney , and its bye bye International Drive. Orlando itself is also experiencing a huge population boom. Self explanatory as to why the parks are just getting busier and busier.

To avoid overly long blogs, I have split the various places up into multiple shorter, cup, saucer and single biscuit length blogs, rather than mugs and munchies.