40 hours in Orlando

The flight to Orlando, even thought it was only 10 hours, seemed very long. We had a delayed departure from Frankfurt due to an issue with the generator on one of the engines, but after that it was plain flying. We got through US Customs and Immigration in just under an hour, and all the officials seemed very interested to see our NZ passports. As we left the airport to get a shuttle to the hotel, we were greeted with hot late afternoon sun and humidity. It was like a very sticky summer's day in Auckland.

When we got to the Lowes Royal Pacific Resort, we discovered that the hotel is a resort in itself (bit obvious from the name really) as well as being one of the three hotels on the Universal theme park site. Nicky went straight off to bed but I needed to unwind for awhile and have something to eat. I had a bit of a wander round the hotel and ended up in Jack's bar where I had a very nice pint of draft beer which was not dissimilar from Newcastle Brown and a portion (not small) of fries with minced beef, cheese, chillies and tomatoes. It really filled a gap. It was now my turn for a shower and bed. 

By 2.30am Friday morning, we we awake again making hot beverages (this is where Nicky's non-coffee drinking adds a little frisson to life) and by 6.30 were still awake so we had a further explore of the hotel while waiting for the breakfast restaurant to open at 7. It was well worth the wait. I had booked to buffet breakfast with the room rate so that we could just help ourselves, and we did. Mainly fresh fruit, yoghurt, bacon and scrambled eggs etc, followed by tea and coffee (and a couple of Danish for me). Excellent start to the day.

Our residency in the hotel gave us early access (by an hour) to the themes parks. With the hotel being on the site of the theme parks we were able to take a very pleasant walk by "the river" to the park. Our Express and pre-purchased tickets meat we got straight in, and I think the walk through the park to the Wonderful World of Harry Potter was actually longer than the walk from the hotel to the park! Anyway, we finally got to the entrance, Platform 9 & 3/4, and the Hogwarts Express. This lead directly into Hogsmead and all the shops. We slowly made our way up the gentle incline towards Hogwarts itself, going in all the shops, browsing the extensive merchandise and thoroughly enjoying the way the shops had been fitted out. 

When we got to Hogwarts and read the information about the nature of the ride round the castle, we decided that it wasn't for us and that we would take the walking tour instead. Even though this meant we saw less of the castle, we were able to do it at our own pace so we could linger and enjoy the experience and not have to move at the pace of the queue for the ride. We did go on the Hippogrife ride, as Nicky had been told by a borrower that it was quite gentle, and the ride information board indicated that it was a much "calmer" ride than going rough Hogwarts. OH NO IT WASN'T. Nicky kept her eyes closed most of the time and I hung on for grim death. We we both very pleased that we hadn't gone round Hogwarts, and it took us a while to recover with a sit down and some very good pumpkin juice. 

We enjoyed the warmth and the sun while we queued for half an hour to get into Olivanders to watch a wand choosing a wizard. We also saw the frog choir and the tail end of the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students entrance. For lunch we had a fresh pretzel, some grapes, water and Florian Forstigues strawberry and peanut butter ice cream. We looked round all the shops again, and I bought Nicky a wand after much deliberation over which one, but the crowds were starting to get very heavy and there was nothing more we wanted to see so we headed back to the hotel.

Nicky was very tired so had some sleep for an hour or so, and then around three we donned our togs and headed for the pool. We found a couple of loungers in the shade and got some complimentary towels and had a swim before settling down to enjoy the warm and dappled sun  We enjoyed watching the children doing various water based competitions, but not the MC as we were very close to the PA system. There was a pool-side bar and café and we felt like a drink and a bite to eat, so ordered cocktails and nachos. Cocktails by the pool in our togs was a first and a real treat for us. We both had Dirty Bananas (kailua, creme de cacao, creme de banana, banana and ice cream) and nachos with melted cheese, beef mince, tomatoes and chillies. We just expected a small snack, but the dish was massive (we think it could have fed four) and we couldn't finish it.  Unfortunately, just after I had started my cocktail I decided to move a wee table and spilt the whole drink. The staff we very good about tidying up, and then much beyond my expectations replaced the drink for free!

As the afternoon moved into early evening the tropical weather turned to light rain, so we headed back the the room, showered, relaxed and went to bed.

On Saturday morning Nicky figured out how to use the laundry facilities so that our clothes could wash while we had another leisurely breakfast. We asked for a table outside which was lovely as it was warm and shaded. We both had fruit and yoghurt followed by omelettes and tea and coffee and just took it all very slowly. We wandered back to the laundry and put the clothes in a drier. While they did their thing we walked back to the theme park as we wanted to get some maps which we had seen people with the day before but not got copies of ourselves. We got the water taxi back to the hotel as there was no queue at 8.45 for leaving the park, and by the time we got back to the laundry the dryer had just about finished. We pack our cases and headed down to the lobby to check out, use the free wifi, and write postcards. 

Our shuttle bus to the airport arrived a little early so we boarded and set off. Orlando airport was absolutely manic, and we were very pleased that we had arrived early as it took ages to get through security. I had an interesting body scan experience. The flight to Dallas was fine but no food was provided, so we bough some salad, cheese and biscuits, dried fruit and nuts from the concessions available. We enjoyed eating them on the flight to Vancouver. 

We were very impressed with the "cultural welcome" at Vancouver airport; we walked through landscaping representing the history of Canada and there we some great sculptures and water features. Immigration were again interested in our fancy NZ passports and we got through baggage claim without a problem. We had a bit of a wait for the free shuttle to the hotel, but we got there in the end, checked in and were very pleased to get to bed. Even though we had only been in the air for seven hours it had been a long day. 

We knew we were not going to have very long in Orlando when we set out, but we thoroughly enjoyed seeing Harry Potter world, relaxing and being pampered by the hotel staff. The sun and the warmth we also very welcome. The only black spot was the sheer number of people. We didn't enjoy the crowds. 

I will post about our Vancouver experience when we get back. 

Take care,

Rick