Orlando on

What next!

Looked at the Universal option to perhaps see the Harry Potter world thing but at $190.00 US each thought it was just too much. We had been told that Epcot as part of Disney world was good so decided on such reccommendation we should try it without knowing what its cost was so we headed off.

Drove up to the entry, joined the car queue and finally got to pay our $22.00 entry fee. Thought, this is good value. “Sir, this is just to park your car”. Parked the car with 10,000 others (in the second car park) and queued again to go through security…

then queued again to buy our tickets. $244.00US, $341.00AUS – WOW!

Anyway we’re here, committed, so be it!

OK so first up is History of the World – a big round ball on the outside and a big long queue. Well our tickets actually gave us priority entry and we got re-directed to the shorter queue…

Anyway we eventually got inside to discover a train ride up several stories inside through dioramas of the history of human communication. Interesting but not encompassing. The ride concluded with something of an interactive gallery but really aimed at the kids….

However Judes ticket didn’t work so we were directed to customer services and stood in a queue. Finally got ticket replacement with many apologies and were granted an extra ride. An extra ride? Oh yes, you can now select 3 from whats on offer, bearing in mind that you’ve already had 1 ride, 3 being the initial total of what you have paid for!!! WHAT -$341.00 for 3 rides?????. Ahh, but you can join the queue to go on the wait list for any ride at no extra cost. Oh goody!

Anyway, bearing in mind that we now have access to 3 rides lets be a little selective. I think there are about 15 different rides or shows so we select the 3 that are perhaps the least dangerous – 4D cartoons, a space ride and a hang glider ride around the world. Jude had to hold my hand and coerce me into the latter 2 but I figured if she’d go on a boat then I better aquiesce to these “scary” rides.They were fantastic albiet more than a little short. All were 4D experiences and I’d do them again but not at $170.00 odd each.

Epcot overall was disappointing – a. not good value, b. very limited food choices, c. not really that interesting. We did avoid the ‘foods of the world gallery’, mainly because it was a long walk and didn’t look to be that interesting anyway, I mean, how many ways can you do hot dogs or nachos. Mind you with only 4 rides/shows experienced, the day disappeared given the time we spent in ‘priority’ queues. Of course that didn’t apply to food or drinks or shopping venues. so it wouldn’thave mattered much if we had more rides to experience – we didn’t have time to fit them in…..

each one of those cars brought $22.00, but the monorail was free. Nice ride and bloody nice to sit down at the end of a long day and take in the sights.

Next day after deciding that we couldn’t justify more expenditure on theme parks in which we were not particularly interested we drove into Orlando city to have a look around. Like most cities these days it is a picture of ordinariness but it does have a lovely lake and garden inclusion…

and the odd squirrel and swan. It is a nice clean looking city. We spent most of the day driving to, around and from the city given the amount of traffic everywhere. I don’t know how anything gets done in these great American cities – you spend so much time commuting.

We left Orlando on Saturday to go to West Palm Beach to meet with our cruise ship. About a 3 hour drive south and an awful dependence on the sat-nav we reached the port to find queues to everything…

but finally got dockside to be confronted by this rather large ship.

Having never been on board a cruise ship before it was all a bit confronting. At some point before getting on board in one of the early queues we have our luggage confiscated – it will be waiting for you in your cabin when you get on board but ‘don’t lose that ticket’. Mind you, prior to this our rent-a-car has already been taken from us to be sent where we know not but ‘don’t  lose that ticket’ and then we’ve got to order our dinner drinks with another ‘don’t lose that ticket’ and we get issued with plastic on board credit cards with another ‘don’t lose that ticket’ and along the way we have to select our onshore activity with another ‘ don’t lose that ticket’ and then we board the ship. By this stage my pockets are bulging with tickets and they want one of them for us to board!!! Actually I’ve even forgotten to mention that  in the checking in process they take our passports with another ‘don’t lose that ticket’. So I’m hobbling under the weight of several hardwoods so the invitation to lunch on board was more than welcome. And what a surprise it was – an extravagant buffet with real food that tasted of food. And, that set the food scene for the next couple of days – the food was terrific.

On board was an experience which Jude survived admirably. Its not that the ship wobbled or anything, in fact it was very smooth but just that it was on the sea. This is something that ordinarily she would not attempt. But we got very busy over the next couple of days, eating, drinking (well one of us) and experiencing on board entertainment….

Day 2 we took the selected on shore activity which enabled us to keep our feet dry (all of the other activities involved water) by taking in a tour of Freeport on the island of Grand Bahama and its botanical garden. Freeport is a minor but predominantly  industrial township with a major dependence on oil storage and disribution. Past USA president George Bush has a controlling interest in the oil business…..

and the beer business.

Photo above is of our tour group and the guy at the back is Mikey our tour leader who wants to change his  name to “Bush” and claim  familial rights. The gardens were established by Wallace Groves an early (1950’s) investor in the Bahamas and a major influencer in the growth of Bahamian economy. Freeport does ot appear to be a thriving community though – there are many closed businesses and the overall impression is that of a third world economy….

but its tax free nature is obviously an attraction to some monied people…

The population is predominantly of African-American heritage, more so of the last century but the history of the islands dates back to Spanish occupancy of the 1600’s and thence British rule in later times hence they drive on the correct side of the road. Over these days we met with Susie and Christine and Melanie from the US, had dinner with Michelle and John and their daughter and thence with Bill and Belinda and Brian and Sarah, all good company over dinner and also all from the US. Good evenings at dinner then on to the shows. Good fun. Belinda owns and runs a pottery business in New Orleans called “chezclay”

Back to port on day 3, tired but happy to have the edge taken off by a 1 1/2 hour wait in the queue for American Immigration. A drive down south to Miami ameliorated my anger as we drove into the GIANT metropolis of Miami and Miami Beach. Despite mis-directions up closed streets by the sat-nav we eventually found our way to our hotel. Miami Beach is the centre of art deco style and our hotel was no exception – no provision for parking but very “art Deco” inside and out. It was actually quite good and reasonably priced and very central to all of the Miami Beach activities.

But, once again time has caught up with me so I’ll have to conclude our US experience in the next entry. Good night Dick!