USA – Orlando 2/1/17 – 5/1/17

2 hour bus ride, (this time tickets booked on line for half price), and we were in Orlando, Florida. Large bus station, but still easy enough to get around, then short taxi ride to our next hotel – Comfort Inn on International Drive. Our friends Steve and Fiona were only a couple of hours behind us as me had arranged to meet them here and to spend the next two weeks touring Florida. The hotel is great, a large standard room with 2 double beds, En suite and microwave all for under NZ $100 per night and only a mile from Universal Studio theme park amongst others.
Our first day was actually to take the free shuttle bus from our digs to Universal Studios and Universal Island Adventure. A 2 park 1 day pass costs USA $169 pp that’s NZ $243, quite expensive but we all thought it was worth it by the end of the day. On top of this you could have got an “express pass” which entitled you to jump the queues for an additional USA $100, that’s NZ $144 pp, but we declined this. A good choice as well as we didn’t have to wait more than 30 minutes for each ride. These 2 parks are brilliant, we all loved the roller coasters, especially the Hulk ride. This ride starts off rising slowly through a tunnel, then half way it launches into rocket speed thrusting you out into 2 spiral turns. There’s plenty of 360’ loops, twists and turns, all at very high speeds, so much so you don’t know if your coming or going. Very exhilarating, then we all think it’s over as our chairs come to a crashing halt, on top of a high vantage point, then as quick as a flash, your propelled forwards, again at high speed into more twists and turns. It really is great due to its surprises. The park has many areas to get around and the best by far is the Wizardry land of Harry Potter. The rides here are phenomenal, everything including Hogwarts is impeccable and so realistic even for those of you (like me), who didn’t really get into the film’s, it’s amazing. Some rides even have the latest pyrotechnic additions, lights, sounds even smells in certain parts.
We lost count to the amount of coasters we rode today, and we even got a couple of shows in as well. In total we had spent 12 hours in this theme park having the best time ever.
Next day we looked online to see what else there was to do in Orlando other than the theme parks. Tina found a great activity, which was across the other side of the car park to our hotel, so walking distance. This was The Escape Game, which had 5 games within its complex, we chose Prison Break. What fun, you had to work in a team to sort out puzzles, find keys and escape your cell. Once outside, it started again, more puzzles and problem solving skills to get out of the corridor, down a tunnel and into the library and start again. You really had to have your wits about you and work within your team. Fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable fun. There’s quite a few stages in each room and we made it to the library with only 3 more tasks to do before our allotted time of 1 hour ceased and our “guard” entered the room. Absolutely outstanding performance by our team as it was our first time, and had we had another day, would definitely rebook another room to escape from but unfortunately the 4 of us are on the move again tomorrow. The area around the Comfort Inn is surrounded by many restaurants and shops, so once you’ve parked your car here, you really don’t need it again until you check out. We especially liked the Whole Foods store with its amazing deli/buffet, every type of food hot and cold available for you to buy, even with an eating area next to it. You load up your box, take it to the cashier, who weighs it, you pay for it, then eat it. Marvellous idea and so very tasty, I can fully recommend the hot pulled pork in BBQ sauce, yummmmmm.