Day 20 – Thursday

Today was very special as we swam with dolphins, which is every bit as amazing as we had been hoping.

We also got to see how the other half live as we went to Discovery Cove. It is ridiculously expensive, but once in the service is incredible and everything is included. A real treat.

We were slightly worried as thunder storms had been forecast, but the weather stayed bright and sunny all day.

There is a lot to do there. We used their wet suits and snorkels to go snorkelling with sting rays and fish on their own coral reef and we swam in their lovely warm fresh water pools and rivers. But, of course, the highlight was the swimming with dolphins.

We were on at 12:10 so we went to the shelter for a briefing (and to sign the usual disclaimers) just before then. And then we were taken into the water to meet our dolphins.

Our first dolphin was Dot, an 8 year old female. She let us feed her, touch her and even kiss her before showing off for us. She was adorable, and knew it!

Then Hutch, a 16 year old male, came out to play and, one-by-one, he gave us all a ride. Holding the dorsal fin in one hand and a flipper in the other he pulled each of us around 20 yards. What an amazing experience.

Day 19 – Wednesday

We went to another waterpark today – Aquatica, which is owned by the same people who own SeaWorld.

Like at Typhoon Lagoon on Monday, the day was a mixture of relaxation and excitement. Comparing the two, the slides were better (i.e. faster!) today, but the queues were longer. But the wave pool wasn’t anything like as much fun as Typhoon Lagoon.

We particularly enjoyed Taumata Racer (8 slides side-by-side where you race against each other), Tassie’s Twisters (where you sit on an inflatable ring which goes down a slide before coming out in a bog round funnel where you go round like water down a drain) and the Dolphin Plunge (a traditional waterslide except where the slide goes through a pool with dolphins swimming in it (not that you get to see the dolphins as you go through too fast, although the kids claim to have seen some).

Along with lazing around the Roa’s Rapids (which is especially fun when you put on a life-vest and let the current just take you round) and reading in the shade of an umbrella protecting us from the very hot sun, it was a great day.

Even after all that, I suspect that the kids would say that coming home via CiCi’s Pizzas would be their highlight – all you can eat pizza and drinks for $6.99 (adults)!

Day 18 – Tuesday

We made a list last evening of all the parks we’d been to and where we’d like to go back. The top, mainly because we didn’t get to do all the rides we wanted to was Epcot. So at 9am we were queuing outside to go it.

We did all the rides, including being really lucky to go on Test Track a second time as we happened to be standing right next to it when they re-opened it after it had been closed, meaning that we didn’t have to wait in the usual 60 minute queue.

We also road Soarin’ which is like flying in a hang-glider over California, trying to recognise all the different places we visited three years’ ago.

We went back to our room for lunch and had a swim in the afternoon before heading back to Epcot for the evening and their fireworks display.

Day 17 – Monday

We had to recharge our batteries today. So after a bit of a lie-in we headed off to Typhoon Lagoon, which is one of Disney’s two water park.

In the centre is a massive pool where they make enormous waves. Around that there is a slow moving ‘river’ which you can float down. And around that there are lots of waterslides to go down.

With that and a bit of lounging around reading, batteries are fully charged and we’re ready to go again tomorrow.

Sorry - we didn't take the camera today, so no pictures.

Day 16 – Sunday

We set a new record today – two parks in one day! OK, so they were both Universal parks, but they are separate and we are absolutely knackered!

In the morning we went to Islands of Adventure. This has some great rides, but the real highlight was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Perhaps it’s because Universal is a film company, but the make believe ‘sets’ are incredible. Hogwarts towers above this area, and Hogsmeade in the snow was so realistic.

 In the afternoon we went to Universal Studios Park, where again there were some brilliant rides. Although by the end we were all flagging!

Day 15 – Saturday

We went back to Seaworld again today. We still think it’s brilliant!

We got there as close to when it opened as possible to take part in the dolphin feeding. This is great, although it wasn’t a complete success as the birds also want to get in on the act – one of them swooping down to take a fish out of my fingers before I could give it to a dolphin and another tried to get one off Eliza and made quite a painful scratch in her finger putting her off the whole experience.

Seeing around 50 people lining up along the wall with dolphins coming up to use for food was quite bizarre.

After that we fed the rays (which is even more odd as you have to put your hand onto the bottom of the tank with the shrimps sticking up through your fingers. This then enables the rays (whose mouths are on the bottom) to get to them.

We then enjoyed the killer whale show again, watched sealions and walruses and did a couple of rides, including getting very wet on a log flume and another one which takes you to their Arctic section where they have beluga whales and polar bears.

In the afternoon we headed out to Florida Mall. Supposedly the biggest shopping mall in Florida, it doesn’t compare with our large malls at home. But it was good to get out and do something different and Eliza is very happy that she was able to visit the Build-A-Bear workshop – something she’s wanted to do for ages.

In the evening we went back to Seaworld to see the evening killer whale show (Shamu Rocks) which is just as good as the day time one. Both of them gave me a really sadistic pleasure of watching people on the front seats getting absolutely soaked!

Day 14 – Friday

Today we went to Kennedy Space Centre (or Center as the Americans spell it).

To be honest we were a little disappointed by it. The highlights were some great films about the Hubble Space Telescope, the Apollo Program and the Apollo 11 moon landing, but we could have watched them at home.

In the morning we heard Ed Gibson speak. He was one of the first astronauts on the Skylab, and it was inspiring to hear him speak of being an astronaut in the early 1970’s. We then had our photo taken with him, but “no autographs please!”

It’s great to see rockets close up and to get a real feel for the scale of the achievement of getting people into space and then to the moon. But as a visitor you don’t really get very close to it. The bus tour takes you to a viewing site, but you don’t get close to a launch pad or anywhere where anything is really happening now.

We were then able to touch a piece or real moon rock – a small piece (about 3 cm long) that had been polished to look like a granite kitchen work top. Not exactly what we’d been expecting. And the customer service is nowhere near Disney’s standard!

It was still a great day out, but I think we’d built our hopes up too far.