ETID's holiday to Florida!

[ETID]

Allright lads!

Decided to share some photos of my holiday to Florida last year. We went out there for two weeks and it was my first time in the states. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside in Disney, proper nice place.

We had fast passes to all the parks in Disney and tickets for both Universal parks and Sea World. Every single ride was quality, be it the Hulk ride or Pirates of the Caribbean.

We had a few days out to go to Walmart which is stupidly big compared to the likes of ASDA and Tesco in the UK. A holiday to the states isn't a top holiday without a proper American meal so a 20 oz steak at Charleys Steak House was proper nice!

Got some nice photos to show you guy's below. It was a holiday of a lifetime and I want to go back every year but at a cost of 24K I can't see it happening to soon!

Cheers!

The Plane there

The Kingdom

The Kingdom at Night

Hulk Ride

Tower Ride

Manta

Massive Slide

Kraken

Jaws

Whale Show

Snake I found in a bush outside my room!

Ice Cream!

Candy!

 

[Ellis]

Ruddy hell ferg this is nearly a year ago now

 

[disinfected]

24k for a vacation? Maybe I should have valued living there three years a little more.

 

[Solid Lifters]

Ah, the deadly 'Bush Snake!' Glad you were careful with it! Though they didn't kill, one did get my wife pregers. Twice!

Glad you had a great time, but 24k worths!? Jebus, dude.

 

[ETID]

It was a family present from my nan for the five of us to go. We had Virgin atlantic VIP lounge and all the fast passes for the parks and the meals pre paid, well worth it though. I must of spent around $500 in the Ralph Lauren at Macy's.

 

[Pupik]

Ah, the deadly 'Bush Snake!' Glad you were careful with it! Though they didn't kill, one did get my wife pregers. Twice!

Now everyone at the gate is wondering why I'm laughing hysterically.

Glad you had a great time, but 24k worths!? Jebus, dude.

Yikes! Makes me thankful that I get Florida Resident discounts and shareholder offers.

Glad you liked it though.

 

[ETID]

Thanks Pupik, it was a great holiday. I laughed at that too.

About the snake. I was having a lazy day around the pool and decided to go and take some photos of the lizards because I kept noticing them everywhere I went and you never get them in the UK. A local saw me taking photos of lizards and told me to have a look at this snake he had found, he said it wasn't dangerous so I took his word and got a photo and followed it for about 1 hour. Got some awesome videos aswell of it slithering across the paths.

 

[McLaren]

What time of year did you go last year?

And while I thought $24K was a bit ludicrous, after tallying up what we spent compared to you having to come across the seas, a Disney resort, & with that many people, I can believe that.
We went in July for 12 days, spent around $13K on the room, around $2-3K on airfare for the group, & the additional costs of food, the malls, park passes, etc., it adds up pretty fast.

BTW, the outlet malls in Orlando are awesome. Open past 9pm & have everything. 👍

 

[Pupik]

What time of year did you go last year?

And while I thought $24K was a bit ludicrous, after tallying up what we spent compared to you having to come across the seas, a Disney resort, & with that many people, I can believe that.
We went in July for 12 days, spent around $13K on the room, around $2-3K on airfare for the group, & the additional costs of food, the malls, park passes, etc., it adds up pretty fast.

BTW, the outlet malls in Orlando are awesome. Open past 9pm & have everything. 👍

Where are you folks staying at 13k for 23 days...the Ritz Carlton's nicest suites? Or just a few dozen in a family reunion (which makes more sense)?

 

[Moglet]

24k?! Jesus! Me and my girlfriend are going in October, the flights, hotel, park tickets and car hire cost us about £3,000. Did you buy a car when you got there?

Nice photos though, it makes me really excited for my trip, especially since it's my girlfriend's first trip to the States. She's more excited about the food than the parks though!

This thread makes me finally want to post my Jamaica trip report from last year...

 

[ETID]

McLaren - Yes the costs all add up and the malls are quality. We went last June I believe - hurricane season? We went to the Florida mall and spent all day there!

Moglet - Nice! I hope you guy's have an amazing time. Wait, you WILL have an amazing time! Where abouts are you staying? We used the free Disney buses to get from park to park and a very nice taxi driver called Muhamed took us to the malls, Walmart, sea world and out for dinner. We had his mobile number and we rang him whenever we needed to go anywhere. Be careful because different taxi drivers will try and make you go with them, make sure you get their name when you ring them.

I recommend Macy's in the Florida mall and Charleys Steak House! We spent about $500 to $600 in there between my whole family but it's top class! They bring all the meats out and show you them before - top quality meat. If your up for it, try the 100 oz steak! None of us went for it but you can get it if you want.

 

[Moglet]

Moglet - Nice! I hope you guy's have an amazing time. Wait, you WILL have an amazing time! Where abouts are you staying? We used the free Disney buses to get from park to park and a very nice taxi driver called Muhamed took us to the malls, Walmart, sea world and out for dinner. We had his mobile number and we rang him whenever we needed to go anywhere. Be careful because different taxi drivers will try and make you go with them, make sure you get their name when you ring them.

I recommend Macy's in the Florida mall and Charleys Steak House! We spent about $500 to $600 in there between my whole family but it's top class! They bring all the meats out and show you them before - top quality meat. If your up for it, try the 100 oz steak! None of us went for it but you can get it if you want.

We're staying on International Drive at the Rosen Pointe Inn so the location is fairly decent but we will be using the car to get everywhere anyway since my girlfriend has problems with her legs and would prefer to have me drive her about so she can take her time.

Oh and I won't be sampling the 100 oz. steak I'm afraid, I'd like to be able to walk for the rest of the holiday!

 

[McLaren]

McLaren - Yes the costs all add up and the malls are quality. We went last June I believe - hurricane season? We went to the Florida mall and spent all day there!

Nice, you went right before us then. 👍 Loved it, but the humidity was almost unbearable & this coming from someone who lives in a hot summer climate.

Where are you folks staying at 13k for 23 days...the Ritz Carlton's nicest suites? Or just a few dozen in a family reunion (which makes more sense)?

We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana Villages for around $200/night for 12 days, which equaled around $2,200 for 1 person. I merely added in myself along with the other 5 people whom I went with.
Edit*

I'm getting my receipts & my math mixed up. The correct figure was $2,500 for the room, & the total cost of the trip was around $13-14K. I don't know why I typed that.

 

[ETID]

Moglet - Nice, International Drive is a great location! Have you guy's got fast passes for the parks? I recommend them - not sure on how much they are though. If not make sure you get to the parks nice and early.

Seriously though go to Charleys Steak House and have the 15oz Filet Mignon! 👍

McLaren - Yes! The humidity was stupid. 85 - 95 farenheit everyday which is hot enough! Then the 100% humidity just makes it a joke. I don't understand how people can live with that. Then you see people going for a jog at midday - makes me laugh!

I used to cherish the moments when you come back to your air conditioned room and collapse on the bed.

 

[McLaren]

Moglet - Nice, International Drive is a great location! Have you guy's got fast passes for the parks? I recommend them - not sure on how much they are though. If not make sure you get to the parks nice and early.

Seriously though go to Charleys Steak House and have the 15oz Filet Mignon! 👍

McLaren - Yes! The humidity was stupid. 85 - 95 farenheit everyday which is hot enough! Then the 100% humidity just makes it a joke. I don't understand how people can live with that. Then you see people going for a jog at midday - makes me laugh!

I used to cherish the moments when you come back to your air conditioned room and collapse on the bed.

I thought the temperatures were great. Then again, we were going to 85-90 degree weather whilst Dallas was in the midst of a 100+ heat wave, so we were right at home. But yeah, the humidity & the rain was what kept getting us.

We never really knocked out each day til' 2am. We were too busy playing pool volleyball each night followed by a late dinner & TV.

 

[ETID]

Where I live in south-eastern England we get 20-30 celcius in the summer so it was a massive step up for us. The rain wasn't too bad with us a little shower every other day and that was about it, we got lucky.

We were back at the room at 10-11 latest and crashed out straight away. We did one day at a park or mall then a day by the pool, we alternated so we didn't get too tired, it worked a treat. On park days we got up at 7 for an early breakfast and early opening at the parks.

 

[McLaren]

I take you guys only did 1 of the Disney parks per day? 'Cause we bought a 5-day deal & visited the Epcot, MGM, Animal Kingdom, & Magic Kingdom twice in that order. We did Universal & IOA afterwards. We actually left Epcot really early & turned it into a mall day.

We wanted to do SeaWorld, but we weren't sure if everyone in our group wanted to spend that much more money.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I want to go to Disney World again and actually look around next time. Only got to see our hotel (Animal Kingdom Lodge) and a couple other places while there for GT Academy.

 

[mattythedog]

Those pics bring back a lot of memories, of all the fun I've had in Florida. Looks like you had fun too!

 

[Omnis]

Where are you folks staying at 13k for 23 days...the Ritz Carlton's nicest suites? Or just a few dozen in a family reunion (which makes more sense)?

My friend is a manager at the Ritz. Or was at one point. Free sweets, and the rooms cheap too!

Next time any of you englishmen feel like blowing $20k on a vacation, come stay with me and I'll take you on the Miami concrete jungle safari.

 

[ETID]

I'll keep in touch Omnis - Miami sounds good!

 

[Moglet]

Moglet - Nice, International Drive is a great location! Have you guy's got fast passes for the parks? I recommend them - not sure on how much they are though. If not make sure you get to the parks nice and early.

We've just got the unlimited access passes for all of the parks but we're early birds anyway and we're going at a fairly quiet time of the year apparently. 👍

 

[ETID]

Shouldn't be too bad then. When I went I felt sorry for the people in the standard ques. They were massive!

 

[Touring Mars]

Ah, the deadly 'Bush Snake!' Glad you were careful with it! Though they didn't kill, one did get my wife pregers. Twice!

Sounds like a great holiday, ETID, although I can't believe how expensive it was My sister was talking about possibly doing something similar in a few years, and taking my nephew to Disneyland etc., but I think it's just too expensive... not only am I a cheapskate, I'm also more of a city break type person, so I'm not sure the full on US theme park holiday would be my thing.

Anyway, glad you enjoyed your holiday of a lifetime 👍

 

[ETID]

Putting the cost aside it's a holiday I'll never forget. It was definately something different to the normal holidays where you laze around the beach and get cheap drinks from the bar. In the actual Disney parks a can of Coors or Bud was around $8 - $10 dollars - not cheap!

 

[Omnis]

Did you eat at that Mythos place across from the Poseidon show at IoA? I had a fantastic burger there a long time ago.

 

[axletramp]

Nice trip, and like mattythedog, this brings back memories of my trip two years ago. Congrats on spending £24k. We had a party of 5 who all flew business class and stayed for 3 weeks in complete luxury and still only managed to blow £18k! The flights were a lot cheaper then though.

Where did you stay?

@Omnis - make that $18k and we'll talk.

 

[Omnis]

You buy my new car, I'll drive you around.

 

[axletramp]

Hmm, not sure I'd want to blow the whole budget on transportation. That would mean having to eat out on International Drive...

 

[Omnis]

I Drive? Hell naw, we're in Miami.