Florida Day 7: Random Cows & Trying Again!

This is our seventh day of Florida... 

We went on a boat trip to 'look for alligators', but mainly for the views and to go on a fast boat haha.

The weather was so cold on the boat, and I only had a thin jumper on! 

I was looking for alligators, which we saw one, but I didn't realise there would be so many other species around.

So, this was a random cow in the middle of the water amongst the reeds. Normal, right?

The trip only lasted half an hour so we still had most of the day left to go for another explore in the theme parks closer to our villa before we moved down south the next day.

We went on duelling dragons again today, but invited Christie as she couldn't go on last time. The crazy guy on the mummy ride last time ruined the experience, and as there was a short queue, we tried that again. There was so much we missed! It was a really good ride.

The aim of going back had actually been for the minion ride, but the constant 90 minute queue meant that was a no go.

This duck was so cute, random, but cute. Thought I'd just throw that in there (not literally) too. 

I went to Sizzlers for tea, which is a nice all you can eat buffet.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! If you missed day 6, just click here for that.

R.C. xx

Florida Day 6: Flying Balls & Chilly Shopping!

Today was a chilly day - sunny - but cold! It was a good day to just take it easy, and enjoy some calmness.

We headed off to the clubhouse first, and played some pool - I'm not the best... a couple of pool balls may have flew off the table...

I was desperate to have a splurge in bath and body works, so we took the cold day as a great time to spend in a shopping mall - Mall at Milenia.

Abercrombie & Fitch have some amazing sales. I really wish I had bought a polo neck as they were so nice and literally about $9.

Hollister is so much cheaper here compared to the UK. all jeans were $25; that is so amazing. Cheaper than New Look! There was also a gorgeous flower print dress that was only $15.

There's only a couple of Forever 21 stores in England so I had to have a mooch in there. There was a bit of a disaster as Christie's money hadn't gone back on her card yet so we had to search for my brother so she could borrow it. 

I almost - just almost - managed to try a cheesecake from 'The Cheesecake Factory'. *sad face*

We saw so many sunsets in Florida - all so beautiful. I especially liked this one, the way the natural sunset contrasted against our man made machines and structures, yet both the sunset and cars gave off a similar shade of glow.

I hope you enjoyed day 6 in Florida! We weren't quite prepared for the cold weather and obviously it was much less photogenic but fun all the same! If you missed day 5 of Florida click here for that! Day 7 is also up now, so just click here!

Thanks for reading,

R.C. xx

A Weekend Away In Holland!

 Last weekend, as all my exams were finally over, I caught my first flight alone and met my dad in Holland to have a weekend away exploring Amsterdam and Zeist.

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I thought I would do a post on some of the things I saw when I was there.

We had a look in the zoo when we were in Amsterdam and it was crazy how there were so many animals in the middle of a city! This lion was loving the sun. How elegant and peaceful does it look?

Amsterdam somehow manages to have this city vibe about it, and busy enough to appear worth visiting yet not make you feel claustrophobic. There are so many people enjoying their day, but you don't have the hassle of constantly walking into people like a lot of cities.

I heard about this little cafe from Marcus Butler on youtube, and as my dad is a huge salad lover, I thought I would introduce him to it. You basically get to customise a huge salad for yourself - pretty cool, and much better than the unfilling places like KFC in the UK!

 Of course, Amsterdam is very famous for it's canals so I just had to do what every tourist does - and take a photo from a bridge of one of the canals.

I have to say, one thing I adore here was how the number of boats and bikes exceeded the number of cars. Being in the centre of the action, but not the centre of the pollution is always a blessing!

As with all great timings, my shoes decided to rub and I had to walk back in socks for half an hour to the hotel - so the next day we cycled around Zeist instead of Amsterdam!

We even found a cute town full of cool shops that were actually open on a sunday. Maybe I could have bought new shoes to walk around Amsterdam...

We spent about 5 hours cycling, and enjoying how flat it was compared to England and our 60 degree hills. It's a bit difficult at first, and I may have almost been knocked over by racers and crashed into bollards, but you know, once you actually realise there are two lanes in the cycle path it's not too bad ;)

I hope you enjoyed this less chatty blogpost of travelling, and more photo based. I'm thinking of doing that with my Florida posts when I finally finish them - along with the odd story thrown in haha.

R.C. xx

Day 5: Double Park Whammy and I Will Survive!

We actually left the house early today! Even though we'd already been to both parks, there was still plenty of rides we hadn't been on so today was the day to mix between the two...

Shrek had such a good queue, well there was an outdoor queue that just had a few screens with entertainment on, but once we got inside there was a big room with a Shrek scenario which was cool to see whilst we waited. The show was your average 4D performance with the spray of water, and the seats actually moved as well so that gave it a little unique twist.

Then we finally got to go on the one ride I had been desperate for since our first trip to Universal Studios - RockIt! The queue was super long so we played 'I went to the shop and bought...'. Have you ever played that?

The ride itself was really exciting. You actually got to chose your own music and I put on 'I will survive' and sang along to it the whole time. There weren't too many turns either - only 1 or 2. It turned out that they videoed you as you went around and I am literally belting out this song in it whilst everyone else is screaming.

There was a large area of fake grass in front of the stage, so we sat and had some lunch there.

Transformers was a motion stimulator and it mimicked you as a transformer yourself that was in the battle against 'decepticons'. It was so realistic, it wasn't much flying around (sadly, that's my favourite) but there were lots of things like falling off buildings - the craziest feeling ever!

The gringott's ride was very like the hogwarts one. Like a smaller version. There was a fire-breathing dragon and it was a replica of the journey to the bank in the first Harry Potter movie. 

There was actually a replica of the desk at the bank too - with a goblin that would actually respond to your questions. We asked for his name and his response was something along the lines of 'you may refer to me as sir'. Brilliant! 

One of the things I love about Universal is the little things. Hogwarts Express doubled as a ride and a transport to the other park (Islands of Adventure). There was all the tiny aspects in it, from a mimic of the wall you walk through to get to platform 9 and 3/4, to the actual journey itself. They had the dementors outside the window like they were flying to the train and the lady at the trolley outside the carriage. 

The first ride we went on in Islands of Adventure was the Dragon Challenge and it was amazing. We were front row as there was no queue and it literally felt like you were flying. Me and my brother then went to go on the other dragon, but we weren't front row so that wasn't as good. I'll keep my first ride as a memory instead!

Spiderman was another ride simulator, which you'd think we were a little bored of by now but the feeling like you were moving somewhere you weren't was just incredible. This one was based on flying around buildings and falling off them and that is 100% my favourite kind!

Thankyou for reading, if you missed day 4, then click here and let me know what you thought of the hogwarts express in the comments! 

R.C. xx

Florida Day 4: Seaworld and Tornado Warning!

Hello! Today, Andrew booked for him and Christie to go swimming with dolphins in the park next to Seaworld, so my parents and I went to Seaworld for the day so they could meet us there later in the day. 

The first ride we went on was mantra... oh my gosh, I have never experienced a 'zero gravity' effect like it. It was so fast and crazy with hair blowing in my face that I came out not entirely sure if I liked it or not! 

We didn't want to do all the rides right at the beginning, so we went over to the dolphin nursery. It was absolutely adorable, they seemed to head straight to anybody who had a camera as if they knew what it was and some others would swim around the edge flapping their tails to splash everybody.

There were a lot of other areas with animals in, like the aquarium and the seals. I got a few good videos and we fed the seals whilst we were there. Or, at least we tried to before birds kept swooping in and grabbing the fish before the seal could!

 The park on a whole seemed quite worn out - in many places like an abandoned theme park. It seemed greatly due to the weather though as it was very windy and cloudy despite being warm so there were probably less people than normal, and there were a lot of overcasting trees so it gave a feel more like somewhere in England!

We also popped into the dolphin show after riding on the kraken (a really good rollercoaster).

Then, just as we stepping outside the stadium, boom, rain. If you have ever been to Florida then I am sure you know that when it rains, it really goes for it. I had a look online and there was actually a tornado warning too. Yikes!

We legged it to the closest cafe and warmed up with a hot drink - does anybody else have steamed milk with a syrup? We quickly caught up with my brother, watched Shamu, and went to the car.

Now the date was pancake Tuesday so of course, we drove to IHop. I had some delicious white chocolate and raspberry pancakes - white chocolate is just my favourite thing, mmm! I must say I'm more a waffle than pancake girl though!

Thankyou so much for reading, if you have been to Seaworld, did it appear less run down than for me? and what's your favourite pancake topping? I am thinking more about my schedule as well at the moment, I should be sorting that once all my Florida posts are up!

If you did miss it, click here for the third day of Florida - Islands of Adventure and getting soaked, and don't miss tomorrow's post here with a double park whammy and I will survive!

R.C. xx

Florida Day 3: Universal Islands of Adventure and Getting Soaked!

It was another sunny day today so we went to Islands of Adventure!

 Our first ride was 'Incredible Hulk', which is a roller coaster. There was such a long queue for this. In fact, we ended up going over the locker time limit and had to get a staff member to open it for us; we weren't going to pay when the queue was longer than it said! It was a good ride though and there were a lot of turns.

Andrew, Christie and I then walked over to 'Doctor Doom' which is one of those long columns that shoots you up and then drops you. It was good, but not as exciting as we hoped! At least the queue was only 20 minutes.

Somebody then came up with the fun idea to go on the river rapids. You know, because the people walking around were obviously soaked because of the log flume - not the rapids. Obviously! Needless to say, we got water pouring in from the sides, buckets dumped on our heads and waterfalls cascading onto us. My leggings turned into liquid cotton, and it was a blessing that my sheer top went dark instead of transparent! I did get it all on film though and it was funny when people unexpectedly got soaked.

After spending a good half an hour wringing out our clothes in the toilets we (and our water trail) decided to plod on to Hogsmeade.

Hogsmeade is absolutely gorgeous! they made everything look SO real and even Hogwarts looked incredible.

Even though our clothes were starting to dry out, we were all still a bit chilly so a warm drink from the three broomsticks was perfect. I don't like tea or coffee so I had a hot butterbeer instead which basically tasted like steamed milk with very sweet caramel syrup in it!

Things had quietened down by now so we thought that we would give the Hogwarts ride a go. Bear in mind - we had no idea that this is basically the BEST ride in the whole theme park. It was a short queue and we were like, okay yeah another ride simulator, this might be good.

Oh my! It was an absolutely incredible ride. It mixed between the screen and real scenarios and you literally got stuck working out if it was real or not. I found myself ducking and moving my legs out the way of fake objects. The key is to not look up behind you because the edge of the screen is slightly visible and if you don't do that, it makes it more real. We all know it's fake - there's no point disturbing the magic of it to prove so!

The park was closing now, so we slowly headed towards the exit after a 10 minute chill; passing through Suessland on the way. It was so colourful and I got a gorgeous view of the park over the lake at night. Beautiful!

Thankyou so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and have any of you been on the Hogwarts ride? What's your favourite ride in Islands of Adventure?

Click here for day 2 of Florida if you missed it! Universal Studios, Flying Cows and Applebees!
I now have day 4 up aswell, if you want to click here for that!

R.C. xx

Florida Day 2: Universal Studios, Flying Cows and Applebees!

A good old dose of jet lag meant that the whole family was wide awake by 7am today. Why can’t that happen in England?! My parents headed downtown to sign into our villa, whilst Andrew, Christie and I all got ready for the day, before grabbing the pool chairs and sitting out in the sun. It was definitely one of the hottest and sunniest days today.

When my parents finally came home, it was about 10am so we decided to head off to universal studios. First stop – the café. We stopped at a little place near the minion ride and had a lovely panini and drink.

Our first ride wasn’t the most exciting – terminator. I’m all for a traditional ride from the old films, but it just wasn’t very interesting. The fact they got rid of jaws, which was my favourite ride last time, but not a rather dull 3d display upsets me greatly.

We then wandered down Springfield (is that even what it’s called?) and even though I've probably watched 'The Simpsons' about 2 times in my life, I recognised a couple of places so I'd say it was pretty well designed.

Of course, we then decided to queue up for the Simpsons thrill ride. Although it wasn’t until 20 minutes into the queue that we realised it was a ride simulator and not an indoor rollercoaster. But, we carried on queuing up anyway, and we got sent into a room with a huge 2 row machine. Then you got lifted into this area with a huge screen surrounding you and got carried through waterfalls, fire and even a baby's stomach. It was incredible how real it felt!

We then got on men in black – after ANOTHER toilet break from my brother and Christie – and had a little laugh at the child swap section. ‘If your child is too short for this ride, go to child swap’. It sounded like they meant you could trade your child in for a taller one haha. When we got on, you basically go around shooting creatures but I couldn’t tell where I was aiming and the guy next to me was somehow on 38000 and all I got from it was major finger cramp. Big fail.

There was also a parade going on as we walked through, starring Despicable Me, Hop and Spongebob and I may have secretly enjoyed seeing the minions...

Obviously we had to have a potter (see what I did there?) around 'Diagon Alley' to try some butterbeer, watch the dragon breathe fire and look around the shops. It's all so creative and accurate, I think I fell in love a little.

Next up was the mummy ride. I felt this ride could have been incredible and scary, but Christie and I had a guy in front of us who took it upon himself to turn around for the whole ride and say all the things that the voiceover was saying just before he said it so it ruined all the suspense of it! Although it was kind of funny and when we got off to look at the photo you could see him turned around and we were there like ‘see, we weren’t kidding!’ To make it funnier, we got to our lockers and were taking our stuff out when we heard a massive scream. Christie had pulled out her jumper and a cockroach fell onto the floor and she practically screamed blue murder!

It was quite late by now so we decided to go on ‘twister’ because Christie told us that she went on it when she was younger and closed her eyes the entire time so she wanted to know what she was so scared of. As it turned out, she was scared of a little gust of wind and a spray of water to the back of your legs. There was a flying cow in the middle of it though, how random?!

After battling through the thousands of people who were crowding for the parade, we finally got to the car park. Unfortunately a good half an hour was spent running around looking for the car until I decided to ask a guy who worked there were it might be at the time we came in… and discovered that there are actually 5 floors and we were one above! When we finally set off, Christie and I fell asleep whilst dad drove us all to ‘Applebees’. It was a lovely restaurant with amazing garlic sticks (yum) and it was a very nice meal, I just wish I had been more awake to enjoy it!

That’s all for day two in Florida, I hope you enjoyed it and I’d love to know if any of you have been to Applebees or on one of those rides.

In case you missed it, click here for the first day of travel and scary films!
Of course, day three is up now too, so you can click here for that!

Thanks for reading,

R.C. xx

Florida Day 1: Travel and Scary Films!

Saturday morning – way too early – it’s time to leave for america! I pop on my hoodie and ‘forever 21’ joggers which are a thin material with an elasticated waist and extremely comfy to travel in! I used a roll along bag from new look for my hand luggage that is just the limit for travelling. So much kinder on your back than a heavy backpack! Although, I did take a little backpack of my essentials – like camera, ipod, headphones and ipad.

The taxi dropped us off at the terminal and we were stood looking at the board for about 10 minutes before realising its not this terminal. Weirdly, I knew the route better than my family because I once spent the whole day there with my friends running around from terminal to terminal looking for 5 seconds of summer!

Anyway, we eventually managed to get to the correct terminal and through security, and had a little chill in neros before boarding the plane. Me, my brother (Andrew) and his girlfriend (Christie) were sat on a row and my parents were further forward. I started off the flight watching ‘Into the storm’, but it was a little bit too scary watching tornadoes in America… when I was going to America! so I didn’t finish that, and watched ‘If stay’ instead.  We then had a few games of cards and I planned some blogposts.

After a nine hour long flight, we arrived in Orlando and headed to passport control.

We then had to get a train to the other part of the airport for our bags, and at the station they had light bulbs around the entrance (like celebrities have on their dressing table) and it looked so gorgeous. 

The villa was really nice and there were plenty of rooms. I even had a walk in wardrobe and en suite which was quite cool. It was a bit late so after unpacking, we nipped to the shop for essentials and got a take away for tea before heading off to our rather squeaky but comfy beds (no innuendo intended).

Thankyou for reading and I hope you enjoyed hearing about my first day of Florida. I apologise if it was a little boring as it was only our travelling day!

Day 2 is also up now so if you want to read that, click here!

R.C. xx