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Wednesday, 19 April 2017

Flordia Diaries #4 - The Enclaves

Florida has such a vast array of hotels to stay in but I would highly recommend where we stayed as although it was a tiny bit out dated, the hotel I couldn't fault. Although it felt like you were stepping back into the 1970's with the floral curtains and the fat TVs, the viewers from the room where completely worth it. Also you're in Orlando, Florida you don't need to watch TV or worry about how modern the room is as we were hardly in the room. The view from our balcony most certainly made up for the unmodernised room as the view left you in awe.
The location is prime being just off International Drive it gives you a vast choice of restaurants and places to visit other than the major parks which Orlando has to offer, as across the lake from the hotel which I stayed in was Wet 'N' Wild which sadly is in it's final year this year but give you more variety than just Disney and Universal. Although don't get me wrong they are amazing, but some people may fancy a break away from the major tourist attractions. One of the highlights of International Drive is the a ray of food choices, as no matte what you are in the mood for whether it be Chinese, pasta, or even Mexican food. You have such an arrange of food which you could ever want, which allows you to have so much choice as at first we went overboard with the whole burger scene in America with places such as the Hard Rock CafeGame Changers and McDonalds (they have all day breakfast over there!!)
Being just off International Drive, isn't just great for food it also means you're not too far away from universal as our hotel offered a transfer to universal which was literally a five minute drive away. Also we were only around a twenty minute drive away from Disney and it was a relatively easy route, as it was mostly on the I4.
Overall I would recommend The Enclaves and staying on International drive, as there is so much variety and you are not limited to a set list of restaurants as you are close enough that you can drive such as Disney Springs (previously known as Downtown Disney) as go to restaurants such as the Rainforest Cafe. I could rate the hotel higher.

Ashleigh

Also here an AirBnB credit to get you a small discount off your next booking
www.airbnb.co.uk/c/ashleighh1808

Sunday, 2 April 2017

Florida Diaries #3 - Seaworld and Discovery Cove

Sea World
I know Seaworld is an iffy place to talk about right now, and I do not agree with how they keep their animals but I really wanted to ride the rollercoasters which they have so we decided to go. Out of the four rides which they have there sadly we only got to ride two of the four, due to Florida's temperamental weather which was heartbreaking, as we were way into our second week at this point so knew we probably wouldn't be coming back. The two rides which I rode were Mako and Manta, and they were worth it Manta reminded me a lot of Air at Alton Towers (if that helps anyone) but was much more intense. And Mako where do I even start, Orlando's tallest, longest and fastest rollercoaster which was insane, with a massive 200ft drop I was surprised I went on it. But boy I was happy I did. I was heartbroken that we were unable to do all the rides, as there is only four, that should be easy but nope typical Florida.
Discovery Cove
Discovery Cove, somewhere we were only meant to spend a day but ended up spending two days but we will get on to that later. The reason we wanted to go to Discovery cove was because I wanted to swim with Dolphins and my dad was sold by the idea of free food and drink, also unlike places like Disney they have a limit of the amount of people who they can let in on a day. This means you actually have breathing room, which was amazing! I did the Dolphin swim on my own as my sister is terrified of Dolphins and my parents weren't fussed, this was fine I felt slightly awkward but it was not something which I wanted to miss. I was extremely lucky as I got to do my swim almost as soon as we got there, this would be about the only thing which we got do to as I went to have some food, after not having any breakfast around 11, and until 2 we were in the middle of a storm. Shortly after the storm had blown over we got to go swimming with the rays only to be greeted by another storm this one seemed to blow over quiet quickly so again we started to swim to have yet another storm warning. This time we were just sitting on our sun chairs, it wasn't raining just over cast when all of a sudden I kid you not lightening strikes the tree directly behind where we were sitting and the rain came thrashing down. The Lifeguards rushed out onto the beach screaming "Everybody get off the beach" as we were rushed off the beach into the tiny little beach hut as then the lightening struck the top of the stop restaurant in between the strikes they moved us into a larger hut which involved us all running through the trees and hoping for the best. Around an hour later the storm had passed leaving very little of the day left as we came out of the shelter it looked like a war zone with trees everywhere. We were stressed and scared so decided to call it a day after picking up my photograph of my dolphin swim we went to reception as they were calling taxis for people due to the storm when we got offered a second free day, which we took as we didn't really get a day out of it. We wanted discovery cove to be a relaxing day when it was far from it. The second time we went it was a dream we got to do everything which we wanted and so much more, also that was the day I discovered falling asleep to Led Zepplin, Stairway to Heaven was pretty dreamy.

Ashleigh x
Also here an AirBnB credit to get you a small discount off your next booking
www.airbnb.co.uk/c/ashleighh1808