Florida 2013 - Day 14 - Last Minute Shopping

Something tells me I'm never getting Mel out of here.

My brother in law asked me to get him some Vans. Hope he liked my choice.

... and of course the last bit of fun.

Florida 2013 - Day 12 - Pottering About

One of the main reasons we headed to Florida for this holiday was the Harry Potter area in Universal Islands of adventure, which we hadn't seen.

Both friends and family have seen it, and chiefly the main ride, but respected my wishes to Know Nothing so it was a surprise to me when I saw it. 

I'll do you the same favour. It's something new and different. And wonderful.

As a queue busting thing I got into making these rubber band bracelets. 

Got the crowd involved too. :-D

This is my most complex one to date. Really needs two people to construct or tools as shown. 

Loving it. Gulp.

Nicely themed. I headed onto the old duelling dragons at first, and nipped through the child swap to do the second beam. 

Wouldn't have done it if there was queues but there wasn't.

Choo chooo.

A few pics in city walk on the way out.

Bubba Gumps to pick up our souvenir glasses.

Final pic of the day. Earl of sandwich. 

Where they have a great collection of books.

Florida 2013 - Day 11 - Hard Rocking

I've stayed on Hard Rock Hotel property a few times, my favourite being the Tampa casino one. 

Back in Orlando it's great, except for the $15 wifi access for all our iDevices.

Love all the items and memorabilia that adorn the entire hotel.

Standard Room is nice, two big beds, CD player etc. 

Bathroom interesting as there is only 1" clearance if the door to the throne.

Hard Rock Cafe is the only possible venue for lunch if staying at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Cool key cards!

The steaks knives are...

...certainly not Disney like.

Florida 2013 - Day 10 - Animal Kingdom Lodge

This is a man on a mission to deliver food, his truck laden with a variety of cuisines. 

But not ordinary cuisines. He has pellets, branches and leaves in a variety of bundles and boxes. 

Yes, he is the Mexican Dr Doolittle and the animals love him. In fact, they love him so much they come running. 

Unlike our cat, the giant horned beasties wait patiently 2metres away from our food bearing friend whilst he unloads dinner.

In fairness it's been a long day hiding in the shade of the trees eating grass. 

I feel almost exhausted watching from the balcony of our room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge over the Uzima Savannah.

Due to our desire for a king bed, and a disaster involving a carpet cleaning, and the floor being too low, we ended up on the 4th floor. 

We love Disney's ability to work magic.

So while Mel bathed in the pool and sought bug spray for our night-vision tour over the savannah in a Land Rover tonight I watched the plains.

Ever get the feeling your being watched? :-?

So off into Jikos we go where they grow wine.

Steak for me, chicken for Mel. Boy that understates the quality here. 

The pudding. OH MY THIS IS DEVINE. Was the cheesecake! 

Droooooooooooooooool. We weighed up getting another.

So off on the night savannah tour. 

We were loaded into a truck and given night vision goggles, and away we go.

I tried like heck to get a picture through the night vision goggles with both my iPhone and camera.

Failed. So this is all you get. 

But the tour is amazing, please consider doing it.

For some reason the flash went off :-/

Here at touching distance is a giraffe feeding. If you want to touch a giraffe, the cheap sarangeti tour at Busch Gardens is a good bet. 

I got kissed by one there :-)

Sunrise over the savannah is something to behold. The closer you get to the equator the better they are.

One last look at the amazing lobby and off we go. 

Wow. This really is the best themed hotel in WDW in my opinion and it's a shame we only stayed one night in some ways.

Florida 2013 - Day 9 - T-Rex

Well worth being a Landry club member, when the end of the queue was building things in the Lego store next door. 

Seated in 3 minutes.

However nicely themed, if you want a quiet meal you want another restaurant in a galaxy far far away.

Apparently the toilets are through the ice cave. Which is currently purple but could also be blue any moment. 

As I said, nicely themed.

See.

Mel grabbed a drink that tastes of bubblegum.

Half the Jurassic age for Mel.

Half a chicken and salad for me. 

Country gravy yet to arrive, but I'm sure that's low fat too :-/

This geode is about 1m tall, and there are two of them. 

$$$

This one is a Citron geode, which I've never seen before. Again, very large and set into the inner walls of the "Ice Cave"

They tell you to explore and take pictures but you can't help but feel bad clambering round diners to get clean shots. 

I did it in stages, watching for empty tables waiting to be cleaned.

Like the Rainforest Cafe, the Landry designers appeal to the kids and adult photographers/design geeks by doing an event every twenty minutes or so. 

This one appears to be the extinction of the Dinosaurs, with hell and damnation raining fiery terror down. 

Ice cave flickers red at this time with each thunderous crash of a meteor. 

Awesome.

I know someone who'd like one of these, but not sure if they have catnip stuffing.

As an afterthought, I'm not sure who dusts this lot - or if they just turn the fire sprinklers on.

So bottom line:
Landry club joining bonus: $25
Birthday Bonus: $25 (Same month to qualify)

So 2 meals and 3 cocktails with signature glasses: $31 

Recommended. But bring ear plugs.

Florida 2013 - Day 8 - Discovery Cove

Boy meets Girl and they seem to hit it off, rushing in for a hug and kiss.

She comes towards me, looking all cute and full of power. 

Her name was Dixie, she is 40 like me and comes from Texas. 

Which is odd, as all my ex's live in Texas, hence my preference for Tennessee.

Knowing what I could be letting myself in for, having met her son Dexter first and hung out with him in 2010, I gazed into her sonar receiver...

...and finally we kiss.

Funny thing was she was last seen towing this girl out to sea. 

No idea why, officer, and no - my swimming pool is freshwater, honest.

But we all live happily ever after, once I found Dixie had dropped Mel off at Seaworld.