What else to do?

Along with the excitement of meeting the characters and visiting the theme parks, there are plenty of other things to do in Florida.

Beaches

There are a few beaches in Florida that I have visited: Cocoa Beach which is in the East Coast and Clearwater which is in the West. My favourite would have to be Clearwater as the sea is warmer, the beach is cleaner and the sand is whiter.

The Everglades

One thing I have always enjoyed is going to see the live alligator's at the Everglades, I can always remember when I was younger I was so excited to go and see the yellow alligator called blondey! Yes a YELLOW alligator! 

Florida is fame for having alligators, the Everglades have 200,000 alligators alone. There is a large population of the native Floridians that live at the edge of the Everglades, it would seem that time has stood still for them as the houses are no more than shacks at the side of the swamps. There is also a jail at the edge of the Everglades, which houses more than 600 grade 1 prisoners. Due to the swamp land and wild life the prison was specifically built there to avoid them escaping easily. There are different companies that offer a narrated airboat tour that takes you round to see different attractions at The Everglades.

Kennedy Space Centre

 It takes about an hour to get to Kennedy Space Centre from Orlando on either Highway 528 or the 408. The must see exhibit is the Saturn V rocket, to get to this you will need to go on the courtesy bus which is outside the main complex. There are of course other exhibits to see for example:

 

Space Shuttle Atlantis

Honour Our Hero's

The IMAX theatre

 There are a number of different Kennedy Space Centre tickets to buy in the UK before you go to America:

Ticket for 2 hours - £37

Tickets and roundtrip from Orlando: £73

Tickets, roundtrip transportation and lunch with an astronaut: £94

Tickets, transportation, lunch with an astronaut and Up close Explore bus tour: £119

Tickets with airboat ride and roundtrip transportation from Orlando: £91

Tickets, lunch with an astronaut and Up-close Explore bus tour: £79

Round transportation only: £41

Kennedy Space Centre is an outdoor park which involves a lot of walking so be sure to wear appropriate shoes and clothing according to the weather!

Shopping

Last but not least is shopping of course! Shopping is one of my favourite things to do while visiting Florida! There are various different shopping centres that you will shop till you drop. The most popular for the tourists and also the locals are the Florida Mall and The Mall at Millenia. The Mall at Millenia is more suited to high end shopper.

My favourite is the Orlando Premium outlets. There is a good mixture of brands for all ages and gender for example Watch Station, UGG, Armani, Yankee Candle, Osh Kosh, Levi, Calvin Klein Woman and Men, Converse, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, Penguin, Nike Outlet, Adidas, Diesel, DKNY, Michael Kors, Forever 21 and The North Face.

Anybody reading this that is in the UK would be pleasantly surprised at how good the deals are compared to home. You can sometimes get a deal that would work out half the price back home! You could easily spend a full day here getting amazing deals! The only problem I have is making sure I don't buy too much that I cant fit it all in my case!

Thanks for reading all my blogs on Orlando Florida! Hope you all enjoyed them!

Discovery Cove

Discovery Cove is part of the Sea World group, it is situated in the same area as the Sea World theme park.

Swimming with the dolphins at Discovery Cove is an experience that I would highly recommend! Although it seems expensive, the price includes the full experience and all food and drink through out the day. Alcoholic drinks are also included in the price for anyone 21 and over. One appeal about Discover Cove is that its not over crowded, there is no queues when getting any of the food or drink and you have your own time slot when swimming with the dolphins. Another benefit of purchasing a Discovery Cove ticket is it allows you to have unlimited entry to Sea World and the water park Aquatica.

They offer several package to choose from, for example:

All inclusive dolphin swim package
Day resort package
Two and under package

All tickets can be purchased at: https://discoverycove.com/en/packages-and-pricing/, prices vary depending on time of booking, prices increase if you book closer to the date.

As well as swimming with dolphins, you can also snorkel with rays and tropical fish or if you don't want to be in the water with the animals you can always just relax on the lovely white sand beach. The snorkel equipment is included in the package along with wet suits or vests.

The day starts off with the welcoming staff telling you what your day is going to consist of. They then take you through and get a family photograph together. Passes to the park are given to each member in the party to allow access. Animal friendly sun cream is also given out to everyone to use before going in the water. My family arrived early to allow us to get the full use of the facilities, so we went for breakfast and then went straight to the wind-away river, a video of the river is shown below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zmMIdkpOFs

After that we then went for lunch and waited for our time slot to swim with the dolphins, swimming with the dolphins last around 45 minutes, which doesn't seem long but it is long enough as each member in the group can swim with the dolphin while photographs are taken. These are some of the photographs that were taken by my family that weren't swimming with them.

My next blog will be on what else to do while in Florida.