Sunday - rest day

Well, we would have had a lie in today except the smoke detector outside Stephen's bedroom decided the battery was flat and started beeping in the early hours! After messaging the owner Keith and I popped to publix to buy a replacement battery.

After peace was restored we went off to breakfast at Denny's before returning to the villa for a restful morning/After sitting in the sun and swimming in the pool.

Late afternoon Keith, Sarah and I went to Walmart for a while.  

Back to the villa for a cuppa then we abandoned our further planned shoe shopping trip and instead headed straight out for dinner at Manny's Chophouse.

This is a quirky restaurant filled with car memorabilia and loads of number plates from all over.  Dinner here was amazing, from the bread rolls with cinnamon butter, and the huge bowls of fresh salads to the amazing steaks, ribs and pork.

Saturday - Discovery Cove

So time for a park we'd never done before - Seaworld's Discovery Cove.  It seemed the best option for us giving us unlimited Seaworld and Busch Gardens tickets with a bonus day at Discovery Cove. 

We arrived early-ish at about 9.15 (they open at 7 but as we weren't doing the dolphin swim we didn't need to get their earlier to book a time slot).  Are registering at reception we headed for the restaurant for breakfast. this is an 'all inclusive' park so food and drinks are available day.  We grabbed various breakfast items from scrambled egg, bacon and sausage to French toast with chicken tenders!! Keith had a yoghurt and we both had Danish pastries.  

Once we had finished eating we changed into our swim suits then headed off to pick up wetsuits (optional as we weren't booked on an experience but everyone else appeared to be wearing them!!) and goggles and snorkels for using on the Grand Reef.

We headed back to the main gift shop as they also supply prescription goggles if you need them.  Sarah and i ended up not bothering, but Keith had some.

We waded into the warm waters of the Grand Reef and after some fiddling to get the snorkels right we were off! Well, most of us! I just could not get the hang of it. But the kids were soon off swimming among the fish and rays.  Keith managed too, although not as confidently as Sarah and Stephen. We spent a good hour or so in here, there were so many colourful fish including some huge rays and nursing shark. 

The grand reef

The spotted Eagle Ray was probably about 5-6ft across

We grabbed some coffee and slushies from a nearby hut, there were also peanuts and crisps available to help yourself to.  Sarah and I chatted to the attendant there who hadcan obvious English accent and came from Nottingham and had ties to Lincoln. After a short cgatcwith him we lounged on the sunbeds for a while. It was a little chillier than we'd hoped today with top temperatures of 19c, but in the park sitting in the sun sheltered by trees it felt surprisingly warm.

We had a wander round the park and saw the flamingoes, the shark enclosure and an otter. We also saw some of the Dolphins doing their swim interactions.   We spent time in the wind away river and freshwater oasis, floating and swimming through the waterfalls and caves.

It was now around half 2 and the boys decided to get changed out of their swim stuff before we had lunch.  Another fantastic choice of food including burgers, pulled pork, jerk chicken and salmon, along with lots of salads, rice, mac n cheese and fries. There was also a selection of desserts.

We grabbed some more drinks on our way back to the loungers, where the boys relaxed while Sarah and I went back to the Grand Reef.

We didn't do the bird aviary or see any other mammals, we think there may have been sloths and marmosets but we didn't see them.

Sarah and I showered and changed and we stopped on our way out of the park at the gift shops.

All in all a wonderful, relaxing and entertaining day, that I would highly recommend! Don't know what took us so long to get round to it!

Back to the villa for a quiet evening, playing pool and eating cheesecake! 

Friday - Rest day for 2 and Universal for 2

A two parter today! Sarah and Stephen have tickets for a 2nd day doing Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  Keith and I are having a rest day!

Part 1, the parents

After breakfast of croissants at the villa we dropped the kids at Universal around 11.15. 

We tried to park at the premium outlets but all the free outside spaces were taken so we decided to try again later and went to the Vineland outlets instead.  We visited thee nike store first but left empty handed.  Next was the Under Armour store where Keith was tempted into some polo shirts.  We also did Rack Room Shoes and Sketchers to get an idea of what was available for trainers and slip-ons.

We also did  Nike and sketchers stores on the 192. 

We were getting hungry so decided to have a wander round Walmart and maybe grab some snacks.  We ended up getting cinnamon sugar churros and mozzarella bread sticks from Churro Mania just inside the store.

After a bit more wandering round Walmart we paid for our few random items (paracetamol, taco rack and my cinnamon toothpaste) and decided to head back to the villa for a cuppa and a rest on the patio.

The kids rang as the sun was starting to set so we headed off back to Universal to pick them up.  

We decided to stop at the new Cheesecake Factory near Lake Buena Vista for dinner, and despite what looked like a long wait we were seated quite quickly. 

No starters although we did have the bread basket.  Mains were, as usual, enormous. Keith had spicy chicken and cashew, Sarah Korean chicken, Stephen a burger and I had some spicy chicken tacos.  All delicious.  We also ordered 3 portions of Cheesecake to take home (white choc and raspberry, dolche de leche and chocolate turtle. 

Part 2, the kids, Universal 

Bullet points from the kids ... start in Islands of Adventure 

• Hagrids Bike ride
• Forbidden Journey
• Velocicoaster 
• Stop for food

Move to Universal Studios 

• Minions
• Mummy
• Transformers
• Animal show
• Gringots
• Stop for snacks
• Mummy again, twice!
• Christmas parade for Sarah, 
• Rip ride rocket for Stephen 

Thursday - Busch Gardens

We left the villa around 9.30, with a picnic breakfast of cheese and ham croissants and ritz crackers. This has over the years become our standard breakfast for Busch Gardens days.  Stephen took over the driving from Keith a short way into the journey.

We arrived at the park around 11.  The car park was pretty empty and we were soon on the tram to the park entrance. 

We were quickly through the turnstiles and making our way to the main attraction, for Stephen at least, Iron Gwazi.  This used to be quite a rough wooden coaster which has been transformed with new tracks.  With a wait time of just a few minutes Stephen, Sarah and Keith were soon on while I watched and waited to see what it was like.  Did a similar coaster a few years back in Magic Mountain and scared myself silly with the restraints and the amount of time my bum was out of the seat!!! 

They came back smiling saying i probably wouldn't love it but would be alright. They they were all back on with me in tow! They were right, it was alright, very fast, lots of twists and turns and lots of airtime, but I survived!

We joined the queue for Cheetah Chase, unfortunately they were having some problems and we decided to leave the queue after 15 jins and try again later.  Instead we headed for Cobras Curse.  A fun family ride with its unique "lift" and spinning cars.  

One of Keith's favourite rides next, Montu. With still virtually no queues, as it was for all of the park today, we were quickly done with two rides on this.

We had seen and heard Cheetah Hunt up and running again, so walked back that way to get a couple of rides on it. 

We walked through some of the animal exhibits across the centre of the park, stopping for me to see my favourites here, the hippos, who were unusually out of the water having something to eat. No elephants in their habitat though as that was being refurbished. 

We stopped for some food, not the best choice as we ordered some chicken nuggets and chips which were not exactly hot! Poor really consider how much food costs in these parks!  Hey ho, didn't take long and we were back out looking for more adventure.  After a look at Falcon's Fury, we decided this drop ride wasn't really our thing and moved on without riding.

A new ride for us, that I was looking forward to was Tigris, similar to a ride we did in SeaWorld San Diego last year that I loved.  The kids weren't intern riding so Keith came with me. Another short but fun ride, that packs a punch with its vertical twisting loops and launched start.

Then it was time for a couple of rides on another of my favourite rides, Sheikra.

Wandering back towards the front of the park we took some time to feed the birds in Lori's Landing and to see the kangaroos and wallabies.

Back to more coasters, and Sarah and Stephen were once again riding Iron Gwazi.

We stopped for a drink/snack break as we had decided to stay on til park close.  We had a peach melba funnel cake, can't believe we didn't take a picture, it was fabulous!

With the sun starting to set and the promise of some night riding we headed back to Cheetah Hunt, I think the kids had 3 more rides.  Then another turn on Cobra's Curse.

Keith and the Stephen then had another 3 rides on Montu, Sarah did 2.

Deciding to head back for final rides on Iron Gwazi, we stopped first for the kids to ride  Cheetah Hunt again.  When they came back they said we should definitely do it again as the views of the park with all its Christmas lights from the top of the ride was stunning, so we all had another ride. They were right again, it was amazing, unfortunately no photos of that.

The whole park, much like Sea World has fantastic Christmas trees, decorations and lights set up for the festive season. 

With 2 final rides (1 for me!) on Iron Gwazi, we were done, queue lines were closed and we headed out of the park and back to the car park.

Stephen drove us back to Orlando, where we stopped at Culvers for a burger and fries before heading back to the villa exhausted.

An amazing day, we have always enjoyed our Busch trips and today was no exception.