Orlando Holiday - Sea World

The family settling in to watch the dolphin show

Having spent a couple of days at Disney Parks we took a break and decided to go to Sea World.  Sea World is a great change and a fun place to see some amazing animals.

Part of the Dolphin show

Grandad and the kids watching the dolphins in the underwater viewing area

One of the really cool things at Sea World is the underwater viewing platform where you can watch the dolphins swim and do their thing (its also air conditioned).  We spent a good time under the water watching whilst Nan and Grandad joined the queue so we could feed the dolphins, another act of kindness from loving grand parents.  

Feeding the dolphins

So all in all Sea World is a highly recommended place to go visit especially for those days when you may be feeling a little Disneyed out.

Orlando Holiday - Hollywood Studios

The start of the autograph collection

The second Disney park we visited was Hollywood Studios, probably a favourite.  It was also were the kids started their autograph collection.  As you can see there's a lot of signatures to get, sometimes there are large long lines but if you're lucky sometimes you time it just right as the character arrives.

Hannah on the speedbike

One of our favourite rides at Hollywood Studios was the Star Wars ride.  We rode it several times and happily there was never much of a wait.  It seemed every time we rode it it was slightly different which was another reason the ride was so fun.   Outside there was a speeder bike that the kids could play on, not that they needed much encouragement .
 

Nan and Tyler playing

It was the day we visited Holywood studios that we encountered what was to become an all to regular downpour of rain.  When it rains in Florida it really rains, and afterwards it feels muggy.  We're used to humidity living in the south but not like that.  Of course there's normally somewhere undercover (Indiana Jones Stunt Show) or air conditioned 3d move or live show to enjoy in the air conditioning.

Disney kids show Jake and the Never Land Pirates

Orlando Holiday - Magic Kingdom

Dawn and the Kids dancing with the parade

 So the trip we've all been looking forward to since Christmas finally arrived.  We took a couple of days to drive to Orlando (1 on the way back) and arrived in our hotel (Disneys All Sports complex) about 3 o'clock.  The kids Martin and Grandad had a swim in the hotel pool whilst Nan and Dawn stayed in the rooms and unpacked.

The next day we headed to the Magic Kingdom nice and early, although in hindsight we caught large ques (lines if your American) and would probably benefited by being an hour or so later.  Another thing that was surprising was the heat, living in Louisiana we're very used to the heat but in Orlando it was so humid.  Luckily many of the attractions are inside air conditioned theatres.

 

Belle meets the children

One of our favourite things in the Magic Kingdom was one of the new attractions where you go inside Belles fathers house and are then magicaly transported to the Beasts castle where you get to meet Belle.

Bringing cartoon characters to life

It's really impressive the way the imagineers at Disney have taken cartoon characters and brought them to life.  The cupboard and 'Lumierre' the candelabra looked like real 3d cartoons, very impressive. 

To do the Magic Kingdom in one day is a hard task especially as it's probably the most popular of the four Disney parks.  On some rides the waiting times can be long, anything over 40 minutes and we normally didn't bother.  Surprisingly on some attraction there's little or no waiting time at all.

At every turn there's a bunch of photographers willing to take your picture that you can look at online (and of course purchase).  Handy if you wanted the whole family in a pic.

Needless to say after all the build up and excitement the kids (and adults) were all exhausted and ready for bed.

getting ready to put on a play for Belle

As night falls the castle is lit

Nan and Rayna walking back to catch the monorail

A School Visit

We Love Skype, Its a fantastic way that we communicate with family and friends in the UK while we're here in Louisiana.  As you can see when Nan and Grandad were with us they regularly skyped with Deb, Kelly and the rest of the family back in the UK (who ever was there at the time).

 

 Another thing that Nan and Grandad did whilst they were here was to have lunch at Hannah and Raynas school.  It was also the same day as the talent show and Rayna was performing the cup song (from pitch perfect).  As you can see from the video she did a great job and came second in her category, which made us all proud.