Monday 19th June

The 5am alarm rings and we are off, forgetting the boys headphones in the process! The first of a few things that nearly derailed the trip early. The second being the M25 traffic (2.5hrs) and Daddy nearly blocking our credit card due to thinking it was a different card and inputting the pin wrong 2/3 times!

The Virgin Atlantic flight was great and shorter than expected, we were told 9hrs but we got there in 8hrs! The upgraded seats were a treat and provided us with great space and non stop food for the trip, including ice lollies! The boys decided that watching the Lego Batman film on repeat was the best thing to do. Mummy had prepared a snack box and hourly presents for the plane.

The MCO airport has an interesting quirk. Once we passed customs and headed for the door we were told no trolleys past this point…

Lucky we had Tach suitcases that Kate could pull around into a lift and on a train. Daddy struggled, sweated swore carrying everything else and trying not to sweat too much. We arrived at the Alamo desk and got the agreement for our mid size SUV.

We met “Sweaty Dave” who took us to a Ford Escape that looked too small for half our cases. Daddy ran back to Dave and asked if anything else was available? Dave said “I’ve got lots of minivans” not entirely sure what to do, Daddy did the most British thing possible and joined a queue. We talked to Dave who had a “special” plan and upgraded us from the Escape to the Nissan Amarda the size of a small transit van.

We got acquainted with the Nissan and set off for the exit, unfortunately we left all the paperwork in the first car. Kate needed to sprint back while Tyler (our desk guy) entered all our details manually from my PDF confirmation. Kate found the documents in the boot of the Ford Escape and we headed off. The boys were happy with the extra room.

We made it completely shattered to the hotel. Nate fell asleep on the way and Elliott went not too soon after. We found out the hotel was hosting a national beauty pageant competition, the hotel was filled with mini models and crazy parents constantly washing their clothes.

Tuesday 20th June

03:32 was the wake-up call, jet lag had hit us. Daddy did what any well respected Daddy would do and got Elliotts Kindle set the brightness to 100% and told the boys to play Crazy Eights while Daddy sleeps. It worked for a while but we were up and awake by 5am again.

We decided IHOP to be the destination of our breakfast and after being greeted by Margarita we sat down for some pancakes. Elliott told Margarita that she was named after a cheese pizza.

Daddy noticed on the map that Hulk Hogan had a beach shop 5mins from IHOP. The childhood memories came flooding back, what ya gunna do? Brotha!

Hulk had a great FYI at the checkout

We did the standard “go to Walmart for 5 things and spend over $100” – Walmart was so big you could spend an entire day there.

We planned an afternoon of swimming and sunbathing with Daddys friend Pete from work who was bringing his two boys. Unfortunately the weather didn’t play nicely and the heavens opened 1hr before Pete arrived. The hotel shuts the pool if the lighting is within 10miles of the hotel, Daddy rang, and Daddy was told 7 miles and no pool time. Bummer. The boys resorted to wrestling…

With no pool and a four crazy small children we needed a “Plan B” and we got one in the form of Dezerland Park Orlando. A go-karting, axe throwing, trampoline jumping, automobile museum mix that was incredible in its scale. Imagine filling the O2 arena with Adventure Island, Basejump and a classic car museum and a 007 themed bar.

We ended up going swimming and eating Pizza by the swimming pool. We got 4 small boys knackered and ready for bed. Elliott fell asleep trying to write his travel diary.

Wednesday 21st June

Wednesday arrives with a decent nights sleep! The cereal we bought yesterday was sitting there waiting to be eaten. Only problem was the lack of bowls we forgot to buy. The boys decided they want a cup of milk and dry cereal while looking out the window.

We left for the Outlets for a stop of shopping. As anyone with young children knows this can go two ways, terrible or not so terrible. It was not so terrible and Elliott got a Orlando Magic cap.

Best part was the custom Hunter embroidered on the back of the cap

Kate tried on a hat, shoes and sliders but didn’t make a purchase

Daddy nearly dropped $60 on this masterpiece, before being told he was being silly and we had to go

Selection of robots and superheroes

We also found the perfect badge for Kate

We selected the Golden Corral for an all you can eat lunch. The words “never again” were uttered a few times, but the boys enjoyed the ice cream and bags of free candy floss. We saw a group of gentlemen who had Disney Quests shirts from Nebraska and a family of 5 who tried to eat for the the price of two.

We met Emery in the lift on the way down to the swimming pool who is a child actress and recently appeared in the Guardians of the Galaxy 3 film. Her Daddy saw our Marvel swimming shorts and we were off looking at photos of Emery on set with Drax and Gamora. Emerys Dad told us that the film had a strict no photo policy and everyone had to have tape placed over their phone camera before they could go on set. Luckily a friend of a friend knew Gamora and she tore the tape off and got an amazing photo with Emery.

After a quick swim, hot tub, backflip contest with an American child and game of volleyball, we headed for bed. Elliott announced that he was showering Nate “I’m washing Nate, I know the basics”

Thursday 22nd June

06:30 wake up and a sunrise window shot

Thursday was all about Winter Park, and meeting up with Daddy’s work friend and 5x Emmy award winner Laura! We needed a picture of the Emmy for the blog!

Laura also had some amazing trees that entertained Daddy. The boys managed to find some Lego in Laura’s cupboard and got to work on building something.

Laura is letting us leave our Disney suitcases at her lovely house while we traverse the western half of the USA. First stop after a quick house tour was Lake Eola Park

We saw lots of amazing wildlife from swans, ducks, geese, turtles and even a few chipmunks

We had planned a local favourite for lunch, the brilliantly named Pig Floyd’s. Laura noted that the restaurant started as a local food truck and has now built up to a few locations across the city. BBQ food = Happy Days!

The Pig also had the best artwork and signs

We dropped into Kelly’s Ice Cream for some of the best ice cream we’ve ever tasted. Salted caramel & Oreas and Mexican chocolate (chocolate and cinnamon) for Daddy. Kelly’s also had a giant “where do you live” map on the wall with drawing pins attached. Nate didn’t quite get the concept and removed the Hawaii and Germany pins and replaced them somewhere near Newcastle.

We headed back to Laura’s to swap cars before we saw a biblical thunder and lighting storm that made Elliott cry. We shot across to REI to buy the America the Beautiful pass which gives you access to all the nation parks.

Unfortunately they were sold out! So we tried on some hats…

We spoke to Nam for 10mins about bear spray. Nam noted that he was a self defence instructor and a bear is a lot like an opponent. We started to sway into crazy land when he spoke about giving the bear “calming energy” and things would be fine. Bear spray was $69 and as Nam mentioned most people spray themselves as they don’t account for wind direction.

We headed back to the hotel and saw the end of the Pagent contest. We saw best hair, best teeth, best formal wear and overall winners. Daddy spoke to a few contestants who told him that boys can enter this year and the champs are announced tomorrow. One contestant had three generations entered it various categories of the contestant. We started to feel like we were part of a Louis Theroux documentary

Friday 23rd June

It’s amazing that in Orlando in June, the main concern is rain and thunderstorms. We have the Accuweather radar app setup, as some of our activities are weather permitting. Luckily, the weather held off and today was all about alligators, an airboat tour and moving to Titusville.

We booked with Midway Airboats after some Google search-fu – first impressions were good. Nate managed to find a cat, obviously!

We arrived early and managed to join an early tour, our guide Sandy was amazing and we saw so many alligators and amazing bird life. Sandy called Elliott and Nate “Gator Biscuits”. Surprisingly we saw the same if not more cows, as the land is leased to a cattle farmer. The farmer uses an airboat to wrangle his cattle, the effect is that the cows don’t care and don’t move!

Swamp selection of photos

The airboat place had a resident pig. He was just sleeping on the doormat was we arrived. First thing Daddy heard “Hey Brandy have you seen the pig”

Toilet with an accompanying pig bed

Daddy got the cinematic with a boat side tracking shot of the alligator

The tour was amazing and honestly we could have done the same thing again. 1hr went like a flash and we were back docking at the boat house. We knew from reading online that if you take the tour you can hold a gator at the end. Boy did that not disappoint

Nate nearly dropping the alligator

Everything is going well, everyone is happy until we tell Nate to go and sanitize his hands

Nate reaches up and squirts the hand sanitizer, unfortunately the projectile of the sanitizer hits Nate straight in the eye. Panic ensues. Nate screams. Kate throws my phone. An elderly lady pours her entire water bottle into Nate’s eyes. Is he blind? Is there a hospital near by? What is “well water” and why shouldn’t we use it! After two bottles of water and an eye bath he is shaken but not injured.

We stop at Walmart and everything is back to normal

We had the first “OMGBBQ where are you from? I love your accent” moment – a local Mum and daughter helped us after we had asked a very confused Walmart employee where the toilets were…sorry, where the RESTROOMS were. We then filled up the beast with gas and headed on to Titusville. The hotel is lovely and all the boys want to do is swim. We met Mason who wanted to play cops and robbers and 1yr old Charlee from Nebraska, who was about to head on a cruise with her gorgeous family! So great to meet you all!

Kate even tried a bit of sunbathing

Slight concern at the moment is our rental car. We currently have a beast of a Nissan Armada (‘full size SUV’), but when we get to Jackson, we were only able to pre-book a mid-sized SUV. We will need to strap suitcases to the roof like the Beverley Hillbillies. Work in progress.

Saturday 24th June

The eagle has landed.

We started early and headed to the Kennedy Space Station for a full day of NASA fun. Amazing exhibits, American size rockets and shuttles and no rain!

Top tips are get there early, take the bus tour first, get Space dots ice cream and take lots of photos.

Couple of cool artefacts from the 1960s launches

The spaceman who was outside in the 102f heat, thumbs up but probably getting close to heat stroke in the suit

The size and scope of this place was incredible, the red stripes on this building are large enough to drive a coach down.

The boys managed to find Lego, this actually looks pretty cool and it’s assembled using a story rather than an instruction manual.

We were told that people come here just for the Space dots ice cream, it was amazing and it melted quickly!

As part of the experience there are photo spots where you can dress up like space men or generally look silly. If you are silly (we are) then you get amazing group shots like this

Maybe for our next adventure!