Orlando. USA

At the dawn of 2015 I sit and recollect the most magical time i have experienced in my life. Orlando, Florida. The home of Universal Studios and more importantly the Most happy and Magical place in the world. Disney World.

It was only suitable that we leave the city of Sin and emerge ourselves in a more family oriented pleasure, and what better way than by visiting the exact opposite from where we had just been. Reflecting now, Orlando Florida had been the highlight that both Wing Commander and I had been looking forward to. As a reflection of this we had scheduled maximum intensity for this portion of the trip.

We left Vegas at 11:15pm flying to Atlanta and then to our final destination of Orlando. Factoring in the cross country time difference, after leaving at 11:15pm we landed at our destination at 8:55am. Catching some shut eye when we could, we had managed a whole 3 hours of sleep.

The first thing we noticed when getting out of the Airport was that it was Warm! The temperature gauge on our phones told us it was 65 Fahrenheit ~ 18 Degrees Celsius. We shredded our thermal wear and continued to the bus stop.

Taking the chance and not wanting to waste any time both the Wing Commander and I Headed straight to Universal Studios – Adventure Island Theme park. At this point we had all our luggage with us. With 2 days to go before christmas – it seemed to be everyones ideal time to visit the parks. Departing our bus we were like 2 small fish in a SWARM of people. Let me correct myself we were 2 small fish with 2 large suitcases and 2 carry on bags in a sea of trout. Hands full we took on the crowds and walked into the park looking for the first lockers or place we could deposit our valuables. This was not easy – the parks did not expect edger beavers like us to rock up with large bags – all the lockers were too small. We were directed to the lost and found area where finally after a long struggle we had been given a space to deposit our items. A mixture of exhaustion from the lack of sleep and adrenaline from excitement was building up.

Map in hand we started our tour of the first park in Universal Studios. When driving in we could see a gigantic green track looping around the park. It was large enough to be seen from miles outside the park. As a first venture on our discovery route we came across this green tracked ride aptly named ‘The Hulk Smash Ride’. Nervous and scared we approached the point at which the line was to start, only to find out that the ride was not running. At this point both Wing commander and I let out a sigh of relief. We continued on to the Next ride – The wait at which was 70 Minutes. We were soon to find this was the usual during this period, in some cases wait times could exceed 120 minutes. Leaving the first ride we came face to face with the Hulk Smash coaster again and the attendants told us it was now open and the wait time was less than 20 minutes. Butterflies in our stomachs the Wing Commander and Captain were up for the challenge. With nervous Smiles we boarded and went off.. 2 minutes of the wildest spinning ride ever (thats what she said).

Getting off the coaster both of us felt light headed and a bit disoriented, but most of all we felt proud that we had conquered the scariest ride first up. Following this we went on every ride in the park, waiting hours for some and minutes for others. The final part of the park we embarked on the Harry potter section. A section dedicated to the young wizard. What waited us was another very hectic roller coaster called the Dragon Challenge. Loops and drops we left the ride dizzier than the Hulk ride. Another brilliant ride in the Harry potter section was this fantastic 3D roller coaster, which really blew us away in terms of visuals and sounds. We strolled around the Wing commander, an avid fan of Harry was blown away by the detail and the reflection of the world of Harry Potter. Although we had forgotten the exhaustion that came about the day, timed crept us up on and it was almost time to leave. We Grabbed a glass of Butter Beer (Yes this exists and they have it and it is delicious!) and headed to pick up our bags and to leave to the resort. The time was 10PM and the realisation hit us that we had been in the park for 12 hours.

We reached the resort and checked in. Wing Commander and I both commended the choice of accommodation, both of us agreeing that the resort was fantastic, housing 4 pools, spa’s laundry etc. Exactly a type of resort you would imagine for a place that has such a tropical climate. Leaving our luggage in our rooms we headed for the resort restaurant for our first proper meal in over 24 hours. Greeted by friendly service we ate. The entertainment was provided as we had an extremely drunk British girl creating a very entertaining scene. We ate our meals and retreated to our abode. On the Way we saw a friend – a little Lizard hanging out on the walls, using my lizard tongue I communicated with the Lizard instructing him to attack Wing Commander, by pushing forward to his Shoe. After a bit of convincing the lizard made a dash for Wing Commander Nand! Having no idea what happened WC Nand just jumped up. I laughed, not knowing nature had already planned its karmic revenge.

After hitting the room i headed outside to explore the resort, lazy to wear shoes i decided to walk around barefoot, as i was walking around a FROG jumped and landed 2 cms from my foot. I jostled and rushed back to the room. Seems like the Captained found himself in Jungle territory.

The Second day was dedicated to the second and final park of the Universal studios, home to places like Simpsons land, MIB ride, Despicable Me and a whole heap of others. We were excited to begin our day. At reception we found out that there is a chance that the shuttle that was to be going to the park may already be booked out, and the best way to get there otherwise was via a Cab. Distressed Wing Commander and I started discussing the options to get to the park. Just then another squadron of two asian girls were discussing the same thing. Switching on the Charm and having a chat with them, soon all Four of us were on our way to universal studio. The 2 girl squadron was visiting universal for the break, they both studied in the states and were from China. New friends made we discussed a possible meet up time so that we could share a taxi back to the resort with them.

Starting again at the park we identified the biggest roller coaster. Boy was this BIG. A 90 degree vertical climb up 14 stories and then a drop. I think i had just seen the scariest roller coaster in my life.

 “The Rock It” roller coaster. It sent you vertically up and then a drop down, followed by a few loops and a few more drops. This Red tracked beast looked like it could eat the Hulk Coaster as a Snack. Nervous smiles reappearing we got in line. When in the line we were advised to choose a song from a list, this song was to be played whilst you were on the coaster. After some discussion both wing commander and I selected ‘Stronger’ by Kanye. We sat in the coaster and the music started playing in our ears. we started singing, yelling,.. ‘that don’t kill us only makes us STRONGER!!‘ were the first drop over the horizon. We got off the coaster disoriented and light headed. One could say it was a very exhilarating start to the day. We carried on, once again attempting every ride we could fins, spending up to 90 minutes waiting our turns, including some mentionable raised such as the Mummy ride and the Disaster ride. A highlight for us was reaching the Simpsons Land section of the park. A miniature springfield, including a Krusty land and a Sideshow Bob Ride!

Childhood and Youth all mixed up in a TV show both of us lived by, we were in heaven. Once done exploring and shopping at the Kwik-e-Mart we headed to Moes Tavern and had a Flaming Moe, followed by Krusty burger. The novelty didn’t wear off even after we had been there an hour. Since we had a load to explore we continued on, finally rendezvousing with our asian friends, who had bought us gifts! The 2 nicest girls. We shared a cab and headed home exhausted – seemed like another 12 hour day was coming to an end as well as the Universal studios portion of the trip. we bid farewell to our friends and went to the hotel room. Starving we managed to order some take our Asian food for dinner and we ate whilst we did laundry in the bath tub.

The Third Day – Christmas Eve. The day we had been dreaming of ever since we had been kids. Disney World. Today was the day we visited the happiest place on earth. For those that don’t know Disney world has 5 Theme Parks, each requiring a day at least each. We only had 2 days dedicated to disney world and therefore had to chose 2 parks to visit. The first being Magical Kingdom and the second being Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As the day we chose was Christmas Eve our emotions had been on overdrive. Despite it not being a white Christmas (due to the tropical Orlando Weather) we made a decision to visit Magical Kingdom first. We headed in and reached the park, the excitement was border lining insanity, as we took the ferry into Magical Kingdom. As we entered we were instantly overwhelmed by the disney castle staring at our. The The beauty of which had us awestruck, as well as the number of people present in the park. Body to Body we walked. We had managed to come on one of the busiest days of the year. However what myself and Wing Commander did have was time. The park was to close at 1am that night and from what we had experienced in the other universal parks was that kids have bedtime, around 9pm the lines dissolve. Still we managed to walk the park and hit up every rids, as well as take some photos with the likes of Aladdin and Jasmine, yet another lifelong achievement unlocked. We walked and and lined up for rides, in one case waiting 120 minutes for a ride.

Hungry for food we saw locals eating a Turkey legs. A giant drumstick. It seemed like that was the thing to do when in Disney world. So we headed to the food stand and both Wing Commander and I decided to get one. Note these things are as big as my head! we took one bite and were disgusted at how awful these things tasted both of us confused at how people could eat this. As an analogy Wing Commander compared the Turkey leg to Off ham. The thing was putrid and due to the high price we had paid for them we struggled and managed to take 3 more bites before throwing the atrocious thing out.

Finishing up our first round of the Park we got to the castle to watch the fireworks display, only to find that all the spots were full and the closest we could be was at the other end/ entrance of the park. Both disappointed at the crappy view we started pushing forward to see if we could manage a better view. Just then as if the Gods had heard us, a Downpour started, a huge storm came about and the crowd of thousands started to dissolve. Armed with Ponchos and an undying will we pushed forward and some how – ended up in the front, right next to the Stage! The rain did not stop.. and got heavier. everyone was fleeing but not us. We had travelled too far to see this. Once again as if driven by a divine power the rain stopped 5 minutes before the Fireworks/ Disney show was to start. What followed was a childhood. was an emotional breakdown for the Captain. the most beautiful memories coming back as Walk Disney took me back to everything I loved being a kid. I wept and was just blown away by the display that ensued. it was truly amazing. No works i can say can describe the fireworks on christmas eve at Disney world.

Once the fireworks were complete the park felt deserted. The lines had vanished. this only meant one thing, Another round of the Park! They say an average visit to Disney requires you to walk 10 miles. We did the park twice, spending over 15 hours till closing time absorbing where we were, making sure nothing was missed. At 1 AM as the park closed we hailed a cab and headed back to the resort. It felt like everything we had come for had been accomplished.

Christmas Day, the last day in Orlando and the Final Park – Hollywood Studios. Feeling a bit numb from all the emotion form the previous day we walked Hollywood studios, visiting a few rides and meeting a few of our favourite characters, Buzz lightyear, Goofy etc. This park was a heap smaller then those that we had visited previously, however the lines were still very unrelenting. we walked the park and did the essentials. The last thing on our list and one of the most important was finally meeting Mickey. We had saved this for last. as the crowds slowly dissolved we went to find Mickey getting him just before leaving the park. it was fantastic. Such a joyful place. Happiness all round (except on the wallet). Finishing up we headed back to the hotel and packed our bags.

We had an early morning flight headed to New York. An Amazing Adventure Awaited.

Orlando A city of happiness and a childhood of memories.