Orlando

So we’ve been away from the boat for 2 weeks now. Some (Mr. Captain) are missing the boat and others are enjoying being land based for a while again. We spent the last two weeks in a resort called Mystic Dunes in Orlando, visiting famous theme parks, seeing family and on my part, buying records.

We arrived in Orlando to the weather report predicting thunderstorms every afternoon. However, we were in Orlando and had to visit some of the parks. 

The first park we ventured into was Orlando’s Universal Studios. This is where we met famous people like Marilyn Monroe, Scooby Doo and Shaggy, Spongebob Squarepants, Patrick and even Squidward. We went on all the big rides. The Rock n’ Roll rollercoaster was a favourite because as you were being twirled and flipped upside down, you could listen to a song of your choice. As I was being twirled and flipped, I got to do it to the sound of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” Another famous ride was E.T. We helped E.T. get home as we rode on bicycles through space and to his planet. As promised, it began raining towards the end of the day, so we headed home.

The girls with Betty Boop

The next day, dad and Josh wanted a golf day. They headed off, and after about three hours it began pouring again. My mother and I drove to the restaurant Kenzies by the golf club to see if we could see them and on our way there we saw a golf cart on the 18^th hole with two people sitting inside it, whilst it poured with rain. I laughed and said that I felt sorry for whoever it was. My mom said it would be funny if it were my dad and Josh. As we got closer it turned out it was my dad and Josh! My mom and I hooted until they eventually saw us and then laughed all the way to the golf club. We sat and had a drink waiting for them to arrive and eventually (40 minutes later) once the rain had stopped, they arrived all soaked. We sat and had dinner whilst we heard about how terrible they both were at golf.

Dad and Josh stuck in the rain

Josh and Rebecca on the front of the Hulk ride

Sunday morning = next theme park. We ventured to the Islands of Adventure theme park. We got there early so managed to get to the front of the queue on two of their major rides. The hulk was a rollercoaster that took you right underneath the bridge; my brother and sister loved it so much that the minute they came out they ran back around to go again! The next ride we did was the Spiderman ride. It stopped working half way so they let us to the front of the ride to try again. With American kids still at school the theme parks are reasonably quiet so there weren’t many long waits. We ended up going on all of the major rides. We made our way to the back of the park to the Harry Potter section and it was madness . . .the rest of the park was quiet because everybody was congregated here. There were massive long queues for people buying butterbeer (shortbread syrup with butterscotch sauce) and massive lines for people buying wands! The lines weren’t too long for the dueling dragons roller coasters though so we went on those. The Dueling Dragons rollercoaster’s are two rollercoaster’s that are wrapped around each other. I did one rollercoaster and ended up with a massive headache so my brother and sister went on both dragon rollercoaster’s. Seuss Land was probably my favourite land even though there was only one ride we could do in it. The ride was sitting on a couch and it took you through the world of Dr. Seuss’s ‘Cat In The Hat.” Another ride Joshua and I did, was the Simpsons ride and never again will we do it. It was the trippiest ride and we ended up feeling so sick afterwards. If you get motion sickness, this ride is definitely not for you. Once we had completed all the rides and the rain came again, we left.

Harry Potter world

After much begging on my part, my parents agreed to drive me to the record shop. As I walked in, I was in my own little heaven. My parents, seeing the size of the shop and the thousands of records that resided there, quickly escaped to the nearest coffee shop and left me to do my worst. After searching for a really long time, I emerged with six records. Two of which were Black Keys albums, one Daft Punk, one Cage the Elephant, One Norah Jones, and one Mumford and Sons. After my successful shopping we decided to go back to the car, only to find a women whose tire was flat right in front of our car. My dad helped her change tyres and saw her on her way, and then we went on our way.

We drove to Sarasota to spend the weekend with my moms Uncle John and his wife Carol. Her second cousin, Stephen also came down for the weekend. The weather wasn’t too great due to hurricane ISAAC that was moving past bringing clouds and rain, but it was a great weekend. We went for lunch to a nice spot by the water and we had shrimp and lamb chops on the braai for dinner! On Sunday we went for breakfast and then went through pictures of John and Carols beautiful wedding in Stellenbosch. It was a beautiful weekend catching up with family. Thank you John and Carol for inviting us to come and stay with you and for showing us all your beautiful home.

John and Carol at Siesta beach

Chatting with Stephen

Seaworld

We had a week until we left Orlando and had tickets to two more theme parks. One of these we went to on Tuesday. Seaworld Orlando was amazing. They had three major rides, all of which were spectacular. The Manta was a rollercoaster where you are basically in the superman position the whole time. The Kraken was another roller coaster; this one just had a lot of loops and ups and downs, also going through a tunnel. The Journey to Atlantis was like a log ride with a little bit of a twist . . .literally! Instead of going straight down, you went down and twisted to the side. They also have these little machines that you put money in and you can squirt people coming around on the ride. We had our coins in and were ready to go, when a cart came and a guy n a white shirt was splashing everyone on the ride, so we timed it perfectly and he got soaked as he was hit with a big spray of water. We could all not stop laughing, as it was so priceless, he was so angry and shocked that he had gotten soaked. My mom, sister and I also got to feed the dolphins, which was amazing! When we left the park, it wasn’t raining but it was time to go home.

Feeding the dolphins

 The last park we went to was Aquatica. We managed to go on every single ride in the park, my mom and I even going on our favourite three times. There was one ride where you went in a tube through the Commerson Dolphins pool. This was hands down the funnest water park, the only negative about the day was that Rebecca lost her waterproof camera on one of the rides. We left the park by 2:30 as we all had to pack to fly to Vancouver the next day. We had a great two weeks in Orlando, even with the weather from the hurricane, it was great. It is time for our next adventure in Vancouver. Stay safe and God bless xx

Commerson dolphin