After arriving in Canaveral, Florida - our first job was to pick up our pre-booked hire car, and then find somewhere to stay for the night! We had lunch at a pizza house which gave an immediate reminder of American portion size - huge - and at the same time, found a place to stay for 4 nights at Clearwater beach, a good 3 hour drive away. We wanted to go to Clearwater as we would be able to visit Winter the dolphin, who starred in the movie Dolphin Tale, and see the movie set at Clearwater Aquarium.
We had a good sized apartment in Clearwater - perfect for wrapping up the year's school work, and were very close to the beach which turned out to be one of the best beaches we have ever been to with bleached white fine sand.
We visited Clearwater aquarium and met Winter and Hope (the dolphins out of the movie), and also met the inspirational Cozi Zuehlsdorff who plays Hazel in the movie. There was lots of information on the dolphins and other animals that are rescued by the aquarium.
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| Winter the Dolphin |
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| Cori with the Director |
After Clearwater, we went to Orlando; even though we were not ready to visit the theme parks due to school work, it was cheap to stay in Orlando compared to other parts of Florida. We stayed in a big condo for four nights which had everything we needed, including a lake with alligators!
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| We thought we had it tough in Australia! |
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| Lots of wildlife! |
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| The Condo |
The time had finally arrived for Disneyworld. We checked in to a travel lodge where our Alaskan friends, the Lockharts, were staying and started to plan a marathon tour of Orlando's theme parks. During the next week - we visited Magic Kingdom (twice), Epcot, Animal Kingdom and DisneyStudios. Five days of theme parks is tiring and we were in awe of our friends who had endured ten days in the parks!.
The experience nevertheless was amazing. The rides, use of technology and scale of the activities and shows are breathtaking. The best shows were the Epcot lake display and the Magic Kingdom castle at night.
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| Magic Kingdom |
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| Magic Kingdom |
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| Epcot |
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| Epcot |
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| Animal Kingdom |
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| Animal Kingdom |
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| Disney Studios |
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| Magic Kingdom |
We had a great time again with the Lockharts. After they had left Orlando, we had a few days left and went about exploring Universal Studios! This included Harry Potter world, and we spent a couple of days riding all the attractions there including the Hogwarts Express!
After 7 days in Disneyworld and Universal Studios - we were exhausted! We had walked over 80 km, and been on our feet nearly everyday.
Dad was also really happy that he caught up with one of his mates Nick Evans. They were ushers at each other's weddings although hadn't seen much of each other lately due to Nick working in Korea (3 years) and Chicago (2 years).
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| Dad and Nick |
On the 12th December, we headed to the airport for the flight to Ontario - even closer to Australia! We were really looking forward to another family reunion, and spending Christmas and New Year with Uncle Ian, Aunty Sam and Callum and Chloe.
