Stay, Stray, Play and Feast: Themepark Overload Orlando: Orlando, Florida, Beyond WDW Series 12

Themepark Overload Orlando
(Orlando, Florida, Beyond WDW Series 12)

After eight days in Walt Disney World, we
checked out at Holiday Inn Lake Buenavista,

…located very near the Disney Springs,

…where we all had a blast,

…after visiting almost all the theme parks,

…that WDW Resort has to offer,

…we took a taxi to Turkey Lake,

…and moved to Westgate Lake Resort Hotel and Spa,

…for another week and the second phase

of our Orlando vacation beyond the WDW.

Day 8

Westgate Lake Resort Hotel and Spa is a sprawling resort

condotel development complex at the shores of Big Sand Lake,

…where we stayed in a one- bedroom suite,

with everything on it, from living room,

..a full kitchen,

…dining area,

…and even a huge screened balcony that offers a

spectacular view of the sunset at the Big Sand Lake.

The hotel had a mind boggling seven heated outdoor

pools, seven hot tubs as well as Children's wading pools.

The resort is a tourist destination of its own,

that offers Boat Rentals on lakeside marina.

Link Source: Westgate Lake Web Page

There is also the 18-hole course

Pirates Miniature Golf Course,

…Basketball Court, four Tennis Courts

…and several Game Rooms.

They also have a world-class spa

the Serenity Spa by Westgate,

…and a state-of-the-art Fitness Center.

Upon settling in our hotel room, together

with my son, we explored the resort grounds-

…on our way to Joe’s Marketplace and Deli,

…to by some groceries for our in room meals.

When we returned to our hotel room, I treated my young son for a
milk cooking dunking snacks that we bought from the grocery.

Later in the afternoon we all walked our

way to the Smokehouse Grill for dinner,

…enjoying the beautiful lakeside view.

Known as the “home of Orlando's best BBQ,"

…this award-winning restaurant offers a relaxed,

casual dining experience for the entire family.

We tremendously enjoyed the Smokehouse Platter.

Dubbed as the ‘MacDaddy of platter’ this humongous

combo meal has the best of everything in this restaurant.

It was apparently good for two persons but the serving

was so huge that we had tons of leftovers and sustained

our in room dinner everyday for free for three days.

We leisurely roamed around the resort,
and enjoyed to spectacular sunset.

I returned to the lobby and bought four 2- day tickets

for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure,

…retreated back to our hotel room

and had a good night sleep.

Day 9

It was Universal Studios Orlando day.

We woke up early in the morning,

…and off we went to the hotel shuttle

waiting area had a breakfast in our room,

…that took us to the Universal Citywalk.

While we have been to almost all Universal Studios park around

the world, this was everybody’s first time in Universal Studios

Orlando, so we excitedly walked our way to the park entrance.

We upgraded to Express Pass Tickets at the park to assure

us that we would not have to fall in line to enjoy the attractions.

We started the Production Central zone where we lined

up at the express entrance of the Minion Mayhem.

…and Shrek 4D nearby.

When we came out of the Shrek attraction were just

in time to watch a high school brass band parade.

We then went to Hollywood Zone,

for the Terminator 2 3D,

…and chanced upon Dora’s musical parade,

We then we walked our way to the

Woody Woodpecker Kids Zone,

… had a photo- op with Spongebob Squarepants,

…and went to enjoy ET, the Ride.

The kids also enjoyed Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster,

…and Curious George Goes to Town.

My son Timothy is a Barney fanatic and

A day In the Park with Barney was the

main reason why we came for to this zone.

The little boy was lucky as he got to meet his
idol up close and personal before the show,

… and got a chance to meet the other Barney

characters like BJ and Baby Bop after the show.

Our next stop World Expo Zone, where

we enjoyed the thrilling Men in Black,

…and Simpsons the Ride,

…and had a light snack at the Krusty Burger,

We were all excited to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter,

where we caught the sight of triple decker Knight Bus with talking

shrunken heads hanging by the bus window set in a London scenery,

…where the magical Diagon Alley was

realistically recreated at the backstreet.

We dined at the Leaky Cauldron,

…and queued at the King’s Cross station,

…to ride the Hogwarts Express,

that took us from Diagon Alley

…to Hogsmead,located at the Islands of Adventure, and

a park-to-park ticket is required to ride Hogwarts Express.

We did not stay long in Hogsmeade as we

intended to explore it on our second day,

…and we took the train back again to Diagon Alley.

and queued at the Harry Potter and the Escape

from Gringotts which we all tremendously enjoyed.

From the Harry Potter world, we decided to

rest at the San Francisco section of the park,

…before heading to New York zone,

…and returned to the Production Central zone

where we enjoyed the Transformer 3D the Ride.

It was 30 minutes before the park closing

and we walked back to Hollywood Zone,

to watch the Horror Make Up Show.

After the show, we walked our way back to the exit,

…and headed to Universal City Walk.

We dined and feasted on Chinese

specialties on Panda Express,

…and my son enjoyed cookies

from Breadbox for dessert.

We returned to the parking area where

the free shuttle took us back to the hotel.

Day 10

I headed to the Rosen Single Creek for the first day of the

American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE)

convention to register. It was dedicated as a registration day,

no scheduled lecture sessions yet so I returned to the hotel,

…where we took a free shuttle to the

Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets.

It was a weekday so there were very

few people around despite of the sale.

We are not rich and going on a shopping

is never on our bucket list when we travel,

as it is something that we could no afford.

The huge bargain was tempting and with so many things to buy, but
without enough money, we focused on three stores; Prada, where my
daughter found a tennis shoes, and a purse for my wife both on 70% off,

…Levis 501 jeans for me where they was sold on

a buy one take one deal, with extra 20 % discount.

My son chose two classic Toy Story character

toys from Toys R’ US, that interestingly came

with a toy insurance renewable every 5 years.

The two kids also purchased sneakers with colorful dancing lights which were

not on sale, but otherwise not expensive as they were sold in a generic aisle stall.

We returned to the hotel late in the afternoon,

… and decided to explore the hotel grounds.

It was a pleasant and leisurely walk,

…as the it was a lovely tropical afternoon,

…and the resort was scenic and very beautiful.

Our walk led us to Joe’s Marketplace,

where we shopped for groceries,

…and walked back to our hotel room,

…amidst the breathtaking Orlando sunset.

We dined on our 2- day old leftover dinner from the

Smokehouse Grill and headed for a good night sleep.

Day 11.

I woke up very early and I was at the Rosen Single Creek

to attend the s breakfast symposium that began at 6:30 AM,

I attended two more sessions after the Plenary Lecture, and

headed back to the Westgate Lake hotel at about 10 AM.

We were scheduled to visit Universal’s Islands of Adventure,

and we took the 11 AM free shuttle from the hotel to the park.

It was everybody’s first time on this “other”

Universal Studios theme park in Orlando,

and we were all excited to see what’s in it.

The Port of Entry, had a warm Caribbean

port theme,l ined with stucco- walled buildings,

that houses several restaurants and souvenir shops.

We immediately went to the Seuss Landing Zone.

It was a very colorful zone, with

attractive pastel- colored buildings,

…where we lined up at The Cat In The Hat, a lively

storybook ride based on Dr. Seuss iconic children’s book.

The kids also enjoyed very colorful ride

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish,

…a very colorful carousel called Caro-Seuss-el,

…and the relaxing a train ride, high up the Seuss Landing,

The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride, that gave

us a bird’s eye view of the extremely attractive colorful zone.

We then headed The Lost Continent,

and queued at the Poseidon’s Fury.

It was past noon and so we decided to have lunch at the

Fire Eater’s Grill overlooking the Mystic Fountain.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was our next stop.

…where the Hogsmeade part is located here,

…while the Diagon Alley, its other half is

located at the Universal Studios Theme Park.

We immediately line up at Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

which is located right inside the Hogswart School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.

The Hogswart School of Witchcraft and Wizardy,

a recreation of a medieval castle is the centerpiece

of Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hogsmeade

is a stunning and eye-catching attraction of its own.

The next zone was Jurrasic Park, and we queued

at the Jurassic Park River Adventure, one that we

never fail to ride every time we visit Universal Studios.

The gaily themed Toon Lagoon makes the guests feel

like they are transported to a merry world comic strip.

We backed out at the Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls,

as we know we would all get really soaked in this ride-

…but we could not resist the temptation of
Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges,

a white water rafting- like ride and our all
time favorite attraction in any theme park.

We got soaked, but it was okay as it was fun.

The Marvel Super Hero Islands, and this is

where most of the extreme rides are located,

…but the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man was an extremely

enjoyable ride that we repeatedly queued back on line and we

found no problem doing so as we had express tickets anyway.

The park closed at 7 PM and we dropped

by at the Starbucks at Citywalk for a coffee,

…and to satisfy my son’s craving

for a cookie milk dunking snacks.

We headed to the parking where the

free shuttle took us back to the hotel.

Day 12

I attended the morning session of the convention,

…and returned to the hotel.

After lunch at the hotel room and we intended

to return to the Vineland Premium Outlets

…to buy presents for our employees yet,

but the lady taxi driver suggested that we try

the Orlando International Premium Outlets.

Located at International Drive, it was apparently bigger,

had more stores, and most importantly, must cheaper as

it was located away from form the tourist area of WDW.

We bought Orlando souvenir shirts for our employees

and for my daughter’s friends in school at the Billabong

outlet that was being sold for 3 shirts for only 40 dollars,

…and Vanhuesen shirts of the our

kids’ male tutors sold at 70% off.

My daughter found a bargain

backpack at Michael Korrs,

… my wife walking shoes from Coach,

…while I got running shoes from the Nike

outlet being sold on a buy one take one offer.

My son didn’t want anything and all he requested was

a huge cookie from Panera, located at the food court,

With the big bargains during the Memorial Day Sale,

Orlando Premium Outlets makes shopping affordable,

even to impoverished tourists from a lowly third

world country traveling on a tight budget like us.

We returned to the hotel late in the afternoon,

…shopped at the Joe’s Marketplace

for in room cooking and dining,

…and retreated later for the night.

Day 13

It was our penultimate day in Orlando,while my family just wanted to laze in the

hotel to rest and prepare for the long trip back to the Philippines the next day,
I was at the Rosen Single Creek attending the conference the whole day.