On Monday morning, around 8 AM, we thanked Kaz for his
extraordinary hosting (he even paid the ticket fares in Georgia Aquarium visit)
and boarded our trusted van and hopped on the interstate 75. We would continue
to follow it for more than 600 kilometers until we hit Florida Turnpike which
would take us into the city of Orlando.
Contrary to our expectation Atlanta was cooler than we
thought it would be and one of the sliding doors of the van froze stuck. Little
later as we drove on the expressway the ice melted and the door became loose
with the alert light coming up on the dashboard. Deciding not to take any
chance I stopped the car on the shoulder and had the door shut down properly. Not
a usual event. We hopped back on the highway again and merrily drove through
the Monday morning traffic, which to my relief wasn’t as bad as I feared it
would be considering it was a working day.
All of us were very elated, especially the kids who really
glazed in excitement now that finally we were approaching the Disneyland. It
was the longest we drove since leaving Ajax – 720 kilometers – Atlanta to
Orlando.
As we advanced toward Orlando
the weather got increasingly warmer and we started to see occasional glimpses
of palm trees – a sure sign of warmer weather. We stopped about midway for
lunch in a roadside restaurant and dined with home-style burgers and fries. The
joint was quite colorful, it was sunny outside and the kids were really beaming
in anticipation – everything looked exactly what we wanted it to be. I found
several palm trees outside and took pictures. Back in my motherland Bangladesh
I grew up with the sight of various types of palm trees and sight of these
plants invariably excites me. To me they are the sure sign of warmth and good
times.
We drove at full speed and did not stop any more. When we
finally entered the neighborhood of Orlando
it was half past four in the afternoon.
Among other things what pleased both
Mili and I were the spread out orange gardens that can be seen right from the
highway. As a young kid I had visited Tripoli,
Libya and
visited several orange gardens with my parents. The memory of that instantly
flashed before my eyes.
Later, as we drove into the city we found it neatly arranged
with palm tree lined roads and colorful houses and buildings. In the north our
houses are really bland looking. This was a pleasant change of views for all of
us.
Disneyland is located in Kissimmee,
in the outskirts of Orlando, one of the major cities of Florida. Naturally most hotels, motels and
other tourist attractions have been built in the vicinity. The Universal
Studios are also nearby. Among other attractions
Sea World is definitely a
major one. The Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway is flanked with all kind of
hotels, restaurants and additional attractions. I had booked a room in Holiday
Inn on the internet. Wasn’t fully sure how it would be but had to settle for
something based on whatever images and information was available on their web
site and the user experiences that I could pull up from many user groups.
To
all of our relief it turned out to be a gorgeous place, quite colorful and well maintained,
specious lobby, large outdoor swimming pool, even a small gym and plenty of
parking spots at the rear of the building. And above all the view around the
place is simply great with large trees and some palms. Our room was in the
fifth floor. During check in we were informed that J and family had already
arrived and the reception would inform them about our arrival. We can then get
in touch with each other. As we stepped out of the elevator on the fifth floor
corridor we found a rushing Tasi and her parents following her closely – all
smiles. Our rooms were only a few room apart. It was simply great to see them.
There’s nothing better than enjoying a great place with great friends.
That evening we went to visit the Ripley’s Believe It or Not
in the vicinity. Though as an attraction its significance is much less than the
giants that it co-lives with but it is a great place to visit. And I say great
because the kids really liked it. In my mind anything that today’s video game
playing kids with fast reflex and short attention span find amusing got to be
worthy.
One of my favorites. Please read the text below to learn more about the man in this picture. 
A fur bearing trout (very rare)
That night after returning in hotel room I took out my
planner that I created back in Toronto based on the information that I had,
especially the weather related info. Once here and with the updated weather
information the plan needed to be revisited. Going to the water place in a cold
day would make no sense while that could work out fine in other attractions.
I had booked the hotel room for six nights. After plenty of
thoughts and considering updated weather forecast this is what my final plan
looked like:
Disney Magic Kingdom – Tuesday
Seaworld - Wednesday
Disney Epcot - Thursday
Disney Hollywood Studios – Friday
Seaworl Aquatica (water park) – Saturday
Disney Animal Kingdom - Sunday
The other major attractions not in my plan were (I picked
Aquatica over Disney water park and considering the age of my kids – 5 and 10 -
decided Universal could be little over
their head):
Disney Blizzard beach (water park)
Disney Typhoon Lagoon
Universal Studios
Universal’s Islands of Adventure
Universal Wet’n Wild
Some interesting facts about Florida:
- Orlando attracts more visitors than any other amusement park destination in the United States.
- The United States city with the highest rate of lightning strikes per capita is Clearwater (Dolphin Tale movie)
- Young aviator Tony Jannus made history on January 1, 1914 when he flew the world's first scheduled passenger service airline flight from St. Petersburg's downtown yacht basin to Tampa.
- Miami Beach pharmacist Benjamin Green invented the first suntan cream in 1944. He accomplished this development by cooking cocoa butter in a granite coffee pot on his wife's stove.
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