The Many Adventures of an Aussie Disney Honeymooner

[pkondz]

I can’t leave Florida without doing an airboat ride!

I read that title and thought "Uh, oh!"
I'll explain as we go...

High on the list for me was an airboat ride, as something unique to that area of the world.

I did one on my second visit to Florida... which was my first visit as an adult.

We arrived to a very urban, very manicured looking but somewhat deserted lakefront. We wandered for a short while to make sure we weren’t missing anything, but Mr Google had definitely led us astray with that one!

Whoops!

we were excited to see several gators, a turtle and lots of bird life.

You did better than I did on my first (and only) airboat ride. I saw exactly zero of any of those.

Next, we were instructed to put on our ear muffs as we sped across the lake.

This is back in the 80s... No ear muffs. Just ear damage...

A little way in, I noticed that we had a bit of water coming into the front of the boat, and it seemed to be struggling a bit! Soon the captain stopped the boat, and asked a couple of the people in the front row to move to the back. Apparently we’d been too front-heavy to be able to plane properly, and after that it was all fine. Was a little nerve-wracking for a couple of minutes though!

I bet! Especially with all the gators around.

we sped through some of the little channels, which was a lot of fun, and amazing to see how the boat just went straight over the top of the vegetation.

We didn't "speed" anywhere. We mostly crawled at very low speed. And never ventured out of a water-filled canal.

It may not have been the best airboat ride we could have done, but we both really enjoyed the experience and I was pleased we’d made the effort.

Glad you enjoyed it. It sounds 1,000% better than the one I took!

Unfortunately both our first choices were unavailable, and what we did end up ordering took a long time to come out.

I guess it's not that surprising, given the location.

I can’t remember what Ben got, but I went with the tacos, so wouldn’t have expected to take that long!

Obviously something that took forever to cook. Perhaps he ordered the rack of lamb with accompanying Baked Alaska?

Ben finally decided to have a drive while we were out in the sticks with no traffic.

I take it he's a nervous driver.

We had one more scheduled stop on the way back at Vineland Outlets, hoping to find some good bargains on Disney merch. To say this was disappointing would be an understatement.

That's too bad. I haven't been in one of those outlet stores in decades.

I took over driving again as we were back in pretty serious traffic.

See earlier question: re Ben...

Ben found a couple of t-shirts though, which turned out to be a great buy as he was even getting compliments from CMs and wears them regularly.

Then I'd call that a success.

Walmart is a bit of a novelty for us. Our supermarkets pretty much just have groceries, with a much smaller variety on offer too. Walmart has everything!

Don't tell her about Super Targets, people...

it was starting to get pretty late, and traffic was an absolute nightmare.

Welcome to Florida.

We were just standing around trying to figure everything out, when one of the shuttle bus drivers approached us to say he would be happy to do one last run! We were super grateful not to have to bother with ubers etc and gave him a nice big tip (although he did have to wait for me to run up to our room to grab some cash!).

Nice little bit of pixie dust there.

Then set up our picnic dinner on the balcony for the show.

 

[zanzibar138]

Glad you enjoyed it. It sounds 1,000% better than the one I took!

Gosh, no wonder you were nervous for me when I mentioned it!

I guess it's not that surprising, given the location.

While it felt like we were in the sticks, it was actually only half an hour from Downtown Orlando and less than 20 minutes from Sanford. No helicopter required

Obviously something that took forever to cook. Perhaps he ordered the rack of lamb with accompanying Baked Alaska?

Must have been...

I take it he's a nervous driver.

Only when he's driving a Mustang on the 'wrong' side of the road

That's too bad. I haven't been in one of those outlet stores in decades.

I still remember going to the one in Vegas in 2011. It was AWESOME! There was so much great stuff in there. Sadly I was on a pretty low budget at the time, but I picked up an amazing POTC print for $5.

I actually think it's at least partly due to the rise in online selling. Anything that's half decent at a good price now gets snapped up by people hoping to make a buck.

Don't tell her about Super Targets, people...

Honestly, your supermarkets are definitely part of the sightseeing experience for us Aussies! We have Target, but they don't sell groceries, only clothing and homewares.

 

[pkondz]

Gosh, no wonder you were nervous for me when I mentioned it!

While it felt like we were in the sticks, it was actually only half an hour from Downtown Orlando and less than 20 minutes from Sanford. No helicopter required

It’s amazing how much wilderness is just outside of built up areas in Florida.

Only when he's driving a Mustang on the 'wrong' side of the road

Ok!

still remember going to the one in Vegas in 2011. It was AWESOME! There was so much great stuff in there. Sadly I was on a pretty low budget at the time, but I picked up an amazing POTC print for $5.

Not bad!

actually think it's at least partly due to the rise in online selling. Anything that's half decent at a good price now gets snapped up by people hoping to make a buck.

Could be.

 

[Steppesister]

A little way in, I noticed that we had a bit of water coming into the front of the boat, and it seemed to be struggling a bit! Soon the captain stopped the boat, and asked a couple of the people in the front row to move to the back. Apparently we’d been too front-heavy to be able to plane properly, and after that it was all fine. Was a little nerve-wracking for a couple of minutes though!

Oh dear! This does sound a little nerve-wracking. Yikes!

It may not have been the best airboat ride we could have done, but we both really enjoyed the experience and I was pleased we’d made the effort.

Sounds really nice though. This is something I've never done in all my times in FL.

Ben finally decided to have a drive while we were out in the sticks with no traffic.

It's not that hard, honestly. If I can do it in Aus and Italy, I'll bet he could too.

We decided to do one more stop at Walmart to get some things for a ‘picnic’ style dinner. We were amused to find that we’d accidentally parked right next to another red sporty car.

Twinsies (fraternal, not identical)

We were still able to do the key drop in the box, so that wasn’t an issue, but we would have to get an uber back to our hotel instead of having a free shuttle.

Well, poop!

We were just standing around trying to figure everything out, when one of the shuttle bus drivers approached us to say he would be happy to do one last run! We were super grateful not to have to bother with ubers etc and gave him a nice big tip (although he did have to wait for me to run up to our room to grab some cash!).

Oops, SCORE! Nice timing and Disney Magic!

And with that, we called it a night.

WOW! What a nice photo!

 

[zanzibar138]

Sounds really nice though. This is something I've never done in all my times in FL.

Definitely worth putting on the list if you're ever looking for a non-Disney thing to do!

It's not that hard, honestly. If I can do it in Aus and Italy, I'll bet he could too.

Haha he was fine with all the other driving we did (except the time he nearly pulled out on the wrong side of the road ). He was just insanely nervous about driving an expensive high-powered car.

WOW! What a nice photo!

Thank you! I love that one

 

[Steppesister]

Haha he was fine with all the other driving we did (except the time he nearly pulled out on the wrong side of the road ). He was just insanely nervous about driving an expensive high-powered car.

That I definitely understand!