2019-01-08 Orlando, Florida

So we're in Orlando! I'm told there's not much to do there except go to the theme parks. So we went to the theme parks!

This is also known as waiting in line for hours in exchange for a few minutes of excitement.

Universal Studios

Mostly just went here for Harry Potter World, Gringott's Bank. We went to the other one in Japan some time ago and this is the other half of the Harry Potter attractions.

The Transformers attraction was also very cool, one of my favourite ones.

Shepards Pie at Harry Potter world.

Bubba Gump! Apparently its famous for some movie of some sort.

Super shrimp at Baba Gump! Surprisingly cheap considering where we were.

Another dish we had there.

Moroccan food at Epcot. This dish was actually incredibly amazing.

Another dish we had. Pretty average.

Torii gates from Japan at Epcot. Reminds me of the epic one at Miyajima.

Its doug!

I... Don't remember where I ate this :(

Tried out my first Clif bar. It was okay.

We just arrived at Universal Studios.

Here I am at the hustle and bustle of... Harry Potter world.

Another shot. You can use your wand to control some objects around the area.

This dragon is hiding a flamethrower within. It breathes a ball of flame every now and then.

Some stores nearby.

Again.

Me, with the millions of inhabitants of Diagon Alley.

Clever (everything in Harry Potter is always a "clever" pun of sorts) numbers for the elevator to our ride which only took 1.5 hours of waiting!

Ollivander's wand shop.

Some demo of wands that had zero wait so we decided to attend. After the demo I realized why it had zero wait.

Stomp was here! Cool percussion performance.

Transformers ride! I really enjoyed this one.

We didn't get around to much here, just thought it was cool that Krustyland was here. Simpsons is kind of a dying brand though I think.

Florida Mall

This was meant to be a rest day where we just hang out over in the city. We ended up going to the doctors and then the mall next to it.

The doctors was pretty nice. Price was about the same as a normal consult back home. They gave us this gigantic showbag of random... stuff. From teabags to cough drops, we were covered.

Epcot

So Epcot was Walt Disney's original vision of future world! It's also a world showcase of various countries around the world.

As soon as we got there we power walked to Norway, which has the new Frozen attraction. I was actually really surprised by the quality of this one, probably because it was the newest and had the best tech. The animatronics was pretty lifelike compared to other rides and the animations were projected onto their face so there actually wasn't any weird uncanny valley vibes.

Orlando. Looks a lot like Perth huh? Flat roads, spaced out.

We went to the Florida Mall. Here was an awesome shop which basically sold novel modes of transport and drones.

Its basically my dream shop! Scooter luggage!

DJI stuff.

There was even a Tesla shop inside the mall!

Giant candy store in the middle.

We went to the doctors as Steph was feeling sick. They gave us a big showbag of... random things. Tea, cough drops, antihistamines.

Here we are at Epcot, the world and tomorrow.

UNLIMITED COCACOLA SHOP!

Hexagon shape! These guys know what's up.

The Chevy Track Test was probably one of the best rides we went on. You basically design your own car and you "test" it, pitting your scores against the others. Ours was stupidly overpowered (it had jet turbines, plasma engines) with no regards for the environment.

The ride itself was interesting, it's a "test" drive which goes through braking speed, weather conditions, acceleration etc.

Super blurry shot of us in the "car".

Figment Imagination was a children's area for exploring science. I went in because I thought it would be cool but turns out I'm about 25 years too late to appreciate it.

Awesome Zelda backpack. Didn't buy it though.

Got the hat instead.

Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom was the original park. We've pretty much gone through everything this park has to offer over the past several years while visiting other theme parks. We went back on them anyway as they're still pretty fun.

The original Disney World.

... Yep, this is the only photo I have.

Oh wait here's one of my looking bored at Space Mountain. It wasn't boring of course, this is my excited face.

Disney Springs

We got a tip that Kingdom Hearts 3 early stage demo was available at Disney Springs! So we went here.

We also had what was the best burgers we've ever had in our entire lives here at a place called D-Luxe Burger. Disney Springs only!

KH3 demo start!

Conclusions

Orlando is actually a really nice place. The people are really friendly, the theme parks are good and the weather was great. Everything about the city actually reminds me of Perth. The wide open spaces, the large houses, flat terrain, and the weather and beaches. Even the property prices are about the same!

Except I hear it gets pretty humid in Summer but that's about it!