Our Mini-Orlando, Florida Vacation

 Last week Neal and I visited Orlando, Florida for a few days.  We stayed at the Hilton Parc Soilel and it was a beautiful property.  We were walking around and found this Bird Of Paradise plant.  This is one of my favourite flowers.  The hotel had two amazing swimming pools.  One was a quiet pool for adults and the other one was a family pool with a slide.  Neal says that the slide was a lot of fun.

 One of the places we went to was the Florida Mall.  I knew that Carlo's Bakeshop from the TV show Cake Boss had just opened a few days before we arrived.  I had to go and have a look.  What I didn't count on, was having to stand in line for over 2 hours on a weekday.  We bought two cupcakes (chocolate and caramel).  They were ok but probably shouldn't have been put into our hotel fridge.  We also bought a lobster tail.  This looks like a croissant that has a creamy filling inside.  OMG it was amazing!!!!

 I asked the fellow who was directing traffic outside of the store if any of the family was still there and he said that Buddy's sister Grace was there.  As we were standing in line I saw Grace go into the food court.  Me and another lady in front of us in line made a bee-line to the food court to see if we could get a photo with Grace.  As you can see, we did.  She wasn't exactly the most friendly person I've ever met though.

Here is a photo with the whole family.  If you've ever watched the show you'd know that family is everything to Buddy.

 We went to the Titanic exhibition and it was amazing!!!  If you are in Orlando and you are interested in the real story of the Titanic (not the movie version) you should go and see this and take the guided walking tour.  It was excellent.  The guide got right into the role as one of the Titanic people.  You get a card talking about one of the passengers.  At the end you can find out if that person survived or not.

 Here is Neal relaxing by the pool!

 If you are on International Drive and you are looking for something fun to do, go into Wonderworks.  It's a sort of science centre type place.  You can experience what it feels like to be in a hurricane or an earthquake.  You can make music on the keyboard from the movie Big.  They also have a ropes course and a 4D movie.  We had a great time!

 Here we are checking out what it feels like being in a space suit. I can tell you it's not that comfortable.

 Neal squished himself into this tiny space capsule.  It's not very comfortable at all.

 Here we are doing what we love.....playing golf.  Pirate's Cove mini-golf was a lot of fun and the place is really well maintained.  The course is challenging and still a lot of fun.  I highly recommend going.  There are many locations all around the area.

 So what would a trip be without a little bit of Disney?  It wouldn't.  But since the prices have gone through the roof, we found a place called Disney Springs (formerly known as Downtown Disney) that is still free.  You can get in for free and park for free in the parking garage.  It has a lot of shops and restaurants that you have to pay for, but you can get a little taste of Disney.  We ate at a restaurant called Portabello's and their pizza was great as was the service.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our short Orlando vacation report.  You can have a lot of fun here without having to break the bank by going to the big theme parks.