.
Today our target was to visit Sea World. It was really cold in the morning but it became bit warm during the day. It was about 10 a.m when we arrive there. Roller coaster and stuff were not open yet. We watched  an amazing killer whale show and a dolphin show.

Apart from the shows, there were many interesting rides including two roller coasters named Karken and Manta. We didn't dare to take those two rides though. Anyway this Journey to Atlantis thing was nice too. There was another train simulator named Wild Arctic ride. Another nice experience was the Sky Tower. It slowly lifts up the passengers deck up so that they can experience a breath taking view of the surroundings.
.

.
Cocoa beach is located in eastern coast of Florida. We thought to visit Cocoa beach on our way back from Kennedy Space Center to our lodge in Orlando.

We had not seen the sea for about 1 1/2 years, since we left Sri Lanka. This would be a funny thing for Sri Lankan people. Anyway it was around 4 p.m when we reach the beach. The beach was so beautiful in the evening but the bad thing was, it was damn cold there. We have herd that Florida has such a nice weather and the temperature does not go down that much. However the last two days we spent in Florida was really cold but sunny.

So we couldn't spend much time there. We hurried back to the vehicle to get warm. So we arrived early at our lodge and prepared some dinner. Next day, we were willing to visit Sea World.
.

.
The fourth day of our vacation (26th Dec 2010) was reserved for visiting Kennedy Space Center. We had bought visitor complex admission tickets online ($43 each). We had to drive about 1 hr from Orlando, FL to Kennedy Space Center.Af
 


View Larger Map


After the security check we entered the visitor complex. Then we were boarded on buses with all other visitors to begin the tour. So they took us to their exhibits including Saturn V. They were worth seeing but the entire tour was not exiting as we expected. We passed the NASA main building but the bus didn't stop their. The visitors are not allowed in there. We got the chance to experience a shuttle launching on a rocket simulator. It was great but not to the level we expected from NASA.

However the tour took half a day. We had lunch from a cafeteria inside and came out. I think the tour could have been really great if we got the chance to see some inside functionalities rather than exhibits. I guess it is worth to buy a ticket to see a shuttle launching at a higher price.

Though we thought it will take whole the day for the tour we got half a day left. So we decided to see Cocoa beach on our way back to our lodge.
.

.
This time we wanted to start the day as early as possible because we had so many things to cover up. So we got up at about 6.30 a.m and managed to reach Disney World around 8 a.m. We had 1 day park hopper tickets we bought from eBay for $100 each.

According to our plan we were supposed to visit Disney's Animal Kingdom in the morning, Epcot in the afternoon and Disney's Magic Kingdom in the evening. (We had already visited Disney's Blizzard Beach water park, day before).We had a rough idea of the events we are going to consider. We couldn't analyze the attractions beforehand because we didn't have internet access at our lodge, Towns of Legacy Park.

Finally, our plan worked. We could visit all the parks we expected to visit and didn't miss any interesting events. Happy for the day :)
.

.
We were dying to get a good break after a stressful three months of studies and work. So we decided to have a 6 days vacation in Florida, which would definitely be a nice sunny place for a vacation, in December 2010.

Considering the opportunity cost we preferred driving to FL over flying. So we rented a large SUV from Enterprise. The cost ($400) was reasonable for 7 days with insurance. Well it was a 17 hrs drive from Bloomington, Indiana to Orlando, Florida. 


View Larger Map

True, it is a really long distance to cover up in one day but my husband and brother-in-law could manage the drive. We departed from our home at 5.30 a.m. on 23rd Dec. We bought breakfast from a McDonalds on our way.We passed Indiana, Kentucky and were able to come through Tennessee by lunch time. We had lunch from a China Buffet, from where we can get a good meal for a reasonable price.

Then we started the rest of our journey and the surrounding was becoming scenic because of Smoky mountains, TN. It took a considerable time for us to pass Georgia (GA) as it is kind of a long state. We stopped at a Subway to buy dinner and arrived in Orlando, FL around 12 midnight.

Then the real nightmare began :). We were supposed to find the housing complex called Towns of Legacy Park, which is going to be our lodge for the stay. So we followed the address appended in the payment confirmation mail. Ouch!! it led us to an office called Florida Choice and it was closed. Not a sign of a housing complex. However we managed to find the housing complex, which was few miles away depending entirely on GPS. Now what? there was not any office or someone to talk to. We were so tired and disappointed by this time. Finally we found a phone number from the confirmation mail and called the number. Someone answered and asked us to open a lock box to get the key for the house. He gave us the house number and the code to open the lock box but again, he didn't know where the lock box is located. We searched around the complex but no any sign of lock box. Then we drove back to Florida Choice office and found the lock box there. Phew...finally we could get in. It was about 4.a.m when we went to bed.

This process could have been really pleasant if they had given the necessary information beforehand (about the lock box, code, etc).
.