So you are new to Orlando, it’s a bit of an eye opener to be totally honest…
there are quite a few things that will make you chuckle when you first see them!
The shops are always a great place to start any holiday, we always go to buy the essentials, suncream, shampoos etc. We never take any of that with us, why do you want that extra weight in the luggage?? What make us chuckle is the most random things that you find in stores, for example we wanted some paracetamol, easy enough to find…there you go, a jar of either 250 or 500?! Only wanted 12… Another fave of ours is telling first time visitors to go find the largest grocery item they can, a bag of Doritos the size of a sleeping bag? A huge jug of milk that you can hardly lift? Or our personal favourite the ‘yard’ of bread. We kid you not when you see people pull that bad boy off the shelf the look on their faces is priceless! And the bread is then most ‘hardy’ we’ve ever had! It never goes off!! Bright white slices and slightly sweet – it’s best tasted to be believed.
Walmart is hands down one of our favourite stores for entertainment, the place is so large inside it beggars belief. It’s quite surreal that you are one minute walking around the produce section, then you walk into the sporting goods. (Who else needs bread, milk, a canoe and a crossbow and some shotgun ammo and tyres for your truck).
The selection of items is also mind boggling, the sheer choice of something simple like a tub of ice cream? You’ve got a ‘wall’ of the beggars, and then some! You spend half ya time making choices then umming and ahhing at what’s in the trolley.
Eating out is always a minefield for the uninitiated in Floridian cuisine, what sides to have? How many sides does the dish come with? A side as a main meal? Choices choices choices. Even a simple question such as ‘how do you want your Eggs?’ Sheeeessshhhhhhhhh! How many different ways are there to cook an Egg? Sunny side up, over easy, scrambled, scrambled with cheese, hard boiled, soft boiled, omelettes, over hard, poached, frittata, baked the list goes on….and on…
The one that makes us laugh is “this sandwich comes with chips’ (the Brits will be ‘yayying’ at this) BUT ‘chips’ in the U.S. are crisps here in the U.K. so when the sandwich comes out with ‘chips’ don’t be sulky, just order a side of fries! And don’t be surprised if your sandwich or whatever snack you order in the restaurant comes with a slice of orange on the side. Yes. A slice of orange. For some reason they love doing that! There is normally a pile of them on the table when people leave the restaurant.
Normally sharing a plate of food is not just done! But in Orlando it’s the norm for us. When you’ve got a sandwich as big as an old vcr and a gallon glass of Pepsi it makes sense to share. We normally go for the smallish side each and share a main. You soon learn that some portion sizes are plain ridiculous! The first few times you go to eat you tend to get a bit giddy with all the choices and end up with a table full of grub and not a chance in hell of clearing it all… the restaurant called The Olive Garden is the place to go if you want a LOT, man alive they will see you off with the salad bowl alone and put about $30 worth of Parmesan cheese on it, then top it off while you are halfway through… expect to take stuff home in the styrofoam tubs. Then leave it in the fridge for a few days, then throw it away. It happens. Trust us. Except pizza. Never throw pizza away. Ever.
Talking of pizza there are some cracking one’s available in many many shapes and sizes from small to table top sized! Yay!!
Tax. Nobody likes paying it. But in Florida its added on after the price shown on the menu or shelf, so something $20 will be $20 plus tax which is $21.20. It’s normally around the 6% mark. Sometimes the tax IS added into the price, just look at the sales tag. You always see people working out “how much are these trainers with tax” the answer is simple…JUST BUY THEM!!! They will be cheaper than you pay at home in the U.K.! And a handy little hint is sometimes for the larger purchases use a credit card if you have one, the conversion rate when you get the bill back home is a little better, so you end up saving twice. Nice.
Fuel – now let’s not start any arguing about how we pay way too much here in the U.K. suffice to say when you are filling the car up on the route 27 towards Disney at the WaWa service station and you’ll see its just over $3 a gallon. Yes…A GALLON. YIKES!!! Admittedly the U.S. gallon is smaller than a U.K.(by one pint) – the look on folks faces as they do the maths for the equivalent back home is priceless. And also another little word on service stations is that they are largely ‘pre-pay’ before you pump, the amount of tourists we see standing there, nozzle in hand shouting at the folks behind the counter to turn the pump on… 1st time we went, Mr Orlando went into the garage and said “$40 on pump 3 please” the attendant said ‘are you sure buddy?’ Yup, off i went $30 later and a full tank and I sauntered back up to the window for our change, and for the employee to casually toss my $10 back at me with a knowing smile…
If you are a smoker a little tip is to ask for a pack of cigarettes, our cousin went into a store and asked for ‘20 Marlboro please’ only to see the store keeper start stacking up 20 PACKS! She said I only wanted a pack containing 20! The guy’s face was a picture as he started stacking the other 19 packs back up.
Drinking in Orlando is quite an adventure, lots and lots of bars and restaurants to try. The main thing is To remember your I.D. You will be asked for it. Makes our night when we get asked!! (And it doesn’t‘ take happen very often these days) No I.D. NO service we’re afraid. That’s the law there. And they are quite strict on this. They’ll expect to see and ID for every person who’s having an alcoholic drink if they look under 35-40. Normally they don’t really encourage buying rounds. So just get used to getting a couple in per person. OR go to Applebee’s when its happy hour and its buy one get one free!! Top tip!
theohorlando.blog 