So, with all that’s going on around the world we thought that we would look back at just how holidays in Orlando have changed for me and Tracey over the years. It seems that each time we go there has been a leap in what happens in the parks and how you “holiday”,. We love and embrace this, personally I love it when they announce a new ride or ‘land’ (this is Rob-Mr Oh here). I was actually laughing when they announced that the Great Movie Ride was closing and the whole world seemed like it was gonna blow up because of this! Folks folks!- even Walt Disney himself said “Disney will NEVER be completed, it will continue to grow as long as there is imagination in the world, it is something that will NEVER be finished”. So Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway was born. The movie ride was tired, it was fun…but tired. So, lets get onto the crux of todays blog, how holiday have changed…..
So my first visit was back in ‘99 and it was a LOT different from the last one in 2018 I can tell you. We flew on a Thomas Cook flight on a package holiday we had booked through them, a first ever trans Atlantic flight for us as a family group and the first time I wondered if the kids were gonna sit still for 9 hours!! They did, sort of… we landed at Orlando International Airport and were whisked away by coach to the hotel just off I-Drive – the Quality Inn International, (this is now called the Rosen Inn International). The rooms were a basic suite/family room with 2 beds, a kitchenette and a bathroom. Looking back now its little wonder we didn’t strangle each other in here… The hotel was grouped around a series of pools and we were lucky enough to have one right outside the door, so it made dashes to and from it quite easy.
The breakfast was a ‘buffet’ style affair where everything was new to us – super crispy bacon?? Milk and bread that’s really funny tasting and butter that was so white we thought it was lard?? (It wasn’t). We asked the holiday rep one day why the bread and the milk tasted ‘funny’, she told us they sweeten the milk and bread with corn syrup ? If we wanted “normal” milk we had to go get UHT or similar. One of my abiding memories is my daughter Soph having chocolate milk every day for breakfast and my son Ash having a plate of bacon, cakes and Danish pastries ….he still does it now. At the time we didn’t know any better and we thought it was best to eat at the hotel each morning… we were wrong!
On the first visit we didn’t get the park tickets before we travelled, we had to pile into a coach, go to Universal and all troop into the massive theatre or cinema (sorry can’t remember what it was) and we were allocated our park tickets there. Of course there was the usual selling of day trips etc.. which rarely happens these days. Our first ever day was spent at Universal Studios, we walked around goggle eyed at the place, bright, shining and huge (to us). This first day was a revelation to a person who had grown up on Alton Towers and Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The most noticeable thing to us was the superb customer service, we as Brits had never really experienced this?! Staff were nice, they said “please AND thank you” and when they kept saying “ya’ll have a nice day” we didn’t know if they were being sarcastic?? They were not! Nothing was too much trouble for anyone and that’s why we love the place a much as we do. YES it’s their job, and YES they get paid for it, BUT its the way the people make you feel when you are there, and the pride they take in what they do – we’ve always said its the people that make the holiday, all day long.
The restaurants were a new experience to us as well. We had never seen so much choice! And if you didn’t like what they had you just asked, pretty much like today to be honest. What really threw us were the portion sizes, … I think for the first week we over ordered on every single meal, it got to the point where we would order a main and ask for an extra plate. The kids loved it, when Ash asked for fish fingers one day (fish sticks in the U.S.) they came out the size of battered cod we have at home, he took one look and said “I’m not eating all of that” – he did! It was a time of the first ‘Chilli Dog and Iced tea’ for me and I absolutely loved it! Fabulous ice cold lemon zested iced tea – I love it. I know its not to everyone’s taste but I have been hooked on it ever since. We once went to a rest restaurant called Racerock Cafe up on I-drive (sadly no longer there) and it was based on motorsports, with drag bikes and cars on the wall and ceilings and the walls were lined with video games, it was possibly the loudest restaurant I’ve ever been in to this day,
The shopping experience was one of our faves, lots an lots of choice to be had, and many things that were not even out in the U.K.at the time. We were hitting shops like a family of fools – and we still do today! One day when my ex and my daughter were sleeping, me and Ashley went for a walk along International Drive. It was pouring with rain and we were sweating like loons because we were sharing a poncho because it was so big, Ash has his head through the arm hole, we looked like the Circus had come to town. The poncho lasted all of ten minutes, we had to throw it in the bin because we were so hot and sweaty. To calm us down we popped into a little coffee shop where I had my first “bucket’’ of American coffee and because it was a chilly 90 degrees Ash had a hot chocolate with whipped cream. Nutter. We sat there watching the world go by drinking our brews thinking ‘life is good’. It certainly beat delivering parcels for a living! So fully refreshed we strolled down to a store called the ‘Sports Dominator” (I think – it’s been many many years!!!) and we had a good old beano in there. We came back with quite a few bags of T-shirt’s and various other stuff, then when the girls had seen what we had purchased we had to go out again! No bad thing really.
The new big shopping experience we had was at Beltz Mall at the bottom of I-drive. It’s now called Premium Outlets International Drive. We were stunned at the size of this place. If I recall correctly we even got lost once or twice while walking round. This was a shoppers dream, more stores than you could shake a stick at and we were nearly getting 2 Dollars to the Pound! Once called the “ good old days” that was when you didn’t have to worry about the exchange rate.
One thing we loved back then was a new thing in WDW parks called Fastpass…it was great! No queues for rides and all you had to do was go get a ticket from the Fastpass machine and then go back at the allotted time on your little ticket. Wonder if it caught on?….. We were constantly amused at the rides and the queues, being entertained while waiting for a ride was a new thing to us and we loved it. What made this particular holiday so special was the look on Soph and Ash’s faces each day. Everyday was a new adventure for them and they would be up really early each day within excitement. Their one big complaint about the holiday was the amount of ads on the tv! It’s a wonder they finish a TV season with so many ads! We will never complain in the UK again.
What makes me smile now is how naive we were about things back then, we went to the travel agent, looked through the book, asked a few questions and booked it. Not really knowing much about it. I’d only ever been to the U.S. once before and that was for a gig. Nowadays you YouTube, internet, Trip Advisor and look on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter at what people are saying and real reviews! It’s never been so easy to book and research a holiday now, does that make it better? We argue about this all the time! Some say not knowing is best as it makes the excitement build, or do you love looking and planning your trip to to the nth degree? I say you can look and watch as much as you want, it’s NEVER the same as being there! Can you download the sun and the smells as you exit the airport?? Nope? Can you taste the iced tea and chilli dogs ?? Nope. But I wish we could!
Over to Tracey to pick up her side of the blog….
My first visit was with extended family around 1996/97. We shared a town house and I remember very similar things to Rob with regard to getting there and having to go and collect park tickets from the travel rep and waste a whole morning listening to the information handed out. My uncle drove on that trip so I definitely didn’t have a go at driving the hire car – which is something I now absolutely love and is a massive part of our holiday.
I think we also went to Universal first, or maybe we didn’t but I remember it so very vividly because my Aunty told my mom that King Kong (the old King Kong ride which is now the Mummy) wasn’t scary and was nothing to worry about. It terrified my mom and I don’t think we got her on much else after that. She had enjoyed ET first though before the terror of King Kong.
I definitely remember us over-ordering on most meals until we got to grip with it. I also remember not finding very much healthy or vegetarian food to eat at that time, but thankfully it’s a lot better now and my choices have increased massively.
I also remember my dad’s delighted face in The Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios (which was called MGM Studios back then) – he was totally amazed at the parks and rides and really watching the Fantasmic show (the Sorcerers Apprentice being a family favourite) starring Mickey in his iconic wizard hat. I still love the show to this day. He and mom also went on It’s a Small World – and didn’t stop singing it for about a week. We all loved the parades – and still do, and our favourite was the nighttime parade which sadly now is no longer at WDW Orlando.
I also have fond memories of Beltz Mall – where we bought so much stuff we wondered how we’d get it all home. I have a photo somewhere of my mom trying cowboy boots on in a massive store that was just before you got to Beltz. I can definitely still say I spend a great deal of time, and money in the Outlets that replaced Beltz.
The Disney water parks also hold a special place in my heart, from that first visit really I loved them and we didn’t really have anything like that in the UK so it was a real novelty. My mom definitely bought a new swimming costume to wear at the water park – Calvin Klein don’t you know, and she happily bobbed around in the lazy river – after a bit of a false start which involved the inflatable ring and my mom being upside down! I will always remember my Aunty telling my mom that it was totally calm and relaxing and she wouldn’t even get her hair wet!!
A lot of the things I still love to this day are because of that first trip and thanks to my Aunty and uncle for opening my eyes to it all. I have stayed in hotels, townhouses, villas and on Disney property and even had the use of a family holiday home for a fair few years, which meant I was able to travel to Orlando twice a year some years. That is how I have managed to see so much of Florida and why I have travelled all around it, and tried internal flights to The Keys and Miami, cruises around The Keys and The Bahamas and travelled top to bottom and Gulf Coast to Atlantic Coast. I have loved every single trip – and now Rob and I are building our own new adventures. The things we do change every time we go, because there is always something new to see, a new experience and new thrill rides to ride and lots of new fun to be had, but we both still love a lot of the things we first fell in love with on our very first trips.
Our first trip together as a couple sort of cemented two different experiences we had both had in another life and we not only discovered we had a mutual love of a lot of the same things, we have also our own new holiday adventures and experiences, and we have new favourites and new places we go. We have been back as a couple many times, with friends, with family and on our own and we love it every time.
We will never stop loving it – stay safe Orlando and Mickey and friends, we can’t wait to see you.
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