This was Dad's and my 2nd trip back to Orange Lake Resort since he purchased the 5th week of every year back in 2002. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here. But this trip, it was also a pre-vacation for a first ever cruise for each of us.
Orange Lake Resort was as great as always. Love that we have a golf villa with parking right in front of our unit and all the golf villas are 1 story. His unit is even very close to this big pool area
Dad and I spent many hours in this huge jacuzzi. I also loved the heated pool above.
We even backed up to one of the golf courses and this lake beyond it.
Orange Lake even has a lot of restaurants ---like this ice cream place.
Pretty new to the resort is the Riverwalk area---which has another really neat pool
a huge lazy river. As an owner at Orange Lake Resort, we have access to all the pools.
Usually we would go to Disney World when we were in Orlando, but this time we decided to make it a Universal Studios vacation. So we picked up the 3 day pass. As I recall, it was something like buy 2 days get 1 free.
Universal Studios---Day 1
From a photographer's point of view, Universal Studios is a great place to take pictures.
Lots of color and familiar show references.
Plus the shows we saw were really good. This was part of the Blue's Brothers show.
Lots of scenic areas.
Dad admiring an old Yellow cab.
even the reflections on the ponds were cool
Even saw a mini version of the Colosseum there.
I don't remember a lot of what we did there, just that I enjoyed taking colorful pictures.
Universal Day 2---Islands of Adventure
lots of cartoon characters and rides in this area.
Dr. Seuss land
bet that would be a fun restaurant to eat in.
Got a kick out of the name
popeye
One of the more popular rides there in 2004
not a fan of roller coasters, but they look cool
more a fan of natural settings---and ones that look more natural.
not as landscaped as Disney, but still pretty.
more movie set stuff---which you'd expect in Unirversal studios.
Theodor Seuss Geisel---Dr. Seuss, had quite the interesting thoughts.
more views around the park
and reflections
what a cool merry go round
neat name for a store
Universal Studios---day 3
back for our 3rd day
loved this juxtaposition
Scooby Doo van!
cute little ride---ET
This was what I remember the most. This Beetlejuice's Rock and Roll Graveyard Revue. We enjoyed it so much we saw it twice. I understand it was discontinued in 2016---too bad.
Don't remember what these hip-hop dancers name was, but they also had a really neat routine!
Holyland Experience---This was another place we enjoyed going to. Actually went here 3 times over the years that Dad and I got to use his week in Orlando before he died in 2008. I wouldn't say I'm a religious fanatic, but there's a lot of history shown here, too.
They had interesting plays---
and singing
and recreations.
plus the buildings were built to resemble those in Jerusalem.
There was even a huge model of how Jerusalem looked back in Jesus's day.
Arabian Knights Dinner Theatre---We got discounted tickets to Arabian Nights, probably from going to an owners update, or something.
It was interesting---albeit kind of dirty when you think about all the horses that run around in there kicking up dirt every day.
But I like horses, so looked past that.
This was probably my favorite part of the show---at the end when they let the horses out on their own and they played in the arena.
Capone's dinner theatre---found tickets to here for BOGOF, so checked it out.
Entering---as if entering a speak-easy
Cute play with good actors
Food was really good, too.
They even interacted with the guests. We liked it so much, we went back a couple more times in future trips.
Air boat ride---who would have thought you could to air boat rides just outside of Orlando?! But the Everglades actually stretches up that far.
a wood stork
our happy group.
Part 2 of our trip---our disastrous 1st ever cruise:
We picked a short 4 night cruise to see if we liked cruising. So we took a Disney one out of Cape Canaveral. Dropped our rental car off at the MCO airport and spent the night at a nearby hotel with free shuttle. Next day we took the shuttle back to the airport where we had arranged to take a Disney shuttle to the cruise port.
For more details on our cruise, click on the link below----
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