Being Adult At Walt Disney World

Posted on August 14, 2013 by floridatraveler

Being Adult At Walt Disney World

Every year twenty million adults WITHOUT KIDS come to Walt Disney World and make it their vacation destination. My wife and I are two of them.

We are of the age that getting jerked around on Dinosaur ot Mission Space is not our cup of tea, but we love Soarin’ and enjoy the silliness of Toy Story Mania.

What are my picks for favorite adult activities at Walt Disney World:

• Eating at the formal but exclusively 60-seat Victoria and Alberts at Grand Floridian.
• Taking a carriage ride along the canals from Port Orleans New Orleans resort.
• Finding eight other people and renting a Fireworks Cruise to see the Epcot fireworks…
If you can’t do that a balcony at the Dolphin top floor Epcot facing wing helps.

“ Dining windowside at California Grill overlooking Magic Kingdom fireworks (closed for expansion)
“ Going on a small group Wild Africa Trek at Animal Kingdom
” A window-side table at Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge to watch the animals feed and play
• A front row table at Raglan Road in Downtown Disney for a night of Irish music and dance
• (for the healthy) Two hour backwoods Segway tour at Fort Wilderness
• Parasailing from the Contemporary over the Seven Seas Lagoon, as high as Cinderilla’s Castle
• A lagoon-side patio dinner at the Rose and Crown to watch Epcot fireworks

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Best Disney WOrld Food For Vegans and Vegetarians

Posted on August 4, 2013 by floridatraveler

Best Disney WOrld Food For Vegans and Vegetarians

Although Walt Disney World advertises that it is “a vegetarian’s dream”, a quick evaluation of the menus and some interviews show that is quite an exaggeration. A lecto-ovo vegetarian will find a few menu items and has the option of removing items from many dishes. The vegan has a more difficult time. Disney’s recommendation to telephone the chefs of restaurants 72 hours ahead pf arrival is not an option for many people.

Here is our 2013 kudos:

BEST BUFFET: Tusker House (see photograph), African Kingdom – has a huge number of Indian and African menu items from salads to rice dishes. The staff will explain menu items.

BEST MENU ITEM: Liberty Tree Tavern (Magic Kingdom) offers a vegetarian burger of house made potatoe quinos with vegan tufo tzatzski sauce and sweet potato fries.

BEST DINNER ITEMS: Rose and Crown (Epcot) is an English pub serving a Vegetable Pie N Mash and a Vegetable Stone Pie on its dinner offerings. It is also the best patio spot to see the Epcot fireworks.

MOST FRIENDLY STAFF: Tokyo Dining (Japn Epcot) has a huge sushi menu plus vegetable tempura and vegetable croquettes. The manager will come to your table and discuss every menu item and diet issue with visitors.

BEST KID ITEM: Rainforest (Downtown Disney/Animal Kingdom) has a popular Portobello sandwich burger. Just oust the cheese.

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Streamsong May Change Fort Meade Forever

Posted on July 20, 2013 by floridatraveler

Streamsong May Change Fort Meade Forever

Fort Meade is the oldest (1849) town in Polk County. Started as a Seminole War fort once manned by one Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, whose memorial rests in Heritage Park, the town has reinvented itself many times.

It survived a Union raid on its cattle herds in 1864, a terrible downtown fire in the 1880s, and the up and down years of the phosphate boom and the citrus industry.

Today Fort Meade is undergoing a new experience: the development of a world class golf and spa resort Streamsong.

Two Ben Crenshaw/Tom Doak golf courses have been carved out of the rugged terrain. A lakeside guest house and fancy steakhouse have opened. By early 2014, the Lodge with an additional 216 guestrooms, spa, restaurants, and rooftop lounge will be added.

Located on the Upper Peace River, Streamsong will also feature bass fishing, hiking, and other sports. It will hard to imagine that Fort Meade will still have the image as a rustic little town in southeast Polk County.

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Florida Films Don’t Score EW’s Top 100 Films List

Posted on July 14, 2013 by floridatraveler

Florida Films Don't Score EW's Top 100 Films List

Entertainment Weekly recently published its Top 100 Films of All Time and sadly Florida located films barely appeared. JAWS scored at 18th but it was Jaws II (see pic) that was filmed in Navarre Beach.

SOME LIKE IT HOT was 21 but it’s Florida ending was actually the Hotel Del Coranado in San Diego. GOLDFINGER at 49 was filmed at the Fontainenbleau Hotel in Miami Beach and the ending of MIDNIGHT COWBOY (57th) was the Coral Gables bus depot.

Florida films that might make somebody’s favorite 100 films include: Key Largo (Key Largo). Scarface (Miami), The Yearling (Silver Springs); Apollo 13 (the Cape); Cocoon (St Pete), and Monster (Daytona Beach).

If there was a category for most disappointing films, Out of Time (Boca Grande) and The Punisher (Tampa) should be considered.

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Harry Potter Is Going Two Park At Universal

Posted on July 14, 2013 by floridatraveler

Harry Potter Is Going Two Park At Universal

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is expanding for a 2014 opening at Orlando’s Universal Studios, but in a unique way for theme parks.

Dragon Alley and London Town is being built within the Universal Studios Florida theme park. It will be as large as the existing Hogswarts and Hogsmeade complex and with the partnership of Warner Brothers be as authentic to the film experience as possible.

What is so unusual is that guests will be able to travel on the Hoswarts Express between London and Hogsmeade. Not certain how tickets and passports will be handled for this double dose of Harry Potter.

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Hail To Florida’s Manatee Rehab Hospitals

Posted on June 29, 2013 by floridatraveler

Hail To Florida's Manatee Rehab Hospitals

Last spring the red tide killed over 300 manatees in Southwest Florida. Fortunately, many people called 1-888-404-3911, the Rescue Manatee Line at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Dozens of volunteers brought sick manatees to one of Florida’s rehab centers: SeaWorld Orlando, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo (see photo), Miami Seaquarium, and the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon.

SeaWorld, Lowry, and Miami take the critical wounded and sick manatees which may reach a length of ten feet and 1,200 pounds. When possible the manatees are returned to the Gulf or Atlantic.

To preserve Florida’s population of around 5,000 manatees, people need to continue these efforts and recruit more support.

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Don’t Blame Mosquitoes For All Summertime Florida Bites

Posted on June 24, 2013 by floridatraveler

Don't Blame Mosquitoes For All Summertime Florida Bites

You’re at the beach and the sun is pouring down its mid-day rays and you feel a bite on the back of your neck.

“Ow, darn Florida mosquitoes!” Sorry, but salt-marsh mosquities with their long striped legs and either golden-brown or black bodies, rarely attack in the middle of the day and don’t like noon sunlight.

Florida has three blood-sucking flies in the order of Diptera. Besides the mosquitoes, there are those lousy biting midges (also known as sand flies or no-seeums and they love to attack at dawn or dusk. If you are getting attacked in the middle of your beach day, you probably have a stable fly (dog fly) problem.

Stable flies look like a light colored houseflies with a mean temper and bite only in daylight. While they are more common in the warmer months, winter tourists to Florida still have to worry about this biting threesome. And the bad news is that scientists have noted mosquitoes prefer biting people to domestic and farm animals.

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Hail The Queen of Florida – Our Favorite Snail

Posted on June 19, 2013 by floridatraveler

FL nature queen conch

Conchs are eatable gastropods very popular as a seafood dish in southern Florida and the islands.  People see conch shells on the beach in Florida and don’t identify them with the food.

The Queen Conch, also called the pink conch, have been so over-harvested for their meat and beautiful shell that they have no been fished since 1985.  Yet, the food is so popular that conch meat is shipped into Florida from the Bahamas.   They are found in sea grass and some coral rubble at moderate depths. 

 There are smaller versions of conch, including the Florida fighting conchs.  The male conchs crash together in combat during mating season, which is where the “konks” got their name.  They are snails and there are experimental farms raising fighting conchs as a food alternative for the ravenous conch eaters of Florida.

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If It’s Summer It’s Watermelon Time

Posted on June 14, 2013 by floridatraveler

If It's Summer It's Watermelon Time

Years ago when I attended FSU I went to a June Watermelon Festival in Chipley (Washington County). I see that after 57 years the Watermelon Festival is still going on strong – this year on June 28-29th.

In the winter Florida caters a lot of food festivals for the tourists with seafood, Cuban, Latin, Greek, and fancy wine.. In the summer, however, it’s time for Southern food, particularly in Panhandle and Northeast Florida.

Expect a big parade down Main Street, plenty of country, blue grass, and gospel music, country crafts and food eating contests. Most of the action will be northwest of downtown at Pals Park.

Summer visitors to Florida can expect a lot of outdoor grilled Southern food and country music if they look up Florida food festivals on the Internet.

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One Day Florida Will Swath Ship to Havana

Posted on June 1, 2013 by floridatraveler

0000 key west ft myers catamaranOne Day Florida Will Swath Ship to Havana

The Key West Express (photo above) is a high speed catamaran that takes travelers from Fort Myers Beach to Key West in less than four hours. It is presently Florida’s only long distance coastal above-water boat.

I am sad to say the Cloud 10 Bahamas Ferry, which was a 365-passenger Swath ferry no longer runs from Palm Beach to Grand Bahama Island. Maybe it was a little too soon to convince vacationers this was the way to travel or perhaps Nassau was the needed destination.

Swath boats, with their motors in the bottom of each wing offer a smoother ride than regular craft and even catamaran as people who have traveled on them in Canada and Europe already know. I suspect that when travel restrictions change with Cuba, Florida will have the neatest SWATH ferries going between Key West and Havana.

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