Walt Disney World, Florida is the perfect place for kids but what about two 30 something year old guys? Our friends found it very amusing that we were leaving girlfriends behind and heading to the land of dreams and fantasy for a week.
Sitting on the Virgin Atlantic flight from Gatwick we were also starting to wonder what we were doing. Surely Disney was the perfect place for young families? A few games of cards and a few more glasses of wine we decided to look at what Walt had on offer: "A world-class entertainment and recreation centre featuring four theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom); two water parks; 32 resort hotels; 81 holes of golf on five courses; two full-service spas; Disney's Wedding Pavilion; Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex; and Downtown Disney, an entertainment-shopping-dining complex encompassing the Marketplace, Pleasure Island and West Side". Nothing really prepares you for the size of Walt Disney World. The driver tells us that the resort is 40-square-miles and approximately the size of Greater Manchester. After entering the park, 10 minutes had past and we are still driving through lush green countryside.
We are staying in Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort in 700 acres of pine forest, away from the theme hotels, which was a huge sigh of relief. The log cabin has a fully equipped kitchen, air conditioning and maid service (result). Nearby we have a white sandy beach, marina nature trail, waterways for fishing, canoeing and boating.
After about five minutes relaxing in the log cabin we were off to grab some dinner at the "Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue". This was our first introduction to Walt's cooking and let's just says he wasn't going to let us go hungry tonight. The all-you-can-eat dinner included barbecued ribs, chicken, shrimps, corn on the cob and delicious strawberry shortcake. While trying to clear our plates of food, we find ourselves worryingly close to an American rodeo cracking his whip and showing off his latest lasso tricks.
Tiger Woods would be here next month and we decided it was probably best to get some extra sand in the likely case we would be creating a few more holes on this beautiful course. The golf buggy had more extras than my car at home, including GPS and a fridge. I am sure we will never play on another golf course as good as this and sorry Tiger for that crater on hole three! In the afternoon we get out of the blazing sunshine and head over to Blizzard Beach Water Park. Disney legend has it that after a freak winter storm blanketed the area with snow, Florida's first ski resort was born. When temperatures returned to normal, the powdery snow turned to slippery slush. Slalom courses, bobsled and toboggan runs became downhill waterslides. The chair lift carried swimmers instead of skiers. The water park boasts the tallest water slide in America. Standing at the top of the slide with kids running past us, it took a lot of courage to plummet down the 120 feet drop at speeds of up to 55 mph.
. That certainly got the adrenaline pumping but was nothing compared to the following day.
NASCAR had always seemed a bit pointless¢¦ until now. I fire up the V-8 with a press of a button and have 600 horsepower at my disposal. While driving around the mile-long, tri-oval track I have to get as close as possible to my instructor's car driving in front of me. The faster I drive, the faster he goes. The noise from the car is deafening and easily reaches speeds of over 120 MPH; Silverstone eat your heart out! For the next few days we take the foot off the gas and enjoy some of the parks. We are here during the annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. According to the brochure "you can savour unique foods and fine wines of South Africa, Italy, Australia, Russia, Spain, Ireland but what about England and good old fish and chips with mushy peas? Luckily we find the Rose and Crown pub and grab a nice pint of bitter.
After a posh nosh at Victoria & Albert's five-star restaurant we head over to Downtown Disney to see what night life is on offer. Highlights here include Cirque du Soleil, House of Blues, Bongos Cuban Cafe and the Comedy Club. We decided to go straight for the nightclub and spent the night dancing to some disco classics.
The next day, after the excess of the night before, we relaxed at The Grand Floridian Spa & Health Club. Here you can indulge yourself in natural spa therapies and relaxing massages. It's a hard life!
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