Your children won't forgive you if you skip Disney on a trip to Orlando, but, as GILLIAN IVORYdiscovers, there's plenty more to do besides go to theme parks
TO ONE SIDE of the highway Nickelodeon Family Suites looms large, its orange and yellow walls adorned with Dora the Explorer and her cartoon cronies. For one horrible moment it looks as if this is where we’re heading, but thankfully our vehicle glides past the turn and heads instead for the wholly more adult Orlando World Center Marriott.
“You’d have to really like your kids to stay there,” says one of our group. She has a point: your children may think they’re in heaven at “character breakfast” with SpongeBob SquarePants, but you’ve got to be a truly dedicated parent to want to do it 24/7, too.
When we arrive at the largest of the world’s many Marriotts, a member of staff, pleasant in a sing-song kind of have-a-nice- day way, hands me a map and recommends I use the elevators in the east tower to find my room. Wishing I’d brought the satnav, or paid more attention during orienteering at Girl Guides, I set off to find room 1884, on the 19th floor. It turns out to have a fabulous view over a palm-fringed swimming pool the size of a small ocean.
Everything in Orlando is supersized, from the skyscraper hotels to the portions of food and, dare I say it, the unusually high percentage of large people. Even the lobster, sourced mostly from Maine, is more robust than the average crustacean.
What was a backwater farming community in the 1950s is now a metropolis. At 122sq km, Walt Disney World Resort alone is twice as big as Manhattan.
You can’t come to the home of Disney without seeing its theme parks, and your children would never forgive you if you tried to skip them. Then there are SeaWorld and Universal Orlando Resort, and the list continues. But if you also want to see a little of the countryside, and get a feel for the more natural side of Orlando, you can balance visits to theme parks with activities closer to the wild.
Starting on the natural side of things, we head to Forever Florida, nearly 2,000 hectares of wetlands and wilderness less than an hour’s drive from Orlando. Out in the countryside the picture from the highway changes from glitzy hotels and strips of bars to trailer homes.
Florida was once a land of swamps and sinners – the sinners notorious for selling thousands of hectares of worthless swampland for real estate during the 1960s. But at Forever Florida they’ve put the natural terrain to good use, with ecosafaris and ziplining in the conservation areas. The ecosafari is best done on horseback if you’re equine-inclined – it’s a walk more than a ride, so almost everyone can manage it – but you can also do it by coach.
Jake, the leader of our ride out, is a true cracker cowboy. Crackers have been around since long before air conditioning and mosquito repellent, setting true Floridians apart from blow-ins. Riding western-style and looking as if he was born with spurs on his boots, Jake points to plenty of wildlife, including an occasional alligator.
The alligator is to Floridians as the fox is to Celts – a very common sight. But for us visitors the craggy-toothed reptile sitting close by is a little unsettling. We’re not lucky enough to spot a black bear or endangered Florida panther, but they’re out there somewhere.
Back in town at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, our first view of the glistening Cinderella Castle brings all those childhood fairy tales flooding back. Partly inspired by mad King Ludwig’s creation at Neuschwanstein, in Bavaria, this one has the added attraction of Tigger, Pooh and Tinker Bell hovering in the foreground.
You can hire many things at Disney, from a double stroller to an electric buggy, but a child for the afternoon is not among them. Still, it’s not hard to see the park through the eyes of a little person, and nowhere do you get a better feel for it than at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, in the bowels of the castle, where little girls are transformed into princesses – at a cost that can run to hundreds of dollars. The “princesses” are decked out in sparkling outfits and elf-like shoes by fairy godmothers.
When the legendary Walt made his grand plan for Disney, the theme parks were only a small part of what he intended to create. Epcot – now the name of one of the Disney parks – is an acronym for Environmental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. He had wanted to set up two communities, test plans for a utopian city of the future, but funding complications meant he had first to build the Magic Kingdom, and he died unable to realise his plan.
At SeaWorld the atmosphere is more serene and the natural flora more abundant. The park’s serious conservation efforts, including the rescue of injured mammals, are little publicised; evidence appears in the form of a one-limbed manatee sunning itself on a rock.
Believe, a beautifully choreographed killer-whale show, kicks off with a request for any soldiers and their families in the audience to stand. About a sixth of the crowd get to their feet, cheers and applause erupting around them. It’s a reminder that Florida is at the heart of the southern patriot belt; they get free entry to SeaWorld, and many hotels offer discounts for servicemen and -women and their families.
At 7am the next day we’re back in the countryside, a light mist still clinging to the fields. The prospect of climbing 600m, towed by a light aircraft and suspended from flimsy nylon foil, is terrifying, but at least I don’t have to throw myself off a mountain solo. This is tandem hang-gliding – and we’re in one of the few places in the world that offers it to the public. Wallaby Ranch is run by a man, a woman and a dog, along with a community of crazy hang-gliding enthusiasts who come to camp out.
After dangling precariously off the end of a glider, the attractions at Universal don’t seem nearly as scary as they might have the day before, but I still skip the Incredible Hulk Coaster, a hair-raising ride that seems to flip the full 360 degrees. Swinging from one building to the next in the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is enough action at this stage.
At the even more ungodly hour of 6am the next day we’re watching grown men blow hot air into gigantic balloons in the hope that they’ll fly. A balloon ride at sunrise is one of those magical things that normal people do once in a lifetime – but for our Kildare-born pilot flying high above the swamps is a daily event.
With a hint of Florida drawl after 10 years stateside, he gives the signal when it’s time to clamber into the padded wicker basket, its floor covered in high-density foam in case of a bumpy landing. Our fellow passengers include a feisty 89-year-old and her son – the flight a present, he says, because “what else do you buy your mother for Christmas?”
Our flight back to Ireland is jammed with teen marching bands en route to St Patrick’s Day parades. I wonder what they’ll make of the transition from supersized Florida to the more diminutive Dublin. It must be like entering the world of Darby O’Gill.
** Gillian Ivory was a guest of Orlando/Orange County Convention Visitors Bureau (www. orlandoinfo.com)
5 great rides
1 Children should be thrilled by a boat journey through caves – and down a waterfall – at Pirates of the Caribbean, at Disney's Magic Kingdom.
2 At SeaWorld, Manta opens this summer. You travel face down, horizontally, under the belly of a ray-shaped coaster.
3 At Universal Studios, the Simpsons Ride takes you ducking and diving through Krustyland.
4 At Universal's Islands of Adventure, the Incredible Hulk Coaster is one for adrenalin junkies only.
5 At Disney's Epcot, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience is a 3D interactive adventure.
How to get the most from your money
Families that can travel in June rather than July or August will get much better value, as prices jump for high season. Some deals include valuable extras, such as free kids' meals.
You can save by buying theme-park tickets in advance, perhaps as part of a package. The Orlando FlexTicket gives access to five parks, excluding Disney, for a week.
Look for deals online at sites such as www.orlandoinfo.com/ accommodations.
Focus on parks that will suit your children. If they're very young Disney's Magic Kingdom tops the list; older children will be more engaged by Epcot, SeaWorld and Universal.
Disney's Fastpass costs extra but cuts waiting times at certain rides
Go there
Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com) flies to Orlando from Dublin and Shannon. Sunway (www.sunway.ie) and American Holidays (www. americanholidays.com) offer packages that include flights, accommodation, car hire and park entry.
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go on a trip to Orlando
Where to stay
Orlando World Center Marriott Resort. Sunway (www.sunway.ie) offers seven nights in June at this huge four-star hotel from €2,125 for two adults and two children.
Ramada Orlando Celebration Resort. Seven five-star nights from €1,871 in June for two adults and two children with Americanholidays.com.
Nickelodeon Family Suites. From $2,079 in June for two adults and two children, from www.nickhotel.com.
Where to eat
Fulton’s Crab House. 1670 Buena Vista Drive, Downtown Disney Marketplace, 00-1-407-8288996, http:// disneyworld.disney.go.com. Great for seafood lovers.
Taverna Opa. Pointe Orlando, 9101 International Drive, 00-1-407-3518660, www.opaorlando.com. The meze and kebabs are more authentically Greek than the belly dancers on the tables.
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. 6000 Universal Boulevard, 00-1-407-2242155, www.margaritavilleorlando.com. If you can eat while listening to country music, this is a lively, fun restaurant, with performers for the kids.
Sharks Underwater Grill. SeaWorld, Orlando, 00-1-407-3513600, www.seaworld.com/orlando. Dine next to a bunch of sharks.
Where to go
Walt Disney World Resort. http://disneyworld.disney.go.com.
Universal Orlando Resort. www.universalorlando.com.
SeaWorld. www.seaworld. com/orlando.
Florida EcoSafaris at Forever Florida. 4755 North Kenansville Road, St Cloud, 00-1-407-9579794 ext 1, www.floridaecosafaris.com.
Orlando Balloon Rides. 00-1-407-8945040, www.orlandoballoonrides.com.
Wallaby Ranch. 1805 Deen Still Road, Davenport, 00-1-863-4240070, www.wallaby.com. Aerotow hang-gliding.
Richard Petty Driving Experience. Daytona International Speedway, www.1800bepetty.com. Drive or ride in a Nascar-style car.
Florida Airboat Rides. 100 Lakeshore Boulevard, Kissimmee, 00-1-321-6898918, www.florida-airboat-rides.com. Adventure sightseeing on a boat through the Everglades.