Orlando: Where ‘Magic’ Really Does Happen

The man (or mouse) himself!

Continuing north from Miami, we stayed in Florida and made our way to Orlando, where our backpacking ways may forever be changed. Although Orlando is very much a touristic destination, it’s not so backpacker friendly.

Now for years people we have met throughout our travels have encouraged us to join the ‘Couch Surfing’ community, and after a further nudge from a competitor traveller (he’ll know who I’m talking about if he’s reading this) we decided to take the plunge and see if this community would take us in.

For those of you that are uninitiated, Couch Surfing allows travellers to stay at other open-minded travellers houses for free. You in turn are encouraged to put your house up to host others when your travelling days are over. It is a great way to meet locals of so many different cities, and given our ‘frisky’ nature, it appeals to our ‘cheaper’ side.

So Orlando was to be our first dip into this ocean of possibilities, and Charles, our host, didn’t let us down. He himself hasn’t taken up the travelling side of couch surfing, but generously opens up his home (which makes hostels seem disturbingly cramped, overpriced and uncomfortable) to complete strangers, even those who appear to have been homeless for months. Charles not only opened up his home to Nicole and I, he was more than happy to share advice on the numerous things to do in Orlando, how to get around, and pretty much anything else we could or couldn’t think of.

Couch Surfing at its finest!

Now I am sure we will find our way back to hostels, but for the rest of our American trip our first point of call will be the Couch Surfing community.

Now to the city itself. One of the unexpected pleasures of being in America has been the number of parks open to the public, and Orlando has the best one to date. Lake Eola Park not only has a man-made lake perfect to jog a few laps around (no we didn’t divulge, but we did think about it), it has numerous grassed areas surrounding the lake perfect for a kick of the footy, something, it’s safe to say, I have missed far more than Nic. So after dazzling Nic with my goal kicking skills (Powder, unfortunately there wasn’t any kicky on the roof but it was still made for a great afternoon activity) we made our way to Charles’ place to discuss everything Disney and Orlando.

Lake Eola Park – On a side note wakeboarder JD Webb jumped the fountain back in ‘06 to get the keys to the city!

First up on the hit list was Walt Disney’s ‘Magic’ Kingdom. My summary of the place is that we were some 20 years too old for the place, and about 10 years too young for the park, but that may have just been me. Nic was in her happy place. With school having just gone back, it was almost as if we had the park to ourselves and we were able to ride and see everything Nic could think of doing all well before the day was over. A few highlights of the park include (and I have conferred with Nicole here for some special comments) Space Mountain (at night time – for some reason you can see more when the sun has gone down – surely that is some sort of ‘Magic’), seeing me (Callum) not quite handle the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (a ride built for 6 year olds), Splash Mountain, Tales with Belle, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Roller Coaster, the Disney Parades and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor where I was called a ‘face hair model’ and the resulting offspring of a human and a Neopet (Grassy Head).

The Little Mermaid on show during the Disney Parade

But the icing on the cake (and the reason you stick around until 10pm) was the fireworks and light show on Cinderella’s castle. Narrated by Jiminy Cricket, the audience is mesmerised (or at least I was) by the illumination of the castle in as many different colours, themes, images (both still and animated), and settings as humanly possible. They make the castle come alive. Then they further dim the lights and indulge your senses further with a fireworks display. And although it might not be an Australia Day bonanza, but it’s still pretty bloody impressive given they do it every night.

The ‘Magic’ of the Cinderella Castle Light Show

For me, it made the 14 hour day all the worthwhile!

Next up was Universal’s Islands of Adventure, which was more suited to our age group, although apparently I am not cut out for multiple roller coasters. This one had to have a few little sit downs after the more vigorous rides and never really recovered from the whirlwind opening which included Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Ride and back-to-back Dragon Challenge roller coasters. Nic on the other hand was again in her element. The Incredible Hulk Coaster is probably the best ride I have been on, and the Amazing Adventures of Spider Man ride would be close to one of the best 3D rides I have experience but like Mark Waugh, it’s good but it’s not even the best in its family – that award goes to the Forbidden Journey ride. 

The pick of the rides – the Incredible Hulk Coaster

We completed our experience of Islands of Adventure by getting soaking wet (and I mean soaking wet. So much so I ended up wringing out each article of clothing, including my shoes, and trying to somewhat dry them out in the bathrooms) on Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls and Pop-Eye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges to the point that I thought we were at Wet ‘N’ Wild, only to be brought back to the ‘Magical’ World of Hogwarts by the Ollivander’s Experience and an ice cold Butter Beer.

A refreshing Butter Beer before boarding the Hogwarts Express to nowhere!

For me, Orlando was one hell of a place. It’s famed for its theme parks, where ‘magic’ really does happen. It has the power to turn a 26 year old into a school kid, and a giggling one at that, it brings to life the imagination of most of our childhoods, and it leaves you feeling like you have been in a car crash the next day.

The Sorting Hat – I got Slytherin!

Oh and the Orlando ’Magic’ happen to be the NBA team in town.