American Holiday

bees knees

Hello guys, I'm coming over from UK to enjoy myself in your United States, Orlando (Kissimme) to be exact. I'm wondering if anyone could help me have a better time by expanding my knowledge? I would like to know these things:

- What foods should I try? Last visited I really enjoyed Mountain Dew, a "Chilli Dog" and Ice Cream Sandwiches. I also put on two stone. o_0

- What places would be good to visit? Doing a few theme parks already (Universal owned ones) so don't need lectures on them, but shopping, beaches, etc. Also for transport is the family rented car, I know balls all about your public transport system and we don't know our exact address yet.

- When do your schools go back? Is it summer holiday there at the moment? This will help us plan Theme Park visits.

- Anything else that would help me!

Cheers for any help guys!

P.S. Get me now Mr Period

mrrobbob

I live in California so I don't know how good it is in Florida, but try Mexican food.

jcc

One helpful thing to remember is that the U.S. is a really big country. It's roughly the size of the continent of Australia. Florida alone is around twice the size of Great Britain. So where to go in the U.S. depends on how much time you want to spend flying in a plane or stuck in a car.

Public transit in the U.S. as a whole is usually very bad. Usually it's better in metro areas, though, so you might be alright in Orlando.

Our sodas all use corn syrup because it's a couple cents cheaper than sugar. Do they have fish tacos in the UK? Or Hawaiian pizza? (cheese, ham, & pineapple?) Not local to Florida, but if you can find B&M's bread-in-a-can (I think they call it B&M Brown Bread), that's kind of interesting. More like a muffin than bread, though. If you can find a local saltwater taffy maker, that's nice too. Last time I was in Florida I found a place that did beer-battered alligator meat. That was pretty exotic. You'd need to talk to a Florida local for specifics, but all of the beaches in Florida are pretty nice.

Have fun on your vacation!

GreatTeacherMacRoss

This is a tough one because I don't think any of the main forum-goers actually live in Florida.

Disney is totally worth it though.

Rym

Daryl Surat lives down there.  Just sayin'.

Vhdblood

I live in South Alabama, so I guess that's pretty close. I don't know much about the Orlando area, but I grew up in Panama City, so I know a little bit about Florida.

Really though, I have no idea what to tell you. If you've never had crab/lobster, or any of that kind of seafood, try it. It's the freshest you can get it. Also, try some Saltwater Taffy if you haven't. I love the stuff. I don't mean the shitty store bought taffy. There are a few places around that sell REAL saltwater taffy, and it is so awesome. Mmmmm.

Anyway, that's a few things. Let me know if you happen to be going up to Panama City/Panama City Beach. I know the area like the back of my hand. Hope you have fun.

bees knees

So where to go in the U.S. depends on how much time you want to spend flying in a plane or stuck in a car.

Well I think we won't be traveling much, local theme parks and "malls", going to a different country and getting lost would be a bad thing, but if I can get some information at the airport the public transport could give me time to myself to do what I want. I also remembered the locals there are generally nice, so they can fill in any geographical questions i have.

Yeah we have Hawaiian pizza. I am not a fish food fan, so that rules out fish tacos, crab and lobster. Beer battered Alligator for some reason sounds really nice to me???

I am on the lookout for real Saltwater Taffy and B&M; Bread stuff then, tis my mission and i shall report back on its flavors.

Bad thing is I don't think i have any internet connections, or computer! So I can't get my Geeknights or even charge my player for some tunes.

Cheers guys

Vhdblood

You might be able to pick up some Wifi down there. If you have a laptop, keep it on for sure.

bunnikun

DISNEYWORLD FTW.

School has started for me. All school districts usually differ by a week or so though.

Go to some concerts. Florida usually has a lot of good music venues.

Kilarney

Well I think we won't be traveling much, local theme parks and "malls", going to a different country and getting lost would be a bad thing, but if I can get some information at the airport the public transport could give me time to myself to do what I want. I also remembered the locals there are generally nice, so they can fill in any geographical questions i have.

I've spent quite a bit of time in Orlando. The airport is rather far from both the city and the theme parks. One lesson regarding travel in America... public transportation sucks. To get around Orlando, you are either going to have to rely on taxis or spend hours on buses. I highly recommend that you rent a car. It won't cost you much more in the long run compared to a taxi. And don't trust hotels that claim to have a shuttle to the theme parks. The schedules suck, and you will be really limited by them.

How about a visit to Gatorland? That's about as shabby-chic as one can get.

ZakoSoldier

I know in the South they went back a few weeks ago and up in the North we are going back to school this week. I would imagine that all the parks would be pretty empty. I was down there last week and it was pretty good but now almost all students would be back in school. Have fun.

cosmicenema

Of all the places to visit in the states, why Florida?

Jason

I hope Hurricane Felix doesn't throw out some bad weather toward the tip of Florida this week. It's supposed to head straight for Mexico City, but hurricanes tend to create widespread collateral storm systems. If the weather is fine, I'd highly suggest swimming as much as you can. Last time I was in Florida, I went swimming with manta rays and dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico. Good times. I think one of the dolphins might have been a shark.

TheWhaleShark

This is a tough one because I don't think any of the main forum-goers actually live in Florida.

Disney is totally worth it though.

What you're saying is that nobody sane lives in Florida, right?

Go to Disneyworld if you've never been. Otherwise, catch a plane to New York and see the city.

Andrew

This is a tough one because I don't think any of the main forum-goers actually live in Florida.

Disney is totally worth it though.

What you're saying is that nobody sane lives in Florida, right?

Go to Disneyworld if you've never been. Otherwise, catch a plane to New York and see the city.

I'm pretty sure the median age of Florida residents is 72.

snookernet

Ah, I used to live in Miami for 4-5 months. Not really my scene, but they did have a lot of good places to eat. Pizza Power anyone?

bees knees

Buggery, wrote a message on here before and must have forgot the press "post" part so here is a summary, angry and short.



No laptops



Done Disneyland last time and it seemed childish, so not really worth doing again. Glad schools have started, less busy :) I'll have a look on the concert list, if I can get my brother to come with me should prove fun.



As a family we have rented a hire car, but I don't have an American License to use it myself. This also means by and large I'm limited to where everyone wants to go. Gatorland, not neccessary, doing Busch, Busch, Busch...family in joke.



Yeah I seen that Caribbean hurricane and hope it doesn't spoil my flight. Otherwise I love to swim and will head for the nearest good beach. That and were doing Jet Skiing, done that in Spain and its a right laugh. Dolphins sounds really good and if it's not too pricey, which I expect it is, I would really love that.



If I were going with friends or by myself I think I'd rather go to New York to get a taste of it, otherwise my impression is that USA is just the same but bigger. It's not like I will go there and get a culture shock. Every speaks English, although in a rather funny way (man the first time I heard the accent it was the biggest, beefyest, dude telling us to move along in the Airport and it was scary) and live by all the same social rules etc etc. This is probably why we chose Orlando, we can go there, have fun, chill out by the pool and do some cheap and slightly different shopping.



Actaully I think that was slightly longer than before, but it was definately a lot more angry.



Cheers again guys.

bunnikun

Have you been to Disneyland or Disneyworld? In my book, their almost completely different. Disneyworld is great, especially Epcot and MGM studios. Those parks are themed for a more mature audience, so it's easier to find stuff you'd like to go on. Animal Kingdom has some good rides too, but isn't a park I'd spend all day at.

Hope your having an awesome time (which it indeed sounds like from your post ^__^)

EsonLinji

I don't know if the timing is right for you, but if you're in Florida around Orlando and one is happening, definitely check out a shuttle launch. It's one of the most impressive sights I've ever seen. The next one is scheduled for Oct 23. There's also a regular rocket launch in Florida on Sep 26.

La Petit Mort

I live in Florida.

I can tell you what's the best beach in Florida but that won't help you, seeing that is about 1.5 hours away from Orlando.

It's the siesta beach in Sarasota, the sand is like powder, and the water is fine.

The Disney parks are (obviously) aimed at a lower age, but the two that I think are the best are EPCOT and MGM.

The two Universal Studio parks are fun too.