7 Unmissable things to do on a holiday in Orlando, Florida

This is one of the last Florida-related posts I'm doing, I PROMISE guys. It was just such an incredible holiday filled with so many amazing adventures that I can't stop banging on about it. Anyhow, now that I've spoken about things in a little more detail in various posts, I think it's time I made a summary of the things that I think are unmissable if you travel to Orlando.
1.) The Disney parks. Duh. Orlando is Disney central, and if you avoid anything Disney, then you're doing it wrong IMO. Head to all four parks, eat all the over-priced Disney snacks (I'm a firm believer in paying that bit extra if it looks cool), spot all the hidden Mickeys around the parks, but most of all, bathe in the experience. It genuinely feels like a magical place. 
2.) Visit the Florida mall. It has a Sephora, a Taco Bell and an M & Ms world in it. Need I say more?
3.) Go on a swamp air boat tour and spy some gators. This was such a terrifying and exhilarating day. The tour was fast, fun and the sights over lake Kissimmee were incredible.
4.) Universal Studios. Ever competing with Disney (but not quite managing to equal them), Universal Studios is a little more 'adult'. It's less kitsch, has bigger rides, and lets you explore your inner sci-fi enthusiast. It's also the home of Harry Potter world, which is a reason to go in itself. 
5.) Go to Mannys. This was recommended to me time and time again because it's where all the locals go to eat. The decor is incredible, and it's the one place that I was determined to have a meal at.
6.) Have a day trip to Ellenton mall and St Pete's beach. As the Ellenton mall is a bit further out from tourist-filled Orlando, there are some real bargains on offer. I'm talking a Kate Spade outlet with deals so good I could weep. It's also on the way to St Pete's beach, which was sandy, peaceful and a great place to relax after a long day of shopping.
7.) Visit a gun range. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea: it wasn't something that I wanted to do because I thought it'd be fun. It's something I wanted to do to experience what it was like. It was terrifying and horrifying and something I'll remember for the rest of my life. 
Have you been to Orlando, or live there? What would you recommend?
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Top 4 snacks to try at Walt Disney World, Orlando

Food is love, food is life. For real though, whenever I go on holiday, food is a major factor in terms of my spending, and in terms of what I'm most looking forward to. Holidays give you the chance to try new cuisines, and I'm ten times more likely to give new food a try if I'm away from home. Walt Disney World in Orlando offered up a zillion different food options, but we were on a fairly tight budget. Rather than spending a lot of money on a main meal at the parks, we often went for a light lunch and a snack during the day. Here are my favourites:
Mickey Mouse ice cream from Animal Kingdom. How cute does this look? I'm not a big ice cream fan, and the weather makes it melt pretty darn fast, so one scoop was perfect. The little mickey sprinkles and the chocolate chip 'ears' made it something that I just couldn't miss out on.
Giant pink doughnuts from Epcot. I mean, I'm pretty sure this is a rip-off of the Homer Simpson style ones they do in Universal Studios, but I got it here first. This is the biggest doughnut I've ever seen in my LIFE and that earns it a place on the list, even without how pretty it is factoring in.
Strawberry cider from Epcot. I know I left the UK and wanted to try new food & drink, but I could hardly miss out on the opportunity to try cider made in America in 'England' in Epcot. The strawberry taste was subtle, but still there, and it was such a refreshing drink to have in the heat of midday. 
Mickey Mouse pretzels from Hollywood Studios. I couldn't leave the States without getting a pretzel, could I?! We just don't have them on this scale here in the UK. The fact that it's shaped like Mickey Mouse just kind of boggles my mind (how do they do that?!) and makes it quite frankly epic.
Have you been to Walt Disney World? What were your favourite snacks?
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10 things I wasn't expecting when I visited Florida

I loved my time in Florida last month, but there were definitely some things that cropped up which I wasn't expecting at all. Obviously this post isn't made with the intent to cause offence; it's just a little list of all the things that shocked me.

1.) Automatic toilets everywhere. It took pretty much the entire two weeks I was there to work out how to not set off the automatic toilet flush every time I went for a wee. 

2.) Fries, not chips. Sometimes nothing hits the spot quite like a good chip shop chip, am I right?! I had no idea that chunky chips were just not really a 'thing' in Florida

3.) There are gun ranges everywhere. And people totally go as some kind of family bonding activity?? I've written a whole post on my experiences with this here.

4.) Water is more expensive than coke. Why is this a thing? You honestly have to decide between having a drink that's actually refreshing and saving a little bit of money.

5.) There aren't alligators everywhere. After the tragic incident in which a young boy got attacked by an alligator at Walt Disney World, the media made it seem as though they were running loose everywhere. We didn't see any however, until we actually went looking for them at Boggy Creek's Gatorland. 

6.) Finding a recycling bin is practically impossible. I really struggled with not being able to recycle hardly anything whilst I was away. Despite owning his own house in a residential estate, my uncle is barred from getting a recycle bin for himself or renters because he's not a US resident. How strange is that?! 

7.) No one uses change. I felt so self-conscious using anything smaller than a dollar to pay for something. People just avoided taking/giving change. I was short-changed by a couple of pennies a few times, and all I could consider was how angry the little old ladies who frequent the restaurant I work in would be if I did the same to them!

8.) Food shopping is so darn expensive. If you head to any supermarket in the UK, there's always more expensive brands and cheaper brands. You can opt between things like Sainsbury's basics, Tesco's finest, or a variety of brands that deal in their own specific foods. Any supermarket we went to in Florida was ridiculously expensive, no matter what the quality of the food was like. I can see why people eat out so often!

9.) No one walks anywhere. Every road has sidewalks, but I saw at most ten people using them over our entire holiday. Everything is so far apart that it's hard for people to walk anywhere, and I just felt as though they were eerily empty. 

10.) Everyone was so so friendly. I think nice weather just brings out the best in people (or maybe Floridians are generally friendlier to be around than us Brits??!). Everyone we spoke to was more than willing to help us out with anything we needed, and we never received one cold brush off from someone at work.

Have you been to Florida? Did you find anything that shocked you there?

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Swamp rides and gatorville: visiting Boggy Creek, Florida

Whenever I travel somewhere new, I always like to do something involving animals. Florida is home to a whole load of swamps, and in them a whole load of gators. After all the media hype surrounding the alligator incident at Disney World I was half expecting to see them crawling around everywhere, kind of like foxes in the UK. But, it's okay guys, we actually had to go searching in their natural habitat to find some.

Top 5 attractions in each Walt Disney World park (Orlando)

Walt Disney World is a truly magical place, and I feel so lucky to have has the opportunity to visit it last month. Each park (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot) has a massive number of attractions, and it's near impossible to get them all crammed into one day. So, here's my little summary of the top five must-see/do attractions at each park.

Welcome to Springfield!

The Simpsons is hands down one of the best TV shows ever IMO. It appeals to exactly my sense of humour: a lot of silliness, with a lot of satire thrown in. If you haven't watched it since you were a kid, honestly go back and rewatch some episodes because there are moments of pure gold that totally flew over your head when you were younger.

Visiting a gun range in Florida

This is probably the most controversial post I've ever written. BUT, before I start I'd like to say that I am completely against the idea that it's legal to carry a gun in the US. 

Visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Our generation is the generation of Potterheads let's face it. Who remembers the queues outside Waterstones (or even Ottakers, RIP) to pick up the latest installation in the series? Or sending your mum into Smiths the next day to grab a copy? And then came the joy of the films. And Pottermore. And finally the franchise extended into real life places. Yaaas.

10 things you need to do before holidaying in Florida

Before I get cracking on this one, can we talk about how dreamy these shoes are? They're nude, suede and come in at under a tenner from Primark. I'm in love, and they're now my staple shoes for my upcoming trip to Florida, eeek!
If you haven't heard me banging on enough about it recently, then let me tell you: I'm heading to Florida in under a fortnight. Despite having known about it for ages, it feels like it's totally crept up on me, and all of a sudden I'm needing to make the final arrangements. So, naturally I thought I'd procrastinate with a post on all the little things you need to do before setting off on holiday to Florida if you're from the UK.
1.) Arrange travel insurance. This was a bitch, hurt my bank account and it took about 3 years to read through all the contracts. BUT the idea of having to pay for healthcare in the US, and not have the trusty ol' NHS keeping me safe is a little terrifying. Plus, it means that if you need to cancel the trip for any reason (health, close family death etc), you're likely to get a good part of your money back. There's even little things that I'd never thought of included, like insurance against the plane company going into liquidation. It's best to do this as early as possible, as it covers you from when you take out the policy.
2.) Apply for an ESTA. This is basically a visa for your holiday. It asks for about a zillion pieces of information about yourself, so pop the kettle on and get cosy with this. It also comes with a little fee - I believe we paid about $14. We did this three months before leaving.
3.) Make plans for your home whilst you're away. I don't know about you, but the idea of leaving my home empty for two weeks makes my anxiety go sky high. See if you can find a house sitter, or ask someone to pop in every few days to make sure everything is okay.
4.) Make sure your passport is in date! This is such an easy thing to look over. My passport ran out a few years ago and I had no driving license for ID. Safe to say, six weeks of trying to get into clubs with no real ID in the first few months of uni was not ideal.
5.) If you have pets, make arrangements for them early on. We've got a hamster (sadly we lost our second one a couple of weeks ago) and a bunny. I didn't want to have to fork out lots of money, or be frantically trying to find somewhere for them to stay at the last minute, so I sorted out their holiday arrangements two months before ago. In case you're stuck with what to do with small pets, there are places that board them like cats or dogs.
6.) Read up on the current rules and regulations about hand luggage/actual luggage before going. I'm yet to do this, but there's nothing worse than having your stuff binned because you've not read all about what you can and can't have. Security is extra tight in the US in comparison to heading to other places in Europe, and I so don't want to be caught out.
7.) Save, save, save. Let's face it, I'm a Disney fanatic. I'll want everything at the parks. I set myself three months to save everything I could. This has meant no cheeky trips to Maccies, no new makeup and skimping on every necessary payout I can. But it'll be worth it once I get there. Set yourself a budget and a reasonable time to save it in to make sure you have the best time. 
8.) Decide how you want to access your money. Do you want it all in cash? On a cash passport card? A credit card? I think we're taking a little in cash and getting a cash passport at the weekend to put the rest on.
9.) Prepare yourself for a long flight. I'm not a nervous flyer, which is fab, but a buttload of hours in a confined space can make you hella bored. I'm packing a blanket (gotta get those plane naps in, right?), a pack of cards, my kindle and some headphones as my 'starter kit' for keeping occupied, and I imagine I'll add in a few bits closer to the flight.
10.) Go on a massive shopping haul. There's about ten thousand things I need but don't have yet. Sunnies? Nope. Suncream? Nope. I've kick-started things by picking up some staple clothing pieces, like my bikini, these dreamy pumps and a pair of comfy shorts, but there's still a lil list of things I haven't yet got to.
And there we have it: 10 things to sort out before holidaying in Florida. Have you been there before? What are your recommendations of things to do?
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