Our Florida trip – part 3 - The keys

For the second half of our vacation, we visited the Florida Keys – staying in a great townhome in Islamorada we rented for a week from Homeaway.com.

We rented a car on the second to last day at Disney and drove from Orlando to Islamorada ~ about 5 hours. We looked at several options (flying out of Miami or Key West), but in the end, driving down and back was the least expensive and cleanest option.

The Florida Keys starts in Key Largo at the North and end in Key West, about 110 miles. Everything is based on mile markers (MM), so starting from the south, Key West is a MM 0, and Islamorada is 85. The other large town on the keys is Marathon around mile marker 55.

We stayed at a townhome at Angler’s Reef In Islamorada, a 52 unit facility on the Atlantic side. The house was a two bedroom (very spacious for us) with full kitchen, three baths, and a large living room. The gated complex has a nice pool, a sandy beach, and boat slips. A nice place, but in retrospect we’d wished we’d spent a little more to get a pool front unit with a better view and to be able to hang out at the pool while Kyle was in the house.

On the arrival day, we had a dinner reservation at Lazy Days Restaurant in Islamorada, with a great balcony ocean view table. Deb had mahi-mahi that she said was good, and I had a seafood platter which was so-so. I think Kyle picked a burger.

On day one we took off back north to visit the Everglades. En route to Shark Valley, we stopped at “Robert Is Here” fruit stand in Homestead. This is a good example why I like to do a lot of research for trips. Had I not, we never would have given this place a second look. Not your average fruit stand, they specialize in tropical fruits, so we bought a few to sample back at the townhouse including passion fruit, black sapote, mamey sapote, canistel, and guanabana. We liked the black sapote best, which when ripe is a pretty miserable looking thing, and the pulp is very soft and black, tasting like chocolate pudding …sort of. They are also famous for their fruit shakes which we of course had to try.

We headed off to Shark Valley which is the park headquarters on the northern side of Everglades NP. We took a 2 hr tram ride through the saw grass marsh prairie where we saw many birds and at least 50 crocodiles. We took the tram tour option because of Kyle, but given a choice, would have preferred to do the 15-mile route on bikes.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On day two we took off south past Marathon to visit Bahia Honda state park, touted as one of the best beaches in America. It was ok, and it turns out that award was from 1992, as the beaches we saw were largely covered with seaweed. This is a good time to say that the Florida Keys really has pretty poor “beaches”. Most are rocky shorelines, or weedy shores, or muddy. Because of the offshore reef, there is no surf, and the water depth is very shallow everywhere.

On the way home, there was a big accident on US 1, closing the highway for 3 hours, (there is only one road) so we decided to take a break and stopped for an ice cream cone and while there noticed a place renting kayaks … so we rented a couple for an hour. Paddling the estuary, we stopped to watch a dolphin training facility.

We came back that afternoon and hung out at the great pool at Angler’s Reef.

On day 3, on a whim we decided to take an eco tour with Caribbean Water Sports in Key Largo. This is a 5-passenger Kodiak inflatable with a tour captain. It was a whim because I had researched it on Tripadvisor as the #1 attraction on Key Largo, it is a little spendy at $60 each, so I didn’t think we’d want to do it. It was the highlight of our Keys visit and I am really glad we decided to do it.  We spent about 3 hours exploring and learning the history and geography of mangrove forests in the southern portion of the everglades NP, saw many cool birds, fossilized coral reefs, Indian boat trails, and near the end had a close up and personal play time with a jellyfish and a pod of manatees.

little jellyfish

 

A kestrel

  On day 4, we decided to take a break and just hang out at the pool, check out some local shops and hit a beach. My preconception about the Keys is that it would be lined with small funky beach hotels and shops. While there are many funky places, the big towns have large grocery stores, big hotels, and expensive restaurants. It’s nice, but not the mellow funky beach place Jimmy Buffet sings about. Anyway, the beach we went to wasn’t very good, so we came back to the house and hit the pool and played some games.

That night we went to a nice small seaside restaurant called the Hungry Tarpon. Really good fish tacos…our kind of place

Day 5 was planned as an excursion to Key West, a 2-hour drive from our place. It was an ugly day weather-wise, so a nice day for travel. I really enjoyed the drive down and you really get to see all of the keys.

Key West is a lot larger than expected and touristy. We had pre-purchased cheaper tickets online for a tram tour of the town, which really wasn’t necessary – the interesting part is not that big. A big draw is Hemingway house, which Kyle wouldn’t enjoy, so we passed on that. We went to the southernmost point in the US, and walked around the Duvall street and the wharf area.

So here’s what I think the city fathers discussed when laying out Duvall street, the main drag in Key West: “OK guys, so we’re all agreement that the layout of the street will be: a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, Hemingway House, a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, a bar, tee shirt shop, then a bar… right?”  Perhaps it’s because it’s a cruise ship port, but aside from the great place we ate at for lunch: Lobo’s grill, we really didn’t like Key West very much. Smelly and crowded with a lot of bars and tee shirt shops. I bought a hat.

 

For Day 6, our last full day in the Keys, we decided to take an excursion up to Key Largo to take the glass bottom boat reef tour at Pennecamp State Park. Most of this park is underwater as it is a big draw for snorkeling and scuba.  Since Kyle can’t snorkel, this was a great way to see the reef. The state park was beautiful and the beaches weren’t too bad – certainly the best we saw on the trip. The boat trip takes you out 6 miles to the reef then scoots around looking at the reef area while a narrator described what you were seeing. The best thing we saw was a sea turtle. Kyle really enjoyed the trip.

 

We were given a free pass to observe at a local swim with the dolphins place, so we did that too. It was pretty cool, but I couldn’t see spending $150 each to do it.

That night we went to another great restaurant in Islamorada, Ma’s Fish House. We both had fish of the day - Deb had grouper and I had hogfish and both were excellent.

The next day, we made the trek back to Orlando and stayed at a hotel one night before we flew back home the next day.

All in all, we really enjoyed seeing the Florida Keys, particularly the Key Largo and Islamorada areas. I think if you did some deep sea fishing, snorkeling, or scuba diving, which is the Key’s claim to fame, you’d get more out of a visit there – but we still had fun, enjoyed the warm weather and stayed busy.

Next blog entry: planning a trip to Walt Disney World

Our Florida Trip – Part 2: Hogsmeade Village (and others)

This second entry is about our visit to Universal Sudios’ Islands of Adventure, which includes the new area called the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter”. We visited this non-Disney park on the 6th day of our trip, having rented a car picked up at the Disney Car Cares Center in Disney World. The park is about 15 minutes from Disney World. You can also catch a Mears transport or taxi from Downtown Disney to Universal.

Universal Studios is two parks – Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida, both accessed from one parking structure. You can buy individual tickets for each park, or a combo ticket for both. We decided just to visit Islands of Adventure so we could see the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

After entering the park through the well done Moroccan themed port of entry, there are 6 islands in the park, including Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter–Hogsmeade Village, The Lost Continent, and Seuss Landing.

 

Using touringplans.com’s recommendations, we prepared a touring plan which including visiting The Cat in the Hat, The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Storm Force Accelatron, Thunder Falls Terrace, Poseidon's Fury, Dragon Challenge, Flight of the Hippogriff, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man.

Let me say right out, that Islands of Adventure has exactly three Disney-worthy attractions - The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Jurassic Park River Adventure, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The remaining “rides” are in my opinion Six Flags quality roller coasters, or carnival quality rides – with no themes. For example, Disney’s The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Universal’s Doctor Doom's Fearfall are “similar” in that you go up and down fast in an elevatorish platform, but Disney incorporates a back story, holograms, a nice queue, and a whole building that looks cool, where as Doctor Doom's Fearfall is a big steel structure. Same with their roller coasters – big steel structures. I’m not opposed to roller coaster for roller coaster’s sake, I just prefer ones with cool theming. I’m not over jazzed about Space Mountain at Magic Kindgom for the same reason.

View from The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!, a People Mover-like ride.

Now The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Jurassic Park River Adventure, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey are really really really well done and perhaps worth a visit if that is all you saw. Universal obviously went way out when they created these attractions, in stark contrast to the rest of the park’s rides.

Spider-Man is a well done Indiana Jones-type moving articulating vehicle (but in 3D) set in the underworld with lots of villains and special effects (smell, water, smoke, etc). The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man moves a spinning, tilting ride vehicle through more than a dozen scenes of mayhem. Each scene is a 3-D digital film, each of which is so elaborate that they’re shown in custom-built soundstages and accompanied by special effects including fire, water, fog and lasers. The total package is astonishing—frenetic yet fluid, and visually rich. The ride is wild yet very smooth.

Jurassic Park River Adventure is similar to Splash Mountain with Jurassic dinos lingering along the river and a great final waterfall splash ending. It is really very well done.

Now, for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter–Hogsmeade Village. Holy Crap! Aside from the attraction itself, what an incredible environment it is! Well done Universal! Taken from touring plans … “The 20-acre Wizarding World - Hogsmeade is an amalgamation of landmarks, creatures, and themes that are faithful to the films and books. You access the area through an imposing gate that opens onto Hogsmeade, depicted in winter and covered in snow. This is the area's primary shopping and dining venue. Exiting Hogsmeade, you first glimpse the towering castle housing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, flanked by the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's Hut. The grounds and interior of the castle house part of the queue for the super-headliner Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.” The queue itself is worth the trip (read this detailed description).

It was a relatively cold day for Florida (high 60’s) and we got a little rain on and off.

 

The Three Broomsticks Counter Service Restaurant

The Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction. When you put a Kuka robotic arm on a ride platform, it provides six axes - six degrees of freedom, with synchronized motion that can be programmed to replicate all the sensations of flying, including broad swoops, steep dives, sharp turns, sudden stops, and fast acceleration. Here's where it gets really good: Up to now, when Kuka arms and similar robotic systems have been employed in theme park rides, the arm has been anchored to a stationary platform. In Forbidden Journey, the arm is mounted on a ride vehicle that moves you through a series of 12 action scenes projected all around you. The movement of the arm is synchronized to create the motion that corresponds to what's happening in the film. It's pretty mind-blowing. When I got off I was thinking .. what just happened?

I did enjoyed visiting the park, mostly for the above attractions and islands. I’m not sure though, I’d go back, however since it a lot of dough for three rides. Universal is expending the Wizarding World, so who know what other cool stuff they’ll add. The other thing is that in Disney parks, I would visit them for the sake of the park itself and enjoy myself without ever going on an attraction. It’s got that Disney feel that just makes you want to be there and not leave. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter–Hogsmeade Village is like that too, but that’s just one island of six.

We never really tried any snacks at Islands of Adventure since, because with the exception of Butterbeer, most of their food is hum drum. We also didn’t eat any meals there as we had a dinner reservation at T-REX in downtown Disney.

T-REX is a theme park in itself. Most of the restaurants and shops in downtown Disney are not owned by Disney. T-Rex is owned by Landry’s, who also own restaurants like Rainforest Cafe and McCormick and Schmick’s. Since we knew that T-Rex can be a little spendy, we took the opportunity to pre-purchase two $50 McCormick and Schmick’s gift cards for $80 from Costco. 

T-REX is a gorgeously themed restaurant with several zones including a color changing crystal cave, underwater, and rainforest themes, all with with life-size robotic dinosaurs, giant fish tanks, bubbling geysers, waterfalls, fossils in the bathrooms and crystals in the walls – all with the sounds of periodic meteors showers, and growling dinos. They serve decent food too. I had a 1/2 rack of ribs …not as as good as mine of course, but not bad. Deb had a nice shrimp skewer mango thingy and Kyle had lasagna.  We also had an appetizer and ordered dessert to go, to make sure we got our $100 worth… (it was closer to $130). Lots of fun for a final Disney meal.