To reach Orlando, we have to drive 90 kilometers under heavy rain with the car we rented from Tampa. Of course, in the meantime, our hotel reservations and planned program in Orlando have changed. However, despite the storm, we are determined, we will definitely start our program somewhere. The journey that normally takes 1 hour took almost 2 hours. But in the end, we reached Orlando safely and settled in our hotel in Orlando. Interestingly enough, there was no trace of the storm here, everything was back to normal. But since all the flights were canceled the day before, there must have been quite a mess around here. It was around 20:00 when we checked into the hotel in the evening. After this time, you cannot go to amusement parks. So we went to the Downtown Disney area for a nice meal. This is a pleasant area with many concept restaurants. There is a restaurant reflecting the prehistoric period right at the entrance. At the entrance is a giant dinosaur statue. At the entrance of some of these restaurants, there are stores selling products suitable for that concept. Since the restaurants are very full, customers in line can shop in these stores while waiting for a table to be vacated for them. In this way, restaurants increase their profits exponentially. It is quite difficult to choose just one of the many restaurants such as aquarium-themed, volcano-themed, African-themed. The restaurants here are beautiful. There are many restaurants designed with various animal figures, aquariums, glaciers, stalactites and stalagmites. However, since we thought we wouldn’t wait too long in line, we went to a quieter restaurant called Fish Pub, run by the Irish. Fish&Chips was quite delicious. After the meal, we got on a balloon with a capacity of 20 people and watched Downtown Disney from a bird’s eye view. The balloon rises approximately 200-250 meters above the ground. You stay in the air for about 10 minutes and then you land. After the balloon tour, we saw the giant dragon statue made of Lego in the lake in the middle. There is a very large Lego store right across from it. Then we return to the hotel to relieve fatigue. The breakfast we had at the hotel when we woke up in the morning was very interesting. You are only allowed one cake and coffee for breakfast. Even more interesting, the hotel clerk was standing at the door to prevent customers from stealing cakes. There was also a sign at the exit saying “Do not take food with you when leaving the breakfast room.” Well, there is nothing to buy anyway! Why this warning? 🙂 That’s why we had our breakfast the next morning at Ihop, right next to the hotel. Ihop is a restaurant chain located in many states in America. If you happen to be there, you should definitely eat T-bone Steak here. Perfect! On our second day in Orlando, we went to Universal Studios. Even though one full day was not enough for us, we tried to make it enough. It is impossible not to have a pleasant time at Universal Studios. This place actually consists of 2 parts. The first part is more aimed at children. Cartoons and a fairy-tale theme for children are at the forefront. Then we pass through Jurassic Park. As we pass Jurassic Park, we enter the world of Harry Potter. However, we were disappointed by Harry Potter’s magic room here. We spent a lot of time trying to get in, but it was a complete disappointment. They watch a magic show inside and direct you to shopping. I bought a magic Harry Potter wand for my little daughter from here. The hot dog we ate while waiting to enter Harry Potter’s magic room was excellent. Then we drank a type of beer with sweet cream on top, called Buffer Beer. The taste did not suit us very well. Then we continue walking in this theme park. Many stories are presented here, from Pirates of the Caribbean to Sinbad. Then we move on to the second part of the theme park. Like everyone else, we take a photo in front of the world with the famous UNIVERSAL sign. There are actually 2 parks in Universal Studios. Entrance to the first park costs $100 per person, and you pay an additional $40 to enter the second park. The second park has been newly built. I came to Orlando before, about 12 years ago, but there was no second park at that time. On the second park side, there are studios of movies such as Mummy, Terminator and Hulk. You can also visit the world’s largest Hard Rock Cafe, right in the transition between the two parks. Spider Man and Transformers here are a must and must see. Especially Transformers… Even though there is a long queue, it is worth the wait. You find yourself in the war and you really experience that moment with visual effects. We’ve been to San Diego before. We had the same pleasure here again. They compared some sections here to San Francisco and named them that way. Here again, there is a studio that makes you experience some natural disasters as a feeling. You are in the subway and suddenly there is an earthquake followed by a flood. It was scary but also impressive. The antique cars around are quite interesting. After here, we took the jeep we rented from Tampa to Orlando Airport. We bought another vehicle from there to deliver it in Miami. Normally, we had arranged to pick up our car from Orlando in Istanbul and leave it at Miami Airport. However, due to a storm, flight cancellation etc., all reservations changed. We had to rent the car from Tampa. But the agency in Tampa only gave the vehicle as far as Orlando. From what I experienced in America, I realized that these people cannot take initiative and have no practical intelligence. There is no practicality in solving problems. I understand better why there is a demand for brain drain from Turkey. Eventually, we changed our car at the airport. We are now driving this vehicle all the way to Miami. On our other day in Orlando, we decided to go to Kennedy Space Center. Actually, we could have gone to Disneyland or Sea World. However, I have been to Disneyland before, both in Paris and Orlando. Sea World was a theme park in San Diego that we enjoyed very much. However, it is not possible to see space shuttles everywhere, so our choice was Kennedy Space Center. Kennedy Space Center (NASA) is approximately 90-100 kilometers from the center of Orlando. This is a pretty special place. First, we took the buses and visited the area where the space shuttle was built. We wandered around here for about 6 hours. We observed all the details of how rockets are made, how the shuttle is sent into space, the launch platforms and all stages of this work. We also watched the simulation show here and saw the shuttles, astronaut suits, parts brought to the moon and many other things in the exhibition area. Then we said goodbye to NASA and boarded our vehicle to head towards Miami. The distance between Orlando and Miami is approximately 360 kilometers. However, this road was quite stressful due to heavy rain. Because the literally pouring rain reduced our visibility to 1-2 meters. Traffic is heavy and the road is unfamiliar. This stressful journey took approximately 5.5 hours. We visited Miami, a coastal city resort, at night and very early in the morning, albeit briefly. A bright city full of hotels and restaurants. When I came before, the season was more suitable and we took advantage of the sea and the sun and the beach. This was a stop for us on our trip. The next morning, we said goodbye to Miami and went to the airport to start our Central America trip. See you in Central America… Mavimore Tourism is a travel agency registered with TÜRSAB. Document number: A-8307