Theme parks and famous beaches. Florida isn’t short of things to see and do and we had a bit planned for our short stay, starting with the theme parks in Orlando.
Katherine booked tickets for her and Liam to live out her childhood dream – Disneyland!
For me, visiting the Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios was mine, so Tom and I were heading to Universal’s Island of Adventures park.
The Harry Potter attractions are split up over two Universal parks, but I picked this one for the award-winning Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride, which is inside the Hogwarts castle and the highest rated attraction in Orlando.
After a fun day of theme parks, we hit the road bound for Miami Beach. Our AirBnB was a pretty sweet pool house behind a golf course.
That afternoon we made our way to South Beach where the water was a welcoming 29 degrees. While sunbathing and a swim is a nice way to spend the afternoon, sipping cocktails and people watching is even more fun (guy riding bicycle in a mankini is just the start).
The next day we drove out to the Everglades National Park for a private airboat tour.
We chose Everglades Nature Tours and our guide Chaz was hands down a top guide. The airboat ride itself was a fun way to get around with the flat bottom boat skimming across the Everglades surface. Fun fact, the Everglades is actually a river, not a swamp!
It didn’t take long to come across one of the most well-known inhabitants, an alligator! She was around six feet long and a little more than curious of our boat, swimming right up to us for a closer look. We also saw a lot of beautiful birds, from the White Egret to the Purple Gallinule.
After our tour we drove down to Key Largo (part of the Florida Keys) for a seafood lunch, before making our way back to Little Havana, an area of Miami where many Cubans fled and settled during the Cuban Revolution.
A couple of Cubans for the boys and a relaxing evening by the pool was the cherry on top of the cocktail. 🍹
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