I don't  think I really need to mention the parks, everyone has heard about them! What people don't consider about them is that while they are great for children adults love them as well.

Magic Kingdom is the one that most children love to visit, there is just so much to see and do there. Apart from the parades and the Disney characters there are fairground rides a little train that takes you for one area to another with stations all the way round. The park itself is set in gardens and woodland with a large lake in the middle. The fireworks at 9 in the evening make a fantastic finale to the day, they are set to music and use Cinderellas castle as a centre piece. After dark the castle itself is floodlit with constantly changing colours. If you see half of Magic Kingdom in a day you have done well.

Epcot is aimed more at adults. There are lots of Nations represented here. My favourites were the Chinese part with its 360 degree cinema screen showing a busride though Shanghai, a flight along the Great Wall and in particular the horse men galloping across the plains.

Mexico was good especially the boat ride through the tunnel. The ecological world trip and the ride up around the huge ball at the entrance showing the growth of communications are not to be missed and the fireworks at the end of the day are really spectacular.

Sea World was fantastic with it's dolphin and whale shows. The thing I found most appealing, apart from being so spectacular, was the interaction between the animals and the people. These sea creatures are obviously born showoffs. There are lots of things to see from aquariums with tiny tropical fish to the huge marine mammals, but the thing that I enjoyed as much as anything was the pets show.

Animal Kingdom was not quite what I expected. There are lots of species there that are normally only seen on TV. but what I wasn't expecting was the lush foliage. The highlight was the safari through 'Africa'. You are taken by a huge 'Landrover' type vehicle through various parts of Africa and see all the animals that you would expect to see but there are a few surprises on the way.

There are also a lot of parks that appeal to the young and fit.

Universal Studios has a lot exciting rides, I took Lorna on back to the future I found it fascinating she might have done if she had opened her eyes! There are also places where you can swim with dolphins, Wet and Wild which is self explanatory, Bushe Gardens to the south the list go's on and on. The best way to sort out what you want to do is find the rack of leaflets in the reception of your resort and choose from there.

Throughout the Orlando, Kissimmee, Davenport area there are masses of restaurants everything from McDonalds and Burger King right up to the more expensive ones in the hotel complexes like The Gaylord Palms Let's start with on of the more expensive ones.

Gaylord Palms is on the corner of International Drive South and Osceola Parkway just outside Disney World. It is an hotel and convention centre with several restaurants within it. The middle of this building is a huge greenhouse, and must be seen to be believed, this houses three restaurants. The first is a steak house, we have not eaten here but if the prices are anything to go by it should be good. and at the far end there is Sunset Sam's in an area called 'Florida Keys'.

Our favourite is however Villa Flora which is a one price buffet where you can have as much or as little as you want, the choice is fantastic and good quality. Make sure to take note of what the waitress says when she shows you round so that you can find what you want. $8.99 how much spinach do you get for that At the cheaper end of the scale you will of course find all the usual fast food places like McDonalds, Burger King etc. I am not allowed to go to these as Lorna says that I am too fat already! Mind you if you want to lose weight America is not the place to do it. 

There are also places like Western Sizzlers where you order your main meal and then you can help yourselves to as much of the buffet bar as you want, this includes, apart from the salads that you would expect, all sorts of fish and meat as well. There is also a sweets counter so that you can fill up with as much dessert as you can manage!  
 
Between these extremes there are loads of normal restaurants where you are served at your table from a menu. Bahama Breeze is one of our favourites and can be found quite near World Quest. Another is a Crackerbarrel and there are two of these on the 192. Here you have the added advantage of it being a store as well with lots of interesting things for sale. We haven't sampled it yet but apparently Charleys is good for steaks. Then of course there is Houlihans, Fridays, Perkins and many other chain restaurants.  If you are into pasta there are numerous Italian restaurants and of course Chinese restaurants. To round off our holiday we like to go to a Red Lobster whose name speaks for itself.

As you can see you won't die of starvation here in Orlando.

An Italian that we like is the Olive Garden, it is on the right hand side of International Drive heading South from Sandlake Road. It is full of old world charm, not bad for a place that was probably only built a couple of years ago. It is not the cheapest place in town we went there for lunch which cost us just over $50 including the tip. When you order your main course it includes a starter of soup or a salad bread and water is included. I ordered a glass of wine, I chose one that I did not know, I was given a taste of it which was not to my liking so was given another. The desserts looked really good, we were tempted to try there bread and butter pudding topped with apples but we were too full from the first two courses!

There are lots of dinner shows around the Disney area and I will try to give some idea of what is on offer.  I have only visited a few so can only give firsthand knowledge of those that I have seen.

Pirates Dinner Show is at the end of Canada Drive, within walking distance of Hawthorn Suites. As you can imagine there is a lot of swashbuckling mayhem and the ammount of make believe violence that you would expect. When you arrive at the reception area ther is a bar from which you can buy drinks but there is also food on offer for free. The entertainment starts long before the show so it is a good idea to arrive early. The audience is split into six teams who all cheer for their own particular cut throat, not easy with a mouthfull of chichen and shrimps. There is a fair amount of audience participation with members of the audience helping out their pirate to win his bit of the competitions and the children going up on the ship to sing a song. All's well that end's well and the princess is saved from a horrible death and falls in love with a very nice pirate.

Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede is about the Civil War. 

Once again a lot of charging about on horses.  An entertaining evening, the audience sitting in tiered rows either side of the arena, plenty of food and the drinks are kept filled and with all these shows there is an opportunity to buy souvenirs in the foyer and get your photo taken for a few dollars. 

The first one that my wife and I saw was Medieval Knights.   When we arrived at the venue we were given a Knight to cheer for and we were given yellow crowns.  (This could have been an omen!).  

All the spectators filed into the seating either side of the arena and all the yellow Knights supporters sat togther.  During the show we were given a 'medieval' Banquet which we ate with our fingers.  Of course every time the yellow knight did something skillful we shouted 'hurray' and the Americans shouted 'ho ho ho'.  They must have thought it was Christmas!!  Our knight might have been rubbish but our corner made the most noise.

The next one that we saw was Arabian Nights, once again it was very much horse oriented and is a story about an Arabian princess' wedding.   I hear all the fellows saying 'yuk'.  However with all the horsemanship and the dashing about it is very entertaining.  The dinner is the usual hot food eaten with your fingers.  Drinks are freely available, this includes beer so the driver needs to go easy!  At the end the horses are all let out into the arena so that the audience can go down a get acquainted with them.  A really enjoyable evening.

Grocery Stores in this area seem to be dominated by Walmart and Publix.  Walmart tend to be huge, there is one one just down the road from Coral Cay on the other side of the 192 and one going north from Bahama Bay and Vista Park on the 27. These are good for all your groceries and also non foods, especially of the less expensive type. Publix have stores everywhere. From Bahama Bay and Vista Park there is one going south on the 27 and one back towards Disney World beside the junction of the 192 and the 27. Bahama Bay and World Quest Resort have convenience stores in their club houses.

The Disney area is well served with shopping malls Florida Mall is on Sand Lake Road about half way between Hawthorns and Orlando International Airport. This is good for a range of goods and prices. I don't know much about prices,  the only thing that I noticed was that a watch that I treated my  wife to in England two weeks before going to America was less than half the price in one of the shops in the Mall!  On  Vineland avenue there is a group of shops called  Premium Outlets, this is a complex of individual shops, mainly good quality, mainly well known names, so my wife tells me.

If you want markets along the 192 there are the visitors Market and also the Flea Market. These offer all sorts of goods from CD's to T-shirts to electricals in fact you name it you can find most things here. There are also outlet shops from various well known stores. Of course there is a wide selection of gift shops. If you want Disney type souveniers try Downtown Disney.