After having our flight delayed we finally arrived in
Orlando, through customs and out to meet Charlie who was picking us up and
whisking us away to Lake Nona Country Club, where he is the manager. Into our
town house for the next 3 days, sit down, chat, a snack, drink, all of which
there was plenty of and next thing you know its 3am. We woke to magnificent
sights of the golf course, balcony views and a grateful heart that we get to
experience this for the next 3 days.
Saturday we drove golf carts up to the club house and had a
look around the beautiful surrounds. The boys went to the driving range and the
girls went for a walk. Jackson got to ride in Justin Rose's golf cart he used in the 2014 Ryder Cup,at Gleneagles in Scotland, it was shipped back to Lake Nona after he lost a bet!!!
New Years Eve was lovely, golf in the morning, then spent
the day with one of Charlie’s daughter’s Nicole and her husband Josh. We played
a board game and enjoyed a nice meal. Charlie also arrived with an interesting
gift, not familiar at all to the Aussies – Fireworks. Fireworks are completely
banned in Australia unless you are a licensed Pyrotechnic, needless to say we
had a lot of fun over the next few hours with them.
The next day was Makalea’s birthday. 15 years old. We
enjoyed a beautiful breakfast up at the Country Club, followed by a light
stroll around the grounds of Lake Nona. We were then witness to a helicopter touching
down on the helipad, where Charlie turned to Makalea and told her it was here
to pick her up – WHAT?????….!!!
An incredibly generous arrangement from Charlie, and Christopher Bull at
“The Heli Team” we are so grateful for your generosity and time to do
this flight, for such a humble family who don’t take life for granted. The
flight went high above Orlando, over the top of Seaworld and the Lake Nona area’s,
on the return entry we were granted permission by the flight tower to fly back
in ‘directly over the top of the major airport’. To be able to see the big
planes taxing in on the run way below us was incredible.
At night fall we went into ‘Downtown Disney’ along with
10,000 of our closest friends (as we forgot it was a public holiday – New Year’s
Day)!! We went in to see the talents of Nicole’s sister’s husband -Jordan and
his buddy Isaac, who together form the amazing professional rapper duo Free Daps.
The performance was engaging and very humorous, employed by Disney to perform
each night.
The next day we said thank you and goodbye to the Country Club,
after a quick round of golf - rubbing shoulders with the celebrity residence of
Lake Nona, a bike ride and cleaning of the ‘Mansion.’ Now I know why we don’t have
a big house!!
Our next stop is our Time Share accommodation on
International Drive, Orlando – A shorter commute to nearby Theme Parks etc.We enjoyed a beautiful meal with Charlie and all his family on our 1st night there, at Capitol Grille. The next day we were joined by our buddy Jack for a few days (another person we’d met years
ago at the previously mentioned Driftwood Beach House in Fort Lauderdale, the place that just keeps on giving for our family every time we visit the USA.)
Jack was our tour guide for Universal Studios and Islands of
Adventure for an ‘action packed’ day of thrills and rides till we were
absolutely exhausted, ‘Fast Passing’ our way onto rides, simulators and roller
coasters. We covered both parks doing every “fast pass” ride in record pace,
even being granted bathroom breaks this time round by Jack!!! 11 hours after
beginning we made our way home to recover, ready to go again the next day,
being joined by Charlie’s daughter and son in law, Nicole and Josh.
We hadn’t
done the Harry Potter rides the previous day, so that was our 1st
stop on the 2nd day. Nicole and Josh were warned about Jacks frantic
pace but they were certainly up to the challenge. 2 hours in we had
accomplished our goals, so now it was time to relax the pace, explore a little
more and stroll leisurely to rides even stopping for a beer or 2 as we did so.Nicole and Josh helped Jackson pick out a wand also. We had lunch out in the City Walk area, filled with restaurants, bars and gift
shops, the area you must pass to get into either park. Back into the parks
after that for more rides until we all got “that look” – “that look that we are
all spent and are ready to go home for a rest!” We said our goodbyes to Nicole
and Josh, the last time we would see them, as they were flying back to San
Antonio 2 days later, after coming out to Orlando to see family and us for
their Xmas/New Year break.
