Adventures of David and Paul: February 2018

On new years weekend 2017/2018 we drove down to Orlando to see Notre Dame vs LSU in the Citrus Bowl and spend a little time relaxing in warmer weather. We used Hotwire and ended up with a room at Rosen Shingle Creek, a great hotel that we've stayed at a few times before. It turns out it was also the official Notre Dame team hotel. Arriving in Orlando on a Saturday evening, we went to Fun Spot in Kissimmee to ride the new Mine Blower roller coaster, then visited with David's uncles for a while before going back to the hotel.

The Rosen Shingle Creek Resort.

Mine Blower was a very fun coaster! One of the best in Florida.

On Sunday, our only full day in Orlando, we started off at Sea World. We got there at 8:30AM, and there was already a line of cars waiting to get in. Orlando was incredibly busy in general, because it was a holiday weekend and there were a lot of events in the area. We rode the new Mako coaster and the new virtual reality addition to the Kraken roller coaster, and had some local beer and saw some adorable penguins.

Not sure what Paul is doing here.

The new(ish) penguin exhibit lets you get really close to the penguins, with no glass between you and them!

Sleepy little fellow.

Beluga in the Arctic exhibit.

We caught the tail end of the Sea World Christmas festivities.

Mako and Kraken with Christmas trees.

Sea lions always look so sassy.

Caught mid-yawn!

Let's pretend this seal and sea lion are best friends.

Journey to Atlantis ride. It was just a little bit chilly for this, but Paul still rode!

Paul feeding a shrimp to a stingray.

Manta is one of the most visually impressive coasters.

Local beer! It was just OK.

After spending about 4 hours at Sea World, we had a late lunch at Sofra, a Lebanese restaurant in the new tourist complex around the Orlando Eye. The service was bad, but the food was delicious. I wish we had better Lebanese food in Atlanta! In general, Orlando has really stepped up in terms of dining options. I think tourists are getting more picky and starting to look at online reviews and choosing local options. After eating we wandered around for a bit, and noticed a lot of Notre Dame and LSU fans. Turns out the plaza/park in front of the giant ferris wheel was hosting a big pep rally. We watched the Notre Dame band march in and heard Brian Kelly speak. We went back to the hotel for a bit and went swimming in the pool, before dinner at Sushi Kichi, which was an excellent izakaya. Great takoyaki! Paul's brother and sister-in-law just happened to be in Orlando too, so we drove to their hotel and hung out with them for a while and had some drinks, before watching fireworks from our hotel room, where we could see multiple fireworks shows including Universal Studios and International Drive.

The Orlando Eye, one of the tallest ferris wheels on earth.

Pep rally time!

The Notre Dame band marching in.

Lots of people at the pep rally.

The great thing about Florida is you can swim on December 31st! Ok, it was a little bit chilly.

Dinner at Sushi Kichi.

Our hotel at night

View of new year's fireworks in the distance.

On Monday morning we had breakfast with David's uncles, then drove to the bowl game near downtown Orlando. We found parking for $10 a short walk away, a much better deal than the official $30 parking. While Sunday was pretty nice (60s and sunny), Monday was pretty miserable. It was cold, rainy, and windy. It was in the lower 50s when the game started, and the temperature kept dropping, ending up around 46 degrees by the 4th quarter. The game started slow and sloppy, but Notre Dame had a great 4th quarter with an exciting last minute touchdown. Victory for the Irish! David was not enjoying the weather, but Paul had a great time with Notre Dame's win. After the game we drove all the way back to Atlanta, stopping for dinner in northern Florida and making it home after midnight.