Saturday, February 9

Yesterday was spent just exploring around our hotel and then the complex of resorts that our hotel is part of, all around the perimeter of a large lagoon. Just a beautiful for day for walking. In the evening we discovered there was a rather swanky soiree happening in the pool area of our hotel, for the higher ups at Jaguar and Land Rover (and not for us lowly family types at the hotel). There were a couple of the latest car models out at the front of the hotel, and then another couple on display by the pool. Beautiful lighting, food and plenty of hobnobbing, from the looks of it.

This morning we were off to Universal Studios to spend the day and evening there, about a 15 min drive from our hotel. Another beautifully sunny day, with so much to see. Many shows and attractions, gift shops all on the theme of the movies and shows that Universal has put out in the last 100 years. Main attractions included Despicable Me, Twister, Shrek, The Mummy, Disasters, The Simpsons, Shrek, Men in Black and more. A special treat was tribute to Lucille Ball, with lots of actual memorabilia from her days in TV and the movies. At the end of the day was a marvelous light, fireworks and laser tribute to the movies around a small lagoon; it included a projection of moving images onto a waterfall - quite amazing! Then, a nighttime Mardi Gras parade along the streets, and finally we were heading back to our hotel, legs and feet exhausted. Tomorrow, we'll go back to Universal, because that was only half the park!

Friday, February 8

The time has finally come. This is our first morning in Florida, and we're thrilled to be here! Our first flight yesterday from Saskatoon took us to Toronto, for a brief stop, and then on to Ottawa for about a 3-hour layover. Going through customs was fairly easy, and then our wait was in a smaller area until our flight to Orlando was ready. During that time we already knew there was a huge snowstorm brewing in the New England area, that was going to also affect the Toronto area. We discovered by the time we were boarding from Ottawa, that we probably missed the cancellation of flights in Toronto by just a few hours! We are so thankful that our plans did not get altered. Arriving in Orlando, we felt the warm breeze on our faces as we found our way to the Enterprise car rental place. We got a silver Toyota Yaris. We took a wrong turn getting out of the airport, so we got an extra look around until we found our way out and on our way to the hotel. The hotel is absolutely fabulous - so grand and posh. We've done a little exploring around the different levels, but there's so much more to see. The weather promises to be hot and sunny today - Saskatoon is so far away! Now it's time to have our breakfast in the café area, with many choices there too.