Goodbye NYC, Hello Orlando!

Hopefully you're all up to date with my NYC adventures! For those that aren't regular followers on either my twitter or instagram may not know that my trip to America was divided into 3 parts, and the second leg of the journey saw us visiting one of my most favourite places, Florida.

 

Sunday 4th December we packed up our suitcases and was out the hotel by 8am. We jumped on our arranged coach transfer and headed back to JFK. We grabbed some breakfast in a swish restaurant that required us to order our food from an ipad (small things...) and then took the 2.5hr flight down to Orlando. 

Temperatures were a lot hotter in Orlando than NYC, so off came the jumpers and coats, and on went the shorts! We grabbed our hire car and drove the short distance to our Disney hotel, Coronado Springs. Upon arrival I was completely blown away by the hotel and the decor. Everything looked so pretty and festive! Gorgeous Christmas garlands adorned the entrance, whilst a huge twinkling Christmas tree greeted us in reception. We checked in and was given our much-awaited magic bands! We then went on to check into our room which was lovely. The best bit? Everytime you turned the TV on you were presented with Cinderellas castle, complete with Disney music. Ahhhh... take me back. 

Coronado Springs Entrance

We then had a wander round the hotel grounds, admired the huge lake and how it glistened in the sun and discovered that we had our own pool near to our room, on top of the main one across the lake. 

Later that evening we headed to Animal Kingdom Lodge ready for our evening meal at Sanaa. We were quite early so we walked out to the savannah and sat around a fire pit on wooden rocking chairs. We were provided with night-vision binoculars which enabled us to see into the dark savannah to see if we could spot any animals. I spied a few zebra and giraffe! We then wandered round AKL and admired their decor - this is definitely a hotel for animal lovers. Lots of wooden interior, tribal-esque fabrics, people playing the bongos - lots of African vibes going on. 

 

Animal Kingdom Lodge Lobby

We then ate at Sanaa and ordered the famous bread that everyone and their dog talks about. That came with 9 different dips and completely covered our table. Shortly after, our mains arrived. I didn't know where to look - food overload! We must have looked like pigs to onlookers! The meat was so soft and just fell apart in your mouth, its definitely up there with some of the best meat I've ever tasted. After admitting defeat and landing in a food coma, we drove back to our hotel for an early night, ready for a first action-packed day! 

 

Bread starters at Sanaa