Underwater Hotels..do they exist?

18 Aug By Trisha 3 Comments

I have been thinking a lot about vacation lately. Not just vacation, but somewhere I can really take myself that would be unique and have a really cool experience. My daughter has been asking me about taking her to Rio but after watching the movie Rio about 29 times in the past few weeks, I think I am so over that exploration.

Of course places like adventurous Costa Rica, exotic Fiji, or romantic Venice have always peeked my interest but then I came across these…

Underwater Hotels

Hydropolis

A 500 million dollar venture, this underwater hotel was meant to be completed in 2009 with a whopping $5500 a day pricetag (american dollars) to stay there. Unfortunately, it appears that this project never came to fruition as the website and investor website don’t appear to be active anymore. Every picture that you find of the Hydroplis hotel, even those that state its about to open, only consist of drawings or virtual simulations, but nothing of the actual hotel.

I believe this dream may have been left to lie with the fishes.

Poseidon Undersea Resort

I found a gorgeous picture of this Poseidon hotel, slated to be located in beautiful Fiji with a $30,000 per week price tag. I think getting a scuba license and buying your own boathouse might be cheaper, but the idea behind it is incredible.

Again, this was another one of those hotels that should have been finished in 2009, but I can only find virtual information on, leaving me to believe it was left uncompleted or unrealized.

You can read more about this hotel and see pictures at Poseidon Undersea Resort, which is a fully operational webpage that doesn’t tell you much.

Hilton Maldives Underwater Suite

The Hilton Maldives hotel turned thier dining area

into an amazing underwater suite for thier 5th year anniversary.

It was spectacular with a view like this:

Unfortunately that was LAST year in 2010, so you cant book this out.

Jules Underwater Hotel

Finally, one that actually exists!

The Jules Underwater hotel is located in Key Largo, Florida. It has been featured in the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, however the pictures of the hotel read more like a submarine than ax exotic romantic vacation. Keeping that in mind, the experience is quite unique and you do not have to be a diver to enjoy booking out a stay there. Rates start at $400 a night and include many packages from fun to honey moon.

Utter Inn

Utter Inn is located in Sweden where you sleep in an underwater aquarium and while its not overly luxurious, its reported to be a unique and fun vacation. You can read some reviews on it via TripAdvisor.

—————–

Now after all that, I still think the underwater hotel thing, unless your heading to Atlantis for a quick slide through the shark tank, may be a bit out there for now. Of course there are sand hotels, ice hotels, and a variety of other amazing places to see and stay located in the world.

Honestly, my heart will just stay to booking one of THESE out in the next year:

I dont really need something crazy to have a wonderful, laid back vacation. My dream is actually Tahiti….but on top of the water, not under it, is just fine!

Filed Under: Sidebar News Tagged With: costa rica, dubai, Family Travel, fiji, hotel, hotels, hydropolis, ice hotel, jules undersea lodge, locate, physics, poseidon hotel, poseidon resorts, sweden, time, tripadvisor, underwater, underwater hotel, underwater hotels

Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios ?

2 Nov By Trisha 19 Comments

I think I am turning into a travel blogger…Universal Studios, Medieval Times, The Biltmore, Disney, and an upcoming cruise in November.

Whew.

But it all started with Universal Studios. A few weeks back my dad and I went down to the Tampa area for the opening of the football season and took an extra day to make a pit stop in Orlando to visit the parks. Universal Studios was kind enough to accommodate us with 2 media passes so we could parooze what they had to offer- I haven’t been in many, many years.

The day started out quite dreary to be honest.

We woke up to an overcast sprinkly gray morning, but with no kids in tow, it was a lot easier to face. One thing I really love about Universal is when you arrive to the park via the Citywalk, its a pretty walk to the parks themselves. The layout is unlike any other theme park in Orlando where after you drop off your car, you walk through a shop and restaurant filled location that carries you in the right direction. Let me mention that Citywalk also has Hard Rock Cafe and Margaritaville, both which of are worth hitting up if you are in town more than a few days.

Universal hosts several parks in the area and one of the great things about purchasing a ticket is that you can get dual park entry . And since they are literally 100 feet from each other, you can walk out one entrance and right into the other park. No leaving the area, driving to a new location, and going through an hours worth of entry to eat up your day. If you have favorite rides in each park, and surely you will, you can go back and forth with ease.

We started out at Islands of Adventure.

I have been about 15 times to this park. As a college student, it was only an hour from me so we did our time there on the roller coasters. Due to the rain, the park was nearly empty so it was 5 minute walks up to each ride.

Hands down the best ride in the park is Spider Man.

It combines movement, virtual reality, and a death defying experience that will get you laughing with either terror or fun. Even though the rest of the park is of course a great time, Spiderman will stay in your head a long time, so don’t be surprised if you feel let down by further rides after that.

Somewhere around 28 years old my equilibrium changed and roller coasters were no longer the fun thrill seeking adventure they were in my younger years. Against my better judgment, Alicia conned me into getting on Dueling Dragons, where afterward I spent the better part of an hour trying to keep my food down. Its a great coaster, one that has dual hanging seats that intertwine while they simultaneously “chase each other”.

In short, it will scare the doo-doo out of you.

ROLLER COASTER TIP: For the best ride skip the front row and ride the last row. It has a higher G-force.

Islands of Adventure took us approximately 2 hours to go through without a child and we skipped a good majority of the roller coasters, death traps, and of course all the child locations/rides in the park. I have to say I was slightly disappointed in the pterodactyl ride being only for children

I completely understand keeping some rides for children only, but would love to see an adult version of that that went over the park.

(picture below: Duddly Doo-Right)

Coming soon to Islands of Adventure is an entire Harry Potter and Hogwarts location.

I am sure its going to be a HUGE hit.

Currently Universal Studios offers a meal plan where you can eat at specific locations in the park. After talking to some employees, who actually recommended we DONT use the meal plan, we skipped it and ended up taking our lunch outside the park at one of the sit down locations in CityWalk. Hey, atleast they were honest, right?

After lunch we walked over to the main Universal Studios park.

From ride 1 to the last ride, that park was one of the best times I have had in a long time. I attributed Universal Studios to an old outdated park that still hosted Jaws and King Kong.

What I found was a coaster I refused to watch, much less get on, interactive rides, games, and interesting shops around every corner.

I had a BLAST.

I was actually wishing we had just spent the entire day at Universal. While you are there, do NOT skip the monster show (kinda PG-13) or the Simpsons Ride.

We barely squeezed The Simpsons in the last 2 minutes of the park. They had a special event going on for a concert and if we didn’t have bracelets after 6, we couldn’t get on any rides. The park employees were actually super nice and still let us in line at 5:59.

Having been to a Disney event recently where a special event was going on, I can say that they push you out and direct you out of the park almost immediately when the event starts. Universal let us walk around and go into shops and eat on the way out without escorting us to the front gate. It was a lot more low key in how they handled it.

1500 calories in rice krispie treats, candied apples, and cheesecake and one wall climbing and psychic reading later, we made it out of the park exhausted and wondering when we could come back next.

Overall Impression: Massive updates, great ticket price, and perfect location make Universal Studios the park for older kids and adults alike. I recommend the Main park over IOA personally, but of course it depends on the ages of your children and what kind of experiance you are looking for.

Let me leave you with one last Important Tip:

WRITE DOWN your car location.

It took us 25 minutes to find it…

~Trisha

——————————————————————————————

More information on universal:

Special Universal Events coming up:

Experience a one-of-a-kind holiday celebration at Universal Orlando^®^®, featuring a live version of “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” At Universal Studios^®, the Macy’s Holiday Parade™ takes to the streets with new balloons and floats, marching bands, colorful performers and more!

Plus, don’t miss the all new Holiday Concert Series in the Universal Music Plaza. Enjoy some of your all time holiday favorites as performed by Mannheim Steamroller on December 5th; Chris Isaak on December 12th; and Natalie Cole on December 19th! Resort, December 5th through January 1st. Join in the fun of Grinchmas™ at Universal’s Islands of Adventure

To purchase tickets go here:

Filed Under: Family Travel Tagged With: blog trips, disney, Family Travel, universal studios

Medieval Times (and some tips!)

22 Oct By Trisha 25 Comments

A few weeks ago my dad (yes, my dad, not my child) and I went to Medieval Times on our trip into Orlando. What can I say; we are kids at heart. I have been there many times before, but it never fails to be a blast.

If you have never been to Medieval Times, they are not just located in Orlando. You can catch this throw back to the dark ages in 8 locations in the US- California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Texas. They even have one in Canada!

We arrived pretty early. The show told us to be there around 6pm to be on the “safe side”. I am thinking crowds and kids and lines. Nope. We walked right up to the counter and in the doors.

What they don’t tell you is that if you arrive that early you will be bored out of your mind and ultimately spend the next hour and a half milling around the bar. I am assuming that that is the whole plan. And at $12 a drink, that hour and a half can rack up some hefty drink and souvenir costs.

As I was with my dad, this was just a chance for us to hang out and talk. If Charlotte had been with me, this would have basically been full on torture for her and I think we would have had to leave and come back closer to the allotted time.

ARRIVING TIP: My advice to families is arriving 30 minutes early is plenty time. The show didn’t actually start at 7:30, seating began at 7:30. You wont eat till around 745 or later. Bring some crackers if you have kids.

But arriving early did allow for it to get interesting. While we were standing in the ‘galley’, we noticed a guy, around 60 something, full on decked out in knight gear. And had a wench with him. He clearly looked like he was in the show and we thought he was -till we noticed he went to the bar and got a drink.

An alcoholic one.

Then I started to be super interested. He was talking to people, sauntering around, sword hitting him in the leg.

Carrying a goblet.

medievaltimes

Holy. Crap.

He didn’t work there.

We spent some time trying to get over to him and strike up a conversation. My dad could be an undercover agent I swear. He weaseled us over to this character and struck up a nonchalant conversation.

Welcome the world of crazy.

The guys name was John Black. Not sure if that was his real name or his pretend name. He was The Guild in person. He told us while he wasn’t knighted in his new realm, he had 6 or 7 other places he was a “Sir” and if he died, they would knight him in death out of courtesy.

Wow. Umm. Cool?

He went on to explain to us about all the war games, scratch that, knight games, they play in the local areas. One has its own castle. Ooooooooh.

And he didn’t live in Orlando, he lived in Pensacola. Near me. It was at this time I was wishing I had my Flip on me.

John Black was a Youtube star in the making.

Now here is where the problem talking with someone who is in a whole other world. While fascinating, getting rid of “Makeup Believe John” proved a lot hard then going up to him. Once you open up the world and act interested, its hard to shut it down. And his wench (wench is an acceptable and PC term at Medieval Times, btw) was contradicting some of his statements, which made him embarrassed, backtracking, and re-explaining. Cause it totally matters if the goblet he is drinking from (and brought from home!) came from the flea market or that last convention they went to.

And even better, this was his first time to Medieval Times.

He really put a lot of thought into his costume before he came. I wonder what the employees thought when he bought tickets. I still get a giggle out of the whole thing.

On with the show:

Now when they call you to go into the seating area, they call you by knight color. The section you sit in is the color of knight you cheer on throughout the show.

medivaltimes3

SEATING TIP: Get in the FRONT of the CROWD when they call your color in.

While you are assigned a table (which is set up like long picnic tables), you are not assigned a seat. If you are on any of the last sections of the colors, you could end up against the wall on either side. While its super small and that isn’t the biggest deal, its a lot nicer view smack in the middle of the seats.

Here is where I should mention that there is no silverware. I mean…its medieval. You eat with your hands. They serve chicken, ribs, bread, soup (this is in a bowl with a handle to drink) and dessert. The food was surprisingly good AND it kept coming. I was stuffed. The service was immaculate and our waiter, even with 50 people to serve, was all over it. Plan for at least a $20 tip per couple.

FOOD TIP: If you have a baby, bring your own spoons!

seatingmedievaltimes

Ill be the first to admit the show is slightly on the cheesy side. What do you want from a bunch of grown men running around fighting each other? But its a fabulous family adventure and your kids will be fascinated. The nitty gritty of the horse tricks and the jousts are a blast. You get to cheer on your knight and really get into it.

The actual story they tell with the “bad knight” and the prince being kidnapped is stupid.

OK, there I said it. And its true.

But this isn’t Broadway, so the guy being held hostage was more Halloween than Braveheart. Trust me when I say that the kids don’t care. They were whooping and hollering and ooohing to their hearts desires.

And I am also sure John Black was too.

We sat in the yellow section on the far right, nearly up against the wall. They had screens that came down and protected your face from splinters if something broke off during the show. The view was excellent on the 1st row, so I recommend the bottom rows if you can get them. The knights also hand flowers to the girls on those rows, so its a nice treat for your daughter if you get lucky.

joust

Souvenir Tip: They sell ribbons for you to wave and cheer for your knight. At the end of the show most people leave them behind on the tables as they are exiting. If your kids want one, wait till the end and walk around and pick up as many as you like. We collected a hand full for Charlotte.

They will also take your picture and morph it into a knight or lady. K

Kinda Funny although we didn’t buy ours.

souvienarpictures

Camera Tip: ITS SMOKEY! They use dry ice so make sure you bring a filter to combat this. Many of my photos were too smoked out to use. Few more things to remember: Everything is moving fast and you will need a wide angle for majority of shots.

smokeyphoto

You can find more information on tickets and upcoming shows at Medieval Times.

~Trisha

2 tickets were provided as a courtesy for media coverage. And John Black was nice…even if it was Twilight Zone.

Filed Under: Family Travel Tagged With: Family Travel, medieval times

Biltmore Gardens

28 Sep By Trisha 22 Comments

Yesterday I had some time before leaving Asheville to head out to the Biltmore Estate. If you have never been there, you absolutely must take your family to spend the day (or night!) at the not-to-be-missed 150,000 acres.

The Biltmore Estate is best visited during April when they put on the Festival of Flowers, but even in late September I was able to capture some of the exquisite beauty that makes it a family attraction.

Its literally impossible to express how large and sprawling the entire location is. In some ways I find it sad that I get amazed at the nature around me, but the truth is that large open landscapes with a true dedication to preservation is a rarity. And while technology advances, our need to get back to nature seems to be more prevalent-or atleast the case is in my life.

Here are some of the beautiful flowers that Biltmore (and Mother Nature) has to offer in the gardens. Please note that no flash, filter, or digital enhancement was used on these photos. These are truly the colors that these flowers grow.

~Trisha

(click on photos to enjoy larger)

biltmore 234