On a day when the radio station Magic FM 107.7 had decided it was the start of Christmas, the weather could not have been more different. It was forecast to be a 31°C scorcher and it certainly started out that way.
The air con was still not working as Karen & Neil hadn’t managed to fix it the previous night, so I left a message for the management company to report it and request an urgent fix.
Breakfast was taken outside early in the sunshine as we had planned to leave at 10.15am for our visit to Gatorland.
Slightly later than planned, we were on the road and pulling into the car park just before 11am. Our last visit to Gatorland had been in 2018, when Barry had also been with us.
I had pre-purchased the tickets using an online offer which came with a free bag of Gator Chow, whatever that was, to feed the gators.
We didn’t wander too far initially as Neil wanted to see the Jumperoo show, which was near the entrance. The sun was already exerting its full power.
The show involved two characters called Bubba and Cootie, who made Karen laugh far more than they should have with their comments and antics. There was far more talking than getting the gators to jump out of the water to grab pieces of raw chicken. Still, rather them than me!
Gators cannot be considered lovable in any way and really are the most ugly-looking creatures. Gatorland has thousands of them in every size, colour and variety. Some are enormous and just plain evil-looking. I am convinced they are simply plotting how to jump out and eat the paying customers. The albino ones are kept separately in the shade to avoid getting sunburnt.
We ate our sneaked-in rolls opposite the aviary, which just seemed to have budgies in it. There were, though, some lovely parrots scattered around the park, including one that Neil said vindicated his argument about ‘Blue’ parrots, which regularly rears its head in a game every Christmas at home.
I went and collected the Gator Chow. I’m not quite sure what it was, but it looked like something unmentionable in a blog. We each fed some to a gathering of gators nearby, who moved rather violently to get to it before anyone else.
Karen then fetched a couple of hot teas, which we took to join Neil watching the Gator ‘Wrangling’ show. Again, there is only so much you can do with a gator, but I’m not sure I would want to be the one handling one and tickling its mouth to get it to open. Karen was again laughing out loud when the handler asked what was the most dangerous part of a gator and gave the audience several options. When many chose its tail, he pointed out that it wasn’t that end he was keeping a close hold of!
After this, we had a long, slow walk around the rest of the park. Overhead, there were a few people flying across on zip wires.
We found seats for the Unexpected Encounters show, which promised more than it delivered but was still amusing in its own way.
After being in the park for about four hours, we felt we had done it all and made our way out through the obligatory gift shop before driving the 30 minutes back to the villa.
By the time we returned, whatever had been wrong with the air con had been fixed and the villa was already cooling down. All of us then resumed our seats outside by the pool for a couple of hours before getting ourselves sorted out to drive to downtown Kissimmee and Big John’s Rockin’ BBQ, another of Neil’s finds online.
It was a very busy drive, fighting our way through the Friday evening traffic. Unbeknown to us, there was a First Friday of the Month free event in Lakeside Park, which made the local area even busier than normal and parking something of a challenge.
On the drive, Magic FM had now switched over to non-stop Christmas music. I probably love Christmas more than the average man, but November 6th is far too early for this 24/7. We agreed to stick with it for novelty value for a day or so, but then find another station to listen to. It did remind us, though, that it is only 49 days to the big day!
We walked into Big John’s Rockin’ BBQ and were abruptly told that the inside restaurant was closed for the evening for the owner’s birthday party. I explained that we had booked, so they offered to serve us on the terrace instead, which we were happy with.
Both Neil and I went for the BBQ sampler option. To say it exceeded expectations would be an understatement. It was simply delicious. The BBQ flavour was exquisite, and I would struggle to say which of the four meats we sampled was my favourite. We will definitely be back on a future trip.
After this, we walked to the Kissimmee State Monument and then continued on to investigate the Lakeside Park event. Aside from the film being shown on the 50-foot outdoor screen, there were all sorts of street food stalls and other booths offering free family entertainment. The whole area was abuzz, with easily in excess of a thousand people all having fun in the dark but still very warm evening. Even the lighting was done well and it all had a great family and community atmosphere.
The drive home took us all along the 192, past the areas where we used to stay and spend so much of our time. Some of it seemed rather sad, as newer, posher areas have popped up where visitors, including us, now prefer to stay.
We called into a Dollar Tree for a couple of things before heading back to the villa.
Karen and I had a small glass of wine whilst Neil had a beer, with all of us watching the latest episode of Celebrity Race Across the World before we retired, leaving Karen to watch the BBC News from home.
