Florida | Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip

Walking Tours: South Beach and SOHO

May 25, 2014 by Susan Getgood

Walking tours are a great, mostly guilt-free way to get a flavor of a place and its food. Two weeks ago, during BlogHer Food, my colleague Carmen and I took our lunch break on a walking tour of South Beach, and yesterday Douglas and I experienced some of the best chocolate New York’s SOHO neighborhood has to offer.

Here’s the report!

Food Tours of Miami Four stops. We started with gelato at the meeting point, and then moved to a Haitian restaurant, Tap Tap, followed by a walk down the “main drag” of South Beach and some excellent examples of Art Deco architecture, a brief stop at a café, and then the pièce de la resistance, French bistro Otentic. The first three stops were truly tastings, but the final stop was more robust, with 3 courses: a charcuterie plate, a very tasty quiche and desserts. No one left hungry!

A highlight of Tap Tap was the wall murals throughout the restaurant. Unfortunately, WordPress is not cooperating with me this morning and I cannot get any of these photos to upload properly, so you’ll have to trust me. If you are in the area, check it out for yourself.

Important: if you have any dietary restrictions, including if you do not drink alcoholic beverages, make sure you let them know in advance. At Tap Tap, one of the tastings was a Mojito, and they weren’t prepared for as many non-drinkers as were on our tour, so a few of us missed out. No big deal really, but easily fixed if you let them know in advance.

Chocolate Walking Tour of New York. Also four stops. We started with iced Aztec chocolate and a signature ganache at MarieBelle on Broome Street.

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Marie Belle

Stop number two, Vosges, featured a Naga Truffle — chocolate, curry and coconut, which was amazingly tasty. We purchased a sampling of small size bars, including bacon, and my favorite, chocolate and chili peppers!

Next up was Kee’s on Thompson Street, where the included sample was a to-die-for Crème Brûlée chocolate. Douglas also tried one of their Blueberry macaroons and I had a Sesame Chili Chocolate.

We wrapped up at Jacques Torres on Hudson at King Street, where we could choose our own flavor of bon bon, and also sampled hot chocolate and their signature chocolate chip cookies. I continued my search for the best combination of spice and chocolate with Wicked Fun:

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Jacques Torres Wicked Fun bon bon

Douglas went for a raspberry-filled one, and it was so good, he purchased an additional three to snack on!

I found both tours through Groupon, and the prices we paid were between 1/3 to 1/2 of the advertised price, so I highly recommend checking out the various deal sites and apps (Groupon, Living Social, Amazon, Viator) before booking.

Eats: Universal City Walk & Downtown Disney

May 17, 2009 by Susan Getgood

Downtown Disney

There are a lot of places to eat in Orlando. Everything from fast to fancy food. We stay in our timeshare, and if we’ve spent the day in a theme park, it’s nice to come back to the “house” and eat in.

But, we do eat out a few times on every trip. Most lunches, some dinners. Here are some of our favorites from our last trip.

Universal City Walk: Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Factory has a great kid’s menu, plus they serve the food in neat little boats. Awesome margaritas, which come in handy if you’ve spent the most of the day in one theme park, and will be going to another after your late lunch.

On past trips we’ve eaten at the Nascar Cafe, which is great fun for stock car aficionados, but the atmosphere is a bit loud.

Downtown Disney: Every trip to Orlando, we almost always end up at Fulton’s Crab House. Terrific service. Terrific seafood. Terrific Bloody Mary’s. On our last visit, we ate quite late (9 pm) so Dave and I split the cold seafood plate appetizer. I had a few oysters to start and he had the crab cake appetizer. More than enough food. Douglas had fish, which he loves, and my older niece tried King Crab for the first time. Pricey, but well worth it for your family splurge dinner. ALL the restaurants at Downtown Disney have similar meal prices, so you might as well go for what you want.

For lunch the day we were flying home, we tried the new restaurant, T-Rex. Very similar to Rainforest Cafe, including gift shop at the exit and a regular “show,” but with a dinosaur theme. Douglas was quite impressed with the geodes scattered through the restaurant. I thought the food was pretty good, and recommend the fish tacos. Service was excellent.

Other restaurants at Downtown Disney that we’ve eaten at in past years, and recommend: Bongo’s Cuban Cafe, Cap’n Jack’s and the House of Blues Gospel Sunday Brunch.

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Doug at T-Rex in Downtown Disney

On an Island of Adventure (Universal Orlando)

May 13, 2009 by Susan Getgood

Universal’s Islands of Adventure is much more like a traditional amusement park. Each Island has a distinct personality, but many rides are pretty straightforward amusement park rides, with the Universal theme cleverly grafted on. Exceptions include Spider-Man and most of the rides in Seuss Landing but especially the Cat in the Hat. Which never gets old.

And I’m old.

Here’s a quick rundown on our favorites. In some case, I am reporting second-hand. As discussed, certain types of roller coasters I do not ride.

Marvel Super-Hero Island

Hulk. This is a serious roller coaster. Upside down doesn’t begin to cover it. I’ve never ridden it, because NOT my thing, but it gets rave reviews from the rest of the family.

Spider-Man. I enjoy this 3-D ride. It’s fun, not too jarring and full of story. Be warned that younger kids may find the story too intense.

If you are lucky, while you are in the Marvel area, the Heroes may come out, although Spider-Man seems to be there nearly all the time. This summer, though I bet Wolverine will be even more popular.

Toon Lagoon

Toon Lagoon is all about water. The core rides are Pop-Eye’s Bilge Rat Barges and Dudley Do Right’s Ripsaw Falls. Be warned: the Barges seem to be dumping more water than they did in previous years.

DO leave your packs and personal belongings with a non-rider or in a locker. And put your shoes in the center waterproof sections on the Barges.

You will get wet!

Jurassic Park

Douglas, David and I love the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride, but our nieces were a bit freaked out by the storyline. Be sensitive to people’s fears on this ride.

The Lost Continent

This area has always seemed a bit like a fish out of water, and in fact, has lost one of its rides to the Harry Potter area under construction. The males in our party liked the Dueling Dragons roller coaster but my older niece did not. In previous years, we’ve done Poseidon’s Fury; it was okay, but I wouldn’t wait in line for it.

Seuss Landing

Everything is improved with a little Dr. Seuss. That said, here are the highlights.

Don’t miss:

The bookstore, or just outside. Characters – the Cat, Sam, the Grinch, Things One and Two – can often be found here.
The Cat in the Hat ride. Worth it times two.
One Fish Two Fish

If you have time, do the Carousel. If you have lots of extra time, do the High in the Sky Trolley Train Ride for the views of the rest of the park you get during the ride. If there’s a line, don’t bother. Likewise, the cookie aficionados in my family say don’t bother with the cookies in the bakery at the train ride exit.

For Universal tips and map, see my earlier post on Universal Studios.

A universally good time: Universal Orlando

May 9, 2009 by Susan Getgood

Uncles and Cousins at Universal Orlando

Now that Douglas is older, we tend to prefer the two Universal parks in Orlando — Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Even when the rides are similar to ones at Disney parks — for example, the Bilge Rat Barges at Islands and the Kali River Rafts at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the Universal versions seem longer, more intense. We also really like Universal’s Express Passes. Yes, they cost more money on top of the park admission, but you are guaranteed a shorter line, ensuring that you get more out of your day at the park.

Universal Studios was modeled after Universal Studios in California, but it goes well beyond the back lot tour I remember from my last visit to the original when I was pregnant with Douglas 10 years ago. Nevertheless, its attractions tend toward backstage tours and indoor rides like motion simulators. It also presents as a single studio “backlot.” Because so many of the rides at Universal Studios are indoors, it is a good choice for an overcast, even rainy day. Islands of Adventure is more of a traditional amusement park that loosely uses the Universal properties as themes. Each island is also very distinct in appearance. That said, the company seems to be mixing it up a bit, as the two attractions under construction at the moment are Harry Potter, scheduled to open at Islands in 2010, and a new roller coaster at Universal Studios opening later this year.

Universal Studios

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The Simpsons and some shady characters

The big hit this year was The Simpsons Ride. As you can see, the kids even consented to have their picture taken with the characters. Luckily, we got there early enough there was no line, which made the adults with cameras very happy.

The Simpsons Ride replaces the Back to the Future ride, and has a similar “big chase” premise. You don’t need to be a fan of the show to enjoy the ride, but it helps if you know at least a little about the franchise. You’ll never look at a pacifier the same way again.

The other ride at Universal truly worth a long wait is the Revenge of the Mummy indoor roller coaster. I love roller coasters, but I can’t stand the thought of being turned upside down or having my feet dangle. Forward, really fast, scary. All fine. Upside down. Bye bye. Revenge has everything I like, and nothing I don’t.

Other favorites at Universal: ET Adventure (be sure to listen closely at the end of the ride), Men in Black, Jaws and Shrek 4-D. Jimmy Neutron is good, but unless you’re with rabid fans of the show, Simpsons and Shrek 4-D are better and far more worth the wait. Disaster is fun, but LONG, and younger kids may get bored.

Tips

If you are in Orlando for a week, don’t buy a single day pass. At a minimum, get the two day two park pass, and if you have older kids, get the one that gives you 7-days. Buy online in advance to save money.
If you stay at one of the three onsite Loews hotels, Universal Express is included. Factor that into your budget when deciding where to stay.
In the parks as well as at kiosks in Universal City Walk, they sell a big plastic drink cup for about $7 with unlimited refills all day for 79 cents (price as of April 09). A single soda is about $2.50. This is well worth it if you are going to be at the park all day. We found we were far better hydrated the day we had the cups than any other because we were drinking continuously all day, not just when we stopped to dig our water bottles out of the packs.
Universal has package pickup at the main gate too, but with a few exceptions, most of the merchandise is available at the main gate, so you can pretty much wait until the end of the day to do your shopping.

Universal Orlando

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Theme Park Survival 101

May 7, 2009 by Susan Getgood

A theme park holiday — whether Disney, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens or Universal — is a bit like a forced march. You pay so much for your multi-day ticket, you feel like you have to go every day, all day.

NO. You don’t.

On our last vacation to Orlando, I took a sanity day and let everyone else go off to Disney’s Animal Kingdom while I stayed back at the timeshare, did a little work and got a massage. They all came back full of the new rollercoaster Expedition Everest, and while I am sure I would have enjoyed the ride, I enjoyed my day off even more.

Don’t be afraid to take a day off. Hang out at the pool, go shopping, visit some local attractions. Every day doesn’t have to be a theme park day.

Really.

An oddball attraction that we really enjoyed on a visit to Orlando in 2006 was the Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud. We didn’t make it back on the most recent trip, but I highly recommend it. Don’t miss the twice daily shows when they extract venom from rattlers for use in various medicines.

Reptile World

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