This weekend I had the opportunity to go away to Orlando. Orlando is a city located in Central Florida. It is home to many theme park attractions, the most popular, Walt Disney World. Unfortunately this time around I was not able to go to Disney World, but I was able to go to The Holy Land Experience and I was also able to take a ride down to Disney Springs formerly Downtown Disney, home to lots of stores and restaurants, and a few amusements.
It may not seem like much but I had a good time. The Holy Land Experience for me was a blast, we went late so we missed the first show Jesus at the Temple and we missed part 1 of a 3 major show series titled David: King of Jerusalem. The play was about the life of David. The drama was fantastic, costume, sound, oh my. I loved it! We stayed for the last two parts of the play and afterwards sat through a 15 minute play called Simeon’s House, it was about Simeon inviting Jesus and His disciples to his house.
For lunch we ate at Esther’s Banquet Hall where they had a variety of items on the menu, even for those that does not eat meat. I had the Lamb Shawarma, almost like a Gyro, it was yummy!. After the last play we saw “Simeon’s House” We left the park to go get dinner and then returned to the hotel to rest up.
These photos below were taken at The Holy Land Experience, Orlando, FL.
If you are ever in Orlando and looking for a place to hang out for the day or just a few hours, I would recommend Disney Springs. It doesn’t cost anything to enter. After we checked out of the hotel on Sunday morning, we headed straight there before riding back home. For me however, I always wanted to go see what it was about so imagine the excitement I was feeling. Disney Springs is filled with a lot of stores, some of which are designer brands we are familiar with, and then there are other smaller boutiques. There are major restaurants and a few amusements, and some Disney Stores like the World of Disney, a place for Pin Trading, a movie theater and much more.
While there we went into the Coca-Cola building and looked around. There are coca-cola merchandise stores on the inside, I got to meet and take pictures with the coca-cola bear and there is a nice little restaurant on the top floor.
Other eateries at Disney Springs included Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Café, Wolf Gang Puck Bar and Grill just to name a few and food stands for a quick snack. There is also a hot air balloon ride that is tied so you don’t get to fly away but you can go up in it for $20 per adult and if you get tired of walking around, you can take the ferry from one side of the Springs to the other side. It’s a short, but sweet boat ride.
Once we got off the Ferry we took a walk over to the Saratoga Springs. It is one of Disney Resort Hotels, the closest one to the Springs. From there you can take a shuttle to other areas of Disney. And oh I forget to mention that parking at Disney Springs is Free! Which is not the case if you went to park at the theme parks. This is the best route to take if you want to visit the resorts, as some resorts if any does not allow you to park unless you have a hotel or restaurant reservation. There are shuttles that runs from Disney Springs to the Hotels and Ferries as well.
As I mentioned before it may not seem like much, but trust me sometimes any get-a-way is still a get-a-way. It’s the way you use the time that makes it fun.
Check out the gallery below of pictures from the Holy Land Experience
