Gatorland and Ferrari of Central Florida

Gatorland and Ferrari of Central Florida

South Orange Blossom Trail and I-4

Orlando, Florida

Monday, Dec 26, 2011

In the morning we woke up and had some coffee at the hotel but that was not very good. So we drove couple of blocks from South Orange Blossom Trail to South Orange Road to a Dunkin Donuts and had breakfast.

Since we were planning to leave today itself for home we checked out of the hotel (it was NOT good anyway) and headed to Gatorland. Since we were Florida residents and the Gatorland offered a good deal until Dec 31, 2011, we bought tickets that were 1/3 price of the regular tickets.

Even though the day was cloudy and in the seventies (Fahrenheit scale)  the gators were not interested in performing for Gator Jumaproo! So went ahead and looked at the leucistic gators (not albino gators) that have white skins with splotches of regular color but blue eyes. We saw several gators and some crocodiles, flamingos, South American parrots, cockatoos, Chester the big Gator, storks, pea cocks, pea hens and other farm animals. Then we participated in the Close Encounters show and returned back to Gator Jumparoo! This time the gators were biting.

Next we walked over to cages of other crocodilian species like Cuban crocodile, Nile crocodile, Spectacled caiman, and salt water crocodiles and occasionally witnessing the Gatorland Zip-line folks flying above us screaming. 

We then took the train ride and looked the turtles. On the way out we got VTS and TSs caricatures drawn by the artist Ron. 

Then we crawled in traffic for 20 minutes and reached the Ferrari and Maserati of Central Florida dealership at Interstate Park complex at Lake Destiny Drive. The sales person was very polite and extra nice and allowed us take some pictures and showed around their car collections. VTS was very happy to see all his favorite cars in one place.

Then by 4:30 PM we headed out for coffee and on our way home. We arrive home by 9:15 PM and went to bed.

Casselberry Hindu Temple

Casselberry Hindu Temple

Hindu Society of Central Florida

Casselberry, Florida

Christmas Day, Dec 25, 2011

We left around 10:30 AM from our home and started driving in I-10 East and after about 90 miles we stopped for the rest stop and soon joined the I-75 South and drove via Gainesville and Ocala. We decided to skip the Orlando Turnpike and instead drove through Leesberg and Apopka to reach Orange Blossom Drive in Orlando.


On the way stopped just past Leesburg for lunch. Since we were traveling during Christmas day most of the restaurants were closed and only very few fast-food places were open. One among them was Burger King chain. Vivek had some lunch and we ate what we brought from home.

Then around 3:45 PM we arrived at the Hindu Society of Central Florida temple in Lake Drive in Casselberry, Florida. There was very little crowd which was good. We offered a simple pooja and offered donations to the temple. We spent about an hour at the temple and went to the temple canteen. Since they were closing at 5 PM they had only vadai and coffeee. We took some pictures of the temple and left for Orlando.

While driving on I-4 West on our way to the hotel, VTS spotted the Ferrari and Maserati of Central Florida dealership. We got out of I-4 West at Exit 88 on Lees Road. With a help of a nearby homeowner we were to locate the dealership. Since it was Christmas Day it was closed. We looked around the parking and headed to our hotel. 

We checked into the Hotel by 6:30 PM and had dinner by 7:20 PM. We watched some TV and went to bed by 9:00 PM