0:10

Welcome back to the RV shenanigans podcast , brought

0:12

to you by liquefied I'm Lauren

0:14

, this is Ryan , and together we are Miller's

0:17

emotion .

0:18

We had a ranch in Texas that we sold and are

0:20

now enjoying life in our Alliance

0:22

valor .

0:23

And we are currently coming to you from the wonderful

0:25

Tyler Texas . Isn't

0:28

it pretty we are currently here for a horse show

0:30

with Lauren and , yes , the windows are open because

0:33

there's a pasture behind us . Fun

0:35

fact also , there's a dump tank dump

0:37

tank-er right there . So

0:40

the park we're currently in doesn't actually

0:42

have sewer service . So once

0:45

a week , twice a week , something like that , thursdays

0:47

, that's all I know they bring a pumper

0:49

trunk out and they

0:51

remove things in a manual

0:54

way .

0:55

What does every good RVer do ? We

0:57

sit and we watch .

0:59

A lot of the people aren't up here . I happened to come

1:01

back right before they did it . I don't like

1:04

pumper services . They're're

1:06

perfectly nice people , that's not the problem but

1:08

I just don't because we have so many valve

1:10

handles on our coach . I'm not the biggest

1:12

fan of them because , like I came

1:14

up and they use like a macerator suction

1:16

system to get everything out a little faster . It's

1:19

just wearing , tearing the pipes and stuff that doesn't need to happen

1:21

a lot . I'm a big fan of gravity

1:23

and half our valves were still closed

1:25

because we have our three

1:28

valves up front , two grays , one black , and then

1:30

we have a black in the back as well , so we have total four

1:32

valves . Plus we have a volterra

1:34

handle which is a capped , and

1:36

so we don't get any extra fun

1:38

when we go to take the cap off . And so they

1:40

had only pulled the one and then there's a handle above it in

1:42

that one . So , like the one , the tank that they actually

1:44

need to dump wasn't being dumped and so that suction

1:46

was coming in . So just if you're going to have a dump

1:49

service , my one little disclaimer

1:51

there is be aware of that

1:53

and just know that you know they might need you to double

1:55

check , because you know your rig better than they ever are going to know

1:57

your rig .

1:58

Yeah , there's no way for them to know all these different rigs

2:00

.

2:00

Nope . I will say , though , that liquefied

2:02

for the win , because that helps a

2:04

lot of that waste and stuff break down already

2:06

. So big thanks to Matt and the team at

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liquefied . They're obviously one of our sponsors as

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well . And speaking of , why

2:12

don't we just talk about liquefied for a second ?

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below black

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tank treatment .

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Please see the link down below all right , what

3:32

are ? We talking about today flow rider the rapper boots

3:35

with the fur and

3:37

you're welcome for that . No , florida

3:40

, because what rvr hasn't been to florida

3:42

?

3:42

specifically Central Florida . We've been trying to do

3:44

more destination stuff . After the Super Show

3:46

we had a lot of interviews and so we're

3:48

trying to play catch up now on a lot of the places

3:51

we went , and we spent a significant

3:53

time in Central Florida . Well , significant

3:55

to us , maybe like six weeks , well yeah , significant

3:58

to us , and I will say that this is going

4:00

to encompass things we may have already talked briefly

4:02

about , like Walt Disney

4:04

World and Fort Wilderness . We're not going to go

4:06

into detail on any of that stuff because there's two

4:08

full podcasts about those two topics . They're

4:11

literally the two podcasts right before this one . So

4:20

if you are curious more about that , you can refer back to that podcast or those podcasts , depending

4:22

on which one you're looking at , when we're done . But we're going to talk about all of Central Florida

4:24

in this one , because there is a lot going on in Central Florida .

4:26

There , sure is . So where do we start ?

4:28

So , as far as

4:30

RVs and getting around , the one thing

4:32

you should know is there's a high season and a low

4:34

season .

4:35

And you can read that as a costly season and

4:38

a cheaper season as well . True

4:40

.

4:40

But a lot of RVers snowbirds

4:42

if you may like to flock to Florida

4:44

. So just know if you're going to go to central

4:46

Florida in the winter plan you're

4:50

not alone , no , you're not planning would be a

4:52

good idea . There's a ton of campgrounds

4:54

. There's state parks . You

4:56

have Everglades National Park . That's really more south

4:58

Florida , but I'll kind of give it a little bit there

5:01

. There are campgrounds a plenty , but they do fill

5:03

up , especially your extreme winter

5:05

months up north . Once you get to Christmas

5:09

, then January , February and March , it's

5:11

pretty tough to find a site .

5:13

It's just now , because we're recording this

5:15

in mid-April and it's

5:17

just now starting to calm

5:19

down a little bit down there and people are starting to spread back out

5:21

as warmth goes back north and

5:23

we , because of weather , actually got

5:26

to central florida a day ahead of schedule

5:28

and we had some trouble finding an

5:30

rv site , and part of that has to do with our size

5:32

, but the other was just availability it

5:35

was , and so we ended up staying one day at

5:37

disney's fort wilderness one night , sorry

5:39

, um , at fort wilderness , which was a blast

5:41

, um , I can't imagine trying to get work

5:43

done while we stayed there .

5:45

No , that wasn't going to happen , and no , in

5:47

and around Disney there's a bunch of other RV

5:49

resorts as well , including

5:51

the infamous TTO Thousand

5:53

Trails , orlando . That's right . Apparently

5:57

, the people that have stayed there some of our

5:59

friends have said it's one of those things you have to experience . Well , we're

6:01

not Thousand Trails members and that

6:03

one's one of their busier parks , especially in

6:06

the winter , and so that's probably not something

6:08

that we're ever going

6:10

to . I never say never . But

6:13

, it's not something on the horizon that we're probably

6:15

going to experience anytime soon . So

6:17

why

6:19

would someone want to come to Central Florida

6:21

?

6:22

Well , I think you've hit the first nail on the head that

6:24

, especially during winter , it's going to be warmer

6:26

there than it is in many other locations

6:28

.

6:29

It is so obviously . The first thing is going to say that it's

6:31

the weather right . In the winter it's going to be pretty

6:33

warm . It can get cold some days , there can be

6:35

some rain , but on the average

6:37

it's way better than say Wisconsin

6:39

, that's right , wisconsin and Ohio . So

6:42

that's , that's going to be the biggest reason . What's the second

6:44

reason ?

6:44

Unless you like your snow . If you like your snow , then

6:47

absolutely stay up there up North .

6:49

I like my snow as long as there's skis on my

6:51

feet , and I know that there's a warm

6:53

beverage at the bottom of the Hill .

6:55

So the other reasons are going to be some of your big

6:57

attractions like Disney and , you know

6:59

, Orlando and all that universal , that sort

7:02

of stuff .

7:02

And that's a whole lot of Orlando . There's

7:07

actually quite a bit to do across all of Central Florida . When I

7:09

say Central Florida , what I'm kind

7:11

of circling on a map would be

7:13

Orlando in the center , cape Canaveral

7:15

off to the east , which is going to be kind

7:17

of where the cruise terminal is , that's

7:23

where the Kennedy Space Center is , spacex , all that stuff , all the way over

7:25

to Tampa on the west side , and St Petersburg , or St Pete

7:27

as they refer to it as , and maybe even Sarasota

7:29

a little bit . So you have two different versions

7:31

of beaches you have Pacific Ocean side

7:34

and Gulf side , and

7:44

then you have the center , which you'd think there's not much to do , but there's a ton to do

7:46

in the center , given that that's where Universal Studios is , disney , all the other things that go

7:48

into theme park lands , um , down in the orlando area . Plus , you also have

7:50

one of the more prominent campgrounds

7:52

. So let's start with campgrounds .

7:55

We obviously talked a little bit about tto a little bit

7:57

ago , but one of the most popular campgrounds

7:59

in the country is located in this area and they're in auburndale

8:01

, florida they also played host

8:04

to rv unplug season two

8:06

, which is coming out in a week

8:08

from this , two weeks , may

8:11

28th so that

8:13

would be camp margaritaville , and

8:15

even though there are other locations

8:17

, this one is is the one that we know best

8:20

and was very popular . There are a

8:22

lot , lot of amenities there . There's , you

8:24

know , really nice pools , there's mini golf

8:26

, there's restaurants , shops , all kinds

8:28

of stuff . And they have events all the time

8:30

. Their goal is like resort

8:32

style entertainment Right .

8:34

And it is pricey . I will say that I mean the

8:36

cheapest sites . When we were there started about

8:39

what was it ? $125

8:41

, $135 ? Something

8:44

along those lines , which is just a standard back end . They have a lot of pull through so it

8:46

is a resort , so it's really easy to get in and out of . They want that experience

8:49

to be good for you and realistically

8:51

this is what I would call a destination

8:53

resort . So some rv parks or

8:55

rv resorts are built in areas where you're

8:57

really just meant to be there and then go experience whatever

8:59

it is around you , kind of like by by the Grand Canyon

9:02

, things that are by national parks

9:04

or big cities or other things . I would

9:06

even say TTO is one of those , because

9:08

it's really there , because it's only 15

9:11

miles from Walt Disney World . You

9:13

know those types of places are there . Margaritaville

9:16

is really meant to be come for a long weekend

9:18

or a week stay here .

9:20

Right , they would be okay if you didn't leave

9:22

for the duration of your stay .

9:24

In fact , they would love it , because that means you're spending your

9:26

money there instead of somewhere else , exactly , and

9:28

they've tried to make that possible . And

9:30

they really have . You can rent your own golf

9:32

cart . Like Lauren said , they have all the amenities that

9:34

she already went over . There's pools . There's

9:37

not a whole lot else in that area

9:40

.

9:40

No , not immediately . There really isn't .

9:47

It is technically in Auburndale , florida , but it is also very , very close to Lakeland

9:49

, florida , which is a little bit bigger of a city . So that is going to be the home of the

9:51

Detroit Tigers spring training . There's

9:54

a single A club that also plays there . I think they're

9:56

the Lakeland Tigers , is my understanding . You

9:59

have restaurants , all kinds of

10:01

stuff in that area . It is a lot of chains , that

10:04

kind of stuff . We only went to one

10:06

off-site with our friends , Harold and

10:08

Cindy , one night . While we were down there we went to Ford's

10:10

Garage . It was good it was .

10:12

It was very good .

10:13

I didn't realize the Ford Motor Company had restaurants

10:15

. That's who owns it . That's the

10:17

crazy part . But

10:21

it was good and it was fun to hang out with them . But you

10:23

know , the thing about these types

10:25

of resorts for me is I feel

10:27

like they hit a lot of demographics . I

10:30

don't think it's us .

10:31

Right , it's not ours Now . We

10:33

didn't have any issues like with the children

10:35

making noise or bothering our rig

10:37

per se , but just understand that people

10:39

there are on vacation and

10:42

that's the mentality that they take , and

10:44

so they're not there working during the week

10:46

Most of the time . Maybe there are a couple

10:48

, but for the most part the people we witnessed were

10:51

there to have a good time .

10:53

Yeah , and they had a good time and they had a good time

10:55

? Yeah , I don't think when we , when

10:57

we talk about kids and people that are having

10:59

a good time AKA maybe a little

11:01

bit more rambunctious with their drinking

11:04

, that kind of stuff , don't take that as a

11:06

knock towards it . We're all for that kind of

11:08

stuff . I mean , we're fans of Disney , we're fans of doing

11:10

that . But as a full-timer

11:12

, you know Monday to Friday and even

11:14

Saturdays , a lot of days we're working

11:16

during the day . It

11:21

just happens to be from our RV in nice , places a lot , and so unfortunately for us

11:23

, like it's , it's a little bit more

11:25

distracting in those

11:27

types of places . Even if the kids and everybody weren't

11:29

around , there's still a tiki bar and a pool

11:31

and a mini golf course and

11:33

right , and so it's just setting

11:36

your expectation right . It is , and

11:38

so , with that being said , I do think

11:40

that there's the other type of people that prefer

11:42

more of boondocking and all that which we didn't get

11:44

to do down there . Unfortunately , Our

11:46

stay at Camp Margaritaville was actually for the

11:48

production of RV Unplugged Season 2 . And

11:51

so we were dead to the world .

11:53

That's a really good example .

11:55

And so that's kind of the downside is , we did experience

11:57

everything there . There were plenty of nights that us

11:59

and Phil and Stacey and Todd and Steph wandered

12:02

down to the Tiki Bar , especially in pre-production

12:04

week , but then as the

12:06

series went on and the filming went on , obviously sleep

12:08

was a commodity , so we kind

12:11

of sequestered down there and then the last few days we went

12:13

back out again and then before we started heading back to Texas

12:15

, and everything there was very nice .

12:17

As far as the amenities went , they had fire pits

12:19

, they had all kinds of stuff and

12:21

the food was pretty decent .

12:23

The food was actually pretty solid . I will say it's

12:26

still a quicker

12:28

. I'm going to say theme park style food .

12:30

Yeah .

12:32

I think it was elevated for theme park food , if you don't know what I'm talking

12:34

about burgers , chicken fingers , that kind of stuff . It

12:37

was better than what you're going to find in one of the Disney

12:39

parks on the average or

12:41

Universal parks , but it

12:43

still wasn't like . I was still expecting

12:45

more flavor . I think that I'm always expecting

12:48

more flavor , though . I think that's a theme we

12:51

just like the way we like things spicy

12:54

. So , moving on from that as

12:56

far as Lakeland , like I said , there's not a lot else to

12:58

do in that area , unfortunately . We

13:01

did hear that there's a ton of like state

13:04

parks that you can go visit in the area . You

13:07

just have to be careful because there's alligators frigging

13:09

everywhere . In fact , one of the lakes

13:12

we were doing some of the shooting in and you'll

13:14

see it in one of the episodes for RV

13:16

Unplugged , apparently , the

13:18

day after we were done shooting , one of the

13:20

guys that was there helping Derek was

13:23

like oh yeah , we just saw a 10-foot alligator go right into that

13:25

water that you guys were just in . I'm like awesome

13:28

Glad I wasn't in there . Sorry

13:32

in , like awesome glad I wasn't in there . Sorry , contestants , um , but that's something

13:34

to be aware of when you're at those parks .

13:36

Um , yeah , and moving down the road to tampa a little

13:38

bit , we didn't get to experience tampa in all

13:40

of its glory so we've actually been to tampa

13:42

several times but , it's

13:44

always for the super

13:46

show the rv super show in january , and

13:49

so we spend so much time at the show we don't

13:51

really get to go off site too much . We

13:54

do one big charity dinner .

13:56

We've seen the Elks Lodge twice .

13:58

We've seen the Elks Lodge and we've seen

14:00

the fairgrounds , and that's about all

14:02

of Tampa that we've seen .

14:03

Yeah , the airport now oh yeah , the airport Woohoo

14:05

.

14:06

So we haven't gotten to experience as much

14:08

of that as we would like to , but yes

14:10

it's there .

14:11

Just know , tampa is going to be the home to a lot of

14:13

the major sports teams in central Florida

14:15

the Tampa Bay Lightning , the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

14:18

, I think that's it , but

14:21

there is . If you're a sports fan , that's kind of the place

14:23

to go . Also , your West Coast

14:25

beaches are going to be over in that area , especially

14:28

once you get down to St Pete and then a little further South

14:30

in the Sarasota area , especially once you get down to saint

14:32

pete and then a little further south into sarasota . There's apparently an

14:34

island over there ami island , omni island

14:37

, amai , however , you say that that's supposed to be pretty

14:39

cool , is it on a marie island

14:41

? ami yes okay

14:43

so that's over in that area .

14:44

That is supposed to be really cool , but I don't

14:46

think that's an rv thing no that

14:49

is a leave your rv on mainland and go visit . I did when I did

14:51

a leave your RV on mainland and go visit and go visit .

14:52

I did when I did a quick little research on it . There is

14:54

an RV park not far off the island , on

14:57

the mainland , but the island itself there

14:59

are no RV sites but there are rental homes . I

15:01

believe there's a small boutique hotel , it's not a

15:03

big .

15:04

No , it's not big , but it's supposed to be just

15:06

beachy , totally relaxed

15:08

, family-oriented .

15:10

Yeah , lots of restaurants like mom-and-pop restaurants

15:12

, think , ice cream shops , that kind of stuff

15:15

.

15:15

Let's put that on the calendar for next year .

15:17

Just to take a little break and go over there .

15:19

Yeah , that sounds good .

15:20

What do we do with the dogs ?

15:22

I don't know that's next . You guys

15:24

want to watch them .

15:25

Yeah , we will pay you in

15:27

hugs . So another

15:30

little tidbit , and some people are going to

15:32

find this boring . But

15:34

Central Florida is also home to the Streamsong

15:36

Golf Resort . I did spend some time there

15:38

. You do fly into Tampa . It's about an hour

15:40

hour , hour and a half away from the Tampa Airport

15:43

. It's actually almost directly south of

15:45

Lakeland by about 30 or 40 minutes . Really

15:47

cool golf resort . A little pricey , but if you're

15:49

in the area and you want to play a cool round of golf by

15:52

some really famous designers , it

15:54

is a cool spot . I

15:56

don't know that I'd go out there just to play golf for the one

15:58

day . It's one of those things kind of take your guy friends

16:01

, make a weekend of it . But if

16:03

you happen to be in that area , you

16:05

can park the RV and then go down there

16:07

for a few days , hang out , play golf

16:09

, have some drinks , eat some dinners , that kind of stuff , and

16:11

then head back to the RV and get back on it Again

16:13

. That's assuming you're full-time . If you're part-time and

16:16

you're a golfer , just fly into it . But just

16:18

one of those things . That's another amenity , that's

16:20

right there .

16:23

I'll be on the beach Shocker .

16:25

So as far as the rest of central

16:27

Florida , it's

16:31

one of those unique things because if you move the

16:33

further East you move . It's a very different feel

16:35

. Very Cause there's not as much

16:38

to do . Like , obviously you get into Orlando

16:40

. In fact , let's we , we can talk about Orlando

16:42

a little bit more proper . Um , I've

16:45

been going to Orlando Well since I was a little kid , but

16:47

for the last 11

16:49

years now I've been going there at least

16:51

once a year . you haven't no um

16:54

, but it's a pga merchandise show is that

16:56

one of the largest convention centers the world is

16:58

called the orange county convention center . It

17:00

is in the city of orlando , um

17:02

, and that's in orange county and so I've

17:05

been going to that area for a long time . Obviously

17:08

you have your disney . We did a whole episode

17:10

on disney , we're not going to dive into that . A

17:12

little further North , in a town called Dr Phillips

17:14

right , kind of been near close to the airport

17:16

, you're going to have universal studios Florida

17:19

, which is comprised of

17:21

two theme parks about to be three

17:23

, they're about to open Epic universe and

17:26

one water park and then

17:28

an area they call city walk . It's kind of like Disneyney

17:30

springs as a reference point . So restaurant

17:32

shopping , entertainment , that kind of stuff . Um

17:35

, there are rv parks

17:37

up there near it kinda um

17:40

but again , there's nothing on site

17:42

, for universal universe is a little

17:44

bit more spread out , you know you when you talk about

17:46

disney . You hear people talk about the disney bubble . They

17:49

really want you to stay inside that bubble because then they

17:51

can control your visuals , the food

17:53

, everything . And so you have Fort Wilderness , which

17:55

is their main campground . Like I said , there's off-site campgrounds

17:58

that are a little less expensive , but now you're outside

18:00

that bubble At Universal Studios

18:02

for an RV . You don't really have that option . It's

18:04

off-site or nothing , or you have to get a hotel

18:06

room .

18:07

Hey Universal .

18:12

Hint , hint , hint , nudge , nudge . Well , I don't think they have room . They can find room . It's they are lacking

18:14

even their new theme park . Their third theme park's not actually attached to the other ones , it's not attached

18:16

to the main resort , and their two newest hotels aren't

18:19

either . So they're struggling over there . As far as

18:21

room , I think they're pretty much capped out yeah

18:23

, land as far as the rest

18:25

of orlando , there's still a ton of stuff . There's what they

18:27

call I drive . This is going to

18:29

be a little more niche-y

18:31

.

18:31

I don't even know the best Kitchy .

18:33

Kitchy . It's going to be things like the

18:35

Madame Tussauds Wax Museum .

18:37

Right .

18:38

They've got the big bungee swinger

18:40

flyer thingamajigger .

18:42

That is fun .

18:43

The Orlando Eye is there , which is their big Ferris

18:45

wheel , that kind of thing . There's

18:48

still a ton to do and you can get one of those like

18:50

passes that's what I was just gonna say

18:52

, yeah where you can do a bunch of that stuff at a one

18:54

fixed cost , and so from that

18:56

perspective it's kind of cool . Um , there's not

18:59

. The more in the downtown you get and this is true with most

19:01

cities , just like orlando the more downtown

19:03

you get , the less rv sites there are , or

19:05

the less rvs you want to actually

19:07

tell like I wouldn't imagine towing down , I driveDrive .

19:09

Oh my gosh . No , there's no way . I'd want

19:11

to do that . I barely want to drive down . I-drive sometimes

19:13

.

19:14

In fact , that's another thing I wouldn't .

19:16

Right .

19:17

It's just so traffic . It's not that it's bad .

19:19

I mean , the only thing I can equivalent

19:21

it to in my brain is like trying to drive down the strip

19:23

in Vegas . It's just so

19:25

traffic-y that it's

19:27

not worth it sometimes .

19:28

No , that's a good analogy . Just , the hotels aren't

19:30

as nice . Well , some of the

19:32

hotels aren't as nice . There's a few that are good . You're

19:35

also gonna have a top golf down there . You're gonna have a

19:37

ton of restaurants . Find

19:40

the local stuff . That's the only thing I'm going to tell you is . Like

19:42

you know there are . It's Orlando

19:45

. It's very commercialized with the theme

19:47

. When you get off property , every

19:49

chain restaurant and their brother has

19:51

a place there . Try

19:53

to find the off-the-beaten-path places

19:55

. Obviously , if you're staying at Disney or Universal

19:58

and you're eating there , it is what it is . Those

20:00

are technically chain places but because they're specific

20:03

to those parks , that's a little different . But

20:06

avoid the Chili's , that kind of stuff

20:08

. There's a place called Miller's Ale

20:10

. Oh , yeah , which I think they just call the ale

20:12

house . Um , I'm

20:14

trying to remember what people we know in the area have taught

20:17

me , which is not much , but what

20:19

?

20:21

ouch , no

20:24

, and I think last time we went we were in the area

20:26

trying to find it is kind of difficult

20:28

to find those mom and pops's places . We

20:31

ended up at a Carrabba's one night and it's

20:33

just kind of like you can get that anywhere

20:35

. Do try to find that local flavor

20:37

.

20:37

And if you are in your RV , just know that because

20:39

it's chains . I think if we had the choice between cooking

20:41

for ourselves or chains , we'd almost rather cook for ourselves

20:44

. Yeah , because at least now we're getting it the exact way

20:46

we want it and , to be honest

20:48

, I don't think we're bad at cooking , so that helps .

20:51

Very true .

20:52

So moving a little bit further east now and

20:54

this is where we get a little disclosure . This is mostly

20:56

research we've done . We have not spent a lot

20:58

of time east of Orlando

21:00

, but one of the most popular reasons

21:02

there's really two big ones that people

21:04

go from Orlando and east .

21:09

I know that the drive is only about 45

21:12

minutes to an hour to the coast from like downtown Orlando

21:15

. Do you know what the two are ? Well , I was hoping you were going

21:17

to say the cruise port because I would like to experience that one .

21:18

What's the other one ? We're going to come back to that . You got one space center .

21:20

Yeah , you got them .

21:23

Science and cruising which

21:25

, I'll be honest , I , like you said

21:27

you know there are a bunch of ports all

21:29

around Florida , the largest being the Port of Miami

21:31

because it's close to the Keys and

21:33

the Bahamas and

21:35

everything else . The second largest

21:38

is actually Cape Canaveral , so it's the home

21:40

of Disney Cruise Line , carnival , royal

21:42

Caribbean and Norwegian . All have cruise ports

21:44

there . Then you also have the

21:47

cruise port in Tampa . They

21:50

only service , I believe , carnival

21:52

and Norwegianian , and it's smaller terminals

21:54

. The the channel is not

21:56

as big there so they can't get the bigger ships in , so

21:58

a lot of the bigger ships stay in miami or in

22:00

cape canaveral . So , with

22:03

that being said , the cruise port there . So that's

22:05

a big reason , especially for disney . Disney

22:07

also has disney cruise and so there's a lot

22:09

of people that will take a

22:11

longer vacation and they

22:13

will do a stay

22:15

at Universal Studios .

22:18

No , they won't . They'll stay at .

22:19

Walt Disney World and then they'll jump on a ship . So they'll

22:22

do like four or five days in the parks

22:24

and then they'll do like a three or four night cruise

22:26

and some people that do more . They'll do

22:28

more on one end or the other , or they'll do seven night

22:30

or whatever . Does

22:34

Disney still have like the transport that goes helps you get from one to the other ? They

22:36

do . It's a secondary charge and so if you have reservations , they used

22:38

to sell land and sea packages they

22:40

don't sell them together like that anymore , but

22:43

you can still make them yourself , so like

22:45

if you find a cruise you want to do , then you

22:47

can book your walt disney world stay before or after

22:49

. I think what was happening is they were flooding

22:51

the parks too much Because they always did

22:53

pre or post , and I think they just said and some people

22:55

wanted to change stuff and they just said you know , we're going

22:58

to stop bundling it and we'll just let

23:00

you do this , and if you do that , you can

23:02

book the Disney Cruise Line transportation

23:04

to pick you up from your hotel . The cool thing

23:06

about that is they will

23:08

pick you up from your hotel but they will also take

23:10

your bags from you there all the way to your stateroom

23:13

. Oh , yeah , okay , and so kind of like what the Magical

23:15

Express used to do .

23:16

Oh , back in the good old days .

23:17

Right , which , if you're not familiar with that , it

23:21

was a bus service that Disney owned that would pick you up at the airport . But when you checked

23:23

your bags in your

23:25

home airport , you would put your own

23:27

tag on it from disney and it was marked a certain

23:29

way and they had their own baggage

23:32

handlers I'm not really sure the term that would get

23:35

it and then take it to the park . So you never had to go

23:37

to baggage claim to pick up your stuff . You just

23:39

magically went to your hotel room . It took some

23:41

time , it wasn't just instant .

23:42

I mean , you'd be there for three or four hours no

23:45

, but you didn't have to wait at bag baggage claim you got

23:47

to go get on the bus and everybody sang mickey

23:49

songs and it was an experience

23:51

it was bring back the magical express

23:53

well , and what I think they're trying to do

23:56

is there's a there's a company called bright

23:58

line which is a train service line .

24:00

Uh , there's a high-speed train now that connects miami

24:02

, fort lauderdale and cape canaveral , and

24:05

they just expanded into orlando . Good

24:07

, so the train track only goes as far as the airport

24:09

at the moment . So so if you are cruising

24:11

out of Cape Canaveral and you don't have

24:13

your RV and you fly into MCO or

24:15

the International Airport in Orlando , you

24:17

can actually jump on the Brightline train and go right to

24:20

down there and then you can

24:22

take a bus or an Uber to your hotel or

24:24

to the cruise terminal , depending on where you're going

24:26

and when you got there and all that kind of stuff . As

24:32

long as I play Disney music and we get to sing the whole way , I'm good Headphones

24:34

and a sound booth . So Cape

24:37

Canaveral obviously is a big cruise port

24:39

. All of those cruises you can catch there . I know

24:41

that there's some RV parks that do allow storage

24:44

they actually specialize in that stuff to where you

24:46

can suck your slides in and you can still power , but

24:48

you're not on sewer water . It's

24:55

a lot less expensive than a full site and they're a lot smaller , obviously , but you can store your rv

24:57

there while you go , which is a really cool thing , because not always do you want to rent a whole site

24:59

for a week while you're on a cruise , kind of thing , right ? Um

25:01

, assuming you don't have dogs and have to board

25:03

them , and all that too . Um , the

25:06

other thing that they're most well known for is the kennedy

25:08

space center , so this is where NASA

25:10

has done most of their launches

25:13

, all the way back to the Mercury

25:15

missions , which is pre the Apollo

25:17

moon landings and all that stuff . So this

25:20

, combined with the Johnson Space Center in

25:22

Houston , make up most

25:24

of NASA . They also

25:26

now lease land out to

25:28

SpaceX as well as other individual

25:32

companies . So if you ever hear of like a Falcon

25:34

10 heavy rocket that

25:36

launches or the Starlink satellites

25:38

that launch , this is where they launch from

25:40

. There is also the Johnson

25:42

Space Center Visitor Center , so they'll

25:45

take you through all the stuff . They have the rocket

25:47

park . Both versions of the space centers

25:49

in Houston and Cape Canaveral have this . Obviously

25:53

, in Houston , that's where mission command

25:56

, mission control the people

25:58

that are in charge of the mission , mission control , mission

26:00

control is , and so the launches and

26:02

everything else is down in Cape Canaveral , so they're a little different

26:04

.

26:04

And we did get to look at the one in Houston .

26:07

We did .

26:07

And I will say that , if the one in

26:09

Florida is comparable or even

26:11

better , it's a really neat experience

26:13

and it's something you don't see anywhere else , I

26:15

believe it's better because the facility is just larger and

26:17

you actually get to go , assuming there's no launches .

26:19

You actually get to go to the launch pads where

26:22

the Apollo missions took off and

26:24

see that stuff , and then they have more

26:26

of the things that actually went

26:28

to space . I mean , don't get me wrong , they

26:30

have plenty of it down here too , but because

26:33

a lot of it landed here , like all the

26:35

space shuttles , this is where they landed was Cape Canaveral

26:37

, and so you know they have their own

26:39

shuttle . I believe Atlantis is the one that's on

26:41

display there .

26:42

And admittedly I am a nerd , but

26:44

I'm not a space nerd , and I found it really

26:47

neat .

26:47

Yeah , I think it's one of those things that I don't

26:49

know , that I'd drive all the way from Orlando just for the

26:51

Space Center , but if we were doing a cruise

26:54

, I

26:56

think I would .

26:57

I really thought it was that once in a lifetime I'm

27:00

not a space nerd but I would drive an hour

27:02

just to do this . Facts

27:05

.

27:08

The way I would do it personally is , if we were going to do

27:10

a cruise , I'd go a full day early , kind of

27:12

like what we did . So we took an Alaskan cruise

27:14

and we wanted to see Seattle Spoiler

27:16

. We didn't care for it Not that we

27:18

don't dislike Seattle , but it just wasn't

27:20

our cup of tea . We went out

27:23

a full day and a half early , so we

27:25

landed . We had the whole next day and then the

27:27

next morning we got on the ship , so we had a whole , or

27:34

you know a few days at Disney .

27:37

That's more like it .

27:38

Then take the train over , because that sounds like more fun

27:40

than a bus .

27:41

There we go .

27:42

And then you know , I don't know how long the

27:45

Kennedy Space Center and all

27:47

that stuff would take .

27:50

So let us plan your vacations and let

27:52

us live vicariously through you .

27:55

Or we could just go do it .

27:57

All right , what else on on

28:00

that side ?

28:00

So as far as the rest of central Florida

28:02

, you know it's without

28:05

getting into like Everglades national park and

28:07

a lot of things that are South Key West and all those things

28:09

, without going too far North . Just

28:11

know when you get there Florida is big

28:14

Like you don't realize how big Florida is

28:16

you ? don't realize it . Yeah , I

28:20

know we're kind of coming back to travel , just think of it as a full circle thing

28:22

. But it's funny because you cross that , the

28:26

border near Alabama , georgia and all that into the well for us coming from Texas up

28:29

in the Panhandle and you're like we're in Florida

28:31

and then you have another day and a half of driving

28:33

to get to Central Florida , because it's

28:36

for us it was six hours across

28:38

Florida and followed by another four hours South

28:40

of Florida , and so there's

28:43

not , it's . It's kind

28:45

of like Texas . Texas in that way is

28:47

depending on where you enter and exit the state . You

28:49

can be there for a day and a half , especially with an RV

28:52

.

28:52

Even longer in Texas . But yeah , you can .

28:54

You can be there for a long time , and so it's everybody

28:56

thinks that Texas is this state

28:58

and everything out .

28:59

East is kind of smaller , compact and it is

29:01

on the average florida's , not that

29:03

well , and I think it's because also you enter

29:05

through that panhandle so you have to drive all the way through

29:07

it . People that are coming from the north wouldn't have to necessarily

29:10

drive in that same way , but there

29:12

was one thing that we didn't talk about , okay , and

29:15

I figured this wasn't on your radar , so I I'm surprising

29:17

you with this , and this is something that I

29:19

want to do one of the times that we

29:21

are in Central Florida . Send help , yes

29:24

, because it's a protected

29:27

event , and I'm not sure where

29:29

else in the world that you can do this . I

29:31

want to swim with the manatees .

29:34

You can swim with them .

29:35

Yes .

29:35

For some reason I thought you could go with them and you could kayak around , but you couldn't

29:37

swim with them . Yes , for some reason I thought you could go with them and you could kayak around , but

29:40

you couldn't swim .

29:40

Well , maybe you can kayak with them . I want to .

29:41

I want to be in the water with the manatees that

29:44

is something that there's a lot , and there is another thing we're

29:46

going to talk about , too , that I also forgot about

29:48

oh yeah so yeah , obviously

29:51

a lot of places in florida the

29:53

water stays warm in the winter and

29:55

so a lot of sea life migrates there

29:58

from the north , and manatees being one of them . As

30:00

the gulf gets cooler and the areas that they're

30:02

in , they swim to all the little inlets that

30:04

stay warmer and they kind of hang out in there

30:06

in the summer yes , but they are

30:08

protected and you can't just jump in and

30:10

swim with them , and so there are certain dedicated

30:13

programs .

30:13

Please don't just jump in and pet the manatees like a a spider

30:15

monkey . So that's my

30:18

disclaimer , but there

30:20

are certain programs and

30:22

places that will

30:24

guide you with that .

30:25

So , depending on where you're staying , just know , you could probably

30:27

just Google it and find a whole bunch more information

30:30

than I currently have Between an hour and two

30:32

from where we were staying . Yeah , so

30:34

, in addition to that , if you are into

30:37

horses and all that stuff , ocala is

30:39

a little bit of a capital of that .

30:41

It sure is . There's the World Equestrian

30:43

Center and , fun fact , they have RV parking

30:45

and , depending on the event

30:47

that is or isn't going on , you can

30:49

park there if you're not attending the horse show . And

30:51

my understanding is it's pretty reasonable

30:53

, concrete sites , easy to get in and out of .

30:56

I think , and it seemed to be pretty open In

31:03

fact , fact when we were coming down . I know that you said they had availability . Yeah

31:05

, we're coming down , we just wanted to get further , so I'll call us . Still is another hour and a half ish from where we were trying

31:07

to land , and so we wanted to keep coming down

31:09

south towards orlando plus fort

31:12

world and this disney world . Come on yeah , and I

31:14

think they were actually comparably priced when

31:16

we got down to it the world equestrian

31:18

center versus the fort but I do think

31:20

where you can get have an advantage if you're trying

31:22

to find a last minute spot in central

31:25

florida , especially in the winter is that I think a lot of

31:27

people assume that you have to be showing a horse right

31:29

part of world equestrian . That's not necessarily

31:32

the case . Now they do hold sites for

31:34

special events because obviously , like

31:36

if we were going to a horse show there with st Stella and

31:39

we would need a site they can't just get like if we don't

31:41

know we're coming till three weeks prior , they

31:43

still have to have somewhere for us to stay , but anything

31:45

they don't . It's supposedly a very large RV park

31:48

and so they'd still have quite

31:50

a few sites . So Again , for the price

31:52

, it's more of an availability

31:54

situation .

31:55

It is and it's not going to be a resort . It's not going

31:57

to be amenities , anything like that . It's full hookups

32:00

. But you're not going to find a restaurant on

32:02

site necessarily , and it's

32:04

not going to have a pool , that sort of stuff .

32:05

So compared to other equestrian facilities

32:08

it's amazing , it's top notch . Like

32:10

the one we're currently at . We said in our intro just a little

32:12

bit . We're on a gravel site

32:14

and of course it's about to start raining , which means we're going to be on a

32:16

mud site . Yes , we

32:18

don't have sewer , so

32:20

they do pump outs , and we do have water and electric , which

32:22

, at the end of the day , is fine .

32:23

And no Wi-Fi here .

32:25

No , yeah , there's no Wi-Fi , there's no clubhouse

32:27

. In fact , there's probably only about 20 RVs

32:30

, trailers right

32:32

over there . But again , it's about where you are

32:34

and if , if you're showing a horse , being able to be

32:36

on property and it's the same for world equestrian that's

32:38

, the priority is being able to be close to your animals

32:41

so that you don't have to drive in 30 minutes

32:43

check them , because there's some mornings that trainers

32:45

and grooms will get up at 5 00 am oh

32:47

yeah and be down there to check on them everybody and

32:49

then be ready to show by 7 , 30 or 8 . And

32:51

then the flip side that they won't be done , showing until

32:54

5 , 6 , 7 , sometimes later in

32:56

certain scenarios , so they might not be out of there until

32:58

10 o'clock .

32:59

I was going to say we'll do a night check around 10

33:01

o'clock and then a lot of the grooms are back there 5

33:03

or 6 .

33:04

And so being on site is a big deal , so not to bore

33:06

you with horse show stuff , but it's the reality

33:08

of our life .

33:09

That's right .

33:16

So that's going to the area . Please know that we really meant this to be combined with our

33:18

disney world and fort wilderness . There's just so much

33:20

into those two places , even

33:23

though they're in one place . It's

33:26

like an inception moment , um um

33:29

that you know . We obviously cover

33:31

central floor in this one . So if you're curious more

33:33

about walt disney world or rving at disney or

33:36

staying at fort williams , make sure and check out those two podcasts

33:38

from last week

33:40

in the week prior that's right , and if you have any questions

33:43

, feel free to reach out and let us know also

33:45

this is coming out early enough now if you

33:47

are going to be coming to the 2024

33:50

alliance national rally in indiana , we would

33:52

like to hear from you .

33:53

Yes , yes , please .

33:55

We are more

33:57

than likely I almost don't want to say

33:59

this doing at least one live

34:01

podcast from there some way somehow

34:04

.

34:05

Well , that sounds like a good plan . I'm

34:07

excited for all those details .

34:09

The problem is I haven't been given those details

34:11

, so I

34:14

just know we've been asked to do it . I said we'd

34:16

love to do a podcast . This

34:18

is not florida harvey super

34:20

show situation . We're doing three a day , we're

34:23

gonna do one , we will do it live and

34:25

I'm we're gonna do something a little bit different . We want

34:27

it to be more of a listener q

34:29

a style show . So what we want

34:32

is , if you are coming to the national rally , reach

34:34

out to us . We'll let you know as soon as

34:36

we know what time and where on the grounds

34:38

we're going to be , and we're actually

34:40

going to have mics set up in the audience so you can come up and

34:43

ask questions , and we're going to get a handful

34:45

of people to come have the show with us , like

34:48

some people from Alliance and maybe

34:50

some other friends that happen to be in the area as

34:52

well . I know Matt's going to be there .

34:59

And allies , with you guys being there . If you have a topic you want us to cover , make sure to let

35:01

us know , or ?

35:01

a guest Ahead of time , if you have a specific guest you'd like us to chat

35:03

with at the show . It's going

35:06

to be one of our longer shows , probably close to

35:08

45 minutes to an hour .

35:09

Last time you said that we were in here for nearly two hours

35:11

.

35:12

It happens , that's

35:14

.

35:14

Phil's fault .

35:18

I'm jumping on the bandwagon . That's phil's fault ? No , we do , and that's

35:21

that's some of the best podcasts we've had is

35:23

when those conversations can just go so we

35:25

love it . Just know that that can be a longer one

35:27

, and the best part is we get to hang out

35:29

with everybody , like you guys . If you're

35:31

going to be there , just know if you don't

35:34

have tickets already . The national rally it is sold out . There is a waiting list . You can get to be there . Just know if you don't have tickets

35:36

already . The national rally it is sold out . There is a waiting list you can get on , but there's

35:38

no guarantees you'll get in . Also , for future

35:40

reference , if you'd like to come and you don't own Alliance

35:43

and you're thinking about buying an Alliance , you

35:45

can come on Um . They do

35:47

have a what they call other brands um

35:49

category , which is essentially

35:51

where you can come . You have your own lot , and so whether

35:54

you have well , it doesn't matter what brand any other

35:56

brand any other you can still come experience

35:58

it that's what I did last year and

36:00

just know that it's a very welcoming community

36:03

of people , so it really doesn't matter what rv you have

36:05

they'll , they'll welcome you with open arms you

36:07

got it thank you guys , so

36:10

much for listening , as always . A big thanks

36:12

to the team over at matt's RV Reviews and

36:14

Liquified for sponsoring

36:16

the podcast .

36:17

Yes , thank you so much .

36:18

And we will catch you guys next week .

36:20

Bye you .