Ziplining over gators, airboats through swamps and lunch with astronauts
I don't wish to gloat, but as I write this I am sitting on the balcony of my hotel in Orlando , Florida having just returned from another wild day of fun in the Sunshine State. It is 28 degrees at 9pm and the kids are having one last swim in the pool before we leave the city at the crack of dawn tomorrow.
Like tens of thousands of Irish holidaymakers every summer, we have taken the plunge and invested in the core-memory-making trip of a lifetime.
This week we are in Universal Studios (staying in one of their hotels) and the package came with three days of park tickets.
That means we have had four days to explore the city and its surrounding area, and to our pleasant surprise there are loads of amazing things to do once you venture outside the gates of one of the planet's most popular theme parks.
I had done a lot of research in advance of this trip (outlet shopping, Kennedy Space Centre and various themed restaurants were on our to-do list) but even I didn't have ziplining over a lake full of alligators, a gigantic Penneys (I'm not joking), feeding capybaras, eating in the world's biggest McDonald's and sitting on an airboat doing 50km/h through Floridian marshlands on my summer holiday bingo card.
Florida has always been a hit with Irish tourists, but I am here to say it is OK to venture outside the theme parks and explore.
Check out visitorlando.com for all of these and more to help you plan your trip, and follow @VisitOrlando on socials.
The Keanys up close and personal with alligators at Gator Land
Gator Land Moments after meeting the iconic Brandon Fisher at his spiritual home at Gator Land, he has thrust a baby alligator into our 11-year-old's hand as she is told to 'hold it like a remote control'. It's only 9am and little did we know that the Gator Land experience is so much more than just an elaborate zoo.
Moments later we are being fitted for harnesses because we have booked in for a ziplining experience like no other. Dangling 50ft over a gator-riddled lake while your family laugh and mock you was not on our summer holiday to-do list but having completed the five exhilarating ziplines I am here to tell you it is an absolute must-do activity.
There is also offroading through the swamp lands, and the zoo area has other animals like adorable capybaras, colourful parrots, cheeky monkeys, sleepy foxes and giant turtles. Throw in some play areas and Instagrammable walkways and you have yourself an incredible day out.
gatorland.com
Sarah and Daragh at the impressive Kennedy Space Centre
Kennedy Space Centre Nothing says America quite like a gigantic real-life shuttle and a meet-and-greet with an astronaut who had four space flights across his illustrious career. The beauty of this Space Centre is that, while parts of it are VERY interactive, most of it is self-guided, meaning you can enjoy at your own pace.
Team Keany spent six amazing hours at the unique location that gives patrons exclusive access to some of the world's most impressive space vehicles.
It also tells the story of the space race in the 1960s (I learned more in 10 minutes at KSC than three years of Junior Cert history) with so many fun twists that even the kids were completely enthralled.
Throw in a VR simulator, a warehouse-size playground, real life rockets, real life astronauts, a gorgeous restaurant and playful science experiments to take part in throughout the vast site and you could easily spend days here and still not get to it all.
Single-day admission is $77 per adult/$67 per child plus tax, and the 2-day ticket is $91 per adult/$81 per child. The Chat With An Astronaut is offered twice daily at 10am and 2pm. Tickets are additional $50 per adult/$35 per child (price includes meal and drinks as well as a commemorative gift and signed portrait of the astronaut.
See kennedyspacecenter.com for deals and packages.
Wild Florida airboats
Wild Florida 45 minutes south of Orlando and perched on the east shore of Cypress Lake is an estate known as Wild Florida.
I am not going to lie to you. The draw of this spot was the fact that they host airboat rides on the marshes around the edge of the lake. Ever since I gorged on Police Academy 5: Mission to Miami I have wanted to go on one of the propeller boats so I signed us up immediately. It was everything we had hoped for and we even got to ride alongside gators in the river and even crept up on a mum who was minding her babies in the wild.
We also took some time to take in the exotic zoo that has sloths, porcupines, lemurs, capybaras and lots of other gators before we did their other big draw — the self-guided drive-through safari. We genuinely lost count of all the animals we got to see in the wild as I sauntered around the incredible site at 5mph for over an hour. We absolutely adored this and would highly recommend.
wildfloridairboats.com
Shopping at the Premium Outlets
Shopping I challenge anyone to land into the Sunshine State and not visit the various malls and outlet stores. While the discounts may not be as drastically different these days compared to the 1990s and 2000s, there are still loads of bargains to be had. Plus, there is a thrill from stepping inside stores that simply don't exist here in Ireland.
Shares in Sephora went through the roof on our holiday as my daughters finally got to darken the door of the makeup mecca. High end runners were purchased for around €80 compared to the €125 asking price here. And three hours were lost in Super Target on one fun evening as Team Keany splurged on American clothing and food items like we were about to spend a month in a bomb shelter.
We spent most of our first day at The Premium Outlets on International Drive enjoying shops like Nike, Urban Outfitters, Under Armour, Victoria's Secret, American Eagle, GAP, Oakley and Old Navy.
Even stores like Walgreen, Walmart and CVS are exciting to first-time tourists in Orlando and don't be shocked if you find yourself caught by the deals at gimmicky shops like Sun-Sational or Alvin's Island. To be honest, I found it hard to say no based on the offers we stumbled on. Think Carroll's of Dublin x 100.
Chloe, Mia and Daragh shopping at Penneys in Florida Mall
Penneys You can take the Paddies out of Ireland but…
If you find yourself at the very impressive Florida Mall you will be pleasantly surprised to know that Penneys has recently taken one of the prime spots there.
Sitting in among a giant Sephora store, a bonkers Tesla showroom that has working robots, a Pandora store that requires queueing to get into and every other major brand you can think of (all in beautifully air conditioned thoroughfares by the way) is the newest Penneys on the planet.
Of course, this being America, it has to have a twists on the norm so they have laid out everything on the ground floor that you would normally associate with the brand but if you venture up the escalator you will be greeted by an entire floor dedicated to Disney merch.
So if you are planning on heading to Disney World and are fretting about the cost of onsite t-shirts and ears, then head to Penneys on Orange Blossom Trail first. The goods may be different here but the prices aren't, which came as a massive welcome relief on the three-week trip.
Mia and her US-sized portion of CheeseBalls
Food When your daughters are almost as excited to try a corndog or a Slurpy from 7-Eleven as they are about visiting theme parks and outlet malls you know there is something wrong.
But over the course of nearly three weeks we set about trying a long to-do list of American eateries. Top of the tried and tested list was Chick-Fil-A followed by Wing Stop, Raising Canes and Texas Roadhouse. Crumbl Cookie and Cheese Balls definitely lived up to expectations but the fun Shrekzel at Universal Studios fell short (yes, I know this was technically inside the gates) — but nothing was as disappointing as our visit to the World's Biggest McDonald's.
Biggest does not mean 'best' in this situation. In fact, it was the closest thing to hell we experienced on our entire trip. Give yourself an added 30 minutes to find parking. And don't expect normal queue systems and etiquette to be upheld by the patrons. Oh and if you like fizz in your drinks you should probably avoid too.
TOP RENT A CAR TIP: To venture outside the theme parks regularly, consider renting a car.
If you do, make sure you download the 'Visitor Toll Pass' app and get a card from one of the booths in Orlando airport before collecting your rental car.
It is strictly for use within Florida's borders and offers users discounts on every single toll in Florida. I needed one for two whole weeks and will have clocked up nearly 3,000km by the time I hand it back next week, so it saved me a fortune. I also really enjoyed telling the Enterprise Rental lady a 'hard no' when she tried to upsell their 'Toll Package'.
It comes in way cheaper overall and allows you to opt out of your rental company's toll package!
You're welcome!
Sarah, Chloe, Mia and Daragh at Kennedy Space Centre
FACTFILE: ORLANDO
■ For excursions and attraction planning log onto VisitOrlando.com ■ American Holidays have a series of deals and offers for trips (including hotels, flights and attractions) to the USA. Check out AmericanHolidays.com ■ While in Orlando, Daragh was a guest of Universal Studios. See universalorlando.com
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Life on the road was a mixture of good fun and hard work. Depending on the tour, Mullally and McCarthy would sometimes be living on the crew's bus, or other times driving to venues themselves. Of course there were some late nights and partying along the way, but the Oasis entourage also had a serious work ethic. 'If everybody knew that did a couple of days off, then there might be a big party and a bit of a blowout. But a lot of the time, people were up early to get set up at the next venue, and working long hours through the day. You wouldn't have been able to do your job if you were partying all the time,' says Mullally, now working at the Everyman theatre in Cork. 'People got on very well on tour. You knew you just couldn't be invading people's private space or doing the langer in any way.' The band themselves travelled in a different bus, but both Mullally and McCarthy recall the Gallagher brothers as being down-to-earth lads who were always pleasant to deal with. 'I think because we were Irish, that helped too,' says Mullally. 'Yes,' agrees McCarthy. 'I even remember Noel joking with us about Taytos and Tanora!' He does recall a friendly disagreement before a gig in Bournemouth when Liam Gallagher fancied his footwear. 'We had this Dutch driver who used to come every week delivering merchandise, and he used to sell Adidas off the back of the truck. I'd bought this pair of orange Adidas. Liam collected Adidas trainers. He was like 'I'm having your trainers.' And I was going no, and he was like '100 quid!'.' While it was predominantly merchandise that kept Mullally and McCarthy involved with Oasis, they also dropped a load of equipment for the band to Rockfield Studios in 1995. Those sessions at the Welsh studio would of course spawn (What's the Story) Morning Glory?,the second album that would propel the band to stratospheric levels of popularity. On the road, part of the Cork duo's job was dealing with the increasing amount of bootleggers who were selling unofficial merchandise near the venues. 'We'd go out to chat to them, and then of course it'd turn out that a lot of them were friends of the Gallaghers from Manchester,' says Mullally. 'They were mostly nice guys so you'd just ask them to push back a bit – 'Just go down to the end of the road to sell your stuff'.' The mid-1990s was an era when everything was paid for in cash. This meant the two Cork lads would sometimes end up with tens of thousands worth of banknotes in cardboard boxes or plastic bags in the back of the truck or in a hotel after a gig. Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis arriving at Cork Airport in 1996. Picture: Dan Linehan An event like Knebworth in 1996 – when Oasis played to 250,000 people across two days – created even more issues. 'A few times a day we used to do a cash-run to get the money off the stall. Somebody would come along with a backpack and we'd stuff it with maybe 10 grand in notes," says Mullally. "You'd try to be as inconspicuous as you could walking through the crowd with that on your back, hoping that nobody comes at you.' Knebworth had 'proper' security vans taking the cash from the event HQ, but Mullally recalls the earlier days when himself and his co-worker would have to bank the money. 'You can imagine with all the stuff that was going on at the time, and two Irish guys coming into the bank with 20 grand in cash, sometimes even in deutsche marks if we were after a European tour. They'd be looking at you strangely, and you know that they're just about to push a button. But they might make a few phonecalls or whatever and we'd eventually get it done.' Knebworth is widely regarded as the high point for the band, but McCarthy also has particularly warm memories of the gig they played in his hometown just a few days later. 'I couldn't believe they were actually playing in Cork at that stage,' he says. He drove the truck from the UK via the Holyhead ferry, but as he arrived at Páirc Uí Chaoimh ahead of schedule, they wouldn't let him into the arena. Wary of leaving a truck full of merchandise parked around the city, McCarthy drove it to the seaside village of Crosshaven. 'When I got there I decided I'd leave it at the carpark at Graball Bay. I didn't even know if it'd fit up the hill but I just about managed it,' he recalls. When he went back later that evening to check everything was ok, there was a big crowd of children gathered around the emblazoned truck. 'There was a big mystery in Cork about where the Gallaghers were staying, and the word had gone around that this was their truck. One of the kids asked me 'Are Liam and Noel coming out to play?' I had to shoo them away.' Oasis merchandise has become an even bigger business since the 1990s. Picture: Lucy North/PA Those two Cork gigs were among the final dealings McCarthy had with Oasis. He has since moved to Sweden, where he teaches English, but regularly returns to the merchandising world for tours with various other bands. He's happy the Gallagher brothers are back together, and realises he was part of something special in the 1990s. 'It's hard to explain people the energy in the UK that the Britpop thing had. Musically, I didn't think it was the greatest, but the energy was phenomenal,' says McCarthy. ' I think at the time, the Indie scene was very middle class. But then along came Oasis. We probably didn't realise we were living in a golden era, but we had the time of our lives.'
