Where to start? That holiday was well needed. It didn’t quite blow me away but it definitely took the edge off of what was starting to boil at work. Seven nights in Orlando without a single drop of sunscreen and I return unburned and sweetly tanned; at least on the visible parts.

It was the first time I had flown on an aeroplane since my last holiday, which was all the way back in 1998. Damn – was so close to being able to tell people that I haven’t had a holiday in 10 years. It was exactly how I remembered it – cramped and long. The flight out took off at 12:50 local time and was actually fairly comfortable. A good book and Blades of Glory kept me entertained for most of it. The food wasn’t half bad either. The dessert was a little chocolate mousse that was heaven in a pot.

The weather on arrival was dismal with thunderous showers all night but thankfully that was the worst of it. Florida showers fall hard and fast and without warning. Although they were prevalent during our stay they were few and far between and short lived.

It felt great to finally find our apartment – a small one bedroom apartment, with kitchen/lounge area and two showers and toilets. Boy did those come in handy. I had the luxury of sleeping on the bed sofa, which was actually pretty nice. Besides from the easiest to stow and unstow mechanism I have ever seen, it was comfy. Going in October, the temperature was just right, low humidity kept the air from delivering that sticky feeling and we hardly touched the aircon.

On day one, I chose Disney’s MGM studios as the first park to pay a visit to. The decision was based on simple logic. We had been on American soil less than 24 hours, much of which had been spent travelling and getting our wits and MGM was a good, easy paced introductory park. Unfortunately it turned out to be a little too easy paced. It seemed so much better as a kid. The Great Movie Ride has lost all of its flair despite being totally unchanged in all the years passed. Star Tours is still pretty good but simply way too short. The only ride worth going for was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, which still packed a whole lot of awesomeness. Had we gone in August when the temperatures sour and there are actual queues before riding, I would have been seriously pissed. As it was, the dead park allowed us to walk on and off whatever we wanted – something I would never ever thought we’d be able to do at Disney. This was great in that we could do all we wanted, but terrible in that we had done all we wanted by 11am. No joke. Even riding the Tower of Terror a third time became a little boring.

On Day Two it was time to kick things up a notch at Universal Resorts. What we knew commonly to be Universal Studios has been extended to include Islands of Adventure and City Walk. Islands of Adventure is a separate park and City Walk is Universals answer to Downtown Disney; a promenade of shops, clubs and restaurants. Universal was pretty good. Jaws and E.T are the only true classics that remain. For some crazy reasons they have gotten rid of King Kong and Back to the Future. Not to worry too much though, because in their place are the new Mummy and Men in Black rides. The Mummy is a wicked indoor and underground rollercoaster and Men in Black is a training ride where you get to shoot stuff! I sucked the first time round with a meagre score of around 25,000 but after a few practice rounds I was up to 290,000. Turns out it pays to shoot a lot of aliens a few times and not a few aliens a lot of times. Kicking everyone else in the cars ass made this my new favourite ride.

That same day we paid a visit to Islands of Adventure as our tickets allowed us unlimited access to Universal Resorts on any three days within one week of purchase. This park was totally new to us and very cool. The Hulk rollercoaster was gnarly, but the less pimped Duelling Dragons coaster was where it was out. Must have ridden these six or seven times each, maybe more. Spiderman was also cool and different to most other stuff out there. The log flume and river rapids added some much needed refreshment that didn’t dry out anywhere near as fast as I’d like. Walking around in wet underwear is not pleasant.

The few hours on Day 2 were nowhere near enough time to cover all that was there so on Day 3 we came straight back and did all we could. The Dr Seuss ride totally sucked but you have to try it to know. We also finally managed to get my mum to ride a coaster; something she’d was determined to do but scared witless about. Amazingly she plucked up the courage to ride the Dragons, which was no small feat, but said she was so ridged with fear that she barely experienced it. It did unlock the door to bigger things though..

On Day 4 we drove to Busch Gardens in Tampa, which is where things really got interesting. The Kumba and Montu have gotten new brothers and a sister. These awesome metal rollercoasters are now accompanied by two wooden coasters that are the Gwazi Lion and Tiger and a new vertical drop coaster called Sheikra. It’s been a very, very long time since I’ve ridden a wooden coaster – so much so that I don’t remember when or where that may have been, or even if it has been, so riding these was fantastic. The back seat shakes you around so much that you need 10 minutes to recover from the headache before getting back on. The Sheikra simply kicked ass. I mean my freaking God. I’ve seen the one at Alton Towers on the TV and thought it looked cool but if that was half as good as this then it is worth going to. Like the ride there, this one suspends you for a few brief moments perched at the tip of the summit before dropping in a vertical freefall. You literally fall out of your seat with only the shoulder braces keeping you from plunging to certain death. The freefall part is over in just a few seconds but they are a fantastic few seconds. Although you don’t get the amazing visual at the back as you do at the front as you hang in suspended animation looking directly at the floor in front of you, but you do get the cool sensation of being pulled over the edge by the people in front of you, which adds a cheap thrill. It’s a tough call to say which my favourite ride is now. Whereas before it would probably have been the Montu; an intense suspended rollercoaster, now it’s a close three way tie between that, Sheikra and Men in Black. I could easily ride all three of them, all day.

I could have probably gone to Busch Gardens every day we were there but it was a bit out the way and quite expensive. On Day 5, it made sense to get that third day in at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios, where we rode all the good rides again.

The only let downs of the trip were a little bit of bickering between parent one and parent two, and letting my mobile phone slip from my pocket as the Hulk shot up its incline. Damn. The headache of having lost the thing in the first place is followed by the headache of choosing a replacement.

Can’t really comment too much on the food as it mainly consisted of crap. Burger King a couple of times, Pizza Hut, Denny’s and Sizzler together with a variety selection of hoagie roles from several of the abundantly placed Publix supermarkets.

Day 6 was largely used for window shopping. There were only a couple of gifts to buy, much less than previous trips. Shopping is a bad idea at the best of situations. The prices out there are not as good as you might expect, even after currency conversions. IPods’ worked out at about £30 to £40 cheaper than here in the UK, and the American’s have a weird habit of not including tax on their display prices. If it says $9.99 on the label, a $10 dollar bill is not enough. You’re more likely looking at closer to $11, which seems really weird. American TV would have you believe what you see is what you pay – I don’t remember any of the friends getting their calculators out to add on the extra.

The return journey was nowhere near as easy as the outbound. Trying to sleep in economy class on the red eye flight is painful, and we were caught in some serious jams on the M40 heading back to Birmingham from London Gatwick. Finally arriving home was sweet as, and it’s taken about 36 more hours to fully recover and return to UK body clocks, but it’s good to be home.