Wednesday 28th

Lazed around the resort today, because we don't have a car it is a bit difficult to get around. Sorted out about the Disney tickets, when we booked the trip we had the option of 2 tickets or 7 days car hire, when we arrived the had changed it to $150 towards tickets which would have left us $70 out of pocket. Following a bit of a discussion they have agreed to give us 2 tickets to Disney Magic Kingdom on Friday.

Tuesday 27th

Today we travelled from New York to Orlando, it was up early as we were being picked up by the shuttle at 7.30am. It was an uneventful flight, we had to wait again for the shuttle and we drove through an afternoon storm on the way to the resort.

Our room in the resort is very nice, plenty of room. We went and had a swim and pizza for tea.

Monday 26th

New York - Day 5

Last day before we fly to Orlando, we were thinking of going to Cooney Island but found out it is now only open on weekends and takes about 1 hour on the subway to get there.

We decided to take the ferry to Staten Island after we did some late minute shopping, we took the subway which we have now mastered and found the Wall Street bull that we could not find yesterday.

Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry

Ellis Island, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. Ellis Island covers 27.5 acres.

Staten Island ferry terminal.

Fuel barges.

Govener Island.

View looking out towards the Atlantic Ocean.

Views of Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn bridge.

Sunday 25th

New York - Day 4

Today we had a short walk to Madison Square Garden and took a tour, we were not sure if they would be operating because Adele was playing there tonight and tomorrow night.

There have been 3 locations of the Gardens and only recently (2010-2012) they spent $1 billion US to modernise the current building which was constructed in 1968. When you first go in to the lower concourse it has been retained in the original format with memrobillia from the original building.

You move up 3 levels to the modern concourse and all around the walls are memrobillia of events that have been staged at Madison Square Garden.

We were then shown the arena where they stage all types of events from concerts, basketball, ice hockey, boxing, rallies. Today they were setting up for the Adele concert.

It is the only concert hall that has bridges that seat about 500 people, the view is incredible.

Billy Joel plays to a full house once per month, he is up to show 32, he said he will play each month until he cannot sell out the house (19000 tickets) or until he retires.

View from ground level. Under the black temporary floor is the ice rink, it is ready to go as they usually only have 1 day and sometimes less to change the arena to accommodate a different sport or concert.

We also got to see the locker rooms for the basketball and ice hockey teams.

There a four keg rooms to service the bars throughout the venue and they go through approximately 500 per week.

Private suites can cost upto $25k USD an event or some corporations purchase a year at $1m USD.

This was a private dining area where only 100 invited guests have access.

We then took the subway to Central Park where we took a bike ride tour through the park.

The Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon, created by Yoko Ono.

John and Yoko apartment, Yoko still lives on the top floor.

The front gate where John Lennon was shot.

More of Central Park.

Our bike guide.