The golf courses as a rules in Florida are very well priced except for January to the end of April which is when the snowbirds arrive in Florida and this puts the price up so a good place to get a great deal is from GolfNow.com .

GolfNow.com is web site that offers cheap tee times from course all over the USA so all you need to do is register on the site and the select Florida/Orlando and you will see an up to date list of the current offers.

If you find a tee time you want all you need to do is click on the time and hit the book now button this then reserves the tee times for you for a small fee which I think is about $2 per booking, you will then receive an email with the date, time and price you paid which you take to the course with you on the day.

Once at the course you will pay the green fee listed the email regardless of there current rate.

This is a great site and I have used it many, many times.

Some great courses to play in the Orlando area are Ridgewood Lakes, Highlands Reserve and Southern Dunes which we have luxury villas to rent on so you stay right on the course.

Discount Tee Times GolfNow.com

Tuscan Hills is appropriately named! It is a small, exclusive community that was built by Great American Homes - a small family run company specialising in high quality homes - and was completed in April 2007. It is a community of only 160 Orlando villas, comprising 90 linked town homes in groups, and 70 detached villas, of which most are single storey and a few are two storey villas. The two storey detached villas are much larger than a usual standard Orlando villa. All have red Mediterranean, terracotta roofs and this plus the tasteful planting gives it a feeling of Tuscany.

Tuscan Hills has a 2,700 sq ft clubhouse at the entrance, which has a gym, computer room, games room, comfortable sitting area with TV, outdoor games area for children, tennis courts, volleyball court and coming soon will be a restaurant adjacent to the entrance.

Tuscan Hills is only 10 minutes drive from Disney World and two minutes away from the restaurants and bustle of the 192.

Just across the road from the entrance, two minutes away is a mall which has a large Publix supermarket and takeaway Chinese, Indian restaurant, Pizza takeaway, Bistro as well as other shops. Five minutes north there is a Lowes, Super Walmart, Chiropractic Clinic, Opticians, computer repair shop etc – everything you might need is on your doorstep!

Bahama Bay is a short walk away, where you can have a drink and relax in the complex. And there are championship golf courses a few minutes drive away.

If you would like to rent a luxury villa on Tuscan Hills in Orlando Florida please click on this text.

We visited the Dali Museum in St Petersburg in June. It only took 1 hour 20 minutes to get there from the 192 in Orlando.

It is situated by the Marina in St Petersburg and there is a large fee car park. The exhibitions change all the time but for children, on the first Saturday of every month between 9.00 and 11am you can go for breakfast. Children between 5 and 12 years can have an interactive tour. Every Friday between 5.00 and 8.00 pm there is a S’real Friday when you can sit and listen to jazz, look at the art and eat or take a tour of the Museum’s new exhibition.

During the day, it is worth joining one of the free tours that starts every hour and depending on the speaker, can be fascinating and I think you get more out of the paintings by learning about the symbolism of the various things Dali included in his paintings.

The museum houses the largest collection of Dali’s works in USA and was started 25 years ago by Reynolds and Morse who fell in love with his work and became friends and started to buy paintings. When they bought their first painting from him, he insisted they buy the frame he had made for it – they agreed – and it cost them more than the painting – not quite the case now!!

It is definitely worth a trip and a good place to eat afterwards is Sandry’s Seafood House on West Courtney Campbell Causeway, Tampa - tel 813 – 289 – 7773.

This post was submitted by Jan Krir - Tuscan Hills

Universal Studios City Walk is located at the entrances to Universal Studios and Islands of Adverture and features loads of different restaurants, bars, night clubs, shops and a even a 20 screen cinema, it’s the ideal place to spend an evening out or grab something to eat on your way out of the Universal parks.

City Walk if home to some of the bigger chains of bar and restaurants like the Hard Rock Cafe, Nascar Sports Grille, Margaritaville, NBA City and the all new Bubba Gump Shrimp Co plus many more.

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If you fancy a good night out why not go and see the Orlando Magic basket ball team play. The stadium is located in Downtown Orlando about 35 minutes from HWY 192/Hwy 27 but book in advance as it does sell out fast. Ticket prices range from about $20 to $500 depending on where you want to sit and who they are playing.

You can buy tickets from Ticket Master or via there own web site, there is also a ticket exchange page where you can buy unused seats that season ticket holders don’t want to use, this can be the best way to get some cheap tickets. The basket ball season runs from October - April.

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Here are a few photos I took when we went to the Food and Wine Festival at Walt Disney World’s Epcot. This is a massive park so make sure you wear some comfortable shoes.

Epcot is different from the rest of the theme parks as it features a number of different areas where you can experience the food, drink and culture from countries all over the World. They have mini versions of the UK, France, China, Canada, Japan, Morrocco, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Norway and of course the USA.

Epcot also has loads of really good rides like Mission Space, Test Track and the brand new Soarin plus many more.

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Walt Disney World - Epcot

Here is a selection of wildlife that I have come across in Florida, from Pelicans at Clearwater Beach to Sandhill Cranes outside my front door. You also see lots of gators, lizards and the occasional snake.

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Last year I had one of the best experience’s of my life when we went swimming with the Manatees at Crystal River. We decided to go with Capt Mike’s Sunshine River Tours as we liked the look of his web site and had read a guest book in a villa we stayed in that said how good it was. The tour started at 7am so we left Orlando about 5am as it’s about a 2 hours drive to Homosassa and Crystal River, probably 90mins if you know where you are going but you are bound to get alittle lost a 5 in the morning.

Once you arrive you are greeted with coffee and doughnuts while you watch a short video explaining the do’s and don’t of swimming with the Manatee, after that you get suited and booted in your wet suit and then it’s on to the bus which takes you to the boat and off to swim with the Manatees. If you do have your own web suit or rash vests I would recommend taking them as the water is cold around 70 degrees.

If you don’t want to swim you can still go along and watch them from the boat which is still worth doing.

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They are the most amazing animals I have ever seen so big yet so gentle, once you are in the water and before you even see them you can hear them scrunching on the weed, then they appear. If you do get to touch one it has very wiry hair like a brush.

Anyway I don’t want to spoil it for you but it’s the best $50 you will ever spend!!

One of the nicest places to visit whilst in Orlando is Celebration it’s located just of the HWY192 and is well sign posted. To me Celebration is like stepping on to a film set with it’s white picket fences and mixture of Colonial houses and modern condos, it also has it’s own golf course which is awesome but I will cover that in another post.

Celebration has it’s own town centre located on Market Street which has lots of shops and restaurants from a 50’s style dinner to a sushi bar, it even has an old school ice cream parlour. They also have a very nice cinema which has two huge screens and is never very busy but you need to check what’s on as they often only show family style movies.

Celebration Cinema Show Times

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After a good meal relax by the lake in one of the rocking chairs and see if you can spot the ever present gators, but don’t feed them!!

From Thanks-giving until Christmas they have snow fall every night starting at 7pm which is great for the kids, (it’s not real snow).

On Sundays they have a local market where you can by home made cakes, art work, memobilia and much more, after the market why not take the natual walk which starts by the lake and goes off into the woods.

Here are some photos of my day out at Sea World. Sea World is one of the best parks and I go back on a regular basis I never get tied of the Clyde and Seamoor show, it’s awesome!!

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Sea World Orlando