In case my ample social media posts and insane amount of pre-trip excitement didn’t give me away, I love Orlando. It is such a fun vacation destination, and the cheap Frontier flights from St. Louis make it an easy place to get away. While I loved it as a kid, there is one fun feature I couldn’t experience until a few trips ago: drinking! Visiting Orlando? Here are the three funnest cocktails I’ve had in town, no theme park admission required.
Lava Flow from T-Rex
Were you a dinosaur-obsessed kid? Of course you were. Dinosaurs are the coolest. Dining at T-Rex means eating among the woolly mammoths and pterodactyls. Different dining rooms feature different dino motifs, like a color-changing ice age area and an aquatic adventure. While the food is fairly average—by no means bad, but you are attending for the decor—the drinks are delicious and have some fun souvenirs. While in previous years I ordered a cotton candy cocktail that came with a complimentary shaker, this time I got (and loved) the Lava Flow strawberry pina colada. It was scrumptious and came with a silly take-home cup featuring, you guessed it, dinos.
Bonus points: Instead of giving you your sticky glass, you get a voucher so you can pick up a new, clean one on your way out. How thoughtful!
Strawberry Daiquiri from Medieval Times
After visiting Medieval Times with other bloggers during the 2017 BlogHer conference I knew I had to return with my family next time we were in Orlando. I’m a fan of the over-the-top, the mildly hokey, and nearly all themed locations and parties. Medieval Times is a fantastic destination for me, and I knew it before even arriving.
The Medieval Times experience is fun from start to finish. You arrive at the oversized castle a bit before your dinner to pick up your tickets and get your crown, plus explore the museum if you have time. While you wait to be let into the arena, there’s an opening for an important step in the fun: drinks. I ordered myself a frozen strawberry daiquiri (yum) in a souvenir glass to sip on while we checked out the castle decor and it ended up being so large it lasted well into dinner. And lucky me, it paired perfectly with the food—sure, I think strawberry daiquiris go with everything, but you get the idea.
The meal at Medieval Times is a predetermined assortment of castle-appropriate grub served without utensils. There’s a thick, sippable tomato bisque with garlic bread, as well as roast chicken, potatoes, and a yummy dessert. Even if you didn’t spend your evening screaming for your knight and hissing the opposing horsemen, the meal alone would be good.
With the yelling fans, scrumptious cocktails, and literal fistfills of meat I can see why so many people choose the castle for celebrations. There was a humongous family reunion happening in our section (go Yellow Knight!) which meant the cheering from our area was over the top in the best of ways. The evening of our visit happened to be our second wedding anniversary, and it was exactly the kind of lighthearted celebration I wanted. What could be better than cocktails, costumes, and carbs?
Thanks for inviting us to celebrate while we were in Orlando, Medieval Times!
Watermelon Margarita from Boardwalk Joe’s Marvelous Margaritas
Disney Boardwalk was new to us this trip and I fell completely in love. This charming destination was a great adult outing and the cocktails were plentiful. My favorite? The watermelon margarita from Boardwalk Joe’s. I’m a sucker for things staying on theme, so the green sugar around the rim of my pink drink entertained me to no end. (Also, maybe it was just really strong because I remember laughing at this a lot.)
If the idea of walking and drinking by the waterfront sounds appealing to you, this is the drink you need.