Florida 2020: Orlando Cat Cafe

In our quest to find non-theme park activities in Orlando, we discovered our new favorite place: The Orlando Cat Cafe. The Orlando Cat Cafe is a feline rescue organization, that as of our visit, has placed over 929 cats in new homes.

Located in a quiet shopping center, The Orlando Cat Cafe is split into two halves: The cafe and the cat playroom. The cafe portion is open to everyone and had viewing windows to see the cats. The coffee and cat themed desserts were delicious. Guests visiting the play room can bring cafe food and drinks inside.

Entrance to the cat play room involves making advanced reservations and paying an eight dollar hourly fee. The fee goes towards care for the cats, all of whom are from the SPCA Florida. Children are allowed in the play area, but there are many rules to keep the cats safe and calm in their environment.

Although it felt a bit like cheating on our own cats ( Slinky and Tom) we visited The Orlando Cat Cafe twice, since we loved it so much. An employee even gave us a frequent visitor punch card. It seemed like a majority of the other visitors were on a mission to find their perfect cat, and there is quick turnover for cats getting adopted, which is of course wonderful.

Here are picture of The Orlando Cat Cafe.

Due to Covid, we were not free to walk around the play area. We had to stay in our assigned corner of the room. If the cats didn’t wander into our area, staff members would bring a cat over with toys to entice them. For those looking to adopt, the staff brought over cats that they felt would be a good fit. For example, there was a single guy living in an apartment who wanted a quiet cat, so they found one with the right temperament. I can’t say enough good things about The Orlando Cafe Cafe and the caring people who are trying to match cats to humans.

We discovered our perfect match in a black and white cat named Todd. Todd was the sleepiest, most snuggle-bug that I have ever met. He was just so sweet. We seriously contemplated ways to get him back to Colorado, and I think had we not learned that he was already spoken for, that we would have filled-out adoption papers. He was picked up by his new family while we were at the cafe. It was bittersweet, but we hope he is having a good life that is filled with optimum napping spots!

Todd was clearly our favorite, but we also enjoyed playing with the other cats. The Orlando Cat Cafe had an abundance of kittens who were so friendly.

In Colorado we have a cat cafe called The Denver Cat Company. It’s also a great organization, but The Orlando Cat Cafe edged it out for the friendliest felines. If we lived in Orlando, we would certainly be adopting a new family member!

As an added bonus, we discovered a British pub across the street. Friar Tucks was just like a typical village pub in England: no frills decor, delicious food, and chatty patrons. On our first visit, we had dinner, which included Scotch Eggs for Dan- his favorite. We went back for a full-English breakfast on our final morning in Orlando. The food is both good value and authentic. They even have a small shop with British import items, like Cadbury chocolate. We learned that Florida has a large British community, so it’s another reason to love “The Sunshine State.”

We hope to return to Florida in 2021 with the kids, and we will definitely visit both The Orlando Cat Cafe and Friars Tuck. They are Orlando gems.

Florida 2020: Congo River Golf

We love mini-golf and decided to try to play at every course in Orlando. Probably the best course was Congo River Golf. They have many locations, and we played the East Orlando course. We arrived late at night on a weekday in September and practically had the place to ourselves.

Congo River Golf is split into two courses: Stanley and Livingstone, each giving us the story of the famous explorers. I’ve probably never been to a better themed mini-golf course. It has waterfalls, rivers, caves, a crashed airplane, boats, et…every aspect is highly themed.

In addition to playing mini-golf, we were also given a list of items to spot as we walked through the course. For example, we needed to look for a mask and for spears, when we found them, we were to note the hole on our score cards. Since we were playing through so quickly, we didn’t keep up with the game, but I think it would add an additional fun factor when the course is crowded and the waits are long.

The holes had spinner games to add additional challenges to the golf. Due to covid, we thought it best not to touch the spinners, but I like the thoughtful touches to add additional elements to the mini-golf experience.

My favorite hole was waterfall themed, where you had to hit the ball over the edge of a very steep hill. There was no way to control the ball or utilize any sort of skill, but it was fun to send the ball over the edge.

After playing mini-golf, we got to feed the baby alligators, which was the best part of the evening. I could spend all day feeding the gators. They are adorable and so gentle.

Congo River Golf is one of the best, if not the best, mini-golf course in Orlando. The theming is top-notch and the course is a challenge. I look forward to exploring their other locations.

Florida 2020: Chocolate Kingdom Factory Adventure Tour

Since the plan was to skip the theme parks, we sought out smaller local attractions in Orlando. The Chocolate Kingdom Factory Adventure Tour is located in a strip mall near SeaWorld. We love chocolate and we love factory tours, so it was a clear choice for our Saturday afternoon entertainment.

Tickets were 16.95 for adults, and included plenty of chocolate samples. We also added on a custom made candy bar for seven dollars each, more on that later.

We arrived with about twenty minutes to spare before the next tour, so we perused the displays in the entrance hall and checked-out the gift shop.

The chocolate was so tempting, that we couldn’t wait for the samples, so we bought some alligators. They were nearly too cute to eat…nearly. I bit the tail right off, easter bunny style!

The tour started with a short video that set the story for the chocolate kingdom, which kicks off when a friendly dragon accidentally melts a pair of chocolate shoes that a prince was planning on presenting to a princess for her birthday. The prince and the dragon set off to learn about chocolate and to make another pair of shoes. Our tour guide educates them ( and us) on their quest. Puns and corny jokes are abundant. It’s like the chocolate version of The Jungle Cruise.

The theme is cute for kids and carried on throughout the guided tour. We were with one other tour group, grandparents with their elementary-aged grandchildren. I think the small group was due to covid, but also we might have been visiting during an off-peak time. It looks like pre-covid, the tours could be as large as fifty people. I certainly want the pandemic to end, but I’m appreciating visiting places with small crowds.

The tour is education and fun. We saw a model of the castle made from chocolate complete with a chocolate river and we played game where we had to catapult marshmallows into the dragon’s mouth.

The last part of the tour included the actual factory. It was small, definitely not like Cadbury’s, but it was still nice to see the chocolate being made.

We enjoyed large-scale creations made from chocolate. Although, I’m not convinced that a chocolate shoe was what the princess most desired!

The best part was watching our custom candy bars being made. Mine had almonds, espresso beans, and toffee. It was absolutely delicious! We nearly made a stop on the way to the airport to buy more candy bars to take home.

The candy bars had to set in a chiller, but within fifteen minutes, they came out to the front of the store on a conveyor system.

Don’t forget to tip your tour guide.

We enjoyed the tour so much, that we will likely do it again with the kids on our next trip to Orlando. It’s a great activity when the weather is too rainy or too hot to enjoy the parks. Make sure to upgrade to the custom candy bar. It was enormous and worth every penny.

I will end with some chocolate facts.