Donald and his magic pals love us in Irelando...
DONALD stopped writing... I don’t know why. I guess he’s been busy since the last time I saw him in Orlando. Our friends from the Sunshine State were over this week as part of the annual US Soiree, held every year in the Shelbourne Hotel, and your diarist was lucky enough to be invited to the Sea World table.
The previous evening was spent in the company of the delegates from Universal Orlando in a function in the penthouse at the Dean Hotel. And both hotels are great advertisements let me tell you, for our famous Irish hospitality.
Visitors from this island have made Orlando their own over the years, an Irelando if you will.
And rest assured we’ll be there in even greater numbers this year and next with the amount of cool things they are tempting us with.
Fast & Furious is new since I was last over at Universal; we can also look forward to the new Harry Potter ride at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter; while Star Wars fans excited already are they at the
coming of Galaxy’s Edge Disney World in autumn next year. For your diarist, though, there is one place where he will always be king – Falcon’s Fury, the vertical drop tower I mastered after wimping out on too many rollercoasters. By the fourth go I had already been Christened The Falcon. Cassidy Travel has a seven-night family holiday in Orlando over the October mid-term break from €2,359 for two adults and one child. Fly from Dublin and stay at the 3* Orlando Universal Boulevard. Complimentary shuttles to the Universal Orlando theme parks, Sea World and the Disney theme parks. Contact 01 8735000.
WELL if it’s good enough for Kim and Kanye and a former colleague of mine of this parish who came down for breakfast to find them sat at the next table. Ballyfin Demesne in Co. Laois has added to its cache of titles including a former Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards winner by being named top resort hotel in the UK and Ireland by Travel + Leisure. Six Irish hotels are named in the top ten. Are we surprised? No, it is Ireland’s AA Hotel of the Year and won the Travel + Leisure title last year. www.ballyfin.com.
THE summer is of course music festival season. I’ve been lucky enough to see Franz Ferdinand and The Killers and yesterday it was James Taylor and Paul Simon. There are those out there for whom Gavin James at King John’s Castle, Limerick, is the highlight. And the 5* Savoy Hotel in Limerick knows it. It has a Getaway for Gavin James package offering one night’s B&B in one of their executive guestrooms with a complementary pre-show cocktail and 5-course dinner from €150 pps (Concert tickets not included). Visit www. savoylimerick.com or call (01) 448700.
NOT sure if there will be an explosion in the number of kids Christened Francis in the same way Pope John Paul II gave us thousands of John Pauls and JPs in 1979. Of course, Francis has only been that since 2013, he was just Jorge before. He took his Papal name from Francis of Assisi, just one more reason to visit there. GTI – The Group Travel Specialists offer Solo Friendly Short Break to Italy, Medieval Trevi, Assisi plus an Authentic Italian Cookery Class, travelling 18-21 September from €699. Return flights and guide. Call (01) 843 4734/info@gti-ireland.com.
AVEC la grace de Dieu, I’ll see in Bastille Day at the French Embassy. Tomorrow, is, of course, le final and bon chance Les Bleus. Should France lift the World Cup they’ll party like it’s 1789. Aer Lingus flies to Paris at up to 25% off, so Dublin/Cork-Paris is €44.99 for
travel between August 21 and October 25 if booked by Monday. www.aerlingus.ie. Of course it could be Zagreb that’s jumping. Croatia Airlines flies Dublin-Zagreb, return from €189. Croatians like firing paper from the canon in their capital. It’ll be kruna notes if they win.