Category: Orlando

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Texas and Orlando November 2012 – Day 13 & 14

This will be my final blog. It’s Wednesday evening and we have pretty much packed everything and are watching real life stories on TV. We watched a whole load earlier too. It’s like those real life stories in women’s mags but played out and narrated. Tacky but addictive viewing!

Before I go back to Tuesday, here’s a few things I have forgotten along the way:

  1. The annoying guy behind me on the plane.
    Since his footstool was attached to my seat each time he wanted it down and just let it fall it made my whole seat shake. It was so bad it shook Paul’s seat too. Paul then watched him and apparently he lifted his legs about a foot above the stool and then dropped them down. The constant thuds shook me so hard they actually made me jump and even woke me up.
  2. Paul dropping his iPad in the bath.
    Literally, glug glug to the bottom! It came out still working and has been absolutely fine since. A great advert for Apple.
  3. The standard of Florida driving.
    The standard of driving has been worse than ever, atrocious.
  4. Rubber necking
    We have seen a few shunts and cars pulled over by the police but we were shocked at just how much people slowed down to really take a look. It was more than just being cautious it was seriously having a good old stare at what was going on.

So, back to Tuesday and we went to MGM, sorry, Disney’s Hollywood Studios. After another late start (our evenings and mornings are getting later which is gonna make the jet lag hell when we get home) we got to the park at about 1:30pm. We wanted to go to the 2pm American Idol experience but when we got there it was not on. It seems that they are struggling to contestants these days and we think that’s why a show got cancelled. Instead we headed over to Indiana Jones. We got decent middle seats and Paul took some pics. The ‘plant’ extra was really good. His head spin as he passed out was awesome. As we came out it was obviously totally lost on one kid who asked; “daddy, did that lady really hit the man?” Dad answers “no, they were just acting”. Kid still not getting it asks; “so, how come he passed out then?” Dad told him to come along.

It was a really nice warm day so we wandered around. We went in a few stores and I posed with the singing in the rain street lamp, although the rain still doesn’t work. Toy Story was still getting over 60 minute queues and we decided to skip Lights, Motors, Action but did get pics taken with Lightning McQueen and Mater. At one point there was even a 25-minute queue for the great movie ride but it seemed to lighten up later and we even got the front cart which was the cowboy action, we have always had the gangster in the past.

We did get to see and American Idol show at 4pm. The 3 singers were all very mediocre it has to be said. Despite recent finalists getting the Disney golden ticket it seems to have lost its appeal. I must admit, we don’t watch it anymore and haven’t done for about 3 seasons now. After this we queued for the new Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean experience. It is a walk through in the pavilion where Narnia used to be. Everyone who had checked in on four square had slated it but Paul thinks they all expected too much, it’s not a ride after all. It does have some good special effects and is worth seeing. They take groups in every 15 minutes so you can end up waiting 30 minutes if there are a few people but it didn’t feel too long.

It was now getting on for about 6 so we were in time to watch Fantasmic however…. the black clouds were rolling in and it started to rain. We figured that it may well get cancelled so decided to leave. We thought that we’d have dinner and if the weather was good then we’d go and watch Holiday Wishes from the Polynesian beach.

Dinner was at Longhorn and was really good. Paul was not very hungry as he’d eaten a huge funnel cake with cinnamon sugar in the park. We shared a loaded baked potato soup (with cheese and bacon – which is really yummy BTW) then shared a salad. I then had the Flo’s filet and Paul had Wild West shrimp. This was meant to be an appetizer but was a huge long plate piled with shrimp. They were coated in spicy breadcrumbs and had chilli peppers with them but Paul reckoned they were quite bland. We used our $25 credit that Paul had from June and we got a visit from the Manager. He actually remembered Paul and the incident and thanked us for going back. Lucky really since the incident was in June and the voucher said valid for 90 days!

After a quick stop for some essentials (toilet roll, coke and grape jelly!!!) we made our way to the Polynesian. We parked ok and went in. We looked around the shops and then went out to the beach. It was a warm evening and we sat out on sun beds. The holiday wishes are the 360 ones so the beach view is one of the best to see it all and it was pretty amazing. We then came straight home afterwards.

This morning (Wednesday) we were up about 10am. I have a sore throat and a cough and Paul has not slept too well recently. We sat out on the veranda and the sun felt really warm. We ended up going out about 1pm but it had gone really cloudy, overcast and chilly. We stopped at McDonalds (Osceola Parkway) for lunch before going to the new Art of Animation resort. The weather had gone quite grim and the wind made it really cold. We still wandered through and got pics of all the characters in each of the themed areas. All were open now; Nemo, Cars, Lion King and Little Mermaid. Since we both felt a bit rough and tired we came home about 4pm (and watched the real life stories movies) and rested for a while. We headed out again about 6pm and had decided on Chilli’s for dinner. Neither of us were hugely hungry and fancied more of the loaded baked potato soup so we had a bowl each followed by some chicken fajita’s to share. The food came up sizzling but sadly with no plates or cutlery so our server went off to get it. After about 5 minutes she still hadn’t returned so we got a little tetchy. She didn’t even really apologise (jeez I sound like Lewis now) so we left no tip. She innocently asked if we wanted change when we paid the check which amused Paul as there was no change to be had.

We checked in for our flight whilst at dinner. There were no better seats; in fact the entire cabin was full so it looks like a packed flight. We have two aisle seats next to each other so will have to put our private divider screens up but that’s ok. After dinner we thought we’d do a final fireworks on the beach so once more went over to the Polynesian. It was still cool so we headed out right before they started and came straight back afterwards. It was normal Wishes and the music was really hard to hear but still good to watch.

We’re now supping tea and watching Family Guy whilst perusing our photos from the last 2 weeks. Hope you’re enjoyed it almost as much as we have…. 8 weeks ‘til next time and counting…..

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Texas and Orlando November 2012 – Day 11 & 12

I left you on Saturday evening as we watched X factor. We had a later night and so had a lie in on Sunday until the start of the Brazilian GP pre-amble. We watched Jake on his last BBC broadcast before he turns to the dark side (football). It was certainly a thrilling race with the weather making it a bit of a lottery. There were times when we really thought Alonso had got it but Vettel’s luck struck again. How can a guy who gets hit at turn 2 then chooses the wrong tyres still do enough – the guy is truly blessed. Lewis on the other hand gets hit and taken out for yet another DNF. I loved his interview afterwards where he looks around to see who else is in the interview area and then says “the dude didn’t even come and apologise, that’s what you get racing with inexperienced drivers” Hulkenburg clearly saw this as there was a 5th driver tweet later showing him apologising to Lewis. I gotta say, despite not being a fan I had to feel for Alonso. He looked absolutely gutted at the end and yet maintained his composure and was graceful in defeat. I think I’ll hate Hulkenburg for a while!

After the race we headed out to Magic Kingdom once more. Since the whole parking, tram, boat or monorail is a bit of a bind we decided to buck the system a little so parked at the Grand Floridian hotel so we could get the boat shuttle to MK. We firstly wandered through the hotel stores and checked out the gingerbread house. It was really big – about 20 ft tall and easily 30 ft wide we reckon. They also sold gingerbread house models for Christmas which were adorable but not conducive to being packed in a suitcase we figured.

Once in MK we took the train around to the new Fantasyland. Since we’d only seen it in the dark before Paul took the opportunity to take some pics. We also stopped for some more Le Fou’s brew at Gaston’s Tavern and sat in the sun to drink it.

After this we went into Philharmagic. We got straight in again but it was quite full. There were also some quite annoying parents behind us narrating to their toddler. We then went into Small World. It had a 15 min queue but it seemed to move quickly. We wanted to ride Pirates but when we got over there it too had a 15 min queue but it looked way more than that to us so we left. We’d done enough and despite this not sounding much we were probably in there for about 3 hours or so and with the annual passes we’re not losing anything,

We came out and chose Kobe for dinner. We got there bout 6:30 and had to wait about 15 minutes to get seated. We had a family (parents with toddler) at our table and then an older couple with one of their grown up kids and partner. We had a spare seat too. As Mickey (the same chef from last time for those paying attention) began his act the elderly couple seemed less than amused. The small Shamu bit with the shrimp they seemed to find really uncouth and smiled at nothing, They refused the onion, making the chef cook it separately rather than merely leaving it on the plate and had the rice cooked with no onion. About half way through cooking the elderly woman looked horrified at her daughter and said ‘he’s cooking with coca cola’ the daughter replied ‘no, its soy’, the mother insisted it was coca cola saying she had heard the chef say so. At that point the chef added more sauce with his familiar coca cola saying and the mother added triumphantly ‘see, I told you – he just said its coca cola’. I decided to explain that it was a joke and she asked me what I meant. I must have said it was a joke, it is meant to be funny and its humour a few times and all I got was blank looks. Eventually the son-in-law seemed to get it and started laughing, he explained to his wife and the younger couple were then in stitches. Mom and dad were still less than amused. This was clearly their first time at Kobe and something tells me it would also be their last. To top it all, at the end of the meal the manager came over and said ‘who’s got an anniversary?’ and it turned out the be the elderly couple. The waiter promptly plonked Kobe paper chef hats on their heads and pulled out a camera. They looked horrified, most indignant and shouted no to the camera. The daughter and son-in-law found it highly amusing, slightly egged on Paul and I who were also finding it amusing. Their only saving grace was that the Kobe camera was broken so they got away with no pic on the website. I’m not sure the Japanese steak house they had clearly selected for their anniversary dinner turned out quite as they expected but it sure gave us some entertainment. We did want to go to the Polynesian beach to watch the fireworks but we’d have almost 2 hours to kill so with no bright ideas as to how, we decided to come home and watched the X Factor results and Jakes last F1 forum. We also caught up on the final Tooned episodes on YouTube.

Today is Monday and we have had a gentle day with a late start again. We began by going to Theme park connection, a warehouse type store that sells (buys and trades) Disney theme park memorabilia. Not just stuff you could have bought but actually park signs and models as well. They even had cast member costumes and badges. Paul got a name badge (he’s from Oakland MD now). Sadly all the Cindy ones were broken so I couldn’t get one. It was a cool place, we’ll deffo go back.

Since we were in the right area we decided to go to West Oaks mall. It was dead and in fact many of the shops were shut so I’m not sure how much longer it will last. We stopped for lunch first at Charley’s grilled subs (formerly Charley’s steakery) and had Teriyaki chicken with loaded fries and a mountain dew.

We then looked in JC Penny and Dillards. Paul managed to get a work shirt and I got a pair of Levi’s. We then visited Stein Mart on the way home to see if we could get anymore bargain Christmas gifts but to no avail.

We came home for a couple of hours (checked email and watched Return of the Jedi) then headed out to Applebees for dinner at about 7. We had a $10 voucher from last week when the manager didn’t visit our table so we had dinner for a whopping $15. Paul had the French dip sandwich again and I opted for the chicken and coleslaw taco’s. It was fairly busy in there for a Monday evening but we were in and out within about 40 minutes.

We are now home with a cuppa and some biscuits (Golden Oreo’s) planning our final days… we so don’t want to come home.

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Texas and Orlando November 2012 – Day 9 & 10

Well Black Friday didn’t turn our quite as expected. Despite getting to bed early on Thanksgiving neither of us could sleep and were restless to well after midnight. When the 6:30am alarm went off neither of us felt remotely awake. I dragged myself to the shower and Paul suggested another hour in bed, the lure of sleep was far greater than the lure of shops; bargains or otherwise so we eventually got up at 7:45. We stopped first at Posner Park then went to the Florida Mall, getting there about 10am. We managed to park ok (more by luck, as it was busy) and went in through the Florida Hotel. The mall was quite busy and only seemed to get busier. Since we were late there were no real bargains. There were still door busters at some stores but nothing we really wanted. I managed to get the things from my list I wanted; some cool James Bond nail varnish and gold leaf top coat and a great magnetic set that creates stripey nails. We managed to get a few more Christmas gifts too. Paul was disappointed once more, unable to find his work shirts in the right size.

It was getting really busy so we left the mall at about 2pm and as it was a nice day we decided we’d go and have some lunch at the Yacht Club. We parked and headed through the hotel, seeing a Scottish Bride on the way. Sadly, when we got out back we saw that Hurricane Hanna’s was all boarded up and closed for re-furb. AAARRRGGHH. After a bit of a re-think we ended up at McDonalds on Osceola Parkway, at least we could sit outside.

On the way home we stopped at Target for a browse around and then came home early and chilled out. It was a fairly quiet and bargain free Black Friday I am afraid to say.

Saturday morning we were up about 9:30 and decided to watch Brazilian F1 GP Quallies before heading out. The rubbish US channel skipped the start and put adverts in ridiculous places but we still enjoyed seeing an all McLaren front row, the first time a McLaren was on the front in Interlargos since 2007.

We headed out about 12:30 and were off to the Orlando Science Center, primarily for the Star Wars exhibit. We later went into Epcot so today you have an Epcot and Star Wars themed quiz…..

  1. Who currently narrates Space ship earth and who was the previous narrator?
  2. Who was Luke Skywalker’s father
  3. What do the Finding Nemo seagulls say (found outside The Seas With Nemo and Friends)?
  4. What is the name of Han Solo’s space ship
  5. In which pavilion is Soarin’?
  6. What species is Chewbacca

The Science Center was just off the I4 in Downtown Orlando. The car park looked pretty empty but there were a few families queuing to pay. It was $27 per adult entry fee which we thought was a bit steep (and said so later when we were asked to take part on a survey about our visit). We went straight into to the Star Wars exhibit, which was really good. There were models of all the ships and vehicles as well as all the cast costumes, Vader’s mask (in all 3 parts) as well as the droids, various guns etc and a lot of interactive Star Wars themed games. We took pics of most things although the glass cabinets caused some glare and the ban on flash meant some were just too dark. There were some cool souvenirs in the gift shop too including a 12 inch model of Vader but we didn’t buy anything.

After the Star Wars area we explored the rest of the Science Center and found that the adolescent alligators were being hand fed. I know they were adolescent as someone asked if they were babies and this was the answer. They were only about a meter in length. They sat patiently and begged for food with their mouths open. The feeding guy explained that they could be trained like other animals and any that nipped or got aggressive got no food. Food seemed to be dead skinned rats. There were other snake and bug type exhibits in this area that we chose not to explore in detail!

We then headed up to the top (4th) floor and worked our way down through the other exhibit areas. These included a dinosaur area with huge skeleton structures. A space themed room which still had Pluto as a planet (something else we pointed out in our survey). An electromagnetic room with cool interactive exhibits including a laser harp (yes we did pretend to be Jarre). The final area was about construction showing how beams are made stronger by the way that are constructed. All very educational and actually quite interesting. We didn’t stay too long in any area but I can see how families could spend a good few hours there and it was definitely well worth the visit as something we hadn’t done before.

We came out about 3:30 and after a quick Walgreens stop we went into Texas Roadhouse for dinner. It was good and we naturally had the filet. We decided again to take in some Disney and chose Epcot. We got in quite quick and despite a small queue at Spaceship Earth we were riding in about 5 minutes. Sadly, our video and pics could not be located but the computers at the end so we couldn’t get them. That’s the second time that’s happened to us. After the ride we went into the Mouse Gear shop and managed to get even more cushions to add to the collection. We got the Nemo Seagulls (with the answer to Q3 on it) and a Christmas Mickey one that says “twas the night before Christmas’. I also got a new Tinkerbell top.

We came out of the shop and made our way over the Ellen’s Universe of Energy but as we arrived it was closed. It closed at 7pm and it was now 7:03, how unlucky could we be?! We stopped and got a coffee instead and sat and watched the world go by for a while. We could clearly hear them testing the new test track but it was still closed and all boarded up.

Since Illuminations was not until 9:30pm and a lot of the rides were closing we did not fancy another 2 hours in the World Showcase so decided to blow the joint. We did get to ride Nemo on the way out as this was still running. We ended up exiting about 8pm but that’s the beauty of our passes, we can nip in and out as we please. I also got my 20% discount on my cushions.

So we’re back at the villa now, watching Star Wars and are going to watch X Factor once I’m done here that Paul has downloaded. So I guess all that is left for me is to give you those answers. I hope you found these ones a bit easier;

  1. Dame Judy Dench and Jeremy Irons
  2. Darth Vader; Anakin Skywalker
  3. Mine, mine, mine
  4. The Millennium Falcon
  5. The Land
  6. Wookie
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Texas and Orlando November 2012 – Day 7 & 8

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Today we’re going to mix it up a little and start you off with a quiz. There are 10 questions to ponder over as you read the blog and the answers will be at the end. I was going to torment you and post them next time but as it’s a holiday I’ll be nice. No scrolling to the end now…. read it all properly!

To start with, the following questions are all about my favourite ride, which hopefully you all know is Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom. So here goes:

  1. What is the name of the family dog?
  2. The first 3 scenes are set at the turn of the century, the 1920’s and the 1940’s but each is set on a specific date; can you name them all?
  3. In the 1920’s scene the father character is holding a fan but what does it say on the fan?
  4. What historical characters do the mother and father characters dress as for the 4th July parade?
  5. In the final scene what mishap does Grandma’s high score lead to?

The second section is all about famous years:

  1. In what year was the signing of the Declaration of Independence signed?
  2. In what year did DisneyLand, California open?
  3. In what year did Walt Disney World, Florida open?
  4. In what year did Walt Disney die?
  5. In what year did Mick, Chris, Paul and Stewart Brennan (plus nan and granddad) first visit Florida?

Ok, so back to the blog and Wednesday morning we were up by about 10am. Brekky was the usual bagels and Lays and we headed out about 11:30. First stop was Downtown Disney and we parked at Cirque to walk through Westside. It was a nice day but breezy and a little cool. The clouds were moving over with clear skies behind so it would soon warm up. We looked in the Disney Quest store, the Silver Emporium and the Hoi Poloi store. Then it was the D Street store and some Vinylmation purchase for our collection. We got a DVC one, a holiday gingerbread smelly one, and the 2 cruise lines we needed (Magic and Wonder). We also got a large white Lightning McQueen one for signing next cruise. Since there are no more colours of large Mickeys’ this will be a great alternative. There was also some cool Star Wars stuff in the store.

We then walked through Pleasure Island and round to Market Place. The clouds were gone now and it was really warm. We looked in the Lego store and then went into the World of Disney store. They have a new cool experience for the kids called D-Tech me. It costs $99.95 and they basically take a digital 3D photo of the child and then make a 6 inch plastic Disney Princess figurine with the actual child’s face. It was really clever tech and seemed as popular as the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique which was still churning out toddlers with scraped back glitter hair and make up.

We bought some more Disney cushions for our collection; we got ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ and ‘the happiest place on earth’. Later on at the parks we also picked up ‘a wish is a dream your heart makes’ and ‘tomb sweet tomb’ so we have 9 in total now. I also got 2 more Disney charms for my bracelet. I got a Mickey symbol and Cinderella’s slipper. They fit on my Pandora with no needle filing required! We continued through Market Place looking in the Pin Station, Once Upon a Toy, the Christmas shop and the Art of Disney. I got a really neat crystal and enamel Tinkerbell in Arribas Bros the glass shop.

We had considered getting annual Disney passes this trip as there is great offer on for DVC members. A Premium pass (all parks incl Golf and water parks) is $425 (incl tax). This would let us go in and out of Disney as we pleased and if days were busy we could head out with nothing lost. We decided to go for it and bought 2 passes. They also get free parking and a 20% discount at all park stores. We then got the taxi boat back to Westside and made our way over to Premium Outlets. The traffic was really busy and parking proved difficult. We drove round and ended up in the multi story.

First stop for us was Starbucks for a Majorca sweet bread and a Latte, although I opted for a frozen strawberry and cream. Then we went round the stores getting a few more Christmas presents along the way. Paul was extremely disappointed when he got to Marc Ecko Cut and Sew and they had no polo shirts and he was planning on buying a few. He did manage to get a hoodie though for just 15 bucks. I managed to get a really nice leather biker style jacket in Wilsons Leather for $150 (down from $500) and that completed our purchases. It was now getting on for 6pm and we decided we’d make the most of our Disney Tickets and go into Magic Kingdom. We stopped first at Applebees for some sustenance, which consisted of chicken wanton tacos for Paul and ultimate trio of mozzarella sticks, cheeseburger sliders and honey bar-b-q boneless wings for me.

We got to the Magic Kingdom parking lot for about 7pm (did you know this is the 4th largest parking lot in the world?) We parked and got the tram to the entrance. We got on the monorail really quickly so were inside the Park for 7:30pm. Wishes Fireworks were at 10pm so we had time for a few rides. We began with my fave, Carousel of Progress. There was no queue and we walked straight on. After that we did queue for the TTA (or People mover as it is now known). It was temporarily stopped, hence the queue, but it was open again within a few minutes. It was getting to be a chilly evening so we snuggled-in as it gets breezy on that train. The highlight for us was Space Mountain. Rather than the usual route through the ride on the dark it was closed and the full lights were on so we got a great view of the entire structure from our TTA vehicle. It’s clearly not built to be pretty in the light but was certainly pretty cool to see.

After this we walked over to the new Fantasy Land that is partially open. They are still building and it is not officially open but Belle’s village, including the ‘Be Our Guest Restaurant’ and Gaston’s Tavern as well as the Little Mermaid Voyage Under the Sea and ‘Ariel’s Grotto’ are open for guests. Since the Under the Sea ride had a 40 minute wait we decided to get a fast pass to come back at 9:20 and whist we were waiting we went over to Paul’s fave; Philharmagic.

To kill time ahead of our fast pass return we looked in a few shops, including one in Belle’s village there the server’s all said ‘Bonjour’ to keep the theme. I replied ‘Bonjour, comment ca va”. Well that really threw the guy who fumbled and said he was really rusty! He just about coped with ‘Au revoir’ as we left.

We then went into the ‘Under the Sea’ ride with our Fast Passes which was a ride in a clam shell, very similar to Nemo in Epcot’s the Living Seas area. The ride basically tells the story from the film with animatronics scenes and the familiar songs. It was not very long (about 6 minutes) so afterwards we still had 30 minutes or so before fireworks. We decided to grab a drink at Gaston’s Tavern which specializes in Le Fou’s brew. We think Disney has created this to compete with Butter Beer at Universal’s Harry Potter land. It is a frozen mix of Apple, caramel, toasted marshmallow and mango. You can get it in a regular cup for $4.95 or in a souvenir cup for $9.95. We tried one and it was really refreshing. A little chilly for that time of the evening, but nice all the same. Once we’d finished we walked through the crowds to the end of Main Street (nearest the exit) to watch the Fireworks. The Christmas bunting got in the way of the view a little bit from here but they were still good. As soon as the finale was done we exited the park and managed to get on the ferryboat back to the parking lot. We got home after a long but enjoyable day at about 11:30 so it was past midnight when we eventually turned in.

After a late night we had a lie in Thursday morning and watched the Macy’s Thanks Giving Day parade on the TV before heading out about midday. We had planned to go to the Disney resorts as we didn’t want to waste a day of our passes but with the annual passes we thought we’d give Disney a go. If it was busy we could leave with nothing lost. We decided on Animal Kingdom and parked at what seemed the furthest point so we knew the park was pretty full. It was another warm and sunny day in the mid 70’s. We haven’t done the Kilimanjaro Safari trek for a while so went and got Fast Passes for this first. We then went into the Festival of the Lion King show (with a brief stop for Paul to have a Mickey’s cookies and cream ice cream bar beforehand). The show was full and we sat at the back of the Lion section but got a good clear view.

Once we exited the show we made our way straight over to the Safari trek. We got seats at the front and saw a few animals along the way including deer (of various kinds), okapi, hippo’s, crocodiles, elephants, flamingo’s, giraffes, warthogs, zebra and lots of termite mounds. Paul managed to get a few pics. After this we walked through the Pangani trek and saw monkeys, gorilla and a sleeping hippo. After this we’d had enough and it was getting cool so we decided to leave. It was just before 5 so we thought we’d get some food on the way home. We did want steak but since Texas Roadhouse and Longhorn were closed for Thanks Giving we had to re-think. Applebees was also closed so we opted for TGI’s. I stuck with my Jack Daniels chicken and Paul had the Friday’s shrimp. We of course had extra Jack Daniels sauce!

We came home about 6pm and have chilled out. A bath, some home baked white chocolate and macadamia cookies with a cuppa and Family Guy on TV. We have to get to bed early tonight, as we want to be at the Florida Mall by 8am for Black Friday so we will be turning in soon.

So that’s about all for now except for giving you those answers, did you get them all?

  1. Rover
  2. Valentines Day 14th Feb, Independence day 4th July (you got a big clue to this in Q4) and Halloween 31st October.
  3. Niagara Falls
  4. George and Martha Washington
  5. The burning of the Christmas Turkey. As the father character repeats the high score it then voice activates the oven, which subsequently explodes, and burns the turkey.
  1. 1776
  2. 1955
  3. 1971
  4. 1966
  5. 1988
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Texas and Orlando November 2012 – Day 5 & 6

We’re now in Orlando (feels like home) and the weather today has been gorgeous. Warm and sunny – definitely t-shirt weather and Paul even wore shorts. Its Tuesday evening right now, we’re just back from a top meal at Kobe and we’re settled with a cuppa in front of the TV (like I said, it feels like home!)

So, where did I leave you? Sunday evening I believe after that totally awesome US Grand Prix (nope, still not come back down to earth yet). We had a comparatively late night that night – a whopping 10pm!

Monday morning we were up about 8am. We’d set the alarm for after 9 but were both up by 8 easily. We’d packed most of our stuff the night before and succeeded with the miracle that was 49lbs for one case and 50 for the other – something the check-in lady was mightily impressed about at the airport but we felt pretty stupid as each passenger can have 2 bags of 50lbs free and we still had our other case inside the first – d’oh. We checked out about 9:45, printing our boarding cards in reception on the way. A stop for McDonalds breakfast was called for and as we had plenty of time we sat in – oooh, the luxury ? We then headed to the airport, briefly stopping for gas for the rental. We dropped the car back at Hertz ok (trusty tom tom again) and got the shuttle over to the airport. After security we grabbed a Starbucks and settled in at our gate. We had about an hour and a half before the flight. The airport was full of F1 fans and behind us were a family talking about the race. When asked how it was they replied “not bad but not good” I turned around and put them straight, telling them it was phenomenal.

We were flying Southwest where there are no assigned seats (a bit like EasyJet) but we’d paid extra to be the boarding group A. As boarding was called we queued in our assigned lot (there were numbered signs and we were A41). Most passengers did the same but 2 guys with A52 and 53 decided they were getting in front of us. We didn’t challenge them but in hindsight I wished I had. We boarded and got seats in the middle of the plane. The flight was full so we had a lone American guy sitting in the aisle set. The flight was equally full of F1 fans talking about the race. A lot of Americans seemed to attend because of it being the inaugural race at the Circuit of Americas but many of them clearly knew naff all about F1 – sacrilege.

The flight was about 2 hours 20 and we landed about 10 to 5. We’d added an hour on though as Orlando is only 5 hours behind. We got off the plane and made our way to baggage claim B and waited…. and waited…..and waited…and waited.. the bags took bloomin’ ages but eventually they turned up and we walked over to the parking lot. We were Hertz gold club again so headed straight for our assigned bay. This time was have a Kia Soul, a weird car cross small SUV with a big square back. It’s a little ugly to be honest but it’s new and Paul says its OK to drive.

We picked the keys up at the IPG offices and then went to Applebees for dinner. Paul had a beef French dip sandwich and I had chicken Caesar salad. We followed this with shot glass desserts; strawberry cheesecake for Paul and chocolate mousse for me. After dinner we did our shopping in Publix before making our way to the villa.

The villa is really nice. Exactly the same layout as the one we had last November but really nice décor and no locked away aircon. Paul had to fix the wireless but other than that we really have no complaints. We did see that someone was staying in 734 so considered telling them to get out of our house! We unpacked then had a cuppa whilst we caught up on the shocker that was X Factor. We eventually went to bed about 11pm.

Today we were up about 10am. It was a nice morning and we checked out the pool area. The villa is in really good condition all round. We had bagels for brekky before heading out about 11:30am. Our agenda today was Prime outlets and Millennia. First stop however was TJ Maxx, Nine West and Calvin Klein. I picked up a pair of skinny jeans, a studded T-shirt and some electric blue suede court shoes whilst Paul got some socks! It was getting really hot as we parked at ‘Last Call Neiman Marcus’ but there were no irresistible bargains so we moved on. We moved the car to the far end and had to park on scrub land as the car park was actually full. We wandered down to the Yankee Candle outlet. We got large jar candles for 14 bucks each so picked up 3.

After Prime we made our way to Millennia. I managed to get my Pandora wooden beads that I needed to complete my collection and we also picked up the first of some Christmas presents for folks. We browsed the Apple store (holding a new iPad mini) and various others including Swarovski, L’Occitane and Aldo. Paul had a look around the Sony store whilst I was disappointed to find that Jimmy Choo had no discounted section. We finally made our way to Tiffany’s where Paul bought my Christmas box – a Tiffany lock ring with diamonds and I also picked up the prezzie from my mum and bro – a Tiffany interlocking circles pendant (silver and yellow gold). We left Millennia and headed over to the ‘Off Broadway’ shoe store. Paul managed to pick up some work shoes whilst I picked up some boots for work.

We left the Millennia area and had to use back roads as Westbound I4 was closed. The traffic was really heavy as we’re in Thanks Giving week and everywhere is gonna be busy. We decided to head straight to Kobe and got there about 5:30. We were seated straight away at a table that had just begun serving. We’d missed he hot towels but joined as soup turned up. Paul had jumbo shrimp and I had the filet. The food was just as good as ever. Our chef was new, called Mickey – very un-Kobe! We came straight home after dinner and so here I am – watching America’s funniest videos between typing. Tomorrow is another shopping day and we really need to focus on Christmas presents.

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Texas and Orlando November 2012 – Day 1,2,3 & 4

It’s Sunday evening as I type and I must confess I am elated. My man won, and spectacularly in my opinion. He drove magnificently; overtaking both Red Bulls, to well earned and thoroughly deserved victory. The crowd loved it and we screamed and whistled with the best of them.

I need to go back a few days though don’t I? We travelled to Heathrow Thursday morning in a quick and uneventful taxi journey. We dropped our bags at a line free T5 BA desk and made our way through security. We’d narrowly missed Jake and Eddie Jordan who also flew out of T5 that day. The airport was busy but manageable. Paul managed to get his new watchstrap adjusted (it looks really good, even if I do say so myself) and we browsed the designer stores. My only purchase was a charm from Links of London before we grabbed some breakfast. It was about 11:30 so a fry up was absolutely the order of the day. We didn’t actually go to the lounge as we spent our time in the shopping area. We eventually headed to our gate to and boarding was on time. The flight was full and as we’d hedged our bets by taking seats apart in the hope that someone would swap thus giving us our ideal combination Paul approached the guy next to him. He was a Brit, seemingly off to the F1, and swapped to the other window seat without question – we had our seats. The flight was smooth but we took a really high route over Greenland and down through the US to avoid a turbulent Atlantic. The flight was 10 hours so I amused myself with my iPad for most of it and Paul watched 3 movies. These were the Wedding Video, rubbish in his opinion, Batman, very good he says and Prometheus also rated very good by Paul “Barry Norman” Brennan. The food on the plane was mediocre. Paul had beef, which he describes as “OK” (I tried to get more out of him but no go). I had the cold chicken salad as the hot dishes really didn’t appeal. The chicken itself was nice but the salad was wilted and had odd components like grilled Mango!!! Afternoon tea was the usual on BA. 3 sarnies (prawn & mayo, cheese & tomato and chicken & rocket) and a hot scone with jam and cream. It was amusing watching the US patrons eat dry scone with no idea what the jam and cream were for.

We landed at 18:35, local time and got off the plane quick to get through immigration as we had a connecting flight. The immigration hall was just starting to fill and we got sent to the back of line 17. They were operating a system of lines at each desk and boy was 17 slow. I am not kidding, the guy took 5 to 10 minutes for each person. We saw those 20 to 30 people behind us in the main queue get though at other desks. The time was getting on and we started to worry about our next flight. Paul asked the queue attendant if we could move and she said we could join the back of any other queue. We then had the dilemma… see it through, with 3 people ahead or move to a queue of 5. We opted to move in the end and got through just before the guy who was in front of us in the previous queue. We hot footed to baggage control and got our cases then headed to the exit. Thankfully, the United check in desk was literally by the exit so we had plenty of time and checked in. We made our way through a very empty security and on to the gate for our internal flight; Houston to San Antonio. We had an hour to wait at the gate but boarding began on time and was very organised and swift. Paul had seat E21 and we had boarded at gate E21 which was printed in big letters on everyone’s boarding pass. You’ve guessed what happened next I’m sure…. Several passengers tried to huff him out of his seat insisting it was theirs; it said so on their boarding pass!! Paul politely pointed out that was the gate number and they each moved on somewhat embarrassed. We were also seated at an exit row and had to positively confirm to the flight attendant that we were willing and able to carry out the actions listed in the safety card in the event of an emergency. This didn’t quite work for the non-English speaking old lady next to me and she was promptly moved and swapped with someone more able!!

The flight was quick and we were on the ground by 9:50pm local time. Since Texas is 6 hours behind GMT we were definitely more than a little tired given we’d been up since 7am. We managed to get our bags quickly – mine was actually the first one off the plane which was a first in itself – and made our way to the Hertz shuttle bus. We narrowly missed one but another came along in 5 minutes and it only took about 5 minutes to get to the Hertz depot. As gold card holder our car was ready and waiting and our name was on a board to tell us which bay to go to. We got a silver Nissan (that’s Neesarn out here) Versa.

With trusty tom tom we got to our hotel (Hyatt Place) in about 20 minutes, after Paul munched his way through a Sonic burger and chips as he was hungry. It was 11:30 pm and we crashed out absolutely shattered.

We slept in on Friday until gone 10am as we needed to catch up on our sleep. We eventually headed out about midday and it was a sunny 68 degrees. We drove to downtown San Antonio to the river walk area. We walked along the river and to the Alamo. We got some pics although the cherry picker parked outside was a bit if a spoiler. We went into the main fort building, entry was free to this and the other buildings and grounds. I feel I should know more about the US historic place but Paul tells me Davy Crocket screamed like a girl when he was killed, what more do I need to know? ?

After the Alamo we needed to eat so headed into the shopping mall and to the food court. We opted for a philly cheese steak and curly fries – yum. We had a look around the shops (although can’t buy anything as we are at our 50lbs suitcase limit for our internal flight) before making our way around the corner to the Coyote Ugly bar (as in the movie). We sat outside and supped soft drinks. We were right on the river walk restaurant area and it was warm in the Texas sun.

We meandered back along the touristy river walk area towards where our car was parked. There were lots of young, formally dressed US Air Force men and women so we figured there must have been some sort of passing out parade.

We came back to our hotel and got changed for and early dinner. We’d spotted a Texas Roadhouse earlier so that was our selected destination. We got there just before the Friday night rush hour and managed to get a good booth table. Peanuts, sweet bread and obviously the perfect fillet steak – Texan beef is even more tender than Floridian I am sure. The meal was excellent and we came away very full. We headed back to the hotel for an early night as Saturday was our first GP day and we planned a very early start. We packed our things for the next morning and went to bed at 8pm!!!

The early night was the right thing to do as we got up at 6am really easily on Saturday. We managed to be on the road to Austin by 6:45 and with a really easy and traffic free journey got to the first COTA (Circuit of the Americas) signs in about 80 minutes. There was slight scary moment when we about 4 cars behind a coach as it turned onto the road down to the track. The coned off road was very narrow and the driver was clearly struggling. Despite taking it real slow he somehow managed to plough the back end of the coach into a traffic barrier. It ripped up the barrier and the back end of his vehicle. He stopped and that’s where we panicked. Being stuck whilst that was cleared would not be good. Whether the driver decided he didn’t care or whether his 50 odd F1 fan passengers applied some peer pressure I do not know but he suddenly decided to just carry on! The traffic management was certainly good around the track as we turned into the circuit, found car park F and parked, all within about 10 minutes. It was only about a 10 minute walk into the circuit so we were in by 8:15am.

Our first stop was the FanVison stand. Here we hired a TV type device that gives you commentary, TV footage, ride on board footage as well as all the relevant stats and figures. We took a quick look at the McLaren merchandise and then headed over to find our stand. We were at the far end of the turn 15 grandstand. We’d already seen plenty of places for ‘entrance only’ folk to get great vantage points with good views of the track so worth considering for the future. Our seats were row 13 so not too far back and row 1 really was trackside. The only downside was the fencing at trackside that was clearly going to impede photography. Our seats gave us a great view of the track from the end of the back straight (DRS zone) right through the chicane to turn 15. If it hadn’t been for the bridge to the right we’d have seen turn 3 and 4 as well.

We decided we’d watch free practice 3 and practice our photography. Sadly my camera is really not cut out for high speed sports but I still got a couple of shots none the less. Paul took a few shots but is yet to view them all. I’m sure he’ll have a couple to be proud of.

After practice we indulged in hot dogs and funnel cake and sat on a grass bank in the sun. After a brisk start at 8am it had become a nice day and being cloudless the sun was beating down.

We made our way back to our seats at midday for qualifying. Hamilton had put in some decent laps in practice and was at one point fastest but Vettel kept on pumping in even faster laps and was fastest in all 3 practices; by half a second on p3 which is colossal in F1 terms. It looked like pole was his for the taking and that this would be his race, the Circuit of the Americas would be his to dominate. Jenson lost power in Q2 and never made Q3 so it was all on Lewis – how close could he get to those Red Bulls? Quite close it transpires…two hundredths of a second behind Vettel and very nearly taking pole. He’d split the red bulls and yet again showed how mighty he is. Vettel fans watch out, it’s not over yet!

We’d seen on the COTA website that there were team signing sessions taking place in the afternoon with McLaren at 3:30. We figured there’d be a huge queue but thought we’d check it out anyway. There were loads of people already there and it was not even 2pm but there seemed to be no kind of queuing system. After wandering around and then finding a Marshall it transpired that you needed a wristband that were handed out that morning. We were gutted as we were probably there early enough to get one we just didn’t know that this was the system. With nothing else we wanted to do we left the circuit at about 2:30pm.

After a 90-minute journey back we chilled out in our room for an hour or so before going out for some dinner. We had spotted a Mexican just around the corner from our hotel all Pericos so decided to try that. I had fajita’s and Paul had enchiladas. It was ok but wouldn’t rush back to be honest.

We were planning another 6am start on Sunday so ate early and headed back to our hotel for another 8pm bedtime!

6am was relatively easy on Sunday too. I think the UK body clock is helping somewhat. We were out again by 6:45 and the journey was just as easy. We parked in almost the same spot as Saturday (freaky) and again were in the track by 8:15am. We decided that we’d take a wander around to the start finish straight. We walked past the expensive grandstands and at the end managed to get a good view of the grid. There were already ‘entrance only’ folk that had staked their claim to their spot. They’d obviously got in early but were rewarded as a result with a great view. We saw the VIP Paddock club seats and got some shots of the lights and the steep hill up to turn 1. I bought a Hamilton helmet key ring from a McLaren store on the way and proudly clipped it to my bag.

We meandered back to the central area and sat down on the grass. We had a good couple of hours before the drivers’ parade at 11:30 so sun bathed! It had once again become a really nice sunny day, so nice in fact that I am now sporting a red nose and Paul has a burnt neck! Paul tucked into a half-pound hot dog and I got my face painted with the F1 logo.

At about 11:15 we took our seats once more. The drivers’ parade was great with each drive being sat on the back of a classic convertible. Schumacher had a slight issue with his vintage Mustang so had to jump in with Kimi! We got some pics of the drivers and screamed and waved at Lewis and Jenson. There was lots of support for Sergio Perez with apparently almost a quarter of the fans said to be Mexicans. Apparently, the fan numbers were better than expected too. 65,000 on Friday, 85,000 on Saturday and today set to tip the 100,000 level.

After the drivers parade we saw a parachutist fly in with a huge American flag followed by a fly past consisting of an F16 and 3 other propeller aircraft that we couldn’t quite work out! There was also a Texas marching band and the obligatory national anthem before the race start.

The race got underway after the usual formation lap bang on time and being on the dirty side of the track Lewis lost a place to Webber. Ferrari had given Massa a tactical gear box change to force a 5 grid penalty and move Alonso up to 7th and the clean side of the track. It certainly worked as after a great start Alonso made it to 4th after turn 1. Jenson had a dreadful start, losing places to end up P16. We listened to the Sky commentary both days so enjoyed the familiar dulcet tones of Brundle and Crofty to guide us. Lewis certainly had the pace of the Red Bulls and we saw his overtake of Webber. The crowd were on their feet and he certainly had a lot of fans. The race unfolded with a fair amount of overtakes and battles, not least of all Lewis and Vettel. We thought he’d do it, then we figured 2nd was all he’d get. Then, on lap 42 he did it. We were on our feet again screaming – it was awesome. Vettel seemed a sore loser complaining about the overtake… but to everyone else it was an awesome move, outstanding driving and classic Lewis. Despite never getting more that 1.3 seconds ahead Lewis maintained his lead to a brilliant victory. An outstanding drive from a great world champion.

We watched the podium on the screen opposite us and revelled in the British National anthem. Martin Whitmarsh went up to get the constructor’s trophy; trophy’s incidentally designed and created by a Brit despite being designed to be recognisably American. We thought the Pirelli winners’ cowboy hats were a cool touch too.

We exited the stadium and made our way trough the crowds to return our FanVison set. There was a queue but we got though it in about 5 minutes. Pretty much everyone was leaving so we figured we would have to queue to exit. We got to the car and joined a line to get out. We moved nowhere for about 10 minutes and figured this could take some time. We saw a few vehicles, mainly 4 x4’s, taking a short cut through a ditch and to an alternative exit. After seeing one car make it Paul decided our Versa could do it. We picked our way through rows of queuing vehicles and headed for the ditch. A rear wheel drive truck ahead of us had already struggled and wheel spun so I was nervous but Paul held back then took a run up and floored it. We were through in seconds, no problem and thanked the Versa! We managed to then get out of that car park in about 10 minutes. There was a queue down to the circuit exit but it was moving and we eventually made it onto the highway at about 3:45pm.

The journey back was busy, traffic wise, but moving at a good pace. We made it back to within 3 miles of the San Antonio exits but then hit traffic. It was still moving and we got back to our hotel for 5pm. I washed my now smudged F1 logo off my face and we went straight out for dinner. We fancied Jack Daniels chicken so Paul found a TGI’s on t’internet and tom tom took us there (what did folks do before this technology?). The food was good and long awaited and was washed down with root beer, which we have drunk at every meal incidentally. I do wish they’d sell it back home.

We came back to our room about 7:30 and I’ve spent the last 2 hours typing this. I now need to pack ahead of tomorrow’s check out and flight to Orlando so I’ll save this for Paul to check over and post. Hope y’all enjoy now!

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Orlando January 2012 – Final Post

OK, so I’ve remembered some stuff from the cruise you might be interested in; namely our purchases. Firstly, I treated myself to a Disney Dooney and Bourke messenger style handbag. It was the Dream’s inaugural voyage collection and had 40% off. We also bought some Cruise edition Vinylmations. There is a whole set of 12 or more but we just got 2: one of Captain Mickey and one of the ships livery. We considered the Chinese zodiac ones but decided against it. We are not about to become avid collectors but may get a few pertinent and meaningful ones as we go along.

So, back to journal (it’s Thursday am remember?). The 528 was quiet despite in being rush hour and we made really good time. Since it was early enough when we got back to the Orlando area we stopped at the World’s Biggest McDonalds for breakfast. Our plan was to go to the Premium Outlets (Previously Prime) at the top of I-Drive and got there by 9:45. Stores opened at 10am so we walked to the far end to kill some time. We bought some candles from the Yankee outlet and Paul tried to get some replacement foam pads for his earphones from Bose. The store didn’t have any but confirmed they do sell them so he can try elsewhere or online. We looked in Juicy and Neiman Marcus Last Call but there were no more purchases. The shops were really quiet. Not sure if that was because it was early or merely the time of year. Either way it was nice.

After the shops we went over to Saratoga Springs. It was a really hot again and a glorious day. We collected our membership cards, helped ourselves to a cookie and went to take a look at the model units. First we looked at the Aulani villas, the new unit in Hawaii now selling as DVC villas. Then we looked at the Animal Kingdom villas. Both were stunning. Fab décor, great amenities, huge whirlpool tubs, really comfortable and very inviting. We definitely think we will use some of our points for a stay in May.

We left Saratoga Springs and made our way to Downtown Disney, Westside. First stop was the silver shop where I managed to get a really nice amethyst ring. A little pricey but a really nice piece; very simple solitaire bezel set oval stone in silver. After this we wandered past the candy store, briefly stopping to watch the cast member making chocolate covered pretzel sticks, and into the store that sells Vinylmation. We looked at some awesome special editions, hand painted large pieces for $1,200 as well as some weird sets, like a sushi set! We did buy our zodiac editions; they were better than the Chinese zodiac ones so not getting those was a good decision!

It was now about 2pm so we decided to make our way to Bahama Bay to check in. After unpacking we headed over to the clubhouse to get some lunch. Since we had planned dinner at Longhorn we didn’t want too much so shared a portion of cheesy bacon fries. It was still a pretty big portion but they were yummy. We checked our email, having been at sea for 4 days before making our way back to our own verandah where I wrote yesterday’s blog entry.

After hours of typing we got ready and went to Longhorn. It was quite busy so we had a 20-minute wait. Thankfully this time they didn’t forget us and we sat down to eat around 6:30pm. We had our usual Flo’s Fillet and Paul tried the new bourbon glaze that was advertised. It was way more oniony than the TGI Jack Daniel’s glaze but he said it was OK. After dinner we went over to Target to get a few groceries then came home and watched an episode of Hawaii-5-O with a nice cup of tea.

Friday morning saw a bit of a lie-in but we were up and about for about 10am. We had considered going east to a mall called Waterford Lakes as it had a Bose store for Paul to look for his earphone pads but since I still had so much blog to write we decided to sit outside and chillax. It was a much cooler day and very cloudy but warm enough to be outside as our verandah is nicely sheltered. We eventually went out about lunchtime after posting the cruise blog. Our first stop was the Center State bank (on 27 by the Polo park). We wanted to open a checking account since it was recommended for offering free banking without a minimum balance. The bank requires you to own property in Florida and since our DVC membership comprises a formal ownership deed this allowed us to open an account. The process took about half an hour and we still have to email over the formal deed once we have paid up with DVC and receive the paperwork but we have 90 days to do this. Once we got out of the bank we went over to Animal Kingdom (our new home ?). Showing our membership card gets us in so easily with a great welcome and greeting. We firstly went to Jambo House, the original Lodge. We looked around the shop, which is really big and bought a couple of cushions that say “once upon a time, happy ever after” and “never grow up”. We then went out back to the viewing outlook but other than birds nothing was really near. We saw some Zebra and Wildebeest in the distance and Paul got some pics. There were 2 viewing areas with one being behind the pool area. This had some nice hot tubs and secluded seating areas. We then went over to Kidani Village and got a cup of tea each to drink as we sat in the rocking chairs at the overlook area. The Giraffes were around and there does seem to be better viewing from Kidani. We took a look in the shop on the way out and Paul bought a DVC members only pin whilst I bought a pink DVC members t-shirt with Tinkerbell embroidered on it. Sadly, this has turned out to be a little big so I need to try and swap it tomorrow. I also got some African made stone animals; a Hippo and a Rhino, which will go really nicely with my wooden Giraffe and Elephant back home.

We stayed at AK until about 5pm before heading over to Kobe for dinner. We shared a meal again but as well as the shrimp and fillet had some teriyaki chicken. The food was as good as ever and our chef had some new tricks like ‘lava from the volcano’ which was the sauce spitting our of the onion volcano. We didn’t really talk to our tablemates again which consisted of a family of mum, dad, 2 kids and grand parents then one other couple.

We finished at Kobe around 6:30 and after a stop for gas went over to the Polynesian to watch the Wishes fireworks from the beach. It was cool but not too cold and we perched on sun beds. The film on the beach was “Tangled” and there was a dad with his 2 kids next to us who was struggling to get them to sit and wait for the fireworks as all they wanted was to go and watch Rapunzel! We saw, and heard, a couple of Pirate firework cruise boats out on the lake. Wishes was good and half way through I swear I saw an Alligator swimming past in the lake. Paul saw something too but thought that folks swam in the lake. After the fireworks we checked the signs which do say ‘no swimming’ so I am still convinced it was a gator.

We came straight back after the fireworks and after a welcome cuppa we did most of our packing. We had bought out 3 suitcases (one inside another on the way out) so have plenty of space and should be able to even out the weight.

It is now nearly midnight. Paul is in the tub whilst I finish up this last blog update before we head back to Blighty tomorrow ? ?

Hope you enjoyed….

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Orlando January 2012 – Day 8 (At last!)

Well hello again, it’s been a while. We are now back on dry land (suffering with sea legs a tad) and sitting out the back of our Bahama Bay apartment. Good news is the bed is bigger in the deluxe. It is peaceful again and very sunny as I type at just after 4pm. I think I must have about 3 days to catch up on so this could take a while. You might want to put the kettle on, treat yourself to a biscuit as well and settle in…

…so, some pertinent updates for you to begin with. Firstly, the Vinylmation Mickey came back all signed and is AWESOME. They have made such a good job of it we were both in wonder. It will be displayed well away from Norah as it is (to quote a famous credit card ad) priceless! Secondly, the cruise itself was also awesome. Probably the best Cruise we have done. Definitely not too overbearing on the Disney although it was busy with 4000 passengers. The time flew and we didn’t even get to do everything we wanted but have vowed we will definitely do it again. Very probably we will book in Jan next year and try to get the same deal we did this time. Finally, before I go back to Monday afternoon, we are now members of the Disney Vacation Club. We have pondered if for some time but there was an on board offer so we took the plunge and signed up. I’ll not go into the details of how it all works and what that means in this blog.

So, where did I leave you? Monday lunchtime I believe as we were getting off the boat to take a wander around Nassau. It was a pleasant day, a little cloudy but warm enough and no sign of the forecasted rain. We looked in a few shops and in ‘Diamonds International’ I tried on a canary yellow diamond ring, which was a snip at $600,000!! I also was interested in some Amolite pieces but the prices were not even comparable to what I can buy from jewellery channels on TV, and it’s the same branded stone. We tried to barter and get a deal but the shops didn’t seem to want our business. Maybe they get enough sales from all the tourists but they seemed happy to let us walk away. I also looked at the Larimar (the stone of the Caribbean) but that too was way more then back home. So, after a couple of hours we got back on board with our dollars in our pocket. On board we went up to deck 11 to get a hot dog and fries and a drink. We sat in the quiet cove (which is mis sold as a live guitarist ruins the peace) before heading back to our room to watch the Princess and the Frog.

Dinner was at the Enchanted Garden restaurant which we were told was based on the gardens of Versailles although it was a tad tacky for our liking. The food was ok and after appetizers of soup and salad I had the roast chicken with sweet potatoes and Paul had prime rib. There was no entertainment in this restaurant and the evening was slightly marred by the entire table (10 of them) of children behind us that were very boisterous and loud. Our fellow table guests were not best pleased either.

After dinner we went to the theatre for the evening’s show that was “Villains Tonight”. It was a stage production with Hades (the ruler of the underworld from the film Hercules) trying to ensure he was still evil enough (having been defeated by Hercules) by enlisting the help of his friends such as Ursula,The Evil Queen, Maleficent, Jafar and Scar. It was not as good as the first night’s show but still good. Afterwards we went back into Pink and had a champagne cocktail then watched a family Disney quiz show before bed.

Tuesday began as all cruise days with breakfast being delivered to our room and consumed on our balcony. We were docked at Castaway Cay (pronounced ‘key’ by Disney for some reason) which is their private Island. It has clearly been well “designed” and was quite idyllic. We got off the boat about mid morning and wandered along the pathways to the beach areas taking photos. At lunchtime we stopped for the on-shore BBQ food which was really good. The weather was amazing, so amazing that I have burned arms to show for it. There were plenty of activities for families to do including lots of the usual water sports as well as bike rides and a water slide called Pelican Plunge.

There were bars and shops as well so we each bought a souvenir t-shirt and had an official photo taken as a memento. We walked all the way down to Serenity Bay, which is the adults’ only beach. We had a paddle in the turquoise blue ocean and then sat in beach chairs with our feet in the sea as the waves lapped. To be absolutely honest, the water was freezing but the scene was certainly paradise. We had decided to get back to the boat for about 2:30 for a ship tour so got the tram all the way back to the boat. We were cutting it fine time wise and then struggled to find the bar the tour start from so ended up missing it. Instead we went to a presentation on the making of the Disney Dream (our boat). I’d got myself a frozen Piña Colada with lashings of rum to sip on so was happy enough 🙂 After this we stayed in the same lounge to here the DVC presentation and as you have already read, they did a good sales job on us! We left there having made an appointment for 9:30pm and went back to our room to get ready for dinner.

Tonight’s dinner was Pirates night and we were in the Royal Palace restaurant. The restaurant was really nice with particularly cute Cinderella Coach breadbaskets. The menu was Mickey and Pirate themed with a Caribbean flavour. I had a Pineapple appetizer whilst Paul opted for the pork dumplings. I then had a jerk chicken salad before a main course of sirloin steak. Paul went for the shrimp and scallop linguini, asking Sean (our server) to de-shell his shrimp. Deserts were rum soaked sponge, yummy. In our cabin we had each been given a bandana and some families had really gone to town with the dressing up. After dinner we went to the theatre, we were late out so had no time for a pre dinner drink. The show was Ronn Lucas, the ventriloquist we had seen on the first night. His main show did not differ much sadly so we saw a lot of the same. He was funny though and is definitely very talented. After he finished we darted to our DVC meeting and were “sold to” by Rob, a very typical American salesman from NJ whose wife was called Cindy. We asked all our questions and got our info but did not want to sign there and the as we still wanted to think about it and work some numbers. He really wanted the sale but we said we may well be back. We were with him an hour which meant we had to run up to deck 11 afterwards as this was fireworks night. DCL is the only ship allowed to set off fireworks at sea from on board. They are called Buccaneer Blast:-

They were excellent, obviously smaller scale as they we set of from the ships funnels, but still excellent. Afterwards there was a show on the deck stage with Captain Jack Sparrow and various Pirate dancers. It was really mild out on deck with no wind and plenty warm enough with just a light cardie. Once the show was over we headed for bed. There was a 3D showing of the 4th Pirates movie in the cinema that we considered but tiredness over ruled.

Wednesday was our sea day so we had a little more of a lie in before breakfast was delivered at about 9:30. Having looked at our planner (called the Personal Navigator as opposed to RC’s Cruise Compass) there was a lot we wanted to do including the ship tour we had missed the day before and various quizzes. Before all of this however, and having done some sums, we called up Rob and made an 11:15 appointment to give him the good news. We couldn’t sign up there and then as paperwork needed t be drawn up but we paid or closing costs and agreed to come back and sign at 2:30pm. We left with a few freebies such as baseball caps, a bag and a really nice wooden box. We grabbed some lunch before we met for the ship tour at 1pm. It was hosted by Lauren; a Brit from Basingstoke. She was new to it (this only being her second tour) but was very good. Her grammar was a little lacking in places (lots of ‘them features’ and ‘them characters’ with seemingly no knowledge the word ‘those’ even existed) but she was enthusiastic and friendly. We learned all sorts of facts from this and the previous days presentation including:

(OK, I’ll be honest, I had to stop here and go for dinner and being really tired after an early start I couldn’t do anymore before bed. So, it’s now Friday morning but I have made a commitment to finish this!)

  1. The ships colour scheme of black, yellow, white and red are the colours of Mickey Mouse
  2. Painting the hull of the ship pure black was a little too imposing so Disney wanted a very dark navy blue. After searching unsuccessfully a meeting was called with several top Disney bigwigs and one of them was a lady in navy trousers; the exact colour they wanted, so they took her trousers and had paint made the same colour. They then named it Monica blue in her honour!
  3. Disney had to get special permission from the Coast Guard to have yellow lifeboats instead of fluorescent orange as was the law. They had to prove their colour was just as noticeable but eventually were granted permission.
  4. Magic and Wonder hold 2000 passengers, the Dream and Fantasy hold 4000
  5. The Magic and Wonder only have “When You Wish Upon A Star” as their horn sound but the Dream has several. On You Tube you can find a video of the ‘battle of the horns’ when The Magic and Dream met each other at Castaway Cay. We’ve watched it and it is so cool.

The tour took us into Remy, one of the restaurants you can pay to eat in. It is $75 a head and French themed. It is based on the film Ratatouille and has a glass model of Remy worth over $45,000 as well as a private dining room that looks exactly like the one in the film. It also has little stools at each table for a lady to put her handbag on so it never has to touch the floor. We also looked at the Bar areas. We had already seen Pink, the champagne bar, but there are about 3 or 4 other bars one of which is called the Skyline. The views from this bar are all LCD screens showing an evening view of a major city. The view looks lifelike with moving cars, flashing lights and waves on the water. Every 15 minutes pixie dust covers the screens and they change to another city. There are about 4 in all so guests can drink for an hour or so and get to see all revolutions. I told you earlier this cruise was neat and way more than just Mickey and his friends. Some if the features and technology are really clever and that’s the Disney we love.

The tour took about an hour and finished in the grand atrium where there is a bronze statue of Admiral Donald. Each ship has a statue: the Magic has Captain Mickey, the Wonder has Ariel and the new Fantasy will have Mademoiselle Minnie. Apparently she has been in over 75 cartoons with Mickey but has never starred in her own feature so the fact she now has her own ship that is bigger than Mickey’s is well deserved according to all the crew.

After the tour concluded we were just in time to see the Princess parade in the Atrium. Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Tiana and Belle all floated down the grand staircase and then pranced around signing autographs for the kids. We got a few pics, especially of “Cinders” with “Cinders”. It was now time to go and sign our DVC deeds so we made our way to the office. The whole process took about 20 minutes or so but by 3pm on Wednesday 1st Feb 2012 we were members of the family. Now wherever we go in DVC areas we are greeted with “Welcome Home”. Since the membership gets us some discounts on property (including Raglan Road the Irish Pub at Pleasure Island) we were told we could pick up our membership cards at Saratoga Springs when we disembarked so we could start enjoying our membership immediately.

We had missed one of the trivia quizzes but headed up to another one in the 687 lounge; so named as that was the hull number of our ship as she was built (it is bad luck to refer to a ship by name before it is completed). The quiz was about the Fantasy and as we had learned a lot on our tour and presentation we got quite a lot correct. We were late starting though so couldn’t win as we hadn’t answered all questions.

After a quick look at our Castaway Cay photos in Shutters we got a place on the atrium balcony to see the “See Ya Real soon” show. It turned out not to be a show, just Mickey and friends signing autographs. Since we still had about an hour before dinner we decided to complete the ‘Midship Detective Agency’ assignment. This is another really cool Disney feature. Each ‘detective’ (young or old and trust me there were several adults having more fun with this than the kids) has a key card that is registered to a screen with your detective number. You then need to seek out the enchanted artworks and solve clues. Enchanted artwork are interactive pictures (LCD screens in reality) but again really cleverly done as framed art. You hold your key card to the screen and your clue could be found in some way such as popping the on screen balloons by pointing your card at them, removing metal objects as your card became a magnet and brushing dust away to reveal stuff. All this was done by merely holding a piece of card about 18 inches from the screen – really neat! We solved our crime, that of the missing artwork and it turned out to be Ymza from the Emperor’s New Groove. The other really cool thing is that if you take another assignment you’ll get different clues for a different crime and criminal. We saw our tablemates on their 3rd assignment.

This took us nicely up to getting ready for dinner and we both felt that for a sea day it had absolutely flown by. Not only this but we could have done more and were both a little disappointed that we didn’t ride the Aquaduck but we’ve decided that it’s a reason that we have to come back.

Dinner was in the Royal Palace again and the menu was easily the best all cruise. Paul had 2 steaming bowls of Belle’s French Onion soup whilst I had some sliced duck and then the garlic escargot which were fab. Main course for me was the lamb and Paul had the Beef with Lobster although he didn’t realize it was a lobster medallion and so left it, much to the disgust of fellow diners and serving staff! Desert was an amazing Grand Marnier Soufflé with Crème Anglaise and Paul also had tasters of the others including a peanut butter chocolate mousse that was really nice. Like I said this was definitely the best meal. We gave our tips to our staff (not paying the prepaid full amount) and made our way to the theatre for the final show. The show was called Believe and was the story of a man who didn’t believe in magic but his daughter wanted him to. After finding the Genie he went on a journey with various characters to make him believe. There were plenty of Disney classics like Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Lion King, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast along the way so we sang and clapped to our faves. This was the best show of the cruise and we both loved it.

After the show we needed to get some packing done so went back to our room and stuffed it all in our cases, remembering to keep out the next day’s clothes and filling in our comment form. We did take a stroll up to the Outlook bar, the highest point on the ship, but it was closed so we headed down to deck. Paul grabbed a coke and I had a hot chocolate and we went back to bed.

Thursday was an early start; up at 7 for disembarkation. Paul went for breakfast in the dining room but I skipped that. We were all ready to get off by 8am and the atmosphere was very different to RC. There was no push to get out of the stateroom, no sitting around in lounges and no time to disembark. We headed up to mid ship and merely wandered off. No line, no fuss, just shook the Captain’s hand and got off. We have no idea why RC make such a meal of disembarkation and seemingly cause more trouble as a ‘free for all’ by Disney worked way better. We found our cases, had a short wait in line for customs and were in our car and on the road by 8:30am which was amazing (and unheard of with RC).

I’m gonna stop now and get this posted for ya (you’ve probably drowned in tea and put on half a stone from all the biscuits). I’ll complete the ‘back on land’ stuff in the next post.

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Orlando January 2012 – Day 4

It’s now Monday morning and we have just had breakfast. A toasted English muffin with grape jelly, a selection of pastries, some juice and a nice cup of tea.  We docked about about an hour ago here at Nassau and watched from our balcony as we came in, turned around and docked.  It seems like a nice day, although there is a chance of rain in the forecast.  We plan to head off for a wander about town once I’ve updated you all on the last day or two.
So, where did I leave you?  Saturday night I believe as we headed out to Kobe for dinner.  We go there about 5:30 and having made a reservation online were seated within 5 minutes or so.  We had two groups of 4 at our table; the first a group of middle aged women seemingly doing Disney and the second a family with parents, adult child and respective partner.  We didn’t chat amongst the table to be honest so I can tell you no more about them than that.  It was absolutely freezing in Kobe; the whole table ended up donning cardies and jackets.  Our chef was Kenny and the food and show was as good as ever.  Paul had the shrimp and I had the fillet.  The beef was as tender and flavoursome as ever and given we had only had a pastry for lunch we ate a lot; even half the rice bowl!  A couple of guests had teriyaki chicken which Paul wants to try next time to see how that flavour compares.  We finished up by just after 6:30 and the plan was to go to the beach at the Polynesian to watch the Wishes fireworks.  Since we had time to spare we took a scenic route to Disney to ‘sit our dinner down’!  We had coats etc in the car as the temperature does drop at night.  The car park at the Polynesian was absolutely heaving.  We had no idea why but we drove around and around to look for a space.  After about 10 minutes we eventually found one and parked.  We never did find out why it was so busy, there was no evident signs about an event or anything, strange.  There were a few people on the beach and the movie playing was “Cars”.   We got a bed to sit on (dusted it down with a towel as there was sand everywhere) and perched.  The music was difficult to hear from the speakers but the fireworks were good.  The night was very still so the after smoke hung in the air a lot.  You a could still see but it became very smoky/cloudy. We made our way home for about 8:45. We did some packing and prep for our cruise but had an early night as we were both shattered.
We were up at 8am on Sunday as we had a 10am checkout.  We asked about a top floor room for our reservation later in the week but were told we’d been upgraded to a deluxe suite which is ground floor only so we opted to stay with that and check out the deluxe difference!
We had decided to go to Premium Outlets before making our way down to Port Canaveral and since we knew we had early seating on board, decided on brunch as our best option so headed straight for the food court.  We had wanted Charlie’s Steakery Philly Cheese Steaks but when we got there Charlie’s had gone!  The other choices weren’t great so we end up with Chinese!  It was ok though and did the job.
We had 2 hours before we knew we had to leave so scooted around the shops that we liked.  Paul bought a t shirt from Marc Ecko and saw some new polo shirts that he is hoping will be discounted when we are back here in May.    We also bought some stuff in the Disney Character Warehouse. Paul got a cool rain pac-a-mac that was on offer, I got a Pirates t-shirt (there is a pirate night on board), we bought some magnets to decorate our stateroom door (as yet still in situ and not been thieved!) and a couple of beach towels that were buy on get one free, so at 10 bucks seemed ideal for a cruise.  We reckon we got about $25 worth of savings again, we’re deffo good at this savings lark.  I did search for some crop jeans but couldn’t find any at all :-(.
We left Premium at half twelve and got on the 528 to Port Canaveral.  It was a gorgeous day.  Cooler at 70 degrees but still nice and sunny.  We saw several Disney cruise Line coaches on the road and made good time arriving at the port about 1:30. We had pre-booked a check in time of 2pm so all was good.  We had considered parking at the Park and Cruise which was cheaper that the port itself but it was a long way out so we opted to pay the extra for the convenience, especially when lugging cases etc.  We dropped our cases with the porter and parked in the multi story.  There was a gangway into the terminal building and it was very quiet.  Boarding had commenced about midday so a lot of passengers were already on board; you could even see folks in the aqueduct. Check in was quick, Paul had completed most things online so it was pretty much a case of getting our key.  We were then straight on board for just after 2pm where every family or party is announced on board!
We made our way to our state room to drop off our hand luggage bags (we had packed our evening change of clothes and toiletries just in case the suitcases didn’t get to us in time).  The state room is very nice with a sofa area and balcony.  The bathrooms are typical cruise ship small but we do have a tub: the worlds smallest tub mind and Paul is practising contortionism as he bathes.  We then went exploring the ship staring with handing in our Vinylmation and pens at guest services.  After a shaky start the Italian cast member soon knew what we meant and it was absolutely no problem so we will get our signed piece back in our state room on the last day – how cool is that?  We then went to Cabanas, the buffet restaurant, as we were a bit peckish and had chip butties.  Afterwards we wandered out on the pool deck and into the over 18’s area to get some peace.  There were a few kids that kept wandering through so if that continues I feel a complaint coming on!  I had a frozen piña colada and Paul had a coke as we sat in the sun and Paul phoned home.  We also took a look at the restaurants we’d be eating in.  We move between 3 but our serving staff moves with us.  Tonight we are at “Animator’s Palate” so we found our table number and had a look around.  We are at a table for 8 so we’ll find out later who we are dining with.
The muster drill was planned for 3:45 so we left this area about then and made our way to our muster point K.  There is no need to wear the life jackets but the check in and line up is the same as RC.  It took about half an hour and afterwards it was the sail away party on deck.  We went to take a look and saw the characters and dancers etc.  we were each given streamers to wave by a crew member.   There was a keen wind on deck and it was very busy so we came to or room to get ready and sail away.  The ships horn as we left port is in the tune of “When You Wish Upon A Star”. The ‘bing bong’ for an announcement is the same.  I like the little things like that and so far do prefer this to RC.
We got ready and then went for our dinner (our cases had arrived by the way) at 5:45.  The waiting staff at “Animator’s Palate” all had shirts with character sketches all over them and the restaurant had screens all around and was decorated with artwork and figurines. As we ate the screens showed Crush (the turtle from “Finding Nemo”) talking to us and there we’re quizzes in the form of fish making shapes of characters that we had to guess. The coolest thing of all though was when Crush had a conversation directly with some diners at tables right by the screens.  We tried to spot the guy or cameras but couldn’t.
Our fellow diners were all couples older than us.  There were a quiet couple who were first timers like us and the others were gold members consisting of a couple from California and a couple originally from NY state who had retired to Orlando.  We talked with them a lot as they were opposite us.  They were retired teachers and each worked part time at Disney. He was on the gate at Epcot and we never did quite catch what she did ;-). They travelled a lot too and their retirement sounded idyllic to us.  They were a really nice couple and we were envious of their lifestyle.  Dinner was 4 courses.  Paul started with a mushroom risotto but I skipped appetizers. We then both had the baked potato and cheese soup with bacon bits.  It was really nice although each course did seem to arrive with a skin on it as though it had been sitting for a while.  As we talked to the couple opposite they said that their favourite cruise line was Carnival which surprised us.  We thought this was a bit if a party chavvy boat but they say the food is the best.  They actually said that Disney food is the worst although the Disney entertainment on board is easily the best.  For main course we chose the Angus beef, cut to order.  It was very tender and tasty. I did swap out my wasabi mash for a baked potato but Paul said the wasabi mash was really nice.  For desert Paul had the cookies and cream sundae and I had the chocolate brownie cheesecake.  Soda is free on board so coke and sprite kept coming to wash it all down.  There was some more entertainment from Crush with dancing and a turtle pledge so all in all dinner was pretty good.
We left the dining room at about 7:30 and the show was at 8:30.  Doors did not open until 8 so we looked around the ship.  Donald Duck was in the atrium and the photo place had a cool twist.  Each guest has an allocated photo album where any shots that have been taken are put so no trawling through everyone’s pics and at least no one can man handle your pics.  Mind you, it means you can’t laugh at others expense!
We got seats on the front row of the dress circle in the theatre although it was tight I space and Paul’s legs didn’t quite fit!  The was some pre show fun in the shape of screens showing the audience with Disney characters super imposed sitting amongst them and also a pre show interview with kids as they came into the theatre.  The show was the “Golden Mickeys” which was a tribute to great films and music with awards for friendship, love, hero’s etc.  it was a mix of on screen and on stage with excerpts from The Lion King, Mulan, Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, Tarzan and The Hunchback of Notre Dame to name but a few.  In true Disney style it was excellent.
After the show we made our way to the Pink bar.  It is designed to look like a pink champagne glass with bubbles all around.  It is adults only so again we could get some peace.  We had a champagne cocktail and chat to the bar tender, a young Slovenian girl.  She had plenty to say so we whiled away 40 minutes or so.  We had considered going to a  show called Mirror Mirror but she said it was for kids so instead we went to another adult lounge to watch Ronn Lucas, a ventriloquist. He has been on TV loads, including the UK where he appeared on “A Night At The London Paladium”  in front of the queen. His show was hilarious and we sipped cocktails as we watched; Paul with a mojito and me with a chocolate martini.  The show ended just before 11 and as we were tired we opted for bed.  I slept really well, comfy bed and pillows but Paul said he was a bit restless.  It is quite noisy though with a fair amount of banging and clattering going on.
So, we’re back to this morning and now we’re all showered and this is typed we are off to explore Nassau.

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Orlando January 2012 – Day 2

Yippee I hear you cry; a blog to read at last! I’ll get on with it then and our journey begins with a very long flight from Manchester: 9 hours 40 mins in total. We were about an hour late leaving too as there had been a delay to the incoming flight. It’s was actually the Gatwick flight (as always) but they seemed to swap our planes so we can’t seem to avoid the dreaded Gatwick curse no matter how we try. The flight was ok. The new Premium seats are comfy enough and after no queue at check in we managed to get moved to the front row with oodles of leg room. This also meant we got stand alone foot stools which were pretty cool too. The cabin was half empty and the crew we really good (a tad northern so there were lots of “love”, “darlin” and “duck” as they addressed us but definitely very friendly and helpful). The food was a bit grim. We are not used to the tightly packed tray of square plastic containers and foil covered muck, and missed our china plated course by course service. There was a very nice Lilly O’Brian’s desert though and some cheese and crackers to fill up on. Afternoon tea was cheese and onion finger sandwiches and a scone. Not a warmed scone with your choice of fruit or plain but a cold dry one so Paul proceeded to pick out his fruit as I picked the onion from my sandwiches. Have we become too fussy and spoiled do you think??

The flight itself was relatively smooth. Landing was bumpy but other than that no seat belt signs. Paul amused himself with a very macabre foreign film (The Skin I Live In) that we were amazed was shown on a flight. I did lots of puzzles, read lots of magazines and had a snooze I must confess.

We landed at about 3:30 local time and made it off the plane, through security and into our hire car in under an hour. Virgin do excel at priority baggage it had to be said. The airport was very quiet. We made our way directly to the Mall at Millenia, parked outside Neiman Marcus (creatures of habit that we are) and headed to Tiffany’s. We did stop briefly at Jimmy Choo and the Sony store en route. We picked up my bracelets (plain silver with an open heart and starfish charm on them) then had a brief look in L’Occitane and Swarovski before heading back to the car. It was rush hour traffic so I4 was heaving as made our way back to the 192 and into TGI’s for some food. Paul had Jack Daniels sesame chicken bites and I had Jack Daniels chicken breast. Great food as ever and needed after the inflight servings. We made a final stop at Publix for some essentials before checking into the Bahama Bay resort.

Our apartment is good. Great location over looking the lake, quiet and sunny outlook and given the price (35 quid a night) awesome value. The ordinary double bed was a bit of a shame as we like a king and the child upstairs is annoying as he/she runs up and down their apartment. The wifi is slow and the tub is small but despite those niggles it’s extremely pleasant as I sit on our balcony and type this.

Today we we up about 8. I think Paul was earlier so I made the most of having all of the double bed. We left about 9:15 and went for breakfast at the McDonalds on Osceola Parkway in Disney. Even at that time in the morning as the sun shone down on us it was really warm. We ate brecky in t-shirts outside in January. As Paul tweeted this morning, this is why we’d rather be in Florida at this time of year than Blighty.

After breakfast we made our way to Downtown Disney, Marketplace. It was really warm and sunny. We wandered around the shops and made a few purchases (well it is me after all). I got a top (blue with red lip shapes on it) and a case for my camera (so that Paul could have my existing one). It was actually an iPhone case but fits my camera perfectly and being purple with Tinkerbell on it is right up my street. Being an iPhone case it came with a hard shell for the iPhone so Paul now proudly displays the WDW Cinderella castle on the back of his phone.

We also bought a large white Mickey Vinylmation that we intend to get signed by the characters on our cruise. Apparently you can give any item to a cast member to get signed so we’ll find out later if that’s true. If not then look on eBay for the Vinylmation ;-).

Paul also bought a Disney book with photography ideas and we each bought an insulated mug for our morning tea on the way to work. Our purchases allowed us to get some items on offer so we now also own a Disney tote bag and a fleece throw with the castle on it.

We left Downtown and headed over to the Florida Mall. The traffic was pretty good so we made good time. The Mall was reasonably quiet. Local weekend folk but nothing too busy. Purchases included some Pandora beads for my bracelet (which retail at the same amount in dollars as pounds back home), some nail products (incl a purple lacquer), some Yankee candles (gingerbread mmmmm), a Tinkerbell shower gel and body lotion set (from the Disney store) and a very cool PanAm flight bag, authentic as carried by those in the recent TV show. We also got the ‘Sharpies’ for the character sigs I mentioned. All this expense better not be in vein. We managed to use vouchers and save about $50 in all as well as getting some freebies incl shampoo and lipgloss samples.

We returned to the apartment about 4pm and had a cuppa on the balcony. We are now going to freshen up before going to Kobe for dinner. We are going to meal share as the supplement still makes it cheaper. We are coupon and savings aficionado’s now!!

Hope you enjoyed reading again…