Florida 2011 - 28th September

28^th September

We were really tired from the party last night and so we didn’t get up until gone 10 this morning. Once we were ready we headed over to Hollywood Studios and went straight over to Toy Story Mania to grab a fast pass for later – they were already being distributed for 7pm that night! We then rode the following in no particular order:

· Tower of Terror x 3
· Rock n Rollercoaster
· Star Tours
· The Great Movie Ride

We also got lunch at the Backlot Express in between rides; as we wanted to watch Fantasmic! later on we headed back to the resort for a while to rest and cool off. When we went back we finally got to ride Toy Story and also watched the Voyage of the Little Mermaid which we had never seen before.

At about 7.30 we went and got a seat for Fantasmic right in the centre of the theatre. I got some nachos and cheese to snack on while we waited. Fantasmic was delayed slightly due to thunder threatening but eventually got under way. This is a really fun show – the mixture of water, fire and fireworks is great. What puzzles me though is why people leave when ¾ of the show is over? I guess they are probably trying to beat the crowds but I would rather see the whole show and not worry about the crowds – we are on holiday right?!

Back at the resort Rob got a flatbread and a beer for a late dinner and then we headed home for the night.

Florida 2011 - 26th September

26^th September

Today was our first day at Epcot; we headed out quite early and took the monorail from the hotel. We arrived at about 9.30 and headed straight for Soarin’ we rode the standby line and got fast passes for later. Then we grabbed some breakfast in Sunshine Seasons before walking onto Living with the Land.

Time for Soarin’ again with our fast passes before heading over to Test Track. We grabbed fast passes and then Rob went to look at the cars. We popped over to Club Cool to try out some Coke products before our fast pass window opened. After our ride on Test Track we decided to take a stroll around the world showcase.

As we were just entering the world showcase we saw a character greet getting ready to open. It turned out to be Duffy Bear and as there was no queue I decided to go meet him. I got a hug and Rob took my picture – which I will eventually upload when I have faster internet!

We did the obligatory boat rides in Mexico and Norway and then took some time to explore the other countries. It is amazing that despite the number of times we have been here there are still loads of things that we haven’t seen or done!

We stopped for a drink in China and then carried on around. We spotted Marie in France and I was going to meet her but the queue got real long really fast so we took a quick picture from afar and moved on. There is a new band in the UK pavilion and they are quite good. Rob stopped to watch while I went in one of the shops. I found Tigger and Pooh doing a character meet at the back and took a quick picture of them.

We then headed back to our hotel and got to the monorail station just as it started to rain. It was a pretty impressive storm and we got a little wet when we changed to the resort loop but not too bad. We were going to head back to Epcot for Illuminations but the storm kept going for most of the evening so we stayed at the resort and watched Wishes from the balcony instead!

27^th September

This morning I had to set an alarm as we had a breakfast reservation which couldn’t be missed – at Chef Mickey’s!

We walked across to the Contemporary and checked in at the desk. We were quickly shown to our table and then our server took our drinks order. We headed over to the buffet and got some food. We started eating and then along came Goofy! We both had photos and shook hands with him. We started eating again and then along came the main man – Mickey! More piccys with Rob and I.

A little while later and Minnie appeared, she posed for a picture with me but disappeared before Rob could get one…. While we were eating we pondered how difficult it must be to get children to eat breakfast with all the characters wandering around!

Donald was the next character to visit with us, we both got pictures again which was good. We were almost done with our food at this point but were waiting for the last of the Fab Five – Pluto. We then heard that Pluto is always last so got some fruit whilst we waited for him.

Finally Pluto appeared and I got a photo with him, but again he ran off before Rob could get a photo. Then just before we left the characters did the napkin dance – which is fun for the kids and great to watch as an adult!

So, breakfast over (and at $72 not a cheap experience – but well worth it) we went back to the resort to do some laundry and explore a little bit. We weren’t going to a park until later as we had tickets for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

We lazed around at the resort and just chilled for a while before heading over to the Magic Kingdom just after 4pm.

The nice thing about the party nights is that the lines for rides are really short. We rode the following rides during the party with little or no wait:

· Splash Mountain x 2

· Big Thunder Mountain

· Jungle Cruise
· Haunted Mansion
· It’s a small world
· Space Mountain

I was originally planning on trying to meet the seven dwarfs during the party but the line to meet them was really long all night so I gave up on that idea and decided instead to focus on the fireworks, the parade and gathering lots of candy to take home with me!

The party seemed more crowded than last year but we still had a great evening and got lots of candy!

Florida 2011

As some of you may know I am quite the fan of Florida, so it should come as no surprise that I am on my way again on my latest holiday! Trying to branch out a little bit though so we are also going to South Carolina for 5 days before coming home. I have just written up the first few days below, and will update every few days. I have photos but will add them later as I need to upload them first :)

23^rd September

After going to work early I finally managed to convince my boss that it was time for me to leave at about 12.30! Rob had already dropped Zac off at the kennels and done online check-in for our flight so once I got back we grabbed some lunch, got my car cleaned and then went home to finish packing and tidy the house.

All tidying done, and the bed made ready for our return, we headed off to the airport. We had to stop briefly to give granddad his birthday card – he just turned 92 and I had sent his birthday present directly to the house.

So off we went, traffic was good until we hit the M25 which was barely moving….! Luckily we only had a couple of junctions to go until we could turn off. We arrived at the Sofitel at Terminal 5 at about 8pm and got a room with an outside view – not that we’d know as you couldn’t hear anything at all. This is the second time we had stayed at the hotel and we would definitely go back.

24^th September

Big travel day today. We got up and headed to bag drop at about 8.30. We went through security quickly and then grabbed breakfast. We then boarded our BA flight to Miami. The flight was uninteresting – we had 3 seats between the two of us which allowed us to spread out a little.

On arrival at Miami the queue for immigration was the longest I have ever seen! It took us close to an hour to get through and then we also had to queue at customs! We took the Miami Mover to the car hire centre which was quick and easy. We picked up our car (a Lincoln Town Car which was not what Rob was hoping for!) and headed out on our way to Disney World.

4 hours later and we were almost there and a huge rain storm hit. We could barely see out of the windows! However, we managed to make it to our hotel safely and thankfully the storm had passed and we could unload our baggage without getting wet!

We are staying at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in a Magic Kingdom view studio. We checked in and were allocated a room on the 6^th floor. I would have preferred a little higher but we will be back so it isn’t a problem.

We grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to bed as it was now 10pm US time and we were super tired!

25^th September

We managed to stay in bed until about 7am which was quite the achievement as Rob woke at 5 for the first time!

I had planned a visit to the Animal Kingdom today so we went to get breakfast at the Contempo Café and then popped to reception as we had a key issue we were trying to resolve. We took our mugs back to the room and then quickly used skype to contact Rob’s parents and let them know we had arrived ok. We gave them a tour of the room via video and then headed out to the park.

Once we got to AK we headed to Expedition Everest and picked up a fast pass before riding for the first time. It was really hot today and so we went over to ride Kali River Rapids without worrying if we were going to get wet!

We survived relatively unscathed – although one guy that rode with us did get absolutely soaked! We picked up a fast pass for later and then headed back to Everest. After another quick ride we decided to go to Dinoland and ride Dinosaur. The wait was less than 20 mins which was good – also it gave me a chance to get out of the heat!

We then went back and rode the rapids again – it’s funny that when you don’t want to get wet you do and when you are happy to get wet you don’t!

We then got our first soft serve ice cream of the trip before taking another ride on Everest before calling it a day and heading back to our room.

I had planned for this to be a short day as we would get tired pretty quickly and the Animal Kingdom is my least favourite park.

We popped over to Downtown Disney to grab a bite to eat at one of my favourites – Earl of Sandwich. I had then planned to watch Wishes from the Top of the World Lounge but in the end we were both tired so we watched from our balcony instead! So nice to be able to watch the fireworks without crowds of people!