9...

9...days to go!

Well today has seen us talking and testing tech!  Simon has been busy sorting through old vacation video formatting it into a digital copy as well as testing some new tech.  We are fortunate enough to have access to a 'Go-Pro'camera; this is a very small compact digital camera that is often used to capture video of extreme sports.  So today Simon went out for a run with our eldest on his bike and the 'Go-Pro' attached to either Simon's chest or our son's bike helmet.  We're hoping that we can then use this on vacation to capture some of the rides, and even some of the water park rides as we have a waterproof case for it - should be interesting!

And talking of extreme sports we have also been debating whether or not to do some parasailing this vacation.  This is due to us listening to a WDW Radio podcast where Lou Mongello was discussing the numerous ways to enjoy the water whilst at WDW...so watch this space to see if we decide to go ahead and who out of our family decides to go for it!

We have also had a bit of a Disney movie weekend to get us in the mood!  Last night we watched 'Teen Beach Movie'...the sing-a-long version no less and I have to confess it was my second time of watching and I rather enjoyed it!  It's fun and easy to watch with catchy tunes and produced to the usual Disney standards.

Tonight we have watched for the first time 'Frankenweenie' and we were all really impressed by it.  Now I have to confess to being a bit of a Tim Burton fan anyway but I just loved the storytelling and all the references to the classic horror movies.  A definite must see would be my recommendation.

I wonder what tomorrow will be bring!!

10...

10....days to go!!

So here starts the final countdown to our vacation.  Today has mainly seen us getting to grips with jobs that need doing before we leave.

Simon has a couple of paintings to take with us to pass onto Lou Mongello of WDW Radio for their upcoming auction and so we have been figuring out the best way to transport them.  We have a portfolio case which they fit into lovely and so I have been chatting online with our airline as to whether or not we could take them as a carry-on piece of luggage.  Thankfully we can but it does mean that the portfolio case will take the place of a normal piece of carry-on luggage...a bit of careful organisation will be needed I think!!

I was supposed to have our dollars delivered yesterday but thanks to our postal service something appears to have gone awry.  According to the 'Royal Mail' our package was delivered and signed for...but we have had nothing!  Suffice to say I'm not overly pleased with the situation...got to wait for their system to upload the signature of the person who signed for it before we can go any further.  Very frustrating!

I am trying to get ahead with all the washing and ironing so that when it comes to packing in a few days time everything will be sorted and ready to go in the bags...I hope...remember I have two teenagers to cope with! Simon, as tech support for the trip, is getting his head around all that we will need with us and making sure that we have all the right chargers and adapters and enough video tapes and memory cards.

My excel spreadsheet is beginning to take shape quite nicely and seems to be expanding as I add new bits to it.  At the moment I have transferred all my lists onto the one spreadsheet so that everything is in one place and I can just add to as I think of something we need to pack or shop for or a change to our itinerary; it is ever evolving!

Another Run Day

Just a quick post to update you on my running efforts.  I now seem to be back into my stride (pardon the pun!) and have completed two small runs today.

I decided that as I wanted to visit my mum who only lives a short distance away, that rather than jump in the car I would run there.  So I put on my running gear and off I set.  I decided to make the route a little more interesting and a little longer by going off the most direct route and so a short 20 minutes later I had completed 1.5 miles through a combination of running and walking.

I then spent a good hour catching up with my mum before heading home, which I did with a straight run home following the direct route.  So I managed 1 mile in just under 15 minutes which included a walk to start, followed by my longest uninterrupted run since getting back out onto the road and then finishing with a short walk.

I reckon that I must have ran for around 10 - 12 minutes without stopping, which is a great achievement for me and makes my target of running around Lago Dorado at Disney's Coronado Springs look very achievable.

I have just over a full week before we set off for WDW and I reckon I can get at least another 3 runs, if not 4, done before then which should set me in good form for achieving my goal.  And as soon as I have done it I will let you all know!

Two Weeks to Go!!

That's right it is only 2 weeks to go until we see that 'Welcome Home' sign!! This vacation was booked approximately 16 months in advance and although at times it has seemed a long way off it really is nearly here!

So we are now down to the finer details in the planning process; from those last minute purchases to making sure all bills are paid before we leave to actually deciding on which park we will visit on which day (I keep putting it off because it's hard to decide).

So the Excel spreadsheet is up and running and I have key dates already marked out. Our first and last days are in my mind a 'no-brainer', it has to be The Magic Kingdom; it is after all the epitome of all that Disney conjures up, and nothing beats that feeling of walking under the railroad and down Main Street USA heading towards Cinderella Castle. I then have dates put aside for a few other things;

• We have our ADR (Advanced Dining Reservation) at Teppan Edo
• We will be attending WDW Radio's Meet of the Month at Disney's Blizzard Beach
• We shall be joining Michelle of The Minnie Minxes for a 'Drink Around the World' at Epcot
• And another date with Michelle will be over at Beaches & Cream Soda Shop when we will hopefully tackle the infamous 'Kitchen Sink Ice-Cream Sundae'

I have sorted our Photopass+ and ordered new raincoats for the kids as would you believe it they have grown somewhat since our last trip back in 2011.

I am hoping to book at least one more ADR, this time for Whispering Canyon Cafe at Disney's Wilderness Lodge so I need to make some decisions as to where we are going on which days so that I can tie this reservation in nicely.

I am also, along with the help of my daughter, going to make up some envelopes ready for tipping 'Mousekeeping' - a creative few hours with pens, envelopes, glue and more decorating envelopes for those oh so important tips.

So over the next few days I shall let you know how the planning is coming along and just how excited we are all getting!

Running Where?

Well it's been awhile since I wrote a post about my running endeavours and to be honest that's because there hasn't been an awful lot to write about until now.

Since the end of May I have struggled for one reason or another to find the time, and inclination, to get out and run but I have now re-found my mojo and am back out running...or as I like to call it 'my bouncy walk'!

So I have hit the roads with a combination of running and walking, I'm not following any special plan just simply listening to my body and switching between running and walking when it feels right for me.

I always start with a good paced walk for a couple of minutes and then launch into my run and see just how far I can go before I need to slow down, walk and get ready for the next run.  This seems to be working really well for me, and even though I have had a break of a couple of months it is both surprising and re-assuring how my body has responded. Simon has always said that once your body has experienced running it will pick it back up relatively quickly and I have to say he's right.  So apart from a few muscle aches all is going well so far.

As I run I set myself goals of where I think I should be able to run to and then surprise myself when I run further!  I am also changing my route; todays run was completely different to my usual route which made it more interesting for me with more things to look at and more hills to run up!!  I am fortunate to live in a semi-rural area so I have some lovely places to run around, even if it does mean dodging overgrown nettles and local wildlife! I got surprised today by a bird running out of a bush in front of me, I'm not quite sure how we missed each other!

I am pleased that I am back out there and running the best I can and am looking forward to the challenge of running around Lago Dorado at Disney's Coronado Springs in a couple of weeks time :)

Even rain reminds me of WDW!

So I had a nice surprise the other day upon checking my mailbox (in the pouring rain!) I found my travel documents - yippee!

I wasn't really expecting them till early August so their arrival was a very nice way to start the day, and thankfully I had got to them early in the day as the day proceeded to be very wet and my mailbox is prone to an odd leak or two!

We have been having a bit of a heatwave over here in the UK these last few weeks, which I consider as a chance for us to get acclimatized to the sort of temperatures we will be experiencing in a few weeks time.  And then this week the rain and thunderstorms have taken hold; so there we were coming out of the theatre on Monday evening (we went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert which was absolutely fantastic!) and we were greeted with a very warm evening and light rain to which we both said 'ah this is like being in Florida'.  What we hadn't realised was that whilst we had been inside the theatre we had missed the most spectacular of storms that really would have reminded us of Florida.

Then the following evening I was taking my daughter to karate when the heavens opened, so much so that I had to stop driving because the rain was that bad.  But yet again it reminded me of a trip to WDW.  Back in 2011 I remember one particular evening driving down I-4 (thankfully in a taxi) and it being the most horrendous rain I'd ever seen; this was the view outside Port Orleans French Quarter when we finally got back.  This photo was taken no later than 6pm and you can see just how dark it had become by the fact that all the lights were on!

And back in 2008 whilst staying for 3 whole weeks (ah bliss!) we were lucky enough to experience a tropical storm which left us rather wet at some points..

This however was the car park at the Kennedy Space Centre following the storms...so where should we park?!!

We English seem to have an affinity for the rain, it is after all, what everyone always associates with the UK and whilst we do get our fair share of rain we do occasionally have some lovely weather too.  One thing it does mean though is that we always come prepared for whatever the weather and never let a little bit of rain stop us from doing anything.

1996 - Fantasia Gardens miniature golf in the rain

2008 - Epcot - Mexican Pavillion...in the rain

Notice that I'm still wearing the same waterproof!

2011 - Disney's Hollywood Studios - taking shelter under Mickey's Sorcerer's Hat, and an excuse to buy pins!

 Notice the new waterproof!

2011 - Disney's Hollywood Studios, outside The Great Movie Ride

So whatever the weather, rain or shine, you can guarantee one thing that we shall be out there enjoying all that WDW has to offer...24 days to go :)

Getting Closer

Well that vacation of ours is getting closer, only 37 days to go as I type.  But life seems so busy at the moment that I don't seem to have had chance to think or plan or anything...let alone write a blog post!

Working in education at this time of year is busy, busy, busy. Not only is it the end of the academic year so there are reports to write and end of year concerts to plan and rehearse it is also the ideal time of year for fundraisers. A Summer fair a few weeks ago and a 'Back 2 School Disco' last night!

Plus having two teenagers whose school lives also seem to impact on everything that I do - reward trips, school plays, work experience etc etc I don't know whether I am coming or going at the moment.

Work has also meant completing staff appraisals, sorting new contracts for the next academic year, planning the coming years curriculum and even talking about Christmas concerts, parties and visits from Santa - no seriously Christmas has been planned in July!

I have also had a couple of personal things happening with close family members that thankfully are sorting themselves out and now beginning to look really positive.

So now I am beginning to get a bit of my vacation mojo back, in fact typing this is beginning to re-invigorate my vacation vibe.  Everything is booked and paid for including the overnight hotel at the airport, the car parking at the airport and the ESTA's for travelling to the US.

I have even booked one ADR at Teppan Edo and we are debating booking at least one more...possibly the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge resort.  This desire to make another ADR is partly the fault of Lou Mongello and his WDW Radio podcast; we were catching up on old episodes and heard his live review of the restaurant and it reminded us of our visit back in 2008.

We had done the Backstage Magic tour, taking advantage of my parents being with us to look after our then young children.  We had a day exploring behind the scenes with lunch at the Whispering Canyon Cafe; we really enjoyed both the food and the experience and are very tempted to book for our kids to experience it all first hand.

Then would you believe the next WDW Radio podcast we listened to was also a live review of a restaurant; this time Via Napoli at Epcot (anyone would think Mr Mongello liked his food!!), so this is now also on our list of possible places to eat at!

Decisions, decisions!!

I also joined Touring Plans awhile back and have their 'Crowd Tracker' printed off so I can see which parks are best to visit on which days.  On our first full and our last full day I always like to visit the Magic Kingdom and the good thing is, according to Touring Plans, it's the best park to visit on those days.  Now I just need to figure out where we go in between!!

On our last vacation to WDW in 2011 our two children decided which parks we would visit on which day; they even completed an Excel spreadsheet!  So I think I shall arm them with the Crowd Tracker, the date of our meal at Teppan Edo and let them plan again.

My brain is also starting to go into overdrive about the mundane aspects of taking a two week vacation; things like the shopping to be done before hand, making sure bills are paid that are due whilst we are away, when can I book a grocery shopping delivery for when we return etc etc.  But this is all part of the fun of taking a vacation, all part of the build up, the anticipation, the excitement...Oh and did I mention only 37 days to go :)