Halloween Time

So once again we approach that time of year when the ghosts and ghouls come out to play!

Or in our case it's time for our annual Halloween party.  Now this year we were in two minds as to whether we would actually host a party...the most obvious weekend to hold a party was the weekend after the 31st but we had other plans. So although the weekend before felt a little 'early' for Halloween antics I really couldn't resist the idea of throwing a party.

So last night we had our party.  An evening of cool costumes, good food, great company and an odd Cosmopolitan or two!

Simon drew our party invite as usual and this year we decided on a vampire theme...

Although the final outfits turned out a little different with more of  punk/new romantic vampire meets zombies affect...

I even ended up wearing my new steampunk Mickey ears at one point...

And talking of Disney whilst we were at WDW this year we did have the privilege of seeing the Halloween decorations appear on Main Street, USA

Halloween decorations, this was at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom but these could be found all the way down Main Street, USA - beautiful

Main Street, USA

Town Square, Magic Kingdom

Happy Halloween everyone!!

WDW Day 3

Well here we are at day 3 of our Disney vacation.  After a busy day at the Magic Kingdom on Day 2 where should we go today??

Well the day started very early again for us..ok for some of us.  Simon decided to get up and beat the heat and go for a run.  Yes you heard me right whilst on vacation Simon got up at 6.00am for a 5 mile run.  To be fair Simon knew that he had to find some time during our vacation for running as he was scheduled to run a half marathon at the end of September (only 3 weeks after we got back from WDW).  And I had said that I was going to run around Lago Dorado at Coronado Springs...but we weren't at Coronado Springs...

From a running point of view Simon was really pleased with our change of hotel as he was able to run from the Wilderness Lodge to the Fort Wilderness Campground, around the campground and then back again, a total of just under 5 miles in about 35/40 minutes.

Once Simon was back from his run we all made our way to Roaring Forks for yet another breakfast in the sunshine.  We decided that we would try having a snack for breakfast (lovely choice of pastries and cupcakes) along with our refillable mug courtesy of the Quick Service Dining Plan which worked out really well as this left us with two quick service meals each for the remainder of the day, if we so wished.  I will do a post all about the Dining Plan at a later date.

Now I have to admit that both the children were not as quick to move this morning as Simon and I so it was 10.00am before we arrived at Disney's Hollywood Studios and consequently Toy Story Mania had a stand-by time of 85 minutes and Fastpasses were being issued for late evening.  Now as we didn't know how long we would be staying at DHS and as we have a 45 minute cut-off for stand-by lines we had to give this ride a miss but vowed that we would be back another day!

So off we went in search of rides with Star Tours our first destination...I actually can't remember how many times we rode it back to back but suffice to say with a mega short stand-by time (10 minutes...more like 5) it was more than once!

Me and Molls proudly wearing our Start Tours Relaunch Limited Edition T-shirts!

We then decided to ride the Studio Backlot Tour.  Now we've ridden this ride a lot over the years and have to confess that many years ago when movies and in particular animation was being produced at the studios it was a really popular and interesting ride.

Earful Tower

Nowadays it has been scaled back big time but we decided to ride it purely for the Catastrophe Canyon element of the ride.  Rumours are abound that this ride maybe on it's final outing and maybe replaced by newer more exciting attractions, so we wanted to make sure we got one last ride in before it disappeared.

Catastrophe Canyon - dry!

Catastrophe Canyon - wet!

We then managed to sneak in a ride on The Great Movie Ride as well as Voyage of the Little Mermaid before stopping for food at one of our favourite counter service restaurants; the Backlot Express, where I decided to go simple and just have chicken nuggets...how many did I get?  I think I counted 10...suffice to say I was well and truly stuffed!  Although nuggets and fries is really just an excuse to indulge in some sauces, in particular the honey & mustard sauce that we just don't seem to get over here in the UK.

Nuggets, fries & sauces all lined up :)

The afternoon saw us having a wander around the studios with a number of visits to various shops...scoping out the merchandise on offer so that I could make some informed shopping decisions later in the vacation! We took a little breather early afternoon to partake of a frozen lemonade on Sunset Boulevard whilst watching some of the 'Citizens of Hollywood' street performers hamming it up three stooges style.

Enjoying a frozen lemonade

The kids then decided that as we'd not been able to ride Big Thunder Mountain yesterday (it had been down for most of the day) they wanted to see if we could ride it today.  So off we set for the Magic Kingdom. As the bus took us to the Transportation & Ticket Centre (TTC) we decided to take the ferry over the Seven Seas Lagoon to get us there...

Ferry boat, the Richard F Irvine

As we arrived the 3 O'Clock parade was just in progress along with a short downpour. Now this is where we started to have some unusual experiences!!

Firstly we decided that it was raining enough to get our waterproofs on, and being British we always come prepared.  So we delved into our bags to get out said waterproofs but in doing so Ethan managed to pull his out of the bag with such force that he hit me in the eye!  And boy did it hurt, Simon noticed that my cheek was starting to turn red so we quickly bought an ice cold bottle of water that I then held to my face hoping that any swelling and potential black eyeness could be avoided.  So whilst I recovered we headed for the Country Bear Jamboree, another one of my favourties :)

After I'd recovered we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain...and yet another incident involving our eldest, who it should be pointed out is much taller and slightly heavier than Simon!  So off on the wildest ride in the West we went having a fantastic time until I heard Simon yell out...Ethan had slid sideways into him with full force causing Simon to crash into the side of the ride vehicle.  We got off the ride and it was Simon's turn to be in pain...our Ethan was not having a good afternoon!  Thankfully after a short walk Simon began to feel better and so we headed off into Fantasyland in search of food.

We settled on Columbia Harbour House for something to eat and this is where yet another incident occured; thankfully though this time it had nothing to do with Ethan!  I had ordered our food and was waiting patiently in the queue when a woman seemingly barged her way through and nearly knocked me off my feet.  I turned round instinctively to see what was happening and saw the lady slump to the floor.  It transpired that the woman was newly pregnant and was struggling with very bad morning sickness; the Disney staff were brilliant and they swarmed round her to make sure she was OK.  A friend of the lady was just in front of me in the queue so whilst she helped her friend I entertained her children (like being at work!!), the staff then quickly ushered all of their group into a roped off area and sorted all their food for them.  This just epitomises that nothing is a problem when in WDW everything is manageable and no-one is left to feel unwanted or a problem.

After we had had our food the evening was drawing in and four very tired people decided to make our way out of the park and back to the hotel, so whilst we stood waiting for our boat we watched the Electrical Water Pageant make it's way across Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the Grand Floridian Resort.

Another good day :)

WDW Day 2

Let's get this trip report well and truly underway with the happenings on our first full day at WDW!

One advantage of travelling 4500 miles and numerous time zones means that with our bodies still being on UK time we all awoke early Orlando time.  This meant we were able to make the most of our first full day...

We started off with breakfast at Roaring Forks...and what else could I have but Mickey waffles...a staple of any good WDW vacation.  So by 7.30am we were sat outside eating our breakfast.

Views whilst eating our breakfast :)












We then headed, as is both a tradition and a must-do, to the Magic Kingdom; our first day park of choice. One of the great things about staying at the Wilderness Lodge, as we soon discovered, is it's proximity to the Magic Kingdom and what better way to start the day than with a boat ride...

So over Bay Lake and then Seven Seas Lagoon we went to get to our destination.  We arrived just after 8.30am and headed to the entrance via the 'bag check'.  Now all of us except Ethan (our eldest) had bags that needed to be checked, so we dutifully took the bags off our shoulders, opened all zipper compartments (we know the drill) and with a smile said 'good morning' to the security guard.  He checked our bags and as he was finishing Simon's bag he looked up at Ethan and said 'Are you with these people?'  Ethan looked nervous and mumbled (as teenagers do) 'yeah'..'how old are you?' asked the security guard..'15..' mumbled Ethan.  At this point the guard refused to give Simon his bag back instead passing it over to Ethan saying 'well then you better have this then as it's your job to carry it!'...we all laughed except Ethan who wasn't too sure if the guard was being serious or not, suffice to say Ethan didn't carry the bag!!

We then headed over to the new RFID Mickey 'turnstiles' just as the 'Welcome Show' was starting, which was a great way to start our first full day in the magic.  We then proceeded through using our 'Key to the World' cards and our trusty fingerprint; this was so much easier than the old turnstiles and made the whole getting into the park much smoother.

Now, the plan had been to get our Photopass+ sorted and then follow the Touring Plans guide for the day...but we got a little sidetracked.  Simon saw the signage for 'Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom' and we promptly went over to the Firehouse and signed up - I shall do a separate blog post all about playing this game as it really deserves a post all to itself.  Consequently we ended up playing the first few parts of the Sorcerer's game and sorting out our Photopass+ before heading off into the park.  I shall talk more about Photopass+ in a later post.

Without going into a lot of detail 'Touring Plans' allows you to plan the most effective way to get around a park and do all the rides that you want to do; so with a bit of thought before getting to the parks you can plan your day to make the most of your time.  So over the course of the day we managed to ride all of the following before late afternoon;

Pirates of the Caribbean
Splash Mountain
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Peter Pan's Flight
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain
Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
Mickey's PhilharMagic
Mad Tea Party

We even had time to catch the 'Celebrate a Dream Come True' parade, with a quick dash for cover at the end as the heavens opened!

A bit of rain didn't stop the parade :)

We also managed to squeeze in our first bit of shopping; some earrings for me and pins, lanyard, t-shirt and a bandana for our daughter.

During the late afternoon we decided to explore the new Storybook Circus area of New Fantasyland, and after a fun filled ride on Dumbo in the rain (I think we got wetter than when we went on Splash Mountain!) we wandered over to Big Top Souvenirs and in particular Big Top Treats...

Just some of the tasty treats on offer...so much choice!!

The smell was amazing the minute you walked into this fantastically themed shop, so much so that our two kids couldn't resist and had to buy something sticky and sweet and sickly!  Whilst the kids were buying their treats Simon had got talking to a couple of cast members working in the shop; they were so lovely wanting to know all about our vacation so far and chatting about working at the Magic Kingdom.  Then McKenna asked if we all liked marshmallows...well 'yes?'...she then said 'wait here I have something for you'.  A couple of minutes later she re-appeared saying 'only a minute or so they're being made fresh for you'..well the next thing we knew was McKenna and Morgan coming towards us holding four marshmallows on sticks; dipped in white chocolate and covered in red sugar sprinkles!

They were amazing and such a lovely surprise and so unexpected...yet another bit of Disney Magic at work.

Me with aforementioned marshmallow!!

We rounded the day off with dinner at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe...because as everyone knows you just can't beat the fixin's bar here!  And as we strolled around the park as dusk fell we decided to have another ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, one of our all time favourite rides.

Early evening on the TTA

We then took a leisurely boat ride back to the Wilderness Lodge, chatting to a lovely family from Toronto.  When we got back to the Lodge around 9.30pm our youngest decided that she'd like to take a dip in the pool.  So Simon and I grabbed a hot drink, sat by the pool surrounded by ducks whilst Molly splashed about and we listened to the sound of the Electrical Water Pageant passing by...perfect :)

WDW Day 1....Part 2...

So you may have noticed that my WDW Day 1 post didn't actually cover all that happened that day, so here is the second part.

Story so far...we have made it from the UK to Orlando...we have checked in at Coronado Springs Resort only to be told we have been upgraded to the Wilderness Lodge...

The staff at Coronado Springs were lovely, especially Devon & Toni who helped organise a taxi to take us and our luggage to the Wilderness Lodge and who stayed with us until we were safely on our way.

The taxi ride gave us all chance to breathe and reaffirm that what we thought was happening was actually happening.  Even the kids knew this was a big deal.

In the taxi from Coronado Springs to Wilderness Lodge - still in a state of shock!

We drove up to the Wilderness Lodge, under the sign that spans the driveway, past the 'Welcome Home' sign and everything felt just right.  We were greeted as we got out of the taxi by yet another happy, friendly cast member who checked our name on his 'i-pad' and then escorted us through to the check-in desk.  He seemed genuinely thrilled by our story and spoke to us about his wife who had worked at Coronado Springs but how Wilderness Lodge was so much better!

The fantastic service continued with the lady at check-in who sorted everything for us in a blink of an eye, and also commented 'oh you've got an upgrade to a courtyard room'. What? Another upgrade? What's a courtyard room?  Everything was happening so fast!

Checking in, still pinching ourselves!

But despite all the excitement we couldn't fail to be blown away by the awesome lobby at the Wilderness Lodge.  Now Simon and I had been here once before, way back in 2008 when we had lunch at the Whispering Canyon Cafe as part of the 'Backstage Magic' tour, but this was the kids first time here.  They were a little taken aback to say the least!

We then headed off to our fifth floor courtyard room...well how lovely was our room!!  We had the traditional towels in the shape of a tri-circle Mickey on one of the beds, a beautifully decorated room, stunning bathroom/vanity area and to top it all we had our own balcony that looked out over the stunning courtyard.  We were all once again speechless...but very, very happy.

View from the balcony of our courtyard room

Now we had had plans of perhaps visiting Downtown Disney for some food but as we had been awake for over 18 hours and were now really quite hungry we decided to stay at our new resort and find out just what was on offer.  So we headed downstairs and paid our first visit to 'Roaring Forks', the counter service eatery at the resort, and had a mix of salads, BBQ pork sandwiches, cookies and massive cup cakes.

Tired but hungry

Full of food we had a little walk around the resort to get our bearings and then it was off to bed in search of much needed sleep ready to refuel us for our first proper full day in WDW :)

But when we got to our room there was another surprise in store for us...some music...which Simon and I instantly recognised as the Electrical Water Pageant.  I went out onto our balcony and looked to my right and sure enough I could see out onto Bay Lake and catch sight of most of the pageant.  The water pageant was on our list of 'must do's' for this trip as it had been a fair few years since we had last seen it so it was amazing to see it on our first night and know that we would be able to see it as many nights as we liked.

A perfect ending to an amazing first day :)

WDW Day 1

Here is my first blog post in a series that I hope gives you all a feel of what our most recent visit to WDW was all about; what we did, where we went, who we met and that all important Disney magic.

Day 1 - getting there...

The day started bright and early at sunny Gatwick with a short drive from our hotel to the airport.  We had decided to use the valet car parking service which meant we simply dropped off the car and keys, literally a five minute job, and then walked straight into the terminal building.

We headed straight through security (our hold luggage already being checked-in the night before) although my bag had to be searched separately as I'd forgot to take the i-pad out of the bag - oops!  Then it was off in search of breakfast, settling on a quiet corner in Pret-a-Manger - in fact it was so nice it didn't feel like we were in a busy airport at all.

I took advantage of walking through duty free to grab a free spray of perfume as I'd not had any with me that morning followed by a mooch about the shops.  I remembered to post a couple of letters before we left the country including a birthday card for a friends upcoming birthday and by then it was time to head over to our gate ready to board.  And no sooner than we got to our gate we were called through for our nine and a half hour flight!

Now the flight was fine...yes it's long but when travelling from the UK I'm afraid it's a necessary evil we have to put up with in order to get to the good stuff at the other end. Unfortunately our 15 year old doesn't travel well on planes, loves roller coasters but hates planes, so much so that he was ill for the majority of the flight.  This meant most of my time was spent making sure he was OK and wishing the time would pass by so much quicker!

We landed just after 3.30pm local time, cleared border control and were on a bus waiting to be taken to Coronado Springs Resort by 5.00pm.  We had time for a quick phone call home to let families know that we had arrived safely before setting off.

We've arrived!

On the bus to Coronado Springs

We were the second drop-off; we grabbed our luggage, tipped the driver and headed into the lobby to check-in.  The hotel was relatively quiet and we walked straight up to the check-in desk and were greeted by smiley faced cast members who asked our name and proceeded to look for our booking on the computer system...which was followed by a pause...which was followed by a more senior cast member being called over.

My initial thought was 'oh no what's gone wrong, can't they find us?'  But then the second cast member gave me the biggest smile and said 'Congratulations!' Now at this point I was a little bemused - had we won something?  Maybe we were getting Magic Bands? (I got very excited at this thought!  For non-Disney fans these are a new way of accessing all you need whilst at WDW - room key, park tickets, charging etc and much coveted by us Disney devoted). 'You're getting an upgrade', again much bemusement from us all...'an upgrade?' I said...'yes, you're being upgraded to one of our deluxe resorts, the Wilderness Lodge'.  At that point I think I was officially speechless...I didn't know what to say I was completely taken aback.

Me - speechless!!

Now I never win anything or get anything for free and couldn't quite believe what I was hearing.  Part of me was thinking 'but I've done all my pre-vacation research about Coronado Springs, I'm supposed to be running around Lago Dorado' whilst at the same time thinking 'but we're going to Wilderness Lodge', we would never have chosen to stay there because it was out of our budget, OMG we're going to Wilderness Lodge!

Happy...and stunned family

I can't really recall the reason why we had been selected for an upgrade...I remember asking the question but can't remember the answer!  I remember the check-in staff saying that they had had a few recently and I wondered if it was because the resort was busy with conventions, but whatever the reason we were off to Wilderness Lodge.

Hidden Mickey at Coronado Springs

The cast members were brilliant and looked after us while we waited for them to confirm all the details with the Wilderness Lodge.  They took the time to point out the hidden Mickey near the registration desk, insisting that we had our photo taken, as well as organising a taxi to get us to the Wilderness Lodge and then staying with us until we were safely on our way.  Now that is how Disney do things - professional, exemplary and all the time with a smile.

This was when we knew this vacation was going to be different and full of new experiences and adventures.

1 day to go...part 2

So I was thinking that before I start my series of blog posts all about my vacation I ought to go back to my '1 day to go' post and finish off what happened that day.

We had problems that morning trying to check-in online with Virgin Atlantic and so had a late change of plans and decided to try their 'Twilight Check-In' that evening before we flew the following day.  This had meant a quick re-packing to ensure we had sufficient items for an overnight bag at our airport hotel.

Mid afternoon we made our way down to Gatwick airport, about a 3 hour car journey from our home.  We had the usual holdup on the infamous M25 but other than that it was a relatively easy journey.  We drove straight to the airport, got our hold luggage and popped over to see the lovely people at the Virgin Atlantic check-in desk.  Check-in was a dream, it was lovely and quiet and very relaxed and we even had a little joke with the check-in desk staff as they instantly said 'I bet I know where you're going' to which I looked a little confused until they pointed out my Mickey Mouse T-shirt - bit of a giveaway I feel!!  Doing check-in this way meant we had taken some of the stress out of the following day by dropping off our hold luggage which would mean a simple walk through security the following day.

After checking-in we had a short drive to our overnight hotel where we enjoyed a nice meal and a glass of wine before heading off to the land of nod to get that all important sleep before our long day of travelling ahead.

And look what we found in a painting in our hotel room...

Is that a hidden Mickey?

Back to Reality

Well, we've been home a few days now and the return to reality and normality is in full affect.

We had an absolutely amazing vacation spent in the 'happiest place on earth'; we created some fabulous memories, made new friends and met up with old ones too and experienced some good old Disney magic.

Having returned to our home in the UK by early afternoon last Wednesday we were thrown back into the thick of it by heading off to work and school (for our two children) on Thursday!  And whilst this was a good way to avoid the jet-lag this weekend has seen us all rather tired...no alarms for us this weekend just plenty of catching up on missed sleep.

So Monday morning is looming and the beginning of another working week...vacation is over and time to slot back into the normal routine :(

But we have our memories, only today my daughter said 'just think what we were doing this time last week' to which I replied 'I know...Epcot followed by the Magic Kingdom and shopping!'  So to help me through the post-Disney blues I shall be taking you on an adventure through our vacation, letting you know all about what we did, where we went and the magic we experienced.  I shall be letting you in on my thoughts about new attractions and changes, as well as chatting about some classics and favourites.

So please take small children by the hand, move all the way to the end of the row and please stand clear of the doors as I embark on a series of blog posts all about the magic and wonder of a WDW vacation.