WDW Summer 2013 - Day 9

So here we are at Day 9 of our last Disney vacation...we have had a busy and varied trip so far so what was in store for us on Day 9.

Well it was up and straight out heading to Disney's Hollywood Studios and a strategic start to the day!  We headed straight over to Toy Story Mania where we obtained fastpasses for later in the day but then also got to ride it as the queue was an OK sort of wait time - we have a rule that around 45 minutes is an acceptable maximum wait time.  Have to say I love this ride, it's always a good giggle and especially as we pair up against each other so it's either kids versus parents or girls against the boys and whilst I don't often win I do pretty good!

Afterwards we headed to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster...well I say we...I actually mean that Simon and the kids rode it whilst I waited patiently for them.  I'm not a lover of fast scary roller coasters so I'm more than happy to sit a ride out while the rest of the family get flung about!  This was Molly's first time on this ride and she loved it!

Me waiting patiently

Post Rock n Roller Coaster!

We then decided that a late breakfast/early snack was needed so we headed over to Writers Stop for coffee and a pastry...

Pastry of the enormous size!

...before heading over to Star Tours for a couple or three rides, because the queues were soooo long!!!!

Look how busy it is...not!!

It was then time to ride Toy Story Mania using our fastpasses followed by our first time on 'The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow'.  We had never bothered with the previous attraction here, Journey into Narnia, as it had never really appealed but we thought as this was brand new we would give it a go.  Well we must have been less than 3 minutes into the show when the lights went out...initially we thought it was part of the show but when we could see cast members coming to our rescue with flash lights we realised something had gone wrong.  This was then confirmed when the special effects projection screen came up with the infamous 'blue screen of death'...quite comforting to know that Disney have the same problems as you and I.  So having been escorted out of the ride down a very dark passageway we decided to pay a visit to Walt Disney: One Man's Dream which is one of my must do attractions as I love looking at the history of Disney and at all the models representing recent Disney expansions.  But as we walked through it became apparent that not everything was working as it should...we then heard that there had been a power outage of only a few seconds across the park that had caused all sorts of havoc!  Only glad we weren't stuck on a roller coaster when it happened!!!

Following lunch at ABC Commissary we caught some of the Monsters University live show before sitting down to enjoy Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage.

The 'boys' getting all techy waiting for Beauty & The Beast

It had been a few years since we'd last seen the show but I love the movie.  I remember seeing the movie at the cinema when it first came out and being blown away, especially by the then new and exciting computer aided animation technology (remember this was way back in 1991). So seeing the live stage show had been on my 'to do' list for this vacation, and I wasn't disappointed, it was as magical as ever. Where else in the world can you see Broadway class performances as part of your vacation?!!

We now decided to head over to Epcot...

Leaving the Studios

 ...and we went by boat!  A nice leisurely trip over to the World Showcase entrance to Epcot although our first stop was to walk over to Future World and Club Cool for some thirst quenching, refreshing and free drinks...and yes Simon drank the Beverley again!  It was then over to Spaceship Earth as it had been closed for refurbishment during the earlier part of our vacation and this was our first chance to ride it, although we weren't really aware of any specific changes, but it's still one of our favourite attractions.

And then as the sun began to set we made our way over to World Showcase, stopping for a bite to eat in Mexico at La Cantina de San Angel, another favourite stop for counter service food.  And as we made our way around the World Showcase I indulged in one of my favourites...

Frozen Margarita time

Whilst I sipped my way along the kids decided to have another Phineas and Ferb: Agent P's World Showcase Adventure this time in Norway.

Playing Phineas & Ferb

And as we were in Norway I got chance to complete another one of my 'To Do' items for this vacation - try 'School Bread' from Kringla Bakeri og Kafe...and oh my was it yummy!!!  Sweet cardomom bun, vanilla cream custard and coconut...mmmm!!! Thankfully the kids weren't overly impressed so at least I know for future reference that I can order this and have it to myself without anyone saying 'mum, can I have a bite please' - why do kids always want to eat their parents food?!

Norway - School Bread

Full of sweet goodness and margarita we decided to call it a night and headed 'home', and rather than catch the monorail we decided to travel by bus, this was the view across a near empty parking lot..

End of the day

Turns out the bus was a good choice as there had been some problems with the monorail which was causing all sorts of fun and games.  Suffice to say we got back to the Wilderness Lodge had an evening feast of chips and popcorn and headed for the land of nod.

Busy Times

I thought it was about time I took finger tip to keyboard and wrote a blog piece.

I've struggled of late to get blog pieces done as frequently as I would have liked.  I can't believe that I have only just wrote about day 8 of our last vacation..which was last August! I fully expected to have had all my vacation pieces done and dusted well before Christmas but time just seems to have eluded me.

Now it's not that I haven't wanted to do more posts it has simply been about getting the time to write them.  The run-up to Christmas as you would expect in any house was a busy time, what with the pressures at work to produce Christmas concerts and parties and then all the family stuff too, but it was also a time when my new venture began...The Disney Dream Girls.

Since The Disney Dream Girls began we have been having an absolute blast.  My co-host Michelle is the driving force behind the show and she does a fantastic job editing and publishing.  I help out by keeping The Disney Dream Girls website up-to-date and using Simon to make sure all of our artwork is looking groovy.  We try to cover a wide variety of Disney topics, although we do seem to like our food related segments...we have even started what we like to call 'Bacongate' as we debated the pros and cons of US bacon versus UK bacon - who knew it would be such a hot topic!  We have had guests on the show ranging from the amazing Jim Korkis to fellow podcasters Thomas Allison of The DisGeek podcast and Kathy Kelly of Special Mouse Podcast as well as blogger Lisa Green from Living a Disney Life. We have chatted attractions and value resorts at WDW as well as discussing Michelle's upcoming trip to Disneyland.  And just this week we have appeared as guests ourselves on another podcast, the Creepy Kingdom.

Michelle and I love recording together and have had so many lovely positive things said about the show.  And although I know I won't be able to get to WDW this year it helps to keep the Disney magic alive and makes that next trip (whenever that may be) all that more exciting, special and something to really look forward to.

So apologies for the infrequency of posts on here...if this were a school report I think it would say 'must try harder'...but I promise to keep checking in as often as I can and don't forget to subscribe to The Disney Dream Girls on iTunes and hear what I have to say about all things Disney :)