WDW Summer 2013 - Day 11

Well let's get back to what we got up to on our last visit to WDW.  I can't believe it's now over 6 months since we were last in my happy place and as I type we have no plans for another visit any time soon - the disadvantage of living over 4000 miles away and the subsequent travel costs!  But I continue to keep my Disney passion alive by reliving and sharing my memories.

So Day 11 - what did we do??

Well, we had a relatively slow start to the day with a full breakfast at our hotel before heading off to Blizzard Beach.  But we weren't going for a splash about, no we were going for the golf...mini golf to be exact.  It was time to visit Winter Summerland mini golf course;

..and having played the Winter course during our previous vacation in 2011 we decided that it was only right to play the Summer course this year;

We had great fun playing the course, although Molly did get a bit grumpy when her brother won!!  Although I did manage to get a couple of hole-in-ones!  Honest!!

Victory celebrations!!!

One unusual occurrence for us though was that it didn't rain, we seem to have a habit of playing mini golf in the rain but this time it stayed hot, dry and sunny.

After golf we hopped on a bus and headed over to Coronado Springs Resort; this was the resort that we should have been staying in before we got our unexpected hotel upgrade.  But as I'd done my pre-trip research all about Coronado Springs we thought we'd stop by and see what we were missing.

The Three Caballeros!!

Some beautiful views around the resort and around Lago Dorado

And I just had to have this photo taken...

...me 'running' around Lago Dorado...OK fake running!!  Well I did say that was one of my must do's for this vacation...unfortunately the hotel upgrade kind of got in the way of me achieving my goal for real ;)

It was lovely to walk around the resort, it really is beautiful.  The main pool area looked amazing although Molly was not happy at being made to look at it and not be able to use it as it had been one of the things about the hotel that she had been looking forward to. Although, one thing I will say is that the pool is very exposed to the sun, in that there is not much in the way of natural shade, so anyone thinking of going needs to bear this in mind, especially if with very young children who are prone to getting sunburnt!

I will agree with a lot of the reviews which I'd read before the vacation which made reference to the size and layout of the resort.  It is a big, spread out layout which could mean your room being a good distance from the main building and amenities.  I would guess it took us, with a leisurely stroll, about 20 minutes to walk around the circumference of Lago Dorado which could mean for some people that walk on a morning to have breakfast in the resort could add a bit of extra time onto your day.

One of the reasons that I have always loved Port Orleans French Quarter is for its relatively small size and compact layout when compared to other moderate resorts.  But smaller size may mean you miss out on things like table service restaurants...it really is a case of weighing up what's important to you on a vacation when you make your decision. For us a 'bit of a walk' to the main buildings at Coronado Springs didn't really bother us...it may have changed the way we did things though.  I wonder if we may have been more inclined to get on a bus early and have breakfast in the parks rather than take the extra time at the resort...who knows?  Maybe on our next visit we may have to give Coronado Springs another try!

Having explored the resort we then headed over to Disney's Hollywood Studios for the afternoon stopping for lunch at one of my favourite quick service eateries the Backlot Express.  Now I will admit it's not the best place for choice of food; it's your typical burger/hot dog/nugget type of establishment but it is big, and airy, with some great theming and free refills of soda!!

Once we were refuelled it was off into the park.  Molly took the chance to 'meet & greet' with Phineas and Ferb...

...which was followed by re-visiting 'The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow' following our failed attempt a few days earlier.  I have to say for a walk through attraction I really quite enjoyed it.  I wasn't expecting much in fact if truth be known I thought it might have been a bit lame and was only really doing it as it was a 'new' addition to the park since our previous trip. The whole experience was worth it of only for the amazing projection of Captain Jack at the end; brilliant technology at play.

We then had a brief stop for ice-creams...Mickey shaped of course...

...before we headed towards Animation Courtyard.  But as we approached we heard the sounds of the Monsters University Pep Rally and so took a slight detour to see what was happening; this resulted in me becoming the embarrassing parent...apparently it's not cool to dance along to 'The Cha-Cha Slide' in front of your teenage kids...who knew ;)

Ethan ignoring me, Molly trying to stop me dancing!

After embarrassing the kids we decided to venture into Animation Courtyard in hope of a new 'Meet & Greet' and sure enough we got to meet the stars of 'Wreck-It Ralph'.

As we made our way round to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster we bumped into friend and podcast co-host Michelle.  So whilst us ladies had a chat and a catch-up the rest of the family got thrown around on Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.  We all then headed out of the park but not before taking advantage of the Disney Photopass+ to get a group photo...

Don't ask me how but we ended up with this pose! It's a hidden Mickey!!

Next we headed over to Swan & Dolphin resorts via boat..

...and then walked over to The Boardwalk.  Both Michelle and I had it on our respective 'To Do' lists to go into the Boardwalk Inn resort in search of a working carousel model that we had both heard about listening to Lou Mongello's WDW Radio, and look we found it!

Beautiful and it was working when we saw it.

Molly getting a little too comfy in an armchair inside the Boardwalk Inn lobby!!

And would you believe it the kids wanted yet more ice-cream...so who can resist a stop at the Seashore Sweets...well our two can't!!

How big???

Having filled the kids up with ice-cream we headed over to Epcot to finish off the evening in World Showcase, but this was the sky that greeted us as we made our way from the Boardwalk...

...yes you guessed it a sudden downpour occurred!!

Once we made it over to Epcot (and relatively dry too!) we headed to the World Showcase and more specifically Norway.  I had a couple of foods I'd heard about that I wanted to try over at the Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe...first the Roast Beef Sandwich followed by Rice Cream and both of which were lovely.  I think this eatery may become one of our must do's in future years.

Enjoying the Rice Cream - kind of a rice pudding topped with strawberry sauce

By now it was getting late and time to take the bus back to our hotel, time for feet up with a hot chocolate and then time for bed - night all!

Out with the old and in with the New!

Here we are nearly at the end of one year and the beginning of another.

The run up to Christmas was a mixture of last minute shopping, present wrapping and catching up with friends. We finally got around to seeing friends Phil & Lauren who we had met for the first time during our visit to WDW this past Summer.  We had met during a WDW Radio Meet of the Month at Blizzard Beach and discovered that we only lived just over an hour away from each other!  It really is a 'small world after all'!

I then spent a few hours chatting with my good friend and podcast co-host Michelle as we recorded our second official podcast for the Disney Dream Girls podcast.  We talked Disney Dining plans and took a tour of the New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom...go on have a listen :) find us on i-tunes and subscribe for future episodes!

Christmas Eve is a special day in our house as it's our eldest's birthday so to celebrate we had a trip to the local cinema where we divided and conquered...the boys saw the next installment of The Hobbit whilst us girls saw Frozen - which we both loved! Fabulous music, beautiful storytelling and enchanting animation; a winner all round.  We finished the day off with a gigantic chocolate cake!

Christmas Day was a day for family as we all came together to celebrate the season, exchange presents and eat too much food.

Our Boxing Day (for any non-British out there this is what we call the day after Christmas Day, it has its origins in days of old when servants who had to work Christmas Day would be allowed home the following day carrying boxes of gifts)...anyway this Boxing Day we jumped in the car and headed a couple of hours South to see some more friends made through our love of Disney to partake in a BBQ!  Yes that's right a BBQ in the middle of Winter...thankfully the food was brought inside to eat so we all stayed nice and warm. A big thank you to Mark and Tara for providing the hospitality, food, drink and Disney based games :)

The last few days have been a lot quieter and have given us all the time to relax and chill out and enjoy a few days not doing very much at all!  Although Michelle and I did manage to get together to chat all things Disney and prepare for our next podcast, I even had a few lessons in audio editing!

And that brings us to today...New Years Eve...and the end of 2013.  We have an evening planned at my best friends New Years Eve party which should be an evening of fun, laughter, food and drink and I can't think of a better way to see one year out and another year in than spending it with people you love and care about.

I don't know what 2014 will have in store but I do know one thing it will be shared with friends and family who mean the world to me.  So wherever you are I wish you all every happiness for the year ahead, I hope the year is filled with dreams come true and spent with those you love - see you in 2014 and whatever it may bring xx

WDW Day 5

So here we are on day 5 of our WDW vacation and today was a bit of a special day for us, because today we got to meet a good friend for the first time in person.

Through the wonder of the internet we had become friends with a certain Mr Lou Mongello of the WDW Radio Show. Over the years we had emailed the show and got involved through Simon's artwork with various charity auctions organised by Lou raising money for the Make-a-Wish foundation.  But despite visiting WDW a couple of times since listening to the WDW Radio Show we had never been able to time our visits to coincide with a 'Meet of the Month'...until now!

Today's 'Meet of the Month' was to be at Blizzard Beach, meeting at 8.30am/9.00am at the entrance, so this meant an early start.  So being prepared we had bought donuts the evening before and had a breakfast of coffee, powerade (the kids drink of choice) and donuts sat on the balcony to our room - a fine way to start the day I think you'll agree!

So by 8.00am we were ready to set off for Blizzard Beach.  When we arrived at the hotel bus stop we found that an Animal Kingdom bus had just turned up.  Now usually this bus displayed that it would be stopping at Blizzard Beach but this one didn't.  So Simon jumped on board to find out from the driver what best to do.  She explained that it was too early for the buses to start going to Blizzard Beach.  So Simon explained that we were meeting people at park opening and that was why we thought we would get an early bus. The driver then said 'get on board and I'll drop you after Animal Kingdom'.  Brilliant and how kind of the driver...and then she dropped us off first before even getting to the Animal Kingdom!!  Another bit of Disney magic!!

So we arrived at Blizzard Beach and made our way to the park entrance and the group of people already lining up to get into the park and there amongst them was Lou and his family and other WDW Radio friends (after all we are all friends those of us that listen to Lou, even if we haven't actually met!).

We then had a fun packed few hours (in fact probably the best time we've spent in a water park!) hanging out with our WDW Radio friends and going on plenty of rides together.  We met a large number of fellow British WDW Radio listeners who have now joined our list of 'Disney Friends' :)

Simon was armed with the Go-Pro camera and managed to capture some great footage of us plummeting down various rides.  We had great fun riding down Steamboat Springs a couple of times and why is it that I always end up going backwards?! We rode Runoff Rapids as well as Toboggan Racers and Downhill Douple Dipper and the kids had a float around Cross Country Creek whilst we got to know our new friends.

Runoff Rapids

Teamboat Springs

Lunch was turkey legs for the kids, BBQ pork and slaw dog for me and caesar salad for Simon - how come messing about in water makes you so hungry!!  The kids finished off with ice-creams too!

Our day was brought to an end by the weather, what started out as a small shower soon turned into an absolute downpour.  So we bid our farewells and returned to Wilderness Lodge.

New friends :)

So back at the hotel we got showered and changed and waited out the rain by sorting out some photos and the Go-Pro footage and then hooking up with new friends via social networking!  But as the rain eased we decided to venture out to Downtown Disney for the evening.

Waiting for the bus to Downtown Disney

View from the bus stop towards the hotel main entrance

When we arrived in Downtown Disney it was extremely busy and we decided to keep food nice and simple by visiting one of our favourite places...Earl of Sandwich...

The famous gold wrapper :) yummy!

After eating we had a wander around the shops but it was so busy...so busy in fact that we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel.  So we jumped on a resort bus and off we set...but boy was the traffic bad.  It took what seemed forever just to get out of Downtown Disney, the traffic was horrendous so by the time we got back we were all ready for our beds, ready to re-charge for another busy day ahead.

2...

2...days to go!!!!!!

Well we have 2 days to go till we get to WDW!!  And it's all getting very exciting.

So what has today brought us?  An awful lot of packing and getting ready. Simon has been sorting all the tech stuff; cameras, video camera, Go-Pro camera, i-pods, phones and i-pods, you name it and we've probably got it.

While I've been getting everything else sorted and packed making sure we are under our weight limit so that we have the all important space for bringing home lots of Disney goodies.

And to round the day off we are watching vacation video from our last WDW vacation, specifically watching our attempts at playing miniature golf at Disney's Fantasia Gardens and now we're on to Winter Summerland miniature golf at Disney's Blizzard Beach - wonder who will win this year?

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 with a Florida Soundtrack

So today saw me back out on the road in my renewed effort to get back into this running malarky.  And whilst I am still at the run some, walk a bit and run some more stage at least I am out there and moving.

The weather today in the UK has finally decided to resemble something like Spring; blue skies and sunshine and whilst the temperature may not be brilliant (8C or 47F) it's a darned sight warmer than it has been!

So as I set off on my usual little route I got out my old i-pod for a little background music...what to listen to...and then I came across a playlist made by Simon entitled 'Florida 2011'.

On our last few vacations Simon has made a point of taking note of the music being played wherever we have been and then when home he has downloaded tracks and made a playlist that the whole family has on each of their respective i-devices; a really cool and easy way to bring back those holiday memories.  I feel the need to give credit for this idea to friend (and Simon's boss!) Alex who apparently came up with this idea whilst they were on a business trip to Japan a few years ago!

So this playlist has tracks we heard from all over; from the Starbucks on the way to the airport to the various parks to the boats between Port Orleans French Quarter and Downtown Disney to lounging by the pool and even the TV in our room!!  And quite a varied list it is to...but I thought what better way to motivate me in my running than to listen to music associated with such happy memories.

So here goes our Florida 2011 playlist, with custom album cover by Simon - he just couldn't resist getting arty!!

(the song titles below contain links to YouTube, in case you want to sing along...)

Super Bass	Nikki Minaj	Listening to Radio One in the car, driving to Gatwick Airport
I Need a Dollar	Aloe Blacc	Listening to Radio One in the car, driving to Gatwick Airport
Umbrella (Acoustic)	Rihanna	Starbucks at Universal City Walk
All You Need Is Now	Duran Duran	Universal City Walk - one of my favourite bands ever!
Know Your Enemy	Green Day	Universal City Walk
Replay	Iyaz	On the Boat from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney
Hawiian Roller Coaster Ride	Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu	Eating Sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich, Downtown Disney
Too Late For Lovers	Gin Wigmore	Apricot Lane Store, Pleasure Island
Mayhem	Imelda May	Apricot Lane Store, Pleasure Island
Born to Be Wild	Steppenwolf	Pleasure Island
Wicked Game	Chris Isaak	Pleasure Island, catching the bus for Fantasia Gardens
Surfin' Safari	The Beach Boys	Blizzard Beach
Love Shack	The B-52's	Blizzard Beach
Men In Black	Will Smith	Universal Studios
Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)	C+C Music Factory	Universal Studios
That's The Way Love Goes	Janet Jackson	Universal Studios
Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)	Will Smith	Universal Studios
Alligator Sky	Owl City	Universal City Walk
Going Down / Love in an Elevator	Aerosmith	Disney's Hollywood Studios - Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Walk This Way	Aerosmith	Disney's Hollywood Studios - Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Shake It Up	Selena Gomez	The song that was constantly playing on the Disney Channel at the hotel
Heart and Soul	Jonas Brothers	Disney's Hollywood Studios - Disney Channel Rocks! Parade
This Is Our Song	Camp Rock Cast	Disney's Hollywood Studios - Disney Channel Rocks! Parade
Wannabe	Spice Girls	By the pool at Port Orleans French Quarter
Pon de Replay	Rihanna	By the pool at Port Orleans French Quarter
I Like the Way You Move	Bodyrockers	By the pool at Port Orleans French Quarter
Whenever, Wherever	Shakira	By the pool at Port Orleans French Quarter
Major Tom (Coming Home)	Shiny Toy Guns	Pleasure Island
Glam	Christina Aguilera	Downtown Disney - watching Disney Talent Show
Born This Way	Lady GaGa	Downtown Disney - watching Disney Talent Show
I Like That (Radio Edit) [feat. Luciana]	Static Revenger	Pleasure Island
Perfect Day	Danny Jacob	Back Home watching Phineas and Ferb in the 2nd Dimension (DVD we'd bought on vacation)

Countdown to Christmas - Day 12

12th December

As we've been talking Disney parks in the last couple of posts I thought I'd keep the theme going.

Even in the height of Summer you can still experience a little bit of Christmas at WDW.  The first way, and probably the most obvious, is shopping.  So not only do I get to combine my love of Disney with Christmas but then I get to shop too - what more could a girl want?!!

Now there are Christmas shops at the Magic Kingdom, Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe, and at Disney's Hollywood Studios, It's a Wonderful Shop, but probably the best and definitely the biggest is at Downtown Disney's Marketplace, Disney's Days of Christmas.  It takes a great deal of self control (and luggage allowance) not to come home with lots of decorations and ornaments!!

Outside It's a Wonderful Shop, Disney's Hollywood Studios, 2011

The other way to experience a little seasonal fun at any time of year is with themed miniature golf! Over at Blizzard Beach you can play miniature golf at Disney's Winter Summerland, where Santa and his elves have taken a vacation.

And nothing says Christmas more than miniature golf in the Florida heat with carols playing in the background!!  Just gotta love it :)

A Year Ago

Well it's the 20th August today and I got to thinking about what I will be doing this time next year - any guesses? ;)

So then I thought about what I was doing this time last year...

365 Mickey - 20th August 2011

...well we spent the day cooling off from the Florida heat at Disney's Blizzard Beach followed by a game of miniature golf at Winter Summerland Miniature Golf - Winter Course...

 finishing just as a massive thunder storm hit!

Roll on 20th August 2013!!

Tips

• Having a round, or two, of miniature golf after a day at Blizzard Beach is a great way of drying out before heading back to the hotel on the bus.
• Volunteer one of your party to be official 'carrier of bags' whilst playing golf, this means they get to take all the photos, and capture those important memories, whilst the rest of your party can concentrate on the important tactical golf play - miniature golf is, after all, serious business!  Of course this does mean that you have the perfect excuse to play again another day so that someone else can be the official 'carrier of bags'....
• In the case of a 'tied' game the eldest female member of your party has the final say ;)