WDW Summer 2013 - Day 8

So just over half way through our vacation and today was a gentle sort of day.

We started it off by meeting someone who we'd known for a long while but had only met in person a couple of days ago...Lou Mongello!

Simon had a couple of paintings for Lou so we had agreed to meet up at our hotel to chat and pass on the paintings.  Now Lou knew we had one painting for him but he knew nothing about the second...that was our little surprise!

So we met Lou and sat outside in the morning sun and passed over the first painting. This was a painting of Mickey Mouse as Peter Pan and was for the WDW Radio upcoming charity auction which forms part of the Dream Team Project that raises money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The painting went for $75

The second painting was a surprise for Lou and was one that Simon had done especially for him as a way to say thank you for all the Disney magic he has brought into our lives, and all the new friendships we have made as a result of the Disney community that he is such a part of.

(You can see more of Simon's fabulous artwork on his webiste www.simonphipps.com)

Suffice to say Lou was blown away, I think he was even speechless at one point and there may have even been an odd tear or two - a job well done I think :)

Me, Simon and Lou

After we had said our goodbyes we decided to head to Downtown Disney for a spot of lunch and retail therapy!! Lunch was at one of our favourite quick service restaurants, and if you're on the Quick Service Dining Plan one of the very best value places to eat - Wolfgang Puck Express.

The food here is always amazing and always feels more like table service than counter service.  This is always a big must do when at Downtown Disney.

So once we were full off we set on a bit of shopping!  It was a pretty successful shopping trip and my haul included; a dress, top, 3 t-shirts, bracelet, 2 pairs of earrings, handbag and a matching purse.  Molly spent her money on some key-chains whilst Ethan bought more food...an enormous piece of fudge from Disney's Candy Cauldron!!

View from Downtown Disney West Side across to the Marketplace - beautiful day!

We had a lovely few hours at Downtown Disney; I just love wandering around and checking out all the merchandise even if I don't buy anything!  It's a great place to spend sometime away from the hustle and bustle of the parks whilst still getting a big hit of all things Disney!

We then headed back to the Wilderness Lodge and whilst the kids messed about in the pool Simon and I spent a little while uploading photos and videos and just generally chilling out.  A lovely day to re-charge our batteries ready for another full day tomorrow!

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.

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!

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 :)