WDW Summer 2013 - Day 13

We have now reached the penultimate full day of our vacation, day 13.

So what did today bring us?  Well it started off with a boat trip across Bay Lake to the Contemporary Resort...

Waiting for the boat at Wilderness Lodge dock

...so that we could hop aboard a monorail to the Polynesian Resort...but why? Two words...

TONGA TOAST!!!

At Capt. Cooks enjoying our breakfast of Tonga Toast - yummy!!!!

So for anyone who doesn't know what Tonga Toast is let me explain.  It's a THICK slice of sourdough bread that is stuffed with bananas, deep fried and then coated in cinnamon sugar and it is AMAZING!! We chose to visit Capt. Cooks and had breakfast there but you could, if you wanted, push the boat out and eat at the Kona Cafe but as we had the Quick Service Dining Plan we were more than happy with Capt. Cooks. It also reminded Simon and I of the year we first stayed in a Disney Resort (Port Orleans French Quarter) and on our first morning we had breakfast here at Capt. Cooks, although back then we were unaware of the lure of the Tonga Toast!  But from now on this will be a must do for all of us.

After we had stuffed our faces we decided to have a wander around the Polynesian and soak up the atmosphere...

A little shopping!!

Enjoying the beautiful surroundings

We then hopped back onto the monorail and headed off in the direction of Epcot.  We decided to head over to the World Showcase with a little detour first to get Fastpasses for Test Track later in the day.  We headed over to The American Adventure and were lucky enough to catch a performance by the Voices of Liberty; this is one of my favourite attractions and a must do every trip.  We were lucky enough to do the Backstage Magic tour a number of years ago that took you behind the scenes at The American Adventure which really gives you an appreciation of all that is involved with an attraction like this.

Beautiful day at Epcot

As it was now about lunch time we headed to one of our favourite counter service restaurants - Katsura Grill in the Japan pavilion.

Enjoying lunch at Katsura Grill in the Japan pavilion

After lunch saw the kids partaking in yet some more Phineas & Ferb: Agent P's World Showcase Adventure.  This time we headed to the United Kingdom pavilion, although the kids were rather perplexed at the choice of tea during one of the clues...chai tea...mmm perhaps not our choice for a typical British tea!!

Kids playing Phineas & Ferb in the UK pavilion and being somewhat perplexed by the choice of tea!!

And of course whilst in the United Kingdom they just had to have their photo taken in the traditional red telephone box...after all the chances of finding an operational one in the actual United Kingdom are few and far between.  We do have one where we live but it has been turned into a tourist information point and has leaflets and maps on the surrounding area but no telephone!

When in Epcot!! Only chance we Brits get to experience one of these nowadays.

It was then time to head over to Future World and use our Fastpasses for Test Track followed by a ride on 'The Seas with Nemo and Friends'.  We had a quick walk through Innoventions before making our way over to The Land pavilion and Sunshine Seasons for a spot of something to eat, which for me consisted of some lovely grilled salmon and strawberry shortcake - yummy!

Inside the Land Pavillion, looking down onto Sunshine Seasons

We then took the monorail from Epcot to the TTC (Transportation & Ticket Centre) and then over to the Magic Kingdom.  It was 'Extra Magic Hours' this evening and the park would be open until 3.00am!!!

Arriving at the Magic Kingdom, all decorated for Halloween!!

One thing we had not yet tried but that was on my 'to do' list was the cinnamon roll over at Gaston's Tavern. Now previously the Main Street Bakery had been THE place for cinnamon rolls but since the re-vamp and Starbucks take over the rolls had been removed from the menu but had emerged on the menu at Gaston's Tavern in New Fantasyland.  They were as yummy as ever but I swear they've grown in size!!

Now THAT'S a cinnamon roll!!

Had to take some photos of the inside of Gaston's Tavern because the theming inside here (and all of new Fantasyland) is fantastic!

Even at 6 foot 2'' Ethan couldn't fill this chair!

Interior decoration Gaston style

The rest of the evening was spent with a ride on the Haunted Mansion and plenty of shopping!!  Although when it decided to rain the shops did get rather busy and put a bit of a damper on my shopping experience!  But thankfully the rain cleared so that we were able to watch that evening's premier performance of the Halloween version of 'Celebrate the Magic', which included a number of Disney villains!  The advantage of taking our vacation at the end of August meant that as we were now into September (the first to be exact) we got to experience a little of Halloween Disney style.

We finished the evening off by riding the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover during a performance of Wishes.  We eventually left the park at 12.15am well and truly worn out from our day.

Arriving home after a long day....but with shopping!

WDW Summer 2013 - Day 12

I thought it was about time I got back on the case with writing up our last vacation to WDW, can't believe it's a year since we were last there! But at least writing this blog helps to re-live the memories and keep me going until we can next visit (I have no idea when this will be yet!!!)

So here we are at Day 12...so what did we do?  Well the mad one in our family, my husband Simon, decided to get up and out early and go for another run between the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness Campground; not a long run by his standards but enough to keep him in training as he had a half marathon to run only a couple of weeks after we returned home. But after that the day started with breakfast in the sunshine; what better way to start the day?!

Mmmm pancakes!!!

We then headed over to Animal Kingdom to catch up on a few things we hadn't had chance to do yet.  Our first stop was to take the Wildlife Express Train over to Rafiki's Planet Watch and visit Conservation Station.

This was an area of the park that we had never visited before and is an area that you can choose to spend as little or as much time there as you like.  It gives you a greater appreciation of all the work being carried out on a daily basis to look after and nurture all the animals within the Animal Kingdom.  It is also a less crowded area of the park and along with the train ride is a nice diversion from all the hustle and bustle elsewhere.

So after finding out about the behind the scenes at the Animal Kingdom we thought we would jump aboard Kilimanjaro Safaris.  This was the first time we had rode this attraction since the storyline of 'poachers on the reserve' had been dropped...and I have to say I enjoyed it so much more!  The guide we had was great and it really felt more like a trip around the outback somewhere with the pace of the journey much more dictated by the animals that we could see.  We all really enjoyed our trip and managed to see a good array of animals, with some good close-up experiences of rhinos, ostrich, elephants and some baby giraffes.

On safari!

By now the kids were itching for some thrills so off they went to get soaking wet on Kali River Rapids whilst Simon and I decided to just have a wander and soak up the atmosphere, which at Animal Kingdom is truly exceptional.  It also gave us chance to take advantage of our Photopass+...

Ahhh!!!

The kids were into full thrill mode now and headed off to Expedition Everest...

Trust me the kids are on both these photos!!
















But whilst we waited for them we took a walk over into Dinoland USA and had a little perusal of the shopping opportunities.  I finally picked out a new phone case (I'd been looking at them every time we went into a shop and been struggling to make a decision!) and when Simon returned from paying for it he'd bought me a couple of Cutester Vinylmations as a surprise - ah!!

By now it was time for lunch and we headed over to Pizzafari in the Discovery Island section of the park.  It was our first time eating here (our usual 'go to' tends to be Flametree Barbecue) and actually we were quite impressed.  We had a mix of salads and pizza and chocolate mousse and cheesecake and we all really enjoyed what we had. The restaurant wasn't overly busy so we were able to grab a table in a relatively quiet corner and really enjoy our time there; we loved the bright and bold decorations throughout; in fact the room we were in seemed to have a theme of animals that hang upside down with painted murals of sloths, bats and monkeys - absolutely fantastic.

After lunch we headed back to the Wilderness Lodge and while the kids chilled out at the hotel Simon and I decided to go exploring and walked part of the route Simon had gone running along between the Lodge and the Fort Wilderness Campground.

Views walking from Wilderness Lodge to Fort Wilderness Campground

We had a lovely wander around Fort Wilderness taking in the dock area, Tri-Circle D Farm and the Meadow Trading Post shop.

Some of the wildlife we encountered

View from the dock at Fort Wilderness Campground, looking towards the old Discovery Island

And look what we saw on our walk back to the Wilderness Lodge...

...and then we arrived home...

...just before the rain came!!

So we decided to wait out the rain before taking a boat to the Magic Kingdom; we had a bit of a wait for a boat (which was very unusual) so ended up jumping aboard one headed for Fort Wilderness Campground that then went over to the Magic Kingdom but it was great just to take the time and get chance to show the kids where the campground was and to point out the old Discovery Island!

Beautiful view as we travelled over to the Magic Kingdom

Over at Magic Kingdom we headed for New Fantasyland...

and in particular Gastons Tavern to partake in a pork shank...

...now I do have photos of me eating said pork shank but none were flattering enough to put on here!  And the verdict...yes it was nice, but it was basically a messy way to eat roast pork and is just the pork version of the turkey leg!  Personally I've tried it but won't be bothering again!

As we'd shared one pork shank between us we headed over to Pecos Bills for more substantial food before jumping onto Big Thunder Mountain which by this time was 'in the dark'! The kids then managed two rides on Splash Mountain back-to-back as there was no wait at all and we then all went back on Big Thunder Mountain to ride it during Wishes, which was amazing...so much so we rode it again!

Roller Coaster buddies :)

As we made our way round from Frontierland we managed to catch the second showing of 'Celebrate the Magic' from the bridge leaving Liberty Square.  Turned out to be a nice view and we caught details that we'd missed on our previous viewing.  As the park was busy we thought we'd take our time and exit through the shops but they were just too busy to be able to meander through so we decided to make a break for the exit.  The queues for buses and the monorail were heaving but we walked right up to the dock for Wilderness Lodge, got straight on a boat and were heading off before we knew it!

It's been a month...

Well I can't believe it's been over a month since I last wrote a post for my blog!  So I thought I'd better rectify the situation and fill you all in on what I've been up to!

Well where do we start...if we go back to the end of May I had my fourth tattoo completed...and yes it is Disney themed.  The design took inspiration from a drawing that Simon did for his 365 Mickeys project which in turn took inspiration from my foot tattoo.  So here is my foot tattoo;

Photo taken August 2011 - guess where?!!

Then Simon drew this...

From Simon's 365 Mickey Project from July 2011

And I got a new tattoo which looks like this;

Photo taken just as it had been finished!

We then had a weekend of much celebration as we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversay - see my previous post for details and photos!

And since then it has been a combination of work, podcasting and life that has stopped me putting finger to keyboard.

Pre-School is very busy at the moment; it's our final term of the school year so we have been busy producing end of year reports, staff appraisals, renewing of contracts, scheduling in new starters for September as well as getting ready for our Leavers Concert!  We have an 'under the sea' theme this year so have spent the last couple of weeks learning new songs all with a watery theme!!

I have been busy with my co-host Michelle recording and planning for the Disney Dream Girls Podcast and this week sees us release Episode 18...Star Wars & Ratatouille!!  Give us a listen I'm sure you'll have a great laugh listening to us waffle on :)

Now something I haven't mentioned is my running...and this is because I haven't done any!!  But let me explain and all will become clear.  

Back on the 21st April I wrote about getting back into running again and about my desire to 'get fit, eat better, make healthy choices and enjoy life doing it'...well this has now taken on a new direction.  I decided to take part in a 90 day challenge called 'Get Real Fat Loss', this is a system that has been developed by the owner of where my daughter attends her mixed martial arts classes and is designed to get rid of fat and tone up at the same time.

This has led to quite a change in my diet...well a re-thinking of how and what I eat would be a better description and this new way of eating, coupled with twice daily exercises (hence why the no running!), has seen me lose about 10lbs whilst at the same time making quite a difference (for the better) to the shape and tone of my body.  I am only about 34 days into the challenge but the results so far have been amazing.

The challenge is designed for each person specifically - this is not a 'one-diet-fits-all' approach - with the aim to educate about nutrition and physical activity and how these can be incorporated into your lifestyle and hopefully make changes for the better, for good!  Is it easy? Probably easier than you may be thinking...but it has it's challenges as you re-train your brain and its approach to eating and food, as well as the motivation needed to find the time to do the exercises.  I'm currently up at 6am on a work day to get my exercises done before starting the day!  But it is very achievable if you want to make that change and be the healthier, fitter person that you can be....if I can do it believe me anyone can...you just need to want to change.

Well I think that brings us up-to-date...hopefully my next post will see me back on track with my diary from last years WDW vacation!

25 Years...

So today's post is a little different to my usual as I wanted to share something I think rather special with all of you.

Way back in the mid-1980's I met a guy; it was a classic tale of a chance meeting in a local nightclub...we liked the same music..we got talking...we went on a few dates...we really hit it off!  Then a few years later we decided the only thing to do was to get married....and 25 years later here we are!!

We've come a long way since then; couple of houses, changes of jobs and careers, two children and numerous Disney adventures but it's been a great ride so far...and we're only just getting started :)

Simon is my best friend and soul mate; always has been, always will.  We have a connection that was instant when we first met and that has only gotten stronger and continues to grow all the time.  Words cannot express how I feel about Simon; I love him with all my heart, he is everything to me.

We decided to get married because we wanted to let the world know how we felt about each other, we wanted our friends and family to come together and celebrate something that we felt was important and special.  And now as we celebrate 25 years of marriage I think it's worth shouting about, it's worth celebrating and sharing with those we love.

So here we are all those years ago....

Back in 2010, as we approached our 21st anniversary, we decided to take the opportunity of doing something that we had always talked about but never thought we'd get the chance to do - get married in Vegas!!  So OK, technically we didn't get married but we did renew our vows the only way we could...with Elvis!

So that brings us to now, 25 years of marriage.  It may sound like a cliche but it really doesn't feel like 25 years; we've created so many memories together and I really can't wait to see what the next 25 years bring :)

So the all important question for us ladies...Do I still have my wedding dress? - Yes!  Can I still fit in it? - Surprisingly yes!!