Mkingdon's Blog

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part Three Sponsored by Tylenol – Day Three September 12th

18/10/202618/10/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part Two Sponsored by Tylenol

Over the years I have not been shy to lecture folks on all kinds of WDW related subjects and how they should do it my way rather than the wrong way. This kind of unbending dogmatic preaching is quite endearing I’m sure.

One of those gems was that day two should *always* be a rest day. The long travel day, the jet lag and the post adrenaline crash after the excitement of the first park day (and that has to be Magic Kingdom of course) can lead to a grumpy and unsatisfactory day two.

Anyway, today we were completely ignoring my own advice as we needed a rest day tomorrow as we planned to do some drinking this evening.

Amazingly I had slept from 9 to 5, what a way to make a living. Everyone was tired this morning so we lazed around for a while and didn’t leave the house until 8.20am. Today we took Sherberth Road and discovered that Mikey cannot say that word without sounding like Christian Slater in Austin Powers.

We were all laughing a lot at this as we got to the top of Sherberth and then all of a sudden the hilarity stopped as I realised I had left my attractive bum bag on the chest of drawers in our bedroom.

There was a brief amount of time whilst I calculated if we could do without it before deciding we could not and turning around. Credit cards are pretty vital in this neck of the woods. I apologised to the group for my incompetence and spent the drive home silently berating myself for ruining the whole day, and holiday and next ten holidays. I’m not one to over react.

It cost us forty minutes in total and as we arrived at the gates of Animal Kingdom, it was rammed. This would be a theme of this trip for reasons we never really fathomed. It would often take ten to fifteen minutes to pay them $35 for parking!

As we queued today, some idiot cut us up very badly adding to my already sunny disposition. It would seem it might be one of those mornings.

We parked in Dinosaur.

As we made it to the top of the row a full tram was just pulling away. Sigh. So we took up a position at the front of the poles that denoted where the tram would pull up. A few moments later it did, but the end of the tram was about ten feet past us, leaving us with no tram to get onto.

We did manage to find some seats which allowed me to seethe a little more as we headed toward some Disney magic.

I felt guilty about the delayed start to the day so bought Lightning Lanes for the day. Our first hastily made LL was Festival of the Lion King at 10.30.

Knowing we would now have LLs today, I felt less pressured to charge around and allowed us to take onboard some breakfast. We did this at Starbucks and sat on a wall opposite the kiosk that sells that viral ice cream sandwich thing. It didn’t open until 10.30 but the queue started to form at 10.15 and from what we saw through the day never went away.

After eating we wandered towards Lion King and even took in a couple of shops before entering the queue. We would be Elephants.

As I always do I attempted and failed to take some impressive scenery shots.

This show never fails to impress, no matter how many times we have seen it, and we have seen it a lot!

Whilst in this show I also invested in some LLs for Flight of Passage. This was likely to be our one day at Animal Kingdom and the wait time was offensive. I had to do a lot of refreshing to get a time we could do and eventually one popped up for 11.30 rather than the 6pms I’d been seeing and we’d be out of the park by then.

Once the show ended we walked over to FOP via a restroom, and undertook the longest preshow on property, surely?

Again, an experience that impresses every time. There was a brief shower of rain as we exited the ride. We sheltered whilst Emily and Mikey had their Crocodile Sandwich thing as they had only had coffees earlier.

We were Everest bound for another LL.

We were off at 10.50 and being in this part of the park it seemed obvious to go and do the Nemo show that started at 11am. There were some members of the party not overly keen to do so, but I am the map, so off we went.

We sat right down at the front and everyone enjoyed it.

This song was of course the highlight.

We walked over towards Tusker House and got a couple of beers and two waters from the bar there. We had a brief sit down before heading off towards what will always be known to us as Birds of Flight for the upcoming show time. Some idiot had got the show time wrong so instead we spent twenty minutes or so watching these guys.

They were excellent.

The next bird show was now happening so we took our seats.

Despite all of our burning rage that It’s Tough To Be A Bug was no more, we were now about to witness the new Zootopia thing for the first time. Look, I know I am not the target audience for this and granted I don’t think I’ve ever seen Zootopia but this was not for me.

It just seemed like a lot of shouting and chaos without any of the charm of the old thing. I’m sure kids will love it, or younger parents with some form of connection with the film, but this feels like a downgrade.

We browsed a couple more shops before doing the safari just as the rain started.

Our driver was great and I would recommend the front seats if you can get them. The rain stopped by the time we got off. Maybe the Gods don’t hate me today after all.

It was now time to head out of the park, recognising we hadn’t done a lot of things on offer here. Alas, we had plans to see two of our favourite piano players this evening and the first of those would be in Grand Floridian lobby. We drove over to Magic Kingdom and parked in Simba. A tram and a monorail got us over to Grand Floridian, nicely circumventing the “you off site scum cannot visit resorts any more” rule.

We found some seats that were not ideal and got a drink.

This resort oozes class.

I cannot explain the dinosaur.

Michael (our fave from the Jellyrolls days) began to play shortly afterwards.

Luckily some seats opened up and Louise pounced on them like Steven Segal.

We spent a lovely couple of hours listening and having a couple of drinks.

Just before we had to leave I requested he played Wishes, which fully broke Emily, who was in floods of tears, to the extent that he came over and asked if she was OK. I think he understood.

A Lyft was summoned to take us over to Port Orleans now as we had a date with Yeeha Bob! The Lyft was a Tesla with a human in it but, as I observed being sat in the front, the whole trip was done in self drive mode. It was only mildly stressful.

At resort security it seems any kind of ride share gets you can immediate wave through and we were in. There were no seats initially but some loitering and patience saw us gradually obtain and improve our seating over the next hour or so.

We ordered some food as we were all hungry now.

It was as good as it looks and we destroyed it.

Eventually our seats were this good.

It turned out that I had left my credit card in the card reader at the bar when I got our first round of drinks when we had no table. Luckily the server spotted me as she was leaving and said she’d left it at reception. Honestly I am beginning to worry myself. I wandered over and picked it up. I wasn’t even drinking!!!

Everyone else was and they were all pretty worse for wear by the end of the night. I ordered another Lyft at 12 to take us back to the TTC. A tram got us back to the car and I got us home in one piece by about 12.40. I told you we’d need a rest day tomorrow.

In the end, this was a great day. We got a decent amount done, albeit at some expense at Animal Kingdom despite the delayed start and early departure, but the evening was really lovely. We all thought it was one of the highlights of our trip. Right now though I was very sober and very tired, so sleep was welcome.

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part Two Sponsored by Tylenol – Day Two September 11th

11/10/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part Two Sponsored by Tylenol

4am mocked me with its arrival. Sleep alluded me, but I would bed rot till 6am, We were all up and about by then, full of jet lag, last night’s fried pickles and that first morning excitement. This is typically our one shot at rope drop and I was determined to grasp it. We were rolling off the drive by 7.10am and up onto the 192. I shunned Sherberth Road, instead taking the long way round so that we could drive under the sign. It’s a first morning kinda thing. The other reason was that the left turn onto Sherberth was absolutely rammed.

We approached the entrance to the car park to be stunned by a $35 fee. For reasons unknown my credit card wouldn’t work and had I been in the cars behind me I would have been slagging me off in my trip report. Everyone writes one, don’t they?

I slid the Jeep Wrangler into Aladdin, which I suspect is illegal in 48 out of 50 US states. You know you’re early when you’re inside Aladdin.

We were of course too early and too close for a tram so we walked into the TTC and through security. There was no queue there or at the monorail. This was all going wonderfully.

It was lovely to be back amongst these familiar sights.

I was amazed to find the my Magic Band worked seamlessly after two years in a cupboard, and we were in.

The money shot.

There were tears within the group as per.

We were headed for Tron. The app showed no wait to speak of, so we could not pass up this chance to tick it off the list.

We figured out the lockers and we were on within that ten minute promise. It was a better ride than we remembered and a lovely adrenaline shot to kick off the trip. We left it feeling wide awake and very pleased that we had used our jetlag to get ahead of the game. Tron done and it was 8.30am.

At this stage I allowed the first restroom of the trip.

Space Mountain was right there, with no wait at all, so despite every fibre in my mid 50’s being screaming no, on we went. This was absolutely no smoother than I remembered. There were at least two “ooh my back” on the way round. It still wasn’t 9am.

Never has a sphincter been more clenched.

About four days previous, I had bought us Lightning Lanes. There was always a good chance we would not need them today. It was a MNSSHP so the park was likely to be quiet, but to ensure our first day was unencumbered with waits, it was worth the risk. Our first one was due now at the Haunted Mansion.

So we set off in the that direction.

It was showing the 13 minute wait that means it was quiet but it did not diminish my smugness of using the Lightning Lane queue.

With three headliners done by 9.20am, I thought it safe to allow a few minutes to eat something. And if we were going to eat, we should make it worthwhile. We mobile ordered this….

It was inhaled and if anything was even better than it looked. We tried not to have the experience diminished by the Dad on the next table constantly summoning snot and smegma up from his toes at a great volume. WDW would be all the better without other people. We sat behind the Christmas shop, which often has tables free if you find that the tables at Sleepy Hollow are full.

Breakfast was $56.

Enough of this not riding things and a consult of the app suggested that Mine Train was a five minute wait. I did not believe it but it was worth a stroll (at pace) to find out. Some weaker members of the group needed a second restroom stop already. They were on thin ice.

It was a bare faced lie.

But the other option was paying for an individual Lightning Lane so we entered hoping it would be less than that. And it was. We were on the ride in twenty minutes. As mornings at MK go, they would struggle to be more productive so far.

Our next LL (don’t make me type Lightning Lane every time please) was already due over at Tiana’s. The ping pong back and forth across the park was one of Louise’s favourite elements of this and every other trip, but needs must.

We were excited to see what looks like a new Frasier attraction in the park. Let’s see who gets that one.

We were moister than expected and Louise sang the old Splash Mountain song for most of the ride.

As we exited there was a smattering of characters going by.

Our next LL was for Buzz right about now, but I moved it to later in the afternoon to avoid another cross park walk, and it would have been Louise who was cross. Instead we did Pirates.

Louise decided to sit out as she wanted a drink. As a major sign that I had not been paying attention to WDW news in our two year gap, I handed her a $20 bill to buy that drink and I wandered off into the ride knowing I would never see any change.

On our exit, the $20 was handed back. Apparently many places are card only now, and the kindly cast member had taken pity on Louise and had given her the bottle of water anyway. I shall now go to everyone’s local Facebook group and copy and paste a 2013 post about how “they” are forcing us all to go cashless and this will somehow allow the powers that be to track Brian from Oldham’s every move, as he buys his kebab on a Saturday night.

Philharmagic was next on the list. You can tell it was a quiet day as we were stood here.

This will never not anger me.

The 4am start was kicking in a bit now and we needed some caffeine, and over priced caffeine at that. So we dutifully toddled off to worship at the temple of Starbucks. This would be the longest queue of the day.

We sat out by The Plaza and enjoyed them.

I don’t have a “go to” Starbucks and tend to choose something different every time. It was a Cold Brew today. I marvelled at how we now pay $5 to drink cold coffee. I am such a Grandad! It tasted OK.

There was no avoiding another walk across the park now as our LL for Big Thunder was throbbing in the app. This was our first ride post refurbishment.

In the queue we met Michelle, a Dibb/blog reader. Meeting anyone who knows who I am was very 2010, but we had a lovely chat about all things Disney before getting on the ride. It may all be in my mind but it felt smoother and a better ride to me.

We wandered to the hat shop near Country Bear and tried on a few before giving Mikey his first exposure to the bears.

On our exit, a parade had been laid on for us so we watched that for a bit.

Our deferred Buzz LL was up now and this was another first ride after a major refurb. Again, a big improvement although I did get half way through the ride before realising the gun could be detached from the vehicle. This adversely affected my score and I shall not be declaring it here, as it was null and void. Null and Void were a successful harmony duo in the Northern club scene many years ago.

The tiredness was driving our activity a bit now, as evidenced by us seeking out The People Mover. It stopped twice on the way round and we weren’t even mad about it.

Proximity was a big factor in us choosing Laugh Floor next, another first for Mikey, mainly as Emily would have avoided this like the plague on his earlier trips as she dreads getting selected by the camera in here. We were allowed to go in as long as we sat on the back row.

Another cross park trek to Jungle Cruise and yet another first for Mikey. Louise sat out of this one.

There was rain incoming and we were knackered so we decided to head out now. We had a reservation at The Cheesecake Factory but not for a couple of hours but we thought we’d see if they could accommodate us early. They could, but warned it may be a twenty minute wait. It was two minutes.

We were breaded up….

Then had some Mac n Cheese balls and an Egg Roll Sampler as appetisers.

Louise and I shared Nachos as our Entree.

Mikey had Fish Tacos.

Emily inconsiderately had a dish that I always struggle to spell. Fettucine Alfredo.

There was a red wine, four beers and some diet coke between us and it came to $200 including a 20% tip.

We were all stupidly full and very tired. We dragged ourselves to a Publix to stock up the fridge, with Louise waiting in the car…no, it’s fine, I’ll do the shop. We spent $150 in there and were home by 7.30 for showers and some relaxing before an early night.

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part Two Sponsored by Tylenol – Day One September 10th

04/10/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part Two Sponsored by Tylenol

It’s been two years since I had a WDW trip report to write and about ten years since I wrote a good one so let’s see if I can remember how this stuff works.

As ever the final days before the trip are a challenge. There’s all the work stuff to tie up and hand off as well as the increasingly difficult logistical struggles to rehome pets and settle in house sitters. I am led to believe that packing also needs to happen and for some reason the house has to be cleaned like it’s been a murder scene too but I try to stay out of both of those.

Anyway, somehow we found ourselves waking up today full of excitement and in my case the usual “what have I forgotten to do/bring” anxiety.

I set an alarm as I always do for these travel days but they are often redundant as Louise is always up and about well before that goes off assimilating brass band noise levels, so I was awake “nice” and early around 4.30am. Sure we weren’t flying until lunchtime but when you have to navigate the M60 to get to an airport we were already late.

The final bits were shoved into cases and then I hauled them into the back of the car and we were only a few minutes behind our “we can’t leave any later than” time when Louise announced she had to release a chocolate hostage. This led to ten minutes of tutting from me but I suspect our fellow passengers would thank us later.

As we were getting into the car and I was locking up I noticed our Ring camera had gone off line. This was less than ideal. Whilst we had a house sitter asleep upstairs, not having that online for the next two weeks was unacceptable. I fiddled with it for a few minutes, failed to fix it of course and got in the car a little more stressed than I was before.

How I laughed when a few minutes down the road Louise’s phone made that familiar Ring noise to denote someone was walking on our drive and that it had fixed itself.

Knowing how unawesome the M60 is at this time of day, based on many decades of having to battle it to get to offices I did not want to go to, I decided to take the M6 instead. This was more miles but less crawling and I patted myself on the back for this decision. As a sign of how stressed I was, mainly as work has been a maelstrom of shite for ages, my over active mind convinced me that the wash bag I had put at the side of my bed this morning never made it into the case. You know when you try to replay in your mind whether you did something or not? Well, I could not.

Once we’d pulled up at the relevant parking thing at the airport I got the cases out, opened one and immediately saw that I had indeed packed it. I was on a roll.

There was no wait at check in, mainly as nobody else was so stupid to be here this early. Louise and I availed ourselves of the Premium desk whilst Mikey and Emily used the self-serve kiosk as the economy peasants should.

We then tried to go through to security but the barrier refused us as we were just too damn early. That was indeed the exact error that flashed up on the screen. The ladies took the chance to restroom whilst Mikey and I found the Starbucks and got us all a coffee.

We tried security again at 8.45 and this time we were allowed through. It was pretty quiet and we were through quickly without any drama. I did need my brand new trainers swabbed for some reason though.

We chose to give our usual breakfastery a miss and try what looked to be a relatively new Giraffe a go instead.

We were immediately seated at a lovely window table.

Reflecting the adult nature of this trip, alcohol was involved.

Overall there were two mimosas for Emily, two margaritas for Louise and a beer for Mikey. I would be having to drive in about eleven hours so I stuck to the soft stuff.

Food wise we had –

Me and Emily – Avocado on toast with two eggs

Mikey – Eggs Royale

Louise – Eggs Benedict

That was £118 including a UK style tip.

We then set off to wander the shops and there was nothing that I could do to stop Louise buying a pair of Crocs. I do not object to Crocs, indeed a own a pair, but I do mildly object to acquiring things to wear when Louise had spent the previous month shopping.

After more unnecessary shops we set off towards the gate and got first sight of our plane, naturally at the furthest gate possible.

We Facetimed Rebecca and Willow for a chat before we set off.

Willow didn’t have too much to say but we said our goodbyes anyway.

For some reason the area around gate A12 was chaos. Every seat was taken there and at every gate nearby so we hovered until our boarding groups were called. Naturally us Premium lot were on early and I assume Mikey and Emily also got on as they were there when we landed.

As ever boarding was late and we didn’t push back on time. It was 12.40 rather than the advertised 12.05. Yes, we have been awake since 4.30am for a 12.40 flight!

Getting on the plane brings to an end one of my favourite bits of a trip like this. The morning at the airport represents the excitement and anticipation of what may lie ahead. It also means no work, although the invention of the Teams app on my phone reduces that slightly. So although I am always happy to get on our way, this phase being over is also slightly regrettable for me.

Drinks and nibbles were served. I assume economy got doused in water and thrown some scraps at some point too. This was my view for the next nine hours or so as I haven’t been allowed a window seat or an opinion for thirty years.

I don’t know why I took this one.

The meal we pre-ordered a few days prior came soon enough. It was chicken pie and absolutely edible. Spookily our house seems to have two sets of salt and pepper shakers that look exactly like that since we got home.

I felt incredibly tired at this point, due to the early start and having to work for a living since I was seventeen. I tried to fall asleep but only dozed really. I admitted defeat and watched a few episodes of The Middle which I had either never seen or I am aging more quickly than I feared.

We did have WiFi on the flight which helped. It mainly helped work pester me at 35,000 feet to be honest but it also allowed Emily to update us on the horrors of economy and how some child called Jayden, Josh or Jamarco was terrorising everyone whilst its Mum gently whispered “don’t do that” for nine hours.

As we started our descent I watched the cockpit view, which wasn’t a film, as that kind of content is frowned upon on a flight, but instead was this….

We landed eventually and for whatever reason the flight like a long one. We were off first as our elevated standing dictated and we saw a sign saying it was an eleven minute walk to baggage reclaim. Much to Louise’s displeasure we did it in nine.

I established a position at the relevant carousel and was delighted to see cases coming out almost immediately for Louise and I. Mikey and Emily weren’t even in the hall yet and it took all my self control not to leave them to it whilst we beat the crowds through immigration.

We did wait. And wait. And wait. Long after they arrived in the baggage reclaim hall there was still no sign of their bags. Eventually a barely audible tannoy announcement apologised that some bags from our flight had gone to another carousel and sure enough they were lined up next to the incorrect carousel no doubt having been there for ages.

A strike against Terminal C.

We all used the MPC app to avoid the very long immigration queue. Another Virgin flight from Heathrow had landed at the same time as us which was leading to carnage in that queue. We all took our photos and joined a seperate, albeit marginally shorter queue.

We were through in ten minutes and now we were tantalisingly close to being free and on our way. We did seem to get asked a few more questions at the immigration desk this time, but I kept my opinions on the state of the US to myself in the interests of not having to do another nine hour flight that day.

We found an elevator down to the relevant level and having done all the prep needed we headed straight out to the Alamo garage to find our car. As a surprise, I had cancelled our minivan booking some months ago and changed it to a Jeep Wrangler, knowing this had long been Emily’s dream car. As were stood near the Jeeps, Emily jokingly said shall we take one of these. Her face was a picture as I said yes and started to load the boot/trunk. She would be giving driving in the US a go for the first time this trip. This was already giving me flashbacks to the horrors of taking both girls out driving when they were learning. I still have PTSD.

It took a good few minutes at the exit barrier to process stuff but we were soon released and headed for the villa. The Waze maps thing on my phone was taking some time to start working via the Carplay but I managed to guess correctly to go right at the lights and between us all and all our phones we managed to get a working map up and running soon enough.

This journey felt simple and quick and we had a rare dry drive from the airport although there was lightning and dark clouds all around. Once we started to see the familiar WDW signage we turned off the sat nav as we were home. We’ve stayed at this villa a lot so this was now auto pilot to find our way there.

We checked in at the gatehouse and then, with only one wrong turn within the development itself parked up and went inside.

We quickly unpacked/made a mess. Look, there’s that wash bag I remembered to pack!

At this time on previous trips when we have had the small kids with us, going out to eat is always unlikely as they are understandably ready for bed. Being an all adult trip I had planned a meal at Sickies for us and we headed there now.

We started with the Spare Parts appetiser to share.

I had a Chicken Tortilla Salad as my body is a temple.

It only had about 1500 calories in it!!

Louise weirdly ordered another appetiser for her Entrée. I forget the name but it was some kind of bacon wrap thing with jalapenos.

Emily had Chicken Tenders.

Mikey had a Chicken Parm burger.

The excitement and adrenaline of having finally arrived can tend to make you slightly over rate this first meal, but it was all genuinely lovely.

Four cokes and two beers between us and the bill was $150 including a good tip. That’s around £27 per person which, despite the horror stories coming out of the US around the cost of living can’t be complained about really.

We picked up a case of waters from a gas station on the way home and collapsed into bed at 10pm, which was of course 3am UK time. As ever these travel days are brutally long. That’s a 22.5 hour day. Worth it though and writing this up now having been back at work for a week, how I yearn for this day again with all its excitement, promise and what was in store.

Till the next time…….

Touching Distance

06/09/2026 by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

All that stand between us and the airport are three days at work and roughly 3.5 million tasks and logistical challenges that we must complete. We’re almost there.

My to do list is longer than a thing that is very long and that’s just at home before I even think about the prep and angst involved at work.

The cases are out, packing has started and I’ve spent roughly half of the national debt on pet food to ensure those looking after them don’t run out whilst we are away. The dogs, Woody and Bean, are going off to separate sitters (foolish souls) whilst we have a house sitter coming here to keep the cats alive. If they don’t start eating less then next time we might not bother.

The last few stressful pre-trip days have started and whilst we complete all those tasks, we, as anyone travelling to Orlando at this time of year must do, are keeping our eyes on the weather over there hoping we can avoid a hurricane. It is looking pleasingly quiet on that front at this stage, although the weather has looked VERY wet over there recently. Bring it on. Have poncho, will endure.

The other thing I have seen on my “socials” are endless folks telling me how quiet the parks are.

I cannot bring myself to believe them. I’ve been going for too many years now to ever think the parks have quiet times anymore. I know September is comparatively quieter than most other times of year, but I just can’t allow myself to get my hopes up that we’ll be enjoying tolerable wait times on this trip.

As I said a couple of posts ago there was a lot of availability for our ADRs which is a good sign I guess, but I am taking nothing for granted.

In non holiday news, Willow is doing well, as is Rebecca, bearing in my mind she is still recovering from the operation/delivery. The boys are obsessed with their new sister, as are we all. Overall she’s been sleeping a lot and behaving herself as we all get used to the new addition to our family.

You know I don’t believe there is such a thing as “the right age” to take kids to WDW. You take them whenever you can afford to, but I think three weeks old may just be a little too soon, even if Rebecca could travel, so they will all have to stay at home this time. On this trip we will, for the first, have a girl grandchild to be buying presents for before we return. Exciting stuff.

If you want to, you can follow along as usual if I remember to post stuff to the Mkingdon Facebook page and whether you do or you don’t, I’ll see you back in a few weeks to tell you all about it.

Till the next time…..

One Day At A Time? Sweet Jesus!

30/08/2026 by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

This week’s title is one that will resonate with the kids and fans of Lena Martell. Ask your Grandad.

As tradition dictates, before any WDW trip, any planner worth their salt is required to outline their movements (bowel, optional) for every day of the holiday. I know to the handful of folks reading this, the concept is familiar and does not sound weird at all. I had a reminder this week that this is absolutely not the case for “normal people” when someone asked me about my upcoming holiday and I overshared slightly about the level of obsession and planning that goes on in this weird Disney online community. This is a safe space.

So here we go….

Day One

Travel Day. We are flying with Virgin from Manchester. Since booking, Virgin have moved our flight back one hour so we don’t take off until just after midday. I await their compensation for robbing us of sixty minutes in Orlando. This flight time now gives us a quandary. To get to Manchester airport from our house you have to navigate the M61/M60 and the infamous concrete tunnels and carnage that greet anyone daring to merge from 61 to 60 at rush hour. Then there is the 5mph crawl past the Trafford Centre.

I would say we need to be at the airport around 8.30, a good four hours ahead of the flight. In normal times that would be a 7.30 set off from our house, but in rush hour, in the first week after schools go back, we may have to leave 2-3 business days ahead of our flight. So I fear we will need to bite the bullet, be up very early and leave the house before 6.30am. It’ll be grim and I intend to scour the internet for alternative routes before the day.

We land late afternoon and I have sorted out the skip the desk Alamo thing so I am sure that will go without a hitch. Then it will inevitably be pouring with torrential rain as we try to battle the rush hour I4. The joys of a travel day.

Once at the villa, we will head out to do a supermarket run (I am mildly terrified of the costs involved for that as my social media feeds are just Americans telling me it cost them $100 for three apples and a box of “gram crackers”. Why they can’t say Graham or Craig is an eternal mystery.) We also plan to go out to eat. With no young kids on the trip this time we all may be awake enough to dine out and if so we aim to do that at Sickies on the 192. Their fried pickles are the best way to start any holiday.

Day Two

You know this is a Magic Kingdom day right? We’ll be there as early as we can be and not as early as I’d like and will be there until 6pmish when they throw us out as there is a MNSSHP on that evening. We are fairly happy this is case as crowds may be lighter and we’ll be tired by that time. We plan to eat at The Cheesecake Factory at Lake Buena Vista that evening.

It is harder to book a table from the UK than it is to do something that is very hard, as their online thing requires a US phone number. I really did not fancy the potential wait for a table on a Friday evening after an early start and a full MK day so I went old school and emailed their customer services team. It took a while but they did reply and booked us in for 7.45pm.

After our meal I suspect we will be in a food coma and ready for bed.

Day Three

The planning laws say this should be a rest day to get over the travel day after the adrenaline fuelled first day. For reasons too long to document here, mainly centred around us needing a rest day on day three as we intended to have a few drinks watching Yeeha Bob on this evening, we broke all the rules and put Animal Kingdom in here. The rule book states that should not be a rest day and instead be a theme park day, it should have been Epcot, as the parks must be visited in the order they opened, but AK closes early and we’d need to be out of the park to get over to Port Orleans.

The recent rule change around off site scum going to resorts make us now assume we will not be welcomed at POR, so instead we are going to the Grand Floridian to watch a favourite ex-Jellyrolls pianist, called Michael play in the lobby there. To get us into the place we have booked 1900 Park Fayre for dinner around 5pm. We could have booked an ADR at POR of course to get us in to see Bob’s show, but we’d planned to see Michael play at the GF *as well/first* before heading to Yeeha Bob so our ADR at the GF had already been made. So Bob lost out. That sentence wins the prize for most use of abbreviations in the world ever.

We will have a few posh drinks and watch him until we are ready for bed. Yeeha Bob will miss us as much as we will miss him.

Day Four

Here comes the rest day. Recently we had more upsetting news as we heard that Typhoon Lagoon won’t be open. That is our go to for an early trip rest day, but again we are scuppered.

We might go to Blizzard Beach but more likely we will just use the resort’s pool and clubhouse and have a relaxing pool day instead.

Emily secured us a 7pm ADR for Beaches & Cream, mainly to get us access to the Boardwalk area so we can have an evening stroll around it and may be a drink or two too.

Day Five

We are back on track and heading to Epcot. Our first visit of the trip here means we do Future World. We have the evening loosely planned at this stage. The general idea is to leave the park when we get hungry for some tea and head to Celebration.

We haven’t been for a good few years and there are at least three eateries we are interested in trying there. There’s a new brewery place, a Mexican and the 80’s themed diner. If we do leave the park and get to Celebration we will try whichever of this is available and looks the best bet.

Day Six

Now things start to get a little complex. Emily and Mikey check in at the Polynesian today for their two day 30th birthday treat for Mikey. I have a rest day planned for Louise and I so I will drop them off and head back for another pool day back at the resort.

Our dining plans for the evening are simple. With Emily being a veggie our chances to dine at The Outback for a decent steak are limited so we will do that whilst she is otherwise engaged.

Day Seven

With it just being the two of us again today I have pencilled in Hollywood Studios as it is Louise’s favourite and if we need to buy Lightning Lanes it’ll be cheaper for just the two of us!!

Our evening plans are loose again. I have an option in the plan but we’ll see how we feel. I quite fancy a place called Ole’ Red up at Icon Park. We have never been to that neck of the woods. The food there looks good and they have live country music on. Recently I have found myself inexplicably listening to Absolute Country (thank goodness for the last two letters) on my car journeys so I’d like to see some live.

Day Eight

Today sees Emily and Mikey move again, this time up to Universal to stay at the Hard Rock for that glorious Front of line access and two days in the parks there. If I am feeling generous I will pick them up from the Poly and drive them up.

We are planning another rest day today, and in the evening we will meet up with them at City Walk for a meal together at Margaritaville before they head into HHN and we have a wander around City Walk.

Day Nine

On their second Universal day we have nothing planned. We might do another rest day if that’s what we fancy or need or we might head into a park. Look at me winging it!

In the evening we will head up to City Walk again to collect Emily and Mikey and we’ve booked the four of us a meal at Cafe Tu Tu Tango on IDrive for absolutely no reason whatsoever. This is one of our “let’s try somewhere new to eat” ideas.

Day Ten

All four us are headed to Hollywood Studios today. It’s a Saturday so I suspect coughing up for LLs will be a must.

We have a late lunch/early dinner booked at Sci-Fi Diner with a Fantasmic Dinner Package just to make sure it rains hard enough to see it cancelled.

Day Eleven

Today is a food day. The only way for us to fit in a couple of our dining musts was to eat ourselves to death on one day. We have brunch booked at The Boathouse at 11am and then in the evening we are eating at Wine Bar George. Pray for us.

In between, we will either head back to the pool or hang out at Disney Springs, trying in vain to walk off some calories.

Day Twelve

We head back to Animal Kingdom. Again we are expecting an early-ish exit from the park as we have a first time dining experience booked at Homecoming back at Disney Springs. I am looking forward to this one.

Day Thirteen

Epcot of course, and our second visit typically concentrates on World Showcase. Food and Wine will be on so I just hope it isn’t too busy as it can be at times. We have an ADR booked at Via Napoli for dinner and we will be staying for the fireworks just so we can reaffirm that they are good but in no way are they any sort of comparison to Reflections Of Earth.

Day Fourteen

You know of course that the last full day is spent at Magic Kingdom. There is no alternative to this. We are booked to eat at Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary in the late afternoon so that we can get back into MK at dusk to weep at the nostalgia, magic and sheer horror of heading home the next day. Fireworks will be watched.

Day Fifteen

A late flight home around 9pm so I suspect some packing will be done, a large breakfast somewhere and then a lot of time at Disney Springs as my depression kicks in and Louise falls out with me due to my sulking. As God intended.

So there we are. Writing that does make me think that Louise and I have too many rest days planned but we do like a pool day as you saw on our last couple of trips so who knows. The plan (whisper it) can be changed if we wish to.

If you made it to the end, bless you and I’ll see you back here next week for the final post before we go.

Till the next time…..

Home Time

23/08/2026 by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

Enough of this Dominican Republic nonsense. We meet again just 17 days out from a WDW trip and in all kinds of ways it feels like quite some time since we did one. In terms of our historical frequency of visiting that part of the world then it definitely has been quite some time. It was October 2024 the last time Louise and I Disneyed, and putting to one side the persisting fear of the collapse of the US, we’re looking forward to it. Leaving it almost two years between trips has been unheard of for the last three decades so the anticipation is real, alongside the feeling that I have lost touch with all my knowledge of the place. Emily has been going consistently, so the passing of the planning baton may take an extra step this time.

I understand that our travel plans may not be the foremost thing in your minds so I shall recap the details of the trip. This time the travelling party is Louise, myself, Emily and her boyfriend Mikey. It is a proper Orlando theme park centric old school trip, leaving on September 10th from Manchester for two weeks.

We are flying with Virgin for the first time in so long I can’t remember the last time. Louise and I are in Premium, with Emily and Mikey saving their pennies by doing extra leg room seats in Economy.

We will be flying into Terminal C at MCO and picking up a car from Alamo before heading off to our usual and absolute favourite villa (thanks as ever to Matt for allowing us to rent his place).

Louise and I are sticking to Disney for the 14 days but Emily and Mikey are doing a night at Universal and will also do Halloween Horror Nights whilst there. Emily has been delighted to see the huge focus on clowns in this year’s houses. Her fear of clowns is no joke and frankly I have no idea why she puts herself through this!

To celebrate Mikey turning 30 this year Emily has also booked him two nights at Mikey’s most favourite resort, the Polynesian. They are doing two nights, club level there and I am sure that will be incredible.

With my work being so crazy, I delegated all the ADR bookings to Emily who smashed it, securing all of our first choices. I may be clutching at straws but the seemingly endless options for all our dining choices might be suggesting that the place will be quiet whilst we are there.

I will probably outline our day by day plan next week, so that’s something you can all look forward to. I just hope you can sleep with all that excitement and anticipation. We have a lot of our usual eateries on the plan but we’ve tried to sprinkle in a few new ones to expand our repertoire too.

I’ve missed the heat, I’ve missed the food and I’ve missed the familiar feeling of home we always get when we are there. I just hope we still feel all those things despite what is happening in the real world over there. I have been a little disappointed with the recent changes to off site folks visiting resorts. I get it, the folks paying to do so should absolutely be the priority, but it seems counter intuitive as those visiting will surely be tempted to book there for their next trip, and it blocking folks like us going to watch Yeeha Bob at Port Orleans is a real shame.

For years whenever anyone asked for WDW advice one of the things I always included was to visit some resorts. Sure, with an ADR you still can, but it feels like a little bit of the magic has gone.

Two more of these blogs before we leave so stay tuned for lots more detail on our plans alongside the glacial pace at which these last few days at work will go by. Some things never change.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Fifteen May 8th

16/08/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

After the horrors of the last full day come the increased horrors of the travel home day. Up at 8 and we packed. Room service, ordered last night, came at 9.

We showered and finished packing by 10. We then had some time to relax till 11 when our luggage guy arrived (another nice touch at these Secrets resorts is a chap gets your luggage) and he made us check the room one last time and that’s when I discovered I had left a drawer full of clothes. So there was a little more packing to do.

Our cases and us were placed in his golf cart and taken to reception. Our cases were loaded into our waiting mini bus but we were not allowed on as I had not checked us out so I went back to do that. This all felt a bit rushed and unorganised on my part but my heart was not in it. It felt so hard to be leaving this lifestyle and returning to work.

On the mini bus halfway down the long driveway I thought I’d left my phone behind as I couldn’t find it. After a very stressful 30 seconds I discovered it had slipped into my seat.

The drive to the airport was awful. Our driver was a lunatic and once we got into heavier traffic it was very scary. Both ourselves and the other couple on our bus refused to tip him as we honestly thought he was going to kill us on every second of the journey.

Checked in was quick and then we went through security and what felt like about a dozen passport checks.

Despite being Premium we discovered there was no lounge access. Sigh. We are such princesses. The airport had strong metal hangar with some shops in it vibes and it was loud and chaotic. And hot, so hot.

Got a Pizza Hut and sat on a bench to eat it.

We did all our gift shopping and had a coffee, spending more here than we had in the last two weeks.

Eventually we boarded our bus out to the plane and did the slow walk up the greenhouse stairway.

We took off around 5 and Louise was very unwell. She really struggled all flight. Not sure what it was but she was struggling to breathe. I’m sure her fear of flying was not helping. I rewatched Oceans 12 and refused dinner as I was not hungry following that massive meal from Pizza Hut.

Breakfast was decent. We thought we’d be off to A and E but Louise found some meds in her bag upon landing. It immediately helped and of course so did getting off the plane.

Our bags were off within 20 minutes and we were soon in the car and on our way home.

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed this trip. We did find ourselves comparing this to Secrets Akumal in Mexico and there’s no doubt we do prefer that one. The food was better there and the resort felt more intimate and exclusive but there was very little not to like here.

The beach here was incredible and almost unreal in how perfect it was. The service we received was always excellent too and despite my painful tooth in those first few days and a bit of rain, we had no issues or complaints at all.

Thank you for reading the same day fourteen times over and now we can move on to other life events and a very imminent WDW trip that I would imagine will be of much more interest to both of my readers.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Fourteen May 7th

09/08/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Here we are at the dreaded last full day. A traumatic time on any holiday. Once again I was up at 7.30 and off down to the pool to secure our cabana. The Pool guy was there one final time and in some tragic Spanglish I somehow managed to get it understood that we were heading home tomorrow. It involved “manyana” and my arms outstretched in some aeroplane style moves. He got tipped again and it seemed we were now friends for life as he made me send a Facebook friend request and have some photos taken.

Then it was breakfast. Cereal and toast.

We called Rebecca and wished her a happy birthday before concentrating on the last of the sunbathing. Lunch was from the pizza place by the pool. It seems I didn’t take any photos today until 5pm as some sort of protest at having to go home tomorrow.

Our last afternoon was spent mainly in the quiet pool trying to figure out a lottery win or anything else that would prevent a need to go back to work. This last day melancholy/mild panic at the return to work is getting worse as I get older. At one point I nearly broke my toe on the bottom of the pool whilst mounting a float. I am confident the pain surpassed child birth.

As the day came to an end I suggested a final beach walk and this was, even though I say it myself a great idea and a lovely way to say goodbye to the place. It was a perfect golden hour stroll.

We turned back and headed back to the resort, past the beach bar, headed for the main pool and the bar there for a last drink in the pool. Margs and shots were had.

Up to the room next for one final getting ready and watching CNN. It’s sad how much I loved this time of day. Showers were done and we were not out until 8.30. We walked to Bordeaux, the restaurant we felt had been best all trip so this was to be our choice for the final meal. I don’t know if we’d caught too much sun but it felt very cold in there tonight.

Sadly the service was very slow, but the food was still good.

Quiche and French onion soup for both of us.

Steak for Louise and Pork for me.

To finish we shared a crepe suzette.

The Piano Bar was rammed so we had a walk over to Dreams, the other half of the resort, which was the family version of ours and had a drink there in the lobby bar. We wandered around having a look at their pool and impressive water park style rides. Back at our bar it was still busy so we sat in the public square till it cleared. We had a couple of drinks there before heading home at 12.

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Thirteen May 6th

02/08/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

We creep towards the end of this trip now. At this point we were not happy about that but I suspect the repetitive nature of these posts means you are. Not long to go now and then we can focus on our upcoming WDW trip which may bring some variety and interest back to this blog!!

I was inexplicably awake at seven and I ventured alone once again to secure a cabana at 8. My little pool helper friend was there again to help me lay out towels and pick up his couple of dollars tip.

Breakfast was solo too with Louise preferring sleep to food. Cereal with prunes and yoghurt etc and some toast.

Louise joined at 10ish and we enjoyed and endured the sun.

That was pretty much it for the morning for Louise but I did another beach walk.

I encountered a crab that was not doing too great. Like the soft idiot I am I spent ages walking to the sea and back so I could cool it down with water.

It seemed to be foaming at the mouth which can’t have been a good thing.

I didn’t do the same long walk as last time, but got a good few steps in before lunch which was at the buffet for a change. We were entertained by the couple next to us arguing over his cheating. He was hilariously untepentent.

I don’t know who I am any more as I thought my salad was delicious. I also had some chicken rice and chips etc. We went crazy and even tried a few desserts but none of them were that good. Just your typical “fun size” buffet desserts.

We spent the afternoon in the quiet pool and ordered a margarita and a chocolate martini around 4.

More lazing till 5.30 and then back for showers and CNN.

Out at 8 and off to the French place but alas it was closed so went back to the Italian. There was a short wait for a table filled with a drink.

Mushroom and chicken soup.

Followed by Pork fillet and Lasagne.

We wandered to our usual post dinner spot at the piano bar. It was quiet tonight at first so we could secure a comfy couch. It became very busy later with a huge group of young folks.

We attempted to take a selfie conscious that we hardly ever take photos of ourselves. Here’s why.

That was attempt number six before we gave it up as a bad job. Drinks had been had.

We enjoyed the piano and sax player till 12 before retiring to bed.

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Twelve May 5th

26/07/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Louise was not well this morning. It was entirely self inflicted so I left her to it and went down to the beach alone and secured a cabana there.

As I was putting towels on the beds and settling in a French couple were loitering and watching me. It was a bit weird as there were several other cabanas available. After a few minutes they managed to communicate to non French speaking me that they had left two towel pegs on the beds of this cabana and wanted them back. Maybe they thought that had somehow reserved it but I didn’t even see them. Anyway they wandered off and later I saw them lying in one of the many other available cabanas.

Louise came down around 10.30. I had to nip back to the room for reasons I won’t explain. On the way I came across this bad boy near the lift.

I flipped him over hoping to save a life. Whatever it was, it was alive. I’m not sure the size of it comes across in these photos.

We just lazed on the beach having avoided death by insect and then had lunch at 12 at seaside grill. Soup and steak for me. Salad and burrito for Louise.

Back to the beach. At some point in the afternoon Louise became quite ill and all I will add is that there followed a traumatic restroom experience.

After going in the pool briefly we once again returned to the beach. Louise went back to the room at 4.30 still not feeling great. I stayed till 6 enjoying a beach golden hour and reading. Showers happened and Louise was still not well so we opted for room service and watched Your Friends and Neighbours on Apple TV followed by an early night.

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Eleven May 4th

19/07/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Awake around 8 and I went down to the pool solo to secure a cabana. We tried a different one on the other side of the pool today as it’s important to make every day different on these holidays.

Louise joined not long after. No brekkie today as we weren’t really hungry. Who are we? We then really enjoyed doing nothing all morning apart from a bit of reading.

Lunch was needed on the stroke of midday at the market cafe. Of the two buffet restaurants here, this one doing breakfast and lunch, it was a much better buffet than the other we tried the other evening. I had a large salad and some nachos.

After lunch we had to go to the shop again for yet more sun cream and after sun. At this point I think Louise may have been drinking it as we were going through so much of the stuff.

We went back to our cabana and enjoyed the fact that it was very hot. We therefore spent a long time in the pool.

Nearby, a Brummie guy had started talking to yet another group of loud Americans. The culture clash between UK folks and Americans always amuses me. Many topics were discussed. Eventually they got onto the pandemic and the horrors of having to wear masks. I was eye-rolling so much I almost passed out. I think the quality of the discussion can be summarised by the Brummie guy telling them that he had the “PeeFizer” jab. I found that equally funny and depressing all at the same time. The US folks had brought their own Bluetooth speaker to the quiet pool which was obviously appreciated by everyone who had chosen to go to the quiet pool that day.

We went into the main pool for the last hour for a couple of drinks amidst another huge wedding party who were about eight hours into an unlimited free bar. I know it might sound like I don’t like other people and I’m really unsociable? That couldn’t be closer to the truth.

To the room around 6 and we were ready and out at 8. We returned to the Asian restaurant tonight and on the way walked past a wedding meal/party in full swing.

Spring roll and pork something for starters.

I also went crazy and ordered two California rolls. Louise was not keen so I had all of them.

I did manage to get her to try a large blob of wasabi which prompted a funny reaction and some spitting.

We both had beef stir fry. Tasty but only just warm.

We wandered to the Piano bar and managed to secure a couch. Prime real estate in piano bar terms but it was pretty empty tonight for some reason. We waited for the music and tonight it was a Sax player at 11.

Home after that and welcome sleep.

Till the next time…….

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Ten May 3rd

12/07/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

I secured our cabana around 9. I say secured, but there was never any pressure or rush to get beds of any kind which was right up there with my favourite things about this resort.

I bagged a different one today looking for more shade having returned to the room yesterday more pink than I may have liked.

My big toe was at extreme risk here.

I know this looks lovely, and that is because it was.

I had dragged a spare brolly alongside the cabana for extra, extra shade today.

No breakfast as such today. However, we did devour some Pringles instead. During our time round the pool yesterday a member of staff came round surveying guests, asking what they could do to improve our stay. We said it’s be handy to have some cover from the rain on top floor balconies, but didn’t expect them to do that immediately at least. We did mention that at the other Secrets we had been too we loved having snacks in the room and the lady made a note. About an hour later I went back to the room for a bodily function and there were a load of snacks waiting for us. Excellent service.

During the morning I watched some football on my phone and Louise lay in the pool. We ordered a beer each which was soon delivered and then we went for lunch at the Seaside Grill. Chicken burritos and salad for both. Fruit platter to finish.

Back to our beds and some time in the pool. At some point I had a micro nap and generally did very little. I nipped back to the to room for more functions of the body and a maintenance man came to fix a broken bath plug I had reported via the app a few hours earlier. Turns out it wasn’t broken and we are idiots who cannot operate basic applicanes.

Some loud Americans came to play volleyball, loudly, in the quiet pool. They were very loud with one especially vocal person sounding just like a loud Seth Rogen. Did I mention that they were loud.

Up to room at 5.45, readied and out at 7.30. We tried did the other Italian tonight. Chicken soup for me caprese salad for Louise.

Steak and Lasagne which were both decent.

The Piano bar was far too busy so went to lobby bar for one drink and then to the amphitheatre for the Rock show. To bed after that as we, well mainly I, are massive lightweights.

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Nine May 2nd

05/07/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

I was awake around 8. I readied and went down to get a cabana, and I was sulking about huge weight gains. You will know that over the years my weight has often featured in all my posts. Having been a very fat kid, there is no doubt some deep lying psychological damage at play, and when I do manage to shift a few pounds, I do get very tetchy when my body betrays me and adds some pounds back after eating and drinking shite.

One of the things I really appreciated about both Secrets resorts so far was the fact that they had scales in the bathroom. I know that sounds counter intuitive but believe me, my mind will convince itself that I have gained thirteen stone in a daaaaayyy, and then usually when I get home I find it’s nowhere as bad as I thought, and I could have enjoyed myself a lot more.

So being able to keep a daily eye on things was a good thing for me. Apart from today when for some reason several pounds had come from nowhere and I had a cob on. They would come off again and go on again a few times during the trip with me returning home just a couple up on my pre departure fighting weight. However, today I was still in a mood about it.

So I had no breakfast and instead went for a huge walk around 11.20 all the way to the end of the bay.

It was a hell of a walk taking about an hour each way.

To put it in context, that tip of land you can see out to sea is our resort.

I was a big ball of sweat when I got as far as I was going to walk. So I stripped down to my shorts and went for a welcome dip in the sea.

I could have carried on this way….

But I turned for home, noticing a brand new resort being built at this end of the cove.

Once I got back to our resort I had clocked 7.5k in total. What do you mean I have a mild eating disorder?

We immediately went for lunch at the Seaside Grill. Chicken Burrito starters (oddly with chips) and a Cuban sandwich for both of us. Very good and filling.

After lunch there was lots of resting and reading. At around 4.30 we went into the main pool and its bar, for drinks. We watched some volleyball taking place on the beach and then returned to our cabana.

There was more golden hour action as we watched sun go down behind one of the hotel buildings.

Once the sun had left us we went back to our room at 6.15. We watched a couple of weddings from our balcony.

We didn’t make it out till after 8. Tonight we were going to give the buffet a try at the World Café. Whilst everything was fine, this was not a standout meal of the trip. It was a little but “buffet slop” of the kind that had for years put us off all inclusive trips.

It was all freshly made and of decent quality but just not “five star”.

I do take full responsibility for my very poor plate presentation skills here which does not reflect the food in the best light!

We ended the night in the piano bar after waiting for a seat as it was very busy tonight. We felt sorry for the poor piano player. There were far too many people with main character syndrome who would not leave him alone to perform and constantly badgered him to let them join in etc. In the end he hardly got to play but to his credit he didn’t glass anyone. We left, frustrated at having to listen to amateurs murder some classics. Bed at midnight.

Till the next time……

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Eight May 1st

28/06/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Day Eight already? This is flying by…..right?

We slept in till 8 before I ventured out to the pool and secured a cabana at the quiet pool and when Louise arrived shortly after that we went for coffee, cake and melon at coffee shop.

I had by this time acquired a new friend. There was a chap on pool cleaning duty pretty much all day and for a couple of days now as I was typically the first to arrive at the pool he would insist on helping me with the arduous task of laying out the towels on the beds. He would also bring us a couple of lilo things to use in the pool. As I am too polite for my own good I had tipped him each time, just a couple of dollars but now we were on hand shake and fist bumping terms and we were having awkward conversations using hand signals and Spanglish as neither of us spoke the same language.

All this would end in us being Facebook friends which wasn’t weird at all.

My oral situation continued to improve I am glad to say and normality was within touching distance which was a relief I cannot describe the scale of.

After breakfast we went to the shops for yet more sun cream. We still had some left but as often happens Louise decided the same sun cream we’ve used for a few decades was now causing her some issue, this time prickly heat, and she needed a different brand. We secured some at some eye watering profit margin for the shop.

We then did very little else other than read and rest.

Lunch at the Seaside Grill again. We both had the soup and burgers.

As boring as it looks that burger was delicious.

The afternoon was blissfully uneventful. I can’t tell you how much I was enjoying doing nothing.

With no rain today, we stayed out till 6 enjoying that lovely end of day golden hour that is always a highlight of these kind of trips.

We were ready, hungry and out to 1844 for dinner, which was one of the two Dominican restaurants. Sadly this would be our worst meal yet.

Empanadas, salad and steak for Louise. Empanadas soup and steak for me. We went crazy and ordered a dessert and it was without doubt the worst bread and butter pudding of all time.

To the lobby bar afterwards for a drink.

At the risk of reinforcing offensive stereotypes there was a large red neck wedding party there celebrating the upcoming nuptials of Mary Sue and Bobby Lee (probably not their real names) and we watched with sadness how badly there were treating the bar staff. No manners, no tips and there was no need for it.

We wandered to the piano bar for the 11pm set and did our usual people watching.

We made it to midnight before heading home to bed.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Seven April 30th

21/06/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Louise slept in this morning mainly due to too much piriton for too much prickly heat. I went to breakfast alone at the market street buffet. Cereal and fruit were an attempt to be healthier and for the laxative nature. Things needed to change. I can confirm prunes live up to their reputation.

To the beach and I secured a cabana there. I read and scrolled until Louise came down about ten.

We lazed for some time and had a naughty morning Margarita. I went to order nachos and pizza for lunch which was becoming a habit. There was a buffet on by the pool but we stuck with our usual.

Rain had been threatening all day and as we awaited its inevitable arrival we watched a game of volleyball which resulted in one chap suffering an injury.

It looked like he rolled his ankle and he limped off in search of medical attention.

I went for another walk up the beach around 2pm and despite not going very far I felt knackered afterwards.

Rain was imminent so we went back to the room around 3.30 and sat on our balcony for an hour.

The rain started as we got ready and it was torrential all night. When we were ready we ordered a golf cart to take us to Bordeaux, the restaurant not the region in France. It would be our best meal yet despite it being as cold as hell in there.

Quiche, onion soup and steak for us both. Very nice.

We even managed to share a dessert.

Over at the piano bar we found an excellent sax player but he finished at 8.30. It was very busy tonight and we did lots of people watching and drinking.

The piano player came on at 11. 8 and 11 felt like odd timings for the live entertainment.

We walked back to the room as thankfully the rain had stopped. Bed at 11.30.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Six April 29th

14/06/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026, Uncategorized

For those worried about my oral situation, things were starting to improve and my gum was starting to look a little less space hopper and the pain was only like routine child birth. An improvement on just a couple of days ago.

Forty years of getting up for work once again forced my body into waking up at an hour I did not appreciate but I used it to wander out to secure some breakfast from the coffee shop and then a cabana by the quiet pool.

This is the coffee shop and it was an upsetting 7.29am.

The early hour did mean I had my choice of all the cabanas. There was absolutely no sun bed reserving at this resort. We were glad as that is one of my pet hates that has put us off “non WDW” holidays for years.

By 9.25 the early morning cloud was clearing nicely and the relentless sun would char our bodies for most of the day.

At 10.30 I went for a walk up the beach.

My need to “earn” calories does not take a holiday.

Today I had turned left to see what lay in the other direction and it was a little more populated, with a large mainly French resort not too far away and then lots of very interesting little coves.

At times the terrain got a little too “natural” for my liking and all I could imagine were the headlines of “Fat Northern Bloke Dies Due to Stupidity on Nice Beach”.

So I headed back to safety.

See, lots of nature and danger…..

No idea what was going on here….

I was ready for lunch on my return to so I ordered some stuff from the same café/grill as yesterday, and a kind man brought it to our cabana.

Breaking every rule in the book, we went in the pool immediately after eating, but fear not, there was no swimming, just too much Tequila. By too much, I mean one. We did also have two Margaritas though so that exceeded my alcohol intake in one day for the about the past thirty years.

We saw that there was rain forecast from around 3pm, so we left the pool just before that and went to sit on the balcony until it arrived.

It was 4.30 before it finally did so we went inside then and started to get ready. It was raining when we set off for food, armed with umbrellas, but a nice man in a golf cart drove by and stopped to pick us up. He dropped us off outside our restaurant.

Dominican tonight….

I had some slightly odd crisp bread with Avocado mousse to start….

Louise’s Ricotta Balls persisted….

We were hungry so also had a soup each before my main which was Chicken and Rice…

and Beef Tenderloin for Louise.

This was one of our better meals of the trip.

We got a comfy couch in the piano bar and listened to a piano and violin duo for a bit who were somewhere over there.

We gave up after one drink and went to bed after another tiring day.

Till the next time…….

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Five April 28th

07/06/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Normality was returning to our sleep patterns and we slept till a reasonable hour before heading to the coffee shop for a pastry and latte for breakfast.

We based ourselves at the quiet pool, snagging a very comfortable cabana. These were free, extremely comfy and from this point on we made sure we got ourselves one whenever possible.

It looks a little cloudy there but it was mighty hot and we enjoyed the hotness until lunchtime by not doing very much at all. My tolerance for doing absolutely nothing was unmatched on this trip. A welcome antidote to the chaos of working life I think.

For lunch we ordered Nachos and Pizza from the small café by the pool and it was delivered to our cabana at the exact moment the impending rain that had been threatening for an hour or so also arrived. Demonstrating our commitment to food we sat on our cabana, under two umbrellas, onboarding our lunch. We quickly became waterlogged and realising it wasn’t about to stop I went into the nearby (very) hot tub to avoid the cool rain. The food was very tasty but not captured on film due to the wet nature of our surroundings at this time.

Once I had warmed up, we took our dampness and brollies back to the room. We showered and relaxed in the room watching the King’s visit to the US on CNN.

The rain stopped at around 4pm so we got dressed and went for a wander around the resort. We had a couple of games of pool on the least flat pool table in the world, which made things interesting to say the least before heading up to the lobby bar for a couple of drinks and chat with Emily back home. I lost the first game as the black ball fell into a pocket it should have been nowhere near had the table even been close to being flat. No, I am NOT a bad loser.

Some idiot got us Tequila shots which resulted in about three days in hospital for me. I am not a big drinker and I struggle to understand how folks do shots on purpose and enjoy them.

It was nice to just sit on a comfy couch in a perfect temperature and not have to be anywhere or do anything. We walked back to the toom to get changed for dinner and we were off to Portofino, an Italian, at 7.30.

I had soup….

and pasta…

Louise had Ricotta Balls….which can be painful if left untreated….

and Cannelloni.

The food was decent but not earth shattering. We watched the band in the Town Square thing very briefly before heading to the Piano Bar. The entertainment there had finished for the evening, or at least the early spot had and frankly we were too tired to wait for the 11pm spot, so we went to bed around 10.30 after potentially the most uneventful day anyone has had ever. Luckily, you get to read about it here.

Till the next time….

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Four April 27th

31/05/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026, Uncategorized

For those wondering/caring about the sponsor of this trip, today is when it may make some sense. But first, we were awake earlier than is normal and we still hadn’t fully adjusted to this new time zone. We made best use of the time by heading for a buffet breakfast again, but to be fair I had mainly fruit today. I did enjoy how the honey on offer was literally dripping from a honeycomb. Nice touch.

I had for the last few days been troubled by some pain in my gum. For those who inflict all my posts on themselves you will know that just before we went away I had to go to the dentist for some work to reconstruct some tooth that I lost (getting old is crap). At the back of my mind I did hope that this would not lead to a similar issue that I had on a previous holiday after flying. On that occasion it was the flight home that caused an infection/abscess in my gum. It does seem that if you have folks messing with your teeth before flying it does leave you open to these risks.

I was doing the natural thing of hoping it would all go away by itself and ignoring the pain for now, horrified at the thought of having to find some kind of treatment whilst away.

To distract me further Louise dragged me to the shops and she purchased a pair of orange flip flops. This was understandable as this was a clear gap in her meagre holiday shoe collection back in the room.

Anyway, we headed to the beach today knowing that there was some rain forecast for later.

When the clock struck a reasonable time we ordered a cocktail. A couple of Miami Vices.

I had a brief dip in a very rough sea, perhaps a sign of the incoming weather and after that we Facetimed Rebecca back home.

The rain came at 12.30 and we timed it perfectly at the sign of the first drop to be walking into the Seaside grill just as it lashed it down.

One thing we did notice on this trip, compared to our other “Secrets” experience was the language barrier seemed to be more of an issue. Of course, speaking no other language than English (aside from being able to fluently order Black Forest Gateaux in German) this was not a complaint, but more of an explanation of how I ordered soup but ended up with Cerviche.

I was not 100% certain what that was but suspected it was fish. Indeed it was and maybe even raw fish but in the spirit of he who dares wins I ate it anyway and it was fine. I won’t be rushing to have it again, but it was an experience.

Louise just had two starters and I had a Cuban Sandwich after my fish. That was delicious.

The rain was heavy and persistent so we took our time finishing our meal.

We left the restaurant around 2pm and walked back to the toom under brollies. We then sat out on our balcony under those same brollies bemoaning whoever decided not to put a roof on the balconies on the top floor.

Once the rain cleared we headed down to the pool.

At this point my gum was becoming a real problem.

We changed for dinner and left the room at 7.30. I went to reception to change some larger dollar bills into ones and fives for tipping and headed to Castaways, the steak restaurant. In hindsight perhaps not the best choice for someone who was dentally challenged.

We had to wait for a table with a drink during which time we got messages from Emily back home that she was hearing noises in the house and the dogs were spooked. We Facetimed with her and it seemed the noises were sounding like coming from the roof which was odd. Once she felt reassured and I’d messaged two sleeping neighbours to keep an eye out she felt a little better and tried to go back to sleep. Is there anything worse than getting a call from one of your kids who is scared and you’re thousands of miles away and can’t directly help? We went to eat.

We were a little distracted during the meal but we had a salad and Grilled Provolone.

We both then had a New York Strip. We did wonder if there was some kind of potato famine on the island as they were in very short supply both on the menus and on the plate throughtout the trip.

The food was fine but the service not the best but to be honest at this point my gum was the only thing on my mind. We started to watch one of the shows on tonight but I had to admit defeat at this point and go in search of medical assistance. We went back to the room and I called the front desk who immediately despatched a golf cart to pick me up.

It was there in about two minutes and I was whisked to the on site doctor and seen immediately. She was around 14 years old and after a few questions and credit card swipes issued me with lots of drugs, but most importantly the sweet, sweet Amoxicillin that would be the best purchase I had made in quite some time.

I walked back to the room, took a lot of drugs and went to sleep.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Three April 26th

24/05/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

With all that sleep under our belts we were in good shape to make it to all three meals today. We were awake at 5.30 having slept for almost twelve hours. We took our time getting up and ready and headed in the direction of the Market Cafe for a buffet breakfast after making sure the view was still there.

We did that thing of sitting at our allocated table for about half a second before then getting up and aiming for the food.

There was a huge range of options from the alcoholic, to the healthy….

To the downright unhealthy….

I ended up with this very varied collection of stuff.

It was all very nice but a phrase once coined by Peter Kay sprung to mind….

“Has tha’ nowt moist?”

It was crying out for some beans, or anything to give it a little moisture.

After breakfast we inexplicably had to go shopping and as you’ll appreciate the shops on site would absolutely not be price gouging as you had nowhere else to go.

We needed a hat for Louise as she had burned her head yesterday and some washing powder as Louise had failed to pack me sufficient unmentionables. If she’s not careful I will be forced to do my own packing in future.

Many dollars lighter (although the packet of washing powder was oddly just one dollar!) we headed back towards the pools.

This would be our spot today, next to the main Jacuzzi that we never went in.

We did absolutely nothing all morning other than look at that sky.

Having had a large breakfast neither of us needed lunch but we did venture into the main pool and got a drink from the swim up bar.

I had a rum and coke which gave me heartburn. I am so Rock n Roll it’s scary.

Even with her newly acquired very expensive hat, Louise was still finding the intense sun was burning her head so she doubled up and used the cardboard thing that came in her hat for added protection.

In the afternoon, probably at the very hottest part of the day we decided to go for a walk up the beach.

Once we walked past the edge of our resort it was completely untouched and unspoilt.

But we had no idea what this was/is….

We walked for about thirty minutes before turning back, so we were both balls of sweat when we got back to our sunbeds after that hour. We had a shower and then a swim to cool off.

We headed up to the room around 5pm and actually made it out of the room again at 7.30.

We were to eat at Meraki tonight which was billed as the Mediterranean restaurant. We were expecting Mezze and all that jazz but the menu was a weird mix of all kinds of stuff.

Spring rolls and soup for starters, I had the soup

I had steak which was enormous and quite teasty.

Louise had Chicken Tikka Masala which wasn’t the best.

We stopped at the piano bar for a drink before heading to the Amphitheatre for tonight’s Rock Show.

The highlight of the show were a couple beyond drunk desperately trying to be in the show and at one point the wife was literally lap dancing for random audience members with tomorrow’s washing on display. The husband had an uncanny look of Timmy Mallett and that would be how we would know them for the rest of the holiday when we saw them each evening. Despite being in their forties he dressed like Justin Bieber and she mostly didn’t seem to like to wear clothes at all.

If this video avoids a copyright infringement, you may be able to see them here. It does not really do justice to how drunk they were.

After the show we strolled back to the room and we were in bed by 10.30.

Till the next time…..

The Anniversary Adventure 2026 Part One Sponsored by Amoxicillin – Day Two April 25th

17/05/2026 by mkingdon, posted in The Anniversary Adventure 2026

Regardless of location there is always something very special about the first day of a holiday. It’s the promise of the adventure ahead, the hopefully long break from normality and the fact that all the clothes you brought with you still fit, which may not be the case at the end of the trip.

Having said that, waking up at 3am is never a welcome thing but after a wee, and noticing that the room had some hidden magic, where when your feet hit the floor out of bed, some soft lighting comes on in the bathroom I did manage to get back off again until 6. We watched the sunrise over the ocean from our balcony and Louise finished her unpacking.

We were ready and out by 7.30 and headed for breakfast. Whilst the Dominican Republic would not compete with Mexico for wildlife, we did spot this fella on the way.

Breakfast was just a coffee and a pastry from the coffee shop, both still full from the usual 10,000 calorie travel day yeterday.

We headed to the beach and set up camp before having a wander on the surreally beautiful shoreline. This was easily the most incredible beach we had ever seen.

After that exhausting few minutes of walking we returned to our sunbeds for a well deserved rest. We called my Mum back home and then had a wander up to the pool just in time for the bar to open and our first cocktail of the holiday at 10am. I had a Miami Vice and Louise had a Paloma. I couldn’t tell you what was in either but they were incredibly sweet and lovely.

After more beach, we set off in search of lunch around midday. We opted for The Seaside Grill as it was closest.

I started with the salad….

Louise started with Nachos and wet knockers (wet swimsuit!!)….

We both had the burger, which I had already started by the time I remembered the photo….

Breaking every rule in the book, we went for a swim in the sea immediately after lunch and then we spent an hour up by one of the pools. Louise realised she had failed massively by forgetting to bring any After Sun. We had words as all she had to do was iron and pack everything for both of us and I knew buying some here would break the bank.

$21 lighter and with a massive sulk on we went back to the room around 5pm. I showered and Louise had a bath. We were delighted to see that this Secrets also had the in room TV channel that we had loved in Mexico. It’s hard to explain what it is other than a rolling film of “zen” type images and noises. You had to be there.

We were both absolutely knackered so we decided we’d have a nap for an hour before dinner. I briefly woke at 10.40pm, had a wee and went back to sleep until 5am! I did say were were tired.

So no dinner tonight and I have submitted my clam for a refund of course.

I apologise for this truncated first day but our need for sleep was too great. It had been a very busy and stressful time at work (you know I’ve moaned about it constantly) but tomorrow we reap the benefits.

Till the next time…….

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