The Adults Only Tour 2015 – Day Five

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Day Five – 31st August

Back at the beginning of this report I moaned about how complicated it had been planning this trip. One of the reasons for that was Emily’s work commitments and today saw the first of those as she had to check in. So I apologise in advance that today may not be the most entertaining ever spent in Orlando.

I was awake at 6.45. I had also been awake for most of the hours preceding that as my “I should really be in hospital” cold now had a full grip on my weak and illness filled body. I administered yet more drugs, some of them even legal and added some fuel to fight the disease by eating breakfast too. It doesn’t matter what I had as I couldn’t taste it.

With a check in time of any time after midday for Emily, I was keen to get her packed, out and processed leaving enough time to do some holiday stuff too, as, after all today was also my birthday, which was, quite rightly taking a back seat today. So there was a lot of rushing around getting her organised and ready to go. This wasn’t helped by some apparent drama going on back home with her boyfriend that was distracting her from her own important day and instead of packing and getting ready she was hammering away at her phone with her thumbs.

We left the villa at 10.40 leaving Rebecca and Sarah to relax and rest after a tough few days in the parks. Nana and Grandad came with us and were dropped off at the discount women’s shop Louise and I found the other day. Grandad could not thank me enough.

The first job was a “big shop” at Target to get her set up with everything she might need in her apartment. Now, you’ll know that I love supermarket shopping, especially when it’s all for someone else. So we spent a long, long time choosing duvets, looking at hair dryers and suitable food stuffs that could be made quickly and easily….with a hair dryer.

At one point I did lose my temper ever so slightly with Emily as she was more concerned with the activities on her phone than the questions we were asking her about the stuff we were buying…for her. Louise played referee and things were calmed down.

After paying the huge bill I needed a coffee and a sit down so we got both in the Starbucks at the entrance to the store. Nana and Grandad met us there and we headed back to the villa to collect Rebecca and Sarah. See, not complicated at all this is it?

On the way to Emily’s check in location, which is close to Crossroads for those interested, we dropped off Rebecca, Sarah, Nana and Grandad at Downtown Disney (it was still called that at this point!). Our need for food saw us make a quick pit stop at a McDonalds and hoover up a burger and fries before finally getting to Vista Way. If you’ve seen Monsters University, it looks a bit like that, but with all different nationalities rather than Monsters wandering about. We parked up and Emily went to do her thing.

She was only gone for ten minutes, returning with a lot of paperwork and news that she had been allocated her first choice accommodation at The Commons. The drive to The Commons took a few minutes and after getting through what is pleasingly tight security we arrived at her building. We dragged her cases up to the door and knocked. We were greeted by a young lady who for the first minute or two we thought was American. However she soon explained that she was Norwegian and we could then start to hear that her accent was not from the US but did have a very distinct American “twang” . Lisse was lovely and we chatted for a while as Emily started to unpack. We got her settled in, said our goodbyes to Lisse and headed off back to Downtown Disney to meet up with everyone.

We parked up in the new Orange multi storey car park. I needed a restroom and had remembered from years gone by just how nice they were at the House of Blues so I made use of those. We walked all the way from House of Blues to World of Disney. Oh look, a photo….

And another…

You wait all trip report for one and then three turn up.

As we met up with everyone we soon discovered that Sarah and Rebecca had spent their time and dollars wisely.

Rebecca informed me that Grandad had paid for lunch so she had used the dollars I had given her to buy a Pandora charm instead. Female logic!

We spent a large amount of time wandering around the huge World of Disney store. Whenever Louise suggested we buy something I expertly dodged the bullet by telling her we should wait until Emily has her Cast Member ID and we can get discount. It worked a charm….which Rebecca should have waited to buy too!

We left around 4.30 passing the Lego shop as we did.

For the second time this trip we were now about to con Disney for which I heartily apologise. I still contest that over the years we’ve paid for a few white lies. We drove to the Beach Club to park up as we were going to Epcot and always prefer to escape through International Gateway after the fireworks.

A quick flash of the pink thing which had been stored in my shorts and the guard simply smiled, nodded appreciatively and told us to park wherever we liked. I don’t suppose he sees too many UK driving licences.

Again, these photos tend to be an annual event but I make no apology. This is one of our most favourite places.

We walked through the lobby, remembering again just how lovely that is and then out the other side, turning left towards Epcot.

Once through the entrance we stopped in the shop there to pick up my birthday badge. Remember, it is my birthday!

Of course, our first stop today had to be the UK pavilion to have a look at Emily’s new work place.

It was beyond warm today and Grandad was very happy to spy a comfy seat in one of the shops.

As was Nana.

Rebecca and Sarah grabbed a Duffy and settled in to do some colouring.

The rest of us wandered around looking at Emily’s colleagues to be and the incredible prices of a Twix.

We left the UK and we were Canada bound.

As we made that long journey it started to rain so our progress was more hurried than it might have been. Our plan was to watch Martin Short in O Canada as frankly it had been far too long since we did. As we got to the theatre we were confused to find it roped off. We crowded together in the entrance trying to keep dry until a Cast Member appeared to let us in. That was just the start of the waiting as we then had to sit in the foyer area for about ten minutes.

Once we were in, the show was slightly spoiled by three young folks stood next to us who had obviously been sampling a few drinkies around the world. The circle vision, standing up and the skin full they were on the wrong end of made them quite disruptive. My main fear was that Grandad would get annoyed enough to do something and we’d have a full scale international incident on our hands.

Having waited so long to see the film we were now bordering on late for our dinner reservation at the Rose and Crown. I hurried off at full man walking pace to book in.

By the time I got to the front of the podium queue everyone else had caught me up. We were given our buzzer thingy and it was going off within a few minutes. We were seated on the patio outside and we were served by Rebecca…but not ours.

I sat there looking there handsome for a while.

We ordered the following –

Me and Nana – Fish and Chips

Emily – Bangers and Mash

Grandad – Chicken Tikka Massala

Louise – Steak

Rebecca – Shepherd’s Pie

Sarah – Chips!  Yep, that’s all she wanted after their large lunch at Wolfgang Puck.

As ever, Rebecca left the vegetables and used them to recreate a photo we had seen years ago, at Bahama Breeze.

With it being a special occasion we all had or at least shared a dessert and we all chose the Velvet Cake.  Grandad had a very unsubtle word with our server explaining it was my birthday (have I mentioned that yet?) and could they bring something out with a candle in it. All the servers singing Happy Birthday to me around that poor cast member with a candle shoved up their nose was odd.

All of this eating and singing meant that time was pushing on and darkness was falling changing Epcot into that magical place it becomes as the lights come on.

As it was now 8.35 we did consider ordering more food and or drinks so that we could tough it out and watch ROE from our table. Our server second guessed our quandary and solved it for us by offering us a spot on the patio down by the water. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and the rain that had been on and off all afternoon had the decency to stay away too making our ponchos redundant other than to keep our bums dry on the wet chairs.

It’s customary about now, just before the fireworks start that I desperately try all the settings on my camera to try and make these photos not the usual crap blurry nonsense that all the others are.

So, that worked well.

ROE was the usual incredible spectacle that we have to come expect, and any of my birthdays that don’t include it, are poorer for it.

Full of fireworks afterglow we wandered out of the park back towards the car at the Beach Club. The rain was coming back again and everyone was very tired at this point. So just Sarah, Rebecca and I walked all the way to the car leaving everyone else back at the valet point for us to return to pick them up.

For the first time this trip we dropped Emily off home at The Commons and found our way back to the villa via the I4. We were glad to be in bed by 10.20.

Till the next time…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Adults Only Tour 2015 – Day Four

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Day Four – August 30th

Every now and again, I get asked for planning advice for trips to WDW. This is usually from folks I work with as everyone who reads my blog and these reports probably know more about it than I do. These work folks have no idea of the level of my obsession with the whole thing and should they ever find out that I write detailed trip reports about my holidays then my so far stellar career may well be adversely affected. I have long since stopped telling folks about how big a role these holidays have played in my life so far as it is too hard to explain and instead I smile and nod as they tell me they will buy park tickets when they get there and might not do Disney as their kids are all grown up now at 11.

Anyway, the point of all that is to lead into my admission that we are today about to do our third theme park day on the trot and this is, as everyone knows, blasphemy, especially at the start of the holiday. I’m no big fan of rest days but the theme park legs (you know that feeling right?) and jet lag factor make this a very bad idea. Despite us having eighteen days this trip (that’s right, there’s a long way to go yet my dear readers!) for some reason that now escapes me, today had to be Animal Kingdom.

Thankfully this 4am nonsense was over and I didn’t wake until the glorious hour of 7. Breakfasts and showers were had, which doesn’t half make your bagel soggy (not a euphemism). Pleasingly we were out of the villa at around 8.30, the first time, then after someone ran back in to get what they forgot, I reset the alarm, sighed and rolled my eyes a few times, and we left just before 8.40.

As we were going to Animal Kingdom today we used Sherberth Road noting that those dodgy looking apartments just as you turn off the 192 have finally been knocked down. We arrived at the parking booth just before 9, just in time to sit behind some arse that was asking for directions to Disneyland or trying to sing to the cast member to avoid paying the charge, causing me to undertake the traditional ill-tempered scathing rant about idiots who take an age to pay for their parking. It’s all part of the magic.

We parked in Peacock 4 which was close enough for us to walk in rather than tram. Of course, any distance is close enough to walk, but you know what I mean.  Rebecca risked being sent home (and I mean to the UK not the villa) by needing a wee before we went through the turnstiles. I’d already lost several vital minutes by, as ever, choosing the wrong line at bag check and waiting for that one guard who is swabbing everyone’s bag for traces of anything you bought at Universal.

With Rebecca’s empty bladder we finally entered the park and started the march over to Everest.

We had a FastPass+ of course and we all went on apart from Nana who is not a big fan of the going backwards thing.

Now, I know I am not in the strongest of positions to comment on anyone’s choice of hair style, however, whilst waiting to board I had to capture this.

Twice.

Even the lady at the front of the queue stared in disbelief.

In case you were wondering, my trainers were still looking fresh!

This ride is a firm favourite of ours and we always take this photo of course.

Minus Grandad this time, we rode again via the now ten minute standby line. If it were possible, it was better the second time.

We left the ride full of smiles and pumping adrenaline and headed over to the Rapids so that we could get wet as early as possible. As we made our way over, we partook in what is a bit of a traditional game. It started years ago, and it entails Nana trying to get ice cubes stolen from a drinks cart down the back of the girl’s T-shirts.

Everyone joined in and in an over-zealous moment Sarah tried to get Rebecca who quickly spun round causing Sarah to land a perfect left hook on her nose. There were a few tears but thankfully no blood or recriminations. Again, Nana declined to ride as she had just dried out after her last ride of this in 2005.

Another tradition is that on all and every water ride the one person you do not want to be anywhere near is Emily. She always gets drenched. Louise foolishly gambled that this time would be different based on the law of averages. She was wrong. They got absolutely soaked.

Not satisfied with our level of wetness, Grandad, Emily, Sarah and I re-rode immediately with everyone getting their fair share of moistness. After two rides it was inevitable that I’d have a damp snake to photograph.

It was at least 11.30 by now and everyone wanted to eat but were afraid to admit it. I solved the issue by saying I was starving as we passed the Yak and Yeti counter service and we were probably the first customers of the day.

We had –

6 Honey Chickens with rice for everyone but Rebecca

1 BBQ Chicken Stir Fry for Rebecca

Some egg rolls were involved, and I even managed to remember to order my own food this time.

It was very tasty and we’d be full for at least twenty minutes.

Safari time now, so we made our way in that direction.

Having eaten Chinese food we of course had to stop for water about seventeen seconds later. Louise had borrowed Emily’s sunglasses as she couldn’t find her own!

We didn’t have a FastPass so we joined the alleged twenty minute queue. I am still awaiting my day in court with Disney as that twenty minute wait was closer to thirty. Despite the hour of the day, the safari was a good one and produced the usual collection of blurry shots of animals in the middle distance.

That last one is my only celebrity photo of the holiday. You don’t recognise him? It’s Neal….Rhino Neal.

We had a 1pm FastPass for the Festival of The Lion King and time was tight so we set off at a good pace to get to Camp Minnie Mickey. Thankfully we realised that doesn’t exist anymore and that the Lion King is about a five minute walk from the Safari before we’d walked all the way over there.

We were all still a little moist and it was a bit chilly inside the theatre as a result. Louise was fine though. After twenty years with me she is used to being perpetually moist.

The show was as incredible as ever. We always *know* it’s going to be good, but always leave somehow surprised at how good it actually is.

 

How this was the only photo I took during the show I do not know. I think I was Periscoping (not a euphemism), so that was probably to blame.

Keen to see Sarah’s reaction to the ending of It’s Tough To Be a Bug we headed there next.

As ever, there were birds hanging around wherever I went.

Sarah’s reaction did not disappoint and made the whole thing more enjoyable in a sadistic kind of way.

With three theme park days in our legs we were now ready to not do any more theme parking today. We left the park at 2.30 and headed back to the villa. It was so nice to sit on the lanai, drinking, snacking and reading with intermittent swimming.

A few hours later it was time to get ready for our evening’s plans. Later we would be creating shock and awe at Applebees with our eating exploits, but first we’d arranged to meet up with Beryl York and her family at the villa they were staying in at Clear Song. We’ve been Facebook friends with Beryl for years and we are past masters at meeting folks off of the internet in Florida but there’s always that nagging worry that they may be axe murderers who wear their victim’s skins as a coat.

With those thoughts in our heads and Sarah wondering why she had come on holiday with such weirdos who meet random strangers for no apparent reason we drove the short distance to Beryl’s villa.

Of course, within seconds we knew everything was fine and we were welcomed warmly into the huge villa they were renting. I think it was housing about 635 people as they kept coming out of rooms and saying hello. We had a tour of the villa and then sat and chatted for a couple of hours, stupidly forgetting to take any photos whatsoever. Beryl was lovely as were her entire family and their happiness at being in Florida with all of their families was more than obvious. We have met some lovely, lovely people through our Disney holidays and tonight was no exception. Beryl, thank you to you and your family for making us feel so welcome.

We made our way to the 192 to Applebees, stopping at our villa on the way for urgent wees from a couple of females who forgot to go at Beryl’s, apparently.

There was a twenty minute wait for a table at the restaurant so we studied the menu.

Once seated we ordered some Mozzarella sticks and some shrimp thing as appetisers. They didn’t last very long at all and soon we were on to the main event, some of which I even took photos of.

Grandad – Steak and Shrimp

Me – Something called a Hog Dare Ya which was pulled pork related

Louise – Nachos

Nana – Some Shrimp Salad thing

Sarah, Emily and Rebecca – Burgers

 

The bill was $155. The service wasn’t brilliant tonight, in fact the worst we’d had at an Applebees, which was reflected in the tip. Around this point in the proceedings I developed a cold which would remain with me for the rest of the trip. I battled on like a trooper of course, but as you read every day of the trip from here on in, set aside a minute or so to appreciate my struggle and applaud my selfless determination to not moan about it.

We stopped at the Publix ten minutes after it closed so whatever it was we wanted would have to wait until tomorrow. Bed soon followed as I battled with the severe illness, silently, selflessly and without mention of it for several seconds at a time.

Till the next time….

The Adults Only Tour 2015 – Day Three

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Day Three – August 29th

The novelty of the 4am wake up had worn off at this point. I’m all for it on the first morning as the excitement of getting to a park for the first time numbs the pain of the lack of sleep, but by now, to be honest, I’d rather be sleeping.

Having said that, I was asleep by about 7pm last night so it was to be expected I suppose.

I tossed and turned until about 5am, which made a right mess of the bed sheets. I booted up the villa’s PC, made a brew and a bagel and came back to see it still trying its best. Once online I started doing what every male at a PC does when alone in the wee small hours. I tried to locate a shop that sold trainers. It’s an odd fetish, sure, but I’m not doing anyone any harm.

Louise had “forgotten” her trainers. When I was charging around the house on the day we left at another ungodly hour, before nipping out to pick Sarah up and ensuring that everyone who had been incapable of setting an alarm was actually awake, Louise had casually mentioned that her trainers were in the coat cupboard in the kitchen and could I put them in the case. I forgot/didn’t have time and now it was my fault that she had none and we had to go shopping this morning to get some.

Having located a shop that looked to stock cheap trainers, other folks started to rise around 6am. Rebecca and Sarah took a dip in the pool, which was allowed as we were not due to leave the villa till mid-morning. Traditionally day two is a rest day, but as we’d only been able to get a Be Our Guest reservation today, for lunch, we had to return to the Magic Kingdom, like it or not. The plan was to arrive just before lunch, do BOG and then pick up whatever rides we could despite the crowds.

Just the four and half short hours after I was awake, Louise and I left for the trainer shop. It was about a ten minute drive and after a similar amount of time we realised that the Payless Store was named such as it stocked shite I wouldn’t set on fire to keep warm, much less wear on my feet. Having been foiled in our quest for trainers we went to the next shop along. As the name of the Payless Store had been very honest about the stuff it sold, imagine my concern as we entered this next shop which was called Dicks! Thankfully, it was a sport shop. I did note a subtle difference to JD Sports in that a sign on the door requested that all guns should be left at Customer Services.

Louise tried on a few pairs of trainers, chose the most expensive ones available and we were on our way. But no, Louise spotted a discount women’s clothes shop and we ended up in there for the best part of an hour looking at bras. This morning was not as much fun as you might imagine it to be if you were told you’d be spending your time with Dicks and bras. To top off the fun, we trotted round Target to for more “bits” which included (for some reason I wrote this down) sugar and another bra.

We got back to the villa at 10.45. Amazingly everyone was ready. I walked out again, convinced I’d walked into the wrong villa.

We left at 11.15 and parked in Hook 77. Upon boarding the tram Emily shared her pleasure with the concept of mornings.

Others seemed more awake.

As we left the tram Rebecca had to restroom but at least she had the decency to know how wrong this was and apologise for her weakness. This did mean that we missed the ferry boat that had been docked invitingly for us as we left the tram. So we had a ten minute wait for the next one.

This allowed me ample opportunity to take some photos of the new cabin things at the Poly.

You may, I will admit, find better photographs of these elsewhere on the internet.

Running out of things to photograph, I was pleased that the boat turned up and we boarded.

We waved at folks on the other boat, and soon enough completed the crossing.

Main Street never gets old and I feel compelled to take (the same) photos whenever I set foot on it.

However, I do like the last two, with both the girls with Minnie Ears in front of the castle. I told you my photos were vert artsy.

Our first stop was at a FastPass+ kiosk outside Stitch. This is the closest you will ever find me to this “ride” as it is an abomination and should be killed with fire. I was trying to see if we could add/swap any of our FastPasses for today as they weren’t our ideal selections. Nothing was available so we were advised to come back once we’d used one of our currently booked ones.

We then made our way over to Be Our Guest for our lunch reservation. I’m pretty sure this was meant to be a photo of the Mine Train ride and not a very poor attempt at photographing Louise.

I checked in with a flash of my Magic Band and we were told to join the queue. Surely, the definition of a reservation was to not have to, but hey ho, join we did. Now, the last time we dined here was for dinner and it was truly one of the best experiences we have had at WDW. The theming was incredible, the service great and the food as good as can be expected in a theme park. After we had eaten we had left to an empty (closed) Magic Kingdom and had a lovely stroll out to the exit taking loads of photos and enjoying the peace and quiet.

Often when you try to recreate something like that it is doomed to failure, but Sarah and Nana and Grandad hadn’t been and we felt we should give it a go for them. However, a lack of knowledge on my part with some stupidity thrown in for good measure was to lead to what was a bit of a disappointment.

So this queue went on for an age and I had no idea why. We were given a menu in the queue and eventually once at the front, realised that there were a set of kiosks at which we were to enter our order before we found a table. I honestly had no clue lunch service was like this, so that’s my own lack of research, but I didn’t feel great about it.

Ordering in this manner for seven people is not the easiest task in the world, plus, as we’ve established over the years, I’m stupid. So as we got to our table and our sandwiches (that’s pretty much all you can get) arrived, we were missing one…mine. Yep, I had been so intent on making sure everyone had ordered theirs, I forgot to do my own. So I had to go back to a kiosk and ask the CM if I could sneak in and order one more, which of course they let me do.

The theming of course was still lovely…

However, by the time I had ordered mine and got back to the table everyone else had finished. Again, I know this is my own fault!!  Drinks were obtained from a McDonalds style dispenser and the whole thing was a bit like eating a football match. Had I known lunch was done in this way we probably would not have bothered. My own incompetence apart with the ordering cock up the whole thing felt incredibly mass market (yes, I know I’m in a theme park, but I know it can be done better than this….cos Disney do it!).

Add to all this that Louise’s beef sandwich arrived still mooing and had to be sent back, and we can declare this not to be our favourite dining experience to date.

I can however confirm that this stuff is indeed delicious.

We did a few photos as we left…

and headed over to Jungle Cruise for our first FastPass. It was very, very hot which meant that Louise declined the ride in favour of sitting in the sun. The rest of us boarded our second boat of the day.

I had to record the back side of water of course.

Our captain was good, but not the best we’ve had. It got a bit wet, but luckily I had some trunks to hand.

As we had done Small World yesterday we changed our FastPass for it now to Buzz. Yes, we did that one yesterday too, but Small World is a labour of love and need not be repeated. Plus, I had pride and revenge to seek out score wise.

Our next FastPass was for Peter Pan. Alas we were too early to ride so we went to get a drink at Pinocchio’s place. We sat outside under some brollies in the incredible heat letting our sweat run freely wherever it wanted to.

Soon enough, we could do Peter Pan, which funnily enough was something often heard when Jim Davison was in pantomime.

Next, we wandered over to Tomorrowland, with some clouds threatening to add to our moistness. It was so humid that frankly I was willing the heavens to open.

In need of some air con and a sit down we decided to go into Carousel Of Progress for both.

Grandad was asleep in seconds but the rest of us sang along like all normal folks are compelled to.

We had a look around the Merchant of Venus shop next and Emily got some sunglasses to avoid her looking so squinty in every photograph. At this point Grandad’s God Shoes (he meant to say Jesus Sandals but once he’d called them God Shoes once, the name stuck) broke. The strap at the back was hanging off and he was now hobbling around trying not to lose it! In an attempt to take his mind off that we went into the Laugh Club.

Rebecca was featured in the pre-show where they show audience members on the screen which delighted her almost as much as it pleased Emily, as it meant it wasn’t her up there. How two daughters raised identically by the same parents can be so different is mind blowing.

After another enjoyable show here we went next door for our recently acquired FastPass for Buzz. I scored a much more respectable 293,000. Louise left claiming something around 500,000, which frankly I didn’t believe.

Space Mountain had a wait beyond our tolerance, so we decided to step out of the crippling heat for a little while by venturing over to a monorail resort for a drink and a sit down. The Contemporary was the nearest so we ended up there, up in the Outer Rim bar.

We were all glad of the cool and the comfort.

I contemplated important things like the meaning of life, why I have more than one chin and why I gave Louise the camera.

The girls sat a suitable distance away from us so as not to be linked in any way to Grandad’s broken God Shoes.

We had a couple of rounds of drinks including beers and cocktails as the promised rain came down in some style. After two hours and a growing bar bill there was no sign of it stopping so we ditched the plans we had to go back into the park and headed for food and home in that order.

To prevent us getting drenched on the way I handed out the ponchos I had stuffed into Ryan earlier. It was a nice touch to find these in the garage at the villa saving us multiple dollars! What I didn’t know was that one of them was a child’s size and Sarah got that one. What followed was a hilarious few minutes as she tried to put it on only to have it stuck over her head for about two minutes whilst the rest of us laughed supportively.

Here she is, once again, able to breathe.

We got the monorail out to the TTC where it was as damp as we had expected.

We headed towards the villa not knowing where we would eat. I spotted a Black Angus at the junction of the 192 and our turning onto Old Lake Wilson Road and suggested that. We had a great meal at one of these back in 2004 or 2005, so of course that guaranteed the same tonight!

I did the gentlemanly thing and pulled the car right up to the door to let everyone out before I went off to park, knowing I would be soaked by the time I sat down to eat. As everyone was piling out I felt a bump and the whole car rocked. It turned out a chap reversing out of the disabled spot by the door had hit us. He was very apologetic and as no damage could be seen at all and more to the point it was absolutely pissing it down, we didn’t feel the need to get his details and we let him drive off, with him expressing his thanks.

My notes on what everyone had are patchy, but here goes.

Me and Emily – Southern Fried Chicken and Mash

Grandad – Steak (detailed, I know).

Nana – Burger

I have no clue what was had by everyone else but it all seemed to go down pretty well. Rebecca was struggling a bit with women problems so she didn’t eat that much and was a bit quiet and grumpy. With that in mind and our dampness this meal won’t go down in the history books as one to remember but it was fine.

We paid $160 and ventured out again into the rain. I ran to get the car and avoided any further collisions as everyone boarded at the door. The rain intensified as we drove home and the lightning was incredible. We were home and in bed by 10.

Till the next time…..

The Adults Only Tour 2015 – Day Two

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Day Two – Friday 28th August

Ah, the traditional first day ritual of waking up at a time nobody should know about, especially those on their holidays. Imagine my delight at being so only because somebody phoned me at 4.23am. Who knows how long I may have slept on for….maybe even all the way until half past!

I ignored the call of course, but then saw a voicemail had been left, so I thought I’d better see what it was in case I’d won the lottery or the UK’s sexiest male again. The call was from my bank. It would seem that I had gone overdrawn, and several payments presented were about to be refused and they suggested I got in touch. This did seem odd to me as today was pay day, and as pricey as the airport breakfast was, my wage should be covering most of that.

I got online and found that my account was sadly missing any form of salary payment for me which was, as you can imagine, a mild concern. Eventually I called the bank and explained that, as I had discovered with a bit of googling, HSBC were having all sorts of trouble sending payments and my employers happened to bank with them. It would appear that my salary payment was stuck in some HSBC pipe somewhere and would be in my account in due course.

The bank chap said he knew about the HSBC issue. So that was all sorted then surely? I had been with my bank since 1987 and never missed a payment to anyone and he could see right in front of him how much I got paid each month and from whom it came. Imagine my chagrin as he went on to say that if I did not pay in that day then all the payments presented would be returned and I would be charged.

Put it down to the lack of sleep if you like, but the next couple of minutes were a bit like the clip from Pulp Fiction…you know the Samuel L Jackson soliloquy? I pointed out that I was overseas and therefore unable to “nip into a branch” to pay in. I also outlined my disgust at his lack of understanding of one of their “black” customers. This was not a racial comment. I have a “special” account with them reserved for those with enough stupidity to pay a monthly fee for it to supposedly get some sort of personal service.

Bollocking somebody at a whisper, so as not to wake anyone else up, from 4000 miles away is a new skill, but I mastered it quite quickly. The call ended with a promise of paying everything and no charges being made. It turns out my salary hit my account later that day and all this nonsense was for naught. Sigh. OK, on with the holiday.

With zero chance of getting back to sleep I got some orange juice from the fridge and settled down to watch some adverts on the telly.

Around 6am I began the task of waking everyone else up. There was no way I was going to be up from 4.20 and not be at a park for opening. I started with the girls, predicting them to be the most painful but when I went back into my bedroom, Louise let off a tirade of abuse not seen since my call with the bank. Having woken her I retreated to the lounge once again, leaving her to come around. When I ventured back in some minutes later the reason for her foul mood was that the clock next to her side of the bed was wrong and it read 4.30am rather than the now 6.30am. How we laughed!

It took until 7.38 (precisely) to be out of the villa. I took up, what would become my customary position by the alarm panel waiting for everyone else to get out so I could set it. The really funny part of this EVERY DAY was just as I thought everyone was finally out on the drive and I pressed the button to set the alarm, someone would come back in, apologising that they had forgotten something. Again, how we laughed…each and every time.

Still, this was not a bad time to be out and heading for the Magic Kingdom. We breezed out of the villa development and onto the main road up to the 192. We turned right and we were immediately greeted with stationery traffic and this….

I have to admit to having a slight mood on at this point. The world was conspiring against me at every turn in my quest to have some fun. I will not have it be said that there are greater problems in the world! With the bank stress and now this I had half a mind to set the sat nav for the airport and give it up as a bad job.

A long ten minutes of not getting very far passed and the traffic then eased. Whilst sat in the queue a large wasp had attached itself to Louise’s window. She loves wasps and did not jump about three feet into the air when she saw it.

Once calm again she grabbed the camera and took too many photos of it as our speed increased and it continued to hold on defiantly.

Louise’s ability to focus on entirely the wrong thing in a photo is impressive.

The wasp left us at the junction of the 192 and we took a right in the direction of World Drive. For many years, having stayed around Formosa and Lindfields we have usually taken the Sherberth Road route into the parks so entering the official opening was a novelty and something I vowed to continue in other areas of my life.

With Sarah with us, as a first timer, there was something quite correct about going under this sign on the way in.

We arrived at the Ticket and Transportation Centre at 8.10. This pleased me and offered some reward for the ridiculous speeds I was doing up World Drive. “But officer, it’s our first morning, I’m all excited and we were stuck behind a truck for ten minutes!”

Emily had a voucher for her short term park ticket (to cover the few days until she got her Cast Member one) so she and I went to a ticket window to swap that. I also collected a First Visit badge (they are NOT buttons) for Sarah and a Birthday one for Rebecca. Sure, her birthday was back in May, but this trip was part of her present and so celebrate we would.

No sane person takes the ferry boat on their first day, so a monorail journey and the first poking of my sack (Hello Ryan!) saw us stood outside the Magic Kingdom in time for the opening ceremony.

See, that phone is still there.

With the show done, the large crowd moved slowly into the park with us right in the middle of it. Eventually we got to the Holy Grail that is Main Street and took in the sights and sounds and the realisation that we were finally home again. It had been too long!

I expertly walked backwards taking snaps as we went. Stopping is for amateurs.

I think I have one of these shots from every year we’ve been!

The new hub looked lovely.

With Pirates closed, our natural left turn meant that we would be heading for either some Splash or some Thunder. This is pretty typical for me after air line food and it may take a few days to sort itself out.

As we passed Pirates we saw a group of new cast members on a tour of the park. It was funny to think Emily would be doing that in a few short days.

Splash it was.

It was a walk on and this first ride is always a special time. The endless possibilities of the holiday to come in your mind, the very real magic of one of the best rides in WDW and the near euphoria of finally being there after months of planning and anticipation.

As we left the ride Grandad declared that he needed the loo. This, frankly, was unacceptable behaviour after just one ride and I made my feelings clear on the matter. We would have to make those minutes up later from his own time.

Naturally, Thunder was next.

Nana declined to ride and again it was a walk on. Always fun and surprisingly fast.

Our natural Disney navigation systems took us down towards the Haunted Mansion now and as we arrived we saw a thirteen minute wait posted which we guessed meant a walk on.

It was a joy to see Sarah’s reaction to the stretching room and all the theming that is done so well. There had been a few changes in a recent refurb which were nice to see and the traditional stops during the ride of course happened too. I can hear the voice now telling me to remain in my buggy.

As we left the Mansion some weaker folks spoke of their need of a drink and sit down. There was clearly some form of mutiny happening but in the interests of cordiality I agreed. We went over to the snack place in Liberty Square and got a variety of stuff that I couldn’t be bothered writing down. I had a drink and a banana anyway. As we chatted an elderly Cast Member approached us and started to chat. He was called Fred and we spent a good ten minutes talking to him about all sorts of stuff. He asked how many times we’d been, which was a few more than him and he’d worked there for thirty-two years!

We spoke about Emily starting work and it being Sarah’s first time and he quizzed us a little too much it seemed on the make-up of our party. He seemed delighted when he learned that we were three generations of the same family, plus Sarah, a first timer. As we were making to leave (I’m sorry Fred, no matter how charming you are I can feel the queues getting longer) he said he had a question for us. Anywhere but a Disney park and I’d have been listening for banjo music and squealing pigs.

Would we like to take part in the parade this afternoon as Grand Marshalls?

Well, my smile gave him the answer immediately. Of course we would!! We were shocked, delighted and excited in equal measure. He told us where to be and when and said he would see us there later. We wandered off not quite sure what to make of the whole thing. In my dazed state even I went for a wee and then we somehow ended up in It’s a Small World.

Clearly Louise had the camera again.

Still a bit dazed we left the ride and someone else went for a wee. If we can’t co-ordinate our bladders better than this, it could be a frustrating holiday.

Philharmagic was next and we timed it perfectly, entering the holding area just as the doors opened. The show wasn’t full but this did not stop me having to be restrained by Louise as I went for those stopping half way down a row like some drunk outside a nightclub who has had his kebab knocked from his hands.

About half way through the show, starting to regather myself a little I suddenly remembered all this FastPass+ stuff I’d done many weeks ago. I checked my app and sure enough we had a FastPass for Buzz in a few minutes. I spent the last minutes of Philharmagic trying to calculate the distance to Buzz and the speed at which I’d have to get everyone moving to get there in time. We did our best but we arrived as a collective sweaty mess five minutes after our FastPass slot had ended. Looking at the forty minute standby queue I gave everyone a slap for not walking quickly enough. With our newly gained Grand Marshall status I figured it was worth trying to use the FastPass anyway and strode confidently to the pole thingy. I waved my ticket at it (we had not yet had time to get bands of magic) and it lit up and turned green. If your pole does that, see a doctor immediately.

Six more waves of tickets and we were all in.

The score on this ride is not the point at all. It is merely the fun of riding that counts.

As my planning skills are awesome, just as we left Buzz, with me scalding Emily for poor sportsmanship and gloating, our slot for Space Mountain rolled around. We made our way over and again minus a Nana, entered. This is me with the camera, but this is artsy and intentional, not out of focus.

My notes tell me someone else restroomed prior to Space. My disgust at that time did not allow me to document who.

This was a great ride. Having Sarah along meant that finally someone on it screamed louder than I did.

As we left the ride we took the chance to get our Magic Bands in the shop at the exit. It was painless yet expensive.

To allow some form of resting without actually resting, we boarded the people mover thing.

As ever, this was a nice breezy sit down.

There had been a disgusting lack of food so far today so we were due to remedy that right now with a buffet attack at the Crystal Palace. We wandered over past the castle, through the new hub area.

We were a little early, for probably the first and last time this trip, but I figured if they added together our lateness for Buzz and our earliness for lunch we’d be about right. We were. I checked in and more or less as soon as I had that thing in my hand it went off and we were taken to our table.

I was pretty restrained food wise to be honest. A little salad to start and just the one visit for “mains”, with no dessert. Listen, we’re here for eighteen days and if I go off at full tilt I’ll have to be winched out of the front of the villa by a reality TV show.

One clear disadvantage of a large touring party is that when characters appear, there are often multiple cameras in use. The girls want one for their phone(s) plus my Dad has his camera out and they are all competing with my official record of the event with the real camera. So what happens is this…

After all that food, a large Pooh was inevitable.

Then, back to the food.

Emily likes to look her best for the camera.

A rare shot of me and a rarer shot that is actually in focus from Louise.

Our server had fallen for our dastardly plan of pretending it was Rebecca’s birthday and brought her a nice cup cake. We all sang to her and were immediately condemned to eternal damnation for our evil deceit.

She also got a lovely card signed by the characters.

Eeyore turned up suitably late.

I’ve taken better photos. The one on Rebecca’s phone was no doubt great.

As an aside, here are the girls from way back in 2004 in more or less the same spot. Time does indeed fly.

image054

The bill was as sizeable as expected at $304. I was left all alone at the table to settle the bill whist everyone else buggered off to the shops. Once relieved of my wealth I caught them up during a traditional silly hat try on session.

By this time we had to make our way to meet Fred for our appointment with the parade. We wandered all the way back to Splash Mountain to the gate where the parade starts and ends from (either, not both). We were a little early and met Brian, our official photographer…I kid you not. He took some shots whilst we waited for Fred and started what would be the royal treatment from start to end.

Once Fred arrived we were given Mickey hats to wear and told that we’d have some free photos from Brian’s work to collect on Main Street later. We also got certificates to confirm our Grand Marshall status. He took us backstage to where our car was waiting for us and we climbed in.

We chatted with Fred and the driver until the other Cast Member with us shouted “Thirty Seconds” whilst touching her ear piece which was clearly just for effect! We were told to “smile and wave boys” for the duration and look out for Brian taking photos as we went.

Here we are doing as we were told.

A Dibber/blog reader had just spotted us and shouted “Where’s Ryan?” so I did the decent thing and showed them my sack. It was hard work smiling and waving for that amount of time but the whole thing was surreal and bloody marvellous. During the parade we had a few shouts from people who lived in Bolton or thereabouts. We were announced across the park as the Williams family and Sarah Prince from Bolton at regular intervals.

As we pulled into the backstage area at the side of City Hall we thanked everyone in a two-mile radius about twenty times.

We were then escorted to a roped off area right at the end of the parade route and we were told that Brian would continue to take photos as we watched the parade pass by. So we waited for the parade to arrive.

And here we are watching the parade. Thanks Hilary for pointing me at this vlog which captured us. We appear from around 5m 30 seconds in.

Be warned, there are a lot of parade photos.

We got up close and personal with some of the characters…sometimes a little too close.

See how Ariel delights in seeing me all sweaty in my tight T-shirt and attractive baggy shorts.

When it was over, we wandered, still shell shocked by the whole thing, to the photo shop. We viewed all the ones Brian had taken and choose our freebies to have printed there and then. We linked to rest to my MDE for viewing later.

Not sure how we’d top what had just happened, either today or ever again we made our way out of the park. This being Sarah’s first ever day in a Disney park, it may have set the bar a little too high!

We monorailed to the tram stop and we left our parking spot in Aladdin to make our way to the Publix supermarket close to our villa for yet more shopping. We got back to the villa at 5.15 and right on cue the rain came down. To be honest, we were beyond spent for today and we all just collapsed in various places of rest and I think I was asleep at about 7pm. What a day!

Till the next time…….

The Adults Only Tour 2015 – Day One

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Introduction

Those familiar with holidays in Florida will understand that they are not simple and straightforward. With the advance of technology, it could be argued that the planning of them is getting more complex, with the need to use apps and web sites to arrange your eating and riding preferences many weeks before you will actually do them. This extensive planning is one of the best things about these trips, as it extends their reach into your non-holiday life and the excitement builds for months before you step on a plane.

If there was a scale of complexity in holiday planning, then I think the one you are about to enjoy with us would be a contender for the top ten. Some of the easiest trips we’ve had over the years have involved just the four of us (my wife and two daughters making up the four) and have gone like clockwork. Should you wish to read about any of our previous trips you can do so in my books or various places online.

This trip, by intention and design turned out to be one of the trickiest and most complicated adventures we’ve done. Much of that was down to the size of the party. Here’s the full cast list for you….

Me – Craig, forty something Dad, blogger and trip planner.

me kitchen sink

You know what I look like, so here’s one from the archives!

Louise – Wife, mother, sunbather and red wine sponge.

louise bag on head
Emily – Eldest daughter, twenty years old, Disney nut job, soon to be Cast Member.

1emily yummy

Rebecca – Youngest daughter, eighteen years old, glamour puss, selfie expert and drama queen.

model 2

Sarah – Rebecca’s friend, also eighteen, party starter, bundle of energy and Florida first timer.

sarah pic

Tony – My Dad. Grandad, full-time golfer and apprentice Alzheimer’s.

dad pic

Margaret – My Mum, Nana, full-time golf widow and semi-pro shopper.

nana pic

Add to the mix that Rebecca left her boyfriend behind and her need for WiFi would exceed that for oxygen, Emily would be starting work for Disney during the trip and the enormous range of ages in our party and it was clear that my planning skills would be tested to the maximum. It is hard enough consulting busy day guides and planning our activity around food consumption, but then you add in the unknowns of Emily’s shift patterns and training and the day-to-day itinerary gets to the point where you throw a six to start and see what happens from there. You’ll know that I am calm and relaxed about these things, so none of that would be a problem, right?

So this trip, in many ways would be a landmark one. For a start the kids were no longer kids (yet I’m still paying for them somehow!) and Emily would stay behind in Florida, completing her own personal fourteen year journey from Disney fan to Disney Cast Member. For that reason and a few more besides, this journey would be an emotional roller coaster (this is getting like the X Factor!) and things after the trip would never be quite the same again.

With that in mind, if you are still willing to join us then step this way as we begin the Adults Only Tour 2015.

Day One – Thursday 27th August

This trip started as most tend to with a very early alarm. During these early pre-flight hours I am the veritable busy bee, charging around the house doing stuff that nobody should when they are technically on holiday. At something past 4am I found myself emptying the bin, changing cat litter and generally tidying the house in preparation for anyone wishing to break in during our trip. More of that later!

What I didn’t know was that instead of undertaking these non-essential tasks I should have been concentrating on more important stuff, like making sure those travelling were awake and out of bed. With the taxi due to collect us at 6am, I casually poked my head around Rebecca’s bedroom door at about 5.20 as it seemed, quiet….too quiet. The reason for the quietness was that she was still asleep! She had slept through her alarm and she would now need to fit her three-hour getting ready routine into about fifteen minutes. I left her and her bottom lip to it, unable to reverse time for her and I set off to pick up Sarah from her house, which is about five minutes away. I arrived early, which, as Louise will tell you, is often the case. Sarah was up, dressed, ready and full packed. She had passed the test and would indeed be allowed to come with us after all. As we drove back past our house, I noticed that the house next door was in total darkness. This, you may think is not the most unusual thing to see at 5.30am, but you should know that my parents live next door to us and they to, should by this time be up, awake, fully packed and ready to go. Once parked up, I called them. They were the second part of our touring party to have slept through their alarm and they now had minutes to get ready too. Any sane person would have banned them from the trip at this point!

I returned home to find nobody as ready as I wanted them to be so I made myself a brew. My backside had been in contact with the couch for many seconds when Emily sent me a text (from her bedroom) asking me if I knew where her birth certificate was. This was the same birth certificate I had told her to locate about six weeks ago, knowing that she would need it for the endless Disney admin involved in starting to work for them, as Emily would during our trip. I casually started to rip the house apart to find said document and thankfully did so without too much stress and aggravation. This sort of last-minute panic is yet again evidence that no matter how long your countdown, how many months you have to think about this stuff, there will always be something you wished you’d done that you didn’t!

Once located, I took the birth certificate up to Emily in her bedroom, who still wasn’t ready, to find her suitcases still open and half her stuff across her floor. I could immediately tell that they would stay that way forever without some form of intervention. Grabbing stuff from Rebecca and Louise that would obviously not fit into their cases, I stuffed that into Emily’s cases and got them closed and ready to go. It says a lot that Emily, packing for eight months away had more spare room in her cases than anyone else did!

The taxi was five minutes early, which was not helpful as nobody was ready. I herded lots of females downstairs and hurriedly assembled some of them in front of the front door for the traditional photo. The rushed nature is obvious as –

  1. The front door behind them is open as my Dad had just come in to see why were not outside yet
  2. The girls look ill prepared for such a momentous occasion.

As stress levels were peaking about now, my camera decided not to work too. I had to quickly swap over to my phone to take these pictures. This was not the smooth start I had wished for.

I now wrestled seemingly endless luggage out to the cavernous spaces within our mini bus and this made me moist. It’s an odd fetish, but each to their own I say…don’t judge me.

Rebecca said a lengthy and tearful goodbye to Tom, her boyfriend, for which I was very sympathetic and allowed her multiple seconds to undertake. With everything and everyone finally inside the vehicle by 6.10, we finally set off for the airport. We had the “if you have tickets, passports and money, anything else you have forgotten doesn’t matter” conversation, which is sort of true unless you left the gas hob turned on or the bath running.

As we set off I got my camera out and had a fiddle to see why it wasn’t working. With a little coaxing it went off in my hand all of a sudden, which wasn’t a first for me. I suppose expecting it to perform immediately after months of inaction was wrong of me!

This is what the road from our house to the airport looks like, in case you were wondering. The jaunty angle is intentional and artsy don’t you know.

At this point I needed to ask the good folks of Manchester what on earth they were doing on the roads pre 7am when I have a holiday to get started? There was far too much traffic in our way as we navigated the narrow chicanes between the endless cones of the M60.

Having made the mistake of arranging the taxi for 6am, rather than the 5.30 my guts told me would be correct, we were now, with the fifteen minutes of lateness added in, forty-five minutes behind my ideal schedule. This was to be pretty much the case until we landed back in Manchester in just over two weeks from this moment. We made our way to the check in desks (9-23) for Thomas Cook and joined the frustratingly long queue. It didn’t take too long to get to the front and with only minimal tutting and bottom lip protrusion, we were done, and as we seem to have to do every time we make this journey, we had to drag one heavy case over to the special drop off point rather than wave it off onto the convenient conveyor belt behind check in.

Some may tell you that I am careful with money. I rubbish those claims now by telling you that I had personally invested in a security fastpass for all seven of the touring party. How joyous I was to discover that it was an absolute waste of time, as for the one and only time on the entire trip, we encountered no queue at all. As we got to the bit with the trays where you have to take all your clothes off and have an anal probe, a young security chap was in attendance. Rebecca and Sarah were up first and as he told them they would need to remove their jackets he couldn’t suppress a smile and leering look as they thrust their assets unintentionally their way.

As Grandad approached him next to fill his tray, he made a comment to said security guy about his lustful expression and the young chap admitted it was a perk of the job. His expression then changed slightly when Grandad pointed out to him that I was Rebecca’s Dad and she was only just eighteen. Surprisingly I then breezed through all security checks without a pat down or even a second glance.

Unfortunately Grandad was not so lucky having left his iPad in his hand luggage as it went through the X-ray machine. One body search later and we were all ready to go and find some food.

Here are the Rebecca and Sarah post security.

We had a Giraffe for breakfast, which was an interesting offering I thought as usually we have a fry up. As always seems to happen, the greeter at Giraffe was stressed, sharing tales of them being busy and service being a little slow. How could they possibly know in advance that breakfast time on an August morning in a major airport could be a little busy?

Here, I have to warn you, that my usual practice of listing out what everyone had and taking photos of it will be a little hit and miss on this trip. With a party this large, it is often impossible to hear and/or remember what everyone had and by the time I get the camera out those served first are halfway through and almost on dessert. Anyway, I do my best….

Me and Rebecca – Healthy Nut Bowl (this is not some sort of sporting cuppage device). Rebecca also ordered some eggs.

Louise, Grandad and Nana – A fry up of some variety

Emily – Brekkie Burger

Sarah – Sausage, bacon, egg and beans

For reasons that were never made clear, Sarah’s turned up on three separate plates. I get that she asked could she just have Sausage, bacon, egg and beans, rather than the full fry up offered, but the multiple plate thing was strange.

We all had juices, teas and coffees and Rebecca and Sarah had a cider, reflecting the prospect of them not being allowed to drink for the rest of the holiday. The bill was £89.

Once fed we split up into smaller groups to wander the shops. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t shake Louise with her inconvenient knack of buying stuff and Emily came with us too. Louise got some perfume which was in no way overly expensive causing me to sulk at the preposterous idea of spending that amount of money on a small bottle of smelly water. We got some snacks and stuff from WH Smith and then wandered to the gate, meeting the others there.

As usual we sat and watched in awe as folks created a huge queue to board the plane on which they have a reserved seat and waited in comfort.

When the queue was this long….

we joined it. At this point, I have recorded in my notes that I was already exhausted after a busy and stressful morning. I may be getting too old for this.

I challenge anybody to correct me on my assumption that no plane in the history of aviation has ever actually left the tarmac at the time it is supposed to do so. We pulled back from the gate a few minutes late and then taxied for what seemed like a couple of hours before engaging the engines properly and getting on with stuff.

Louise had popped her medication at the gate and now enjoyed, as she always does, the joy of take off by gritting her teeth, squeezing my hand occasionally and screaming out loud at every bump and change in engine noise. A good flyer, she is not. I must say though that this year both outgoing and on the return were two of the calmest flights I have done with her. The fact that we were both in tears for most of the return journey was probably a distraction, but you’ll need to stick around till the end of this whole thing to find out exactly why.

I’ll just point out at this point that the end that I refer to above may be some time away. You may have noticed that we have only just taken off and I have written a small novel. Hunker down…..get comfy…..we’ll be here a while.

So, we looked at this for many hours.

We upgraded the in-flight entertainment systems for £4 each which was worth it. See, smiling faces!

Louise made regular checks on the wings and engines. All seemed well.

Grandad did what he always does.

Still there, still not on fire.

Emily tried her best to catch up on some sleep, but Nana was having none of it.

We bought a few rounds of drinks…yes, bought.

We would have to see a doctor upon landing to see if we could get that phone surgically removed from Rebecca’s hand.

I watched American Sniper and enjoyed it and then enjoyed the bangers and mash. It left me feeling really bloated, but I always do after airline food, I don’t know why.

I was disgusted to see that after many hours of flying we were still just outside of Leeds.

If you follow my blog at all, you may have picked up that the build up to this holiday was long and at times complicated and stressful. It was now, as we sped our way to the magic that I could actually feel the de-stressing process starting to kick in. I was wound tighter than Rolf Harris’ belt buckle in cell block A, and it would be a few days yet before I really did feel the benefit.

I made the schoolboy error of going for a wee at the wrong time and due to the movement of trolleys and trolley pushers found myself stranded at the top of the aisle whilst they made their slow progress up to me. I was missing for about half an hour and Louise was getting quite concerned as I had the money and she wanted another drink!

I filled out the white customs form at this point, as usual cursing the lack of space in economy as I inevitably dropped the pen and had to fish around for it under my legs unable to fully bend without smashing my forehead into the seat in front.

Next, I watched Kingsmen, which passed some time, although I thought it was about twenty minutes too long and I think Emily did actually get some sleep at some point. Yet more drinks were purchased at vast expense without so much as a grumble from me, as my Diet Cokes were currently costing me about £25 a round.

With still many hours ahead of us in the blue yonder I waded into the third film of the flight, Tomorrowland. Again, it was OK, without rocking my world and it saw me through until our descent into Orlando began. It was at this point that the teenage girl sat in front of us said “We’re going down now”. She said it again a few minutes later. In fact over the next ten minutes she said it more than twenty times. I counted!

Resisting the urge to throttle her with my headphone wire, we made our seemingly endless drop into Orlando and hit the tarmac at around 3pm local time. Each year, I tell myself to relax and enjoy the journey and each year I fail. This year’s journey felt particularly full of faff and my aforementioned stress levels probably didn’t help things. I was very glad to be on US soil, but still tense at the thought of all the upcoming faff before we’d be set free onto the roads of America. As it always is on the Manchester side, the airport experience for me seems massively over complicated. Folks are always checking the same documents you had checked five minutes ago by someone else and you get asked the same questions multiple times too. I’m all for thwarting terrorist activity but unless my tracksuit bottoms were made from explosive hemp, I don’t think I look like much of a threat.

At baggage reclaim, we were the cliché that is getting all your cases but one very quickly and then standing tutting as the last one comes off last. Whilst waiting for the last case, which by the way, contained nothing of mine, I glanced at one of the last barriers between us and a car, that being the food/white form checkpoint. No queue existed which pleased me greatly.

Of course as soon as our last case was in our possession it looked like a crowd scene from Les Miserables and I was certainly Miserable about it. I made the queue go more quickly by tutting and huffing expertly and we were finally free, to join another throng of people waiting for the monorail. We inevitably made the “Por Favor Mantengese” joke (and if you don’t know what that is, we can’t be friends) as the doors closed and sped off to the main part of the airport. Once there, signage was bobbins and we wandered around a little until we found that we needed to take an escalator down one level and then a lift down again to the hire car places. At this point my heart rate was at Olympic marathon runner levels with excitement and stress, so imagine my joy as the lift doors kept re-opening every time we pressed the button to close them. It took about three minutes to get going, which I know doesn’t sound a lot, but, just close your eyes and count to 180…and imagine standing in a lift, one tantalising floor from your hire car and the growing queue to pick it up.

The queue I mention was in reality about ten minutes and I know I say this every time, but what are you doing at the hire car counter for longer than five minutes? There were people there with sleeping bags rolled out and lawn chairs as they chatted seemingly without a care in the world to their agent from Alamo. When it was finally my turn I thrust my documents and credit card at the chap, gave him my best “I’ve been up for twenty hours and I don’t want an upgrade” glare and let him push his buttons rather than mine.

He did try to sell me a toll pass thingy, at which I sneered with haughty derision. As I turned from the desk with our car now literally throbbing in anticipation of our arrival just over the road, Sarah, at that moment sat on her case and promptly fell off it with all the style and grace of me ice skating. I left everyone chuckling at that as I tore across the road to the car garage at incredible speed. I flashed my credentials at what I hoped was an Alamo employee and he was suitably impressed enough to point me at a row of cars to choose from. We had discussed spending some time choosing the best one for us, as since booking the car, for a party of six, Emily had joined us and made it seven, so we knew space would be tight on this one trip from the airport. In the end, we went for the nearest one and spent a good few minutes trying to get large objects into tight spaces.

The result was pleasing and left me sweaty and out of breath.

I think the crowded car and long journey had tipped Nana over the edge.

Don’t even ask me how Rebecca managed to swap sides mid-journey! I was busy driving!!

The journey was painless, due to the use of Sat Nav, which we bought back in 2010 and had been one of the best $60 we’d spent on US soil.

We found the villa with little swearing and I hopped out to undo the key box, release the key and let the holiday really begin. Call it stupidity, lack of sleep or, well yes, it was stupidty, but there were two boxes with a combination on the wall outside the villa, one at eye level and one at shin level. For some reason I only saw the latter and spent far too long trying to open it with the wrong code, again getting hot and sweaty. Just as I was about to drive the car through the villa’s front door to gain access, the top box was spotted and opened easily. We were in.

It was lovely. Mark and Tracy had left us a lovely welcome package too. Don’t worry, Mark and Tracy own the villa, they didn’t break in to leave us some treats.

Within minutes bodies were in the pool.

I spent my time unpacking a bit and seemingly putting about seventeen different things on charge.

Next, was the important job of figuring out how the TV worked, which, for the next two and a half weeks, I remained the only person in the villa competent at doing so.

After a little while hunger forced us to get ready for some food and as tradition dictates it would be the Outback Steakhouse up at Formosa. We left the villa at 6.30, tired, excited and hungry…the other dwarves couldn’t make it.

Our server reminded us about everything we love about the US dining experience and we ordered -(bear in mind my early caveat about tracking everyone’s order in a larger group).

We started with cheesy fries and a Bloomin’ Onion of course…with the complimentary bread. This eating is serious business!

Emily’s lack of sleep cannot prevent her smiling as it went down.

Nana, Louise and Rebecca – Chicken Caesar Salad

Me – Australian Cobb Salad

Grandad – Talpai (which was, and probably still is, some form of fish)

Emily and Sarah – Burgers

With wines, beers and other drinks it came to $153 plus tip. Full and flagging we dragged ourselves around the supermarket to grab some essentials which somehow cost us $130. On the way back to the villa I tried to use the force and left the sat nav tucked away. I did OK apart from completely missing the turn into our development a handful of times, so the sat nav came out along with my bottom lip and we finally got back at 9pm. This of course was 2am UK time and about twenty-two hours since we last slept, apart from Grandad, who had about six hours sleep over the Atlantic. He was still asleep first!

Till the next time……

A £125 Pumpkin!

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

This week, dear reader I have failed you. I intended to be posting day one of the trip report about now, but alas it is not finished. That said, it is further along than the one paragraph I reported last week, but real life has been upsetting my rhythm all week and I have struggled to find the motivation and indeed time to get it done. If memory serves, about now we are over the Atlantic somewhere watching Granddad sleep and eating average food. That may not sound like much progress, but there’s a lot of words involved in getting us so far.

Not to make excuses, (but I will), I was away with work for two days and then I have had a double-header of gigs over the weekend. I need to retire really to give me enough time to do the things that work stops me from doing. There are so many hours during the week that are poured into activities I really have little interest in and they could be so much better spent on other things. Sadly, those other things do not earn me the money I need to do those other things. Life is a bitch and a huge Catch 22.

Louise and I have experienced our first week in an empty nest and to be honest we’ve both been so busy that I’m sure the change hasn’t hit us yet.  We have of course noticed small things like less noise, a smaller food shop and slightly less mess but I’m sure in the coming weeks it will hit us more forcibly. Hopefully all this won’t sink in for a while as I may just realise just how much I miss the girls and that probably won’t be a good thing. Emily too is feeling a little homesick over in Florida, despite enjoying herself amongst the parks, so if you do find yourself near the UK pavilion you have my permission to seek her out and give her a hug from us. A jaffa cake or two may also help.

Rebecca and Tom seem to have settled in well to their new home and they also seem incredibly happy, which is all you can hope for really. Tales of Rebecca cleaning a bathroom and tidying up leave us wondering if there has been some sort of body swap but long may that continue. She’ll be starting her new (first full-time) job shortly so she really is a big girl now!!

Last night, on the second night of our two date weekend world tour, we played at a local wedding. As you know, I am not one for the blowing of trumpets that are mine, but we are very good at them! It is always great to see a packed dance floor all night.

bleachworks 3-10-15

If you, or anyone you know is having a wedding, or any sort of party, then do get in touch for special Mkingdon discounts for your dash of Mustard. A live band makes such a difference to any event I think. Having watched many a “DJ” stand and press play on a compilation CD, there’s something a bit exciting about live music. (Advert over).

There are a couple of family members that I don’t often mention, mainly as I don’t like them. They are our two cats Pumpkin and Daisy. Cats, to me, are useless. They offer nothing to the household beyond an inside toilet and scratches on stuff you don’t want scratched. Pumpkin has been a bit unwell for a while and my approach of “she’ll be fine if we leave her long enough” was roundly ignored last week and Louise took her to the vet. One consultation, an injection and blood test later and we are handing over £125. Imagine our delight when the vet told us a few days later that the results of all that showed nothing amiss and her regular throwing up after eating may just be a reaction to her food. She then suggested that we should feed her chicken and fish for a bit to find out. Now, call me a cynic, but surely that advice should come before 125 quids worth of useless stuff? Safe to say my regard for the cats has not improved following this episode. If anyone wants to buy a cat for £125, I have a selection of two you can choose from.

By the way, you have no idea how much self-restraint it took to not have today’s post titled something about expensive pussy!

Earlier this afternoon I finally got around to looking at some of the photos we had taken of us when we were the Grand Marshalls of the afternoon parade in Magic Kingdom. We got a few free at the time but the rest are now online for us to choose from. I’ve ordered just a couple as the prices are typically Disney, but the whole experience was surreal and excellent so we should have some mementos of what will be a one-off experience. Hopefully they will arrive in time to include them in what will be day two of the trip report. Having said that, at my current pace of writing they could arrive at Christmas and still be in time! I won’t steal any more of my own thunder by saying much more about it here other than we felt honoured, delighted and a bit overwhelmed with how we were treated.

I won’t use the word promise, but I will try my very best to have the first day ready for next Sunday, as it will least save me having to come up with a post next week! 🙂

Till the next time…..

Hard Yards and Halloween

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

When it comes to the discipline of writing a weekly blog, then these post holiday times are the hard yards. Times are tough enough, but then Louise makes me do gardening for chunks of the weekend and that is the very definition of insult to injury. It is not a recipe for inspiring the creative juices for the creation of captivating blog content.

The holiday to which I refer feels a long time ago already and a full and busy week at work involving too many motorways and meetings has jolted me back into reality.

The good news is (well, it depends on your view point) is that I have made a start to the trip report. Before you get too carried away, I opened the Word document, typed the title and a paragraph of text before having to get back to real life. If anyone has some spare hours and a muse knocking about, I will accept either or both. The title of it shall be an obvious one, reflecting the changing state of our family situation, The Adults Only Tour 2015. Don’t worry there won’t be too much content with an 18 rating!!

Amongst the grim reality of the daily grind there have been very welcome glimpses of metaphorical sunshine from across the Atlantic. We have shared, mainly via Snapchat, Emily’s week, which didn’t start very well, with her being ill with a nasty cold, but ended with a visit to MNSSHP and then yesterday with her meeting popular vloggers Tim and Jen Tracker in Epcot. She had a lovely chat with them at the Food and Wine Festival which by all accounts has attracted more people to it than the population of a small country. Epcot is busy right now!

MNSSHP was affected by the persistent rain for pretty much all of the night, but Emily reported that the fireworks and parade were both superb

emily mnsshp 2

mnsshp 1

mnsshp 2

emily mnsshp 3

We have Facetimed her a couple of times this weekend, which has been the first time we’ve been able to since we came home as she has been so busy. It’s lovely to speak to her of course and to confirm that she is eating and taking medication for her cold etc etc. Twenty years old or not, she cannot escape the parental instinct, even by being on the other side of the Atlantic.

This week has also seen Louise and I begin life in what I believe is called an empty nest. With Emily already having flown the nest, albeit temporarily, Rebecca and her boyfriend Tom now have their own place together which has been some time in the planning. This week they have pretty much now moved in. It’s a lovely place about ten minutes from us and they are obviously very excited about the whole thing. Rebecca is well into forging her way in the world with her recently acquired job and we’re really proud of her get up and go.

Mustard also resumed gigging last night with a great night at a local pub. It was good to get back to it after a summer break whilst we all holidayed and everyone seemed to have a good time. Louise took a short video, which isn’t the best sound quality, and it is sideways too, but here you go. If you follow this link to the Mustard Facebook page (and hey, why not Like it whilst you are there?) you can see it as the most recent post.

You are not allowed to phone in work tomorrow with a stiff neck as a result of watching that.

So my goals for the week to come are, to do no further gardening at all, to somehow find my mojo and get on with the trip report and to get through the working week quickly and painlessly before a double header of gigs next weekend.

Till the next time…..

 

Back In Body, If Not In Mind.

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Hello again. We’re home and already, sadly, back into the routine of our every day lives. After two and a bit weeks in the technicolour landscapes of Florida, landing back in Manchester on Tuesday was like living through the Wizard of Oz but in reverse, ending up in black and white.

We returned home with one of the party missing of course, and I can confirm that it is entirely possible to be upset for an entire eight-hour flight. We were fine(ish) when we said goodbye to Emily in her apartment, but as soon as the wheels left the tarmac of Orlando airport both Louise and I fell to pieces. We apologise to those around us for the sniffles and wailing as you tried to watch that film.

The holiday itself brought us many more new memories and some definite highlights we’ll remember forever. With the other stuff going on during the holiday, it was a bit of an emotional roller coaster at times, knowing that it would end with Emily staying behind and understanding that, with the girls at the ages they are, it could very likely be the last of its kind.

For anyone who hasn’t seen this via Facebook, this is Emily from her first day on stage. By God, it’s been a long stressful road to get there for her, but we’re so proud of her.

emily crp uk pav day 1

It was reassuring for us to meet most of her flat mates who seem lovely, and to know that she’s made friends with her UK pavilion colleagues. It doesn’t stop us thinking about her all the time whilst she is thousands of miles away of course and hoping she is doing OK. She has been so busy with work since we left that we’ve only managed a few quick Facebook chats. Hopefully we’ll be able to Facetime her on her days off soon…..(take note Emily!).

Work was right where I left it, and within half an hour of resuming my place at my desk it felt like the holiday never happened. Imagine how that post holiday grief was magnified as this weekend I have had to go away with work on our annual conference thingy. As much as I appreciate the investment my company makes in taking us all away for these things, this weekend, of all weekends, I just needed to lock myself in the house and rock myself slowly in a corner. A day of Powerpoint slides with Kris Akabusi (true story) in a Birmingham hotel was not at the top of my “must do” list right now.

I haven’t even thought about writing any of the trip report. Work has been manic and my weekend has been seriously curtailed. The coming weeks look similarly bobbins with trips to head office down south and, more pleasingly, quite a few gigs on the horizon. Right now, I don’t feel exactly driven to write the thing, but I’m putting that down to jet lag, worry about Emily and the shock of not being in Florida any more. I’m sure I will get to it, but don’t hold your breath.

We have also returned home to some good news. Rebecca has her first job. Before we left she interviewed for an apprenticeship in Childcare and she got it! She’ll be starting as soon as her CRB check is done, which is just great news and another source of enormous pride for us. Well done pud.

So allow me this weird, all over the place post today as I acclimatise once again to a non holiday life and I’m sure by the time next week rolls around things may feel more normal.

Till the next time….

Endless Errands and Expense

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

It’s a busy time. These final few days before we jet off are crammed full of lots of stuff. There’s too much work of course, but there also seems to be endless errands and expense connected to our holiday either directly or indirectly. For example, we’ve just doubled the annual sales for cat and dog food, stocking up for those kind souls foolish lovely enough to take our pets on board.

Today is a great example of this. Whilst Louise has been able to get on with the fun stuff, like the ironing of everyone’s clothes I have had to crack on with the less enjoyable preparations. No endless packing for me, no, I had to go to the golf driving range with my Dad to see if I could still swing a club after two years off from playing. I can report that the balls went in generally the right direction and I should be able to avoid major embarrassment on the first tee when we play in the Florida heat.

When I got home I was then allowed to start on the real fun by going to Asda to buy the stuff we forgot in the last big shop just a day ago. A quick walk of Oli, perfectly timed to start just as the heavens opened again and now here I sit all moist typing the last blog post before we go. It seems to have been forever since we booked and of course many eons since we were last there. So at this late stage it doesn’t quite feel real. Whilst watching yet more Florida vlogs this week, I noted that it seems odd to think that we will be there in a few days. These places that are so familiar to us in some ways feels so alien in others and I just hope we remember how to “do” Florida.

My journey to Asda also included a trip to the pharmacy to pick up Louise’s knock out drops for the flight. Such is her fear of flying that only drugs can calm her down sufficiently to board the thing. Seeing the tragic events yesterday at the air show only increases her fear of all things airborne but then again, her fear is an odd one as she will then be found watching all sorts of air crash investigation stuff when she really shouldn’t.

Don’t imagine for a second that I am moaning about all these preparations. I have pined to be at this stage for far too long so to see cases filling up and final preparations in full swing, it is a happy moan, if there is such a thing.

So the packing for Louise and I is pretty much done, no thanks to me, and I’m sure that at some point between now and Wednesday night the girls will find the motivation to do the same. Emily is getting there, but has a bit more to do as her cases have to contain stuff to get her through her entire programme, although of course her return flight may require an upgrade in her luggage allowance to carry all of her purchases, mainly tsums tsums and Disney sweat shirts.

Between now and Thursday should you happen to see me, I’ll be wearing emergency clothes. With everything I actually want to wear packed, I’m in my last resort underwear and that T-Shirt I never wear. The atmosphere in the house is a mix of excitement, stress, hard labour and anticipation, which is all pretty much from me about the thought of writing another trip report. I feel rusty and apprehensive and they are not two new dwarves. I might have to read a few of the oldies to get myself back in the zone.

So I sign off for a few weeks, with a whole new American Adventure ahead of us. I thank you all as ever for your interest in what we get up to and if your trip coincides with ours and you see us wandering about, do come and say hello. I’ll be the fat bloke wearing the attractive bumbag, eating something.

If you want to follow us virtually, then you can find me at the following places.

Twitter

If and when we Persicope, I think it sends a tweet out so if you follow me there then you should get notified, assuming I can figure out how it works.

Facebook

Instagram

Till the next time……

Holiday Hi-Tecs and Holes

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Having spent all of last week’s blog going on about our upcoming holiday, then this week I should be blogging about some other topic to retain the interest of (both) my readers. Yeh, there’s absolutely no chance of that I’m afraid. With our departure impending, having not gone last year I feel massively out of practice now, convinced that I have missed some crucial part of the planning process and the whole thing will be a disaster. So once again this blog will be awash with a smug “almost on our holidays” glow.

I undertook all of my holiday shopping this week. It took about twenty-four minutes in a lunch hour and ten of those were the time it took to drive from the first shop to the second. Two pairs of shorts, a cap for the protecting of my slight bald spot, some under garments (which had been pre-ordered weeks in advance as no-one makes them large enough to accommodate my junk!), socks and of course the customary bright white trainers.

Every time I go to buy my Florida trainers I try on almost every pair in the shop. As much as I am a cool hipster type dude with my finger on the very pulse of fashion, this buying decision is 99% driven by the comfort factor. It’s all very well turning up for one of these holidays in those deck shoes or every so trendy “kicks” but two days into theme park touring and you’re in a wheelchair or hospital using a bed pan due to your inability to put any weight on your feet.

So after the ritual of trying on all of the big brands, without fail I find that the ones which feel the most comfy are these Hi-Tec favourites. They are, I believe, what the “yoots” would call Box Fresh…..

white trainers 15They will not win any fashion awards but they have loads of support and crucially are white enough to make both my daughters cringe with embarrassment whenever I have them on. So with that tradition complete, we must be nearly ready for the off now?

The other shopping trip, which happened yesterday, was to the opticians. It wasn’t because I had blinded a family member with my lovely trainers, but instead to get Emily some new glasses. She’s worn contacts or glasses since she was in her teens, but the chances of her wearing contacts for her long shifts in Florida heat are slim, so she needed a new pair of glasses that she’d be happy to wear more of the time. It was relatively straight forward as she wanted plain black frames so, once she’d chosen we sat with one of the assistants at Vision Express.

In the league table of companies that desperately need to change their name, Vision Express stand second, only lagging behind Carphone Warehouse as companies who now have a name that make no sense in relation to what they do. Emily was told that it could take three and a half weeks for her glasses to be ready. If that’s Express then I’m Usain Bolt over one hundred metres. So if they don’t arrive before we go she’ll make do with her old ones until we get back home and post them over to her.

Yesterday I also dug out all of my holiday clothes. It is at this point that I discover two things –

  1. I own more shorts and T-shirts than I thought I did, so why did I buy more?
  2. Have I lost enough weight to fit into said holiday clothes?

In response to point two, then, not in all cases, but then again I’ve owned some of them since I had hair so I don’t feel too bad about those. Broadly speaking the efforts of the last few weeks mean that the huge amounts of weight I will gain in the US won’t mean I need a whole new wardrobe when I return (hopefully) and I can wear mostly the same summer attire I have for the last decade or so.

So all of my gear now sits ironed in the wardrobe ready to be packed. I am now moving on to other tasks such as digging out my camera (remember those?) to see if it still works and where the hell those rechargeable batteries are.

In other Disney news this week, if you follow any of the folks I do on social media, you cannot fail to have noticed that the D23 convention is in progress. At times, it has been all I have seen, but maybe that’s a reflection of who I follow. This blog has never really been a Disney blog, although it is probably the reason many of you know of me, and it often gets a mention. There are many reasons why the content meanders onto all sorts of day to day stuff too, mainly as there are many other better Disney blogs around, and living too far away from it, I could never produce the quantity and quality of content others do. Plus, when I don’t have a trip booked I have a right sulk on and often don’t want to write about Disney.

Anyway, it seems there are numerous incredible things coming up. I don’t know any of the detail so you’ll be better going to find someone else to tell you those but I have picked up on the new Star Wars Land at DHS which goes someway to explain the many closures and changes there, along with a new Pixar Land at the same park. Then with Avatar Land at DAK, regardless of whether you think it is the right thing to do, what is clear is that there is huge investment going on and it may be simpler just to pay my future salaries directly to Disney as it is clear there will be endless reasons to return in the coming years.

This is no doubt Disney’s response to the huge Harry Potter investment over at Universal and of course they will now feel pressure to respond in kind. This competition is great for us tourists as they battle for our dollars. The sheer volume of attractions and things to do in Florida is and will be incredible. We have been watching recent videos of the parks and there does seem to be a huge amount of work already in progress in many of them. It’s always a concern that this will somehow detract from the enjoyment of a park but it is unavoidable and inevitable as we demand improvements and investment to keep our interest. The only answer is to keep going back of course to see all those bits that were boarded off last time!

So we sit so close now to what has probably been the most complicated and stressful holiday to plan, with changes to the original touring party, Emily’s change of circumstances and her subsequent new start date coinciding with our pre-planned holiday and an endless series of real life dramas and events that have made the last year or two interesting to say the least. At this point, with all the planning done, all we can hope is that it goes well, everyone stays healthy (it would be a nice change) and fun is had by all concerned.

My only other hope now is that the remaining week and a bit at work are bearable. An extra challenge appears to be that the Mancunian Way collapsed on Friday, with a huge sink hole closing it in both directions for weeks to come. That hole is about five minutes from my office and represents pretty much my only sensible route into work. My commute is already hellish so what on earth will happen now I don’t know.  Clearly, I need to leave the country for a while!

See you next week for the final pre-trip blog.

Till the next time….

 

Living in Slow Motion

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Traditionally, in the coming few days, we should by rights be setting off for another American adventure. The fact that we aren’t, yet, means that the next two and a bit weeks loom over us like some ominous time vacuum standing between us all and where we want to be.

Yep, we are now at that stage in the countdown where time slows down. The rational part of me understands that every minute, hour and day is of equal measure, but right now, the remaining time at work seems insurmountable, chocked full of days that will last for weeks.

Planning wise, I have spent a lot of time this week on the My Disney Experience app and website, booking further Fastpasses. What I only realised this week was that you can also add other stuff to your plans beyond Fastpasses and ADRs. I’ve found it quite handy to add in the entertainment schedule around the World Showcase on the day we will do that for example, so that we can try to have our tour around the countries coincide with the goings on in each pavilion.

Sarah, Rebecca’s friend, who is coming with us this year, popped round this week for a preparatory chat. It is fair to say she is just a little bit excited. I think all of us old timers are just a little jealous of what she is about to experience as a first time visitor and we are definitely hoping and planning to make it as special as possible. She likes rides and food and as such, there can surely be no better holiday experience for her.

We talked her through the essentials to take, which in summary was two pairs of comfy trainers, and an appetite, and walked her though the plan. I suppose it is quite an alien concept to have each day of a holiday mapped out in any level of detail, but as I explained to Sarah, it is key to know where we will be most days as then we know where we will be eating, which let’s face it, is the most important part of the planning. As I talked her though each day all she could greet it with was “I’m SO excited!”. Well, so am I.

Another landmark was passed this weekend with the final Mustard gigs before the holiday. We did two weddings this weekend to bring our “summer tour” to an end. Most of my fellow hard rocking amigos from the band are also heading off for holidays from about now and by the time we are all done we will reconvene in September to begin gigging once again.

wedding 8-8-15

Ryan the rucksack, who has recently been drafted into band duty, carrying around my leads and other musical paraphernalia, will now move back to his true calling as we prepare for departure. He is nothing if not versatile. I will need to ransack a few wardrobes now to find out where I safely stored my bumbag two years ago and there’s a US sat nav knocking around somewhere that I’ll need to blow the cobwebs off before we go. I’ve also noticed that Louise’s passport isn’t in “the folder” with everyone else’s, as she needed it for work recently. Louise, if you are reading this, please return it to “the folder” asap.

As I do before every trip with a few weeks to go, I got “the folder” out this week and went through everything to make sure it was in order. By that, I actually mean in order as in, correct but also, in the right order. I appreciate the OCD nature of this but I arrange the relevant documents in the chronological order in which they will be needed. This starts with passports of course, this year it is then security fastpasses, moving on to the car hire voucher, and well, you get the picture. That picture being that I am a sad individual who clearly needs to get out more.

As my social media is awash with folks currently over in Florida, it is whetting the appetite nicely. If you are one of those lucky folks, I only hope you can forgive me for wishing your holidays away. When you realise you are coming home already and it only feels like you’ve been there for five minutes, you can blame me.

So wish me well with the slog through the rest of the countdown. The struggle is real. I only hope the holiday goes as slowly as the next two and bit weeks will.

Till the next time….

It’s August and I’m Annoying.

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Well, hello August!!

For anyone without a current countdown to a WDW holiday we are now entering the zone where these weekly blogs will be unreadable…well, more unreadable than this stuff normally is. Florida is getting so close now, I can almost smell it, and the potential to upset those not due to holiday there with my constant countdown nonsense is immense.

One thing I try to do every trip, but seldom succeed in doing, is to savour these last days of the countdown. It is so easy to simply wish them away, desperate to get to the departure day, but, I honestly never know if and when we’ll have another countdown, so I try to fight my natural instincts and enjoy the fact that we have everything booked and the trip is so close.

This week we went sub 30 days on our countdown and for the first time ever this has meant booking some Fastpasses ahead of time. It went pretty smoothly for the couple of days we’ve done, but for our first day we’ll be there so early that it will hardly matter. We have a lunch time ADR at Crystal Palace and once that food hits our stomachs all we’ll want to do it head back to the villa and vegetate.

One the subject of these Fastpass plus things…I would welcome comments and advice from anyone who has used Magic bands and stayed off site. Our plan is for me and Emily to nip to Downtown Disney on our first evening and at Guest Services convert Emily’s Magic Your Way voucher into a ticket (she has a 4 day ticket to use before she checks in and gets her Cast Member one) and buy Magic Bands for all of us. Looking at the MDE app/web site it appears you can link Magic Bands to your tickets via that. Has anyone done this? Is it easy? This would certainly be easier for us than getting everyone to go to Downtown Disney in person when they will be tired and trying to unpack etc. We’d also rather get it done before we head to Magic Kingdom on our first morning as any delay at a ticket window and/or Guest Services will have me in fits of rage at the thought of all those people getting on rides whilst we faff about.

I also ordered and received some dollars. I say some, as they will no doubt not be enough. I have paid absolutely no attention to the dollar rate since booking. Until I physically have the cash ready to change there seems little point in stressing about it. On Friday when the time came I did about four minutes research into recent trends to quickly discover that all and any recent variances would mean about a $20 difference in total, so rather than sit watching the rate for the next twenty odd days, I just ordered.

As we speak, Louise is out “holiday shopping”. This may be a wasted task as she tells me that she is so terrified of the flight this year that she may well not get on the flight. To be fair, this is an annual event, but every year she tells me she feels worse about it. I’m sure with the correct prescribed medication and the usual red wine or two she’ll get through it. My hand usually comes off worst with nail marks there for weeks after as she grips it for dear life upon take off. The reward at the end the flight has always been enough for her to tough it out and so I expect this year to be the same.

So after this post today, there are just three more blog posts (Sundays) until we go. I shall shortly be procuring the customary new bright white trainers that are as much a part of a WDW holiday as Mickey Mouse and Ryan the Rucksack, and I am in the middle of my annual struggle to lose enough weight to allow me to eat like a lunatic in Florida and not have to buy a whole new wardrobe upon my return. Progress has been made, but not enough and the struggle continues.

As a distraction to the now almost endless obsession with the never-ending slow creep towards our holiday, (what did I say about trying to enjoy the countdown?) I am quite busy over the next couple of weeks with some gigging. Last night we played a lovely wedding in Cheshire and we have two more next weekend too. Last night was good fun, at a lovely venue, Hollin Hall In Bollington, with an appreciative crowd who never left the dance floor.

Here’s a lovely shot of the back of my head. I can’t believe nobody told me I had a bald spot!

hollin hall 1-8-15So I’ll see you here again next week for more stunning gig photography like that and more tiresome countdowning to our holiday. What more could you ask for?

Till the next time….

 

Pumped Full of Pumpernick’s.

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

We have two birthdays in the house today. Incredibly Emily is twenty years old. How this can be when I am still the same youthful, svelte specimen I always have been I do not know. For reasons unknown, Emily isn’t too keen on leaving her teens and has spent much of the last few weeks sulking about becoming old. This sulk has meant that she wanted minimal fuss today so there is to be no large family gathering. Presents were still gratefully received of course but she has gone out with her best friend for some food and a film.

Oli wasn’t invited even though it is his birthday too. He is four today, but if you use the standard calculation for dog years that means he is twenty-eight. So it could be worse for Emily if she were aging at the same rate that Oli is.

He seems less troubled by the aging process.

Emily’s birthday is traditionally one of the last landmarks on our countdowns to a holiday. Having ticked off Rebecca’s in May, followed by other non family landmarks such as Glastonbury, Wimbledon and the Open Golf, there is no denying we are getting close now.

When you’ve been blogging as long as I have now, I have no doubt that there has been a lot of repetition since my first post back in November 2009. At several points between then and now I have no doubt talked about the underlying reasons for my Disney/Florida obsession. I’m not going to go there in detail again, but this week my Mum and Dad found an important relic from our Florida history that goes someway to remind me at least how I fell in love with the place all those years ago.

Back in 1980, (and here I might go into the detail I said I wouldn’t) instead of going to Spain for our usual holiday, a ten-year old me was very excited to find that we actually booked to go to Miami, mainly due to the incredible cheapness brought on by a dollar rate well over $2 to the pound.

Whilst searching for other stuff in their house this week, my Mum and Dad found and brought round a menu from a restaurant in Miami called Pumpernick’s. We went several times during our first holiday and it has a lot to answer for. It exposed me for the first time to the wonderment of eating in the US, with strange foreign concepts such as good service, huge bowls of warm bread and coleslaw on the table when you arrived and desserts you would kill for. We were so gobsmacked by the whole thing that we asked if we could take a menu home with us, as nobody back home would believe us if we told them. Remember that back home was a 1980’s Bolton yet to become all exotic like it is now.

The menu is huge in every sense, and even now it makes me hungry whenever I look at it.

It had all those things you heard about in US programmes of the time, which were of course the likes of MASH, The Bionic Man and The Streets of San Francisco! Pastrami was a mysterious thing only leading men had on rye…whatever that was.

It’s funny seeing it again after all these years. The fascination it began for me has cost me endless pounds both in terms of money and weight. A bit of googling has revealed that it has long since closed, which is no surprise, but I also found out that it had already been there for years by the time we found it. Here it is in the 1950’s.

pumpermicks

 

It is now a Walgreens.

pumperniks2

 

pumperniks3

It’s hard to explain now how this blast of Americana had such an effect on a ten-year old boy from Lancashire, but clearly I am far from recovered from it. The entire first trip obviously had many more aspects which have forever stuck with me, even though we only spent two days in Orlando at the then only theme park.

Look at me, all oblivious to the endless obsession that lies ahead.

So what got you hooked? Tell me your Disney obsession stories in the comments below!

Till the next time…..

 

 

A Ticket To The Magic

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

The post doesn’t often deliver things to brighten my life. Bills, junk and more bills are the daily routine for those still intent on killing trees to tell me stuff, but this week, a rare delivery of joy tumbled through our front door. Well, actually it tumbled out of our post lady’s hand into mine as I signed for it.

ticketsUpon opening said package, our upcoming holiday raced a little closer towards us as our theme park tickets tumbled out. It is always a significant milestone in any WDW countdown as I’m sure most of you can appreciate. Once the weekend came and I had a little time, I undertook the task of linking each Disney ticket to our Disney app thingy.

For five out of the six it worked like a dream, seamlessly linking each scanned ticket to the person for which it was intended. As a side note, I decided who got what ticket, as I wanted to avoid the ugly scenes of Nana and Grandad wrestling each other to the ground for the Mickey ticket last time! The final ticket decided it didn’t want to play ball and wouldn’t link. However, when I then tried to link it again, the app told me that ticket had already been linked. Evaluating the two options of cancelling the whole trip and going to Butlins instead or seeking technical assistance from Disney, I opted for the latter.

I called the number suggested to me by the app, disregarding the enormous expense of a call to the US, as I am just crazy like that. I was connected quickly after a few IVR choices and was soon embraced in the warm, welcoming Disney tones of some chap on the help line. The US accent alone evokes every positive memory of every previous trip and I could almost feel the Florida sunshine coming down the phone line. The service was of course outstanding, with courtesy, apologies for the inconvenience and a promise to have things resolved promptly. He apologised again for having to put me on hold for a moment to check things out, but he needn’t have, as when the first few bars of the hold music kicked in I filled up and had to compose myself quickly as he returned to line.

A quick refresh of the app confirmed that the issue was resolved and every traveler was now linked. Not content with sorting out my problem, he enquired, with seemingly genuine interest, when our trip was, where we were staying and how long we would be staying with them. If I could have hugged him I would. One step from me suggesting we get married, he thanked me for my call and instructed me to have a magical day. Upon ending the call I sat collecting myself for a few moments before carrying on with every day life. The latter, being at times consistently challenging, with this week being no exception, this is an insight into how the Disney magic really operates. Whenever you engage with the Disney brand, be it on the phone, in a store or actually in the parks, it is that temporary escape from what can be quite sucky reality and long may it continue.

You will notice from the picture above that our Universal tickets also arrived. As much as I love those parks and the on site experience, for me personally, they just haven’t yet delivered that immersive experience of that elusive magic that will always see us visit Disney, with Universal being a casual and occasional addition.

Aside from tales of grown men over reacting to a simple call to Disney, I again find myself exhausted on a Sunday after two gigs on successive nights this weekend. Whilst I have no interest or much respect for their musical output, I tip my hat to the Rolling Stones, who tour in their 70’s. Two gigs in a weekend and I am ready for the scrap heap. Mind you, they don’t have to work all week and then transport, carry, set up and then take down their own gear, so I suspect they wouldn’t  be in great shape either after carting our gear up and then down two flights of stairs last night.

Both nights were good and I am now becoming much more comfortable with the whole thing, feeling like I know all the songs well enough to relax a little. We have a weekend off next week, but then three weddings on the bounce over the next couple of weekends. After that, we have a fairly lengthy break as there are lots of holidays within the band, including of course mine.

I must go now to stare at my theme park tickets a little more.

Till the next time…..

 

Tim Tracker & Peter Pan

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

The tone of these posts usually reflects the traditional sick at the pit of my stomach feeling that Sundays bring. I’ve long since forgotten why I dread Mondays so much, but I do, so when, like today I have to write a post without the dark cloud of work on the horizon tomorrow then surely the post shall be filled with rainbows and sunshine? I make no promises.

When my Sunday has been filled with the Trafford Centre then there is a fair chance that my aching feet and broken wallet may darken my mood. To be honest though it wasn’t that bad and spending the afternoon with Louise, on our own, was a nice change, made all the more palatable by the fact that nothing was purchased. This, I fear, is merely delaying the inevitable as she needs an outfit for her graduation ceremony on Tuesday. This brings me nicely to the reason that I have no work tomorrow. Having the day off on Tuesday to attend Louise’s graduation made me see the benefit in adding the preceding Monday to that and having a long weekend. Sat here now staring at that Monday it may well be one of the better decisions in my life time.

Tomorrow can be a seldom had, “me day” where I do all the things I wish I was doing when I’m sat at my desk doing things I wish I wasn’t. A lie in, hopefully, some XBox, a little plinking and a plunking on my bass and whatever else takes my fancy. If Emily is home, we may catch a couple of videos from some vloggers we have been watching for a while. Emily discovered them (of course). Usually my tolerance for vloggers is minimal and the same for podcasts too if I’m honest, but this one is well done and has some good content. It’s been a lovely way to spend time in and around the parks without being there.

The vlogger in question is The Tim Tracker. He’s been at it for a good while so if you do find them enjoyable you will have a lot of content to go at. If you aren’t good with facial hair then it may not be for you, but otherwise it’s worth a watch.

The other thing along similar lines that I have noticed taking off in a big way recently is Periscope. That’s mainly down to me downloading the app and following a few folks, so my phone buzzes regularly to tell me someone is “live”. If you aren’t familiar with the concept it is basically a live video streaming app, where viewers can comment and show their love for the stuff they are watching. The ones from the Disney folk are good of course, as they are typically in a park, live, and who doesn’t want to see that? I am toying with the idea of doing some Periscopes (I think you call them that) when we are over there. Let me know if you think you’d be interested in joining our holiday for a few moments, assuming I can find something interesting to “broadcast”. If there’s enough interest, we’ll give it a go. The problem is that the only time I’ll have time and remember to do it is when I’m sat around waiting for females to be ready, so you may just get shots of me being grumpy around the villa. What’s not to like?

The week ahead, as I say starts with two days off for me and then Wednesday sees me down south on business. You can’t beat eight hours in the car for a ninety minute meeting! Then on Friday, Mustard are back on the road, albeit a short one to a pub about five minutes from our house, with our next gig. I’d invite you all, but there wouldn’t be room!

Having been clothes shopping with Louise and then walked Oli, I am now typing this thing as the tea which I am making comes to fruition in the oven. It is steak tonight, cooked just how I like it…which is pretty much however it turns out by the time I finish typing this. Emily could be helping but she is busy watching Peter Pan for the gabillionth time. I don’t mean the Disney animated version, although she does like that one. The version in question is a live action one that she has been totally obsessed with since it came out in her formative years way back in 2003. I suspect Peter (Jeremy Sumpter) may have been her first crush…

These days he’s twenty-three stone and bald.

Till the next time…..

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Mustard.

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Holy hell, I have spent some money today. My aversion to doing so is well documented in the many years of writing this blog, but if you’ve been around for a while, you’ll know there are some chunks of change that I spend with a smile on my face. Today has been such an occasion.

After booking way back last October, we now have just eight weeks to go until our trip. It has certainly snuck up on us and as they say shit just got real. The first expense today was to pay the balance on the villa. If you’ve forgotten, never knew or don’t care either way, the villa we will be staying in is the Disney Palms Villa.

With that all paid for now, at least we’ll have somewhere to sleep!!

Bearing in mind the 30 day window for the booking of these new fandangled FastPass+ things, I also had to sort out our park tickets so that they arrive at least 30 days before we go. I always sort of dread and relish this in equal measure, as it involves a lot of hard work, but it also means the trip is close.  The task of working out the best value options for your park ticket needs can be a complex exercise, but I have to give a big thank you at this point to someone who has done a huge amount of work to make this task so much easier. Slinky Malinki, a user on the Dibb forum has put together a comparison spreadsheet which does all the work for you.  Using that, I have got 21 day ultimate tickets for Disney and 14 day 2 park tickets for Universal for what appear to be the best prices currently available. When your party is six adults, that’s a hefty transaction.

(Disclaimer – If you use it and something isn’t right then don’t moan to me!)  

Never have I spent so much cash with a smile on my face. This week I also went to the huge expense of getting us a FastPass, this one being for security at Manchester Airport. Whether or not it helps that much I don’t know but at £3.50 each it’s worth the risk I guess.

Earlier in the week saw both the girls return home. Louise and I had the house to ourselves unusually last week and it was strangely peaceful and drama free. Still, it was good to have them both back, Rebecca from her Barcelona trip and Emily from a few days dog sitting for a relative of her boyfriend.

Rebecca loved Barcelona and they had a great time. Most of the photos we saw were similar to this. I don’t know where she gets this from?

barcelona pic 1

With the occasional….

barcelona pic 2

 

Personally, I am on the other side of another 2am finish last night after the mighty Mustard gigged once again. Of all the gigs I’ve done, I have to say that playing at a stadium is my favourite kind!  I took this as we were setting up.

macron pci 1 4-7-15

We were playing at a gala dinner for a local running club who were celebrating their 30th anniversary. The venue, audience and atmosphere were excellent and I made my fewest amount of mistakes to date, so all was good. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the packed dance floor throughout was testament to that. We had a good few photos taken which will be up on the Mustard website at some point in the future, if you wish to see middle aged rock gods at work.

So I end the week with a full house, an empty back account and a lack of sleep but I don’t really mind any of them.

Till the next time….

If Only Kanye Had Been This Brief

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

I’m going to be brief. Mainly as I don’t have a great deal springing to mind to share with you, but sometimes, come this time on a Sunday I am not engulfed with the desire to blog. However, such is the drive of my minor OCD about completing things, not blogging on a Sunday may tip me over the edge of the compulsive cliff.

Not a great deal has happened this week, apart from working and enduring a little more trolling from the parts of the internet where idiots live. There has been no holiday planning progression, mainly as it has been planned to death already. I have been researching some golf courses but nothing has been booked as yet. I have to save some planning for closer to the time or I may have to do some work instead.

Oh, I tell a lie. We did sort out our transport to and from Manchester airport. I researched airport parking and my Dad looked into mini bus options. He popped in mid-week to let me know he’d found a reliable chap at a price the airport parking couldn’t compete with so we shall be driven there and back without the need to negotiate the M60 after twenty minutes sleep on our return home.

Right now, Rebecca is trying to fit the proverbial quart into the pint pot for her trip to Barcelona tomorrow. You may remember that was her surprise present for her birthday back in May. I don’t know why she is taking a quart with her, or indeed why she is carrying it in a pint, but Easyjet’s luggage rules have always confused me. She may only be going for four days but still it seems that half of our house is currently in her room vying for space in her postage stamp carry on.

The flight is very early tomorrow, so early I am just glad that I am not on drop off duty. Monday’s are bad enough without adding a 3am start on the front of one. Tom (her boyfriend) has talked his Mum into doing the honours. Both of the girls are of course seasoned flyers and travelers but it won’t stop me giving her a four-hour lecture on safety abroad before she goes. I know she is looking forward to it.

As I write this, I have the travesty which was Kanye West’s “performance” from last night on the iPlayer. I was certain I wouldn’t like it, but felt that I had to witness first hand the outrage that played out on my social media last night. By the Lord of autotune what a jumped up load of over hyped emperor’s new clothes this excuse for an artist is. Suddenly his marriage to the other vacuum of talent makes a whole load of sense. As much as he really is an arse for forcing this crass, talentless talking over music onto us, the bigger idiots are the ones buying it and making him the multi-gazillionaire he is.

I’ve added him to my list of rant inducing musical acts. It’s a long one, but includes the likes of Example, Coldplay, U2 and Diana Ross, the latter being solely for inflicting Chain Reaction on to the world. Her and Lulu’s “Weeeeeeeeeelllllll” at the start of Shout besmirch every wedding and family party in the western world and both make me want to take a steaming dump on the DJ’s equipment, and that’s not a euphemism.

I’ll confess that Mustard (the top North West covers band, perfect for your function, reasonable rates assured, that I play bass in) do perform a Coldplay track. I get through it for the greater good and I maintain that playing it is different to listening to it voluntarily anyway.

So much for being brief. I have to go now and set fire to the BBC iPlayer.

Till the next time…..

Plan vs Food

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

Welcome to the new look Mkingdon blog. That’s if you’ve noticed that we’ve had a bit of a redesign. It’s been a long time since a change was made so I hope you like it.

I’m blogging a little early today as Louise is working. This is her first weekend at work since qualifying and so it makes sense to get it done whist she is out at work. It is also of course Father’s Day and I sit here in the after glow of a breakfast of enormous proportions. Now that the girls are old enough to operate cookers and stuff I get more than I used to in the heady days of cereal and toast.

Pardon my knees
Pardon my legs

I have a fine collection of presents which also include ludicrous calorie numbers, a T-shirt and an Xbox game.

My breakfast today represents the struggles of the week just gone too. In time that absolutely should not have been spent working, I have been wrestling with our WDW plan this week. Trying to predict Emily’s movements and meetings as she starts work is just one challenge I am trying to rise to, but the main one has been not having enough days. This has surprised me, as we are going for our longest trip ever at 18 nights. With that in mind I had thought we’d have endless rest days and time for the smelling of roses and all that jazz. To be honest, theme park wise, we’re doing OK. Even with Disney and Universal to fit in, we have the odd day without firm plans. The real tricky bit has been the eating plan.

Having been to WDW a lot, we have built up a back catalogue of favourite eateries that we have to do each time. We also like to fit in a new one or two as well, so this week I came to the conclusion that I simply don’t have enough days to eat all the stuff we want to. By around Thursday I had somehow slotted in all of the following –

Outback
Crystal Palace
Be Our Guest
Applebees
Rose and Crown
Market Street Cafe (Celebration)
Romanos Macaroni Grill
Hard Rock Cafe
Cowfish
Beaches and Cream
Miller’s Ale House
Whispering Canyon
Bahama Breeze
Olive Garden
Teak Neighborhood Grill

I still had a couple of places, such as the Cheesecake Factory that I couldn’t find a slot for unless we were to eat four meals a day. Then, yesterday, whilst chatting through the plan with Emily she was a very bad influence and threw up a couple of dining “must dos” that I had totally forgotten about. Whilst looking for availability on the Disney app for a reservation at O’hana (that we never did get), we were reminded that Sanaa had been a new one that we had wanted to try for a while and so with a bit of juggling we slotted that one in too, quite early in the trip.

Whilst searching for that reservation for Sanaa we also saw Trail’s End mentioned and remembering our previous visit there that quickly got added to the must do list. Don’t ask me how, but that’s now booked too!

I am pleased with all our plans but I have to say that I’m also a little worried about the amount we’re going to be eating. I’m sure we’ll manage. I’m not suggesting that we are food obsessed or that our touring plans start with where we will be eating, but Emily already knows what she is ordering at certain places. For example, at The Market Street Cafe she will be having –

Cheese Fries
With Monterey jack and cheddar cheeses, topped with bacon and served with ranch dressing. 6.95

Banana Cream Pie 5.50

Milkshakes
Cookies & creams 4.50  add malt .50 

At Sanaa, I think it is fair to say that most of us will be going for this as an appetiser –

Indian-style Bread Service

Choice of Three Breads – Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, or Paneer Paratha. Choice of Three Accompaniments – Red Chile Sambal, Cucumber Raita, Coriander Chutney, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Garlic Pickle, Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle, Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus, or Tamarind Chutney.

It goes without saying that when we go to Teak I will be having the Doughnut Burger. That has to happen. On a similar note, when we visit Cowfish at City Walk, there is only choice for me and that is the  –

The Cowfish Has Offically Left The Building (A.K.A. The Hunka, Hunka)

Full-pound beef burger, creamy peanut butter, fried bananas, applewood bacon, brioche bun. Choice of side.

It’s ridiculous. I am still stuffed after my breakfast and now I am drooling over my keyboard! I’m putting weight on just writing about this stuff. I shall have to walk Oli for an extra few minutes. That will burn a few thousand calories, right?

I hope your Father’s Day is a good one should it be relevant to you and I shall go now to see mine. The effort of walking all the way next door may well burn a few hundred more calories!

Till the next time…..

A Gig With Midges….Ure.

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

I sit here with another gig under my belt. This might explain the unsightly bulge, but with each one, I feel I’m getting somewhere closer to the standard required. We played a charity gig last night, and despite it being a little chaotic in the early parts, once we got set up and playing it was good fun. It’s always nice to get a good reaction and we did. The fact that most of the audience had been drinking all day had nothing to do with it I’m sure.

charity gig grapes 13-6-15By the time we got on it was bloody cold and we made a lovely meal for the entire midge population of Bolton too. It was good fun though and I was home at a much more reasonable half twelve as well.

The only other bit of news this week is one that we’ve been sitting on for a while. You may remember my hysterical over emotional rant back in April when Emily came home from the Cultural Representative Programme? It seems half the internet got involved and some of the nastiness and abuse I got, both publicly and privately was truly a bit scary. I didn’t share any of that on here as I didn’t want to fan the flames, but trust me, it was vitriolic and worrying. This meant that when I posted an update to that rant a few days later I was suitably vague about how Disney had redeemed themselves.

This was mainly because I felt that had I shared what had happened, certain parts of the internet may have exploded in disbelief and outrage and with our emotions still all over the place it was the last thing anyone needed, especially Emily.

With considerable water under the bridge now and my blog visitor levels back to the usual readers (mainly) hopefully I can share the news with you without having to check under my car each morning before turning it on. Crucially, this week Emily decided to blog about this so I feel it’s OK now for me to mention it here. It would always be her call.

So when I said that Disney had been in touch, they had. The Head of Recruitment called Emily about three days after she got home and said that they had found her a role in Merchandise (where the offending tattoo can be covered) and gave her a range of dates to consider. Surprisingly, they even offered to fund her flight back to the States. So after a lot of thought she chose to start this August and finish next June. We are hopeful that she can fly out with us when leave for our holiday. We’re just waiting for confirmation from Disney that this will be OK and that they have booked it for her.

I really, really, don’t want to open up any more debate about the rights and wrongs of what happened. I’ll say now that I won’t publish any comments (nasty or nice) about the rights and wrongs if they go any further than wishing Emily well.  It is likely those so intent on abuse last time will come across this update and want to continue to call me anything from a liar to much, much worse. My blog, my rules. Only Emily and to some extent us know everything about what happened and nobody was without blame. Hopefully, this news can just be taken for what it is, which in my view is just a good end to a not very good situation.

I have another request. If you are connected to Emily and want to send her a message, please avoid doing so publicly on her Facebook. Her current managers, who were kind enough to immediately take her back on when she returned would see that.

So for those who have asked recently if Emily was coming on holiday with us etc, this is why I have avoided answering you. Sorry!

Obviously we are very pleased that Emily has a second chance at this experience and I thank those at Disney who were gracious enough to make it happen. We are also very proud of Emily who handled the issue better than I did at the time and has had the courage to go back and try this again despite the experience she had last time.

It certainly feels good to have shared that at last!

Till the next time….

Esta-hausted

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

I’m tired today. You may think this is because, like the Rock n Roll God I am, I was out gigging last night and didn’t get home till 2am. That may have contributed a little, but the fatigue has mainly been brought on by completing our ESTA forms this afternoon. Bloody hell they go on a bit don’t they?

I’m sure they weren’t always so detailed. In the past, a passport number, date of birth and your name and you were in. I’ve just had to give them stuff like my employer’s name and doctor’s sexual preference!!

I’ve only done four of us and I’ve had to have a little lie down to recover. Having to pay $14 a shot adds insult to injury. How dare they ask for about £9! I almost cancelled the whole trip due to that extra expense. With Rebecca now being over 18 I’ve also had to source her some travel insurance as she is no longer covered on the policy we get with my bank account. I sorted out Sarah (her friend) too so I’ve had a busy admin afternoon.

Going back to my 2am arrival home. I haven’t been out that late since I got up around that time to get to an early work appointment down south. We played at a wedding last night and it was good fun. Ignoring my usual smattering of bum notes, it all went pretty well. We got ourselves set up and then passed the time wisely until we were to perform.

wedding 6-7-15

craig 6-6-15

 

wedding 6-6-16(2)

 

I just need a week off work now to recover from that late night! You can see some more photos (if you like) on our Facebook page.

All I’ve managed today is a dog walk, some ill-advised DIY and what will be a very short blog post. Ozzy Osbourne I ain’t.

One piece of very welcome news this week was the incredibly generous offer from our friends Steve and Di, to take Oli in whilst we go on holiday. Aside from saving us enough money to have another holiday, it is just a huge weight off our minds to know that he will be looked after and non stressed whilst we are away. He doesn’t get on with kennels very well and so we were looking for a dog sitter to take him into their home and this is the very best outcome we and he could have hoped for. He is to enjoy his own little holiday in idyllic North Yorkshire. I just hope they are ready to wake up with an Old English Sheepdog between them most mornings. Sorry in advance for that!

With that, my last remaining shreds of energy have left me and I need to go and be weak somewhere that doesn’t involve a keyboard. We’re gigging again next Saturday, this time at an open air charity gig. I could make it sound very spectacular by saying that we are headlining, but then you’d find out it was just at a local pub and it would be less impressive. Still, we’re worth a watch so if you’re local, come along and we shall entertain you.

Till the next time…..