My recent tour of the UK continued last week with a couple of days in Marlow doing things considerably less fun than playing bass to people. Work required my presence and so 450 miles of driving, a night in a Travelodge and two days of meetings made up most of my week, as I was off on Monday.
I think/hope that might be it for travels until after my next proper travels to Mexico but with a couple of weeks still to go, who knows. Work is a bit like that at the moment.
My night away did afford me an expenses paid meal at a place called the Giggling Squid in Marlow which was very nice, even if the main course I chose snuck up on me with its spice. A wander down by the Thames on a summer evening did beat more recent trips of staring at a concrete tower block in London with a Tesco meal deal, but I’d still rather be at home.
My pre-holiday prep is complete with two deliveries this week. Louise has “toiletries” to procure, mainly sun cream, but it’s almost time to get the cases out. I am unusually anxious about the trip as I lack my normal levels of certainty of what is to come. Louise’s uncertainty was I suspect none existent until Friday’s Air India crash and now all of her long held fears around flying are re-surfacing.
Any last minute buying will need to be done outside of the next two weekends as she has somehow been rota-ed to work both of them. I’m at the stage now where I am scouring my work diary and counting how many really crappy things I have to endure before we go. Anyone else do that?
Aside from the mundane details of how I’ve passed the last seven days, today is Father’s Day which has been weird for me for the last couple of years of course. I think about my Dad a lot, but I suppose today is the a day when that is bound to happen more than it might normally.
I still don’t think I have fully accepted that I’ll never see him again. It’s very weird and for reasons I don’t understand I regularly play back those last few hours we spent with him in the hospital before he died. I somehow feel like I did it wrong or could have spent those more wisely even though he didn’t really know we were there.
Anyway, I love you Dad, and I miss you every day. It’s a cliché but if you’ve still got one, try to appreciate them as when they’ve gone and you think you can’t even remember their voice, you start to panic a bit and feel like you’re letting them down. Enjoy your Father’s Day and here’s mine as he would probably like to be remembered.
Usually, about now, in the standard cycle of our endless Disney trips, I would be elbow deep in all kinds of planning activities. Assuming a summer trip, once we start to see daffodils and daylight beyond tea time it normally feels like a proper sea change in daily life, everything looks literally and figuratively brighter and I undergo self imposed and unnecessary stress about where we might eat in a few months.
Do I miss it, with our plans not involving the US this year? A bit, yes. One of the big benefits of a holiday that takes more than the action of booking it is the continuing dopamine hit of doing the bits of planning that are the milestones in the countdown.
With us heading for Mexico and an all inclusive experience I have nothing to do other than ensure I have the appropriate attire for our activities that might even fit me. On Friday, not being allowed to work, I found myself in the unusual setting of a retail location and did cast my eye over some suitable long trousers for the posher restaurants at the resort which insist on such. After about twenty minutes of pushing things around racks I left with a pack of socks and nothing related to the holiday.
There’s plenty of time yet and I as ever I hold onto the hope that I will lose fourteen stone “in a daaaaay” before July and any wardrobe additions now would be wasted. Socks however, will fit me whatever shape my body is in.
Conversely, not having to keep up to date on all the happenings at our destination to understand what attractions might be closed and what format and price this week’s FastPass system may take is liberating. I’m not saying we’ll make a habit of it but this relaxed approach to going away to relax is definitely a change and in some ways welcome, especially with work being stupidly mad at the moment.
I am even thankful that our chosen resort does not operate a reservation system for their restaurants. I am an animal of extremes! The absolute extent of my pre-holiday activity has been watching the resort post on Instagram.
I really don’t want to wait four years before returning to the US so let’s hope something happens over there to return things to something approaching normality. It may just be my soft lefty liberal echo chamber on social media but I am seeing lots of articles detailing large downturns in tourism to the US. It’s a real shame that ordinary folks in the relevant industries will be affected, unless of course they voted for him, then not so much. Maybe the downturn in numbers will see some keener prices for flights and more offers from Disney and the like, but I suspect any downturn from the UK market won’t be significant enough to make that much of a difference.
So as we enter the season of bank holidays, allegedly higher temperatures (although nobody seems to have told the weather up North), power washing your flagging and unavoidably visiting DIY shops and garden centres I find myself with nothing holiday related to do. It’s different, but I’m not too sure whether that is good or bad different. I am absolutely looking forward to our change of pace and plans, mostly because I am just sick to death of being cold!
I’ll just have to spend the next few months browsing lightweight chinos online I suppose and call that holiday planning.
Another week whizzes by. Work for me was full-on in terms of hours spent, complex stuff to deal with, and having to spend an unwelcome amount of time physically in the office. Insult to injury, indeed. I’ve said it endless times before, but I will say it again: How I did that commute five days a week for decades is beyond me.
There was also a team-building night at Junk Yard Golf in Manchester, followed by a curry. Whilst always grateful to the company for spending money on stuff like that and actually enjoying it to some extent once I’m there, they are not essential for me to want to work somewhere.
Still, I came joint first at the golf and enjoyed the food, so I should probably stop moaning about it and show some gratitude.
Louise has had less fun this week. Having worked last weekend and a good number of days on the trot, she had all this week off and had lots of plans.
Instead, she’s been pretty ill, and we ended up in A&E on Friday evening after her GP sent her there to hopefully get sorted.
Fearing a couple of days in the waiting room, we did OK. She was triaged within an hour and then was given an appointment with a doctor a couple of hours later, so we were able to go home, get some food, and go back at the required time. Another hour or so and we’d seen the doctor and were on the way home with Louise reassured it was probably nothing too serious.
She did have to go back on Saturday to pick up the prescribed painkillers and other drugs as the pharmacy didn’t have them in stock, and they gave her an IOU. Ironicall,y that took longer than the previous evening as she was given duff info about the opening times and spent several hours wandering the hospital, filling out forms, and generally waiting around just to get her hands on the all-important meds.
Hopefully, with those secured, her recovery will be swift. She certainly feels better today than yesterday.
Emily has been away from home doing some house and dog sitting for a friend who has gone on holiday to Italy. This is Pablo.
If this kind of work funded trips to Disney, I think she would happily do it full-time.
I’m still a little concerned for her August Florida trip as the US continues its rapid descent into anarchy and chaos. I know I have, without doubt, over-thought and over-egged potential issues for tourists to the Sunshine State, but it’s clear I’m not the only one, as stats are starting to emerge from the US of sharp declines in tourism this year. Hopefully, that just results in smaller queues and the same trouble-free experience as we are all used to.
It doesn’t feel like this level and rate of chaos can be sustained for four years but what do I know. Often, very little indeed.
There’s some cosmic irony to us all losing an hour’s sleep on Mother’s Day. As if it commemorates the plight of most mothers to never properly sleep ever again. Here’s wishing all mums a lovely day and we’ll be taking mine out for tea later as tradition dictates.
Don’t worry, I can’t do another post this week about the relatively simple decision and task of changing our holiday plans. All we have left to do now is wait, anticipate and turn up at the airport which is a pretty different experience to your typical Florida trip as we all know. Oh wait, there is an app I may need to download at some point that gives me vital information about the resort so I need to make plans to reserve several minutes to do that.
I am still getting drip-fed small crumbs of planning activity for Emily’s trip, though. They are doing the full Disney and Universal experience, so there’s a lot to think about. With a couple of first-timers tagging along, Emily feels the familiar pressure of being the planner, organiser, and expert for everyone.
We were never planning to do any parks had we stuck with Florida, so I had taken my eye off any park-related news since our last trip. It seems there will be a lot of stuff closed when she goes, which is less than ideal. Stuff like Big Thunder is down for lengthy refurb, It’s Tough To Be A Bug is no more, Buzz I think is going down for a massive upgrade, Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer’s Island are gone, Astro Orbiter is not back until “late summer”, Hall Of Presidents is down, (hopefully for at least another four years) Test Track is still down, and I even think the Walt Disney Railroad is closed. I’m sure there are more than I’ve mentioned, too.
One positive, certainly for Emily, is the re-opening of Voyage Of The Little Mermaid. It will be called The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure. That has been sorely missed.
Whilst it’s of course unavoidable, having so much unavailable at once is not ideal even for a regular visitor, but for first-timers who may or may not ever return, it’s a bit of a body blow. That’s without even thinking about the whole question of value for money for your now very expensive park ticket.
They will of course have a great time regardless but it seems WDW is in another massive period of change and regeneration which is good to see I suppose. Not all change in the parks turns out well (are you listening Stitch’s Great Escape?) but it is inevitable.
Speaking of change. Some things never do. I often document the constant parade of tradespeople wandering around our house fixing stuff. If you remember back far enough we had a leaky shower about a year ago that only got finally resolved about a month back when we had to rip the whole base out and fit a new one having exhausted all other options.
Shortly afterwards, the shower in our en suite started playing up, so our plumber, once he’d returned from his round-the-world cruise, which we had funded, popped back to sort that. We’d also spotted, due to us being freezing cold every night, that a couple of radiators downstairs were only getting warm across a three-inch slither at the top, and they needed replacing. So he came to do all that on the same day a couple of weeks ago.
All was well, we were warmer and they even looked nicer as we’d moved from the standard white things to the anthracite column ones to better suit the period of the house.
Anyway, yesterday I made a rare visit to our downstairs loo which is in a room we don’t use that often. As I opened the door and walked in there was an unusual and unwelcome squelch. I looked behind me to see perfect footprints in the carpet.
Panic set in as this was the same room which suffered badly from all our roofing woes a couple of years ago so I was initially desperately looking upwards for signs of water ingress. With nothing to see my attention turned to other sources of water and I soon discovered that the pipe leading into the new readiator was leaking pretty badly.
An hour of trying to vax up the water from the carpet and fruitlessly tinerking with a spanner and some connections on the radiator saw little difference and I resorted to piling towels near the source of the leak and trying to get hold of our plumber. Being 5pm on a Saturday I was not hopeful.
To his enormous credit, he was with us within the hour, made what turned out to be some simple adjustments, fixed the issue and left us dry again and with no charge for his services. I may gold plate him. Perhaps that was a perk of our titanium reward card recognising our levels of spend with him in recent times?
Anyway, today I shall be vaxxing furiously again, trying to turn the sponge on our floor back into a carpet.
Of course, you will know that upon discovering the issue, seeing the state of the carpet and becoming instantly furstrated at my inability to fix the problem, I was in a right strop threatening to either move or torch the house to the ground. Turns out that may have been another slight over reaction as ten minutes of a spanner in the right hands was all that was needed, aside from maybe a new carpet if it cannot be saved.
There’s a lesson there somewhere that I absolutely will not learn.
I appreciate that many of both of my readers will not have slept well all week, waiting on the next crucial update in my self-inflicted dilemma of where to spend two weeks on holiday. I’ve done nothing but turn down interviews with major news outlets, conscious that I should only be giving updates here.
The news from Virgin Arlantic was as expected. We could cancel but at sizeable cost. So our options if we wish to not use the flights we have booked are –
Amend them to somewhere else that Virgin fly to ideally from Manchester for £500
Cancel for £700
Whilst not life changing in the overall context of the cost of any trip we may end up going on, those amounts are painful enough to mean it isn’t a simple decision, especially when all this may be a ridiculous over reaction and our original trip would probably be no different to any other we’ve been on despite the absolute buffonery and malice coming out of the White House.
All the signs point to the usual cycle with this orange idiot. Something is announced, the news is dominated by it for days and then it gets walked back due to the consequences or reaction or it was never going to happen anyway and, in the example of tariffs on Canada and Mexico it just facilitates some nice insider trading for the billionaire’s club who were able to watch the stock market crash for a bit, buy a load of cheap stocks and then make immediate paper profit once the tariffs are “postponed” and the markets recover.
So we haven’t made a decision is what I’m saying. There has been fairly extensive searching for alternatives and once again I’ve come across the ususal TripAdvsior issues where any place we think looks nice then has too many reviews talking about the kind of stuff we hate on holiday.
6am sunbed reserving
Poor food selection/choice/quality
Butlin’s style “entertainment squads” round the pool
Maybe I’m just looking wrong, but these are not cheap package deals.
The best thing to do of course is go off personal reccomendation and a friend and colleague of mine has just returned from a work incentive prize trip to Mauritius. It was incredible and I’ve even been looking at the hotel they all stayed at. For roughly the same all up cost of the Orlando trip, once we count spends etc, we could do that, although I suspect it would end up being a little more as it’s only Half Board, not All Inclusive, but the blocker here is the travel.
Flight options are either a gruelling 24 hour marathon indirect from Manchester via somewhere like Istanbul or direct via Gatwick. For Northern monkeys like us that is pretty challenging. Getting the train to Manchester can be hard enough, never mind from our local station, to Manchester, to Euston, then two tubes to Gatwick, with cases and hand luggage. That doesn’t sound like fun, especially on the way back on the wrong end of a 12 hour night flight.
The resort (Sugar Beach) does look stunning though.
So for now, even I’m bored of hearing about it so we’re sitting tight for a bit. We don’t need to really do anything until May when we have to start paying balances for stuff like the hire car. Perhaps if I just decide not to watch the news for a bit I can just be oblivious to the seemingly intentional journey into war and global recession and just go and enjoy brunch at Wine Bar George as the good lord intended.
Sticking with the plan would certainly be the easier option as the thought of going through the hoopla of cancelling with Virgin, waiting for the refund etc and then starting again with a place I know little about sounds like a time sponge.
I shall draw a close to this post so you can all give your eyeballs a rest from the constant rolling they must understandably be driven to do reading this stuff. Enjoy your Sundays.
OK, change of plan. Not only did I make zero notes for today, but when I came to the photos I also remembered that on about the third photo of the day, the little red battery thing was flashing and the thing died just after lunch. I took this as a sign from above that I really shouldn’t bother. It was not of course just a sign that I’m an idiot and had forgotten to charge the battery for about a week.
So I’ll share the photos I did take and just summarise today.
It was Magic Kingdom of course. I had bought Multi-Pass and I think this was the day it worked out the best. We literally walked from attraction to attraction without delay or with time to kill in between. The park wasn’t that busy which of course helped and we got pretty much everything done.
My excellent memory did recall that we definitely took Monorail Lime….
OK, I lie…
It was about this time that I saw the battery flashing thing.
After a morning of rides, we had lunch in Cosmic Rays. Still one of our favourites.
Once nice and full, sensibly we rode Space Mountain, which is more endurance test than attraction for me these days.
I don’t know who those are behind me but they learnt a few new words during that ride.
I got to ride Buzz with Dougie again, ensuring another victory. They all count.
And we took a lap around the park….
Before being foolish mortals.
And then the camera died….
I know we did Philharmagic, Small World and Big Thunder, ate at Liberty Tree followed by Tron and fireworks.
And we were done.
Thinking about the trip as a whole, we did a lot, which knackered out the oldies and pleased the ride-obsessed youngsters. I went into the trip hating Multi-Pass and left feeling pretty much the same way.
Don’t get me wrong, at times it really made a difference to our day with two youngsters not high on patience, and it saved us from long queues or upset kids. However, I still absolutely object to the obscene expense involved in using the theme parks. Parking and ticket prices are bad enough, but this addition of an expensive chargeable multi-pass adds up to a LOT of cash to splash for what is still an excellent experience, but the value for money question is much more debatable now.
Overall, Florida is a much more expensive trip these days. There are global/economic things at play with inflation etc, but supermarket prices are super high and eating out is no longer the “cheaper than the UK” experience it used to be. None of that is really anyone’s fault, but it all adds up to food for thought (pardon the pun) when considering returning.
I’m glad we got to take the boys at these lovely ages. I hope they always remember it and, maybe, in the future, read this drivel and look back fondly on it. I will.
With apologies for the less-than-perfect ending, I give my thanks to those loyally reading along. Your perseverance is a marvel!
What’s next? An update next week, of course, but I’m not too sure full detailed trip reports will feature as they have in the past. If the process is beginning to feel like a chore to me then it’s probably time for a rest of this exact format and look to do something else to capture the events of our holidays, should we have any. 🙂
I’ve done a lot in recent years, so maybe it’s just a bit of trippie fatigue. We shall see.
We are nearing the end folks and it’s not going to be too pretty as I had at this point decided I wouldn’t be writing this trip up. That had meant that my notes for the last few days had been poor and today’s notes were especially so, but they still beat tomorrow’s as I made none! I’m regretting that now of course, tasked with remembering anything that far back and my change of heart once home was driven by not wanting this trip with the boys to be just a bunch of photos stored somewhere. I realised that I did want to capture everything after all.
Anyway, we shall do our best armed with some photos and my fading memory.
I can make a very good guess that we didn’t get up early enough to make rope drop or anywhere close. Why break the habit of a holiday? It was around 9.20 when we got to the gates, got in and encountered DeVine again. Yes, it was DAK today.
I’d done some LL booking at the villa but due to our later than planned arrival I moved our first one back as it was due to end at 9.45 and now it would start at 10.10. Of course, that first ride would be Everest,
Louise’s feet issues peaked so she was in an ECV today, so we convoyed our way over there and set up rider swap. I stayed out with Dougie, bought him some Chip & Dale snacks and we watched the world go by.
I then rode with Freddie.
After that, despite the adrenaline now being pumped through our veins I could sense low energy and tiredness in everyone so we stopped for some breakfast to refuel.
We ordered from here. The odds of everyone getting what they wanted when you have to order at such a window for six people are low, but I think we cracked it today.
We found a table in the courtyard area close to Tusker House and we all had this kind of thing (see, no notes).
As we were eating Rebecca suddenly jumped up and screamed. She’d been bitten by the largest ant I have ever seen and it hurt so much she was brought to tears. Various creams and portions from various bags were applied.
By the time we had eaten, our LL for the safari was due.
My selfie game is not strong.
Another very good guide and lots to see.
Now, we had about twenty minutes to kill before the next Lion King Show, so the boys’ faces were painted. Dougie was happier about it than he looked.
Freddie just played it cool….
As we walked over to the Lion King Freddie decided he’d rather do a “fast ride” so having just had his face painted he of course chose the Rapids, so Tom took him off to do that whilst the rest of us did the show.
Anyone who has read any of my reports knows my thoughts on this show, so I won’t repeat them, much. It was as excellent as ever.
We walked over to the rapids to meet Tom and Freddie. They had ridden once so now everyone apart from Rebecca and Louise rode, thankfully avoiding too much of a drenching.
As we exited the ride, the app was telling me that Flights Of Passage was just 35 minutes, so we headed quickly in that direction. It was a long old walk. Rider swap was set up again so Louise and I sat out with Dougie and had a beer and a decent-sized pretzel.
It took them the best part of an hour to ride, then Freddie and I rode using the LL/rider swap and it took us fifteen minutes. I did some fiddling with our LLs to bring our Navi River slot forward to 4.45 from 6.50 to avoid more cross-park trekking as we had Dinsoaur at 5.45.
After Navi we walked over to Dinosaur, bumping into Donald, and Louise took Dougie on Triceratops Spin whilst the rest of us rode.
We walked over to meet Louise and Dougie and the boys had a couple of games.
A prize was secured.
We saw Everest was a walk on so we headed that way and it was….
Everyone rode apart from Louise and Dougie.
It was time to be leaving now, always a sad time to leave a park for the final time on a trip.
So I took pointless photos to commemorate the moment.
We took our time walking to the exit, looking at some animals and enjoying the sunset.
It would be just me and Louise for dinner tonight as Rebecca wanted the boys to get an early night as they were knackered. So they had a McDonalds and after showers Louise and I headed out for the Outback which is now in a new location further up the 192.
With no notes now to guide me, it looks like I had a steak of some kind.
As did Louise.
No desserts for us and were home in bed shortly afterwards, I’m sure.
It’s a rest day folks. By jove we needed one at this point. Our usual day two at Typhoon Lagoon (if you can remember that far back) was scuppered by some cooler weather so here it is now on day twelve.
Despite the tiredness, I was awake at 7am. There were showers and clothes put on and everyone was ready to go before we needed to. We got to the park at 10.25 and were through the gates at about 10.26. Volcano Bay could learn from that.
We had to pause at one of the shops as Freddie needed some new swimming shorts and whilst that was being done I impulsively went to see if any cabanas were left. In a rare stroke of good fortune that meant I could throw another few hundred dollars away, I got the last one and the folks behind me in the queue were very upset about that.
We were shown to our base camp by Ashlee who would be looking after us and we all settled in.
We filled up our refillables, dodging the customary swarm of wasps at the filling station. Louise and I relaxed while everyone else went off into the water. The weather was stunning today and it was lovely to do not much. It got so warm that Louise and I ventured into the lazy river for a lap to cool off.
That was pretty much the morning done until hunger brought everyone back to camp around 1pm.
We looked over the menu for lunch options and spectacularly over-ordered.
We went for the pizza and the chicken strips platter.
Both very, very tasty and we tried our best to clear as much as possible.
Once food was done, essential things were done to the little folks….
to allow a return to the water.
Louise took up a spot outside the cabana in the sun whilst I remained in the shade. Everyone else was off doing slides and stuff.
I took a brief dip in the wave pool to cool off and when I returned I found Rebecca and Dougie back with us. With it being nap time and Dougie’s need being slightly greater than mine I took him for a walk around the park in his stroller to get him to sleep.
Once he was away we went back to base and didn’t do a lot for the rest of the day. It was lovely.
Louise had a cocktail from Ashlee and around 5pm with the park closing everyone returned and dried off so that we could leave.
The journey home was weird. The Waze sat nav took us home through roads I had never seen in over forty years of going to Florida. The traffic was bobbins on almost all of them and it took an hour to get back to the villa. The route eventually brought us out onto the 192 up near Lindfields so I can only assume it was trying to spare us from some gruesome traffic on the 192.
There were more showers for all and more clothes before leaving again at 7.45 for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. As we drove along Funie Steed Road on our way to the 192 and then I4 I had to undertake an emergency stop for a rabbit that was skipping about in the middle of all the traffic. Doing that in a vehicle the size and weight of the thing we were in was no small feat and by some miracle, I managed to avoid the poor thing.
We double-checked on the way home when it was much quieter on the roads and there was no squished anything in that spot so it definitely got away.
It took 40 minutes to get to Lake Buena Vista and of course the restaurant was very busy.
We had a reservation though and we waited about ten minutes to be seated on an inside table. We started to read the menu and the bread service arrived and then the seater returned to explain we’d been put at the wrong table and would we mind moving?
We didn’t really but we’d just got Dougie into his high chair so it was a minor pain in the arse. The whole place was a bit chaotic this evening and the service overall suffered slightly because of that and this was an indication of that.
We were taken to a table outside which we didn’t mind at all having said at check-in we would take either.
Louise and I started with a Cheese and Spinach Dip
Tom and Rebecca a blurry Egg Roll Sampler
For Entrees, the boys had sliders
Louise and I shared the Nachos appetiser as our mains.
Rebecca had Orange Chicken
Tom, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich
There were a couple of milkshakes and wines and a slice of cheesecake to go (not each!) and it was a fairly pricey $240 for an off-site eatery. It was all fantastic food but as I said not the best service we’ve experienced here.
We called at Walgreens on the way home to restock on plasters and dressings for the injured feet amongst us and we were home and in bed by 11.30.
We were all definitely feeling the effects of two full-on park days, but there was no plan or time to rest. We had a date with some 90’s pop stars in Epcot.
I did allow a very late start though and it wasn’t until 10.30am that we rolled off the drive. We also had some (barely) walking wounded with both Tom and Louise suffering with their feet.
To add to the fun I had been up for most of the night with middle-aged man acid reflux. I cannot think how I could possibly have brought that on. I had been eating so lightly and healthily recently.
Anyway, in our varying states of decay, we set off for Epcot. We stopped for gas on the way, and it was about halfway there that I noticed that Louise did not have her magic band on. Two days at Universal, and she forgets all her training. There was no way I was turning back, so we’d have to figure it out when we arrived.
We parked up in Rocket 612 and trammed in. The hat was back, alongside those sunglasses from last night.
One of those K9 units that stand close to the entrance took a real interest in Tom, Rebecca and Freddie as we walked to the entrance. I think it could just sense that Tom’s feet were about to fall off.
Just as we were about to finally get into the park Rebecca went to the restroom.
After entering, with Louise being given a normal ticket in lieu of her magic band, Louise and I took the boys into the queue for Spaceship Earth but Rebecca and Tom got delayed/seperated as they tried to park the stroller so they ended up not coming on, for which I think Tom’s feet were grateful.
I got to ride with Dougie again.
The ride stopped five times in total, meaning it took an age to get through it.
By this time it was coming up on our Eat To The Beat dining package reservation at Garden Grill. Rebecca and Tom had walked there to wait for us and we walked quickly over there as we were a bit late. We checked in at 12.55 for our 12.45 ADR.
We were seated and then served by the excellent Bob.
Our package included an alcoholic drink each so we all had a cold brew martini. It was the strongest drink we had all holiday and potentially of all time. It was taking the enamel off my teeth but I drank it all the same.
Soon some food and characters came.
It was a family-style affair, with food just brought out until you say enough or vomit.
The character interaction was almost constant and very good. The boys really enjoyed it. The adults no longer cared as those martinis had rendered us unconscious.
The food was excellent by the way, with some of the best mash any of us had ever had.
I can’t describe how full I was but some of this still went down.
This is Bob. He was funny, attentive and just full of joy all through the meal.
It wasn’t too far off Freddie’s birthday so we got a cake.
We left vowing never to eat again and wandered up to Figment.
Dougie was fortunate enough to be able to nap now. The rest of us had to battle through the food coma in a waking state.
We tried to get into the Seas pavilion but as we arrived they were closing the building down for some reason. Maybe there was some poisson in the water?
Instead, we walked over to Mission Space, one of Freddie’s favourites. Rebecca won the lottery to sit out with Dougie.
As we waited to enter our pods thing there was a longish delay with CMs rushing about with items that suggested somebody had lost their lunch. I was pretty sure I may follow.
Thankfully my ageing body managed to keep hold of the huge amount of food and alcohol I had taken onboard and we now headed to the other side of the park to ride Soarin’.
We waited in line for about half an hour with Louise sitting out with a still-sleeping Dougie.
We had a clash now. We needed to go to the American pavilion for our reserved seats at the Eat To The Beat concert at which Hanson were appearing. The Virtual Queue we had secured at 1pm for Guardians was also about to be called. I stopped at one of the blue umbrella guest services to ask if anything could be done. They assured us that the virtual queue thing would be good all day so we could ride that at any point.
That walk up to World Showcase certainly did not help anyone’s struggling feet.
I love watching live music and Hanson were very good.
We completed the loop around World Showcase by walking through France and back towards Guardians via Canada. Freddie was now suffering with aching legs and so Tom and I took turns carrying him for parts of that journey.
We set up rider swap and Louise sat out with Dougie whilst everyone else rode.
Freddie passed the time in the queue watching some videos and I tried to push my lungs back inside my body after having to carry him for a few yards.
It took over 40 minutes to ride and then Louise rode with Freddie whilst the rest of us walked over to Nemo and Friends with Dougie.
After the ride, we watched some fish….
Naturally after that lunch, there was turtle head.
As you know I can go into a lot of detail in these reports, but that’s because I don’t wish to shrimp on the information.
We met Louise and Freddie at the exit around 8pm and the tram and car took us over to the Beach Club where we had a Beaches and Cream reservation. I dropped everyone off at the door and then self-parked and walked back in a vain attempt to generate some appetite.
When I went to check in there was no sign of our reservation. Eventually, they did find us on the hard copy print out but it turned out we were no longer showing on the computer as some other family had taken our table and reservation. They had a similar last name so somehow they had managed to check in and get seated. A manager was summoned, she went to the table and the offending family and had a stern word with them as they had clearly had no reservation and just winged it.
We were found a table anyway and we all gave that family very evil passive-aggressive stares as we passed them.
This may or may not have been them.
I forced down some Chilli Cheese Tots.
Rebecca – Chicken Sandwich
Freddie – Cheeseburger
Dougie – Hot Dog
Everyone else had the French Dip
Of course, we had to get a Kitchen Sink too. You don’t come all this way and not.
We all chipped in but Tom pretty much cleared it by himself.
We were all knackered and it was a quiet journey home and bed by 11.30.
We “slept in” until 8.30am today and as we were a boat ride from the action and had Express passes, I cared not one jot. We even took some time to have breakfast at the Tuc Tuc shop again.
Most of us had stuff that looked like this.
For reasons I cannot now remember I felt it important you saw the reception area at this point.
We headed to the water taxi….
Dougie was still very delighted with his Grinch…
After our boat ride, we entered Universal Studios at 9.30, after forcing Freddie to do the traditional “blinded by the sun” Universal ball photo.
Our first ride was to be the new Minions shooter thing, where Shrek used to be.
I barely knew of this ride’s existence, never mind what it entailed so we went in blind.
For anyone wondering what the ride is, think of Buzz Lightyear at MK, but you stand up on a moving conveyor belt. The technology is slightly more advanced than Buzz’s, and it is really good fun and something everyone can enjoy. They even have smaller guns for folks who are Dougie’s size.
With that done we crossed the street to the other Minions attraction. There was a huge standby queue and the Express looked pretty grim too. We were on in about 15 minutes. Tom had to sit with Dougie on a static seat due to his size…Dougie’s, not Tom’s.
With every passing day, my resemblance to this painting increases.
It was now time for Rip Ride Rocket, which, much like my resemblance to the painting above, my disliking of it increases with every passing year. In my younger days, there was genuine unfettered enjoyment of this thing, but more recently it is becoming an endurance test and an exercise in clenching. I was not too upset to hear it won’t be around much longer.
The riders were Freddie, Tom and me, with everyone else using Dougie as an excuse not to have to go through it. With Freddie along for this ride, I was not only concerned for my own safety but his as well. Anyway, he spent the ride with his hands up laughing whilst I was bearing down like someone in childbirth and screaming into the void as my body collected bruises.
Tom and Freddie went round to ride again and I absolutely did not, finding the others instead.
We had a look in Bake My Day (a bakery) and got Dougie some popcorn. With everyone back from riding, Louise and I took Freddie on the Mummy as Tom needed medical attention. This was not Rip Ride Rocket related. As often tends to happen with Tom’s feet on these trips he had blisters that were resembling World War 1 trench foot and he was really struggling. There were scenes when he was trying to take his socks off that I cannot describe here.
After riding and running repairs, we all met up and walked over to Diagon Alley. I cannot tell you how much this trip cost, but when Freddie walks up alongside you and grabs your hand, it really doesn’t matter too much.
I have a similar photo deep in the trip report vaults of one of the girls doing this down Main Street. It’s lovely.
We stopped for some more traditional photos along the way.
Louise and I sat out with Dougie whilst everyone else rode Gringotts.
He really enjoyed getting his photo taken on this bike, so much so that it proved very tricky to get him off it to let others have a go.
Before the second riding of Gringotts, we wandered to get some food which turned out to be a “pasty” (Diagon Alley is clearly nowhere near Bolton, the pasty capital of the world as they were not really pasties) and a drink.
Then me, Louise, Tom and Freddie rode Gringotts. It really is an impressive ride, and queue for that matter but for goodness sake I wish they could improve the audio. I’ve ridden it a lot now and never once heard more than a few words from the Potter characters.
Rebecca and Dougie were over near Men In Black so we walked that way.
There was a need for food so we walked over to a pizza place near ET. I ordered a random selection of pizza slices and bao buns and had another wrestle with one of those fancy drinks machines, eventually managing to get some liquids in cups.
Once done with the food we all went onto ET. It is a genuine mystery that this ride has remained open and untouched since day one (I think). There are rumours that Spielberg only agreed to the ride with a clause that said as long as he was alive the ride had to stay. It is clearly very dated now and has no relevance to the younger folks so it’s all a bit weird. They still take your name as you enter which does nothing for the queue, but the boys enjoyed it for what it was.
Louise and I sat on a wall in the sun whilst everyone else explored the new kids area, riding Trollercoaster.
Next, we did Men In Black, (not a euphemism) with Louise staying out with Dougie.
With four of us riding we were seated in two rows that normally accommodate three people. When this happens I try to shoot two guns at once to improve my scoring but it just seems to make me twice as bad. This is a great ride and clever idea, but I just wish there was more “feedback” when you actually hit something. It all feels a bit random. Maybe the competitive Dad in me is over thinking this!
Across to the Simpsons now, with Louise again volunteering to sit out. The wait with Express was longer than it should have been but the queue areas here are always fun.
It was coming to the end of the day now, so Louise and I walked with Dougie back to the exit giving Rebecca, Tom and Freddie a chance to quickly do their favourites again. They rode The Mummy and Rip Ride before meeting us at the exit.
Whilst we waited I was doing some plan juggling for the last few days, changing some dining reservations and activities to balance out the changes we’d made so far and hopefully get the most out of our remaining time.
We got the water taxi back to RPR, picked up our luggage and drove directly to CVS, having abandoned them for a full 48 hours. Tom needed ongoing blister care stuff and my notes as ever say we got bits, but whatever they were it cost $90!
We drove directly to Teak Neighbourhood Grill for dinner.
We ordered some appetisers “for the table” which were Mozzarella Sticks/Circles and Spring Rolls.
For entrees….
Louise – French Dip
Freddie – Grilled Cheese
Me – I had a Brazillian, which would really chafe over the next few days
Rebecca- Quesadilla Burger
Tom – Donut Burger
Dougie had Nuggies
There was a very odd vending machine in the corner which did mystery packets of random stuff. Freddie’s sunglasses you see there were included but there were also old newspaper clippings and games etc. Very odd but it kept the boys amused for a bit.
The food was excellent and with a decent tip, it was $170 all in.
We were home within 40 minutes and in bed shortly after 10. A couple of very good Universal days.
I think today was our earliest get up, so please be suitably impressed as we reverse off the drive at 8am, Universal bound.
Of course, it took almost an hour to get up the I4 and arrive at Royal Pacific. We self-parked, grabbed the stuff we needed for the park and headed into reception to check in.
I’ve walked past these frogs a lot over the years but have only now noticed they seem to have “their lipstick out”.
The ladies and kids took a seat whilst Tom and I went to check-in. It always seems to take longer than it probably should to do that here. The queue was small but the level of faff and keyboard tapping does seem excessive. Having given all the info when booking, it does seem odd that I am now writing names and email addresses on scraps of paper.
Anyway, after some real confusion about who was in which room, we were done, had our Express passes and popped into the shop for breakfast.
With food on board, we walked down to the water taxi.
Just outside the gates we did a quick check of Freddie’s height and he was so close to being able to ride the Hulk, but not quite there yet.
I had hoped to have us stepping foot into the park by 10am. It was 11am as we did so.
Having chosen Islands of Adventure for today we headed straight for Suess Landing whilst Dougie was still awake and onto Cat In The Hat.
There was no queue but we still used our Express to get our money’s worth!
Dougie loved it in much the same way the girls had at his age. It is a banger for the two year olds. Hit followed hit as we went straight onto the Carousel now, and Louise and I recognised a bit of a special moment as we clearly remembered taking the girls on this at very similar ages.
There was much concern, sorry I mean hilarity as Louise took about five minutes to dismount. I know that sounds like an exaggeration but she was in this position for many minutes and we were unable to help as we concentrated on not wetting ourselves laughing and in my case also making sure I got it on camera.
Naturally, One Fish, Two Fish was next. Louise and I rode together and I was the perfect gentleman by making sure I sat on the inside of the fish and had full control of our height. Louise was very grateful for the cooling effect of the water I subjected her to.
As we wandered now towards the Circus McGurgus thing, The Grinch appeared, preceded by his helper/host…
This was very fortunate as Dougie is obsessed with The Grinch. It played out perfectly as after a brief little show with Thing 1 and 2, he took up a position for a meet and greet right in front of us and we were first in line.
and this happened….
and he stayed like that for many minutes….
He was in heaven and it took some persuading for Dougie to let go and let somebody else have a photo.
Once that was done, we rode.
Staying at one of the Universal hotels that give you Express is expensive, so it feels hypocritical to praise it after moaning about Disney’s Multipass stuff, but the experience is excellent. It takes away all the stress about crowds and also doesn’t require military planning and constant app use and juggling of reservations. Universal for us is typically a couple of days maximum so it’s a different kettle of fish to our Disney park touring, and it works brilliantly. Right now, the Disney experience is complicated, expensive (as we want to go to their parks roughly ten days in a 2 week stay) and stressful.
Onwards we marched to the Potter stuff.
It was busy in Hogsmeade but not the crazy crowd levels we have encountered in the past so we did get some chance to take in the theming rather than just concentrating on avoiding other bodies.
After a quick Butterbeer everyone went on the Hippogriff so that Dougie could ride another coaster before succumbing to his impending nap.
Next everyone apart from me and Dougie went on the Hogwart’s ride. I took a long walk around the park until Dougie fell asleep.
Upon my return, I rode with Louise, but Freddie turned down a second ride, not being too keen on what he’d experienced. Upon riding it, I could appreciate why a six year old may not be its biggest fan.
Now, it was time for….
Louise sat out with Dougie and the rest of used the Express line, which still took 30 minutes to ride. Freddie was understandably excited and nervous as we waited, as this would certainly be his most intense coaster to date. It was not helped by the ride going down for about ten minutes.
I have ridden this before a few times but for some reason this trip it seemed more terrifying than I can recall. Sure it’s fast and has all the loops and twists but never have I ever experienced the feeling of coming out of my seat as I did on this coaster. I was genuinely scared for my life. I am sure it has been tested and it is no doubt physically impossible to fall out but good grief I did not believe that as I gripped for dear life and screamed.
With that in mind, it made perfect sense that I rode again immediately, this time with Louise, Freddie, and Tom. It was no less scary.
In need of some blood pressure soothing, we chose to ride the Jurassic Park River thing next. It was a walk on with or without Express.
After riding it was time for some snacks, so I bought a random selection of whatever the closest booth had to offer.
I didn’t know what that one above was but it turned out to be a very lovely sweet pastry type thing. I was more shocked to discover the one below was savoury after taking a large bite. It was potato and meat and Freddie also had a taste, loved it and devoured the rest.
Whilst I was busy eating, fiddling little fingers seized the camera.
On to Kong now and it was mildly surprising to find that Dougie could ride it. We bypassed a pleasing standby queue with our Expressness and rode. Despite the very gory and gruesome content of this ride Dougie was fine. It probably isn’t ideal for little ones to be honest.
We chose to bypass the water rides, as we were soon to be sat in a restaurant and did not want to be freezing to death in wet clothes in brutal AC. So we carried on walking through the park, to get back to the Spider Man and Hulk rides.
We were devastated to see that Spiderman was down for maintenance and would not be open during our visit. Meeting Temu Wolverine was not really compensation for that fact.
It was my turn to sit with Dougie now as everyone went off to ride Dr Doom. Despite us being minutes away from our dining reservation, like all good grandparents, I got him a huge lollipop from the shops.
He approved of my decision….
When everyone got back, I was delighted to hear that Louise had not ridden, and had sat out on a bench near the ride entrance and I could have ridden after all.
Next, we all rode the Storm Force waltzer thingy.
Louise and I had Dougie in with us so could avoid the excessive spinning that was going on in the other cup by Tom and Freddie.
We had time to repeat Cat In The Hat and One Fish Two Fish on our way to eat at Mythos….
Upon arriving at Mythos it was not busy and we were seated immediately. It is heavily themed around Mythos type things, if anyone has a clue what that is.
Rebecca and Tom had a milkshake and Louise a wine, with everyone else on soft drinks.
I started with a Mezze Platter….
Louise had a “dipping thing” according to my ever reliable notes.
Tom had meatballs….
and Rebecca had Hummus
They were all lovely. This Mediterranean style of dippy stuff and breads is right up my street.
For mains, I had Chicken Kebab with Cous and Cous.
Rebecca Lamb Burger
Both of the boys had pizza and Louise had a Grilled Cheese in Soup
Tom had Pad Thai, but a plaster and some talc would probably sort that right out.
The boys finished with a shared banana split and there was a creme brulee that a few of us dipped into. It was all very delicious with very good service but of course came at an elevated price which was to be expected when dining in the parks. It was around $400 including tip.
It was dark now. Freddie wanted to do Velocicoaster again, so Tom took him off to do that. We strolled over to the water rides, picking up a Grinch for Dougie…
as that was the plan after the boys returned but Popeye’s Bilge Rats had closed at 7. We waited for quite some time on a bench near Dudley’s as it turned out that Velocicoaster had gone down and it was taking them a long while to ride. As Rebecca had Tom’s phone to save him the bother of the locker nonsense, we had no way to get in touch like it was the 90’s or something.
Eventually, we decided to walk to the park exit in case they had gone there a different way and the park was closing now anyway. Louise took Dougie off to the boat whilst Rebecca and I waited for Tom and Freddie. Once we’d found them we set off to the boat to find Louise and Dougie sat on the one just leaving as we arrived.
The next boat was about ten minutes later and we thankfully got on board and headed for bed. We had done well over 20,000 steps today and were absolutely exhausted.
It’s rare to report on a first these days when it comes to a Florida trip but here we are. The plan hath not decreed it so but with the earlier changes due to the weather, more flexibility was required today and we moved our Volcano Bay day to today. For Louise and I, one of those rare firsts.
I didn’t get up until 8.45 am, which was right around the time we probably should have been parking up at Universal but I’d been up in the night and had not slept well so it was as unavoidable as it was undesirable.
This resulted in a very poor 10am departure and once again our journey was blighted with traffic that was less than ideal. It was bad enough that the drive took 45 minutes, but what added insult to that injury was as we pulled up to the toll booths where you pay for your parking for Volcano Bay, I don’t know why, but there was a huge queue that was just not moving at all.
My frustration and anger (mostly at myself for the late start) started to build and the 30-minute wait just to pay for parking was not improving our start to the day.
Once parked up, we had to board a bus to the water park itself. This was relatively painless, but my mood had darkened sufficiently to see this as a problem too.
Once off the bus, there was a sizeable walk to get somewhere close to any water. At this point I was wondering if Volcano Bay actually existed or if it did, I suspected it was located in one of the Carolinas.
I had to go to guest services to sort our tickets and then we were given a Tapu thing and finally, we were in. It was midday.
You can imagine that the availability of sunbeds and shade was not abundant at this time so there was a long, hot, frustrating trek around the park trying to source some. It was made so much easier with us having a stroller, which of course always work well on sand.
I spotted a set of beds large enough to accommodate us all and we made camp. It felt like very hard work indeed to just get into the park. The day was to get better but the herding cattle approach to getting folks into the park was not something I liked. Compare it to Typhoon Lagoon where you park about six feet from the entrance and stroll in and I would say it could be simpler.
Suncream was applied….
then everyone apart from Louise was off into the water, thankful to now be able to have some fun.
Being in unfamiliar surroundings, I felt unsettled, which probably should be added to my “reasons I need therapy” list and says a lot more about me than I would probably like it to. There’s a reason we keep returning to Florida. After a dip in the main pool, I returned to Louise as everyone else went off to do some slides.
I rested a bit until everyone returned around 1.30. We mobile ordered lunch and then went off to eat it.
Me and Rebecca – Turkey Wrap
Louise – Pulled Pork Sandwich
Tom, Freddie and Dougie – Pizza
Picking up the food was fine but I had a falling out with the drinks machine and had to go back and get another cup as the fanfangled machine just spat syrup all over the first one and me.
Some escaped Lays were appreciated by the wildlife.
Now fed, Louise and I returned to our encampment. Tom, Rebecca and Freddie went off for more rides and I walked Dougie around in his stroller until he fell asleep. That was a good way for me to get a good tour of the park anyway.
With him napping, I went for a couple of loops around the lazy river, finding a very comfortable position on a double-ring thing, which I believe is also the name of a film. I was dangerously close to falling asleep on a few occasions, but the tactically placed ice-cold drips and sprays kept me alert at the appropriate times.
I wandered back to the beds to find everyone had returned and Freddie was keen for me to go on the Crazy (not Lazy) River now so off we went. The fact that you have to wear a life vest to go on this may suggest how fast this thing goes, but it was really good fun.
We did four laps in total before being thrown out as the park was closing.
My view on Volcano Bay improved throughout the day and to be honest I am not worth listening to when it comes to any sort of review on a water park. I don’t do the slides (more issues for my imaginary therapist to unpick) due to some bad experiences on dodgy water parks in the Med in my younger days, so I couldn’t tell you if the slides here are better or worse than anywhere else. For me, as somewhere to just rest and relax it’s simply easier to get to and into Typhoon Lagoon so I would probably stick with that in future, although the Crazy River was excellent. I would say that our long drawn-out entry experience this morning was very likely largely down to our own very late start and the weird 30-minute wait to pay for parking, which oddly cleared as soon as we were through.
We got dried and dressed and made our way out. Getting out and back to the car was a good deal easier than the earlier shenanigans.
However, the traffic was not, and it took over an hour to get home. I guess it was rush hour, with nobody rushing anywhere on the I4, of course.
Dinner tonight would be just Louise and I as Rebecca wanted to give the boys an early night and get packed for our Universal stay tomorrow. So after showers, we set off. Having not planned for this turn of events, we just set off down the 192 looking for inspiration and, driven by growing hunger, opted for the next thing we saw which was…
It was not busy at all.
We started with some kind of fried pickle type thing (my notes are poor and seem to get poorer from here on, as at this stage, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t bother writing this trip up, but here we are.)
I reached for the camera well into our eating of it.
Our entrees were a dipping beef sandwich thing….
with Louise opting for her “go to” cheesy pasta thing
The food was tasty and the service fine, but this was not a life-changing dining experience and we probably would not return. With it being a slow weekday the atmosphere was probably not at its best either with just a few tables occupied. It’s odd how that can make such a difference to a dining experience. The place being so busy you can’t get a table or decent service is of course no good, but when a place is as empty as this was, it gives the whole experience a bit of weird “vibe” and I’m sure we can all agree that I am far too old to be using words like vibe.
We drove home, did some packing for Universal, which was no doubt a lot easier than Rebecca’s and went to bed.
As shining examples of how to get stuff done early in the parks we are not that psycho blonde woman with four kids who keeps infecting my Instagram feed with her 4am wake ups and Stepford vibes. If you know, you know.
Today was probably the exact opposite of that but we were tired to it was a much later start. I had booked Multipass and stacked our LLs for the afternoon so we took our time and benefitted from the extra cash outlay, but not as much as Disney would.
It was 10.30 when we left the house. Less than half an hour later we parked in Mickey 312 and we trammed in.
I can’t say for certain that Dougie didn’t sleep in that hat.
We had a Fantasmic Dinner Package booked for this evening which involved lunch at the Sci-Fi Diner so we had no ride plans before that. We had a stroll of the shops and just took things in.
We checked in at the restaurant at 12.20 and were seated within 5 minutes.
We all ordered a milkshake which would count as dessert on our FDP thing, which was fine by us. And they were fine.
We paid extra(!) for an appetiser of Fried Pickles and then….
Me – Chicken Salad
Louise – A blurry chicken sandwich
Everyone else had burgers, which proved impossible to photograph as we were all sat in a car.
It was another pricey affair, as expected, but it did give us a “Fastpass” for Fantasmic later.
Our first ride of the day was Mickey’s Runaway Railway and everyone except Louise endured the 30 minute standby wait for that.
It’ll never be the Great Movie Ride, but it’s clever, and I suspect it takes a lot fewer CMs to run it than the previous ride here.
Next, it was time for our LL for Rise of the Resistance. As often seems to be the case, as we arrived the ride had just come back up which meant that even the LL queue was bedlam. The standby was at 3 hours, and that would rise to 4 as we queued. Tom stayed out with Dougie and it took the rest of us 45 minutes to ride.
I suppose this ride’s impressiveness and complexity lead to it going down a lot.
It truly is an incredible spectacle and feat of Imagineering but its instability means that idiots like us who paid to ride it get upset at still having to spend an hour doing so.
Tom and Freddie then rode much more quickly as the initial surge after re-opening had calmed down.
The rest of us walked to Tower of Terror for our next LL, and we knew at this point that Tom and Freddie would be late for our slot on that ride. I went to one of the Guest Services blue umbrellas and explained the Rise-induced delay to our plans and they kindly made our LL for Tower of Terror open-ended for any time today.
We took a seat and had a drink whilst we waited for the Rise riders to return.
With Dougie napping, Rebecca, Tom and Freddie rose TOT, then with Dougie awake again, Tom took Freddie on Rock n Rollercoaster whilst the rest of us took Dougie to see Beauty and The Beast.
Keeping Dougie entertained whilst we waited in the scandalous and persistent absence of Four For A Dollar, involved him having a go on the camera.
Once the show started, I took over on camera.
With that show enjoyed Louise and I took our turn to ride TOT. Everyone else headed back to Galaxy’s Edge where we were to meet them for our Smuggler’s Run LL. We were half an hour beyond our time slot, which stressed me out no end, but as we beeped our bands Mickey turned green and we were in after more very persistent measuring of Dougie, which he once again passed.
Dougie, much like myself had no clue what was going on, but enjoyed it nevertheless.
We wandered Galaxy’s Edge for a bit, catching a bit of a live show involving Kylo Ren.
Rebecca and Tom did a great job of resisting Freddie’s persistent urging to buy some form of very expensive plastic tat and then we set off for Toy Story Land and our Mania LL. This time I rode with Louise. Different competitor, same result. A bruising defeat for Louise.
We completed our rides for the day with the Holy Grail of LLs, Slinky Dog, and as a bonus, it was just going dark which makes most rides better in my opinion.
Dougie loved it. A great coaster, perfect in its intensity so that everyone can ride and enjoy it.
As we now made our way towards Fantasmic, the boys were bought the inevitable light-up toys and as we entered the stadium we stopped for snacks of drinks and popcorn before taking our seats.
This show continues to be one of the best experiences on WDW property. That finale gets me every time. It’s amazing what music can do to you. Rebecca was in tears and I wasn’t far off. Do not miss this show.
It was an easy exit and we made our way back to the car.
Having given Disney far too much of our money on food and LLs recently we headed off-site to eat at the cheap and cheerful Olive Garden. We arrived at 9.20 and were seated within about 15 minutes.
You know what we had to start….
I had the Tour of Italy, as usual.
Freddie had meatballs and spaghetti.
Both Tom and Rebecca had Lasagne
Louise, Five Cheese Ziti
Dougie had Pizza
With wines, iced coffees, sodas and tip, it was a wallet-soothing $160. It was all pretty good, although my entree could have been warmer. We do find this place to be quite hit and miss in recent years, but overall it’s decent quality food for a good price when your bank balance needs a break from WDW prices.
We were home by 11.15, with a great day in the bag, despite the late start.
Rest days are the habitual practice of seasoned travellers to WDW who love to recharge their batteries….
Parklife!
But once that’s done and the rides start calling again all you can do is make your return to hustle and bustle of …
Parklife!
So with a 6.55am alarm waking me so that I could book us all a virtual queue for Guardians, the day began. My notes remind that I felt rough this morning with a headache and nausea. It was either last night’s cold spud or I was pregnant.
Despite the 7am alarm, we were not out of the house until 9am and it took about 25 minutes to drive to Epcot’s gate. Another $30 exchanged hands and we parked in Rocket 602.
The tram took us in, (since when were they red?) and coffee and donuts were served from Joffries for those who didn’t feel like vomiting.
I stood strong today and refused to book the Multipass, so the day started with a 20-minute queue for Spaceship Earth.
I had the genuine pleasure of riding with Dougie, who despite several very annoying stops for several minutes was incredibly well behaved.
Next, we restroomed.
With our virtual queue time approaching it made sense to head in that direction and ride Mission Space. I declined the chance to ride as I needed no further encouragement to be making pavement pizzas so Louise and I sat out with Dougie and had a drink.
Once everyone was back from space we had been summoned to Guardians. After setting up rider swap, Me, Louise, Rebecca and Freddie rode.
This is THE best ride on property and I will not be entering into any debate on the subject.
It had been raining a little all morning and as Tom an Freddie rode Guardians it really came down. We needed to get to a restroom and by the time we did it felt like we had been swimming.
While waiting for Tom and Freddie to return we stood under the canopy outside Connections and Club Cool.
Dougie had been kept out of it with his pram hood and a poncho.
With no sign of the boys and our ADR at Space 220 imminent, we messaged them to say meet us there and set off to get a little bit wetter. I explained to the check-in host that we were waiting for two who were riding, and it was fine when we eventually got everyone there and checked in at 1:30 for our 1.10 ADR. As soon as we did that, the rain stopped.
We entered the lift ensuring the boys could get up to the rail to see the “lift” take us up to space. It was quite full so I could see bugger all standing against the back wall.
I dangled the camera from my outstretched arm and got….
Once we arrived in space as you would imagine, the theming was just excellent.
There were novelty fizzy drinks with glowing things and popping space rock….
Even though Dougie wasn’t having that particular special drink off the menu our server was smart enough to make sure his apple juice also glowed.
and those rocks really popped….
Food wise we had
Me and Tom – Shrimp Tacos and the burger
Louise – Cauliflower starter and the burger
Rebecca – Caesar salad and burger
Boys – Nuggets and a dome pudding.
Some adult desserts were had too….
Louise had some wines and most of us finished with a coffee.
Many of you will know that this isn’t a cheap experience, and there’s nothing to be gained by saying how much this meal was, so I won’t. The experience was very good, the food was better than expected and the boys really enjoyed the theming. It was chilly, but that was because we arrived drenched in cold water. I also got a better view in the lift on the way back to earth.
Dougie was in desperate need of a nap so I volunteered to walk him round until he caught one. I ended up doing a full loop of World Showcase and met up with everyone over at Journey Into Imagination.
Louise and I stayed out with Dougie.
Due to our evening plans, we had about 30 minutes left now to ride something before we had to go and Freddie chose Mission Space and insisted I rode too.
I survived with my expensive lunch intact.
The weather had perked up too.
What I’m doing here, I have no clue.
Something tells me a younger camera operator was holding the camera….
It was time to leave now so we made our way to the exit. Dougie was back from his nap.
But only just….
That’s better.
We trammed to the car…
and I captured evidence of someone’s battle with the overhead speaker….
Sometimes being bald can be a blessing.
We were heading for City Walk, as tonight Tom and Rebecca were going to Halloween Horror Nights whilst we took the boys for some tea and then home to bed.
The traffic was of course horrific all the way up the I4 but the cherry on top was the 35-minute wait on the off-ramp to get to Universal parking. This, we soon found out was caused by a combo of Horror Nights traffic plus a Chase Atlantic gig at The Hard Rock. After parking the car security was also carnage but we made it in around 6.15 and Rebecca and Tom went off to be horrified, mainly by the prices and wait times.
The fringe-filled emo-fest that was the queue for the gig at the Hard Rock was a flashback to the teenage years of the girls.
Louise and I sat with the boys on those big steps for a bit, people-watching until it was time to head to Toothsome for our reservation. No, we were not hungry at all.
We were seated immediately and started to ponder what someone who isn’t hungry at all orders.
Louise went for French Onion Soup.
I went sweet with a Banana Fosters Waffle, you know, because I was full.
The boys, who were hungry, went for burgers.
We had a few minutes of interaction at our table with the two characters.
Then the boys shared the S’Mores, barely making a dent in them and I was in no position to help.
We wandered City Walk, and after looking for all kinds of plastic tat to get for the boys, Dougie showed no interest in anything and Freddie ended up getting two airbrush tattoos. It was bedtime, for Louise and me, so the boys had to come home too. We had walked all the way back to the car when Freddie announced he needed a wee, so I had to walk him all the way back to security to the closest restroom.
Despite having the sat nav on I managed to take a few wrong turns on the way home and one of them saw us divert through some sort of military base entrance. Bizarre.
We were home for 11 and got the boys in bed. I waited up downstairs just in case Dougie woke up and then fell into bed as soon as Rebecca and Tom got home around 1am, I think.
With a bedtime of 9.30 last night, a rise of 6am was not too surprising. I was also awake.
Louise slept on, so sadly I took the chance to reply to a couple of work things on the phone before going downstairs at 7am to make myself some cereal and toast. It’s always fun trying to find something to watch on American TV for those few minutes whilst eating breakfast. I’m never sure which new channel isn’t crammed with right-wing propaganda and if you can avoid an advert it’s either very large men talking about a style of football I do not understand or a rerun of some very old sitcom. I was yearning for the Applicances Direct ad to be honest.
Louise wasn’t up until after 8 a.m., so it was a later start after everyone had showered and readied. I wasn’t too stressed, as I had already squandered yet more dollars on multipass for today. It does feel like the standard park experience is broken for the most part. I know everyone has different views and experiences here, but it feels like now you have to pay extra to get what was standard a few years ago.
We left the house at 8.30 and parked up at 8.45am. We trammed in from Dinosaur 225 only for Rebecca to go for an entry denying wee.
Does anyone else have an uncontrollable and undeniable reflex to smile at all dogs?
Once we were in, It’s Tough To Be A Bug was the obvious first choice due to our LLs not starting until 12, (the offsite scum cruse strikes again) its proximity and lack of wait time.
Freddie couldn’t be-leaf this was a person and not a tree. He just didn’t twig. I had to root out my camera and capture the moment as I’m a bit of a sap. Enough!
Freddie was not the most impressed he would be all holiday with this attraction. There was no fear or aversion to the creatures “leaving!” the theatre. It just didn’t go very fast and/or upside down.
At this point, coffee was desirable, so we headed over to Starbucks, and Rebecca and I went in to gather essentials for everyone. Even though I ordered I gave Rebecca’s name to avoid a Cregg moment.
We sat on a wall whilst everyone destroyed the various types of coffee and cake.
Wees were had before we headed all the way over to the rapids. If we were to get wet, it would be early to give the sun time to work its magic.
We didn’t fare too badly wetness-wise on the way around, but then got soaked by the squirting elephants at the end of the ride whilst we waited to disembark.
Freddie and Tom rode again as the standby said 25 minutes but it turned out to be closer to 45. The rest of us sat watching the monkeys for that amount of time.
We’d missed a Lion King show I had my eye on due to the longer ride time, so instead we ate. Yak & Yeti was closest so that was an easy choice.
Once again the camera fell into younger hands.
Our next LL was due for the safari which, yes, you spotted it, was all the way back across the park. We had an excellent driver/guide and saw lots of interesting stuff.
After locating the stroller among the plethora of others in the parking lot, we walked across to Pandora. We had a 2.30 LL for Flights of Passage. We set up a rider swap so that Freddie could ride twice. Louise and I sat out with a napping Dougie and face-timed Emily back home for a bit whilst the others rode.
Louise and I then rode again with Freddie. His excitement to do so was not dampened by just having ridden it.
He once again needed a wee but thankfully the wait was short and he managed to wait until we could rush him to the restroom upon our exit.
We met everyone else and were greeted with a drink.
The LLs were coming thick and fast now, with Everest the next. Yep, that was at the other side of the park again.
With a rider swap set up, Louise, Freddie, Rebecca, and I rode first, with Tom and Freddie going second.
Having taken this same picture every year since this ride opened, here is this year’s version.
and this one
We strolled to Dinoland whilst Tom and Freddie rode, with Rebecca taking Dougie for a spin. I can’t spell Triceratops.
Once everyone was back together we went to Dinosaur. We just about made it within our LL slot giving us the pleasure of walking past that queue.
We had set up the customary rider swap but Freddie was not keen enough on the experience to want to do it a second time.
Louise and I opted to sit down and have a drink whilst everyone else went off to the rapids again which had a short standby. Whilst we waited for them I wandered off to the shop to pick up something Dougie had expressed a lot of interest in (as much as a 2-year-old can), but he loves a hat and had been shouting “Duck” every time he saw Donald so….
Of course, you can’t get one child something without the other…..
We were heading out now…
So here’s an example of the added expense of Multipass affecting our decisions. Almost without exception over the years a day at DAK meant an ADR for Yak and Yeti. It is one of our favourites and a lovely way to wrap up the day at this park. With all the extra dollars going on getting on rides, today we were headed off-site for what would be a considerably cheaper meal. We were headed for Applebees and I had chosen the one at Celebration and the hat was never coming off.
I have to admit that I wasn’t that hungry. My way of addressing that was to “only order two appetisers”.
We’ll get to that when that photo appears, but here is Freddie’s Corn Dog.
I realised the error in my theory when my pretzels arrived.
I had also ordered the Chicken Wontons. Not being that hungry I of course demolished the lot.
Dougie had pizza.
Rebecca also went for the same approach as me with Pretzels and Wings
Quesedeia (another word I can’t spell) Burger for Tom.
Louise had a steak which she declared wonderful.
With a few shakes, wines and drinks all round it was $170 including a good tip. Our server, Dalton, was excellent.
Once again full and tired we headed for home and once again did not make it past 9.30.
I slept solidly until 2am and then again until 4am. When I woke again at 7.30 there were questions about what the plan for today was. Sure, I’d had a plan in place for months but the weather looked like scuppering that as it was looking too chilly for the planned visit to Typhoon Lagoon.
The preference seemed to be Hollywood Studios so with it already being too late to be getting there, never mind trying to plan a day that wouldn’t involve riding Star Tours and watching the Muppets (RIP) seventeen times I had work to do.
There was no choice but to buy Multipass again, so I did before showering and getting dressed. I did OK with the first LL, securing Rock n Rollercoaster, Star Tours and Alien Swirling Saucers.
We were out of the house by 8.30 and in the park just after 9am. Not bad. My heart sank seeing huge queues at the entrance but I was hopeful that was driven by incompetence rather than attendance.
Our first LL wasn’t until 12.30 so I was on the app trying to find a tolerable standby wait. Toy Story Mania promised a twenty-minute wait so off we went.
We entered the queue full of excitement about the day ahead, with Freddie particularly looking forward to Rock n Rollercoaster.
After about five minutes of queueing a cast member entered the area and shouted that currently, of the the three tracks available, two were down and the new estimated wait time was 70 minutes, but the other tracks may come up at any time.
A lot of folks left so we figured we’d give it a bit of a wait and see what happened.
After about 15 minutes Freddie was clearly desperate for a wee. I took him out, and asked a cast member could I rejoin our party afterwards. They said of course so all was well and it was easy to find everyone as they had not moved.
We were now trapped in the quandry of having committed almost an hour to the ride that leaving would inevitably see everything open back up and us kick ourselves. We were indeed just about to give up and we were looking for the easiest way out of the queue when things began to move. After 30 minutes in the same spot we were seated on the ride in about five, having waited, spookily for 70 minutes. All the tracks were now open though.
For the second day running the first ride of the day had let us down with its wait time. I have to admit that during that long wait and reflecting on yesterday’s experience of lots of rides being down, I was getting a bit fed up and sulky about our Disney experience so far.
I rode with Rebecca and won convincingly of course.
We had obviously missed our next LL slot at Star Tours as we didn’t get off Toy Story Mania until 11.15. That ride had availability all day so I just moved that to later and we headed in the direction of Sunset Boulevard. It was time for lunch, having had no breakfast, before our next ride.
We mobile ordered at Rosa’s Canteen.
The usual array of hot dogs, burgers and nuggets with some universally disappointing dessert options.
With that tucked away it was time for Rock n Rollercoaster and we set up child swap at the entrance, meaning that Freddie could ride it twice, with Tom who sat out with Dougie.
As we waited for the few minutes our LL afforded us, Freddie was that lovely mix of fear and excitement. He literally could not stand still.
He loved it despite what his face was saying on the photo.
We walked over to Star Tours whilst he and Tom rode again.
It was my turn to sit out with a now-sleeping Dougie.
I did some LL faffing on the app and got us a LL for Frozen sing a long at 3.
With Star Tours done Louise and I went for a drink at the Tap House whilst everyone else went to do Tower of Terror which looked to have an inoffensive standby wait.
I got some of the sweet and spicy almonds which were about three times more addictive than crack.
We all met at Frozen at 2.45 and were immediately annoyed that the LL time of 3 p.m. was for a 3.30 show. So we wandered down to the Star Wars Launch Bay for a look around.
Dougie was awake again.
The boys met Chewbacca with Dougie really not sure how he felt about that.
Now, it was actually time for Frozen!
We wondered if it would hold Dougie’s interest, but he loved it.
We made our way over to Galaxy’s Edge now, stopping off on the way to watch The Muppets. I am nothing if not prescient with all things Disney. In my notes for this day I wrote that this was half empty and had no wait all day and wondered if its days were numbered. At this point, I am going to start invoicing Bob Iger for consultancy.
We walked right through Galaxy’s Edge, having a look at various stuff…
and we stopped for what I think qualifies as a coffee.
Freddie was delighted with his coke.
We were soon out the other side and where we needed to be for our next LL on Alien Saucers.
Everyone enjoyed that one and with no options available beyond what we already had booked, we had an hour to kill before our next LL on Smuggler’s Run. Knowing we would have to do some queuing at this point we decided to go and do standby for Smuggler’s and then ride it again with our LL.
The posted wait time said 45 minutes. Dougie was measured, a lot, and got on by a whisker.
As we got to about 20 minutes into the queue, Freddie started his now familiar dance indicating he needed a wee. With no real way out we knew we were in trouble. We either abandoned our wait or maybe there was another way.
Rebecca downed the contents of a water bottle in their backpack and we devised a cunning plan. The queue was quite slow moving, so at the agreed time, I knelt down pretending to tie my shoelace, holding up the queue behind us and Tom and Rebecca crowded around Freddie whilst he did what he needed to do in that bottle. It worked a treat, with even a wet wipe available to wash his hands afterwards. The bottle was jettisoned at the next bin. Luckily at six years old, it takes about five seconds to have a wee, not the hour or so it can at my age.
Dougie had no clue what was going on either time we rode but he loved it all the same. Riding it twice like that did give me at least a fighting chance of trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
It was about 7pm now and time to go.
We walked out and back to the car and headed for Sickies on the 192, which was in the plan and staying there despite us changing things for today.
It took about 20 minutes to get there.
We were told there would be a 30 minute wait for a table but we were seated in 10.
We shared the Spare Parts to start.
Weirdly I was craving a salad. My body does this as a reaction to abuse from time to time, so I had the Avocado Salad, as did Rebecca.
Louise had a chicken fajita salad.
Tom had the Hot Beef Sandwich, also known as the “CVS have a cream for that”.
The boys had Mini Corn Dogs and Tots and a Cheeseburger.
Everything was delicious. The service was great even though a good number of the servers were giving off Wentworh Detention Centre vibes.
With several shakes, wines and drinks it was $170 including a good tip.
We were all exhausted, but not too tired to enjoy another tour of CVS on our way back to the villa for some bite cream and moisturiser. We were home by 9.30, again having to endure several pockets of really crap traffic even at this time.
We did a decent job with the body clocks. Well, Louise and I did. I think Dougie made a very early appearance so Tom was in the pool at some unreasonable hour. It was 5.45pm for us and we finished unpacking and showered.
It looked like I was being a kind and wonderful husband by making Louise some coffee and toast and taking it upstairs to her while she got ready, but it was really just a selfish attempt to hurry things along and get us out of the house at an hour to benefit from the first day’s early rise.
I dressed in my smallest T-shirt knowing it may never fit again this trip.
At 7 a.m. on the dot, I was on the Disney app securing a virtual queue for Tiana. This was a pleasing start. Three days earlier in the UK, I had secured us Multipasses, hoping to make the first day go smoothly. As we were off-site, there were slim pickings in terms of times for our first of the day, so they pretty much only started from lunchtime.
We left the house at 8 am, which was right around the time I would have liked to have been waiting at the turnstiles to get into Magic Kingdom. It took 25 minutes to get there and we parked in Peter Pan 25. I had passed Rebecca the camera, not needing to explain what was required of her.
It felt a little cool this morning and we were surrounded by folks in several layers of fleece and long pants. The early start may have been catching up with some of us already.
We arrived at the tram stop as one was pulling away but that was because there was another right behind it. Tom, as would happen every day, got pulled for a manual bag check but we were getting closer!
The monorail looked stacked with a queue stretching right down the ramp, so we opted for the ferry. Of course, as we got very close to the entrance they closed the gate and it left. We could see another one coming in over the water.
We boarded after a few minutes and with being close to the front of the waiting guests we got a seat too. I hung over the side taking some more pictures.
These trips are often just a long stream of decisions about which line might move the quickest and typically me getting most of them wrong. Here was the next.
We were behind the usual collection of goons trying to use Blockbuster membership cards to get in, but finally, we made it.
I fired up the app looking for some guidance on which ride to head for first which wouldn’t have a long standby line. Three rides were currently down which was a bit shit and it proved to have a significant knock-on effect until our lightning lanes kicked in later.
Pirates, Jungle Cruise, and one other, which I forget were down. These big crowd soakers not being available meant that other rides were already mobbed. Buzz said it was ten minutes so we headed there and joined the queue which looked suspiciously longer than ten minutes.
The fact that we were queuing outside pointed towards a much longer wait and that we were able to see some local wildlife. Everyone thought this was a frog, but I toad them it wasn’t.
It took 45 minutes to get on the ride which was in danger of squashing the magical joy of that first-day arrival in Magic Kingdom. Still, everyone enjoyed the ride. We exited, immediately needing food. It was 10 am after all.
Options were slim I have to say. We settled on Friar’s Nook after seeing a longer queue at Gaston’s place for the Creme Brulee Croissant than we went through for Buzz. I mobile ordered and we made our way over. Tom and I waited whilst everyone else walked over to Pinocchio Haus to get a table. We waited for what felt like an age, but it was at least 20 minutes.
The boys had Hot Dogs and the adults all had these tot bowl things.
Our first LL was due now over at Barnstormer so we walked that way.
Thinking we might not fit in the same carriage, Louise and I sat this one out and had a tactical wee. Dougie absolutely loved what was his first rollercoaster ride.
Our virtual queue for Tiana was called. Louise volunteered to stay with Dougie and took him off for a walk to get him to have a nap. The rest of us walked up through Frontierland.
The wait in the virtual queue was about 40 minutes. It did feel odd that it wasn’t Splash Mountain, which was laced with so many memories for us, but it’s a good ride and Freddie loved it.
We were behind Go Pro guy….
.
As we left the ride, I did what I would do upon leaving and/or entering every attraction. I fired up the app to plan our next move or the move after the next three moves in most cases. I noticed that more rides were down and tried to take a picture of the app to show you all but, well…..
Second time lucky.
Obviously, this meant the wait times for anything still open were getting a bit silly.
We secured some of the Tiana “Beg Nets”, as Freddie called them and met up with Louise and a sleeping Dougie. Next, we used our LL for Big Thunder, with Louise and I riding second after sitting with Dougie.
Coffee was required now so we made our way right over to Tomorrowland and the Joffries there. This sort of summed up our experience today really.
That took half an hour only for me to then spill half of my (thankfully cold) coffee over myself when putting my straw in.
Dougie was back with us…
and Freddie was in heaven.
Because we are not stupid, Louise and I sat out with our coffees whilst everyone else rode Astro Orbiter. I took the chance to “fiddle with my fastpasses” in the app and managed to move some stuff around to better suit us. It is a full-time job these days.
Philharmagic next for everyone.
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Look how fresh and happy Dougie is after a good nap. During this trip I had a couple of “million-dollar ideas” and I hereby copyright them.
The first was Disney adding the concept of “Nap Pods” into their parks. They would be similar to the sleep pods in Japan…
You hire one for a couple of hours. They are air-conditioned and soundproof and allow you to catch some sleep before emerging looking as happy as Dougie did.
The second idea was that Disney should sell (much cheaper) dummy magic bands that kids under 3 wear. They beep when scanned but obviously don’t need to work for real. Dougie felt so left out as we all scanned into parks and rides, constantly lifting up his naked wrist to the scanner.
We were first into the theatre and I can confirm we moved all the way to the end of our row to avoid the cast members having to harass us as they did all the idiots sitting down in the middle with a full theatre trying to get in. Both of the boys really enjoyed the show.
We walked straight over to Small World for our LL there.
It was a big hit with Dougie.
Safe to say Freddie enjoys the faster rides these days.
It was time now to make our way out of the park and over to Wilderness Lodge for our Whispering Canyon ADR. The park was rammed and I think we all were welcoming the prospect of some quiet time.
We caught the boat over….
It didn’t take us as long as I expected to get there and we were pretty early for our 5 pm reservation. So we chilled in the lobby for a bit. There are worse places to be.
The camera once again fell into tiny hands.
Freddie then had a go with impressive results.
Mainly….
I had checked in via the app and as soon as they opened at 5 we were seated. Everyone ordered the unlimited skillet apart from Louise who had the Nachos.
Dougie being told no, he can’t have the camera again….
The food was so delicious and we had far more than we should have, getting our skillet refilled a few times. Beyond the odd shout for ketchup, I have to say there are no signs of any of the “shenanigans” that made this place legendary in years gone by. Go for the food as it is delightful, but from our last few visits don’t expect the fun and interaction there may have been in the past. Tom made the most of the bottomless milkshakes on offer here and all up it was $236 including an already-added 18% tip. This was due to our party size.
We waddled back to the boat and sailed back to Magic Kingdom. Golden hour was upon us.
It was getting a little chilly again, so Ryan was raided for Louise’s cardigan and the boys felt the benefit.
The resort monorail and a tram got us back to the car.
The traffic was horrific trying to join the 192. It does appear to be broken. You know of course that around this time we would make our first visit to CVS for vital things we needed but did not bring. We were home by 8 and all soon very much asleep.
As first days go, not our best. We had fun of course, but with so many rides being down it really buggered up the park today and if this were our first experience of Magic Kingdom it would not have been a favourable one. Even getting food and drinks proved troublesome which we have never really seen before. The Multipass thing did save the day I suppose at vast expense, but it’s pretty poor for off-site guests as by three days out there isn’t much left for the headliners and everything else has very few early slots available. You need your first LL to be as soon as you get in the park so that you can use that to then free up the ability to book another tier 1 ride. It’s complicated, expensive and needs constant attention throughout the day. Disney, please change this.
Here we are then. Just one workday stands between me and all the fun of the fair and as expected, last week surpassed itself with its length, drudgery and amount of pride-swallowing, ego-enduring nonsense that work can often be. The trick now is to try to push that and the stuff I know I’ll be returning to from my mind for a couple of weeks to make the most of what will be a hard-earned break. Yeah I know we take loads of holidays but in between we really work for them.
On Saturday I bought us Multi Pass for the first day, which, as the law dictates will be Magic Kingdom. I know that you know that I think this, but the cost of that at $29 each plus tax is just a piss-take. It really is and even for someone as dyed in the wool a Disney fan as I am, it really does impact my propensity to do their parks in future. We shall definitely be using that system only as a necessity as it just has such a huge impact on the budget. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, for us at least it just means we spend less time and money in their parks. Knowing that extra cost will happen we plan to eat off-site more than we would and I will be less likely to splurge on merchandise.
Anyway, with a bit of playing around with the original selections and times presented to us, I have what I think is a solid base for the first day. Being off-site scum of course we joined the party very late, just three days before our visit so despite only having the crumbs from the table of availability, I would give that a 7 out of 10. I have already begun to mentally come to terms with the fact that we will not get on Tiana’s new thing.
We hope very much that Dougie will make it on to Branstormer. He is soooo close to the height requirement, we just have to cross our fingers that he can do his first Disney coaster.
So as I type everyone else is out doing and buying those last-minute things you need (I’m told) for such a trip. Louise has us pretty much packed and she finished work on Friday so is now free to prep us to death.
The weather post-Milton looks glorious, at least for the next week or so, with nothing currently of any concern forming out to sea so we hope that continues. There was a brief concern about a “cold front” predicted for next Thursday, but context is important as that for Floridians means it will drop into the nasty mid-seventies (if you are young, don’t ask me what temperature that really is….just use the correct method for temperatures instead!). Such temperatures here have half the population shirtless and two out of three households holding mandatory barbeques, so I think we’ll be OK.
The last bit of planning I had to do was my “airport Dad” approach to what time we need to leave the house to get to the airport. This is not as simple as you may think. Since we moved house a few years ago we are a little further away from the airport and with this being a weekday departure and the M60 not being fit for purpose, it is hard to negotiate the journey without us being ridiculously early or late. With a flight at 11.25, our journey to the airport is right in the middle of the armageddon of rush hour so planning is crucial.
So my plan is to leave the house at 6.15ish, which even with the catastrophic traffic getting off the M61 onto the M60 and then battling that across Barton Bridge past the Trafford Centre, we should be getting to the airport I think around 7.30. I thought everyone worked from home these days, but the motorways of the North West tell a different story.
That gives us time to park the car. This will take a little longer as our usual place was full and we have to do a meet and greet option which I don’t really like as you have to figure out dropping your keys off at an “automated” set of lockers and it’s all a bit faffy. Once that is done that should get us to 8am or so and that is when check in opens. Being posh Premium superstars we should be escorted through that by our own personal valet within seconds and into security.
I don’t want to jinx it but when we did this last May the experience had undergone a big upgrade and improvement with seemingly new technology making the whole thing a breeze.
With that behind us, we have access to The Escape Lounge from 8.30 and all should be well. That’s just the journey to the airport which goes to prove that these holidays don’t just happen you know. From there it’s just a matter of surviving nine hours in a tube with a very rumbunctious Dougie. Wish us luck.
As ever, from time to time I’ll share as we go on the Mkingdon Facebook page. So give that a Like if you haven’t already.
Other than that, I think we’re done and we’ll see you back here in November!
Emily is home. She arrived back in the UK on Friday morning. If it is possible to experience the end of a WDW trip sadness by proxy, I did on Thursday watching their last day unfold in the WhatsApp group.
Knowing what an incredible time they had just made me genuinely sad for them that it was ending. Some spice was added to the end of their trip with Hurricane Helene’s arrival, and her impact coincided almost exactly with their flight departure. Thankfully for them and Orlando, she stayed off the coast but some of the scenes from the west coast of Florida were heartbreaking.
Having stayed at Siesta Key a few years ago, this was a shocking sight.
Orlando again seemed to miss the worst of things and we have every appendage crossed that nothing forms in the coming weeks to impact our trip. How selfish does that sound when thousands of folks lost their homes a few days ago?
You may already know this, but for anyone with Florida plans that may involve hurricane season, I have long followed Denis Phillips who gives incredibly regular, sensible and accurate updates whenever anything is heading to Florida. If you don’t already, he’s worth following to avoid trying to get info from all kinds of sources when it matters.
Anyway, within 12 hours of touching down on UK soil, Emily had done the sensible thing and booked again for next year. They will be going back with another couple, more first-timers, and it will be Emily’s 30th next year so it all made sense that a trip would be taken to mark that occasion.
They are staying at the All Stars again, but have to go in August as one of the other couple is a teacher, so flight costs will be horrific and with the hotel and tickets in the bag, their quest will be to source a flight for less than a family car.
I have two weeks (and one day) left at work before we go and, as ever, I am more than ready for it. It has been a hectic and demanding time at work and I feel pretty burnt out, despite having had a lovely holiday back in May. Louise feels the same but she’s a nurse so she deserves to much more than the desk-based, work-from-home most of the time Nancy boy I am.
I purchased some dollars last week, well, I loaded my Caxton card with some and was delighted to get a rate of 1.31. That delight is relative to the recent years of atrocious rates of course and I’d be much more delighted with the 1.5s or 1.6s that were the norm for so many years.
Rebecca’s ankle is improving rapidly, with the boot now mostly off and a lot of mobility back which is great news. She did have to return to A&E last week to have her elbow checked out as it was getting more and more painful and less useful with each passing day. Thankfully, again no broken bones just ligament damage and bruising causing the pain.
The decision was taken last week to cancel Halloween Horror Nights by Rebecca and Tom. Emily’s experience and comments on my blogs and other vlogs and blogs just made the whole expense and effort not seem worthwhile. They will find another evening to have some kid-free time I’m sure.
Hopefully, Louise and I can do similar and find an evening where we can do Jellyrolls. We really enjoyed the several nights we spent there last November on our park-free solo trip staying at Drury Plaza. We must do that trip again sometime.
It goes without saying that as we approach another trip I am desperately trying to trim a few pounds so I only come back as fat as I normally am. With every passing year it seems to get harder and at some point, I am just going to have to put up with being chunky and adorable. I’m a handful of pounds down from my heaviest, so if I can follow that with another handful or so in the next two weeks I may have myself some runway to eat what I like for a couple of weeks. My metabolism is a cruel mistress.
Two more of these posts before departure. You can get excited about that if nothing else.
The “highlight” of this week was a stomach-churning panic on Wednesday afternoon with a tearful phone call whilst I was at work (Rebecca was the one in tears, but if I’m at work there’s always a chance I am too) saying she had just fallen down some steps and broken her ankle!
I left the meeting I was in the middle of without explanation and flew homeward. Tom had got home to her first, so we arranged to meet at the hospital so I could take the boys home while they were seen in A&E.
When I looked at her ankle, I was sure it was broken. While waiting for them to arrive at A&E, I had already done some extensive googling on whether you could fly with a broken limb. It seemed to be the case that you could, but of course, doing WDW with a broken ankle would not be ideal.
A few hours later they returned home with the news that it was not actually broken, but there was severe tendon/ligament damage. She was in a boot and on crutches but relieved.
Of course, there is the small matter of managing everyday life on one leg with two young kids for the next few weeks but at least the holiday was not badly affected!
Just 24 hours later the huge swelling was much reduced so we are very hopeful she will be ambulatory by the time we fly. It was around this time that all the other injuries she had picked up all over her body started to hurt with the pain in her ankle subsiding a little. It was a heck of a fall.
The other daughter continues to have the best time ever over in Orlando. We receive a steady stream of food and drink pictures which is always welcome and not quite as painful as it might be if we were not headed there very soon. I feel very conflicted that I never want their trip to end as I know how much they are loving it, but it has to if ours is ever to get here.
Emily wept uncontrollably at Fantasmic as did most of us just watching the video she sent. There is something about that finale music in that show that just gets me.
On Wednesday they did Halloween Horror Nights and were, to be honest, a little underwhelmed, mainly due to the huge wait times for everything. Only one house was done as every house had wait times of well over an hour and even the food trucks had similar queues.
They made the most of it by attending the show, scare zones, and riding the rides, which did have low wait times. It seems you need Express, but the cost for that is huge/frankly ridiculous so now Rebecca and Tom are considering whether to bother or not on our trip as with the tickets and Express for those few hours would cost close to £500. That is tough to justify and seems a mad way to operate the event.
Why not double the cost of the entry ticket but sell half as many so those going can actually do some of the things they want to?
Amongst other things, they’ve also done Beaches & Cream, a load more walking and are generally living their best lives. Feedback from Mikey the first-timer is that he is blown away, already addicted and plans for next year are being hatched.
In my own planning, I have picked up the remaining reservations in and around Universal that I was looking for. The first at Toothsome on the night Rebecca and Tom are/were planning to do HHN. I’ve booked the meal for us all just in case they decide not to go and I can always amend it if they do go after all. If they don’t we’ll just have a night at City Walk.
The others are Cowfish and on our day in IOA I have booked us into Mythos. Despite me seeming to remember it has a very good reputation I think we have only ever done it once. It being within the park makes it handy, with us not having to come all the way out to City Walk to eat. We are booked at 5.30pm, so should we wish to do more in the park after that, we don’t have walk all that way back in.
I ticked off another milestone yesterday, getting a work event out of the way that always looks better in the rearview mirror. Three weeks left at work now. I’m hunkering down for the final push.
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