Spread your wings and fly away

17th August - a Visit to the Animals

After an uneventful night, I wake up to find it is boiling in our room. Notice that hubby has turned the air conditioning off and there is heat coming from the vents instead. Apparently he got cold in the night so instead of there being cold air, we now have warm air coming into the room. Head off for breakfast after dragging the kids from their bed and making them have a shower for which I get tagged a cruel mum!

The heat hits us as we head outside our room. It is only 8am and the pool is already full, it is at least 86 and I know it will get hotter. We decide to head off to Animal Kingdom today anyway, which is always at least 10° hotter here than any other park at Disney.

At the entrance to the park there were a couple of characters, whose names escape me, that Richard wanted his photo taken with and to get their autographs, so at least half an hour was used up while we waited in line for this to be done!

The park has 7 main themes in it; Oasis, Discovery Island, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Africa, Rafiki's Planet watch, Asia, and Dinoland. It is also home to the tree of life full of beautiful carvings

Once inside everyone headed for the new attraction, which was being built when we last were there, Everest. A rollercoaster ride, which I opted out of deciding to people watch instead. Met a lovely woman who was also waiting for her husband and children to get off the ride and we sat and chatted for a bit, swapping details of our journey over and where we were staying! They were very wet having been on a water ride before going onto Everest and the poor woman stood there dripping as we chatted!

Then they all went on a water ride, which again I opted out of and so did S ans she didn't want to get wet, so while they were on the ride, we found somewhere to sit and had a drink while we waited for them. Lots of ducks around us hoping for a bite to eat.

We then wandered around for a while then went on a Dinosaur ride where you whoosh back to primeval times for a wild ride of an expedition to rescue a stray dinosaur, and must beware the hungry clutches of one large meat-eating predator and the devastating power of an impending asteroid - which was quite fun!

After lunch of Pizza we split up, M & S going their own way while we went to explore on our own. No trip to animal Kingdom is complete unless you have done 'It's tough to be a bug', a 3D film about the life of bugs, with characters from A bugs life. Nig and I remembered to move our backs away from the chair and lift our feet up as the 'bugs' left the auditorium but forgot about the ones that run under your bum so we had a bit of a shock!

We then did the Safari ride, a pleasant trip looking out for animals that are looked after there

Feeling over heated and having drunk more water to fill a lake up, we decided to make our way back to the resort, to encounter the tail end of the parade

We all sat by the bar at the resort, the kids swimming in the pool while us adults had a drink or two and watched the lightning in the sky. Apparently it was a few miles away and no wasn't going to hurt us even though the tables we were sat at and the chairs we were sitting on were aluminum. If there was going to be a problem they wouldn't have been showing a movie on the big screen would they? reasoned my hubby as we sat there wondering if we would be hit. But no, we weren't we survived, it did seem to be miles away, the sky above us was clear and the air was humid, but no storm headed our way despite us being able to hear it wherever it was.

Did I say that I sat and drank the evening away?

Tut tut. Of course i didn't, I wouldn't do that now would I?

No of course not, we went back over to Epcot to see the illuminations instead!

August 16th

After watching the news this morning we are quite worried about reports of Hurricane Faye hitting the Orlando region sometime next week. Not that I am worried, I am English after all and we are made of stern stuff. I am determined that come what may we will enjoy ourselves so after a hearty breakfast, we head over to Hollywood Studios. Last time we were here, Hollywood Studios was known as MGM Studios so we are hoping that it has improved somewhat.

The 'streets' that you walk through at Hollywood are similar to ones you will find on film sets. Everything here centers around films and showbusiness as you would expect with a name like Hollywood Studios really

There is a new attraction there called Toy story Mania, an interactive 4d experience which fortunately we only had to wait in line for half and hour. then we grabbed some 3-D glasses before boarding our ride vehicle and zipping off into a world of immersive, midway-style games which included games hosted by Woody, Buzz, Rex and Hamm, a spring action shooter where you could launch virtual darts at balloons, rings at aliens, eggs at barnyard targets etc. we tried our hardest to beat the high score, but alas never came near it! It was good fun and the children thought it was the best ride ever!

Hubby, Si, S and M then made their way to the tower of Terror, something they have been looking forward to all year, before going to the Aerosmith roller coaster. Rich and I decided to opt out of this, get ourselves a drink and sit down waiting for them. Unfortunately it started to rain a little bit, so obviously it was the right time for a little retail therapy to happen in one of the many shops there

To avoid the rain when we all met up, we decided to have lunch in one of the many burger places that are scattered throughout, then once the rain had stopped and it became hot and humid again, we split up and headed off in different directions. Si and I went and did the Great movie show which really wasn't worth the bother as once I was in there I remembered it from our last visit and one of the girls who was playing a ganster really was wooden in her acting and kept fluffing her lines. We also did the Muppet 3D show as well which was as funny as I had remembered.

Meeting back at the hat (none of them people are us by the way) and stood and watched the parade that was coming up the street towards us.

We headed over to the Indiana Jones stunt show which was fascinating the
spent the rest of the time browsing round the shops there and trying to decide if we should buy anything or not. We headed back to the resort where we sat by the bar, drinking the night away, the poolside lemonade, made with Bacardi was very refreshing

August 16th - How to go round the world in a day Our first full day at disney and we decided, after breakfast, that we needed a relaxing day so we headed off to Epcot. Now Epcot is split into two parts - Future World and the World Showcase — both are unique and have wonderful attractions. Future world concentrates on the scientific side of life. You can learn about energy, planet Earth, go on a Fast track ride in a car on a track, go into space and learn to be an astronaut, hunt for Nemo to name just a few of the attractions on offer. We did most of it, though we didn't go into the innovations centre which has lots of interactive things to see and do which the kids love. The other part of the park is the World showcase, which is one of the best ways to see the countries of the world without boarding a plane, train or boat. Most countries have a movie where you can see their country in its glory, or other special ride or attraction. The architecture is outstanding as is the attention to detail - the leaning tower of Italy, the Eiffel tower in France. Where else can you visit China, Japan, Mexico, France, Canada, Britain, Morocco, Norway etc in a day! It was hot, in the high 90s and walking around you could see people around you getting burnt. We tried our best not to, applying the suncream every half hour. The children love Japan, went on a viking boat with hubby and got slightly wet, walked through Mexico and tried to book in their restaurant but unfortunately they were fully booked (note to self, next time book before you go ) At the entrance of the park is the Leave a Legacy site. This was set up as part of the celebrations in Epcot when we were last over there, so of course we had to find our tile amongst the many others that were there, on the walls of the statues that reached up towards the skies! Just one of the many hedge statues Hedge sparrows (there were lots of them everywhere) Mine! Mine! Mine! In the distance France A Tshirt in Canada Japan Germany China Epcot ball

13th August

After packing while my eldest son took the dogs for a long walk, dropping them off at the kennels then loading the car to head off to Gatwick airport, we really felt like we needed this holiday after, what has been a really stressful year for all of us.

We drove down the motorway through torrential rain. It wasn't pleasant and I was non too happy at being the one who was doing the driving, but hubby seemed to think my map reading skills were more dangerous than my driving.

After getting lost near the airport, we finally arrived at the Premier Inn where we were going to spend the night. The flight was for 11 the following morning and it is usually easier to stay overnight rather than fight your way through the car park commonly known as the M25 in the early hours of the morning.

We checked in then made our way to the airport to the twilight service, with Virgin, to check in our luggage easy as the queue was not very long and the person serving us was more than accommodating with our various wishes.

Back at the Premier inn, we met up with our friends who were coming with us (M&S), where we had dinner which wasn't that great for the price they charged, before we settled for the night where I didn't sleep all that well due to one child snoring, one child talking in his sleep, a hubby that snored and me trying hard not to have a panic attack and ending up hitting hubby in the face when I started to drift off!!

14th August

The day has arrived. Excitement creeps in, in a few hours we are going to be in the land of the Mouse yippee!!! Got up early, showered then met up with M&S for breakfast before we made our way on the coach to the terminal. Great having booked in the night before as when we got there the queues were massive! We went straight through security, fortunately we all decided that liquid items would be in the suitcase and not take any with us, so no need to have to delay putting them in them silly bags they give you at the airport like some passengers had to do.

We looked around the shops until our flight number appeared on the screens in front of us then made our way to the departure lounge where we spied our plane, ladybird, sitting there while everything was being packed on board. Eventually we were called to board the plane and once everyone was settled, it started to take off where eldest child starts to panic slightly. Fortunately I am sitting next to him, having volunteered to sit with the kids (big mistake) (hubby in another row) to hold his hand and calm him down a little, not helped by youngest child who says "Don't worry if we crash there will be nothing left of you you know!"

They fed us well, well as well as you can be fed with airline food. I had some sort of stew and dumplings, leaving most of it, but remembered to drink a lot of water and nibbled at some pretzels they handed out. We settled in to watch a film or two. The children wanted to watch Narnia, but unfortunately it wasn't working properly and after a few complaints the steward took it off. I sat and watched Fool's Gold starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, an ok film if a little predictable at times. I read a fair bit, dealt with a child that was irritating the hell out of me and listened to my MP3 player. Fortunately the children were good on the flight if a little annoying, plenty for them to do, watch or play as there are interactive games on board.

The mistake, youngest child didn't shut up the whole 9 hours we were in the air, constant chatter in total overdrive and by the end I could have quite happily killed him!!! Why oh why do airlines only offer fizzy drinks to children? I had to beg for an orange juice for him as fizzy drinks make him hyper so he isn't allowed them. Wasn't it bad enough he was on a natural high anyway, could they not see I was coming to the end of my tether!

Landed at Orlando airport, find our coach to take us to the resort, sit waiting on it for an hour as they were expecting another passenger who didn't turn up, and finally, we arrived at All Stars Music, booked in, unpacked and spent the evening chilling out by the pool, conveniently located near to the bar!!

This was in the window of our room to welcome us

And this welcomed us into the room on our bed