A Game For All The Family

Thanks for that Jim

Day 18

Keys to the kingdom tour.

Our alarm woke us up early this morning. Our tour was booked for 8:30am " 30 mins before the park opened " so we headed to MK feeling rather tired and sleepy still but excited about our day ahead!

We got to the park via the monorail as it was quicker than getting the boat. I decided to get an ECV as it would be a lot of walking today and I was worried about not being able to keep up with everyone else. After we picked it up we headed around to the side and into the park. I did think it would look really empty but there seemed to be quite a lot of people in the park considering it wasn't open yet. I did manage to get a picture of the horse and kart though.

We checked in for our tour and chose our lunch. We were told to help ourselves to water and tea or coffee so we took a bottle of water each for the tour and went outside to wait. We saw the back o the opening ceremony and watched all the characters come inside to their spots for the meet and greets.

Our guide came over and introduced himself, I cannot for the life of me remember his name though he was such an amazing guide, a bit like an American Brian Dowling. He had worked for Disney since he left school and he genuinely loved his job.

I won't reveal too much about our tour as I don't want to spoil it for others doing it, nor for those who don't want to know how the magic happens

We learned lots about the history of Walt and his family and the Disney company. We went on the Jungle Cruise and learned all about how it works and the story behind it. We also rode on the haunted mansion and learned of all the secrets behind the scenes. It was then time for lunch. Sy had a tuna sandwich (which he LOVED!) and I had chicken nuggets and fries. We sat with a couple from New York who were on their honeymoon.

We also got our special Pins

It was then time for the rest of our tour, which included a walk around underneath the park

After our tour finished we went to city hall to tell them what a wonderful time we had and how great our tour guide was. It was then time to ride the rides! We went round the park and just did our favourites, we also stopped to watch the parade, seeing as it poured down last time we tried to watch it hehehe. We also stopped to watch to Move it! Shake it! Celebrate it! Street Party. I don't quite know what was more entertaining though, the characters or the marshal!! He was really dancing with the children, it was so lovely to watch. Sy got his picture with him

We then headed to get something to eat, Sy wanted another tuna sandwich so we went back to get him one. After eating we went to Tomorrow Land to do some of our favourite rides. We rode space mountain twice and went on the laughter floor 3 times " the men in the ride even remembered us. It was then time to queue up for our Dessert Party! We were sat right at the front, and in fact we were sat next to another couple from the DIBB! We chatted for a while before the fireworks started and we stayed until they practically kicked us out after it had finished.

Some of our desserts

We were pleased to have done the dessert party but we wouldn't go again, I can honestly say there was only 1 thing that I really enjoyed. I tried a few different things but I didn't really like much. We said goodbye to the other DIBBer's as they were staying on for EMH and as we'd been in the park for 14 hours, we wanted our bed!

We were asleep before we headed to bed that night, it had been a long day. Tomorrow, Food and Wine festival in EPCOT.

we went for 3 weeks from the 17th of September after doing 2 trips of 3 weeks i dunno if i'll ever be able to go back to just 2 weeks

I will get on and finish this over the easter weekend I promise! xxxxx

Day 19

We didn't get up too early today, think we were still tired from the long day at Magic Kingdom yesterday! We did eventually get to EPCOT for about 11:30am. We had joined a photopass before we left but we had only used it once so far so we decided we would do our best to get some pictures today. As we went in, we managed to get a couple of pictures...

We decided to go on Test Track first, my favourite ride! For some reason the sound wasn't working though, it really impacted the ride actually, more that you would have thought it would.

Next we went over to Ellen's Energy Adventure, I seem to remember it being better than it was LOL, ah well, it was a nice sit down and gentle ride

We did manage to get a good picture outside the food and wine cake...

We then went to try the different Coke's " I had read online about the 'Beverley' so I made sure I told hubby how good it was supposed to be and that he should try it, he still hasn't forgiven me yet!! Teehee!

We went on Soarin' and had a walk around before heading over to the food and wine festival

We started by Canada and worked our way round. We tried lots of different food, but I am a really fussy eater so what really happened was I would pick something I fancied, have a bite and not like it and then give it to Simon, he said he was getting to the stage where he couldn't possibly eat anything else LOL. It was really nice being there even though I wasn't really eating much, the atmosphere is really good at the food and wine festival " in fact its my favourite time of year to go.

We did try something from the Mexican stand, it was like a suet/kind of dumpling pastry that had some green chicken inside. I swear to god, it tasted like dog biscuit. Really. I know you're now thinking how would you know what dog biscuit tastes like, well I used to steal them out of the dog's bowl as a kid, and that is what it tasted like. It was SO bad that even Simon couldn't eat it, and he will eat anything.

So by that time we'd been round once and it was starting to get late, we quickly went on test track again (twice!)

Us posing for the camera....

We then headed over to the American stadium so see Kool and the Gang. We hadn't realized how early people were getting there so we were sat right at the back. It was brilliant though, really really good! I would love to go again.

After watching them we had another wander round before getting settled to watch Illuminations.

By the time Illuminations finished we were really feeling tired, so we headed back to the car. On the way we stopped to get some photo's outside again with a great photographer who made us pose in all different positions...

It was then time to get back to our hotel and into bed.

Day 20

Woke up about 9am and decided to go next door for some breakfast, we were right next to an IHOP.

We got seated quickly but our waitress didn't come over to us for about 20 mins, we were getting a bit annoyed cause we were starving but she was very apologetic when she did come over.

I had lots and lots of pancakes (what else?) and Simon had a full breakfast, I cant remember what it was called though.

We then grabbed our things and headed over to Typhoon Lagoon. We still got there fairly early as it opened at 10am. We went straight over to the crush and gushers and tried all 3 out with no queue whatsoever. We then decided to buy a refillable drink and found a table and chairs not on the sand (I'm not a fan of sand), it was right by the lazy river so that's what we decided to do next. We only went round once, it's massive so it took ages to do a full circuit. We then got out and headed over to try out some big waves.

My favourtie place for the waves was very deep, but Sy didn't like it out too deep cause he was getting tired from treading water (whimp!), so his favourite place was much shallower. We were getting knocked over by the waves. I have to say I was worried about the floor ripping my feet/knees/body in some way but we didn't really notice the rough floor.

We tried out the other rides after that but we didn't really find them as good as crush and gusher.

We decided to get out at about 2:30pm as we were going to a DTD DIBB meet at 3pm, though we did say we would probably be late (the DIBB is a UK Disney forum ). While getting changed I ripped my nail off and it was bleeding everywhere " I don't really know how it happened, I just reached for my towel and it bent back and ripped off. So I had to find the first aid centre and get a plaster. The lady in there was really nice and gentle, she put a few different things on there before putting the plaster on to stop it hurting and bleeding. I know I'm a bi baby but it really hurt and whatever she did, made it much better

We then headed over to the Margarita Bar at DTD to meet a lot of DIBBer's.

We then headed back to our hotel to get changed and ready for tonight, going to see Cirque Du Soleil.

The show was amazing, we sat in the front stalls to the side but I would have been happy to have sat anywhere inside. I wont give out any details of the show, I don't want to ruin it for other people who want to go and see it but lets just say it was worth every penny.

After the show we had a wander around DTD, we got an ice cream in the haagan daz shop and sat outside watching a group of young guys singing and playing musical instruments, they were really talented.

By that time it was getting really late so we headed back to the hotel ready for an early start tomorrow " our last full day in Florida

Sadly didnt take any photo's today

Day 21

Busch gardens!

We had to be up early and head over to Busch to do a Giraffe feeding safari at 11:30am. We tried to get moving early but we were really tired, so we were late leaving and didn't have time for breakfast, we did end up finding a McDonalds on the way though.

By the time we got there we were really pushing it to get to our safari, we tried checking in but they couldn't find our details (the bank card we had used to book had expired and they couldn't find us). When they did eventually find us we literally ran over to where we had to leave from. We didn't need to run though as we were then sat there for about 15 mins before we left. Once on the open bus we were given the brief on what to do when, how to brace ourselves etc. As we were pulling out, the bus that was coming back had Rachel and Kevin on " not that we saw them though, but they did see us and told us about it later. (this was the 3rd day we were in the same place at the same time!).

Feeding the giraffes was one of the highlights of our holiday, we were so pleased we had saved something this good for our last day.

The rest of busch was a let down, lots and lots of rides were closed, including most of the big rollercoasters. Simon insisted he wanted to go on the wooden rollercoaster, I told him how awful it was but he really wanted to give it a go.... Afterwards he said he would trust me in the future

We did really enjoy seeing all of the animals at Busch. We sat down for some chips at one point where 1 squirrel decided he wanted to share them, he was climbing my legs, the back of my chair and taking the food from my hands, I've never seen such a tame wild animal!

We didn't stay too late in the park as most things were closed, so we headed home again to get changed before going out for dinner.

We decided to go somewhere we hadn't tried before and went to Chili's on I Drive. They had a meal deal, a starter to share and 2 mains for $20, it may have even included drinks! (i dont remember lol). The food was fab, in fact we were so sat we hadn't tried it before cause we would have gone more than once on our trip, great value and great food! The waiter who served us was really lovely too, he stood chatting to us for ages.

This was our starter...

We then headed back to the hotel to pack and get ready to going home tomorrow

Day 22

Home time.

Had to be up fairly early to finish packing and check out of the hotel we still had a load of beer's left as our dad's left left them for Simon to drink, and he didn't drink them lol. We tried all day to get rid of them but no one wanted them lol, will get to that later though.

We checked out of the hotel and headed to DTD to ride on the helium balloon. It was brilliant, there were only a few people up on it with us.

After that we went to get a drink and sit down, I have to say I felt really really low though I was trying to hide it. The thought of going home and leaving was horrid

We then headed to the airport as we were going to have something to eat while we were there in outback. While we were dropping the car back we were offered lots of luggage helpers but we had no dollars (only the fairfx card) so they weren't interested in helping after that " I did offer someone a full case of Bud to help us while he took and then never came back, so that is what happened to the bud!

We checked in and waved goodbye to our bags and went through to airside. We waited for a while for a table at Outback and were given a table for 4, we were just about to order our food when we saw Nicola and Fred so we called them over and asked if they would like to join us. Their flight was a little after ours. We sat talking for a while after dinner before we had to head off to our check in gate.

The sun was setting as we were waiting for our flight, it was really beautiful, it made leaving even harder.

This was us waiting for our flight

Once on board there was a lot of seat shuffling. There were quite a few TV screens that weren't working. We had 3 seats in the middle to the 2 of us but they moved someone next to us, who then moved back a short while later " I think we must have smelled

Neither of us slept much on the way home but we did get some sleep once we got home, in fact we made the fatal error of sleeping most of the day... and thus we were up all night! Ah well, nevermind

And that's it. The end of the Trip Report, I feel quite sad really that i've finished. What takes the edge off is that in 8 days time I will be back on the flight, on the way to Tampa and then a short drive to Orlando! WOOHOOO!

You must get those tickets booked, its amazing i would love to do it again