The last minute bargain trip - May 2013

Day 7

I was the first to wake up again this morning at 7am, I let Sy sleep till 8:30 - I just stuck the TV on low and watched some Fresh Prince reruns. The planner told us we were off to Universal today

After we were up and dressed we headed out the door, stopping at McDonalds on the way for some breakfast on the go, no time for stopping today.

We valet parked the car, as we have the premium annual passes we get this for free We hopped on the escalator and got half way up and it stopped, but it didn't just stop it threw us forward and we both almost fell over! Thanks for that universal we walked up the rest of the way and told the security guy at the top, he didn't seem too worried. We made our way through Citywalk to US. First ride of the day was Shrek as there was no queue. I love this show, especially the bit going through the gingerbread man's house

Next up was Twister, I know this gets a bad rep but I just love it - its was my first ride ever at Universal when I was younger, I'll never forget my mum screaming as the floor went she still swears she thought she had broken it!

It does make me sad though to think people do lose their homes in these extreme weather storms.

Next up, the Mummy! We went and dropped our things off in the free lockers and headed inside. I was a bit worried in case I felt sick as I get motion sick sometimes. I made the mistake of saying something to Sy and the guy the other side of me gave me a really panicked look and told me if I need to be to aim it the other way! Oops! I needn't have worried, I was fine We then walked over to Disaster and had just a 10 min wait. I think I like the pre show to this more than the actual ride/show. It still makes me nostalgic for Earthquake though.

We then walked over to MIB passing a corndog stand on the way so Sy just had to have one

I cant quite believe this, but I actually won MIB! Me, a girl! And I won by quite a fair distance Sy then proclaims that he doesn't like that ride... funny that hahaha.

We then walked past the Simpsons and grabbed a pizza for lunch. I kinda forgot to take pics of the lunch but tbh, once you've seen one American pizza you've seen them all it was okay, nothing too special. But it filled a hole We did have a little friend sat next to us trying to steal our food though... another couple gave him a chip.

Once we were finished with lunch we walked back to watch Fear Factor, we have never seen it before. If you have already seen it you will know what I mean when I say I was nearly vomiting!! If you haven't seen it, think of something along the lines of Jackass but a bit more of a controlled environment.

We decided to then make our way to E.T. who doesn't like this ride? What's not to like? I love helping E.T. save his home planet

The sky was looking like it might rain again so we decided to head out of US back to the hotel. Though on route we took a detour via DTD. I wanted to have a quick look round some of the shops

We did also get a drink and an ice cream in Giardelli's " I wasn't that keen on the ice cream, it was so sweet and sickly. I had a vanilla and Sy had mint chocolate chip. The sun was already back out by now but there were still big black clouds in the sky.

We got back to the hotel for 5pm and chilled out for a bit before heading back out again, this time to MK. Driving in we saw this sign for the first time this trip...

We parked up and decided to get the ferry over.

Killing time I also got a picture of the infamous Crocs

On the Ferry

Once we got inside the park we hopped on the train and went round to Frontierland. We didn't get to ride Splash Mountain on our last trip as it broke down every. single. time. we went to ride it. And we were there 3 weeks! But if that wasn't bad enough, we had already tried to ride it once on this trip and it was broken down. I was a woman on a mission though we were headed straight for it, I had already checked the my Disney experience app to make sure it wasn't down Success! We managed to ride

Just to note, it was now raining so we had the ponchos on because of that, we're not those wimpy people who put the ponchos on so we don't get wet on the ride

Now ,I cant be the only person who sees this part of the ride and has a childish giggle to themselves...

Does that represent a certain part of a man's anatomy to anyone else?

I managed to snap this beauty just as we started tour way down the big one, this is might be my favourite picture of the holiday!

It had stopped raining again so we took off the ponchos and decided to ride Big Thunder Mountain. We got in the queue and as we got to the front we saw the rain had started again and was coming down quite hard... so we quickly put the ponchos back on again. Oh dear, this ride is so not good in the pouring rain, the speed was driving the rain in places I didn't know I had! And it blooming hurt when it got you full in the face! I think I will skip this ride in the future when its raining it was funny though

We then walked over to Haunted Mansion. Those pop up heads at the end always make me jump, even when I know they're coming. By now the rain was in for the night, we were walking round ankle deep in water - I kid you not! So deciding that the parade and fireworks would probably be cancelled we made the decision to head back to the hotel to dry off. It was 8:15 when we left, far too long to hang around on the off chance wishes would be on at 10pm.

Back at the hotel we got changed and went out in the search of food but we were super tired. We went to try Miller's Ale house but it was rammed and as I was tired I didn't want to wait, we tried a few different places but they were all busy so we made the decision to just get McDonalds take out and eat back in the room, a bit of a let down as we had gone back to change when we could have just picked it up on the way home, but hey ho, that's the way it worked out tonight.

We ate dinner in bed and went to sleep at about 10pm. At 11pm a coach load of people checked in and one family spent half an hour stood outside our door, shouting down to their friends 8 doors down! I don't even know why they had to stand outside our door as we were the very last room. 3 times I went out to them to ask them to be quiet. They weren't English so I have no idea if they understood what I was saying but they must have understood what I meant when I went out in my PJ's half asleep! 3 TIMES. These were women of my mum's age, ie old enough to know better. GRRRRR. Have I mentioned that I'm a bit of a mad woman when I get woken up?! Once they left and went to their rooms I lay there awake for about an hour, I was too angry to sleep. I can laugh about it now, I'm just the worst person ever when I'm tired and woken up (just ask Sy, he never wakes me and stays away from me if I've had to get up early )

Day 8

We were woken up by Sy's alarm that he doesn't remember setting at 7:30am. You may remember what I said in my last post about being woken up...... hmmmmm. Sy was not in my good books this morning! I did manage to drop back off to sleep though but was then woken up at 8am by a coach in the car park constantly hooting its horn, I mean COME ON! What has a girl gotta do to get some sleep round here?! Eventually I went out and gestured at him** that I wasn't happy, I didn't shout or anything as he was inside a coach and unlikely to hear me, and I didn't want to wake anyone else up if they weren't already. He got my message though and didn't do it again.

**please note that when I say gestured to him I mean that I waved my arms around a bit, not that I stuck my fingers up to him hahaha.

Gave up trying to sleep after that and instead lay in bed for a bit writing up trip notes for a while before getting dressed and deciding where to go today. The plan said IOA but it was pouring with rain still and lots of water rides are just no fun in the rain. So we settled on yet more Epcot! Sy wanted to get more stamps in the little passport thingy (I knew that thing was gonna come back and bite me in the ass!).

We got dressed and put the ponchos on in the room as we didn't want to get soaking walking to the car, only they were still soaked from the day before - oh dear! We did leave them hanging up in the bathroom but they hadn't really dried at all.

When we got to Epcot we walked round World Showcase and Sy got lots of stamps in his book, we spent a lot of time looking at the different topiaries. Here are a selection of them starting with the butterfly garden.

When we were walking past England we noticed we were just about time to meet Mary Poppins! Yay! So we got in line - and we were in fact the first in line we waited for 5 mins and then a CM came out and spoken with a family who were behind us and said that they were the front of the queue and everyone had to get behind them, erm helloooooo, we were standing there way before them. They happily accepted knowing full well we had been there before them. Grrr! Ah well, we soon got over it Sy wasn't happy about this stop as he isn't really into character meets and it looked like it was about to rain so when Mary Poppins was 15 mins late he was getting even more annoyed and told me that we should leave it. I had never met her before though so there was no moving me Eventually someone came out though and took us inside, Mary didn't want to come out in case it started raining (which it did about 15 mins later!).

Sy took pictures of me instead of getting in them.

We decided to try for a walk up at Teppan Edo when lunchtime came around, plus we wanted to get out of the rain And we were in luck! We were sat with a family for 4 and another couple. They were all great - talkative and friendly, though the children didn't seem to talk at all and just play on their phones all through dinner. This is a bit of a pet hate of mine as I think its rude - rude to their parents, rude to the other diners and rude to the servers and chef. But enough of my ranting Our server was brilliant, my diet coke never got below half full. I ordered the chicken and Sy the steak and shrimp. As always we had a wonderful meal.

We declined dessert as Sy had already eyed up something outside from the food booth. Frushi - fruit sushi. He said it was AMAZING.

Once we were finished with dinner and frushi we walked towards the exit to get the monorail over to MK, we stopped on the way to ride figment and got some pictures of us playing afterwards.

We even made our own Figment

We then hopped on the monorail and got to MK just in time for the 3pm Parade! Yay.

Afterwards we headed for Monsters Inc laugh floor.

I made a huge mistake in there, oh the shame! They put the camera on a baby in the audience behind me but my shadow was on them so I tried to move out of the way so they could be seen properly, yep I was an idiot and moved right in the way so I was on the big screen! Nooo! I moved back pretty sharpish but it was too late, they moved the camera onto me and taunted me for my photobomb *the shame* they then picked on Sy though which made me feel slightly better, they went between the baby and him saying 'before, after, before, after' I thought this was so funny as I always wind Sy up saying he looks like a giant baby! Hehehehe. I still feel the shame of my mistake now though, I will never move in there again no matter if I'm in the way or not hahaha.

Once the colour had left my cheeks we went to ride Buzz. Sy won of course

We then headed out back to the hotel while the sun was out in the hope to do a bit of swimming and washing

Hayley, Gareth, Matt, Sue and Harry arrived yesterday and as it was May the 4th today Matt and Gareth were heading to HS to see the special star wars things. Hayley and Sue were doing the sensible thing of watching wishes from their room and having an early night. I was invited to go over and let Sy go off with the boys but as Sy didn't really know either of them and never met them before he was a bit nervous to go on his own, so I went with the boys.

Wifi was total rubbish tonight, I could not get hold of Matt (Gareth didn't have his phone) so we just got a spot for the fireworks and hoped to find them after. We waited an hour in front of the hat and DJ stage. It was very much an adult atmosphere here tonight and very, very busy. I wouldn't have felt all that happy had I been here with young children, it was shoulder to shoulder. I was actually really thirsty but I knew we wouldn't be able to get out from where we were or get back again so decided to wait till after the fireworks.

The fireworks were brilliant, now I am not into starwars, I have never seen the films and I have no interest to however they were seriously good fireworks even for someone who didn't know half the music.

Once they were finished we dashed over to the American Idol steps so we could see above everyone and hopefully see Matt and Gareth and success! We did! We hot footed over to them and grabbed them before they could run away

We stood chatting for a bit while we waited for the area behind the hat to reopen so that we could run to Toy Story Mania as soon as it opened - okay if you know me then you know I don't actually mean 'run' but walk fast (I don't do running). Sy won out of the 4 of us and I came last (the only girl you see, the guys have that advantage over me) and we then made our way to Tower of Terror.

Gareth didn't fancy riding so he waited outside. As we were in the queue I started feeling strange and a bit dizzy. By the time we got to ride I didn't think it was a good idea, I was starting to feel quite sick, so the attendant took me round to the exit. I found Gareth and told him I was going in search of the bathroom, I felt like I did last year in Halloween Horror Night. I came out of the bathroom and the guys were all there. So we walked towards to exit, only I started to feel *really* sick at this point and had to go to the bathroom half way up the road in between the shops. I would go into the aircon bathroom and start to feel better and come back out to the heat and start to feel sick again. Gareth saw me popping in and out of the bathroom and went to get me a bottle of water - what a sweetie! (did I mention that I had never met him before?! What a first impression he must have had). To cut a long story short I was very sick in the bathroom and Sy went to get me a wheelchair to get me out as I was so dizzy while Matt and Gareth waited with me. Talk about knights in shining armor. I should have stayed with the girls but even so the guys took such good care of me, I was so embarrassed for the second time today. I don't like being ill in front of other people.

Sy had explained to the guys with the wheelchairs what had happened so they said there would be no charge and they gave me a special chair that could be taken to the car, they told Sy just to leave it there and they would come and collect it later and not worry about returning it. Disney service at its best! Thank you Disney. I felt so much better sitting down. I don't actually know how I would have walked out to the car without being sick as everytime I moved I wanted to be sick again. I have no idea what brought all this on, I can only think it was over tiredness and not enough to drink. So a note to everyone reading this, make sure you drink plenty while you're in Florida!!

We got back to the hotel and I was in bed by half past midnight feeling rather sorry for myself

Aw thank you, it was a present from my mum, she knows me so well! I had actually been on the day she bought it and seen it in the shop near me and when I got to hers that evening she told me she saw something and thought of me and that was it!

See there is nothing I would like to eat in Victoria and Alberts it's all a bit fussy for me me and my simple taste buds lol

Thank you, I hope you're enjoying reading

Day 9

After yesterday's ickiness I woke at 4am, took pain killers and nodded off again. I slept till 10am and took more pain killers. I was really annoyed with myself cause I had a message from Hayley asking us to breakfast with them and then MK if we wanted to join them, but that was ages ago. I messaged Hayley back but knew they would have no wifi so she probably wouldn't get the message for a while. We got dressed anyway (slowly for me) and decided to head to MK in the hope of meeting up with them.

We valet parked at the Poly so that we could pop into Captain Cook's to get some pastries - I had been eyeing them up when we came to get Dole Whip the other day. I had a croissant while Sy had a toasted bagel. We then walked down and got the boat over to MK.

Boy it was busy! I tried to log onto the wifi but it was playing up again grrrr. We wandered down a very busy main street and watched the Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it parade.

We then went in search of something to eat, we were early for lunch but those pastries didn't really fill us up.

The queue for the Columbia harbor house was out of the door and snaking round outside. That was it, I was hot, I felt rough still and there were too many people - I wanted out!

We headed back out of the park via the monorail after staying a whopping 45 mins inside the park. I think this might have been the shortest time I have ever spent in a park lol. On the monorail we were trying to decide where to eat as we were getting really quite hungry now, and we thought we would try Sanaa for a walk up - if they couldn't fit us in it was a quick drive to the 192 and lots of restaurants there. We were in luck though, they were half empty! We asked for Josh to be our server, he hasn't actually served us before but he lives with our friend James (who works in Tony's on main street) and we met him a few times last year, once being when they came over to our villa in AKL and he told me all about the different animals that were there. Being a server in Sanaa I guess they have to know all about the animals. He also told me a few funny stories, like when they brought in the new young zebra who couldn't contain his excitement with all the new women around if you know what I mean hehehe

Josh was so pleased to see us, really made us feel welcome, a part of me was worried he might not recognize us a he must see so many different people but he knew right away. I guess we are pretty recognizable lol.

Sy decided to get a Tandoori chicken wrapped in a naan while I had spicy Durban chicken and butter chicken with rice and 1 naan bread. We so loved our food. Sy was sad he didn't get the curries but he did really enjoy his meal. They have changed the recipe of the naan since we were here last year and they were even better! In fact they were so good I asked Josh to bring me out another Yep, I was being a heffer

Once we had finished Josh brought over the dessert menu but we were too full. Sy was hankering for the rice pudding he had last year and loved but we just couldn't fit it in. So we asked for the bill. The sweetie that Josh is though he said we couldn't leave without a dessert so brought us out one anyway. I cant remember what it was though, he did tell us but all I remember is Sy loved it and I didn't.

We paid and said goodbye and hoped to see him again before we left, if James would ever answer my blooming texts! He works 2 jobs so doesn't get much time off.

We walked back up and started chatting to the DVC guide and told him we were booked in for a DVC tour later in the week but wondered if we could move it to today, after some calling round he was able to find a guide at the Boardwalk. We wanted to drive over but he insisted we get one of DVC cars over. While we waited for the DVC car he let me use his computer to see if Hayley had messaged me back, as the wifi still wasn't working for me, she hadn't but later on she said she was having the same problems as us with the wifi.

The car came and the very nice driver chatted to us all the way there. Once there we were greeted by a guy called Tim. We had the talk, if you have ever had one you know pretty much how it went, and if you haven't you probably wouldn't have the first idea what I was going on about We got all the prices and costs etc and went away again feeling a little deflated. We just didn't click with him and felt he was spinning us a line half the time. If this had been the first time we had been into talk about DVC we probably would have decided not to buy, but we have done the tour before and done lots of research online.

We got dropped back to AKL for 5:30pm and picked our car up. We made our way back to the hotel with the idea of changing and having some pool time but as son as I walked in the door and my wifi came back I had millions of messages and emails from Hayley, she had been having the same trouble with Matt and was getting a complex as neither of us were getting back to her, oops! Blame Disney wifi I text her right back and she asked us over to theirs. So we quickly changed, grabbed the beers (and a load of washing, thanks guys for letting us use your machines!) and made our way there, glad to be able to ask them all about their DVC purchase to help us make up our mind whether to buy direct or resale.

We got there just as Matt, Sue and Harry got back too (they were sharing a 2 bed) I did feel a bit bad cause they had only just walked in from a busy day and had guests straight away. I shouldn't have worried though as they made us just as welcome as Hayley and Gareth did and chatted to us about DVC for ages too - always good to have another perspective I've written in my notes, Harry is the cutest little boy ever, I think we might steal him hahaha! Watch out Matt and Sue

We stayed for hours chatting and watched wishes from their living room, ahhhhhhh! Perfect

We left shortly after the fireworks aware that we were more used to the time difference now but they had only been there a couple of days so might be knackered in the evenings, I still think it was about 11pm when I finally got Sy out the door - he can talk for hours. We hadn't had any dinner so Sy wanted to stop by Steak and Shake, he had been talking about it with Gareth and Matt the night before and tonight and wanted to be in the gang and try one imagine if you will some kind of an initiation or something

He was very, very happy. He really enjoyed his first of what would become quite a few Steak and Shake meals I was starting to feel a bit sick again so didn't want any food, I just needed to lay down so I didn't get anything and we went back to the hotel for Sy to eat.

Once back at the hotel and lying down I started to feel a bit better and thus a bit hungry. My wonderful hubby that he is then suggested he go out and get me something while I stay in bed so that I didn't start to feel poorly again. I know sometimes I moan about Sy and get annoyed with him, but he always looks after me and I should be far more grateful than I sometimes am He got me a McDonalds which I ate in bed. It was about midnight by the time we went to sleep.

Animal Kingdom tomorrow with Hayley & Gareth, we arranged it before we left their place tonight.

Day 10

Woke up at 8am this morning, think I was worried about sleeping too late as we had made plans to meet Hayley and Gareth. I got dressed and nagged Sy to get up and get dressed while I skyped home. We finally left the hotel by 9:30am, too late to stop for breakfast - I hate keeping people waiting. So we decided to get a pastry from the little cart outside AK.

I spotted Hayley and Gareth waiting so went over to them, while Sy grabbed the parties.

First stop was the Safari, while the animals were hopefully out They were out, we saw lots of animals, some we have never seen before on the safari! We even saw the lions moving - who knew they moved?! For a few years I thought they were a bit like the baby elephant - fake but now I have proof!! Its kinda hard to see the lioness, I took the picture quickly before she lay down again lol.

We then walked to Everest, I wanted to make the most of Hayley being there, and let her go on with Sy, while me and Gareth waited in the shade, we both suffer motion sickness. It got him out of riding too - or at least helped him not to feel too guilty about making Hayley ride on her own

I then suggested Dinosaur and everyone said yes... so off we go and just as we get to the front Hayley and Gareth confess they don't actually like this ride, oops! We didn't have to ride, they should have said. We asked for the front row so at least we weren't thrown about quite so much.

In the shop afterwards Sy bought a t-shirt that he had been eyeing up the other day.

We then went to Restaurantasauras as we hadn't had much for breakfast. Sy and I shared chicken nuggets and drink, poor Hayley and Gareth just waited for us.

After eating we decided to head back to BLT to get out of the sun a bit, it was such a hot day! Clear blue skies and no breeze. We hung out in the room a bit with Matt and Sue, Harry was having a nap. Matt facetimed Nicola while we were there so we could all say hello Sue had just brought some new hair straighteners and was testing them out so I offered to do the back for her - its always a nightmare trying to straighten the back of your hair, well it is for me anyhow They were brilliant straighteners, took the curls out right away. Might have to ask Sue which ones they were for me.

We then walked over to Magic Kingdom, it was much better today - but it was still packed. We went to Fantasyland first and rode the Little Mermaid.

We then went to see Enchanted tales with Belle but the queue was too long. We went on It's a Small World instead.

We then went into Tomorrowland and rode Buzz, we let the boys ride together while Hayley took me on and showed me where all the big scoring targets are (of which I promptly forgot )

Look at the concentration on the boys faces

It was so hot so we decided to get on the People Mover for the breeze as you whip round.

We were in for a treat though as Space mountain had broken down and they had all the lights on trying to fix it! I took LOADS of pictures.

We then got a drink from the Ice Cream shop and made our way to Pirates just in time for it to break down so we decided to ride Jungle cruise instead. Our skipper was a girl called Pat, she was funny but not as good as the guy the other day.

By now time was getting on and we were heading to Ohana for dinner so that's where we headed. We went to get on the little boat and as we were walking over some people ran round us and in front of us, but hey, we're on holiday so what do we care? Until just as we reached the boat we were told it was now full and we would have to wait for the next humph, slithly more cross with them now. Thanks for pushing in, I hope you felt guilty! We decided to get the monorail rather than wait in case we missed the ADR time. We got there at 5pm, the ADR time wasn't until 5:20pm so we checked in and went to grab a drink. Just as I went to the bathroom the buzzer went off, Doh! Hayley came to grab me and we were led to our table right by a window. It was really nice Our server was called Joe and a little bit strange, good though he took our drinks ordered and before we could blink our tables was full of food haha. The bread came as we sat down, then salad, then noodles and stir fried veg, then pork dumplings and chicken wings, then sauces and the chicken on skewers came. It was a bit of an overload all at once! It didn't matter though. Hayley was sure to say really loudly about me only eating the chicken so to make sure I take enough and sure enough our server kept bringing chicken for me afterwards thanks Hayley Sy and Hayley were all about the shimp, I swear the server put more than a whole skewer on Hayley's plate at one point! The food was all so good. I skipped the dessert as I hate bananas and coconut but had some of the ice cream.

Here are a few pictures of the evening.

I think Sy and Hayley enjoyed the shimp as this was their plate of shells and tails...

After dinner we got the monorail back to the Contemporary and waddled back to the car, we said goodbye at the lifts and thanked them for the fab day.

We then went back to the hotel and just chilled out watching some TV. We got back at about 8pm and stayed awake till about 10:30pm.

The final line in my notes says 'had such a great day with Hayley and Gareth, we've found great friends in them' ahhhhhhh, think I was tired and sentimental hahaha

Yes I do eat the chicken wings too, they were scrummy! I was literally so excited to see it with the lights on.

Hahaha yes you did i'll never forget the strange man coming up to me and saying 'I think I know you' while walking along in HS

It was SO good, I can't say enough good things about it

Believe me, there was NO wasted food on our table (bar a few bits of the bread )

Day 11

We took it easy this morning after waking up at 9. We leisurely got dressed for Typhoon Lagoon, we are less bothered by the rides here so as long as we could get somewhere to drop off our things it didn't matter what time we got there. We headed out the door and stopped at Publix on the way to grab something to eat and a few more drinks. I picked up 2 croissants while Sy got the biggest sub I have EVER seen, there's no way I would have even managed half! But Sy showed why he has the gut he has and wolfed the whole thing on the way to TL - while I drove. The croissants were pretty yuk they weren't like normal croissants - they were soft. I ate 1 on the way there.

We finally got to TL for 11:30am. We went to get changed and buy a new barcode for the mug we got last year, the mugs have changed now but they said it was fine to still use my old one We then walked around** a little while looking for somewhere to leave our things. We finally found 2 chairs on the beachy area. We stood putting on suncream when something hit my arm, as the lovebugs were out in force I thought it might be one of them, and shook it off. Only it didn't shake off. I turned my arm over and oh would you look at that, a bird had crapped on me. Am I cursed at Typhoon Lagoon??! I put suncream on Sy's back but he moaned that it was cold, big baby! He even accused me of deliberately putting loads on to be mean I wasn't, he has a lot of back to cover - its just a happy coincidence that it was cold hehehe

**note that I walked very carefully after falling over last year

First up was the wave pool, we spent some time chilling out in the shallow end and then I swam off to as deep as you can go while Sy stayed shallow, after that massive sub he wasn't so sure about the hardcore swimming he would have to do in deep end to stay afloat. I however didn't have that problem as I hadn't eaten something the size of a small dog so off I swam.

After playing in the wave pool a while we decided to grab a ring and sail along the lazy river, this is my idea of heaven!

We then grabbed a drink and sat on our little seats.

While we were sat there a big black bird came to land on the empty sun lounger near us, he then proceeded to pull a whole packed of crackers out of the bag that the people left there, and fly off! Well, he tried to fly but it was too heavy. At first I was so stunned I just sat there and watched but when he dropped the packet I ran to pick them up and put them back, and then covered the bag with a towel to stop him coming back. What a cheeky bird!

After a bit of sunbathing (or sunshading as far as Sy is concerned) we head back into the wave pool again, where we stayed for about an hour. We then decided that we had chilled out enough and packed up to head back to the hotel. On route to the changing rooms we spotted this guy...

Who's idea was it to have a picture of me in a swimsuit?!

After a quick change we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for this evening's festivities. Olly Murs :D

Back at the hotel I notice Sy's back was a little pink, well some of it was pink, and some of it was white still where I sprayed the suncream. Imagine a pink and while Dalmatian hahahaha well serves him right for not letting me put enough on and moaning We showered and got ready to go, we needed to leave with enough time to pick up our tickets from Will Call. Sy snapped a picture of me outside.

We were so shocked to see the queue outside - we were early but some of these girls had blankets out on the floor to sit on! They must have been there all day. We picked up the tickets and made our way over to the disabled ramp. There were a few people in front of us. The couple in front of us were English and started chatting to us, the man said he knew Olly and then said the girls here were wasting their time and hinted that Olly was gay I'm not sure I believed him though Before long though, Lynn came up in the queue behind us with her hubby and son. It was so lovely to meet her and chat to them all. We had nearly met the day before in Animal Kingdom, we were all there but our paths just didn't cross. We knew Lynn was going to be there, we had gushed about seeing Olly online. We were told we had to queue up in the disabled queue half an hour before the show started and we would be let in early but as it happens we were let in late so we stood there for at least 45 mins, it was a little bit of agony for me to be stood up there for so long but with great people to chat to the time soon went (I get joint problems as a result of my Ulcerative Colitis which had been playing me up this holiday). The time came to head inside, our tickets were scanned and we grabbed 2 of the very, very few chairs available. Lynn and I sat on the chairs behind the disabled area while her hubby sat in there with their son - you can only have 1 person with the person in a wheelchair. We had a great view though as we could see over the top of everyone (the chairs were bar stools).

Sy and I went to get drinks but needed to go and get wristbands to say we were old enough to drink alcohol. I only wanted a bottle of water anyway, but as Sy wanted a long island iced tea he went off to get one.

The warm up act was 3 brothers from Orlando so there was lots of local support for them, they reminded me of McFly. I knew Carrie was also seeing Olly tonight, we were messaging on Facebook while we were there, she said they reminded her of Hanson, and then they covered Mmmbop, so funny! They were called Before You Exit, well I was hoping they would make a quick exit and make room for Olly!! They were a bit too cocky for my liking. It was busy and loud, I started to think I might be a bit old for this especially with all the screaming young girls. It was too busy to head over to meet Carrie - she was over the other side of the room with a good view too

Before You Exit finally got the hint and headed off and then it was time for the main event, the reason we were here. Olly EEEEEK!

I wont go on about his concert, if you've been to a concert before you know the deal, songs get sung, women swoon. The only difference is Olly didn't fall over - he almost always does

Here are a couple of pictures from the evening.

It was all over far too soon. 9:30pm and we were walking back outside. We tried to find Carrie & Mark (her hubby) but they had run off and left us (they hadn't really, they were with another lady who was on her own so walked her to the car). We decided to go for a drink at the bar outside with Lynn and her family. We had such a great time with them chatting about holidays and about being DVC owners, they had more advice for us which was great.

Time was getting on though and we still hadn't had any dinner, I was really starving so we said our goodbyes and headed for the car. There was only one place we were going tonight, Steak and Shake! We ordered at the drive through and then drove round the front to wait for it to be cooked, we saw loads of CM's from fantasyland going in, obviously just finishing work.

We finally got back to the hotel by 12:30pm, ate dinner in bed and fell fast asleep.

Lol no it's not your age, he's just starting to make a name for himself in the USA, over here he's a big star he was on X factor a few years ago. Oh, and he's yummy

Day 12

We woke up at 9am this morning and Skyped home without getting out of bed. Sy wanted a proper breakfast this morning so we got dressed and headed to Denny's. I just had to take a picture of the sign outside, just for Hayley.

We were seated right away as the place was pretty much empty. Our server looked like a guy who served us in IHOP in 2011, I didn't say anything to Sy but later on Sy mentioned it to me and I asked him, it was the very same guy. He is actually the very same guy who put me off IHOP as he was so useless, and guess what? I don't really like Denny's anymore either LOL.

They had a special menu all about bacon, Hayley would love it

I cant remember what we ordered, it was okay. It was served without a smile by our rubbish server. We paid and left.

We decided to head to HS as we hadn't spent that much time there on this trip. We parked up at about 11am and headed inside, taking our time we stopped to watch some of the street actors and I found it hilarious when they were picking on Sy. We happened to be sat outside one of the shops that was painted in exactly the same colour as his polo shirt which they ribbed him about apparently not many men could carry off that colour either hehehe. It was really sweet that they remembered us later in the day, just as we were leaving the park and they were coming back out again, they thanked us for coming haha.

We snapped this walking round, hmmm... wonder why that might be haha

We decided to head to the Backlot Tour first. On the way there a lady came over to ask if I was on the DIBB, she recognized me I forget her screen name but her name is Debbie, she was there with her hubby and her daughter I think? For a special birthday, they were off on a cruise after Orlando. We said goodbye and headed to the Backlot, and it so happens that they end up there too, and are sat in the row behind us on the tram. We had another natter before the ride started.

A few pictures from the tour.

After the tour I was happy to see that they had changed the exhibition from the old costumes, I had seen them a few times. I was even happier to see these on display...

The Sound Of Music is one of my favourite films, these are the puppets from the show Maria and the children put on for their father and the baroness.

We then met up Matt and Sue outside Toy Story Mania. They had been earlier in the day to meet Buzz & Woody but the queue was over an hour long and we had seen that it was only 20 mins (or it could have been 30, I don't remember now) so they ran over to jump in the queue quick, Sue came to ride TSM with us as she hadn't really been on anything yet while Matt queued with Harry.

I came last at TSM, Sy was way ahead but Sue only just beat me - I think she took it easy on me cause she felt sorry for me hahaha We said goodbye to Sue and she joined Matt and Harry in the queue to meet Buzz and Woody and we went off to get a Napoleon (me) and a sandwich (Sy) from starring rolls.

Sy just *loves* this picture

We then head off to watch Beauty and the Beast. I'm so sad that this might be going, I know its only rumors for now but even so, its amazing!

Afterwards we headed out to the car and back to the hotel for a swim. We heard these guys before we saw them, so much for the relaxing swim!

We swam for a little while before I got bored and the rumbly in my tumbly got too much to bare we quickly dressed and headed out for food. We decided on Outback, but not the one along the 192 this time, we decided to go to the one by the premium outlet as it was closer.

We had the same to eat as usual, steak and coconut shrimp for Sy, and chicken, bacon swiss for me. Sy had a beer and I decided to push the boat out and have a Wallerby Darned, only it was happy hour so out came 2! Whoops! This is my favourite cocktail in the world, you can probably tell I'm not a big drinker so 2 cocktails was a lot for me.

Feeling full and happy we head back to HS. We wandered in a few of the shops, I had been asked to get so much stuff for people I tried to get as much of it as I could here as I wasn't sure when we would get chance to look again, it was nearing the end of our trip after all We then went to the Muppets 4D

Look what I found

I told Sy to lift the mat up and I swear he thought I'd lost the plot. LOL

The show was about 1/4 full and we were told to sit where we liked. We sat about 2/3 way back and had no one behind us for 3 rows, and then there were 2 women with 2 girls on their knees, one asleep. The women talked ALL the way through. All. The. Way. Through. It was driving me nuts. I must have turned round 5 times to glare in the hope they would shut up, they were giggling and chatting. I probably got too annoyed about it than I should have done, but I love the Muppets, I wanted to hear it!

We were going to watch Fantasmic but decided against it in the end and decided to head to the Poly to watch Wishes on the beach and grab a Dole Whip.

If you haven't seen Wishes from the Poly beach then you haven't lived its wonderful. During the last few days we had been on the lookout for the picture I'd seen in the art shop along Main Street but hadn't been able to find it anywhere so the idea was after wishes we were going to get the boat over to Magic Kingdom to get it. We queued up for the boat, along with masses of cockroaches, and after what felt like a lifetime (when you're stood with cockroaches) we boarded, us and some of cockroaches. Can you tell I don't like cockroaches by any chance? It was NOT a pleasant journey as I was neurotic about them being on me, there were quite a few of them on the floor.

We got to MK and saw the masses of people coming out of the park even though it was open late that evening, and changed our minds - it's no fun trying to fight your way against the masses. So we stayed on the boat and headed back again.

We went back out to grab the car and headed back to the hotel. In bed by 11:30pm.

Day 13

Islands of Adventure today We had spoken to Matt yesterday about seeing them there as they were heading over that way. This morning I wake up to a text saying Hayley and Gareth would be going there too, yay a day out all together They were up and there early whereas we were a bit later. We stopped at McDonalds on the way to get breakfast, which Sy then dropped all down his top, oh dear. He wanted to go back and get changed but being the mean wifey that I am I wouldn't let him as everyone else was already there.

We valet parked just so we could be a bit quicker in getting to the park. We text Matt once we were inside, no wifi here sadly so had to pay the rip off price set by the mobile company. We started to walk towards Seuss Landing as we guessed this is where they would be for Harry, and I was right as we spotted them just coming off One Fish Two Fish looking rather wet We decided to go round to Harry Potter as Matt and Gareth hadn't ridden it before, Sue took Harry on Caroseussel and said she would meet us round there.

I just LOVE this picture! I cant take any credit for it, it comes care of Matt and Sue. Thanks for letting me use some of your photos guys, I was seriously lacking on our Islands of Adventure day!

Hayley and I did the walk through with the guys and then left them at the end, I was worried I might feel sick and Hayley doesn't like spiders so at least we could keep each other company After we left the guys they seem to take absolutely ages to come back out, we were actually panicking in case there was something wrong! Sue had been trying to get hold of Matt too as we could feel his bag buzzing. Eventually they did come out and we went to find Sue who was sitting in some shade with Harry. He was such a good boy sitting there waiting for us.

We then went round to ride Jurassic Park, love that ride! But as we got there we realized that it was closed noooooo! Gareth did buy some crocs inside though as he had worn trainers and didn't want to get them wet on the other water rides. So we had to test them out right away and headed to Rip Saw Falls. Matt, Sue and Harry watched/took pictures/tried to get us even wetter from the water pistols. It was SO much fun! Sy was n the front, I was in the back. Can you guess who got the wettest?

More pics care of Matt and Sue.

As we were already wet, we may as well ride Popeye's First up Sue waited for everyone with Harry, she then swapped with Hayley (as Hayley was sick of getting wet now ) so the rest of us rode 3 times.

We found a nice passerby and asked him to take our picture (again photo thanks to Matt and Sue's camera)

We then wandered round to Spiderman, I was starting to feel a bit icky and didn't really want to ride so I offered to sit with Harry. Again I cant say enough what a good boy he is! He sat playing with me in his pushchair, I put a little more suncream on his legs (as I'm paranoid! I asked Sue first lol) and he was so good and let me. I usually have to fight with little ones to get cream on them. Honestly Matt and Sue, watch out. I might steal him hahaha

We then headed to the exit thinking we would walk over to US but we weren't sure we would join the others over there as we had been once already. Hayley and Gareth suggested going to Steak and Shake for lunch - and who were we to argue? Matt and Sue decided to stay and catch up again later. We walked back to the car park and arranged to meet there. I thought we would be last as they took so long to get the car back but we beat them there, only just though

We ate inside today, the food was goooooood.

Some pics from lunch.

Once we were finished and paid up, we decided to head back to the hotel for pain killers - Gareth and I both had headaches. I'm sure it was just too much sun, it was another hot day. We got back to the hotel and changed into dry clothes and lay down for a bit with some TV.

Hayley and I messaged each other and arranged to meet up again and head to MK. So we drove over to their place and hit the monorail to MK, just cause we could. It was hot out and the airconditioned monorail was better than the short walk.

First up we got the train round to Frontierland, ready to ride Big Thunder Mountain. Hayley and I sat together and let the boys ride together.

I really wasn't very good at taking pictures, they are both pretty dodgy. One Gareth wasn't ready and then I cut half his face out Sorry Gareth!

Love this pictures, it was so bright I couldn't open my eyes!

Next was Pirates! The queue wasn't too bad so we made our way inside, it was only about 5 min wait even though it stated 15minutes outside. Yum, love a bit of Johnny Depp

We then went for a walk round Fantasyland. Hayley and I went on Dumbo, the guys were wayyy too cool for it they stood waiting to take a picture of us, only they were stood at the wrong Dumbo. We shouted and called for ages and eventually gave up, until they turned round and saw us! Think they finally realized that we had been gone ages and hadn't come out by that one.

We then got the train back to Main Street and grabbed a spot at the end of Main Street to watch the Electrical Parade.

We then leg it to the car to hit Logans, w go in one car this time - ours it seemed pointless taking 2 cars. We got to logans for 10pm, just as it closed, Doh! We then spend a few minutes trying to decide where to go and end up going to Outback. We all had a great meal apart from Gareth, and then I feel really bad as I was the one who suggested Outback his steak just wasn't that great, he had a more expensive cut than Sy and Hayley but he liked Hayley's more. He told our server who wanted to replace it for him but he wasn't that bothered so she gave him one of every dessert on the menu I think he forgave her Hopefully he will go back and give it another chance. We always have such great food it was such a shame.

We paid the bill and left, dropping Hayley and Gareth back at their hotel and heading back to ours. We got to bed by 12:30am

Day 14

Our last full day sniff

Hayley text me this morning asking if we would like to join them for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I was still full from the night before but I only had to mention it to Sy and we were almost already in the car Arm officially twisted

We went inside to see if they were there already but they weren't so we had a mooch round the shop. They sell some great stuff We didn't have to wait long before Hayley and Gareth arrived. We got a table and our server came to introduce himself. Wow. He must have been a part time model. I don't know a time I have ever seen someone with such a beautiful face. Trouble was, he was a bit of a crap server. He was nice though, just a bit useless lol. The food was yummy and that was the main thing. I only used a little of the maple syrup so that I could bring the bottle home with me, too cute!

We asked for the check, I found it very weird that you had to queue up in the shop to pay - what's all that about?

We drove to Bay Lake and parked the car, getting the monorail over to Epcot. It was HOTT today with no breeze. We went to spaceship earth first

Then over to Soarin', stopping on the way for Sy to go to Club Cool.

We had a spare seat so Gareth left a space between him and Hayley, think he just didn't want to be seen with us

We also ran into Hayley and Gareth's friend Pat who works in the shop right by Soarin'. We stopped for a while to chat and say hello but she was working so couldn't stop for too long I don't think.

We then went to ride Living with the Land. Next up Figment. I was told I better take my sunglasses off the top of my head in case they fell off, that would be very awful... don't you just hate it when that happens?! (Gareth lost his glasses that way a few days before but luckily got them back unscathed).

We then went to walk round world showcase as Sy needed the last few blooming stamps, grr! It was too hot for this today. We walked all the way round trying to stay in the shade as much as possible. Sy got a couple of yummy things from the food booths set up for the flower and garden festival. He also got a Dole Whip float with rum - that really was it. Dole whip with a shot of rum poured on top of it. I think I was expecting more. He liked it though so was happy.

We stopped in France for Gareth to get an Ice cream, I wish I got one but the queue was in the sun and I was too hot to stand there lol.

Sy got his stamp book finished and signed off with the last stamp to say that he had all of the stamps, yes he was that sad, he even needed that one. I've written in my notes 'we walked ALL the way round WS for Sy to get his little stamps in his book that he will probably never look at again...' and I'm sure I'll be right it will go in a drawer for years to eventually be thrown out in years to come LOL.

We had planned to ride Test Track but it was just so hot by now that we just wanted to get the hell out of there so we hopped back on the monorail to pick up the car.

We stopped at the DVC desk in BLT to ask when Nick would be back, he is Hayley and Gareth's guide but had been on holiday that week. He was going to be back tomorrow so we took the decision to book an appointment before we left in the morning. 11am. Matt and Sue were just coming in from Typhoon Lagoon as we were stood there and we chatted for a bit before heading out to the car and back to our hotel.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was 5pm, eep! We were meeting with Carrie and Mark at about 6:15pm, we needed to do a quick change and get back out the door. We arrived first and got to meet them properly at last, not just a wave from the other side of the room this time. It wasnt long before Hayley and Gareth arrived and we ordered.

I love this pic of Sy. Its kinda out of context without Carrie's picture though, she had a large beer and he had a small one and felt inadequate lol.

We had SUCH a great evening. The food was fab, we ate from the 2 for $20 meal, a starter of loaded fries to start and then fajitas for main for both of us. They were delish.

Time came when we had to say goodbye to Carrie and Mark, they asked us over for dinner at theirs when we come back in September - yes please! We were so honored to be asked We walked out to the car with them - Gareth had to get his pants from their car and I'm not even going to explain that one hahaha. Hayley and Gareth asked us back to theirs to watch Wishes from Top of the World Lounge. We parked up and went up to their room with them and tried to convince Matt and Sue to come but as Harry was already in bed, they didn't want to leave the other one which is understandable. We went downstairs to get taken up (yeah, weird I know but its to stop other people just going right up there) and grabbed a table and ordered a cocktail each (a diet coke for me).

We then went outside to watch the fireworks. A perfect way to spend our last evening - great food, great friends and great fireworks. I was feeling proper sad and emotional but I think I covered it well, I didn't want to bring everyone else down

We said goodbye in the lift and arranged to go for a farewell lunch tomorrow at Longhorns.

Back at the hotel I packed our cases so we could sleep in as long as possible in the morning as I never seem to be able to sleep on the plane on the way home. Sy watched, humph. Finally got into bed past midnight. My stomach was already in knots about tomorrow

Day 15

Home time

First of all I must apologize for the lack of pictures today, I was too depressed to take pictures

You may remember I packed all of our things last night so that we could have a bit of a lay in this morning. Hmmm, well that didn't go to play - housekeeping knocked on the door at 8:50 to ask when we would be leaving. Erm, check out isn't till 11am thanks so bugger off! I was so cross that we had been woken up As we were already packed we decided to check out right away, Sy let me go in on my own as I was so cross and wanted to speak to the manager, chicken The manager offered to give us a free late check out but we were packed and ready to go now so I declined.

So we headed to DTD to get the picture we'd seen for Libby and Ben from the Art of Disney shop. We parked up and made a beeline for the shop, we were one of the first people through the door. Looked everywhere inside and would you believe it, they didn't have the picture! Noooooo this was not helping my mood today Cross that I had been woken up, cross they didn't have the picture and Sy wouldn't let me buy it when I saw it before, and depressed cause we were going home. Humph.

We had made a booking to chat to Hayley and Gareth's guide in BLT yesterday for this morning so we headed right there. We were really early so Hayley asked us up to their room for a bit, they were also checking out today to head over to AKL. We hung about in their room for a bit with Matt and Sue before it was time to head down to meet the DVC guy.

I wont dwell on the talk with him too much other than to say he told us a few things I *knew* weren't true and this REALLY put me off him. We walked away without buying.

We were meeting everyone for lunch today at Longhorns on the 192 so we headed there, we were a few minutes early but the restaurant only had a few tables on, so you would think that would be a problem but no, we weren't allowed to sit at a table until most of the party was there. I totally understand this rule and think it's a great idea so cut down on waiting times in busy periods, but when there are only 3 tables with people on?! Jobsworth springs to mind. Again though, this wasn't helping my mood

Once Hayley and Gareth arrived they sat us at a table for 4 with 2 small extenders on the ends of the table, bearing in mind there were 6 adults and a child. Hmmm... I have no idea why they did this when the place was EMPTY and stayed that way the whole time we were in there but hey ho. It was cosy We started to have a quick look over the menu when Matt, Sue and Harry arrived. Sue looked a bit pale and when I mentioned it she told us that they had just almost had an accident! Someone had completely cut them up and had Sue not had her wits about her they would have been in a nasty accident. Poor guys! Matt had hurt his shoulder, and Harry was upset too

Our server brought over some bread and came to take our orders. I had chicken tenders and Sy had a burger, everyone else had steak. I have no idea why Sy didn't have steak but he really enjoyed his burger anyhow so I guess it didn't matter, he was nevious when he saw the sizes of everyone else's steak though. My food was nice but by now the knots in my tummy were really bad and it was all I could do to force the food down

The lovely friends we have were telling me to change my flight home, Sy had to get back for work but I didn't so I could stay with them, I was wavering but I knew Sy would be sad going back on his own so I didn't He said he would be fine and tried to tell me to stay too (thanks hubs haha) but I couldn't do that to him Plus I missed my baby Wilbur

We asked for the bill paid up. We said a teary goodbye outside We have made some real true friends on this trip and we were sad to be leaving them.

The drive back to the airport seemed to take forever, I am not a fan of Sanford. Give me a huge immigration queue in MCO anyday I kinda dozed on the way there though I was in a right tizzy thinking we were going to be late. We finally go there and dropped the car back, as we dropped it off the women checking us back in asked how it was and what would we change about Alamo, I said drop the hard sell at the check in desk!! She said she will make a note of that, yeah of course they will stop that - pigs might fly too

We then hot footed it over to departures to find zero queue, woohoo! Our check in girl was lovely, sadly though there were no seats together worst nightmare this was just what I wanted to hear when I was getting myself so worked up She did give us seats one in front of the other though. We went straight to security and it was worlds away from the horrible check in at Gatwick! They guys were friendly, chatting to us about all sorts. I put my lipgloss in a clear bag (it was my only liquid) and they laughed and said put it back in my handbag. They didn't want me to take my iPad out of my bag either.

Once through we saw that our flight was delayed an hour, joy! We found a plug socket and Sy plugged his mobile in to charge while I got the ipad out and started surfing the net. There wasn't much in Sanford airport, we did notice a bar though with a bunch of British people at it with a jug of beer each. Yes, they were on our flight.

We sat there ages before going to get changed in the bathroom, we had packed warmer clothes for the flight in a hand luggage bag. Before long our flight was called and we went to wait by the gate, we were sat near the front again so knew we would be called last. Before anyone was let on some policemen frogmarched a man onto the plane :-/ Again this wasn't helping my nerves

We got on and found our seats, I was sat with a couple who remembered us from the flight 2 weeks before, I was chatting with them a fair bit - they have a timeshare in Orlando and booked some bargain last minute flights like us. They were on trip number 20 and flying back in September too.

The flight home was awful, as we took off the captain warned us that there would be a lot of turbulence so I quickly took some travel sickness tablets. He wasn't wrong the crew weren't even allowed to move for 2 & 1/2 hours. The IFE wasn't even turned on for 1 & 1/2 so we just had to sit there. The boots over brand travel sickness tablets worked an absolute treat, I didn't even feel slightly queasy. The food was awful - even for plane food! I didn't eat it. There was also no choice from the 1st of May. The journey passed, it was a pretty crap flight with the food and turbulence and not being sat next to Sy, but it got us home safe.

When we got to Gatwick we were asked to stay seated while police came on board and took the guy who was marched on in Orlando off. There were police cars surrounding the plane, who knows what had gone on but they must have thought he might run as there ere so many of them. Once off we used the passport control booths and were very swiftly through and getting our bags. We called Sy's parents and his dad soon left to pick us up. We didn't have to wait for long. I was so hungry by this point though as I hadn't eaten anything on board so we went through McDonalds drive through to get me a Bacon McMuffin, though I then ate more at Sy's parents, another bacon roll I think.

We didn't stay too long, Sy got a shower while we were there and I got changed into some clean clothes and then made our way over to pick up my little baby! Awww I had missed him so much, but he obviously hadn't missed me as he wasn't bothered that I was there to pick him up at all Libby and Ben had been taking such good care of him that he didn't want to come home. I felt so bad that we didn't have a proper present for them (just a Disney tea towel) but told them that their main present was on its way (thanks Matt and Sue!) and to blame Sy I hope they like it

We didn't stay long as I wasn't sure how long I would be able to keep my eyes open for. Wilbur was a total pain in the bum all the way home, he meowed and clawed all the way it was raining and he was petrified of the windscreen wiper noise. Big wimp

An hour later we were back home with our baby, he was happy to be home I think we actually managed to stay awake until bedtime - seeing as I had no sleep on the flight I have no idea how that happened! We headed up to bed at about 9:30pm like zombies, but we were adamant we were going to beat the jet lag and staying up as late as possible was the best way

Highs and Lows of our trip

I'll start with the lows as tbh there weren't many and they were more niggles than big lows.

Housekeeping bothering us on our last day. This probably wouldn't annoy most people but I don't do mornings, especially when I have been up most of the night not too well.

The hard sell at Alamo. I'm getting really cheesed off with this. I even told the guy it was my 12th trip so knew the size I wanted, he went on to tell me we would be intimidated in the car we had as it was too small :nonono: and then tried to flog me a satnav.

It rained for 4 days which was a bit of a pain wearing the ponchos but it wasn't about to ruin our holiday!

Not seeing wishes in the park, we just didn't get round to it but we saw it from the poly beach, the top of the world lounge and a theme park view room at BLT.

The new test track, I'm afraid I'm not a fan but I do think it fits better within Epcot now.

Now onto the highs.

The biggest high has got to be meeting so many wonderful Disney friends!

We had planned to meet Hayley&Gareth one evening but ended up seeing them everyday once they got there! (It was arranged once we were out there, we didn't just stalk them haha). Also meeting Matt and Sue Charlton and their GORGEOUS little boy Harry. Omg he is sooooo cute! I'm sure we will meet up again back in the UK.

Also met Lynn and her hubby and son Ben at the Olly Murs show. They definitely made our evening better seeing the show with them!

We did manage a wave to Carrie and Mark at the concert but we were over the other side of the venue so didn't get to chat. We did then go for dinner with them on our last night with Hayley&Gareth too and had a wonderful evening, a perfect way to end a great trip
Debbie and her hubby and daughter also said hello in HS and we rode the backlot tour together (by happy accident!)

The Clarion inn lake buena vista. It was a great budget hotel for the money we paid. I probably wouldn't stay there again but not cause its not a nice hotel but more because...

We decided to buy DVC! With AKL as our home resort. We really missed being onsite and once Hayley&Gareth and Matt and Sue got there, we spent some time popping back to their room in BLT it was just so easy and restful, we were dipping in and out of the parks and generally taking it easy. Such a different holiday to what we usually do, which is get to a park and spend all day there till the end. And with my dodgy health it was really beneficial. We are buying resale though and not direct, there was no contest, double the points on the resale market? Yes please.

Buying the tables in wonderland card. We more than broke even on this trip and as we are going back in September it will be all savings then!

Tipping the guy who shows you to the car at Alamo Sanford. Got a 3 size upgrade for $20 will try that one again next time

Steak 'n Shake, thanks for showing us the light Hayley & Gareth it will be a must visit on every trip now.

Crowne plaza Gatwick. It was gorgeous! And I am totally sold on staying the night before the flight at the airport. It was so much more relaxing being checked in and not having to worry about a thing. We might be staying at the Hilton Gatwick in September depending on a few things that I'm not going to jinx yet by talking about

The flower and garden festival food stands LOL I mean the flowers were great and everything but it was all about the food stands

We ate at some great places but Kobe has got to be one of the best offsite places we ate. Think Teppan Edo but cheaper by about $20

Riding dumbo for the first time ever! It's brilliant, how have I never been on it before?

Seeing Olly Murs at DTD, wow he puts on a great show

And looking at my countdown, can I start my next Pre Trip report yet?

Hahahaha yes thats true, no time to rest on vacation

Hahaha i wonder what British terms make you laugh, they all sound normal to me Steak and shake was soooo good.

Thank you its all finished now though, ill try to remember to upload some of the Photopass pictures when they get here, there are a few in there that are awesome!