The One With All The Birthdays - October 14 COMPLETE

Awww well thank you guys *so* much for coming!! Was lovely to meet you and share our day with you xxx

Thank you scrappy! It was a lovely thing to do, especially in our happy place

Oh my, there was SO much food Kristen! When they brought the first fruit plate out I thought that was it... And they then brought another of the same size

So happy for you to be a part of it JoAnn 'why is there a chicken on the cake?!' LOL

Awww thanks Miss Mikki! I would have had yellow as our wedding colour but Sy wanted pink... Not that anyone ever believes me when I tell them that lol

Thanks Belinda! I loved making our costumes We had a lovely day on our vow renewal.... Maybe take 2 in 5 more years? Who knows! Might have littlies by then...

Thank you Jan! Xxxxx

You won't regret it, it was just so perfect for us. I made most of the decorations etc myself apart from the Pom poms that were on the balcony - my friend made them for us

I know! How cute is that?! Made me smile so much, they are such lovely people. I gave Mark a great big hug when I saw him a week later.

Thanks so much Ken! XXXX

See thanks doc! Would have be amazing to have you there, but as I say.... Maybe in another 5 years we will do it all again hehe xxxx

Day 13

After a wonderful but busy day yesterday we had a more chilled day planned for today. We woke up at 7:30am but stayed in bed till 9:30 watching tv. When we could hear everyone else moving about we got up and had breakfast in the room, watching a bit of TV.

We were heading to Typhoon Lagoon as I thought it would be a nice and relaxed way to spend a few hours. We were ready and out of the door at 11am arriving at TL shortly after. We managed to find a spot to park right at the front and made our way over to the gates where we were met with a mahoooosive queue. After waiting ages we were able to get inside and find some chairs to leave our towels etc. and then headed for the lazy river.

In keeping with our luck of this trip so far, today was actually pretty chilly so it was warmer in the water than out of it. It was okay if the sun was out and you were in it but when it when behind clouds or you went under trees, it was freezing! We managed to make it round a few times before we were too chilly and had to get out.

We then went to ride the waves in the wave pool. We sat on the ledge at the shallow end for a while, it was really clouding over now and we were starting to get really quite cold! Sy and I went in deeper to try and warm up. We played about in the water that was about knee height for a while before going really deep to ride the big waves. On the way back in a big wave knocked me over and my boob fell out of my swimsuit, I know because Sy yelled at me 'YOUR BOOB! YOUR BOOB!!' So everyone around us turned to look luckily I just dropped to the floor so I went under the water and quickly covered my modesty! I bet it happens a lot in TL... I was properly mortified though LOL

Wanting to escape the area and the people who had seen/heard about my 'mishap' we made our way back to the chairs to try and warm up wrapped in our towels. I fancied riding Crush and Gusher but no one really wanted to come on, but I managed to talk my dad into it so off we went! We rode the middle one (the name escapes me!) and it was really fun. Dad was pleased I'd managed to talk him into it hehe

Afterwards we decided to call it a day for the water, the clouds above were getting worse and we were cold Off we went to the showers. Unfortunately NONE of the ladies showers had warm water running to them. We tried lots of different ones but they were all freezing cold. I tried washing as much as I could but skipped my hair as I couldn't face it in the cold water.

Dressed, we headed out to the car and decided to make a visit to Walmart to pick up a few things to take home (honey mustard, BBQ sauce, ranch dressing, pita chips and a few other things we cant get in the UK). We then headed back to Kidani for proper showers that weren't freezing cold.

After our showers and a few drinks in the room we made our way over to HS to see Fantasmic. We had a bit of time before the show so we decided to pop over and watch the Muppets. We stopped on the way for some pics, getting some of my favourites of the whole trip!

It was then time for Muppets

Muppets was awesome as usual though I have noticed something before, the big guy who comes out looking for Bean the rabbit (I don't remember his name), well when he comes out at the end of the show he's there and he's on the screen as well. Anyone else noticed this before?

Not 100% sure when I took the next pic...

We then made our way over to Fantasmic but as we were on our way there was an announcement that it was standing room only oh no! This was the only chance we had to watch the show. We decided to check it out anyway as there might have been the odd disabled space for mum on her scooter (I didn't take mine tonight as we wouldn't be out very long), plus we had fastpasses, though we went through as the same pace as the people without fastpasses. Well when we arrived there was loads of space! We got a spot right in the centre at the back. They were still seating people as well with a fair amount of space still left.

I went with my dad to get some drinks for everyone from the stands at the back of the theatre.

The show was fabulous as always. After we went in search of food. We tried a few places in Lake Buena Vista but they all had long waits, we ended up in Longhorns again. I was starting to feel a bit dodgy so I suggested to get take out but Sy was insistent that we ate in... We had to wait 10 mins for a table and we were sat with people who were sat beside us on the flight over to Miami, how funny!

Our server tonight was a real babe, I not to blush too much when he chatted to me lol He spent ages chatting with us, even telling us his mum works in Hollywood Brown Derby! He also made a fuss of us with our special t-shirts on. Our meals were great though I didn't eat much of mine as I was feeling quite ill by that point.

I won't go on about it but I was ill the rest of the evening Our server even brought us out a special dessert to celebrate but I missed it as I was in the bathroom. When the bill was paid up my mum came to get me and we legged it from the restaurant (as I have a fear of being sick in front of people), I didn't need to worry though as by now the restaurant was almost completely empty! Whoops.

When we got back I went straight to bed (sorry to end the day on such a downer, I was better again the next day!)

Day 14

Woke up at 8:30am today, Woohoo! Lie-in! LOL

Anne had got up and made it to the gym and back before we had even got up this morning that's some serious dedication! Though somehow she was still the last to be ready to leave... Oops! Lol. We had breakfast in the room consisting of toast/bagels/cereal before heading to AK. We arrived at about 10:30am.

I had booked us fastpasses for Mickey and Minnie meet and greet so we headed over there first. After a short 5 min wait we had a wonderful meet. Mickey and Minnie loved our t-shirts and made a huge fuss of us

After we said goodbye we made our way over to It's Tough To Be A Bug. I love this show/ride. I always have to sit next to my mum and tell her when to close her eyes and when she can open them again (she doesn't like spiders).

We then had a fastpass for Nemo but we were cutting it close to making it in time. We made the mad dash over there only I was a doofus and went the wrong way I took my parents with me and Sy took his parents the right way... They got there and saved us seats at the back, whoops! We luckily did make it in time, phew.

Nemo was good, I know its a favourite of many but for me it drags just a little bit, it could be 10 mins shorter. I probably don't have to do this show on every trip Let's be honest, it's no Festival of the Lion King ;) I'll prepare for my stoning and shunning now hehehehe

Our next fastpass was for Kali but we had a little bit of a wait in between so we grabbed some frozen drinks and found somewhere to sit for about 20 mins in the warm sunshine (oh how I could use some of that sunshine right now).

Kali was fab, its definitely my favourite ride in AK. Though it was quite chilly in the shade once we were wet.

We decided it was then time to head over to Epcot. We wanted to get changed first as we were soaked - all apart from Cliff who stayed pretty dry, so he went straight there on the bus to get a return time on the DAS card.

We stopped outside AK for some pics, I offered to take pictures for one family and then they returned the favour.

We quickly got changed back at Kidani and headed back out again, dry and feeling happier we made our way over to Epcot. On a Saturday. During Food and Wine festival. Yes, we were crazy. We hadn't really spent any time eating our way round world showcase, it had been in the plan a few times but had to be dropped cause things were taking a lot longer than I had anticipated, so now we were attempting it early afternoon. On. A. Saturday. The car park should had been enough to put us off... But we ploughed on undeterred...

We met up with Cliff near the fountain and then made our way to Mexico to start our tour of the showcase. I know full well people say stay away from Food and Wine at the weekend but OMG I didn't realise it actually got as bad as this! The queues for the booths were 50 people deep, the queues were 4 times longer than the queue lines. We walked past a couple of booths thinking it must just be those but by the time we got to China I was properly freaking out. The crowds were crazy! We couldn't get near anything so we decided to chalk it up to experience and head back out of WS the way we came in. Mum and I went ahead as we were on our scooters - we have to just go when there is a gap, you can't just stop and wait for your party to catch up as you hold everyone back and you cant go around people as its dangerous so we just had to agree to split up from the others and meet them back over the bridge the way we had come from (anyone whoever wants to say using a scooter in Disney is easier than walking has NO IDEA what they are talking about and this just goes to show one of the reasons why). Unfortunately Sy led the rest of them right past us and towards Soarin' (as that's where we were going to next) so we had to make our own way there.

We were all really hungry by this point, it had been a long time since breakfast and we had been planning to eat a bit round the world so we decided instead to have something to eat inside Sunshine Seasons. I got a kids chicken wrap which was actually really good, I'd definitely have it again! Cliff had some kids Mac and Cheese, he had it there a few years ago and remembered how much he liked it. Not sure what everyone else had though.

After we all had something to eat it was then time to ride Soarin! It was actually really cool knowing we would be going to see some of the places in the film as we are heading to California in May

We then made our way over to Test Track for our last ride of the day.

Our cars...

It was then time to make a move, we had dinner at Hoop De Doo tonight so we needed to head back and get changed. We stopped on the way out for a couple of pics.

Back in the room we showered, changed and had some drinks before heading back out to Fort Wilderness. I was a little unsure how long it would take to get there, we were seeing the 8:30pm show but we were driving over there and then getting the bus over to Pioneer Hall so I wanted to make sure we left with enough time... We left Kidani at 7pm and arrived at Pioneer Hall at 7:45pm. Oops! A littler eager lol. The guys got some drinks at the bar while us girls went to look around the shop of course. My mum bought some super cute kitchen containers that I had been eyeing up, I gave her a whole speech about looking after them on her journey home, make sure you put them in your hand luggage etc, totally clueless that as soon as we walked out of the shop mum handed me the bag and told me to carry it as it was mine *awwwwww* thanks mummy!! She aid her and dad had talked about it already and wanted to buy me a little something to say thank you for organising the holiday

We rejoined the guys who had now been served and sat with our drinks. Those drinks coupled with the ones we had in the room before leaving meant everyone was feeling quite merry by the time we were due to go in well apart from me, someone has to do the driving after all (not that I can really drink anyway). Drinks finished we went to check in and get a picture, we didn't bother with the photo last time but as we had the memory maker this time it was included so we thought, why not?!

It came out pretty well too. We then lined up with everyone else and waited to head inside. There's no real need to line up as its assigned seating but there wasn't anywhere else to wait. I took a few pics to pass the time.

We waited for about 15 mins before we were allowed in, our table was right at the front, stage left. The show was as fabulous as I remembered and everyone really enjoyed it. Our parents said it was one of the best things they did all holiday!

Our server was fab, we were very well taken care of. The food was hot and plentiful. Sy and I were picked on a bit for having our Just Renewed our Wedding Vows badges on though we refused to get up and dance (I say we, it was more like me who refused), and then we were all picked on for our birthday badges The cast made a fuss of our table, I think it was because we were all having a great time and up for fun. I was quite relieved we weren't picked to be a part of the final show, though it might have been nice to see one of the dads dressed up as the fairy hehehe.

Once the show had finished we hopped on the bus back to the car park and I drove us back to Kidani. In bed by midnight after another busy but brilliant day!

Day 15

I'm afraid today was a day with lots of hiccups, bare with me though as it gets better tomorrow...

After a very long and tiring day yesterday we really did not appreciate the fire alarm going off in our room at 3:10am. I dunno if you've ever been woken up by one before, they are meant to wake you up with a start to get you out of the place as quickly as possible. My poor heart was racing! We went out into the hallway to find out it was only going off in our room. We called the front desk (that isn't really the front desk but a call centre offsite somewhere but we weren't about to go walking half asleep in our pj's). They said they were sending someone to our room to investigate, 30 minutes went by but no one arrived. In the mean time the alarm had stopped but we couldn't go back to bed as we waiting for the maintenance guy to arrive, so we called up the front desk again to find out where he was and why it was taking so long. The person was quite short with Sy on the phone, they didn't understand what the problem was if the alarm had stopped going off, why were we bothering them? They also said no one had been called to come to our room (pffft) so they said they would send someone in the morning and go back to bed now.

It took an age to get back to sleep as we were all woken up with such a start (Anne and Cliff were woken up with a start too). I was back asleep shortly after 4am but I didn't sleep properly, tossing and turning and having nightmares about my poor Wilbur

Sunrise came and we were awake shortly after it. We got up and dressed at around 8am though we did slightly resemble zombies... My parents were none the wiser to anything happening as they were in a studio on the other side of the hallway, they arrived to see us all looking like death and wondered what the hell had happened lol. We filled them in and they were very pleased to have been in a separate studio! Sy and I went down to reception to speak to them about the alarm, the girl wasn't exactly sympathetic though she did give us each 3 extra fastpasses and $100 room credit towards dinner so I can't complain. She also said she would send a maintenance guy to our room while we were out to fix whatever had gone wrong.

We went back to the room to round up our parents and then headed out to MK. We had wanted to be at MK for the opening ceremony but after the nightmare we'd had, we were already too late We parked at TTC and got the boat over, walking through the gates at 10:30am. Our tummies were now a'rumbling as we'd skipped breakfast so we headed to Main Street Bakery/Starbucks to grab some munchies. Anne didn't want anything as she wasn't feeling very well so the rest of us got something. She then changed her mind once it was paid for and there was a huge queue - this was the setting for the rest of the day. She and Sy had another argument :-/ Today was gonna be fun fun fun!! We went to grab somewhere to sit outside the Plaza and ate our food in an uncomfortable silence. Once finished we made our way to Buzz as that was our first fastpass of the day.

I'm saying nothing about the following picture...

Sy beat me again, grrrr!

We then rode the Peoplemover. I was naughty, as we went on I told the CM we were a party of 2 so we would get our own car I just needed 5 mins peace. I know, very bad Robyn.

It was then time for our second fastpass, time to meet the girls themselves! Anna & Elsa! Woohoo! Well it probably would have been more of a Woohoo had there not been a bit of an atmosphere. Still it was a nice meet.

We then went to use some of our extra fastpasses on Storytime with Belle. Of course Bill (my dad) was picked on to be a suit of armour! He loves to take part in stuff like this - which was the cause of great embarrassment to me as a child but now I love it

Anne was still hungry & thirsty so we topped at Gaston's tavern for a cinnamon bun and a Le Freu' Brew. I didn't taste any bun as I'm not a cinnamon lover but the brew was really yummy.

We then went to use another fastpass on Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

Next up was Mickey's Philharmonic. Love this! Such a Disney classic! I hope this never goes away, I'd be totally heartbroken.

Time was getting on for the parade now. We wanted to arrive early in the disabled space by Liberty Square so we could get a space near the wall for my dad to sit down, as after 2 weeks of being on the go his knees were really starting to play him up. We had about 45 mins to wait so people went off in various directions to get drinks/food etc. I grabbed a baked potato from Liberty Square Market, Sy went to Columbia Harbor House to get a tuna sandwich and my dad went with him to get him and my mum something.

The parade was fabulous, I really do love everything about it. I thought the parade at Disneyland Paris was my favourite but the new Festival of Fantasy just pips it to the post.

Afterwards it was time for our elusive Dwarves Mine Train fastpass. Anne didn't want to ride and my dad decided not to as well as he was worried about getting his legs into it (he can only bend his legs to a certain degree with the new knees), I think he made the right call as I'm not sure he would have been comfortable. The ride was good though, I think I like it more every time I ride it

We had 1 fastpass left so we decided to head to Splash for one last ride, its a firm favourite with us all (except Anne who was sitting it out) but as we arrived it went down boooo. We decided to skip doing any other rides and instead head back to the hotel for a swim.

As it happens, it was just me and Sy who wanted to swim in the end - our parents wanted to do some packing as they would be leaving the next day - so we made the most of having an hour to ourselves by the pool.

And what did I want to do with an hour to myself?? I wanted to DRINK! Yes I was at my stress limit and needed alcohol. I went straight to the pool bar and ordered a cocktail . I had a mango margarita but with vodka instead of tequila as I don't like it. And it was GOOD. Sy got a beer and the lovely bartender took a pic of us with our drinks.

We drank some of our drinks and then got into the fairly empty pool. I got into the pool in style - I finally tried out the slide! (sip of alcohol and all my inhibitions go out the window hahaha). There were no kids waiting so I didn't feel too much of an idiot lol

I then hopped out of the pool and lay on a lounger in the sun with my drink, and promptly downed it. Yeah, it had been one of those days.

We then went to use the hot tub and sat in there for about 20 minutes together watching a squirrel play right beside us. We then headed back up to our room for showers etc.

We had a very special ADR tonight, I'd made this booking for our last night so we would have a special meal all together to celebrate the vacation. It was our first Signature experience too! We were dining at Yachtsman's Steakhouse. I was *so* excited! We showered, got ready and made our way out to the Yacht Club. We valet parked and headed inside, arriving 5 minutes before our ADR time. We checked in and were told there would be a 15 minute wait, which was weird as the restaurant was only half full - I wonder maybe if they were understaffed?

We were soon shown to our table right in the corner of the restaurant in the window, it was really nice as it was private and quiet with hardly any tables around us taken, we were then introduced to our server Abe and given menus to peruse .

We were all in much better spirits this evening, I believe words had been exchanged in private and the day had been forgotten, slate wiped clean for tonight, yay! We ordered some wine for the table and a diet coke for me (1 drink is my limit haha), and then took our time over the menu. I already knew there was just 1 thing I could eat (chicken) but I couldn't eat what it came with so I asked Abe if I could have a different side, he said no. oh. I wasn't really expecting that. I started to panic a bit as there was nothing else I could eat on the menu when Sy thought to tell him it was because I had dietary problems that I couldn't eat what it came with, and whaddya know, suddenly I was able to swap it! He said I could only have the sweet potato so that's what I had. Everyone else ordered their meals and we got a couple of extra sides including the famous mac and cheese!

In the mean time we had some of the super yummy break and roasted garlic, omgomg it was A-MAZ-ING!!

Our food arrived shortly after, I took one cut into my chicken and it was all fatty it was like the gristle-y bits from chicken that had been stuck together with grease and rolled into round shapes. I was really shocked! That's not what I was expecting from a signature at all. And the sweet potato I'm sure would be lovely if you liked it but I hated it, it was covered in melted marshmallows and nuts (I can't have nuts and I didn't know it had them, nor did Abe tell me even though I'd said I had loads of food intolerances!). It got worse though, Sy and my dad had exactly the same meals, with the steaks cooked the same way but my dad's was perfectly cooked (med-rare) while Sy's was blue! And my mum had the same meal as Cliff but hers was under cooked (not quite blue but very rare) and Cliff's was cooked perfectly. We really weren't doing very well. I had read online that the servers usually ask you to cut into your steak at the table to check it was done to your liking however that didn't happen so we were left to wait for Abe to come back. We mentioned to him about the food, I asked him to take mine away as did my mum. I had been really put off by my food, and mum didn't want to be eating hers after everyone else had finished. We weren't rude or anything, just politely asked him to take it away and said not to bother with replacements. Sy didn't mention his at first as he hadn't really started his steak. The female manager came over to speak to us about our meals and that's when Sy told her about his and showed her how blue it was. She said that it wasn't right and asked Sy if he would like another but he said the same as my mum, he didn't want to be the only one eating, she didn't take his plate though which we did think was strange as Abe had taken my mums and mine. She apologised and was perfectly pleasant as we were too - its not her fault, there had obviously just been a bit of a mix up in the kitchen (I don't see the point in losing my temper in situations like this, doesn't solve anything). She said she would take the meals off our bill which we were very grateful for.

As our last meal was slowly turning into a bit of a disaster we decided to not bother with desserts and instead get the bill and head home. Only when the bill arrived Sy's uneaten dinner was still on there so we brought it up with Abe, he said he would send the manager back over to sort it out. She was annoyed now, she said she had offered to have it re-cooked for Sy but he didn't want it. We till weren't cross or moody with her, Sy just explained that he was expecting it taken off of the bill as that was what she had said when she spoke to us before. She said she would take care of it and as she turned around she ROLLED HER EYES. I kid you not, the manager. Visibly rolled her eyes. I was speechless. I just looked at my mum who looked back at me with the same horror, I said to her 'did she really just roll her eyes or did I imagine that?' my dad then said 'no she definitely rolled her eyes'. Well I'm afraid now was when I lost my temper a little bit. No one is rude to my husband but me, especially when we had been nothing but polite to her! We were most certainly not 'those' guests, we aren't rude people, we weren't moaning on and on, we even said to her 'don't worry, its not your fault, these things happen' all with a smile so she would know we weren't snotty. Well the red mist came down and before I knew it I was following her! She disappeared out the back so I asked a waitress if she wouldn't mind getting her for me so that I might have a word. She came out and I think her heart sank lol I was, I didn't shout or raise my voice, use foul language etc I simply told her that what she did was completely unacceptable. She denied that she did roll her eyes but there is absolutely no way 3 of us were mistaken. I did say that I accept that she may not have realised she did that but either way, feel free to roll your eyes once you get out the back where no one can see, doing it so obviously really was not what I would expect from anyone let alone a manager in a signature restaurant - especially as we had been so nice about the mistakes with our meal. She did apologise but still denied it. I don't think she expected me to say something. I still now can't believe it happened. I could understand if we had been rude to her, i'm sure she gets plenty of people who treat the CM's like dirt, but I will say this till I'm blue in the face - we weren't like that!! I'm gonna put it down to her having a bad day, she can't have made it to being a manager behaving like that.

We paid the bill and used our TiW card, we didn't leave Abe anymore of a tip than the 18% the card adds on, usually we leave a bit extra but didn't feel he had been very good and certainly didn't bother with us after the manger had been over, probably not worth working for the extra tip (he hadn't even offered us a dessert before bringing the check).

We went straight back to Kidani, our parents went to pack up the rest of their luggage while Sy and I went to the front desk to find out who we needed to contact about the manager. The CM who dealt with us was actually a supervisor, he was aghast when we told him why we wanted to email her manager (which I never did do as I put it down to her having a bad day and I didn't want her to get into trouble, but at the time I was going to), he gave us the email we needed. While we were there we asked if anyone had been to our room to fix the smoke alarm and would you believe a ticket still hadn't been raised to send someone into our room?! OMG this was the 4th time we had spoken to someone about it if you included the girl this morning and the 2 phone calls in the night. He said he was sending someone right away this time and he would take care of it personally. Sure enough about 15 minutes later we had a knock on the door and a girl was there ready to change every single fire alarm (3 in total in the 3 bed unit). She asked if the alarm had been chirping to say it was running low on battery but it hadn't. Well as soon as she fiddled with the one in the kitchen it went off, it was all because it had run out of battery! No explanation as to why it hadn't chirped but goes to show how often the alarm batteries get checked.... She was such a lovely CM, really chatty and friendly. She stayed with us probably a bit longer than she should have done just chatting with us, she was a total babe! Such a contrast from the manager earlier.

After she left we finished all of the packing, our parents were leaving tomorrow and we were moving over to the Grand Floridian for our last 8 night on our own. Anne was being a bit weird, she piled up all of her clothes and was going to throw them all away (she had lost weight and loads of it was big now), but she even included the stuff she had bought on the trip, new shoes, new dress etc. Was a bit odd. We tidied up and I took all of the trash to the trash room which was only down the hall. Anne then couldn't find her passport and went through everything including all of the bins, I think she even went to the trashroom to go through the trash I had put in there. She said someone must have thrown it out as she couldn't find it. She did of course find it in the end though in her room, though there was no apology for saying we must have thrown it out (and it was aimed at me as I was the one who took out the rubbish). Was the *BEST* last evening for everyone....

Finally in bed by midnight, all packed and ready for our 8 days on our own, they couldn't come soon enough.

A side note, I posted on a FB foodie page about our meal at YS tonight and someone else who was eating there tonight said their meal was awful as well, he said they eat there a lot and can only think it must have been the 'B' squad working tonight as usually it was amazing. It did kinda make me feel better though as hopefully it was just an off night and at least it wasn't just our table.

Tomorrow we say goodbye and move to the Grand Floridian Villas... or so we think...

Noooooo Nemo is dull! I do quite like it honestly, but its one of those shows I don't always have to watch...

HDDMR is awesome, can totally see how its still going after 40 years

HAHAHAHAHAHA love it!!

Ahhh you have to go if you can fit it in, really is a fun show. Its silly and Slap-stick with a bit of cheese thrown in, but yet its still fabulous!

I dunno what it is about nemo either, I just think they rush the story parts and stick in a loads of annoying songs...

Day 16

Woke up at 8:30am this morning, got dressed and packed up the last of our things. Most of us were ready to check out by 9:30, we didn't however check out until 10:30 due to someone not being ready and faffing around We sent our bags over to the GFV with bell services and then loaded up the car with the rest of our things that we didn't want out of our sight. I loaded the car with my parents while Sy did a quick once over the room to check we didn't leave anything behind. He arrived down at the car with his parents shortly after.

Breakfast today was at Bob Evans, we had wanted to take our parents here but we hadn't been able to make it work so this was the last chance. We were seated right away and perused the menu. Our server was called Rita - I remember that as my parents have a cat called Rita! She was from Belgium, she did give us a bit of a sob story about her wages... I know how badly waiters are paid but I dunno, it just felt she was telling us cause we're British and don't usually have the best reputation for tipping, maybe I'm wrong, who knows?!

Breakfast came after a bit of a wait. I ordered eggs with hashbrowns and biscuits. It was yummy.

Sy's breakfast...

Our parents had a few more things they wanted to buy to take home so we then went to Walmart along the H27 and then Cracker Barrel. I *love* CB, I bought some really cute Christmas decorations. Anne bought us a cute burlap roll that goes on the tree, its all embroidered with little birds, its super and looked perfect on our tree at Christmas.

My dad had been saying all trip he wanted to visit a golf shop so we then went in search of one and ended up all the way up International Drive. We dropped him off to get a few things and then took Anne and Cliff to a luggage shop so they could buy another hand luggage bag as they had been doing a bit of shopping and were worried they wouldn't be able to fit it in their bag to get it home.

We then made our way back to Disney and to check in at the Grand Floridian Villas. We were met at the front desk and as we were walked in we were told we have a ground floor room, Sy was a bit disappointed as that would mean no sitting about in his pants hahahaha. However as we reached the desk she said she was having trouble locating a room for us... She did get us one on a higher floor and said we were set, and with that we were off. I walked into the room and something seemed odd, I couldn't put my finger on it but it was definitely different to the room we had in June. The first thing I did was to call down to bell services for them to bring us our bags, there was something like 10 of them though there may have been more.

I had been telling our parents about the room and the stand alone shower, my mum went to use the bathroom and she was the one who brought it to my attention, there was no shower. Just a bath. Oh. We had the handicapped room. We weren't having much luck this trip were we?! Someone has to have the room if no one has booked it, I get that. I did kinda hope it wouldn't be on my 30th birthday trip that we would get it though Plus the 2 showers were gonna be a huge bonus as our parents would be able to shower before their flights. I guess this is why our ground floor room went, someone else was given this room and refused it. I went down to the front desk to ask nicely if it might be possible to move to another room. I left our mums in the room as we'd called bell services (dads were somewhere else but I forget where). I talked with Christa who had been the girl who greeted us on the way in but wasn't the one who physically checked us in. I asked if there might be another room available, I did say I understood someone had to get the room but I was hoping to have the 2 showers for our parents to get freshened up before their flights. She made some calls and set someone on the case behind the scenes and was waiting for a call back. In the mean time our parents arrived in the lobby along with a poor bellman with a huge trolley full of cases. Sy found me too (I think he had been parking the car). While we were waiting for someone to find us a room we were chatting with Christa and the lady on the desk next to us, I told them that our trip was cursed lol I said about the fire alarm, the yachtsmans meal, the leak in the fridge ruining the mickey Sy had bought me, I said it was probably right that we would get the handicapped room the way the rest of the trip had been going lol. We chatted for a while, Christa kept apologising for it taking so long. She then went out the back to chase it up. She was gone for about 15 minutes before she came back. She said that she wasn't able to get us a room in the GFV tonight in a studio so instead she was moving us to the main GF building in a Club level room with a theme park view. WHAAAAAAAAT??????? I was NOT expecting that! I would have taken the room if they had nothing else, as I said someone has to have it, I was only asking on the off chance! I think my jaw hit the floor.

Before I could even think there was a man out front on a little buggy ready to take us over, she gave the bellman our room number and he said he would meet us there.

Over at the Main Building we were met at the door and escorted up in the club level only elevator... Woooo! They had great trouble linking our magic bands to our stay so in the end they just gave us KTTW cards. We were shown around the club lounge and then taken all the way to our room. O.M.G! How the other half live...

The room was lovely, though I gotta say it... the room isn't as pretty as the villas even after the refurb. A few minutes later our bags arrived, though we quickly realised we were short a couple of bags so a frantic call to bell services later and they were looking for them. It was a bit of a panic as our parents needed to leave shortly but I told them not to panic as if need be, we would bring the cases back with us. While we waited our parents got changed ready for their flight and we then went down to the club lounge to get some nibbles and drinks.

As we were waiting for the bags some of us had to stay in the room, so I went first with my parents followed by Sy and his parents. While it was just me and my parents in the room we facetimed my nan at home (yes my nan is 84, yes she has and iPad and yes knows how to facetime! She also texts, uses fb and skypes), it was her 84th birthday today which was the reason for us calling annoyingly though we found out that the delivery we had arranged for her hadn't arrived, and I'd paid for guaranteed day delivery. Marks and Spencers got a rather annoyed email from me later that day

Shortly after, the same bellman arrived again with the remaining cases - yay! And he arrived with 1 extra bag we hadn't realised was missing, oops. I didn't catch the CM's name but he had a blue badge He was brilliant, we chatted to him when we saw him the rest of our trip.

It was then time for our parents to leave. We helped them down with their bags and loaded the car up before saying goodbye, I'd sneakily bought my mum a present which I'd hidden in her hand luggage which I told her about it once she was already in the car, so she could have a look on the plane (was a little book about a daughter who loves her mummy that I'd seen in Cracker Barrel). This is usually the sad part where we spend the rest of the day feeling glum but for some reason we weren't like that this time... LOL

We had to head to the Alamo car centre to pick up our new hire car. I knew from reading online that Alamo would pick us up from our hotel for free and then take us to the centre but I didn't know how to arrange it. We tried at the front desk but they had no idea so we ended up just getting a taxi there, only cost $6. We asked when we were there for future reference and they said just call the centre and they send someone straight out. We had an intermediate SUV booked so once the paperwork was signed we headed outside to pick it up. We had a red Ford Explorer - it was very swish!!

We then drove back to the Grand and valet parked, they just we just need to call them from our room and they would have the car out front and waiting for us when we wanted it This is definitely posh. We're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy...

We headed up to the room and sat and smelled the roses for a short time, before deciding we were hungry. Our room was right over the counter service and there was a lift right by us so we headed down and were ordering food within about 60 seconds from leaving the room.

One of the CM's in there looked just like our friend Ben at home... and he was also called Ben! And he was from the UK. We totally told our friend he has a doppelganger in Disney

I ordered a cheese flatbread and Sy got the chef's special which was a BBQ chicken burger with coleslaw and pineapple in it. We took them back to the room to eat. They were both really good. We watched Dancing with the Stars while eating. We then went to get desserts from the Club Lounge, we ran down there in ad breaks of the show haha.

I wasn't a fan of most of the desserts we had, Sy liked everything though - especially the oatmeal cookies.

It was then time to watch Wishes. I was totally bummed out to find out that there was no music piped in! They are missing a trick there. Definitely spoiled by BLT lol. While we were watching the fireworks mousekeeping arrived to turn down our beds.

Bedtime was 11pm

Wait, what??? You mean I have to turn down my own bed?? I dunno if I know how.... I guess I'll bring the chocolates for the pillows hehehe

The room really was awesome, it was lovely to see how the other half live for a while though we liked it so much we booked AKL club level for our trip in November!

Awww thanks Dee! Nice to see you here

Day 17

Woke up this morning at 8:30am, quickly got dressed and headed to the lounge for some breakfast. There was definitely enough food for a decent breakfast, I had some croissants, bagel and some fruit. Sy had similar though he had cereal too. We grabbed a couple of drinks and headed back to the room to get properly dressed (we had just thrown on the closest things to hand before).

We packed up what little we had unpacked the night before and then called bell services to get our bags taken over to the villas and stored till our room would be ready and we then headed over to the villas to set up an email notification of our room being ready. The CM who helped us set it up was Allison, she was awesome! She was really friendly and chatty with us in June, and she remembered us. We chatted for ages, her sister was due to fly to London a few days later so I gave her a few tips. She had told me about her sister's trip in June and so I mentioned it, she seemed genuinely touched that I remembered We told her we would be heading over to the West Coast in May and so she shared some of her tips with us and showed us some of her pictures on Malibu Beach. She's a star!

About 45 minutes later (don't worry, no one was waiting for concierge while we chatted LOL) we headed over to MK via the boat.

We headed inside and managed to just catch the trolley show. I really felt for those dancers in the heat today.

It was a hot, sticky day so once the show had finished we decided to walk through the shops for some air-con... Well that was a big of a mistake! I came out with this little beauty...

Though about 3 weeks later after hardly any use, the bag coating had rubbed off in the corners leaving them all white In talks with Disney currently to fix it.

In the shop I was saying I wanted the cross body and Sy was trying to get me to get the bigger, more expensive bag! He's a bad influence I swear lol. It was so funny, I've been looking for the Haunted Mansion Dooney for so long, they have been selling out as soon as they get to the shops, so when I saw a full display of them I let out a little gasp. I was stood right next to a lady at the counter and she turned around and looked at me, embarrassing! But she then said 'it's ok honey I get it, there's one less there now' Pahahahahahaha least someone gets me!

Outside we walked up to the hub to get a sport to watch the new Move It Shake It parade. We stopped on the way and got some great Memory maker pictures.

Its not bad, I guess no one likes change. There were a *lot* of what looked like senior CM's mulling around watching it, how it was going etc. For those who haven't seen the new parade, there are these big screens that you tweet your picture to and then they appear on the screen... well apparently they do we watched the parade 3 times and the exact same pictures showed up every time. We even asked a manager why they were using stock pictures but he said they weren't... hmmm... they definitely were as we had videoed it on the camcorder and watched both and they are identical.

We sent in our pic before we realised.

After the parade we walked over to Sleepy Hollow, I was so hot, I needed an ice cream Sy got the chicken waffle sandwich to try and it was a game changer - OMG! I was totally not interested in trying it but wow, I loved it!

While we sat eating someone came over to me and asked 'are you Robyn?', it was Vickey and her at the time fiance, we were on the same fb group for UK Disney brides! How cool she recognised us! We chatted for a bit and grabbed some pics.

We then said goodbye and wished them luck for the upcoming nuptials and then made our way over to Pirates. Sadly it was down We waited for a few minutes in the shade, partly to see if the ride would open and partly just to escape a bit of the heat. I then got an email to say our room was ready so we decided to head over to the villas to unpack instead.

We got the boat back and walked through the Grand, we then realised it was afternoon tea time in the club lounge so we decided to stop there on our way through. To think we had paid all that money for tea a few days before and we were having the same thing for free! Lol

Full to the brim of cake and scones we made our way over to the villas and to see our new room. OMG it was sooo pretty! I took a gazillion pictures of the room and the view before unpacking and trying to find room for all of our stuff (murphy bed grrrr).

Earlier on I made some tentative plans with Karen to meet up later, they were coming to the MNSSHP so we were gonna head over to meet them before getting kicked out at 7pm when the party was in full swing. Sadly though Karen couldn't get the wifi to work (us out of towners have to rely on the sometimes rubbish Disney wifi) and so by the time she got back to me, the party was already in full swing and we wouldn't be allowed in without a ticket. While we were waiting to hear from her we headed over to the club lounge for more goodies.

Instead we decided to head over to Epcot to graze around the world a bit before watching the Eat to the Beat show which tonight was Wilson Philips - love them! And they were as fab as I had hoped.

Before the show we had tried a few different foods, I liked the chicken in Italy, the potato waffle in Belgium wasn't as good as I remembered and I positively hated the chicken dumpling in China lol. I don't have notes for what Sy tried boo.

After Wilson Philips we hot footed our way out to the monorail before Illuminations and the crowds and made our way back to VGF. We stopped in the main hotel to visit the Club Lounge for the last time. We had been chatting to a CM called Helen earlier and she was still there so Sy asked her if he was able to take a glass of the juice back to our room. She told him to wait there and disappeared out the back, she came back with a big pitcher full and about 8 of the oatmeal cookies Sy liked wrapped up in cling film! How sweet was that?! Disney CM's are the reason we keep going back

Back in the room we got ready for bed and watched Wishes on our balcony, before sleep came and we crashed out.

Yeah it was so worth it! I think I might be a convert... thank god we have the DVC points we can use to 'pay' for it. Mind you come November we are doing 6 nights Club and then moving to 11 nights in a value lol we traded off the value and club, only doing the club first as we are there over thanksgiving and so will be doing less park time. Can't wait for it!

Day 18

I woke up at 3am to Sy sat bolt upright on the sofa snoring, I woke him up and got him into bed - he has serious neck and back ache when he got up. We went back to sleep and I then woke up at 5am with serious calf cramp, I ended up waking Sy too as I was hobbling about the room trying to get rid of it. It finally subsided 10 mins later (those were the longest 10 mins ever!) and we went back to sleep. We wakened for the final time at 8.30, we got dressed ready for our day at SeaWorld and managed to leave the room by 9.30. We stopped at McDonalds drive through for some breakfast on the go and arrived at SeaWorld a little later than planned due to the horrific traffic on the I4. We drove into the car park and were really taken aback at just how empty it was, the park had only been open for 40 minutes but even so, it was like a ghost town. We were there in low season though.

We parked up and headed to the ticket desk to buy our tickets. $101 for us both under the disabled and helped half price offer, not bad. Our first stop inside the gates was over to feed the rays, I love feeding the rays!!

We then popped to see the dolphins, though we missed the feeding time for them so we just watched them for a little while.

Next we decided to visit the new Antarctica exhibition and ride.

It was f-f-f-f-freezing inside there and it broke down once we were near the front so we had no way to get out (I was on my ECV) and we were right by a massive air-con vent I asked outside before getting in the queue how long it was and I was told it would be about 10 minutes which wasn't a problem however we then had to wait another 20 minutes for it to be fixed. It was a cute little ride but not worth a wait longer than 10 minutes.

After you get off the ride you find yourself inside Antarctica with all the penguins! Sadly I couldn't stay in there long as I was so cold by this point that was a shame but once we went out of the cold there was a little window where we could look back into see the penguins. One took a real shine to Sy in the window and kept following him around as he walked up and down. Was so cute!

We then wandered round to feed the sea lions, it was really quiet round there. I managed to get all of the fish to the sea lions without inadvertently feeding the birds - no easy feat believe me though they didn't seem that hungry so usually I'd spend loads of money going back to buy more but didn't bother today.

As the sea lion and otter show is currently closed for refurbishment we decided to see one of the shows we've not watched before, so we made our way over to Allure, Call of the Ocean. If you like circus shows then its good. Its a shame the 'story' was so weak as they could have done more with it, but the acts were very good. The theatre was about 1/3 full though must be hard performing to so few people. There was a bird from outside in there flying around stealing the show, every time someone got close to nabbing it, it flew off again lol.

Once outside we headed over to the skyride. I had to go in a separate entrance cause of the ECV but there wasn't really a queue anyway. Its a cute little ride, and the views are great.

As we got off there are steps down and a long way out of there's a chain with a disabled sign leading to where my ECV was parked, so I went that way while Sy walked the long way round. Well I got a mouthful of abuse from the older member of staff there! In Disney we weren't that's for sure. He told me that is was closed off for a reason (yeah to make you walk past the photos they took on the way in, to try and get you to buy them) and that I should open my eyes! I told him I was 'just getting my wheelchair if you don't mind?!' I did say it with a right attitude too, which I felt bad about immediately after, just cause he was rude doesn't make it right that I was too. I was really taken aback honestly. He didn't say anything or apologise and we just left the area. I kinda wish I'd got his name to say something on the way out. Ah well.

It was past lunchtime now and we were feeling hungry so we decided to search out some food. We had a look at the park map to see what was available where, and ended up back at Antarctica. We shared a chicken tenders meal with wedges, it also came with a biscuit

Full and happy we left and made our way over to Blue Horizons, dolphin show. It was as fabulous as ever.

We then made our way over to watch the new Shamu show One Ocean. I really enjoyed it, it was a new show for me. I don't think it mattered that the trainers weren't in the water with the Orcas, they are magnificent on their own.

While we were sat in there Sy was messaging someone from the Facebook group he admins. (Dunno if anyone noticed but he was wearing an 'its orlando time' badge. He was doing a competition with the members to get a pic with an admin wearing a badge and they then would get some sent to them), well there was another family in the Shamu stadium trying to find us to get a pic.

Next up we went to ride Atlantis, love this ride!! I do love a good water ride though There was no wait whatsoever and we even had a boat all to ourselves. Luckily we didn't get too wet but we were leaving right after so it didn't matter too much either way.

We then made our way out to the car and went in search of a Publix. We picked up some supplies (drinks etc) and a napoleon before making our way back to GF.

I was feeling a bit rubbish so we decided to cancel the golf cart we had hired for the following day at Fort Wilderness which we did at the front desk. We also picked out 2 dvd's to watch in the room tonight as I wasn't going to be well enough to do much else. Sy went to Chili's to get some take out which we ate while watching the movies in our PJ's. Feeling pants on holiday isn't the greatest but getting to watch tv and eat in bed is always better in Disney than at home!

We then sat out on the balcony and watched Wishes. I decided to YouTube a Wishes video which I started just as the fireworks did so we could listen to the music at the same time

Day 19

The plan had us hiring a Golf cart and exploring FW today but we had cancelled it the night before due to me feeling a bit under the weather so it meant we had a free day so to speak (is there such a thing when in Disney??). First up though we did have a breakfast ADR at 'Ohana. We got up and got dressed and then walked over to the Poly past the wedding pavilion, it only took a couple of minutes and was a really nice walk, it was empty around us. We went upstairs and checked in for our breakfast as were seated right away. It was a cute little breakfast, I never really make my money's worth at a buffet as I can't eat much for breakfast but it was nice to meet all the characters and have the food brought to the table rather than having to go up and get it from a buffet with everyone else. The food wasn't exactly hot and our server took an absolute age before bringing us any waffles, and they were only offered once (she put 1 on each of our plates but Sy then gave me his). All said and done I probably wouldn't bother with breakfast here again for a while.

Some pics from breakfast

Sy was clearly tired...

Our server did give us 2 cupcakes as we had our just renewed badges on, Sy ate one but I didn't fancy it. I'm not a huge cupcake fan! I dunno what they do to them in Disney but they are all just so sweet!

Our server was definitely only okay in Ohana. We used our Tables in Wonderland card which gives 20% off but adds on an 18% tip, our meal came to just short of $55, we put down $60 and asked for change. Well she clearly was not impressed and took about 15 minutes to come back with our change, baring in mind we had finished eating and the table had been cleared. Eventually she brought us back the $5 bill but not the change. We still left her another dollar though, I think to prove a point that we weren't tight meanies after we asked for the $5 back. We then decided to head over to MK for a few hours so we made our way over to the boat, we had it all to ourselves at first but then another family got on who made enough noise to make it feel like it was full... They then spent the rest of trip standing up causing the skipper to stop the boat multiple times to tell them to sit down. They didn't speak English at a first language and kept making out they didn't understand, well I'm sorry but the motion she lady was doing with her hands there was no mistaking what she was trying to say (both hands flat facing the floor and she was pushing downwards, you don't need to speak English to know what she was telling you!!). Grrr.

When we finally arrived at MK we hung about a bit on main street doing some shopping while we waited for the Movie it Shake it parade.

We noticed the #moveitshakeitpics were all the same as the last time we watched it so we asked a CM who was walking around monitoring the parade, he gave us some lame excuse about some of them being the same as not many people sent pics in... well that was rubbish as we had filmed the pics both times and checked when we got home, they were identical. I wish he had just told us the truth! He probably wasn't allowed but it was a bit sucky. We had sent in a pic that didn't get used hence us looking and wondering why.

I grabbed this selfie with Barbra.

Afterwards we headed over to ride Pirates, a couple had very kindly given us their fastpasses this morning while we were at breakfast so we decided to head over and use them.

We noticed they weren't filling the boats and always keeping the last row empty so I asked why (yes, I'm so nosey!), I wondered if it had something to do with the guy who had his fingertip chopped off but the CM said it was to do with the weight of the boat. Needless to say on my last trip in March (yes I have had yet another trip since this one!!) they were back to filling the boats in all rows.

After our ride on Pirates we decided to head back over to the hotel. We had an early dinner so we decided we would chill out at the hotel for a bit and make the most of our free day by not running ourselves ragged. We stopped on the way to meet Tinkerbell and Mickey mouse with the fastpasses I had set up that morning.

We hopped on the boat back to GF and walked to the villas, I'm not sure but I think it might actually have been a shorter walk to the Poly at breakfast this morning than from the GF boat dock. Back in the room we both showered and watched a bit of TV.

It was soon time to get ready to head over to Ft Wilderness for our dinner reservation at Trail's End with Karen, Iain and their 3 children. We got the monorail over as it had air-con and we were hot and we then hopped on the Ft Wilderness boat.

We actually arrived half an hour early so we had a mooch in the shop and then grabbed a table outside while we waited.

Karen & Iain arrived early as well so we didn't have to wait long. We headed in just as a huge party went in in-front of us, we didn't time that very well! We were seated right away as it was an early dinner there were loads of free tables when we want in but they filled up over our time in there. Our server was the campest guy EVER! His name was Kevin and he was AMAZING. There was a huge wait to get food as we had come in right behind the large group but we got there in the end. Food was okay, we knew what we were getting. It was very similar to Hoop De Doo, I wasn't a fan of any of the desserts apart from ice cream but hey, you cant go wrong with ice cream! I'd definitely go back there but its probably not right at the top of our list.

A nicely embarrassing part of the evening was when Kevin our server rang a huge bell and got all of the newlyweds and anniversary couples up to play a game involving kissing! I was bright red and glowing he wouldn't take no for an answer lol. Karen ever so kindly took some pictures.... however only one is fit for viewing!

Afterwards the huge embarrassment, of course a guy came up to me as he recognised me from my trip reports! I totally forgot his name though, but he was really sweet and said how much he enjoyed reading them

We paid the bill with the TiW card and headed outside, Iain had taken the kids over to the playground while we were paying so we went over to meet him there. When we were able to tear the kids away we hopped on a bus over to find Chip and Dale for their singalong around the campfire. When Karen and I had checked online it said the singalong would start at 7pm however it didn't start till 8pm so we were hanging around for ages. We did get to meet Chip and Dale though while we waited. Karen bought some marshmallows and sticks for roasting on the campfire, it was hard getting the little ones to toast them rather than set them on fire haha was a cute thing to do. We all enjoyed holding them over the fire however no one really liked eating them from what I remember...

Just before the singalong started the headless horseman came through, I wasn't expecting that so it was a nice surprise! The singing was less impressive, in fact we didn't stay for all of it, I believe we only made it through a couple of songs LOL

Karen had watched youtube videos before her trip and said Chip and Dale usually come and dance and play with the kids while the singalong happens but they didn't today for some reason. They did hand out some candy from the back though if you went to meet them and get a picture. I think this was because it was the day before halloween.

Afterwards we said goodbye and headed on different buses, we headed towards the boat while Karen, Iain and the kids went towards the carpark as they had driven here. We lucked out and didn't have to wait long for a boat. While we were on the way back we realised we were just about coming up time for Hallowishes so we decided to head up to TOTWL to watch them for the last time. We got there just as they started but we still managed to find a nice spot to watch them from. I saw a big spider just as I approached the wall so I stood off to one side (I'm not a fan), another girl came along after us and went to stand against it so I quickly grabbed her before she lent on it, I then immediately felt bad as I had just put my hands on a stranger - I know I wasn't being nasty or anything but you know, you shouldn't really put your hands on people you don't know! I just thought if it was me I'd want someone to stop me. After the fireworks I apologised but she was very pleased I did it as she said she would have freaked out had she realised - so phew!

We then went inside, grabbed a table and waited for Marissa who was our server last week for our Vow Renewal. She remembered us and chatted for ages with us which was very sweet of her.

Our drinks, mine was a virgin strawberry daiquiri while Sy had a lemonade thing.

When we finished our drinks we left Marissa a huge tip and headed back to VGF via the monorail. In bed we watched a bit of tv before falling into a deep sleep.

It was some sort of sweet bread with coconut in, but as I don't like coconut I didn't eat any!

My drink was whipped cream on top... Sy's im not 100% sure on, it was some sort of foam.

both are places i'm sure we will return to in time. the strawberry daiquiri wasn't on the menu but I asked if they could make me something fruity an virgin and that's what they offered me so I took it! it was nice

oooh maybe they mix up the breads a bit? I think we may have had the cinnamon one in there as well