Watson's Very Merry 24 nighter TR. Completed!!

Day 19

Today was an exciting day as Jan was flying in! Jan -for those who may not know- is who I went on a girly week long trip last Feb/March with. I say went on, really I gate crashed her solo trip and forced her to extend it by a few days hehehe. So today I was feeling very excited to see her <3 she didn't get in till tonight though so I still had a few hours to wait.

And what to do when you need to pass some time? Well you go shopping of course!! Louis had the day off so we picked him up after a quick breakfast and made our way to the premium outlets at the top of International Drive.

Poor boys, I dragged them up and down that shopping centre hahaha. They refurbished Disney outlet had just opened so we had a look in there, plus bath and bodyworks, Ugg, Victoria secrets, Aldo, Yankee candle, Ralph Lauren, Gap.... The list goes on. The boys left me to it in the end and went looking at boy shops hehehe.

Sy found his new Christmas outfit while we were there.

And I found these highly amusing hand sanitisers hahahahaha

Sy saw his next luggage purchase - how cool were these from samsonite?!

We started to get hungry mid afternoon so we left and went to find some food. We were right by a Sweet Tomatoes so of course we had to eat there, it's a favourite of Louis' too.

$10 each roughly with a voucher I had on an email. It's a total bargain for what you get. We were soooo full when we left (still managed a worlds smallest ice cream each though lol).

We decided to head back to Disney and go to Hollywood studios! Woohoo! It was getting dark now though and after dark it gets cold at this time of year so we popped back to AKL for me to get changed and grab Sy a jumper. Louis told us we were wimps though and said he was fine in his tshirt and shorts lol.

Back at the hotel I ran in with all the shopping. I quickly got changed and went back towards the car, via the club lounge.... I wanted to grab a drink each to take with us it had nothing to do with it being spicy Durban chicken day... Honest.

Erm, whoops.

Hahahahaha how I had room for it I don't know but I couldn't miss it could I?! Hehehe

We then made our way over to HS.

We went to ride ToT first with the first Fastpass. We stopped on sunset Blvd to get a quick picture on the way.

This was Louis ride when he worked in DLP so it's a favourite for him too

Then the boys went to ride Rockin' Rollercoaster. Sadly it makes me feel sick now so I say it out and went to the character dance party near the exit of ToT. It was so cool! Loads of characters and hardly any people! I did a bit of Periscoping from inside and then felt a bit weird cause I was on my own and it looked like I was just videoing a load of kids so I decided to stop that hahaha. I stayed there till it closed and just as I was walking out the boys arrived back.

This was their picture...

Now the park was shut (it closed at 8pm tonight) we made our way over to the Osborne spectacle of lights. I had heard this little bit of info about going after the park shuts as its not as crowded, they were right too, it was very manageable.

We stayed for a little bit and grabbed some pictures.

Jan had now arrived woohoo! So we went to pick her up from Pop. The boys dropped me off at pop and left me to find her while they went to put gas (petrol) in the car. Jan had brought Sy some chips (crisps) down bless her! He loved the maple bacon pretzel pieces from schniders but they had stopped making them so Jan bought him some exclusive chips from her hometown instead (they didn't make it back to the uk lol Sy finished before we left Disney!).

I went with Jan to the food court to try and get a resort mug but you can't buy them for a couple of days use now, only the length of stay ones which are a crazy pice if you're only here for a few days. A lovely CM gave Jan a normal cup for a drink tonight though instead, what a lovely bit of Disney Magic! So Jan grabbed a Sprite and then we headed out front. I messaged both boys and told them we would meet them at reception.

We had time for a quick pic girls back together again! Yay!

The boys found us and we then made our way over to BLT for the fireworks we arrived about 15 mins before they started so we stood around inside trying to escape the cold (of course everyone else had the same idea so it was pretty rammed!), we then ran outside just as they were starting.

.

We managed to see a bit of the water pageant as well in the distance.

We were all a bit ravenous now, so we headed back down to the car and decided to try and find food. We tried a few chain places at the crossroads but they were all about to close the only place that might be open still was either a fast food place or steak and shake. Well you can guess where we chose lol.

We were shown to a table for four, we perused the menu for a while and then decided what to order. I of course went for my usual chicken tenders and fries lol. Jan had a hot dog I think and the boys both had burgers. Considering the time of night, it was pretty busy in there!

The food arrived a little while later and was very nice for the price

We paid up at the counter and made our way home. It was nearly midnight by now we dropped Louis home first and then Jan. We had plans to meet up the next day again of course with Jan, Louis was working so we would see him again later in the trip.

We finally arrived back at AKL at 12:30am, we completely fell into bed!

(Thanks to Jan for some of the pics today!)

Day 20

We had a little bit of a lie in this morning after our late night, plus we knew it was going to be another late night due to mickey's very merry Christmas party! We got dressed leisurely and headed out to pick up Jan at 11. Jan just had a Christmas party ticket so this morning we were resort hopping around the Epcot resorts to look at all the pretty Christmas decorations <3

We decided to park at the Boardwalk and go from there.

We headed into the reception to have a look around.

Pics of the creepy chairs

Slightly less creepy...(just)

Afterwards we headed out and down to the Boardwalk. We wanted to look at the model DVC rooms there as they've been recently renovated, Jan is a new owner there and we have a week stay there in May so we wanted to have a nosey and check them out. Verdict? Really loving the new look! It really reminded me of the villas at the Grand Floridian, different but like it's been designed by the same people. We chatted with the DVC guide for a little while and then made our way out to the next resort...

We stopped outside to take some pics in the sunshine. The boardwalk was really pretty today, beautiful blue skies and hardly anyone around. It felt like we were the only people in the world.

Our next stop was in the Yacht Club.

We spent some time looking at the model village, I totally didn't know this was here! It's so cute.

We then walked through to the Beach Club. The carousel is pretty amazing! I don't think the pictures do it justice at all. And to think, all made of gingerbread!

Bonus points if you can find the hidden Robyn in this next picture lol

We then walked back to the car ready to head over to Old Key West for our late lunch at Olivia's

OKW reception and tree.

Yummy Olivia's menu.

Let's face it, there was only one reason we were eating here.... And that was for Sy to eat conch fritters! So Sy got them to start and shared with Jan. I skipped an appetiser.

For mains Sy went for the French dip, Jan went for the shrimp po boy and I had the chicken sandwich. All the food was lovely! Jan and Sy shared had a sandwich each, they loved them both. Sy said he couldn't pick a favourite so he needs Jan to go back with him so they can share again hehe

Sy of course had to try the key lime pie...

We paid the bill and made our way back outside to the car. We dropped Jan back at her hotel and headed back to AKL to do some washing and pack as tomorrow we were moving over to VGF. Sad to be leaving the club lounge but so excited to spend the last few night in our other home. <3

I managed to squeeze in time to wash my hair (no mean feat with this amount of hair!) we then got ready in our party outfits - yes we had special party outfits to wear, don't judge us haha! We were soon arriving at MK at around 6pm. Jan was already at the party seeing as she could get in from 4pm so we liaised by text and met up by the last Fastpass we had (we missed our first 2) which was a meet and greet with Cinderella and Rapunzel. Unintentionally Jan was actually wearing a tshirt the same colour as Sy and I so it was like we were almost all matching.

There was one meet and greet I really wanted to do at the party - one of my heroes is Scrooge McDuck and I've never met him before, well as soon as I found out he does meet and greets at the Christmas party I knew where I was lining up! So once we were out of the Princess meet that's where we were headed. We made a quick stop to get hot chocolate and as my notes say 'disgusting cookies' hahahaha and then we got in the mahoooooooosive queue

We chatted with the CM dealing with the queue line, she was from Australia and we bonded over how Americans get us confused (she's often asked if she's British and we are often asked if we are Australian). She was very sweet and it helped pass some of the time.

We were in the queue for 75 minutes had I known I might have been tempted to come back later but we were told it would only be about half hour/45 minutes. Oh well. It was worth it!

Lorraine who we met at the Dapper Darlin event was doing the party solo, she came to join us when we were nearly at the front and joined in with our pictures (I'm sure others waiting didn't mind, not like she made the queue line any longer as she joined us). Donald was so very taken with her, flirting away... Only Daisy wasn't seeing the funny side at all, Donald got a right telling off hahaha.

Next we decided to try out the dance party in cosmic rays... I'll save you all the bother in future. It was rubbish. Lol. We tried to have a little dance and get in the spirit (apart from our very own Scrooge who sat down with the bags at at table nearby).

Calling time on a bad decision we then went to find a spot for the fireworks. We got a spot in the rose garden where the Fastpasses usually are (were - sniff). We waited here for quite sometime... Jan went to get some corn dog nuggets from Casey's which she and Sy munched on while we waited which helped pass the time.

I must admit the fireworks were better from inside the party than at TOTWL. The finale is very good, but without it I don't know if I'd bother watching them again.

Afterwards we went over to liberty Square to get a spot for the parade, Lorraine said goodbye at this point to go off and do a few more meet and greets. Emma, Scott and Mason were at the Christmas party and they came to find us, they had actually watched the earlier parade but decided to stay and watch it again (after I watched it I could understand why!). Poor Mason slept through the whole party though, he had gone to sleep just as the party started and he stayed asleep the whole time! Shame he missed it but better than an overtired bubba.

The parade was fabulous! I dunno what I was expecting but I just loved it! I'm gutted the Christmas party this year starts the day we leave ( #firstworlddisneyproblems

Uploading this next pic even though it's a bit rubbish cause I can't quite decide what the parade CM is doing to one of the skaters... Looks like she's hugging him? It keeps making me chuckle!

We were feeling the cold so we went to get some more hot chocolate nearby (skipping the cookies this time haha). We started to walk towards Tomorrowland and we then noticed that princess Tiana and Prince Naveen had no queue behind sleepy Hollow so we went in to meet them.

Prince naveen was challenging Scott to show off his muscles hehehe. They were a really good meet, they really spent time talking to us and didn't feel make us feel rushed or anything.

We carried on our way to tomorrowland, the guys and Emma went on space mountain while Jan and I watched Mason and caught a bit of the little show in tomorrowland. That show was way better than cosmic rays dance party, wish we'd seen that earlier (it was its final show now and we were worried about getting too close in case the loud noise woke Mason). I'd make time to go see it next time!

We then went to ride Buzz as there was no wait at all. Scott and Emma waited outside with Mason.

I'm not sure what was going on but Jan doesn't look too happy here lol

Sadly afterwards the park was closing boooo.

We stopped on the way out to get a few pictures on Main Street and then made our way out of the park and back to the car.

We arrived back at the hotel at 1:30am we did a last run around quickly packing the rest of our things and finally got into bed at 2am.

Day 21

We were up at 8:30 with our alarm #wowthatreallywasntenoughsleep we got dressed and packed up the last few things and then called down to Bell Services to give us a hand with our bags. We then said a sad goodbye to our room *sniff sniff*. We stopped by reception on our way out, we wanted to speak to the manager on duty about how amazing Brian and Andrea were <3 he was really pleased we said something and promised to pass it on to Andrea's new boss over at Disney Springs. Gotta share the love for the awesome cast members people!

We then made our way outside to the car and loaded up the bags, we could have let bell services transfer them over to VGF but they lost 2 of our bags last time sending over there so we decided to take them ourselves - seeing as we had the car and there was space in the big boot it's not like it was gonna be any hassle. We finally left AKL at 10am (sniff sniff). We went to pick up Jan on route at 10:15 and then drove over to the VGF to check in. Our room wasn't ready of course but we set up a room ready email so we didn't need to keep checking back (damn you international phones, I want a text when it's ready!).

VGF Christmas decorations

We had an ADR for brunch at 1900 park fares this morning so we walked over to the main hotel and checked in.

First up was the picture in front of the painting, though think the photographer needs to work on their exposure/flash. We all look a bit bright... It's not a good look I must say.

Jan's phone took way better pictures...

We got a spot outside while we waited, though it seemed to go way past our ADR time - it was almost lunch by the time we were taken in!

Our server was Molly, she wasn't the best if I'm honest. Another just going through the motions. Nothing bad about her exactly, just disinterested and not overly friendly. You could tell she'd said the same stuff over and over. Such a shame. The characters however were amazing!

The food was pretty good as well. I think 1900 is one of the better buffet restaurants - I'm not normally a buffet type girl (lazy moo I want people to bring me my food Hahahaha)

We waited ages for Tigger to come around, he did come round once but we were busy with pooh so he skipped past us I really wanted to wait for Tigger so I could FaceTime my Aunty Angie - he's her favourite and as she's poorly I wanted to make her smile! He was amazing!!

Tigger suggest a picture with Angie in it too! He such a clever tiger

After brunch we went to look at the Christmas decorations.

We decided to queue up and get a few pics with the photopass photographer in front of the tree. Omg he was amazing! He was making everyone laugh, getting in the pictures with people. He was such a star! Definitely another favourite cast member of ours from this trip. I'm gonna keep an eye out for him on our next trip

He took a selfie with a stranger on Jan's phone hehehe

There had been some sort of filming going on in the lobby, though we didn't catch what it was sadly, they were packing it all away. Dammit.

We then got the email we had been waiting for! Our room was ready. Jan came to have a look at the room with us cause why not? Sy called down for the bags which were brought up right away.

Jan and I then decided to hop on the monorail over to the Contemporary resort to see their Christmas display. It was Frozen themed. Totally cool!

We couldn't stop for long as we were dropping Jan back to Pop for her to catch the Tragical Express so we grabbed Sy from the room where he had been asleep lol and he drove us over to Pop. We were about 2 mins late and the bus was about ready to leave Jan managed to hop on but will serve as a warning for future reference - make sure you're there in plenty of time

We were soooooo sad to be saying goodbye to Jan again so quickly :'-( she had only just got there and she was leaving again so soon boohoo. Though at least it was under a year till we would see her again at the big meet up in October.

We made our way back to VGF sadly and we were so sad in fact we had a long 3 hour nap lol

After a quick change we headed out to magic kingdom where we were meeting up with Louis after his shift. We hopped on the monorail over and saw the teddy bear lady in reception, today she had all of her Christmas bears out!

We had Fastpasses for this evening, first up was a special meet with the main man himself - Mickey Mouse!

He made us blooming stand like hitchhiking ghosts again! Ah man! He does this to me every single time!

He did however pose for a nice picture with us as well which doesn't normally happen so that's good.

It was then time to meet a little fairy by the name of Tinkerbell <3

She loved that we were wearing green, she told Sy off for not keeping in with the colour scheme lol

It was then time for the Main Street electrical parade. We decided to get a spot over near the barbers as it was pretty quiet. I left Sy and Louis keeping the spot and I went into do a bit of shopping hehehe. Good lads!

I came back out just in time for the parade to start.

Sy periscoped it while I just sat back and watched... He even managed to catch the white rabbit falling over and almost lose his head he tripped up the curb. He did a little bow and we all cheered when he motioned that he was ok a few minutes later though he was being led behind us by some CM's and through the doorway to backstage. He clearly had either hurt himself or damaged something. Poor rabbit.

Before the incident....

A short time later the boy mice from Cinderella were brought behind us as well. Sadly their suits were too big for them to get through the doorway... It was fun watching them try mind you, it was like something out of a cartoon with them trying the doorway and then bouncing backwards hahaha. In the end they were led in front of the parade floats round the back.

Sorry for the blurred pictures but they are the only ones I could get of the mice debacle.

It was then time for our last fastpass which was wishes (rip wishes Fastpass area). We got a spot at the back of the rose garden so we could stay standing without blocking anyone's view. We stood next to a lady who lives in Orlando and comes all the time, we chatted to her for a bit as she was on her own. Sy went to grab some fries from Casey's which we ate while waiting

Wishes was wonderful as always <3

We decided the next ride would be Jingle Cruise seeing as we hadn't done it yet this trip. And let's face it, it's always better in the dark

It was EMH tonight so most of the park had emptied after wishes, we made our way over to Fantasyland, the boys went over to BTM on the way while I went ahead. I wasn't feeling it tonight.

Gaston looks dishy in this light

How cute does Rapunzel's tower look at night?

I rode Dumbo twice without getting off as it was that quiet!

The boys met me at the exit and we went to ride on Barnstormer. I ended up taking a little boy on with me as there was a dad with 2 kids trying to ride but all kids must sit with an adult, so I offered to sit with him. Poor lamb was terrified, not sure if it was the ride or sitting next to me hahaha. His dad was appreciative though.

Next up was Mickey's Philharmagic - love it!

It was soooo busy in there....

Last ride of the night was the haunted mansion. There was a rather spooky wait time...

We then made our way towards the park exit, stopping on the way to get some pictures

We managed to catch the kiss goodnight too!

We headed out the park shortly after 1am. The monorail was down so only the little resort boats were working - and you can't take scooters on them! I tried asking CM's outside what to do and they sent us to the buses, the CM's at the buses said we have to get the boat. No one knew what we should do. In the end I sent the boys off to get the car while I went to over to bay lake tower to wait. Reception was now locked as it was so late but someone came who was staying there and I followed them in so I could wait in the warm.

The boys took about 45 mins to get to me. Unfortunately the guys on the gate didn't buy their story that they were picking me up so they had a bit of hassle being let in to grab me. Oops! You can understand with it being so late at night. We stopped by on the way out to thank them so they knew we had left again.

We were all starving now so we drove over to Taco Bell for some late night munchies which we ate in the car.

We dropped Louis back home and then made our way back to VGF.

We finally got in bed at 3:15am! Yikes! Thank god we had that 3 hour nap eh?!

Day 22

We woke up at 9:30 this morning, not bad considering the late night we had the night before. We pottered about in the room for a bit and then got dressed and went to meet Vicki at My French Cafe which was about 15 minutes north of Magic Kingdom. Vicki kept posting pictures of the cakes in there so we had this lunch planned for aaaages. I'm never one to miss out on some good cake

Omg the food. Omgomgomgomgomgomg! Finally, somewhere in Orlando that does good bread! It was crusty and not sweetened at all. I was in HEAVEN! We got a meal deal each which was a snack (we chose home made croissants as the snack) a filled baguette, a cake of choice and a drink (they even had orangina!). Think each meal deal was about $15. Worth every penny. I'm going back here in April that's for sure.

We stayed for 2 hours chatting with Vicki. We didn't eat our cakes right away as we had no room so we took them back to VGF with us (and ate them pretty much right away lol).

We then went for a swim, we really hadn't done much swimming this trip yet so we wanted to get down to the pool and get some sun on our skin and dip our toes in the refreshing pool water.

It started to cloud over so we made our way back to the room after a little while. I then napped for an hour, all that sunning myself clearly took its toll haha.

Sy took a few more pics of the room.... See all those bags in front of the tv? That was only some of the shopping we did

We got dressed and made our way to MK, tonight we wanted to watch Elsa light up the castle for Christmas as we hadn't watched it yet and we were quickly running out of time till we go home boohoo

We headed up Main Street and got a spot in the centre, it was pretty busy but we waited it out for the show to begin. Just as it started of course all of the parents in front of us put their kids on shoulders and we couldn't see a thing I really don't know why people do this. Hold your kids at the same height as you are and the everyone can see. I even got kicked in the head by one child as their dad pushed through everyone with his kid on his shoulders. It wasn't a fun experience tbh. This was the only time we saw it too. Ah well. #firstworldproblems. We saw enough of it, guess we will have to go back again at Christmas hehe.

Sy managed to get these couple of pics when people moved

We had a Fastpass to meet Ariel so we ran over to meet her once the show was finished, we had no wait in the Fastpass queue at all. Ariel was admiring my handbag, she asked if I could fit my dinglehopper in it hehehe love her!

We got on the train in Fantasyland and got off at Main Street USA.

We then had to head out of the park, we had an ADR for Ohana with Carrie and Mark and Emma, Scott and Mason. Trying to get out of the park was a mission! Omg the queues. We waited in the queue for the boat for ages but we gave up and went for the monorail, we had to wait there for ages too but eventually we got on and arrived at the Poly. Our ADR was for 7pm and we arrived at 7:20. Emma had already checked in and we arrived just before the buzzer went off, phew!

We were shown to a table and told our server was TJ. This is where the evening took a bit of a downward turn... He was just terrible. No where to be seen all evening. I have already covered this in highs and lows but I'll repeat for those who didn't read it...

2 hrs 45 minutes for dinner really isn't acceptable. TJ was terrible, I actually had a word with the manager but he really didn't care which shocked me. First time ever I actually asked for the tip to be removed from our bill as he didn't deserve 18% as he forgot us, we had to ask for drinks 3 times, didn't bring round food, he plonked the dessert down while we still had our plates as we hadn't finished eating our mains. We were meant to be meeting friends up at TOTWL but of course that didn't happen, we watched the fireworks from inside the restaurant while waiting for him to bring the bill. He was so bad that after he knew his tip had gone he was messing about with the magic band scanner, he must have tried reading my band 30 times or more but kept moving it around so it wouldn't connect just to hold us there longer as I told him we were in a rush. I was actually shocked at his behaviour. I did tell the manager about the magic band scanning and he said not a single thing - just shrugged his shoulders.

Anyway. Suffice to say Ohana is firmly off the return list. However we are staying in the poly villas in November, hello Ohana room service! Skip crappy service!!

One really cute thing that happened during our meal though, there was a big table next to us with what I can only assume was an off duty Santa. They were all wearing Christmas hats and the guy was wearing red trousers too, well Mason kept pointing at him and saying Santa! The guy was sooo lovely! He came over and chatted with him, Mason was mesmerised <3 and when we left he was waving and saying bye awwwwww!

Some more pics during dinner...

As we missed the fireworks we chatted in the lobby for a little while, Mason was still going strong considering the time so we played with him and the Christmas tree for a bit and asked a nice passerby to take a picture of us all

We then all said goodbye, Emma Scott and Mason were flying home the next day boohoo! But luckily we only live about an hour apart at home so we meet up back in the uk (gotta get my Mason fix when I can hehehe). We would be seeing Carrie again before we left but mark was pretty busy with work so we said goodbye to him too.

We walked back over to the villas and hit the hay when we got back.

I took 2 pics of Sy with the fountain in the lobby... one in front and one behind. Because? Well I have no idea hahaha

Day 23

Our alarm went off at 7:30. I was awake already as I'd been poorly in the night I had a mini panic about today, we were booked on the Yuletide Fantasy tour and as I was feeling grotty I was worried about getting ill on the tour. Sy talked me down from cancelling though so we quickly got dressed and hot footed over to Epcot arriving at 8am.

We stopped at the little coffee stand out front for Sy to get a croissant and a bottle of water for sickie old me.

We went to check in and it was a bit chaotic. There were people everywhere so we just hung about to find we were stood in the wrong area, we needed to be about 30 feet over to the right where a different tour was checking in. We stood about until someone came round to check us in and give us a name badge each.

We were all there so the tour started a little early. The tour guides introduced themselves to us, there was one guy and one girl. They explained that they would be taking half the group each. We got the girl who I'm afraid wasn't as good, she stopped talking loads more than the guy did. She was also reading the tour from a book she carried around which was a bit disappointing. We kept switching the channel on the headphones to the guys channel to listen to him instead

Don't get me wrong, we still really enjoyed the tour, it was just the least favourite out of all the tours we've done so far. I didn't know before hand but this tour was run by Disney institute and not the normal WDW run tours. I've not heard good things about the backstage magic tour so had I known this before booking I might have thought twice... But I'm glad we did it I really enjoyed the history.

We boarded the bus which took us around everywhere for the tour, first up we headed back stage in Epcot. We went in to Germany and learned about the history of the Christmas tree and the glass ornaments. We then went through to Italy and learned about the wreaths. It's worth mentioning that even when we were on the bus they were talking to us and showing us different things to look at and pass around.

Bus selfie

Another bus selfie as I started to feel better lol

Erm, no idea what this is now as I didn't take any notes lol creepy though

Back on the bus we made our way over to MK, entering the park again via backstage. We had a bit of a walk around but it was soooooooo busy. It was here we noticed how little the CM's running the tour knew about the parks. They were explaining about the flags along Main Street, it was Sy who told them that most of the flags were not official flags, they have less Stars and Stripes so that they don't have to follow the strict flag rules about going up and down. The guy didn't seem to actually believe Sy. You'd think someone running the tour would know it already? It's something that was talked about on the keys to the kingdom tour.

We were once again back on the bus and making our way over to the Christmas decoration department. It was so cool to see where all the decorations get stored. There were still so many in there too. Everything has its own little place. Colour coordinated baubles etc. Very cool.

We had to wear some very sexy protective glasses...

Pics from in the storeroom

Back on the bus on our way to the last stop of the day, wilderness lodge. We had a quick look around the lobby and then made our way into the lounge where we were given small glasses of warm spiced apple juice (apple cider). We then talked at great length about pine cones. We even had different sized ones to pass around lol.

Quick bathroom stop and we were back on the bus heading back to Epcot. Where the tour finished at 1pm.

We were all given rice crispy treats and a pin each.

Having not eaten anything I was now starving so we headed to the crossroads and to Chili's for lunch.

We went for the meal for $20. We started with loaded fries which were amazing...

Sy said he had one of the best burgers all trip next. I had something chicken but I took no pictures nor did I write it down... Lol oops!

We paid up and made our back to VGF. We were back in the room by 2:30. I had a sleep for about an hour and a half as I hadn't slept last night. Sy watched toy story while I slept, he did doze a bit on the sofa too but then got yelled at for snoring hehehe.

At 4:30 we got up and got ready for an evening in Epcot. This was our view as we drove out of VGF....

Too-many-jokes-about-turkey's-crossing-the-road....

In Epcot we had Fastpasses for this evening, first up was Soarin'.

We then went to ride Living with the Land. There was no wait whatsoever! Was strange being in the greenhouses while it was dark outside.

Hidden Mickey wearing his Santa hat

Last ride of the day was Test Track! Love it <3 can you guess who designed which car??***

We then went to wander round world showcase. We stopped in Karamel Kuche for some toffee goodness. I decided to go for a toffee apple (big mistake, it was so disappointing! The toffee stuck together and slid off the apple), Sy got an apple and oatmeal cookie (winner!).

Louis was in Epcot with his friends from Disneyland so we met up over in America to say hello. His friend Steve was *amazing* he's a blue badge wearer over in DL working at the Plaza, I actually see pics of him pop up on Disney Facebook pages cause he's so awesome. He had brought his brother over to WDW for his birthday and he'd actually had enough for the day (he was poorly) so they weren't staying to watch illuminations. I said we would drop Louis back afterwards so they went on back to their hotel.

We caught a bit of candlelight processional but I didn't really know who it was narrating it tonight (which explains why we could rock up at the back to watch).

We made our way over to Italy to find a spot to watch illuminations from. Sy was playing around doing his best hades impression...

I'm not normally a big fan of illuminations but I really liked the Christmassy ending! Shame it was going to be the only chance we had to watch it.

We could see other fireworks in the background too... Though we could decide if they were wishes or the new Star Wars fireworks

We made our way out of the park after it had finished, the boys were hungry so we went to try out Fudruckers as Louis had never been. Tbh I was way past it and just needed my bed but who am I to deny starving men of some dinner hehe.

I had a grilled chicken burger with sweet potato fries.

Sy went for a beef burger with thick cut fries.

Considering I was way too tired to eat, I managed to polish off most of my food we then dropped Louis home just up the road and then made our way back. We fell into bed at 11:30. #shattered

***clearly Sy made the green car while mine was the pink hehehe

Day 24

Today was our last full day in Orlando wahhhhhhhh

I didn't sleep well and was properly awake from 8am (gah the snoring!!) so I got up and started packing up our things. I then googled where the washing machines are in VGF as I didn't know lol and went to do a bit of washing. We had gone totally crazy with the shopping, even with an extra bag to take home there was no way it was gonna all fit in... We did pretty much all of our Christmas shopping plus bringing stuff back for other people. So Carrie and Mark kindly offered to look after some stuff for us till we go back over in April. We decided to leave all of our summer clothes (not like we needed those over winter in the uk!). Of course I wanted to make sure as much of it was washed as possible so I could leave it with them (can't be leaving our sweaty clothes behind ewwww).

I woke Sy up at 10 and sent him to collect the last of the drying while I finished up packing our clothes to take to Carrie.

We took our time getting ready to go out, I washed my hair and Sy mooched about not doing much. We had some breakfast in the room and we then headed out to the outlets to grab the last couple of Christmas presents (well we were leaving all of our clothes there right, so that meant we had more room didn't it?! Hehehehe).

It was a gorgeous day

We were meeting Carrie at My French Cafe at 1:30 so after the last minute shopping spree we made our way there.

Omg the food was just as good the second time. I believe we ordered the exact same things too! Carrie went for a chocolate tart. Can't wait to go back there on the next trip.

We spent aaaages chatting with Carrie and finally left at 3:30pm. We arranged to meet the next day for brunch at Keke's near Carrie's house before heading to the airport (sob!).

We made our way back to VGF to do some more packing - did I mention that we have a lot of stuff?! Pmsl! We then got changed into our Christmassy things and made our way to Hollywood studios to meet our friend Jackie who had just arrived a day before.

We had a Fastpass for Frozen singalong with Jackie so we met outside. Hugs all around! We didn't have long to wait before going in, we lucked out and had great seats - a couple of rows back right in the middle!

I periscoped the show and sang along.... I can only apologise to those people watching hehehe

Afterwards it was time for our holiday dinner with Minnie and friends!!! This was a much wanted ADR, I watched online every day for this to come available, and I was one of the first to book it when it went live. You might say I was a little bit obsessed lol (you'd be right of course!).

We were right on time checking in but had to wait a little while before we were taken inside. It was a bit strange as there were quite a few empty tables inside, not really sure why the wait. Not that it really mattered, we just sat outside and nattered till our name was called. First up were our pictures with Santa Goofy.

The character interactions in here were quite simply awesome! Some of the best in any character meal I have ever done! We were there quite a while as we were chatting so the characters came round a second time, they remembered the things we had chatted about the first time and mentioned them again - they totally made us feel special! They especially loved our T-shirts <3 Mickey was gesturing how much he liked them and then realised he was making booby motions hahahahaha he felt pretty embarrassed!!! Minnie said she looked naked on our tops and tried to cover herself up hehehe. Daisy was showing off her bling jewellery to us.

Donald and Daisy had a little dance with each other right behind us! It was so cute!!

We eventually decided to make our way out so we paid up and made our way over to Tower of Terror. What a great idea this fastpass was for after dinner hehehe

Luckily we didn't feel sick though!

As we were right nearby we decided to have a quick look in the club Disney. We stopped to get a photopass pic on the way.

Club Disney was way busier tonight than it was when I was here on my own. We did manage to have a little boogie and get some pictures this time though.

We then walked over to the Osborne lights for one last look...

We decided to queue for one photo pass photographer as the queues were really massive.

We took our own pictures while we waited lol

Afterwards we headed out of the park as it was now closed - and made our way over to Magic Kingdom as it was open late! Got to make the most of our last evening after all

We stopped for another picture on the way out.

Jackie and I took the bus over to MK while Sy took the car and parked it back at the VGF, he then got the boat over to meet us.

He decided to stop for his own photopass pic on the way out of HS (yes, this is my husband people... )

It was rather busy on the boat over from GF to MK....

Louis had just finished work so he met up with us on Main Street and we waited there for Sy. All 4 of us then went over to Big Thunder Mountain. There was hardly any wait! Woohoo!

We then walked over to Fantasyland. Winnie the Pooh had no wait at all so on we went

Last up was Dumbo, again there was no wait at all. We each got our own dumbo!

In fact there was no one in the queue line so they said we could go on again!

Sadly it was then 1am and time for the park to close

We started to make our way out of the park.

We stopped on Main Street for one last picture at Jackie's suggestion. We got a picture that turned out to be one of my favourite pics of the holiday, we both look so happy and relaxed.

We said a sad goodbye to Louis and Jackie as we wouldn't be seeing them again

We then monorail'ed it back to VGF,packed up a few more things ready for the morning and finally got into bed at 2:30am.

The brunch really was something special, thinking of trying out the California grill one next time! And good spot on the jacket hehehe

Hehehe well gotta make use out of it

I would totally do it again, it was that good! But thinking of trying the California brunch next. And fingers crossed the palo brunch on the cruise!

I dunno, it was a pretty good brunch... Worth dropping something else for maybe though there's always the next time...

You need to make it happen! Fantasyland at night is my favourite

You totally need to finish your tr missy I love that jersey too! So perfect for you!!! We had the most amazing time with you Jan, can't wait till October when we can do it again <3

I've read your report about the room service and told so many people about it since lol I'm definitely Italy gonna try it! How would you say the portions were? Could I get away with an adults and a child's portion? Or would we need the 2 adults?

I totally put that in there just for you hehehehe

I did love the decoration warehouse, I too found the baubles arranged by colour and size porn like Hahahaha

Aww thank you! It's the exact same dress I wore last time we ate there weirdly! It's from a shop here called Monsoon, they sell a lot of 'occasion wear' but they do sell some normal stuff too. It's a favourite of mine!

Day 25

Our last day. Humph. I don't care that we are on day 25, it ALWAYS sucks leaving Disney!

The alarm went off at 9am, we got dressed and packed the final few things and then called down to bell services to help us with our bags. We left the bags in Disney as we didn't want to leave them in the car while we were out and about this morning. We left our room at 10:15

We drove to Keke's near Carrie's house. Carrie was a bit panicked as we were later than we had planned and church was just finishing (it gets busy about then). Carrie had put her name down though and a few mins after we arrived the buzzer went off and we were seated

How did we only visit on our last day?? The food was lush! There was so many different things on the menu, I went for a waffle while Sy went for an omelette.

We paid the bill and made our way outside. Carrie needed to pop into publix next door so we went in too, and bought even more Oreos (like we weren't taking enough of them back already?!).

We then said goodbye to Carrie for the last time and drove back to Disney to grab our cases.

We were a bit early for the airport still so we drove through Celebration for a look at all of the pretty houses.

We then made the sad trip over to the airport at about 2pm.

We dropped the car back and then went to check in for our flight. We were flying back within extra case, yesterday I tried to book the extra case in online but it wouldn't let me so we were expecting to pay when we got there. The girl checking us in asked if we had paid for it yet and we said no, she checked in all our bags and then handed us back our passports and told us to have a great flight! So we got out of paying PS60 for our extra case! Get in! Thanks lady! I wonder if it's cause we had seat plus booked? Who knows.

We quickly popped into the Disney store cause I'd forgotten to grab a few Disney dollars I'd been asked to get (oops!). We then had time for a quick sadness picture in front of the Christmas tree before getting in the mahoosive queue to go through security.

Last ride of the holiday...

We decided to get dinner in outback as we still had plenty of time before our flight. I went for a chicken, bacon and Swiss sandwich with a baked potato (yummy!) while Sy went for a tuna sandwich

I think the tuna to bread ratio is a bit off lol

After eating and paying the bill we went to change into our warmer clothes in preparation for coming back to a cold and dreary England. I went first while Sy waited for the stuff and then he went in, only I was then paged and asked to come to the desk so I had to leave Sy in the bathrooms getting changed and go to the desk. They wanted to check me in and take me onto the plane right then but I had Sy's passport so I had to wait a few mins for him.

He arrived shortly after and we were taken onto the plane. We had seat plus so a nice spare seat in between us that we could spread out to (and once in the air dump our stuff on lol). We were in row 32.

We were an hour late taking off. The journey passed without too much trauma. It was quite bumpy though. Even with a seat between me and Sy he woke me up twice humph. We both slept on and off for most of the flight. The food wasn't great as always when we leave the USA. Chicken and rice for dinner and something god-awful for breakfast that I refused to eat lol.

We landed at 7:40am local time. 2:40am Orlando time by the time we were through boarder control our bags were there so we were on our way out in record time.

Sy's dad Cliff came to pick us up and took us back to their house. We had some breakfast and Sy went straight to work in the dining room (I dunno how he does it), In a stark contrast I went to bed for a few hours hahaha.

Early afternoon we drove back home, stopping to pick up the kitty on the way. I drove as I had slept while Sy napped in the passenger seat

As always, we ordered Chinese for dinner! Yummy! It's the one food we really miss while we are in Orlando, I know there is Chinese but it's different (and to me, not as good!). I dunno how but we managed to stay up till 11pm gotta be the latest we've stayed up after coming home. It really helped beat the jet lag though so must try it again next time.

Tink was pretty happy we were all home again.

And so my friends we now find ourselves at the end of our trip report. 25 days in Disney might sound like way too much for some people but for us? Well, we had a lovely long trip which we enjoyed a lot, I must admit it wasn't as hard coming home having spent so long there but it was still sad to be leaving. Would we do another long trip like this? Erm, well we kinda already booked it! We will be flying out on the 14th October (2016) and arriving home on the 8th of November... So I think that pretty much sums it up!

Oh and would you look at that! It's only 9 days to go till our next trip!! So keep your eyes peeled for the next report

Thanks for reading and sharing our trip <3