Holiday 1999 - Disney

Build Up
This was to be our first ever holiday abroad. None of us had flown before and Andrew, Kathryn and James had never ever been abroad before.We booked the holiday early on in January with Thomas Cook.Liz's dad witnessed our passport applications and completed them in the wrong colour blue ink, so Andrew had to meticulously go over them in black. We sent off and received our passports early. This turned out to be very lucky as the passport office introduced a new computer system in the summer and people had big problems obtaining passports.Nearer the time of the holiday Andrew started to get a bit nervous about having never been abroad and the process of getting through the airport. Deb was a bit nervous about flying. We spent a lot of money on new clothes and suitcases etc. Dad agreed to take us to the airport and Graham agreed to pick us up. Kathryn and James got very excited about the holiday. Andrew insisted that Kathryn and James kept a diary of the holiday, which started with what they were looking forward to on the Holiday. The diary was a bit of a chore during the holiday but on reflection was well worth doing.

Day 1 (Tuesday 28th) - Getting There
The plane was scheduled for 11:30 with check in at 9:30 at Gatwick. We got up at 5 O'clock and Dad picked us up at 6:30. The trip down took a long time with delays on the M25. We heard on the traffic reports that there was big problems on the M23, one lane closed with traffic queues back to the M23, so we cut across minor roads. We got to the airport at 9:30 and went straight to check in. We checked in OK but, although our 2 cases only weighted 50kg (we were allowed 80kg) our hand luggage was well over the 5kg allowed each. We then had a bit of a panic whereby we tried to even up redistribute the weight between the 2 rucksacks, the sports bag and the travel bag, with the help of another airlines scales, to no great effect. A check in clerk at the other airlines desk told us that we would get away with carrying some things in a carrier bag so we obtained one from W H Smiths only to find that this had only a small benefit. We then found out that the biggest problem was that the travel bag itself weighed over 3kg empty. We then decided to put this through as normal luggage and the helpful clerk gave us some sealable tags, so we rushed bag to the check in desk to see if we still had time, it was now 10:15, and were told that the latest we could was 11:00. We then rushed to the shops to find a new bag, eventually finding a small rucksack, which Deb really liked and was used extensively throughout the holiday as our carry bag., and quickly rearranged all the bags again putting all none essentially, and none valuables, in the travel bag. This was then sealed and entered as luggage at 10:50. We then had to rush to boarding, missing all the duty free shops, but got to boarding in plenty of time. Kathryns bag was searched, I think she had a suspicious looking face. Deb was getting nervous about flying. We had 2 window seats near the front of the plane. We took off on time. Deb got upset when we first took off, but after a little while was OK. We all thought that flying was all right. We watched 3 movies, Notting Hill, Doug's Fist Movie and Never Been Kissed. The food was not very good. The main meal was not bad, but the tortilla sandwich for tea was awful. We had to fill out some American Visa forms and found that Kathryn's name was spelt wrong on her passport. So to save any bother we spelt it the same on her Visa. She is now known internationally as Kathryn. The trip took just under 8 hours and we arrived on time at 2:30 (with the 5 hours time difference). Stanford airport was very small with very few people about, we were the only flight in or out at the time. We got through Customs OK but we had big problems with the coach to Disney. It was very hot and humid. We found the Airtours desk but were told that nothing had been arranged and we could either have a rental car, costing $500 insurance, or could get a coach for $160 (which we thought was included). We had no choice so we paid the coach money, but had to sort out the coach ourselves. The coach company was very disorganised and we had no idea what was going on. We had to hang about outside in the heat, trying to find out what was happening. We eventually get on a coach at 4:30.

All Star Movies
We were pleased that we had got the All Star Movies hotel. The trip to Disney took about 45 minutes, on the way we got our first glimpses of the Tower of Terror at MGM and of Blizzard Beach. We checked into the hotel OK with the door key being a smart card which was also our Unlimited Pass.

We found our room easily, we were in the Toy Story area. We were amazed by the giant Buzz and Woody just outside the rooms. The room was great. It was fairly small with 2 double beds, a table, some storage units, a sink and a bathroom but it was all decorated in Toy Story decor (quilt covers, borders and pictures) and Movie decor (star lights, pop corn lights, vanity mirror, star bathroom).
The food hall was very nice, with video price lists. The food was mainly fast food. We brought some movie resort mugs which we were able to use and refill throughout the whole holiday. We did not do anything else on the first day but went to bed quite tired.

Day 2 (Wednesday 29th) - MGM
Today it is very hot and humid. The first day we decided to go to MGM. We did not get off to the best of starts. There was no bus to MGM so Deb went to Guest services to request some extra towels. As soon as she went a bus arrived, but after Deb had got back it had gone and Andrew was a bit annoyed. Deb went into the store and when she was gone another bus arrived and went. Andrew was not very happy and everyone had a sulk.. The transport system at Disney World is brilliant. Outside the hotel each theme park are coach stops, one for each of the possible destinations. Coaches go continuously between the destinations so you only have to wait a few minutes to catch a bus. There is also a monorail between some destinations and boats between others, as an alternative to the coaches. When we arrived at MGM, before we had even go in, we saw Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore. We thought that we would see characters all over the place so we did not stop to see them, this was a bit of a mistake as the characters are quite hard to find. We picked up the latest MGM map and schedule, which changes at least once a week and can change every day. The first thing we did in

MGM was go to the Tower of Terror. When we got there, there was hardly any queue so we went on it straight away, the biggest ride of all. Andrew and James were a bit nervous as they both do not like thrill rides. We immediately saw, like everything else at Disney, the attention to detail. There are things to look at whilst queuing, the grounds of the hotel, the detail of the outside of the hotel, the hotel reception (all old and dusty with lots of detailed decor), the attendants all in costume and acting in character (as horror hotel porters) and the pre-ride introductions (a library with a video Twilight Zone episode explaining how the lift entered the twilight zone). We had only a vague idea of what to expect of the ride and were constantly in suspense during all the introductions. From the library we then went down into an authentic boiler room where we were strapped into the lift. This lift then was then moved through some very clever introduction scenes and then, in total darkness, you suddenly drop 13 floors very fast. The lift is then lifted and dropped a number of times very erratically with the doors opening to flash views out over MGM. You the finish the ride very shakily. When you leave the ride you find that a picture has been taken of you at the moment of the first drop, this happens on a few of the big thrill rides, and you can buy this picture to record your displeasure. The exit from the ride, like all the big attractions, is through a shop area where you can buy relevant items (T-shirts etc.). The Tower of terror is an excellent thrill ride and, as it turned out, the best thrill ride at Disney. Andy and James were very shaky afterwards. We then made our way across the park to the Star Wars ride. We went into various Disney shops along the way, there are lots of these all over Disney selling nearly all the same things. Outside the Star Wars ride are some vehicles, a speeder and a large walker, which were very impressive and we took some photos. We then found that there was no queue so we went straight onto the ride. Because there was no queue we rushed past some of the queue sites, which were very good. The ride was a moving seat, video ride, whereby we got caught up with Luke destroying the Death Star. It was very good. On the way out we had to drag James out of the Star Wars shop. We then went to the Indiana Jones show, but went in the out entrance and had to go back out and queue at the entrance. The show had some pre-show entertainment, whereby a 'cleaner' took a fancy to an audience member and she sent his wife out of the show to see a fictitious monkey. Before the show started they picked some volunteers from the audience and we got our first view of the 'loudness' of Americans. The show was very good demonstrating how stunts are done by performing some of the Indiana Jones scenes. It was very impressive. We then had some lunch, giant turkey legs, which tasted OK but looked repulsive. We also got some water bottles which became a constant part of out backpack, we constantly re-filled them from the water fountains dotted all over the parks. After lunch we went to another show The Little Mermaid. This was more of a theatre show performing the Disney story with a mixture of live action, film and effects. This show was also very good with some very impressive water effects, water curtains and raining on the audience.  Following this we

watched  the Mulan Parade which went through the park. We had to get our place early and it was very hot. The parade was quite good with lots of Chinese dragons and things. After the parade Deb was starting to get tired, but we went on to the Honey I Shrank the Kids playground. This was again impressive but not very large. The kids had a great time tiring themselves out whilst we had a rest, underneath a giant fly. On leaving the Honey I Shrank the Kids we saw Eeyore and he was all alone so we got his autograph and picture. This was the first character we saw. We then decided to go on the Backlot Tour. On the way we saw a full size Flick model. The Backlot Tour was all about film making and was in 2 parts. The first part was a demonstration of film making with water effects, wave making, rain, gun fire etc. The second part was a shuttle bus ride around the MGM studios with a commentary of each part and showing a lot a movie items, houses, vehicles etc. This culminated in a movie lot canyon where an earthquake happened, shaking the bus, with a tanker truck exploded into flames and a flood came pouring down the canyon towards the bus. At the end of the tour we saw some movie memorabilia, the terminator robot etc. This was the last thing we did at MGM, we got the coach back to the resort and had tea their, fast foods. After tea we went swimming in the resort pool before going to bed.

Day 3 (Thursday 30th) - Epcot and Blizzard Beach
Today it is very hot and humid again. Deb was a bit under the weather. We hear that Epcot will close early today, for 2000 changes, and think that there will be no one there so we decide to go. There is hardly anybody there. The big Epcot ball has a giant hand with a 2000 logo. We go on the

Spaceship Earth ride, inside the ball. It is all about communication throughout history and is very impressive. We ride on continuous train in the dark up to the top of the ball being shown lots of scenes throughout history, at the top we are turned backwards to continue the journey. Then we go and see the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show. This is a 3D film, whereby you where special glasses. The film is excellent with lots of 3D effects that jump out of the screen at you. There are also some other effects such as mice which  run against your legs and a giant dog which sneezes on the audience. After this we went to the Image Works centre. This had lots of

computer things to play on. A sound generator which created sounds as you moved your body, Cameras which distorted your face and body and digital cameras with Pc's which allowed you to take you own picture and distort it (we could then e-mail the picture, which we did to Weatherbys). Deb was fading so we then had some lunch. We needed to use a travellers cheque, but Deb had gone to get a seat so Andy had to abandon the order, after queuing. Then Deb needed to sign it, but signed it in the wrong place. We then went to the Living Seas area, which was took down under the sea. It was very good but we had been to a lot of fish places before

and this was nothing new. We then went to the Test Track ride. This is one of the newest rides at Epcot and is an educational thrill ride. James got a bit scarred when we saw cars whiz past and he cried and mound all the time whilst queuing. The queue was very long, about 30 minutes, but there was a lot of displays to look at, all about car building and safety checking. The ride put you in the place of a test dummy though various tests, skid tests, cornering, braking and cashing with a final speed test (it is one of the fastest rides in the world). Andy and Deb thought that the ride was a little bit disappointing but James and Kathryn loved it. After this we went to the Wonders of Life area which was deserted. Here saw Goofy and Pluto and got their autographs without any queues. We then went on the Body Wars ride which was very similar to the Star Wars ride but not quite as good.

Blizzard Beach
We then left Epcot and, because it was still quite early, went to Blizzard Beach. Blizzard Beach is a water park quite close to the All Stars resort. The park has a winter theme, with lots of pretend ice and snow. In the centre of the park in Gush mountain, from the top of which all the flumes, rides and slides descend. Deb was a bit tired but when she got onto the tires she quickly recovered. We bought a small locker, which only, just held our stuff. After a quick dip in the main 'lagoon', which was a

very good wave pool, we then went on the continuous tires. This was excellent, with a continuous road of water which went all around the whole park with big rubber tires to sit in, taking 20 minutes to do the full circle, and going through a tunnel under Gush mountain. We really enjoyed this, going a full circle. After this we went on the chair lift up to the top of Gush mountain. Andy did not like this at all, he had forgotten his hate of chair lifts. From the top we went on the Team Boat Springs family raft ride, the worlds longest. This was very good. After this Andy and Kathryn went on the Slush Gusher which was a speed slide from the top of Gush mountain with some bumps on the way. This was a bit scary and hurt our back. We were going to go on Summit Plummet, the tallest slide in America, but the queue was a bit long. All of us then had a few goes on the Toboggan Racers and the Snow Stormers which were both mat slides. After this we had a last splash in the lagoon and another quick go on the tires before the park closed and we went back to the hotel. Back at the hotel we had our usual fast food dinner before getting a fairly early night. This was a very good day.

Day 4 (Friday 1st) - Magic Kingdom
It is very hot and humid. Deb did not feel very well today. We found out that we could buy some bread from the resort store, so each morning we got some bread and some honey and jam from the food hall and ate breakfast in our room, we even toasted the bread on the free food hall toasters. This was a lot cheaper than buying cooked breakfasts every morning. Today we went to the Magic Kingdom. We decided to make the trip there a bit more interesting so we took a bus the Epcot and then caught the Monorail to the Ticket Centre. From the Ticket Centre we get on a ferry to the Magic Kingdom. When we first got into the Magic Kingdom we wondered up Main Street

 and saw the Every Days A Holiday show in front of Cinderella Castle. This was some Disney characters, Mickey, Goofy e.t.c., and some dancers, singing and dancing about annual holidays. We then went to Adventure Land. We first went up the Swiss Family Tree House which was a bit boring. Then we went on the Jungle Cruise. This was a cruise through various world Jungles with various Animal and People scenes to look at. The boat driver gave a commentary throughout which was very funny. Deb was struggling with the heat, and had forgotten her hat, so we went back to the Main Street shops where she bought a Winnie the Pooh cap. We then went to Splash Mountain. When we got into the log boat the ride was stopped and the man blamed Kathryn who was wearing her Spice Girls T-shirt. The ride tells the story of Brair Rabbit as you go along the logg ride, it was very good and we got a bit wet. When we got off we saw the Brair Fox and Brair Bear characters and got their autographs. We then decided to go to Tom Sawyers Island for some lunch. You have to go on a raft to get to the Island and James forgot to take the bag onto the raft. Andrew realised as we were getting off the raft on the Island and Deb jumped straight back on the raft to go back and look for it. She found it O.K. and caught the raft back again. This took some time. On the Island we found the café but it was rubbish. Deb was fading a bit so we did not spend any time on the Island but went straight back on the raft to find some lunch. We had lunch, the usual burgers, in Frontier Land. It was then time for the Magic Moments Parade so we got a place early in the front row. The parade was excellent, with lots of different character floats. We then went to the Haunted Mansion which was a very good haunted house ride. James did not like this a tall. After this we went to Fantasy Land and went on "Its A Small World" ride. This is a very famous Disney kiddies boat ride through

scenes from all different countries. There is a very annoying song which plays all the time. The Simpsons did a very good lampoon of this ride which made it very funny. We then went to the Lion King show. This was a live/puppet theatre show of the Lion King story. It was similar to the Little Mermaid show and was very good. After this we were starting to get a bit tired so we decided to go back to the resort to get some dinner. We went through Cinderellas Castle and back down Main Street . At the entrance we saw Donald Duck and got his autograph. We then decided to go on the Magic Kingdom train. This is an old steam train which goes all the way around the Magic Kingdom. When it stopped at Mickeys Toon Town Fair we got off and had a look around Mickey and Minnies houses. We then went to see Mickey Mouse in his tent but the queue did not move at all so we went back on the train. When we dot back to the main station we had a bit of an argument. Deb wanted to go back to the resort, but Andrew wanted to stay until the evening parade. Deb agreed and we went back to Adventure Land to get some dinner, some Tacos. The waiter was very grumpy, it was near closing time, and Andrew kept going back up again for more food. This was funny and put everybody in a better mood. We then wondered back to Cinderellas Castle to get a place for the evening parade, but it was already very crowded. We got a bench in garden in front of the castle and waited for the parade, about half an hour. It gradually got darker. The evening Main Street Electrical parade came a different way than the day parade, up Main Street, and we were not in the best of place to see it. There were lots of floats all lit up with Christmas lights. These floats were of some of the more obscure Disney films, Petes Dragon, Alice in Wonderland etc. After the parade we waited a bit longer for the final fireworks. Andrew and James had to rush to Tomorrow Land to find some toilets. We had a good view of the Fantasy In the Sky fireworks, which were very good, as good as the Hall park bonfire night fireworks, started with a spectacular flight of Tinkerbell from the top of Cinderellas Castle. We then made our way back down Magic Kingdom, with massive crowds as the park was closing. The queue for the bus back to the resort was huge, we had to wait a while. It was a bit annoying being held up by wheel chairs, who also jump the queue, and was particularly bad when a busses lift was broken so the wheel chair occupant walked onto the bus. Whilst queuing there were some more illuminated floats on the lake. Andrew went under the rope to get a photo but fell on his bum in front of the whole crowd. We eventually got back to the resort, very tired.

Day 5 (Saturday 2nd) - Downtown Disney and Disney Quest
Duller, Hot. In the morning Andrew had a bit of a sulk as he wanted to go to a water park but no body else did. Instead we all went swimming in resort pool. It was not overly sunny but still hot and Andrew and James got a little bit sunburnt. In the afternoon we went to Downtown Disney. We first went to the Market Place shopping area. Deb found lots of great Eeyore stuff. First at the Disney at Home shop, were there was a very nice baby quilt, and then at Pooh corner. Then we went to the biggest Disney shop in the world, where there was loads of good stuff. We then walked through Please Island, which is a night club area, to the West Side. When we first got here there the Star Wars shop had just been shut and evacuated, we never did find out what was going on. Straight after this we were then pounced on by a survey woman who asked us lots of questions about our holiday. We then went into a very big Virgin store where we bought some books. Kathryn a twins book, Deb a holocaust book and Andrew a Tolkein book. We then decided to go into Disney Quest, which turned out to be free on our unlimited pass, and were not sure what to expect. It started off in a lift with an introduction by the gene from Aladdin. It turned out to be a video Disney theme park. There was a maze of floors, stairs and rooms with all sorts of video games, all free. It was very easy to get lost. We first went on a virtual dingy ride through a dinosaur river, where we all had to really paddle. Then we went on the Hercules video game where the whole family wears 3 D helmets and turn into the Hercules characters. After this we saw the Bazz Lightyear bumper cars but it was a bit crowed to go on these. With them were some old video games, space invaders, asteroids e.t.c, all free. After playing these for a while we wondered round the corner and found more video games and more and more, with all the latest, all free. It was brilliant. We then went up some stairs and there were even more video games of all sorts, sit on bikes, cars, pinball machines, all sorts. After this we had a pizza it a very good café. We then went on a 3D helmet Alladin magic carpet game, which was very good, and lastly we went on the lightsaber 3D helmet game, whereby you had a virtual light sabre. There was more things which we left for another day. Disney Quest was unexpected and very good.

Day 6 (Sunday 3rd) - Animal Kingdom
Dull, Hot, Rain in the afternoon. We went to the remaining theme parkwe hadn't been to yet, Animal Kingdom. When we first went in there was some Animals at the start, especially an ant eater which we saw on every visit to the Animal Kingdom. The centre of the Animal Kingdom is on an Island from which all the areas branch off. In the middle of this Island is the massive Tree of Life. This is a huge old tree, high up on the Island with loads of animals carved into the bark and roots of the tree. We went first to the Asia area, to go on the River Rapids. This was a raft ride whereby you got very

wet, particularly Andrew, it was good but a bit short. After this we went to the African area and got our fast pass tickets to the African Safari.We then walked around the Pangani Exploration Trail and lots of African animals including hippos and gorillas. Following this we went on the Wildlife Express, a steam train ride to the Conservation Station. This was a building all about world Conservation and was a bit boring. There was also some domestic animals to pat and feed. When we got back from the Conservation centre it was time for our African Safari. This was a guided tour, on an truck, of the African free range zoo area. We saw lots of free ranging animals including lions, giraffe, crocodile and elephants. We also got caught up chasing some poachers. Just as we started are safari it started to rain. It was raining quite hard when we finished the safari, and we were also hungry, so we rushed to a café and got our lunch. It continued to rain so we decided to go to the Countdown to Extinction ride in the Dinoland area. This is a roller coaster type thrill ride in a jeep. You are sent back in time minutes before the meteor, which wipes out the dinosaurs, hits the Earth, to the bring a specific dinosaur back to the future. It is very dark with lots of frights as dinosaurs leap out at you and the ride gets more frantic. It was a very exciting ride which Deb didn't like much. On leaving the ride the rain had stopped and we went into the Dinosaur Pavilion where their was an exhibition of dinosaur skeletons. After this we went to the Tarzon Rocks show, we had to queue quite a long while because the previous show had only just finished, but we were in the front of the queue and got good seats. The show was very good with lots of roller skaters and trapeze artists. We then went back to the resort for the traditional dinner and then back to our room for an early night. We did watch a bit of American TV though, Andrew watched a lot of American football and some Baseball (it was the Baseball play offs).

Day 7 (Monday 4th) - MGM and Typhoon Lagoon
Dull, Hot, and Rainy. It was wet again today but we went back to MGM. We first went to the new

Rockin Roller Coaster ride. This is a traditional roller coaster but it is indoors. The theme is based on the rock group Aerosmioth whereby you are late for their concert so travel on the roller coaster to get their as fast as possible. The ride features various upside down loops, but we did not think it was as thrilling as an outdoor roller coaster, as it had no open spaces to fall into. The Tower of Terror had big
queues so we went to the Beauty and the Beat show. This was a normal song and dance show telling the Beauty and the Beast story. On the way to the Toy Story pizza planet restaurant we passed by the Star Wars ride and we met Chewbacca. James was really impressed and we got our photo's taken with him. One lady tried to get an autograph and chewy roared at her, very realistic. At Pizza Planet we had to wait ages for our food. After out Lunch we went to see the Muppet 4D show, this was similar to Honey I Sharnk the kids, and was very funny. We then saw a whole load of characters

all together Quasimodo, Mushu, Rafiki and Timon, Meeko, Roger Rabbit and loads more. We got a lot of autographs but didn't have time to get some of them Pinnocio, White Rabbit. We then went to Great Movie ride. On the way we saw Cruella and she was really mean telling off all the men and buys, we did get her autograph. In front of the Great Movie ride we saw even more characters. These were some of the main human characters, Mary Poppins and the Chimney Sweep, Aladin, Pocahontis and some others, but there were big queues for these and we only managed to get Meg's autograph. The preview of the Great Movie ride was a giant cinema showing clips from some of great films. The actual ride acted out scenes from some of the greatest every films and actors, it was very good.

Typhoon Lagoon
We then decided to go swimming, at Typhoon Lagoon, so we went back to the resort to get our costumes. It was ages before the bus arrived, about half an hour, and when it did the bus took ages to get to Typhoon Lagoon. On the way it went right passed Typhoon Lagoon to go to Downtown Disney first, where it changed driver. In the end it took us nearly an hour to get to Typhoon Lagoon and we were swimming for just three quarters of an hour because in actually closed at 6pm so you had to be out by 5:30. Typhoon Lagoon had the most fantastic wave pool with massive waves. Everyone would wait in the pool until there was a massive bang and the wave would lift up and rush towards you and knock you off your feet. It was brilliant. We also went on the float rings around the park, but this was about all we had time to do. We then went back to the resort where we had the usual dinner and then went back to our room where we watched Hercules on the Disney channel and another movie telling the story of The Tower of Terror.

Day 8 (Tuesday 5th) - Florida Mall
Dull, Hot, and Rainy. Today was another dull and rainy day so we decided to go to an American Shopping Mall to see what the shopping was like. This trip turned out to be a bit of an ordeal. We found out from our tour rep that we could catch a local bus from the Ticket Centre, so we first took the bus to Epcot and then got the monorail to the ticket centre. At the ticket centre we said we wanted to go to a shopping centre and were told where we could get a bus and given a schedule. This is where our problems started because we were told the wrong bus (we were told to catch a 50 bus, but we should have taken a 56). The bus driver told us we would need to transfer to another bus so we were dropped off near Sea World where we caught another bus. This second bus went down International Drive which was at a stand still and took us over an hour to get to the destination. This destination was not a shopping mall but was a large retailer outlet selling cloths, not what we wanted. By this time we had figured out how the bus system worked and had got details of other bus routes so we decided to catch another bus to the Florida Mall. We caught this bus o.k. and eventually got to the shopping mall. The total journey must have been about 3 hours. One thing we did notice on the buses is that the Americans talk all the while to complete strangers, about anything at all. The Florida Shopping Mall was a bit of a disappointment, it was not nearly as big as we were expecting being smaller than Milton Keynes. We got some lunch at the food hall which was not bad, but the queues were big. We wondered around the shops and Andrew and Deb had the usual falling out about spending money. James bought an American football top in the Sears store. We ended up in the Disney store, can you believe it, but they had quite a lot of different stuff especially Eeyore things. Deb had a hard task deciding what to buy but eventually bought a large Eeyore, some knickers and some stationary. Before we left we bought some snack foods, including a box of frosties for breakfast, which were a lot cheaper than at the resort. We had to wait a while before the return bus arrived and the people in the front of the queue got a bit excited when it arrived and didn't stop at the right place, the queue was a bit long and everybody rushed to get on. As the bus did not go directly to Disney we had to transfer. The bus driver dropped us off in the middle of nowhere next to a dual carriageway, with just a bench and a bus stop sign. We were not even sure which side of the road we should be on. We started to get a bit nervous when no bus came and it started to get dark. At one point two older women appeared from nowhere and joined us at the bus stop, they turned out to be English and were also trying to get back to Disney. Eventually, much to everyone's relief, the bus eventually arrived. We were very pleased when we eventually arrived back at the Disney Ticket Centre quite late and very tired. It had been a bit of on ordeal. When we got back to the resort we had a late dinner and bought some things from the resort shop, Deb bought a watch, for christmas, and Kathryn bought an Elephant from Tarzan.

Day 9 (Wednesday 6th) - Magic Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon
Hot, and Sunny. Today we went back to the Magic Kingdom. We first went to the Tickie Birds show. This was a performance by loads of automated birds including the bird from Aladdin and from the Lion King. Then we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which was a slow boat ride, although the first drop was a bit steep, through a whole load of pirate scenes, it was quite impressive. We then went to Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster. This was all right but a little bit disappointing as it was not very fast or too thrilling, it was quite long though which was good. After Thunder Mountain we went over, on the raft, to Tom Sawyers Island. This was really a large childrens playground with underground caverns, rope bridges and a Fort. The Fort was very good, with a blacksmiths, shooting areas (with canons and sound rifles) and even an underground escape tunnel. We then went to the future world area, which we hadn't yet visited. We first got a fastpass ticket to Space Mountain and then went on Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin. This had a great animated Buzz Lightyear in the pre-ride introduction. The ride itself involved shooting at lots of alien targets with your own laser gun. It was a really a kids ride but good fun. After this we went on the Extraterrestrial Alien Ecounter. We did not know what to expect from this ride and it was very scary. The pre-ride introduction had a animated alien robot give a demonstration of a teleportation system. We then went into an enclosed area and were strapped into our chairs with overhead straps so that we could not get out. On monitors the alien technicians then instigated the teleportation system to beam the alien leader into the room. The teleport went wrong and they lost the leader, but beamed into the room a hostile alien. In the middle of the room in a giant tube a large alien creature, just like the ones from the film Alien, appeared writhing about. The whole system then went wrong and the room went pitch black, the technicians told us that the alien had escaped and we heard it moving about the room eating people and drooling over everybody. It was really scary and loads of people were screaming. Kathryn and James did not like it at all and when it had finished we all left shaking. We then went to the Timekeeper show. This was in a massive dome with huge video screens all around it. An automated robot, with the voice of Robin Williams, then sent a probe back in time and we had a 360 degree film of various time periods. After this we went back to go on Space Mountain but found it had been closed due to a problem, so we decided to leave the Magic Kingdom and go swimming instead.

Typhoon Lagoon
We went to Typhoon Lagoon, it was quite crowded. We spent a lot of time in the wave pool and then on the tube floats. We went on the water slides, which were a unexpectedly steep, and then on the family raft ride and the single hoop rides. We finished off back in the wave pool until the park closed. After dinner we watched Flubber and Cops and Robbersons on TV.

Day 10 (Thursday 7th) - Downtown Disney and Disney Quest
Dull, Hot, and Rainy. Today Andrew and Deb had the obligatory falling out, with the usual arguments over spending money and doing too much. We eventually went to the Animal Kingdom, but as the bus pulled into the park it started to rain, it always did at the Animal Kingdom, so we decided instead to go to Downtown Disney. After a big bust up between Andrew and Deb, we did a bit of shopping, mainly in the big Disney Shop. Deb, Kathryn and James got souvenir t-shirts. Deb also got some very nice knobs from the Winnie the Pooh shop. We also went in the collectable's store which had a lot of really interesting items from famous people, autographs and signed things such as baseball balls and guitars, very expensive.

Disney Quest

We then spent the rest of the day in Disney Quest. As well as going on all the attractions we went onbefore, Jungle Cruise, Aladdin etc. this time we went on Buzz Lightyears Astro Balster, which was a type of bumper car, and we went on the Alien Invasion family arcade game. We also had a go at some of the quieter attractions such as the Magic Mirrors which took a photo of your face and allowed you to manipulate it. Mummy and Kathryn particularly liked this. We also played with the Toy Story Make a Toy and the Disney Picture Maker. For dinner we had roast chicken at Disney Quest which was very nice. When we left Disney Quest we wondered around Downtown Disney for a while looking at the lights, particularly Planet Hollywood, before we went back to the resort.

Day 11 (Friday 8th) - Animal Kingdom and MGM
Dull, Hot, and Rainy. We had another go at Animal kingdom and yes it rained again. We firstly saw 3 Frogs, and got their autographs and then we saw the Bugs Life show, which was 3D like Honey I

shrunk the Kids and Muppets. This show was underneath the Tree of Life and the queue went around the tree so that you could see all the carvings, which were also in lots of exposed roots. It the entrance to the show were lots of movie posters for movies with a funny bugs titles. The show was very good, Kathryn liked it when the cockroaches ran about next to your feet. Andrew however had a pair of 3D glasses with a big mark across them and couldn't see it very well. Because of the rain we went on Countdown to Extinction again and then River Rapids again, with James and Deb getting very wet. The rain stopped for a while and we made it around the Asia Wildlife Trek. We saw some very large bats, some monkeys and some tigers. Then we went on the African Safari again. The rain got rather bad again, James and Kathryn's cagoules proving no good in bad rain, so we gave up on Animal Kingdom and went back to the resort to dry out and get some lunch.

MGM
It cleared up a bit then so we decided to go to MGM to try to catch the Fantasmic show in the evening, which we had been advised to get their very early as it was very popular. At MGM we got the autograph of the baddie from pocahontis at the entrance and then went on the Tower of Terror, there was no queue at all, and it was just as scary. Then we saw the Mulan Parade again, but some of the floats had been left out, the large dragon, we supposed because it could rain. We then went to see the Hunchback show. Whilst we were waiting for the show there was a Jazz band and Kathryn danced with a steward, he was a bit of a character. The show was a traditional telling of the Disney story and

very good. After this we went on the Star Wars ride again, still no queues, and the Backlot tour again. On the way there we took a photo of Kathryn and James next to a giant Coke bottle, we did not notice until we had got the film developed that we had missed a Toy Story soldier character just behind them. It was then time to go to wait for the Fantasmic show. The show area was a large semicircle of open air seating, in sliced sections, looking out over a round river onto a large mountain stage. We got there an hour and a 45 minutes early but it was starting to fill up already. After we had been there for a quarter of an hour it started to pour with rain, there was no cover at all and we just sat there and got soaked. The problem was that, if it was bad weather, the show would be cancelled. After about 20 minutes the rain stopped and there was a big cheer. After about another 20 minutes the rain came back again, and then cleared up again. We just sat and watched the clouds hoping for a gap. As the time for the show drew near there was still a slight drizzle and there was an announcement that the show would be delayed to see if the rain would get better. It did not get much better but, after a 30 minute delay, they put the show on anyway. The Fantasmic show was spectacular. It was all about Mickey Mouse's imagination, with a battle between good and evil. There were fountains of water with animated scenes projected onto them. There were illuminated boats and rafts which floated around the river, particularly a paddle steamer with lots of the Disney characters on. There were songs and dances. There were scenes acted out all over the mountain stage, especially with a giant dragon. There were lots of fireworks and at one point the whole of the river was set on fire, you could feel the heat from it. When the show had finished we may have been absolutely soaked but we thought it was well worth it. On the way back we accidentally jumped the queue for the bus and felt very guilty when we got the last place on the bus.

Day 12 (Saturday 9th) - Blizzard Beach and Epcot
Hot and Sunny. Today got off to a bit of a fractious start with Deb accusing Andrew of trying to do to much. We eventually decided to start of with a relaxing time at Blizzard Beach. We went on the continuous tires for a while and then in the wave pool. Kathryn cut her leg and we had to go to the first aid to get a plaster. Andrew then threw Deb into the water but it was too shallow and she hurt her elbow. We then went on the rubber ring flumes, singles and doubles. Kathryn and James went on Slush Gusher but there were big queues for everything so we spent a bit more time in the wave pool and the continuous tires before going back to the resort.

Epcot
In the afternoon we went back to Epcot to go to the Worlds. Epcot had now been made over for the Millennium celebrations and was a bit different from the first time we went. We first went to a new Coke area which had different Coke products from around the world. Andrew thought they were all horrible but everybody else liked some of them. We then bought some souvenirs from the Disney shop. We then started round the Epcot Worlds. Mexico was first and we went on a Mexico Boat ride which was a bit boring. Then we came to Norway and queued for a long while, half hour, to go on the Viking Boat ride which was a bit disappointing. After this we went quickly through China,

Germany and Italy where we sat and watched the Tapestry of Nations parade. This was also a bit boring with not much variation in the floats, being only drum floats and tall walkers. At each Country we tried to take at least one photo with at least one of us in it. It gradually got darker and darker with Kathryn being forced into each one. We rushed quickly through America, Japan, Morocco and France, until we got to the United Kingdom where we had some English fish and chips at Harry Ramsdens. It was then quite dark so we had a look around the English shops. Then we went in the new millennium village. This started off with an introduction into which Kathryn and James got pulled up onto a stand. The village was really just a large pavilion with stands from a lot of other countries. It was almost time for the evening Illuminations 2000, so we had a quick look at Canada and then found a seat to wait. There was a wall behind us onto which people kept climbing onto and getting told to get down by the officials. The fireworks were very good, but some parts of the show went on a bit long and you couldn't see much detail. It was after the fireworks we realised that Kathryn had lost the bag of souvenirs, not that much thankfully. There was a massive crowd as we headed out of Epcot, but did not have much trouble catching a bus back to the resort. When we got back we went for a walk over to have a look at the all star music resort. It was not as good as our resort with the food hall looking quite a bit older. On the way back we saw a frog.

Day 13 (Sunday 10th) - Downtown Disney and Animal kingdom
Hot and Sunny. It was starting to get near the end of holiday so we decided to go to Downtown Disney to get some presents. We got some free Rainforest café t-shirts with 2 of our are free options. Then we went to the photo shop and Kathryn and James had their picture taken with Mickey Mouse with another of the free options. The photo was taken a produced while we waited, using a digital camera and printer, it was still very good. After he had done the photo, Mickey Mouse, also gave us his autograph. After this we spent a lot of time in the Disney shop looking for presents and souvenirs, eventually getting picture frames, with Mickey Mouse pictures, for both grand parents, bean bag Mickey Mouses for Thomas and Alex and a polo shirt for uncle Grahams birthday present.

Animal Kingdom
Andrew decided that he wanted a Countdown to Extinction t-shirt from the Animal Kingdom, as his souvenir, so we decided to rush to Animal Kingdom before it closed. I think that by rushing we surprised the weather and actual went to the Animal Kingdom without it raining. When we got there Andrew was a bit sneaky and rushed, not to the Countdown to Extinction ride, but to the Festival of the Lion King show, which we hadn't seen yet. We just got there in time. The show was very good with lots of singing and dancing, and also some very good floats which were very big with some large animated animals. We then went to the Countdown to Extinction ride were there was no queue at all so we had our third go, still very good, and afterwards Andrew got his t-shirt. Because there had been no queue we still had a little bit of time left so we rushed over to have another go on the River Rapids, again no queue. We also still had time to go and see the Bugs Life show again and Andrew had a good pair on glasses this time. When we got back to the resort we went to get something with out last free option and found that they had some of the old Animal Kingdom boxes left, which Deb really wanted but had been told that they had been stopped with only some poor millennium items available. After this we had some dinner and then did some laundry which took a while and made it a late night. Andrew, Kathryn and James has a walk round the resort and took some video. We saw some more frogs and some very large cockroaches.

Day 14 (Monday 11th) - Magic Kingdom and Epcot
Very Hot and Sunny. This was the last day of our holiday and we had left some things in the Magic Kingdom to do. The Magic Kingdom was hot and very crowded. When we first got there we went straight to Space Mountain, which we had not yet been on, and got a fastpass. We then wondered up to Fantasy Land where there were some more attractions we hadn't seen yet. We went to the Winnie the Pooh ride but the queues were very big and Deb decided she didn't want to wait in the queue so we split up for a while. When we finally got on the ride it was a bit boring as it was really a little kids ride. This had taken a long time, three quarters of an hour, and we met back up with Deb in Future Land. Deb had been walking about looking in shops. We then found out that Space Mountain was broken again so we went back to Fantasy Land and went on some more kiddies rides, Snow White Scary Adventure and Peter Pan's flight. Snow White was a ride around scenes from the film with particular emphasis on the wicked witch. It was not really that scary as it was only a kids ride. Peter Pan was a bit better being in a flying ship going over scenes from the film. After this we went back to Space Mountain which had now been re-opened. It was a good job we had fast passes because the queue was very long. The ride was another indoors roller coaster, like rockin rollercoaster, but was completely in the dark. The start was a quick launch which got you off to a fast speed straight away and you could see this happening whilst in the queue, we were a bit apprehensive. The ride itself was disappointing, we kept expecting the big drop but it never came, and, because it was inside and in
the dark, it did not seem very thrilling. We then went on the Buzz Lightyears ride again and James got a bit upset when he didn't get any score. Then we went and had some lunch and, because James was a bit disappointed, went and had another go on Buzz Lightyear with Andrew helping James. This time James got a score and even hit the big baddie at the end. After this we decided to have a last go on Splash Mountain, so we took the train around the Magic Kingdom to the Splash Mountain stop. The queue for Splash Mountain was huge and we had to wait about 45 minutes, it was also very hot. The ride was very good and after we got off we saw that the photo was very good so we bought a copy. We had then had enough of Magic Kingdom, but it was still fairly early , so we decided to go back to Epcot. But first we bought a souvenir glass Mickey Mouse. As we were leaving the Magic Kingdom we saw some character inside the entrance, so we rushed back in and got Tiggers autograph, borrowing a pen from some other people. We caught the monorail, first to the Ticket Centre, to see if our lost presents from the previous trip to Epcot had been handed in to lost and found (no luck), and then to Epcot.

Epcot
At Epcot we went back to the Coke stand to try the drinks again, and Kathryn got another souvenir miniature coke cup (the other had been lost with the souvenirs). Kathryn really liked the Mexico drink which had an apple tast. Then we saw Mickey Mouse, in his Fantasia costume, with a huge queue waiting for autographs. After this we went on the Imagination Ride which was an educational ride to 'stimulate the senses', it was a bit boring but the kids liked it. We then decided to call it a day and went back to the resort. When we got their Kathryn had her hair braided. Before we went to bed we did some packing ready for going home.

Day's 15 and 16 (Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th) - Journey Home
Hot and Sunny. Today we concluded our holiday and travelled home. We had previously extended our checkout time until 1pm, usually 10:30am, because the coach was picking us up 1:30. In the morning we got up late, well Deb, Kathryn and James did, Andrew went to look around the All Stars Sports resort. We had a full breakfast, just about as we were a bit late, and then had a last look around the resort. After this we went back to our room and completed backing. At 1pm we checked out and waited for the coach. After it was 20 minutes late Andrew was getting a bit anxious and we were just about to start phoning up people when the coach arrived. The trip across Orlando took a while, about three quarters of an hour. We arrived at the airport early for our flight, it was due to take off at 5pm, but there was nothing we could do but check in and wait in the departure lounge, which was not very big. Our flight was delayed 2 hours, which made for a long stay in the departure lounge. Deb bought some perfume from Duty Free. The flight home was during the night and we were given blankets, socks and blind folds to help us sleep, only James did some sleeping though. There were only 2 films on the journey because they had to restart the first film after 30 minutes because some of the plane had not been able to receive it. The films were Entrapment (with Sean Connery) and Disneys Aladdin. The return flight seemed to go really quickly and we got back to Gatwick at 8am (8 hours

flight plus 5 hours time difference). Uncle Graham picked us up from the airport. He had found out that the plane had been delayed from teletext so did not have to wait to long. We noticed the difference in the weather as soon as we got of the plane. Although it was nice it was still a lot colder than Florida. The journey from the airport was really quick, only an hour and half. Kathryn and James fell asleep in the back of the car. We finally got home at lunch time. In the afternoon we picked up the Ellie from Debs mums, it had clawed the wall paper and the curtains, and fought with the other cat. We then picked up Ben who was very pleased to see us. Deb, Kathryn and James had another sleep in the afternoon whilst Andrew did the unpacking and some shopping. In the evening James decided that he was not very tiered. He was due to join his school field trip to Yardley Hastings the following morning but as he was not tired we phoned them up and took him over in the evening. We all got an early night as we all had work or school the following day. We were all very tired for the next few days.

Epilogue
We complained to Thomas Cook about the problems of no transport when we arrived at the airport and having to pay. They were very helpful and, despite the brochure saying different, still said that they thought we should not have paid. They told us to detail the complaint in writing to them along with the receipt, which we did the next day. A few days later they phoned us back to say that they had taken up the complaint with Airtours and then a few days after this they phoned again to say that they would refund the costs. About 2 weeks after we got back we received a cheque for £125 covering the transport costs and £25 for inconvenience. We were impressed with how Thomas Cook handled the complaint. We had a look at the video we had taken, as soon we got back, and it was a bit disappointing. We had not done very much and what we had done was mainly around the resort. We sent off the photos, 6 films, and got them back after about 2 weeks (a film one day at a time). The photos were very good and Andrew put them in the souvenir album we had bought from Disney World. This took 3 evenings to cut out the tripleprint photos and arrange them. The final thing we did was to write this diary which took ages and was not finished until the end of November. Our final thoughts of the holiday are that it was the best holiday ever and we look back on it longingly.

Addenda
In May 2001, after purchasing a new computer, we turned the diary into the Internet Diary you are looking at now, which also includes multimedia features such as scanned in photo's, source and video.

Holiday 2003 - Disney

Preparation

We book our Disney 2003 holiday well in advance, just after the previous years holiday. It is the last chance we will have to do the ‘Disney’ holiday with all the kids at a reasonable Disney age (2, 12, and 14). As we need to go during school time (because Deb cannot get 2 weeks holiday during the summer holidays, too hot during summer, too crowded and too expensive) this is the only possible year we can go (next year is Kath’s GCSE's and Jame’s SAT’s) and after this Kath will be too old (nearly 17). We get Hannah her first passport without any problems. We dither over whether to hire a car or not, transfers are expensive (£150) but the car insurance is also expensive (£450). In the end we look around on the Internet, and 3 weeks before the holiday, decide to hire a car ourselves for £300 with Alamo through a 3rd party booking firm. How come the 3rd party can do a full hire of a car cheaper than Going Places can upgrade the insurance on the ‘free’ car included in the package? As we have decided to hire a car we also buy a new lightweight car seat to take with us as it costs £5 a day to hire one with the car, we can also use it for Hannah when we get back. Because we have hired a car it is now more feasible to go to Universal Studios, but again we dither over how to buy the tickets. In the end, a week before the holiday, we buy some tickets on the Universal Website and get 5 consecutive days for the price of 2 days. We have to pick the tickets up from the park. The Holiday tickets arrive a week or so before the holiday, no problem, and so does the confirmation of the hire car. Big success the weekend before the holiday at car boots, we buy a large, light canvas bag, some new case locks and some Florida maps. Deb is working on the Thursday night before we go on the Saturday, and is also going to college on the Friday, so she will have little time for cleaning and packing on the Thursday and Friday so we start preparing early on in the week. We also need to avoid the pre-holiday stress, which normally results from trying to do too much at the last minute. Andrew concentrates on the cleaning and Deb on the packing. Andrew also has the Friday off to baby sit and pack. It all goes well and we do avoid the usual stress levels, although it is all a bit of a rush. Approximately 3 weeks before the holiday, Hannah starts watching Disney videos and is just at the age with enough concentration to actually watch and enjoy them. It all starts with Nemo, but she also really likes Toy Story, Little Mermaid, Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. She now knows a lot of the characters and even Mickey Mouse, she is looking forward to the holiday. The week before the holiday and we are all in the holiday mood. Andrew spend a lot of time on the Internet, at work, looking up details of travelling in Orlando, Orlando shopping and the Theme parks. The night before we go we are all excited.

Day 1 - Saturday 27th September

The alarm wakes us up at 5am, an early start, and we rush to have baths and get ready. We are flying from Birmingham airport at 9:40, however we do have ‘premier’ tickets which allows for a late check-in of 1:30 hours before the flight. The seats are also pre-booked so there is no problem with us not sitting together. Nigel arrives early at 5:45 and we are still rushing to get ready. We pile everything in the car, which just about fits, and start off at 6:15. The journey to Birmingham is straightforward and uneventful. There is very little traffic apart from when we get to the airport where there

is a big traffic jam getting in. We have allowed for a lot of extra time and it does not take that long before we jump out at the first opportunity, at the taxi rank. It only takes just over an hour. We get to check in plenty of time and there is not much of a queue. We are slightly worried about the weight of our luggage, especially the hand luggage after our last Disney trip, but there are no problems. We then have 2 hours in the airport before the flight. The time goes quickly. Hannah is very excited about the aeroplane, and we take her a few times to look at the planes. We go around the shops and

buy some magazines for the flight. We are called fairly early and spend a bit of time waiting in the boarding area. On the plane we have 2 window seats and 2 in the middle. Initially Andrew and Deb sit by the window with Hannah, but when we put the seatbelts on we are told that babies need to sit in the middle, so Deb and Kath swap seats. We also don’t have a baby strap which we have to ask for. Deb is again nervous about flying, particularly the take off, and we all wind her up a bit. Hannah gets a bit fed up of waiting with the seat belt on, but is OK when we finally get to take off. We take

of about 15min late due to the cleaners not turning up. There are no problems during the flight. We watch 3 good films ‘Nemo’, ‘The Italian Job’ and ‘Down With Love’. Hannah is very good only not liking having to be strapped in, especially for landing. The food is OK but a bit minimal. When we touch down after a 9 hour flight and the local time is 2:15 (after the 5 hour time adjustment), they stop the plane 6 feet short of the steps, so we have to wait to get the plane moved. Check in is fine and so is customs, although they are quite strict, and we find our luggage OK.

We are again surprised by the heat and humidity when we leave the airport. Andrew is worried about the car hire, but finding the Alamo place is no problem and there is a short wait before we get the car with no problems. They do try to sell us an upgrade. We find the car OK, a Gold Chevy Classic, and there is just enough room in the boot for all the luggage. The car is also very spacious inside. We head out of the airport. Driving is awkward, not being used to an automatic and it being a left hand drive. We get slightly lost straight out of the airport, but we head in the right direction and soon hit the

main Interstate 4 (I4) which takes us all the way. Hannah is very tired and gets a bit grumpy. It also rains a bit on the journey. It takes about an hour to get to Disney. All of the roads are dual or treble carriageways and turning left is takes a bit of getting used to. The maps we have a get fully comprehensive, only showing main roads, also the road signs do not give you much warning of what is coming up. When we get to the Disney area we have the only major incident of the day. At a dual carriageway left hand turn we turn into the right hand lane and are going the wrong way. There are no

other turns but luckily there is also no traffic about, so we do a quick 3 point turn and are back on track. When we get to the All-Stars resort we park and check-in. They seem to struggle to find our booking but it is all goes OK. Andrew sees that we might be in ‘Mighty Ducks’ section so we ask if we can be in ‘Toy Story’ (we were however going to be in ‘Dalmations’) but they let us have a room in ‘Toy Story’. Whilst checking-in it starts to rain really badly, any we get a bit wet going to the room.
On the way we go through the food hall area and buy some

refillable, souvenir mugs $12 (we get 4 but we should have got 2 and saved some money). Hannah loves the giant Buzz and Woody. Our room is on the 3rd floor at the back and is exactly the same as the one we had last time only reversed. We move the car to the back car park, unload the luggage and unpack. By this time we are tired and hungry, so we go to the food hall and get some dinner. The food is just the same as before only more expensive. After dinner we have a look around the Disney shop and then the kids go for a swim, in the Mickey Pool. It has stopped raining and is a nice

evening. It has been a long day and we decide to have an early night ready for an early start the next day. Hannah has loved everything, for the rest of us it is like we have never been away.
Kathryn’s thoughts
The beginning when the plane took off was very scary, it was really loud noise and it doesn’t help when daddy makes up things about crashing. It always crosses my mind that something might happen, but the films take your mind off it. When we get to America the weather is un-breathable and a bit disappointing when it rains.
James thought’s
I thought it was quite scary thinking about the plane, particularly the noise it makes when it takes off and lands. Once that was over I got excited. We got the car and drove to Disney which didn’t take very long. When we got there it was excellent remembering the stuff we did last time.

Day 2 - MGM Studios and Blizzard Beach

Our first evening was not the best, our room is close to the stair junction which also has an ice machine which is very, very noisy. On top of this Kathryn’s watch beeps every hour, so Deb in particular does not have a very good night. The weather today is dull and overcast, it also rained during the night, although it is still hot and we are wearing t-shits and shorts. We wake up early and decided to take advantage of the early, 8am, opening at Magic Kingdom, however it takes time for us to get going and we end up not that early. We have a bodge breakfast of bars then head for the

bus. There is a huge queue so we change our mind and head for MGM instead. When we reach MGM its not open, of course its only 8:30, and have to wait. They open up at 8:45, 15min early, and we have to have our bags searched, new since last holiday. Not all of the park is opened however, only the front shops bit, so we still have to wait another 15min. The main section opens at 9:00 and we head straight for the Tower of Terror. We use the child swap facility and Andrew, Kath and James go on first, Deb stays with Hannah. The ride seams scarier than before with more drop, very good. We then switch and Deb goes on with Kath and James.

We then wonder back to the Mickey Hat, new since last holiday, and, after a few arguments about rushing around, go to the Little Mermaid show. The is no queue and Hannah loves it. After this we see Mickey Mouse. Hannah is a little scared of the big character and will only have a picture taken being held by Kathryn. She still thinks it is exciting. Next we go on the Backlot Tour and again no queues. Although basically the same as last holiday things have been moved about and the route of the bus is different. This is because a huge corner of MGM studios is closed off being re-developed. When in Disaster Canyon the effects don’t work and we have to wait a long time before we start. We then get some lunch, turkey legs, which James has really been looking forward to. After lunch Hannah is getting tired so Deb, Kath and Hannah head back to the resort for a siesta, however the room is being

cleaned so they look around the shop and have some drinks. Andrew and James head for Star Tours which has a bit of a queue, 20min. The ride is much as we remembered it and James enjoys it. One disappointing thing is that they have removed the speeder bike and cruiser from outside the ride. We then head back to the resort and meet up with the girls just as they get into our room. At this point we decide to try to change rooms, because of the noise in the night, and go to customer services. They are very helpful and give us a great new room at the front of the Toy Story block overlooking the huge characters. We have a mad half our as we transfer all of our stuff from one room to the other but complete it in record time, although Andrew does forget Debs bath scrub. We then head off the Blizzard Beach for the rest of the afternoon. After changing, and cramming

our clothes into a small locker $5, we start with the creek tubes. These are great fun and Hannah likes floating in her own tube, she also wears a float swimsuit. Andrew and James then have a go on the rings slides which are very good, fast and dark, but then struggle to find the girls on the creek. When we do the whole family goes on the teamster ride, twice, which is brilliant, very long. We have a final go on the creek before getting changed. Hannah has had a great time which is topped of with getting a Nemo mug instead of the deposit for the locker. Back at the resort for dinner where we have the same as the day before, meatballs and spaghetti for Deb, Kath and James and burgers for Andrew. We then look around the shop and buy a large Mickey Mouse for Hannah which she loves and some postcards. Back at our room we write the postcards then go to the shop to post them. We have a final wonder around the Movies resort then its back to our room for an early night, 8:30, we are very tired. Hannah has had an exciting day and falls asleep straight away. Overall MGM is a bit disappointing, with a lot of things closed, but swimming is very good. The dull weather is also a bit of a downer.
Kathryn’s thoughts
We all got excited at the early start. We had a change of plan which I didn’t like because I didn’t really want to go to MGM. I wanted to go to Animal Kingdom. We got there and it was sad that they needed to check everyone’s bags. Tower of Terror was the best. Me and James went on twice. It was sooo scary. When we went to Blizard Beach we just chilled out, that was good. Early night again, boring.
James thoutht’s
Today was fun, MGM Studios was very good because we went to the Tower of Terror, it was really scary. We also went on the Star Wars ride which was excellent. In the afternoon we went Blizard Beach were we did the family ride which was good.

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom, Town and Disney Quest

Today was quite eventful. We have a better night in our new room, but still get up early at 6am. The weather is dull and threatening rain. Again we decide on doing a park early opening, Animal Kingdom, but first have a better breakfast of pancakes and bacon, which is a bit sparse and expensive. The queues are again long for the bus, but we persevere and just manage to get on the first one, as the people in front want a seat so wait. At Animal Kingdom we head for the Safari ride, and on the way see Goofy and Hannah gets a photo. The queues for the Safari are quite long but move quickly.

The Safari is very good and we see lots of animals. After this we meet Flick and Atta and then go to the Bugs Life Show, which scares Hannah who hides with mummy. The show is very good. We then go to the Dinosaur ride. There is no queue at all and we do a child swap. Hannah is very tired and goes to sleep whilst waiting. The ride seems to be scarier than we remembered, being a lot darker. Form here we head for the new Dinorama area. This area is basically a small funfair and does not seem very Disney, no recognisable characters. We have a go on the Dino Rollercoaster which was quite short. Deb is feeling a bit ill so we head off back to the resort for a bit of a rest. We have a heated discussion about money and realise we do not have enough to eat all meals at Disney as the prices are so expensive, so in the afternoon we head off in our car to try to find a food shop to buy some provisions. We look at our maps and

head for a mall in Kissimee. Driving around and we realise that the shop distribution in America is very different from that in Britain. There is no large collection of shops all in one place, they are all dotted about at random all over the place and seem very hard to find. We see no supermarket or grocery type places, only lots of touristy places. When we get to the mall we find that it is derelict. We decide to head north to try to find the Florida Mall, which is a bit of a drive but we find it no problem, stumbling upon ToysRUs on the way, which we have a look around. In the mall we soon realise that it is the same one as we went to on our last Disney Holiday, it seems a lot bigger. We wonder around a lot but there are not many shops of interest, mainly clothes and luxury items. Debs finds some computer shops and looks at GBA games, which are a bit cheaper than Britain and the games are newer. Kathryn looks

for the Alias DVD but it is very, very expensive $60, dearer than Britain, she is very disappointed until we find a bookshop and an Alias magazine. Andrew finds a calendar and a really cheep LOTR lego set. The mood is a bit fraught as we still haven’t found any food so we head home only to get a bit lost. We find our way to International drive and see what may be a food shop but it turns out to be an expensive touristy shop. We head along International Drive4 and come across the Beltz Factory output where we get a load of cheap Disney presents and look in some of Deb’s shops.

Everyone cheers up a bit. Back on the International Drive we still cannot find our way until we realise we are going in entirely the wrong direction. Eventually we find our way to the I4 and get back to Disney at 5:30, not the best of afternoons. Back at our room we discover that we had been working on a total of $600 when in fact we had started with £600, with our reserves we still have over £750 left, everyone is a bit happier. Dinner is the same as usual. In the evening we head for Downtown Disney and look in a few shops before going to Disney Quest, which James loves. Deb and Hannah

are very tired so they head off home with Kathryn. The girls adventure – the only bus pick up they know of is back at the start of Downtown Disney so they carry Hannah the whole way and have a very long wait for a bus. They all fall asleep on the bus ride, eventually getting back at 9:45, where they go straight to bed and asleep. The boys adventure – after a few more rides at Disney Quest, the Pirates of the Caribbean is particularly good, we wonder back to a few shops. We get caught up in a magic demonstration outside the magic shop and James becomes the volunteer where he

is magically transported to Japan, he looks very scared. After this we head back passed Disney Quest to the busses but find that they no longer stop there so we walk all the way back to the Planet Hollywood stop. Just as we get there an All-Stars bus is just about to go, so we jump on it, however when it has done the first two All-Stars stops it heads all the way back to Downtown missing out Movies!! Back at Downtown we realise that there is a separate bus for Movies. After a bit of a wait we get on the right bus and eventually arrive back at our room at 10:30, very tired. Overall a very eventful day.
Kathryn’s thoughts
Everyone started tired and we had a rubbish breakfast. I liked Animal Kingdom, the safari was really good, and Bugs Life was wicked as well. Hannah was really sweet when she got scared after princess Atta touched her When we looked around for shops Mummy got a cross. Disney Quest was next, I found it rather boring, but I had a really nice dinner.
James thought’s
Today we went to Animal Kingdom where we saw Tough to be a Bug which was good and also went on a Safari which was also fun. After Animal Kingdom we went to town where we looked at some shops, they were not very good, I got a book though. At night we went to Disney Quest and that was excellent because they had lots of arcade games and things.

Day 4 - Magic Kingdom

For once we have a later start, following last nights adventures. It is a bright start but the rest of the day is dull, no rain though. Everyone has runny bums today. Breakfast consists of toast and toasted bagels, which we did manage to get during yesterdays shop trek, toasted in the food hall, with ‘procured’ honey and jam. It is very nice, and also saves us money. We then head for Magic Kingdom. Our bus driver is would be comedian and gives a running show throughout the journey. When we get in the part we see a few characters and get a photo with Balloo the Bear. We wonder up

main street looking in a few shops and then see some more characters outside of Cinderella's castle. We get a photo with Aladdin's Genie, but Hannah is not too well today and is a bit scared. We then have a go on the Winnie The Pooh ride, which Hannah loves, and then have huge ice creams before Deb, Kathryn and James go on the Tea Cups. After a bit of an argument about rushing around. Andrew and James have a go on the Indy Cars whilst the girls have a rest, and then meet up at the Space Mountain where we do an infant swap. The ride is very good. We then see Buzz and get photos, which Andrew is really excited about, before we go on Alien Encounter. Kathryn chickens out and looks after Hannah. The ride is not nearly as scary as we remembered, quite tame, but James had forgotten it and got a bit scared. We then wonder over towards Frontier Land and, on

the way get a photo with Pluto, which Hannah loves. We get turkey legs and whilst eating Hannah wee’s all over the place, luckily we have a spare set of clothes. After lunch we go on Splash Mountain using infant swap, there are no queues, and the ride is good. There is a bit of a disagreement as Andrew wants to see the parade but no one else does, so we go on the train to Mickeys Toontown and look around Mickeys house. We buy some really expensive fruit, $1.60 for one apple, but it is very nice. Kathryn and James go on the kids Goofy roller coaster, which is a bit tame. All are still a bit sulky as we wonder to Fantasy Land and catch a glimpse of the parade which people now want to see. We have a ride on the Horses and then go on Small World, Deb in a real mood. We then wonder through Adventure Land and go on the new Aladdin’s magic carpets which Hannah likes and then go see the Tiki Birds, not bad,

before finishing off on the Pirates of the Caribbean, which is not as good as we remembered. We are very tired so we head back to the resort. We have our usual dinner at the resort and get a mystery letter from reception which turns out to be a free gift from Disney, trading pins which James loves as he was going to buy some of these as his gift. We then call it a day and head for bed for an early night. An OK day although quite a bit of arguing.
Kathryn’s thoughts
Today was really good. It wasn’t too stressful and we got to go on lots of cool rides like Splash Mountain. The bus driver was wicked because he was funny. I liked the parade, even parade even though we didn’t see much of it. All the characters were there and they were good as well.
James thoughts
Today was good and fun. The rides were really good like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and the Goofy roller coaster. Some of the rides were not that good as they were for Hannah, Tea Cups and Winnie the Pooh.

Day 5 - Typhoon Lagoon, Epcot and Disney Quest
Today is a bit of a disaster. The plan is to go to Epcot when it opens early, but when we get up it is raining so we have a leisurely breakfast of bagels, toast and honey and then head for Typhoon Lagoon. When we get there the rain stops, but it is still dull. The water is very cold. We go on the roundy roundy and then in the big waves, which are very exciting although Hannah goes get a bit drowned and Deb does some accidental flashing. On the roundy roundy again, then Andrew and James have a go on the slides, which are very fast, however they cannot then find the girls again who have got fed up and gone back on the waves. It then takes a long time for both groups to find each other again, by which time everybody is very fed up. We head back to the resort and have some awful

chicken salad stuff for lunch. In the afternoon, Deb is very tired so her and Hannah have a sleep whilst the other head over to Epcot. At Epcot we go on the new Mission Space ride. Everybody is a bit apprehensive as it looks quite scary especially Kath who tries to chicken out. The ride is very good however, more a simulator than a thrill ride. On exiting we send home a video postcard ‘from Mars’. After this we go on Track, one of James favourite rides, and then through the coke ice station, Italy is horrible, to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. This show is very good although there is a very long ‘advert’ introduction. We are then a bit later than we had planned so we rush back to the resort, the bus takes an age to arrive, only to find Deb and Hannah still asleep. Dinner is the usual in the food all, very nice. We then head off to Downtown Disney and this is where

the day ends really badly. The bus takes forever to arrive but we get there in the end. We wonder around the shops, but Andrew, Kath and James want to get to Disney Quest so we rush Deb who wants to look around the shops. This get Deb very cross and she goes in a mood, which in turns puts Andrew in a mood, until nobody is speaking. Things get a bit better when Deb finds a video game she wants in Virgin, but we are all still sulking a bit, particularly Andrew, when we get to Disney Quest. We go on Pirates of the Caribbean, very good, which Hannah just gets into, Aladdin’s carpets and River Boats. Hannah likes the virtual painting but not the face distortions. Kath and James spent a lot of time on the Buzz Lightyear bumber cars, whilst Deb loves Dig Dug. By 10:30 the place is full of teenagers so we head back home, everybody is still a but sulky. Not the best day.
Kathryn’s thoughts
Today was awful. The day started badly with me and mummy getting sooo bored. Lunch was mingin, should have stuck to burger and chips. Epcot was good, the space ride was good and sop was Test Track. Downtown Disney was rubbish, everybody sulked, although I did get the Alias book I wanted, which was wikid. Sulk, Sulk, Sulk rubbish day.
James thoughts
We got bored after Me and Daddy went on a few slides and then couldn’t find Mummy again. We went back to the resort for lunch and had the most horrible Tako ever. Afterwards me, Kathryn and Daddy went to Epcot, it was excellent, with some wicked rides, Mission Space and Test Track and a wicked 3D shown Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Downtown Disney was wicked because me and Mummy brought some new games. After we went to Disney Quest where we went on Pirates and the Caribbean and I was the best on Aladdin. The best was the Buzz Lightyear bumpers, with me and Kath shooting other people.

Day 6 - Animal Kingdom

After yesterday we decide on a more leisurely start and have a traditional American breakfast at 9:30 of eggs, bacon, sausage and cake. Today is very sunny and hot. We head for Animal kingdom. On the way to the Tarzan Rocks show we see the Pooh character by the river so rush to find them. We see Pooh, Tiger and Eeeyore and get photos with each of them. Hannah is really excited and even Deb gets a photo with Eeyore, her favourite. The Tarzan show is very good, we get seats right of the front of the 2nd section with the skaters going just in front of us. Turk talks to Hannah which scares her. After the show we go on the River Rapids which are a lot wetter than before. Andrew and James get soaked through; so much that Deb does not have a go. We then go on the train to the conservation station. Hannah loves the petting zoo, brushing the goats and sheep. At the station we have a few

snacks for lunch. It’s then a big rush back on the train to catch the last Lion King Show, which again is good. After the show we stumble on the parade, which Deb thinks Andrew has planned for, but watch it anyway. It is not very good. We almost have a falling out again as Andrew is accused of rushing us about. It is then just about time for the park to close, so we head back to the resort. We have a leisurely dinner at the food hall of the usual burgers etc and then, after a look around the shop, have an early night ready for an early start for Universal Studios in the morning. All in all, not a bad day.

Kathryn’s thoughts
Today was a lot better than yesterday. We went to Animal Kingdom and it was wikid. We went to shows like Tarzan and Lion King, they were really good. The parade was a bit boring and Mummy still found something to sulk about. Good day all round.
James thoughts
Today we went to Animal kingdom which was good because we saw Tarzan Rocks. Everybody did start to get cross when they got hungry and tired.

Day 7 - Universal Studios

 

Today is very sunny and hot. It our first Universal Studios day and we are all excited. We get up early, although Deb struggles, and have our usual toast and honey breakfast.
The car trip is straight forward and takes about 20min and we arrive at opening time 9am. The car park costs $8 and is a huge multi-story. There is not many people about. We park and head towards the parks down moving walkways and through City Walk.
We head for Universal Studios itself and first have to get our tickets. We try to use the automated ticket machines but they do not work so we have to wait for customer services, which we have to wait in a queue for some time for but we get our tickets no problem. Its then straight into the park. Bags are checked the same as Disney. Although we are early into the park, the queues are already big

for their new Shrek ride, so Deb, Kath and James have a go on the Twister rider, which is OK but load. We then wonder around the park and next go on the Jaws boat ride which is good. Next Andrew, James and Kath go on the Back to the Future ride, there is no queue. It is a huge screen close up 3D ride, which is very good, whilst Deb and Hannah go to the kids area and see Barney. When Barney talks to Hannah she does a runner right out of the attraction. We then all go on the ET ride, an unusual ride on a bike,which is very good, even Hannah although it was a bit dark and loud. Next

we go on the Terminator ride, again with no queue, and another 3D show, but with some actor intervention. It is also very good. Deb and Hannah are getting a bit tired, it is also very hot, so we stop for some lunch of pretzels and turkey legs. After some lunch we find that the Shrek queue is not quite so long so we decide to queue. It does not take long before we get to the show. The pre-show is very good and so is the main show.
We are now all getting a bit fed up of 3D shows so we head for the Islands Of Adventure park. It is only a quick walk back through City Walk to the other park, one there Andrew has to sign in as he didn’t get his hand stamped at Universal. We head straight for the Hulk roller coaster which is huge. Deb, Kath and James are very excited are rush straight on whilst Andrew stays with Hannah who falls asleep. There is hardly any queue and

the ride is excellent, James and Kath’s favourite and they go straight on again. When they have finished they persuade Andrew to have a go. He is not keep but eventually does, keeping his eyes shut all the way round. Next Deb, Kath and James go on Doctor Dooms Fear Fall which is high vertical drop. It is short and a bit disappointing. We continue on round the park and Deb, Kath and James go on Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls, a flume ride, on which they get very, very wet. Its getting late and the park is shutting early, so we hurry on to the Duelling Dragons roller coaster which Deb, Kath and James go on. There is a bit more of a queue this time. The ride is very scary with 2 hang down coasters which go very close to each other. The kids love it but Deb thinks it’s a bit too scary. In the Saus Landing area Deb is very disappointed with the ‘All the Books you Can Read’ shop

which is just for kids. Hannah, Deb and Andrew then go on the Fishes roundabout which Hannah likes, whilst Kath and James have a 4th go on the Hulk coaster. Everyone is now very tired, and the park is also about to close, so we head on out.
On our way back through City Walk, Hannah plays in the magic fountains which she loves. Back at the car park we do not know which area we left our car in, a big problem until the man in front of us recognises us and that we are lost and tells us which area we are on. An amazing bit of luck. The trip back is no problem and

quite quick.
For dinner we have the usual. In the evening we go swimming in the resort pool. As soon as we get there, there is a problem and the pool is closed. The say it is a ‘chemical imbalance’ but we think they have found a floater. It takes a before it opens again. During our swim Hannah falls in and Andrew has to drag her out a drowned rat. She is a bit shaken, but is soon back swimming again. After swimming Deb, Kath and James go and get some chocolate and it’s a fairly early night after a busy day. All in all the best day so far.
Kathryn’s thoughts
Universal was really good. The first park was all right, loved the Shrek ride and Jaws. The second park was the best. Me and James went on the Hulk 4 times. It was really cool. It went upside down and everything. We went on this thing like Tower of Terror, but I thought it was going to be better. We got soaked on this water ride better than Splash Mountain. The other big dragons roller coaster was wicked. I was scared to start with but when I was on it, wow, it was brilliant. The worst bit of it was when we got really close to the other dragon. That scared mummy. A great day.
James thoughts
Today was the best day ever because it was excellent with the really exciting Hulk ride and terrifying Duelling Dragons, which was the best ride because you go really fast and upside down 5 times and also really close to the other dragon roller coaster.

Day 8 - Town and Magic Kingdom

Another very sunny and hot day. After yesterdays excitement we have a late start today. We have also run out of provisions, so we take another trip out in the car. This time however we are a bit more planned and have found details of a shopping centre called ‘publix’ from an advert on TV and looked up in the yellow pages in our room, it is on the same road as Florida Mall. Firstly we go to Toysrus. Andrew buys some cheap Lord of the Rings stuff, Hannah gets a little mermaid, and some knickers, and Deb buys a gameboy game guide. We then try to find a discount bookstore which Deb

remembered from the last trip out, but, despite driving around for a while cannot find it. We do however find a different bookstore which is quite good. Kath buys a Buffy script book and James another captain underpants book. We then find the food supermarket, which is on the other side of the main I4. It is just what we are looking for, exactly like ours back home. We replenish our stocks with apples, bananas, crisps, bagels and other snacks as well as a salad dinner for today. Andrew also buys a pack of Lord of the Rings 7up. Its 2pm so we head back to the resort and have a

very early/late dinner/lunch of our salad. We then decide to go to Magic Kingdom specifically to see the Spectro Magic evening parade (which is only on a Saturday) and the fireworks. When we get there it is very crowded and they are also doing some filming for a TV show on main street. We head for Tom Sawyers Island but it is closed so, after a bit of a rushing about argument, go to the Haunted Mansion (which James was scared of on our last Disney holiday). The queue is fairly long but it does not take much time before we get on the ride. The ride is not bad, not so scary for James, even Hannah is unworried. We then go to fantasy island and, after a bit of a queue, the kids go on the Dumbo ride, which Hannah loves. We then sit and have ice creams. It is close to 7pm so we head over to the parade root which is already filling up. We just manage to get the last front row seat partly in the walkway right on the centre roundabout. The wait goes quick and Hannah gets a Mickey balloon, and we what the castle change colour. The parade is good. One of the seven dwarfs comes and touches Hannah, which scares her a bit. After the parade we watch the fireworks, which are also good. We then join the huge crowds out of the park. The queues for the bus are very long, but there are a lot of buses so it doesn’t take very long before we are back at the resort. It is very late so we go straight to bed. Overall not a bad day.
Kathryn’s thoughts
Today we went shopping and I got Buffy scripts. We then went to Magic Kingdom, it was really good. We went on the Haunted House and Dumbo ride. The light show was brilliant. One of the dwarfs shook Hannah’s hand, she was so sweet. A good day.
James thoughts
Today was good because we went to the big bookshop and I bought captain underpants. After the bookshop we went to the supermarket which was good because we bought loads of food. After lunch we went to the Magic Kingdom where we saw a parade which was really good and one of the seven dwarfs touched Hannah’s hand. We then saw the fireworks which were good but didn’t last very long.

Day 9 - Typhoon Lagoon and Disney Quest
Another very sunny and hot day. Today we decide on a lazy day and therefore have a late start. Breakfast is the usual bagels, toast and honey. We then head for Typhoon Lagoon. When we get there it is quite crowded, with queues for the lockers (Andrew and James queue whilst the girls get changed). We go on the roundy roundies which are quite crowded. James gets bad, swollen eyes, so we go and wash them with shower water, after which they are a bit better. We then go on the wave pool, which is great, although Hannah is a bit out of sorts, grumpy, so we take it in turns to stay in they shallow pools with her. We then go and have a look at the snorkel pool which again is crowded, then Kath and James have a go on the fast flumes (we are unable to persuade Deb to go on them). Then have a go on the family rafts which are good, but with a bit of a wait. Hannah then has a play in the kids area, with its own mini-flume. Its then back on the roundy roundy for a while, before a last go in the wave pool. Then back to the resort. It is mid afternoon so we have a late/early lunch/dinner of the usual buggers etc. before heading for Downtown Disney and Disney Quest. At Downtown Disney we go on Pirates, which is brilliant, and then split up. Deb spends a lot of time on ‘Mr Do’ in the retro arcade. Kath and James spend a lot of time on the Buzz Lightyear bumper cars. Hannah loved the Dance Game and spends a lot of time watching people playing, and dancing alongside them. We also find the Internet desks and check up on e-bay. We eventually leave at 9pm back to the resort where we have a late supper of Tuna bagels then a relatively early night. A quiet day.
Kathryn’s thoughts
A good day today. Swimming was good, no one sulked. Went on a good flume it went straight down. Downtown Disney was good again, we went on Buzz bumpers seven times wikid.
James thoughts
Today was really good because we went swimming with wicked waves and after that had a great time at Downtown Disney.

Day 10 - Universal Studios and MGM Studios
Another very sunny and hot day. Deb is a bit tired so we decide to split up with Andrew, Kath and James going to Universal on their own.
Andrew, Kathryn and James Day

We leave Deb and Hannah in bed and have our usual toasted breakfast. We get to Universal with no problems and arrive just after it opens at 9:00am and go first to Islands of Adventure as we are keen to go on the Superman ride. There are no queues so we get straight on. The ride a mixture of ride and 3D screens. It is excellent the best ride we have been on. Kathryn and James then go on the Hulk roller coaster, which they still really enjoy. Next we rush to Jurassic Park and the main water ride. Again no queues and we get to ride on our own in the front of the boat. It is not bad, similar to Dinosaur at Disney, with the main feature being a very big drop at the end. Kathryn and James then go on Duelling Dragons, still no queues but only 1 dragon is going. They sit near 2 gay men who scream like little girls, but apologies at the end. We then head for the Poseidon’s Fury show

which according to the sign starts if half an hour at 11am, so we join the queue. 11am passes, no show, queue gets bigger and bigger and more restless until it opens at 11:30. The show is very good, particularly the water tunnel. We then go back to Spiderman but the queues are 45min so we get a fastpass for 3:15. Kath and James have a final go on the Hulk before we head from Universal Studios. At the Studios Andrew tries to sneak past the bag search, but gets stopped and searched thoroughly. We see the Shrek character first and Andrew gets a picture. We then go to the Earthquake show,

no queue, which is very similar to Disney Backlot. The Earthquake effect is very good. Next we go to Men In Black, the queue is 45min so we get a fastpass which is only in 30min time. We wonder about for a while, have some snack lunch and an ice drink, before going back to the ride. There are no bags allowed so Kathryn stays with them. Not much of a queue with the fastpass. The ride is similar to Disney Buzz Lightyear, only better. We then go to Shrek, which has a bit of a queue but we decide to wait. We are just about to give up when there is a bit move in the queue and we just get in.

The show is good, with the pre-show a bit different from last time as the commentator adds in a lot of extra jokes, very good. We then go back to Islands of Adventure to use our Spiderman fastpass. Halfway round the ride, the film stops but the ride carries on. It is a bit scary as we are moving in the dark. We do get an extra ride, with no queue. Spiderman is a brilliant ride. We then head back to Disney, although we go the wrong way out of the car park and head North and having to double back.
Deb and Hannah’s Day
A late start followed by a fruit breakfast the we go to Animal Kingdom. We hire a ‘stroller’ and wonder slowly around the park. We go through both the African and Asian walking safaris where we see a Tiger close up and also some Guerrillas. Back at the resort the room has not been cleaned so we tell a cleaner. We then go swimming in the resort pool. After getting back to the room we have lost Deb’s shorts so head back to the pool and find them on a bin, very lucky. The room has then been cleaned so we have a bit of a nap. Bath groups then meet up and go for our usual dinners. We then head to MGM for the Fantasmic show. Luckily we arrive early as the show starts at 7:30 not 8:00 as last week. After a bit of a rush to the show we still get not bad seat’s although it fills up fast. The show is very good. Hannah enjoys it although she covers her eyes for the scary bit. At the end of the show there is the big rush for the buses with huge crowds. We get split up but meet up again at the buss stop. There is not much of a wait for the bus. Back at the resort, we have some drinks then have a reasonably early night. A pretty good day.
Kathryn’s thoughts
Today was really fun. Universal was good again, we went on Spiderman which was great!! Daddy had a picture with Srek, you couldn’t tell the difference between the two. The Fantasmic show was wicked, I really enjoyed it.
James thoughts
Today was good because we went to Universal again and went on some of the rides we missed like Spiderman and Earthquake. Afterwards we went to MGM to watch Fantasmic which was really good.

Day 11 - Universal Studios and Town

Still very sunny and hot day. Today we decided on a quiet day. We went back to Universal to have a final look around as it was the last day of our tickets. We needed to get there early to miss the crowds but we were a bit late up, so we had breakfast in the car. We still managed to arrive at 9:15. We went straight to Islands of adventure so that Deb could go on the Spiderman ride. We used the child swap and all enjoyed it. The older people on with Andrew, Kath and James forgot to use the 3D glasses and got a bit confused. Andrew and Kath then had a go on Dudley Do Right water ride and got very wet. We then headed for Jurassic Park and Deb, Kath and James go on the water rider, which they think is very good. Kath and James have a go on the Duelling Dragons which again only have one Dragon going. Finally Deb, Kath and James have a go on the Hulk as the

final ride at Universal. On the way back to Disney we do a bit of shopping, going to the large bookshop (Barnes and Noble) where Kath gets another Alias book and Deb has a Sturbucks coffee, which she is very impressed with. We then go to the Publix supermarket, which is only next door, for some supplies and have some sandwiches in the car for lunch. We then have a last look in ToysRUse, getting Hannah some LeapPad books for her birthday, and then head back to Disney, still managing to get a bit lost on the way. When we get back, Andrew and James go for a trip on the Monorail which involved a lot of queuing for busses and ended up taking a long time (very boring). Dinner is the usual, Burger and Hotdogs, which we eat in our room and afterwards get into a bit of an argument about going out again. We end up staying in and watching TV, before an early night. During the evening there is a massive thunderstorm, which is very exciting. A rather quiet day.
Kathryn’s thoughts
OK day, samemole Universal again. Went shopping again and got an Alias book, very good. Stayed at home which was good, although James bugging. Quite a good day.
James thoughts
Today was really good because of the rides at Universal. Went on the monorail in the Magic Kingdom which was boring. Then we had a really nice time in our room, it was very wet outside.

Day 12 - MGM Studios
Very, very sunny and hot. Today we had a later start planning on spending the whole day at Epcot. Breakfast is the usual bagels and toast. When we get to Epcot we find that it is very crowded. We head straight for Mission Space and find that the wait time is 75min and the fast pass is for 6pm. This is probably because it is the launch day of the Mission Space ride and, we think, Columbus Day bank holiday in America. We decide that MGM would be a better option.
At MGM we go in a few shops and James buys a Buzz Lightyear neckless.
We then go to Tower Of Terror which has a 45min wait as only 1 tower is in action, but Deb, Kath

and James have a go anyway. It’s a quick dash to the Beauty and the Beast show, which is just about to start. The pre-show is good with some ‘sound technicians’ doing some songs. The show itself is a bit bland and our seats are not the best. We then have an ice cream, Kathryn drops hers on the floor but quickly picks it up and eats it anyway, very funny. She then stands under a tree and has a bird poo on her head, even more funny. Its then on Rock N Roller coaster using child swap, we do not have too long to wait. The start is very scary, very fast to watch, but the ride is not bad in the dark. We then wonder across the park and stumble on the motor parade, which Andrew and Hannah watch whilst the others go in some shops. Hannah likes the parade, all her favourite characters. After the parade we take Hannah for a play on the Honey I Shrank The Kids playground, whilst Kath and James go on Star Tours. In the playground Andrew looses Hannah, but she turns up after a few minutes frantic searching having climbed round the back of a big tree. On our way back out of the resort, we see that the Muppets show is about to start so we go in. We have to wait a bit longer than we thought and the 3D show looks a bit dated after similar shows at Universal. We then head back to the resort, with a big crowd at the buses but not too long a wait. Back at the resort we have a late dinner of the usual Burgers and Pasta then its back to the room for an early night. An average day.
Kathryn’s thoughts
Quite an interesting day, Epcot was very crowded. It was really hot. MGM was quite good. Queues were long. Tower of Terror was very scary as it stopped half way in the total darkness. We went on Rockin Roller Coaster, better than I expected. Good day overall.
James thoughts
The first half of the day was really boring ay Epcot because it was very busy. The rides at MGM were very good.

Day 13 - Town, Blizzard Beach and Downtown Disney
Again Very, Very and hot. Nearing the end of our holiday so we decide on a final shopping trip. We have a late start so have breakfast on the move. Our car is running low of fuel but we are unsure as to what type it uses. So we stop off at Disney customer services and are told that most cars are petrol. We stop at the petrol station opposite MGM Studios, which we spotted the night before. Buying petrol in America is a lot different than in the Britain. You first have to pay for the petrol and then the pump only lets up put in the amount paid for. We pay $4 and fill almost a quarter of the tank. We head for Florida Mall again and wonder around. Again finding few shops of interest. Deb buys three games for her SP (which are cheaper and newer than in Britain) and a cheat book. We buy some cooked nuts for a snack. We buy Kath an Alias calendar for a Christmas present, she sulks bad as she wants it now. We then head for Toys R Us again and ‘luckily’ they have sold the LOTR stuff that Andrew wanted (we couldn’t get it home anyway). We do buy some Leap Pad books for Hannah’s birthday which again are cheaper than Britain, and also on offer. After this we go to both the bookstores we found and Andrew gets some LOTR bookmarks and a limited edition Legolas figure (which should have been brought with a book). Deb has a Starbucks coffee in the second bookshop. Andrew buys the wrong one, but Deb likes it all the same. Its then back to the resort which Kath still in a sulk which is getting Deb annoyed. We decide to go to Blizzard beach and consider driving. We drop James as customer services to ask about parking (we need to get a pass, which is free). Eventually we consider the amount of petrol we have left and decide not to drive. It is 2:30 and Blizzard Beach closed at 5:00 so it’s a bit of a rush, however we get there very quick. We go on the roundy, roundies and then the family rafts (a few times) which are very good. The queues are quite big but do not take long. We then have a go in the big waves. After getting changed Andrew insists on taking some photos which is a bit tedious and gets everyone cross. Back at the resort we have the usual dinners. Kath is back in a sulk, although she was not bad at swimming. We then head for Downtown Disney. Kath and James go straight to Disney Quest. Andrew, Deb and Hannah have a quiet stroll through the shops looking for presents, do not find much. They have a rush for the toilets for Hannah at one point. Then wonder through Pleasure Island without being checked. Kathryn and James play mostly on the Buzz Lightyear bumpers. When we finally meet up at Disney Quest it is getting late and is quite crowded so we decide to call it a day. James buys a light stick from the Quest shop which he was after. We head back and go into Virgin and get a LOTR draughts game and an Alias book for Kaths friend. Kath goes into a worse of a sulk when we wont get her some other Alias books (although we have already brought them for her birthday). Kath and Deb have a big falling out.
Back at the resort, Kath still sulking, we get ice-creams (Kath nearly missing out) then back to our room to start packing. Packing is a bit of a problem with all of Andrews LOTR stuff. It ends up a late night. A good day apart from Kath’s sulking.
Kathryn’s thoughts
Shopping again, quite boring. Swimming, family ride good. Downtown Disney good but quite boring. In a sulk most of the day. Rubbish day altogether, for me.
James thoughts
Shopping was good because we brought some SP games. Swimming at Blizzard Beach was fun and refreshing out of the sun. To finish off the day me and Kathryn went to Disney Quest whilst everyone else went shopping, it was the best part of the day.

Day 14 - Epcot

A Dull Day. Today is the final day of our holiday. We have another late start and a proper American breakfast. We then decide to head for Epcot, which we haven’t been too much yet. We have a very, very long wait for a bus (45min). Lots of buses come and go but none are ours. We chat to an American family who tell us that this week is an American holiday (explains the larger crowds this week). Epcot is busy. We head straight for a Mission Space fastpass, the queue is 100 minutes. We do a bit of shopping and get Hannah some birthday presents, then go to the living seas. Hannah

loves the fishes and we see a dolphin and a huge sea turtle. We then  use our fastpass to go on MissionSpace, using the child swap facility. Everybody thinks it is very good. Andrew with Hannah then Kathryn and James send a video postcard home. We have a late pizza lunch (queuing behind a family ordering 16 pizzas). After lunch we decide it would be a good idea to get some pressed pennies as a souvenir. We find one in Epcot and then decide to get one from all the other parks. We split up with Andrew and Deb going to press pennies and the kids going back to the resort. Whilst waiting for the bus to Animal Kingdom, which takes a while to come, Deb has second thoughts and heads back to the resort. Andrew has a rush around the parks to find the penny presses. After struggling in Animal Kingdom it a big rush to get to the Magic Kingdom which is

closing early, he jumps on a waiting bus to the ticket centre and then on the monorail to Magic Kingdom. He is the only person on the monorail and has to get off on his own in front of a massive crowd at the station leaving Magic Kingdom. It’s a struggle to find a press, some are out of order, but after running around the park, he finds one back near the entrance. There is no direct buss to MGM so he jumps on the first bus back to the resorts which is a Music bus and walks across to Movies. Back at the resort James goes with Andrew to MGM where they get the last pennies. When they finally get back we have our usual dinner and do some final present shopping in the resort, Deb getting a watch for her birthday. Its then back to the room for final packing and we watch the Tarzan movie on the Disney channel. A fairly quiet last day.
Kathryn’s thoughts
Epcot was pretty good. We didn’t do much. I got a really nice charm bracelet, good day really. Pretty quiet.
James thoughts
Today was our last day and good. Mission space was excellent and mummy decided to do these pennies so me and daddy went to places looking for them. All in all the day was fun and good.

Day 15 - Journey Home
A Hot Day. We are up fairly early and finish off the last of the packing. It is very tight to get everything in, particularly with all of Andrews LOTR things. We manage OK in the end, but with a lot of carrier bags. We want to get to the airport early to get good seats on the plane. There is a bit of an argument over whether we have time for breakfast. We load up the car, check out and then have a quick breakfast. We also use the last of our change to get some final pressed pennies. We eventually leave the resort at 10:30. The trip to the airport takes longer than we thought, about an hour. The petrol gets very low, with the warning light coming on, we are not sure if we are going to make it. We give the car back with no problem. Getting the luggage to the terminal is a bit of a struggle. Deb, Kath and Hannah go on ahead to get in the check-in queue whilst Andrew and James struggle with the cases, James getting very left behind. We are queuing for only a little while, and then hide some of the hand luggage. The rest weighs in just under the limit and we get seats all sitting together. The customs is quite strict. We are very early for the flight and have to wait over 3 hours in the terminal, which goes very slowly. We have some chips and continuously look around the shops. We also eat a lot of our food we have left which reduced the number of bags we have. We board the plane on time, all sitting together and it leaves on time. The flight back is long, Hannah only sleeps for an hour. Half way through Hannah wee’s on Deb, she has been very good throughout the holiday. Deb has to wear Andrews shorts. During the flight we realise that we told Dad to pick us up on the wrong day, having got the time difference calculation wrong. We have told him to pick us up the day before. Cannot do anything about it now, we just hope he will be there. We arrive on time and pick up our bags OK. Dad is there, he had turned up the day before, we apologise a lot. Everyone is very tired. The drive back is fine, with everyone falling asleep in the car, and arrive home at 7:30 in the morning. Its straight to bed.