Oldies On Tour

Sunday and again an early start heading back to Magic Kingdom.   It is so big and there were so many people the other day that we only

Mia with the princess

covered about 20% of the park so today we gave it our best shot.

Even though we were ahead of the game, the build up of crowds going through security bag search was daunting, at least with pre-paid tickets, we don’t have too

Another parade, they were brilliant

long to queue at the actual  entrance gates.

Today we attacked several rides, mainly  Jane type rides though I did accompany her on a number whilst Nanny Christine took charge of Mia.   Again we were tripping over people, being Sunday the park

More of parade

was again very busy and though it is still early November, Veterans Day (last week) seems to kick start the Christmas holiday period.  Xmas carols all the time, Christmas themes everywhere and “Santa’s” in their grottos.   We regret coming in November, speaking to locals, February is probably the quietest and therefore the best time.

After another hot and exhausting day we left the Magic Kingdom and headed back to the house to drop Christine and Mia off whilst Jane and I headed out to Orlando International to collect David and a

Beauty and the beast

second hire car: next week we have different itineraries.

Dave’s flight arrived a little early than scheduled and he had the good fortune to hit Border Control at a quiet time so didn’t have the long wait we did, the result of that was he was waiting for us, oops!!!!!  Whilst Dave and Jane got away very quickly, I had to queue for ages at the Alamo desk to collect the car.

Monday and away at 0700hrs as we headed to Tampa to visit Bush gardens.  Though just over an hour away we didn’t want to get stuck in commuter traffic and arrive late so, “up-and-at-em” and breakfast near the park entrance.  Jane and Dave had memories of a bumper buffet breakfast, all you can eat at a chain called Denys, so this was our mission.

Shortly before we arrived at Busch Gardens we spotted a Denys on the opposite carriageway, so a quick “U” turn and we were in, only to find they didn’t do a breakfast buffet.  The Disappointment on their faces was clear to see but never the less we did enjoy a very good breakfast, plus

Rhino enjoying the mud

numerous pancakes; no wonder everybody puts on weight!!!!!

Being early at Busch Gardens meant we could get onto several rides before queues built up; we started with a cable car ride across the “African Plains”, looking down on the “reserve” then onto a Log Flume.  Now we split, Dave and Jane went off to do their Kamikaze rides whilst the three of us did the more sedentary rides.  Our paths crossed periodically but one of the most enjoyable attractions was the train journey that weaved its way through and around the game reserve where we saw elephants, black and white rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lions, giraffes and many many more.   This has now encouraged us to bring forward our planned trip to South Africa to enjoy the “real” safari park; Harry is now on the case!!!!!  Another highlight was the ice show with a Christmas theme.  I have to say all the shows, though they may only be for around 30- minutes long, are full scale productions, and this ice show was no exception.

After a long and exhausting day in Busch Garden we left but being rather late for Mia stopped at the same Deny restaurant we had visited in the morning and have to say, again, we were really impressed; nice food and at reasonable prices.

Tuesday we went our different ways, Jane and Dave went to Universal’s “Islands of Adventure” park, on their own to get a full days

Seaworld

fix of “kamikaze rides”.  We on the other hand took Mia to “SeaWorld”, far more appropriate for young and old alike!!!!! 

We had a slight problem before hitting the road, we couldn’t start the hire car.  We have a brand new Hybrid Ford that had a mind of its own, we tried everything to

Dolphins performing

start it and by this time it had run down the drive into the road and we were stuck.  I thought I had done everything I was told when collecting it. Foot on brake then push start button, gear selector in neutral, hand brake on, doors shut doors open! Nothing so resorted to ringing the breakdown service.  All I wanted was to know what I was doing wrong, or not doing but no, first I had to answer all sorts of questions.  Eventually I was told, foot on the brake and press the start button simultaneously,

Whales splashing everyone

hey presto it started.  What a fool I felt still we were now on our way.

We arrived later than planned but hey, we were here now and  thoroughly enjoyed the 3 shows we watched, firstly the dolphins and their keepers entertained us

Brilliant show

with flips and tricks and gentle water splashes over the two front rows. Next we visited the Shamu stadium where the Killer Wales perform.  These

Back flip!

giants of the sea did some quite spectacular tricks though in this show the keepers don’t enter the water.  The highlight was when these giants of the deep splashed everybody in the first 15 rows, there was no escaping, these people were thoroughly drenched; all good fun. 

Sea lions having fun

Lastly we visited the sea lions, here the theme was “finishing school” and collecting their diplomas, an odd subject but thoroughly entertaining.  They were so funny that all the children including Mia were rolling about in the aisles, well they would have but health and safety here

Sharks

means they had to stay in their seats!  Our day was completed by walking around the park looking at all the various fish ponds, including sharks, sting rays and various species of seals.  There are of course roller coasters, all of which looked

Mia enjoying the carousel

really scary with vertical drops with upside-down sections; fortunately Mia didn’t satisfy the height restrictions!!!!!

We finally arrived back at the house, and

I had to go on as well!

after a light supper went into the pool and had a great time with Mia; needless to say it was very enjoyable.  Long after her normal bed time we eventually put her down one very happy little girl and she was asleep in moments.  Mum and Dad returned later in the evening loaded with shopping, they had taken advantage of the “Black Friday” bargains.

We even found Father Xmas

Magic Kingdom

Tuesday and today we’re off to the Magic Kingdom, our aim was to leave the house by 0800hrs, bearing in mind we are all awake very early, still we were out by 0830hrs, under the circumstances not too bad.   By the time we had parked in the attraction car park, taken the tram to the monorail station, and eventually arriving at the park, it was around 10.30 and the park was very busy but, most children were back in School though having said that, the area most appropriate for Mia, Fantasyland, was still heaving.  Jane and Mia queued for one ride for about 75- minutes and I timed the ride, two and a half minutes.   I take my hat off to Mia for the patience she has demonstrated so far.  Today the Magic Kingdom has a special event on this evening so the park closed at 1800hrs, probably just

Main parade

as well!!!   The highlight of the day being the grand parade at 1400hrs, we were in the front row as it went past.   Again an exhausting day but a salad for lunch and the only junk food were donuts and cinnamon rolls.

Wednesday, up early again, this time for Walt Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  We didn’t bother with salads as our plan is to leave early, around 1500hrs, and cook a proper roasted dinner tonight.  We

On safari

arrived at opening time, fortunately this

Giraffe enjoying his freedom

park is fairly quick to get into and headed straight across to the opposite side as we wanted to do the Safari trip before the queue got too long.  This is the most popular ride here, a truck takes guests through a game reserve where there are elephants, rhinoceros, both black and white, giraffes lions, wilder beasts, in fact every animal you would expect to see on safari in Africa.  It was very well laid out, the animals have plenty of space and are managed extremely well, this was worth getting here early for.   By the time we had completed our Safari ride, the park was filling up but fortunately not to the crowds experienced the previous few days.  There are several children’s rides we went on but most of the park is given over to animals.  Having said that, our planned departure time of 1500 hrs didn’t happen, it was so good we didn’t leave ‘till 1800hrs.  Back home, too exhausted to cook and eat, good job we bought a sandwich during the day!! And bed.o

Thursday and a day off, rest at last, we’ll that was the plan.  After a leisurely morning enjoying our pool we headed out to one of the many outlet shopping malls.  Again today we were DETERMINED to have a proper roast diner, so with that in mind, minimal food during the day.   Obviously we couldn’t get what we wanted in the outlet mall so headed of the “Florida Mall”, a very large space where Christine and I managed to find the Sperry Shoe shop we were looking for and stocked up with a couple of pairs each.  We now hot-footed it back home early enough for us to cook and eat a roast dinner at a reasonable hour, hooray, and enjoy a bottle of wine.

Friday and it was off to Epcot, it’s all go here you know!!  We arrived early and straight onto our first ride, the big round golf ball at the entrance, a ride that covers communications from time in memorial to the present day.  I have been to Epcot a number of times and I have never, and I mean never, walked straight up the ramp and onto the ride; great Scott we were early!!!  Surprisingly the park was reasonably quiet, not too many people so managed to do virtually all the rides with minimal queueing.  Once these rides were done, we headed around the lake, world showcase.  We stopped and had a pint at the Rose and Crown in England, watched a couple of performers in France who juggled and piled a number of chairs on one other before one of them climbed to the top and did a hand stand, we had lunch in Italy and finished with a charming water ride in Mexico.   We couldn’t stay for the firework display at 2100hrs, poor Mia wouldn’t have been able to make it so left around 1800hrs but on the way out re-visited the big golf ball ride, again, virtually straight on.

Saturday, and again a quiet day of rest and reflection, enjoyed a swim in the pool and after lunch headed out to Disney Springs, a Disney shopping mall set alongside Lake Buena Vista.  Today we were very very strict with our diets, in the last few days we’ve all added weight eating far too many naughties.  Of course this was a silly place to visit as between every store there’s a coffee kiosk etc., all selling fast food, cakes, buns, chocolate, ice cream, and then there’s numerous restaurants doing anything from Steaks to Oysters, pasta dishes to Japanese food, all very tempting but I can report, we were very disciplined, we walked by everything.

Tomorrow we are returning to the Magic Kingdom before heading to the airport to collect Dave.

Thursday 8th of November and we’re off again.  We start by flying to Gatwick then hiring a car before heading on to Jane’s; it’s Dave’s birthday so are ready to babysit.

Arrived at Pascals Paddocks ok, but not needed for babysitting duty this evening, but we are needed Friday morning as Jane and Dave are booked in to view a school for Mia.  Dave on the other hand has decided to celebrate his Birthday Friday, and has taken the day off and booked tickets for the circus that’s in Newmarket.

Following their visit to the school, we headed off to Northampton to meet our new accountant as Brian (old accountant) has decided to retire at long last.  I have been with him since 1982 and will now have to “train” a new one!!!!!!!!!  We followed this meeting with a quick visit

Dave doing his bit

to our solicitor before heading over to Newmarket, arriving at the circus entrance with 5 minutes to spare before the show started.  Our party of 6 included Dave’s mother, Newmarket being her home town.  The circus, well perhaps the best I can say about it was “interesting”.  Of course circuses aren’t what they used to be, no big cats, no elephants or horses, in fact no 4 legged animals to be seen, so what’s left? Well there were Acrobats, jugglers, other acrobatic performers and oh yes, 1 solitary clown.  The highlight of the evening was when this clown selected 3 members from the audience, one being Dave who were given certain tasks to do.  Unfortunately the task given to Dave

Dave doing his seal impressions!

included laying on the ground and move along like a seal, well, Dave being fit and agile had no problem which gave the “so-called clown” something of a problem; he had never had anybody do this and then to add a little spice, Dave did a backflip.  By this point the clown had lost it and quickly moved onto the next chap he had selected, he was more compliant, he played along to his game!!!!  

We managed to stay to the end at which point, having 2 cars, Christine and I shot off to look for a pub and have a meal.  

About 10 miles south of Newmarket we pulled off the A14 at a signpost pointing to some obscure village called Great Wilbraham, and the only pub, the Carpenters Arms, fortunately had a restaurant not to mention the local microbrewery ales available.   So far so good and rather than eat in Solitary in the restaurant, we ate in the bar where there was a wood burner roaring away and some atmosphere; we even got chatting to some locals.  We both agreed we had struck gold, the food was excellent, the ales extraordinarily good, service was spot on and we didn’t need to take out a mortgage; just!!!  We completed our unexpected evening playing bar billiards; not played that game for years. 

Our journey back to Brentwood was miserable, it rained cats and dogs, still we got back to find everybody had gone to bed.

Next morning back to Gatwick to return our hire car and book into the hotel for the night, flying out tomorrow.  Jane and Mia arrived around 1900hrs.

The shuttle took us to north terminal Sunday morning and we booked

Mia enjoying the space

in, well nearly.  Jane enquired about upgrades to Premium, yes was the answer, there were a few spaces but we had to pay the extra.   After much discussion and a ‘phone call to Dave, we did it.  What a good decision this was, as Jane and Mia had the two front seats just behind the bulkhead with sufficient private floor space for Mia to play and amuse herself on this 9-hour flight.   Arriving in Orlando was a little fraught as the airport is being re-furnished, especially immigration.  Here again, being premium we were off the plane before everybody else and into the immigration queue and therefore out within about 45-minutes.  To add to the issues, at the time we landed there was a BA flight, (another Jumbo) and a further plane from Manchester, in all about 1100 passengers.   We were warned about these flights and it was suggested we ran, which we did.  Some of the stragglers were

Frozen show

queueing for 2 to 3 hours!!!   After immigration we collected our bags and headed, by train, to the main terminal, collected our rental car and headed to our villa.

We eventually arrived at our villa totally exhausted, knackered and couldn’t wait to hit the sack, but I must say 3year old Mia took it all in her stride.

Jane and Mia enjoying the show

Naturally we all woke in the wee hours of the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep so had a rather early breakfast before heading out to our first attraction;Walt Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  What we didn’t

Toy story

know was that this Monday is a bank holiday, Veterans Day we believe, and the Park was heaving.  The queues on all the rides were long but for the best rides, people were queueing up to one and a half hours.   There is a system of fast track passes available but to get these fast track passes for the god rides, one needs to get onto their website 30 days before the day of

Couldn’t get on this 210 minute wait!

the visit.  The fast track passes available on the day are naturally for the less exciting rides. Still we did a full day, much queueing and not too many rides achieved, still Mia enjoyed herself.  I’d like to say that’s why we are here but I suspect the truth is we are here for Jane!!!!!

During the day we ate the usual rubbish, donuts, burgers and chips, Cinnamon buns

Beauty and the beast

etc., etc., but tomorrow we will be organised.  We stopped off at Publix (supermarket chain) and bought individual salads to improve our diet!   We were back home around

Mickey

2000hrs, minimal food needed and bed, totally exhausted.