Florida, Disney's Magic Kingdom, a review...............

Ok, this probably sounds bad, but having been to EuroDisney in Paris we quickly realised that it was a carbon copy of the original Magic Kingdom.   This was however very helpful as we already had an idea as to how to tackle it.  

It is fairly easy to navigate around the different "lands", and the maps, as always, are an excellent source of information - as they should be!

Just a reminder though, where they say 3D over here, you might want to prepare you little ones that they actually mean 4D, so you will get more special effects, like smoke and water etc.

We headed straight for Tomorrowland, and fast passes for Space Mountain.  We then headed for Buzz Lightyear's ride, a fun time zapping at targets.  We also did Stich's Great Espace, a kind of 4D theatre show/ride, Monsters Inc laugh show, with much audience participation, and then the Astro Orbiter.

#Lighbulb moment - it has just occurred to me that they didn't have representation of a lot of the Disney Pixar movies, nothing here for Cars, only the Buzz ride, unlike Paris where they have whole areas dedicated to Cars and Toy Story, which my children thought were fabulous! I wonder if keeping it purest to original Disney characters works better for the American market?   Just a thought!

Anyhoo, heading back to Space Mountain at our designated times, I have to say that I was very disappointed.  The ride was in the dark and jerky, and frankly seemed dated.  Glad I've done it, but not a huge fan in the wake of Manta, Everest and Hulk etc.  Jasper also loved Speedway as he got to drive mummy around in a hotrod, whilst Scarlett drove daddy :)

After that, my lovely cousin from Burnley took Jasper for me, whilst we headed to our pre-booked package to make Scarlett a princess, details here!

I have to say it was just wonderful, and I cried reading out her invitation (yes I'm that soppy).  To be honest this was my favourite part of the day.   As we finished we came out to see Merida (from Brave), and Scarlett was very excited to be meeting her.   Just perfect.

Of course there was much much more to do, but we were all done for the day.

You can stay for dinner and fireworks (make dinner reservations way before you go).  However, we didn't feel like we'd missed out and no need to go back.

Two Disney Princesses

Jasper driving mummy in his hot rod!

To be fair, apart from the films themselves, my two weren't really brought up on Disney, so this didn't prove as exciting as some of the other parks over here, though we did have a fabulous time.
Annie x

Florida, Disney's Animal Kingdom, a review.........

Thursday we headed over to Disney's Animal Kingdom.  We went straight over to Everest to get fast passes for this epic coaster, then back to do the truck safari.

On route we got the kids up and ready for being Wilderness Explorers (foc), where they go around collecting badges, in exchange for learning about various animals, and countries etc.   Scarlett particularly got into it, and I loved that the Wilderness Explorers themselves were actually in the same uniform as Russell from UP :)

Everest and the Safari (obviously) are in Asia and Africa within the parks, and having travelled to both continents I can say they have got the scenery and surrounds breath-takingly bang on!

The Safari was amazing, and having been to the Serengeti, I can tell you they got that so right too, and much to my amazement we did see lion and cheetah, elephant, rhino, hippos etc.  Really well done, huuuuge enclosures and bumpy roads, just like the real Africa.  (Well not enclosures in Africa but you get my drift)!

Everest Coaster itself was pretty hardcore, having said that my 5yo rode it twice and my 9yo wouldn't!  I went on first with Scarlett and having whizzed around and then stopped at a precarious point, midway, she said "mummy I'm scared", I could only respond with "me too".  Not going to win mum of the year (yet again), but as I said she went straight on again with her father :)

Whilst in Asia we also rode the Kali River Rapids, and got absolutely soaked, but in the heat over here you are dry again within the hour and it is actually quite refreshing.

In Dinoland we saw a magical musical version of Nemo, just fantastic acting and visuals, and in Discovery Island we saw a film of "It's Tough to be a Bug".  Over here what they call 3D we would call 4D, as it is much more than just the visual, expect special effects all around you!   We also saw Festival of the Lion King with sing alongs, acrobatics and audience participation.

As well as meeting Jamaican Kennedy, who lived in Peckham and supported QPR, a top day out!  Oh, and how can I forget, the kids met the *actual* Mickey and Minnie* yayyyy!
Annie x

Florida, Seaworld, a review..................

Wednesday morning we headed over to SeaWorld.   We are big animal lovers and it's an easy park to navigate around.    There are mainly shows to schedule, a couple of rides to get on to, and then other standard exhibitions to have a look around.

Our first problem however was getting in through the door.  Having brought our normal packed lunch, this was the first place we were stopped and couldn't bring in sandwiches.  The snacks around it were OK, but not the sandwiches, so we sat and ate them at the entrance (I know don't say it)!

I have to say that this was however, one of my favourite days out so far.  The shows were spectacular (understatement) and Manta, one of the big rides was fantastic!   Am convinced it's a carbon copy of Air at Alton Towers, think slow and enjoyable flying rather than jerky coaster types!

Shamu the killer whale is one of the big shows, and it was amazing!!!  As was the Dolphin Theatre show, just fantastic (see pics).   Pets ahoy also blew us away, particularly when we learned that all the animals were rescues :)  The Sea Lion and Otter show was very funny, but as much so for the mime warm up act before hand, who basically took the mickey out of anyone coming through looking for a seat - we were dying with laughter and everybody took it in good humour

We didn't manage the Sky Tower due to "inclement weather" but not that bothered, but we did use the helicopter simulator ride which was great, fed some sharks, and saw some other marine animals in the walk through.

We went back another morning to ride Kraken and let Jasper try Manta, which he was unsure of before, and of course he loved it.

 We also went on the Sky Tower.  I was worried as I don't really like the London Eye type things, but it just went up and down, fairly slowly, giving you beautiful views of the whole area. After that we took the bus over to Aquatica for the afternoon.

Fantastic days out, very chilled but thrilling at the same time.

Annie x

Florida, Disney's Epcot - wow - a review Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow!

Who knew that EPCOT was an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.   In my head it was another space centre adventure but oh my, what a great day out and where to start.........

We came on the Tuesday after we arrived.  Having been a full on first few days we decided to have a lazy morning and get there at 12.30pm.   We headed straight to Sourin for the fastpass, but they had already run out for the day!!!   So we will have to go back, that and the Test Track were recommended as the best rides there, and again we couldn't get on to it.  So big note to self, get there early next time and get those two rides fast passed and done.  (See bottom of this blog that has now been updated)!

Having said that, we still had a fabulous time.   We more or less walked straight onto Mission Space a flight simulated space launch.  In flights of 4 you are assigned different roles to take part during the flight.  You can try the Green Team for a milder mission, or the Orange Team for a more hardcore version.   We did Green then Orange, and without spoiling it the G-Force in the Orange launch was unbelievable!   We are definitely going to do it again when we go back.

Aurora or Sleeping Beauty to you and me :)

After that we had a stroll around the world in World Showcase.  There are lots of different restaurants here, and also some rides or videos to watch, showcasing each country.
Mexico  - restaurant looked fab, and some good merchandise.  You can also take a tame boat ride discovering the sites of Mexico (Disney style) *winks*
Norway - a pretty hardcore ride hear showcasing the Vikings, Jasper didn't enjoy it, but he'd been learning about the Vikings at school which is what had frightened him most!
China - a very interesting 14 minute film about China (Disney Style ;) and several restaurants
Germany - not a lot here though the boys did manage to grab a beer, as you do!
Italy, America, Japan, Morocco and France followed, but the kids were getting a bit countried out so we moved swiftly on to good old..
United Kingdom - £1 shop mugs of Keep Calm and Carry On mugs being sold here for $18!!  Still selling Princess Diana pins, and of course a pub - Tudor Style - and a fish and chip shop #standard
We did also manage to find an American Mary Poppins - and could have bought Man Utd or Chelsea shirts, hmmmmm - truthfully though, I get what they are trying to do :)

and finally to Canada a fab 14 minute video here showcasing Canada, and I have to say that we played Canada bingo here, with points if the following were shown -
Bear, Beaver, Salmon (extra points for bear with salmon), Skiing and Mounties (you all know my bessie mate @mediocre_mum is Canadian right)?  In all fairness it was very good and I do quite fancy it.  After all, there is a place called Jasper :)

We intended to stay for dinner then the fireworks, but it soon became evident that it was reservation only.  If you intend to do the same I recommend you make the reservation before you go out!!!   The fireworks were at 9pm, they were fab and only 15 mins, but the kids were shattered by this time.

Fantastic place, I highly recommend it!   Ours came part of our multi-ticket, but otherwise prices shown!  (So far the multi ticket prices bought from the UK are a winner, as we were told they would be)!

Today (second Tuesday) we went back to Epcot for 9am   We headed straight for Soarin grabbed fast passes, but also walked straight on!  It was amazing, absolutely fanstastic simulator showing you what it would be like to fly (soar) over the California skies.  Absolutely breathtaking!   Next we headed over to get fast passes for Test Track.  The time scheduled was for 2.20pm, so in the meantime we took in some more shows.  It was a little bit much some of the shows talking about how they are trying to look after the environment, but as we have witnessed there is very little recycling over here, so a tad annoying.  They recognise that landfill will become a problem, as will running out of energy, but to me they need to do an awful lot more than talking about it (rant over).

Having ridden the hard core Space Mission again, we finally headed over to the Test Track which was just as fab as we heard it was.  You design your own car, which is then put head to head against the others' cars in your car on the test track.  It sounds a bit odd, but it's really good and right up Jasper's street.   Our car managed to beat Chris and Scarlett's car by 2 points #getin!

Definitely a park to enjoy over 2 days, if you are going to get Disney passes, as this is part of Disney.   Although we really enjoyed it, next time we might leave the Disney part out, due to such high prices, and there is so much else to do.  Of course we can say this having already done it.  I'll leave it to you to ponder.
Annie x

Florida Disney, Universal and beyond - The Big Trip - 16th to 30th August 2013

Well we finally bit the bullet.  This year we decided to do the Florida "thing".   We couldn't really afford it when we booked back in January, but as Chris rightly said, "once the flights are booked we'll find a way". Jasper is 9 and Scarlett is 5 so we reckoned good ages, also the fact that some of the parks considered an adult to be 10yrs old kind of forced our arm!

Anyhoo, we are here now and I'm typing this sat by the pool, 7pm at night, whilst the kids splash about in the pool!  We chose a Villa over a hotel as we are Villa owners and it suits our lifestyle.  Although on holiday I still like to cook and make packed lunches and fill the slow cooker for the evenings after a long day out.   We will eat out occasionally but this suits us.  The Villa we chose is enormous, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, huuuuge lounge and kitchen, just amazing.   It cost £921 for the 2 weeks, which isn't cheap, but compared to our Villa in Crete, it's very reasonable!   Location is great for all the parks too, plus the local Walmart (standard), and a local Bar, which we've yet to try out.  I've found a lovely bottle of white for $3.97, I am seriously a cheap date!  You can see details of the Villa here.

Scroll down for tips for before and during your trip?   But see here for individual reviews of where we visited.

Universal Islands of Adventure
Universal Studios
Disney's Magic Kingdom
Disney's Epcot
Disney's Animal Kingdom
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon (water park)
Seaworld
Seaworld's Aquatica (water park)
Kennedy Space Centre (NASA)
Shopping

TIPS FOR BEFORE AND WHILST YOU ARE THERE!
Tolls
There aren't that many toll roads but there is one very near to the airport.  Having been here 10 days we've passed about 6.  If you are hiring a car you can ask for tolls to be included.  For around $15 you can avoid the tolls and have them added to your debit/credit card.  We opted for this and been very stress free!
Travelling with Little Ones to Parks
If you have children of different ages, you may not be able to ride all of the rides together.   They are set up beautifully for this here and have Child Swap Rooms.  You travel the line until you are almost on, and then you see the room.  You then go on with the child able to ride whilst the parent and other child wait until they are done.  The waiting parent then walks straight on.  Some of the rooms are quite soulless so you may want to weigh up using this option or the second parent using the single rider queue instead (we used both)
WiFi
In Disney parks there is free WiFi under "Disney Guest" (except Typhoon Lagoon which was a bit patchy but it is the oldest park)!  In Universal there isn't any free WiFi, though I noticed today you could sign up for 30 mins for $5 but I could get over it to be honest!

If you have little ones, and want to treat them to a few extras, book them well in advance, as you won't be able to whilst out there, or rather is unlikely and not worth the disappointment!
Princess Tips
For our little Princess we booked a makeover, details here!  We had the Crown Package for $60 and it well worth it!
Astronaut Tips
For Jasper we pre-booked lunch with an Astronaut at Kennedy Space Centre.  Details here!
Dinner and Fireworks Tips
If you want to stay for dinner at the parks before watching the fireworks, make you reservations before you go too!   We've tried to get a reservation here and they are all fully booked!
Fastpass Tips
At Universal you have to pay for their fastpass option, however at Disney they are FREE!  You can only get one at a time, and most of the big, popular rides have a fast pass option.   You simply put in your ticket and prints you a fast pass with a time that you then go back to the ride and go in the fast pass lane.  It gives you an hour timeslot so it works very well.
Parking
Be sure to make a note of where you are parked, or better still take a pic on your phone, it is all to easy to be eager to get going, then later on forget where the car is!
Shopping Tips
We went to an outlet place today and bought some Timberland boots and some Converse for Scarlett and I. Checked at Information in the food court about Boggy Creek (no deals), found a card for 15% discount at Timberland if you spend over $79.99!!!   We'd spent $160!  I was all for going back, refunding and re-buying but Chris's morals said no.  Have since found out that they would have been happy to accommodate us.  So "moral of the story" check around for discount coupons, and/or go to Tourist Information to check. At the Premium Outlet Mall in Orlando this was in the Food Court.

beware of the car hire jockies!
We had pre-booked car hire through Flight Centre, but due to previous experiences of car hire depots in America I was on high alert, and so I should have been!   Although we knew we had the right car booked, they still tried to up-sell us bigger cars, warning that the one we'd booked wouldn't hold our luggage (utter garbage) and trying to up-sell a vehicle with built in sat nav, not necessary.   Oh and of course saying we hadn't enough insurance!!!!   The happy fellow we first met at Alamo turned into grumpy surly git when we insisted on picking up what we paid for.  We ended up with a huuuuge Chrysler which would have fitted our luggage if doubled!  Little note Alamo - never again!!!!!

Having been back a few weeks, I am missing Florida so much.   We have pretty much decided that we will definitely go back, but next time take a week out somewhere else first, Naples, The Keys?  Then a week at the parks, possibly excluding Disney?   We are happy we did everything we did, but could save a lot of money next time.

So much for a trip of a lifetime #hooked!

Annie x

We survived a family trip to Disneyland :)

Took us 3 days to work out the FastPass system was free though!..........

Last October half-term (2010) we booked a week in France with the intention of taking the 2 children to Disneyland Paris.  Jasper was 6 and Scarlett was nearing 3, so felt it was a good age for them to go.

I googled and searched for deals online for the Park itself and couldn’t find any real bargains, they have it pretty much buttoned down.  We wanted a 3 day pass, but ended up getting a 4 for 3 pass, which we did in fact use.   When we got there they had a deal whereby you buy a 1 day pass and pay a small fee, and it is then valid for 12 months.   If you knew you were going back within 12 months it would be a bargain indeed!

Getting there took some discussing, the ferry was a lot cheaper, but I don't really do boats, since they have edges (this is from a swimmer and lifeguard), so I convinced Chris to take us on the Eurotunnel - 30 minutes and you're in France, then a very do-able drive down towards Paris.  We stopped en route for lunch, didn't choose wisely, but it was OK! 

Then accommodation.  I personally have an aversion to hotels  – and as a Villa owner in Crete   always like to look around for alternative accommodation.  After much deliberation we found this place http://villa.reservations.co.uk/villa_W14423.html

It was just perfect!  The kids loved their bedroom, which was on the ground floor but was not an issue.  It had a beautiful open fireplace and in the evening we would light it and just watch mesmerised by the flickering flames.  It was also set within a Goats Cheese and Cider farm, with a little shop to buy from.  The owners were also happy for us to go and stroke the very friendly goats, which again the kids loved. 

We ate in mostly, but a couple of nights went to a very friendly local restaurant.   Each morning we would prepare a picnic to take with us too, buying baguettes from the local boulangerie as of course is law in France :)

Our first morning to Disneyland was very exciting.  It was exactly 29 minutes away, though we weren’t expecting a Car Park fee – rooky error!  I think it was around €20.  We had a fabulous time and lucked out with the queuing as we obviously weren’t going on the bigger more popular rides – though Chris pined to!   We had a fun-filled day but worked out we only went on around 3 rides as we knew how long a queue time the kids would tolerate, and avoided a fair few!

The second day went to Universal Studios, which was also an absolute blast, until we went on the studio tour, I won’t ruin but there are bangs and fire.  After that we went to the stunt show, which we adored but the kids got frightened by more bangs and fire.  Was all going horribly wrong, though we managed to calm them down.

The third day we went to a Big Cat park not too far away, which was newly opened in 2009.  We're not great fans of animals in zoos but the enclosures were huge and the animals were very content.  There was also a petting place there where you could feed the goats, and a good reasonably priced restaurant.  I took some amazing pics of white lions and white tigers etc., but this was my favourite pic in the end!  It was an amazing place and great day out, apart from the little tour we took at the end, we had no idea they were going to show how man was killing the planet, and yep they decided to use petrol and explosions to prove a point doh!

The fourth day we went back to Disneyland and had a good time picking off some more of the rides we hadn’t seen, apart from their nervous twitching about bangs and explosions we had a great time.

The fifth day we went into Paris by train.  Jasper knew all about the Eiffel Tower and his face was a picture when he spotted it.   We went up as far as the second floor and though I felt a bit queasy the rest of the family had a ball.   We had a very expensive average lunch, as you do, and I had a quick stroll down the Champs Elysees, before heading back.

That evening, vin in hand, I was ploughing through the pamphlet working out our plan of attack for our last day, when I spotted the FASTPASS system grrrrrrr,  I thought people had paid for priority boarding to the rides but no!  You go to one of the rides that offers it, normally the busier ones, and you get issued with a FastPass ticket with the time for you to return.  You then turn up and just walk on, whilst being eyed suspiciously by those not in the know!   You can only have 1 at a time, but we cleaned up and zipped around everything we wanted.  If only we'd known on day 1, hey ho!

The latest part of the Park was dedicated to Toy Story and was a huge hit!

We found out that they also have a system whereby if you have a young child, you and your partner can take turns on the ride withough the 2nd parent having to queue again.  Its called child/baby swap!


Suffice to say we had a lot of fun.   We even bumped into a neighbour there!  I know a lot of people go for 3 day breaks and that is fine, but for us we enjoyed the freedom of coming and going and seeing a bit more of the country too!

We will definitely be going back!

Feel free to ask any questions if I can be of help?

Thanks for reading :)

Annie x