Florida – September 2011T-2 – getting there (part 1)Saturday 17th September Ideally, I would have liked to have started a 24-hour journey to the other side of the planet having been fully rested and with batteries already fully charged. Alas, it was not to be this time around. People often say that they ‘need a […]
Florida Sep 2011 – T-1 – getting there (part 2)
Florida – September 2011T-1 – getting there (part 2)Sunday 18th September Ok, so we finally arrived here at the villa and for the first time since setting off nearly 24 hours ago, I feel like I can now relax just a little. I think the transition from ‘stressed’ to ‘relaxed’ will take a few days […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 2 – Magic Kingdom
Florida – September 2011Day 2 – Magic KingdomTuesday 20th September Day 2 was a long day and tiredness must have caught up with us finally, as we all ran out of energy and were asleep by early evening last night and I find myself writing this blog entry retrospectively on the morning of Day 3, […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 3 – Disney Hollywood Studios
Florida – September 2011Day 3 – Disney Hollywood StudiosWednesday 21st September We’re slowly kicking the jet-lag and last night was better but still saw several of us up and about in the middle of the night at various times. This time, however, the restless sojourns were of shorter duration and less frequent. Eventually, I’m sure […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 4 – Islands of Adventure
Florida – September 2011Day 4 – Islands of AdventureThursday 22nd September Much to our surprise, we got up again at 10:00 this morning and thus had lost a good chunk of the day. Still, that was never really going to be a problem, since we had decided that today was going to be one of […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 5 – rest day
Florida – September 2011Day 5 – rest dayFriday 23rd September We spent our first day today since arriving here in Orlando NOT traipsing around a major theme park. As such, there really should be very little for me to write about. We’ll see.Although we had forethought that we weren’t going to be visiting any theme […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 6 – EPCOT
Florida – September 2011Day 6 – EPCOTSaturday 24th September With a full day at EPCOT planned for today, I wanted to make sure we were at the turnstiles by around 10:00. This slipped by only about 45 minutes in the end and so that wasn’t too bad.Over the course of the past coupe of days, […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 7 – rest day – Jacksonville
Florida – September 2011Day 7 – rest day – JacksonvilleSunday 25th September A relatively slow start to the day was afforded us this morning owing to the fact that we had no hard and fast deadline to meet. Having reached the one-week milestone, we are taking a break from theme park trekking for the entire […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 8 – rest day – Jacksonville
Florida – September 2011Day 8 – rest day – JacksonvilleMonday 26th September As is fairly typical at Patti’s house, there were various people around when we got up this morning. I love staying at Patti’s house, as there’s always a buzz of activity and this very much reminds me of what our house was like […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 9 – Kennedy Space Center
Florida – September 2011Day 9 – Kennedy Space CenterTuesday 27th September By the time we got up this morning, Patti had already left the house but Ben was still around along with Nikki & the baby. Sandy got up just shortly after me but suffered from insufficient sleep again throughout the night. Someone had turned […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 10 – Typhoon Lagoon
Florida – September 2011Day 10 – Typhoon LagoonWednesday 28th September Today is one of our rest days and we’re taking advantage of the good weather by visiting one of Disney’s main water theme parks. Typhoon Lagoon, we think, will be a big thrill for the kids and will, hopefully, provide them with the opportunity to […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 11 – Animal Kingdom
Florida – September 2011Day 11 – Animal KingdomThursday 29th September By 8:30 this morning, pretty much everyone had stirred and we were all busy getting organised for the day. The last remaining major Disney theme park that we would knock off today would be Animal Kingdom. Although not new, this is the newest of the […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 12 – Universal Studios
Florida – September 2011Day 12 – Universal StudiosFriday 30th September Patti had already left for home by late yesterday evening and so the house was back to its normal routine this morning. To all intents and purposes, we were on full auto-pilot as we packed our things and made ready for the day ahead. Sandy […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 13 – Seaworld
Florida – September 2011Day 13 – SeaworldSaturday 1st October Yesterday evening, just before we went to bed, finished with a bit of ambiguity as to what we were going to do today. I was all prepared for a nice, relaxing, rest day but Sandy was keen to make sure that we did Seaworld before the […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 14 – Downtown Disney
Florida – September 2011Day 14 – Downtown DisneySunday 2nd October Today was always going to be a rest day with no plans on the schedule to visit a theme park. As such, I never bothered to try to wake up or get up and about very early (not that I do otherwise come to think […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 15 – rest day
Florida – September 2011Day 15 – rest dayMonday 3rd October Today was all about catching up with friends and family. With no theme parks scheduled for today, we anticipated a slow start to the day but for whatever reason, my body clock roused me into consciousness by around 08:00, at which time Sandy and the […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 16 – Islands of Adventure
Florida – September 2011Day 16 – Islands of AdventureTuesday 4th October Ok, so for the second time on this holiday, I sit at the laptop on the day after to write up the events of the day. I think the problem yesterday was that the park was open a couple of hours longer than we’ve […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 17 – Blizzard Beach
Florida – September 2011Day 17 – Blizzard BeachWednesday 5th October Sandy had not had a good night last night and is still fighting the sniffles. She’s a fighter, however, and soldiers on anyway. On balance, I think we’ve been very lucky as a family to have come so far through what has been a very […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 18 – EPCOT (again)
Florida – September 2011Day 18 – EPCOT (again)Thursday 6th October Our morning routine was somewhat adjusted this morning to accommodate for the fact that we would be meeting up with Louise & Chris for breakfast. Our usual Waffle House is a very small building and doesn’t have the ability to accommodate for groups of more […]
Florida Sep 2011 – Day 19 – departure
Florida – September 2011Day 19 – departureFriday 7th October Ok, it’s finally here – our day of departure. Well, what a whirlwind holiday this has been. We’ve had so many experiences here that it’s hard to take it all in or even know where to begin with trying to summarise the whole thing. It’s been […]