back to business

well i'm back from my hols...wow wot a great time, i'm going to do a journal of what we got up to when i can get round to it

Day 8: Going Home

We woke at 8 to do last minute packing and took our cases to the lobby as we said bye to our room which was just what we required for a week. we waited for our minibus guy "Dave" to come and pick us up to take us to the airport, our flight was at 11 so we would have time to do some last minute looking around in the airport and maybe more spending.

As we got there and after checking our cases we made our towards our gate via.....yes more Disney and Universal shops,
i bought more stuff at the last minute my main thing being 4 tumblers of the Marvel hero's from Universal, how can i forget the Hulk now ! after a few last photo opportunites in front of the Hulk, Spiderman and Mickey Mouse we went thru the gate (where they took our lighters of us the buggers). The flight was on time and we boarded and took off waving goodbye to Mickey and pals and remembering the fun we had and good time that we had shared, it was really quite sad.

We had to go via fort lauderdale for a drop off and pick up which wasnt too long, by 3pm we were back in Toronto and back in the land of the living and not a single cartoon character in sight, we grabbed a cab headed back to Jaynes and without even being back 10 mins we got online to check out of official disneypass photos, they were great and we got so many good pics of both of us, it truely was a fantastic time and one of the most memorable wonderful, happy holidays i have ever had, thankyou Jayne ! (and mickey and hulk ;-)

ps. we both went out that night to the pub to tell all our stories and i wore my Mickey Mouse t-shirt.....wot a kid eh !

Day 7: Epcot Centre/ MGM Studios

The last day of our holiday boo hoo, but it was going to be fun cos we had 2 parks to do in 1 day so it was a busy one, we got up early and waited outside our hotel for Fiorella to pick us up, she drove us to Epcot and accompanied us into the park as she had the tickets, she told us any gifts we want to buy she can get 10% off so we went into the main shop and bought a lod of stuff for discount which was really good of her, we had our pic took outsode before we sdaid our goodbyes as she left us to get on with our day, what a lovely girl and a real stroke of luck on our part to meet her.

First ride went on was Test Track, there was a lot of new rides in Epcot since i was here last this was one of them, the ride started fairly tame by taking you thru some car test sequences but once outside the car zoomed up to 60mph in no time and zipped round corners, a lot fo fun. The next ride was Mission Space, this was supposed to be one of the bnest in Epcot and it didnt dissapoint, the more closer we got to the ride the morewe scared we got, the fear of the sick bags being there, and specific instructions to look forward at all times to nto get disorientated freaked me out, so off we went, it was a space simulator which when when riding it and strapped in u actaully got the feeling of weughtlessness and that you were actually taking off in a spaceship, an amazing feeling and weird sensation, no sick bags required fortunately.

On our way to another new ride "Soarin" we made our way thru the pavillion and made a video postacrd to send to family and friends (which nobody ever got, oh well) the queue for soarin was long about 40 mins but well worth the wait, it was like a hangglider soaring above all the sights from around the world, a fantastic experience with a 360 degree screen in front of you whilst suspended high in the air.

We grabbed a bite to eat at at maccy d's before we started to walk round the world showcase around the lake, it was a nice walk with so many sights to see and pic opportunities to be had, Jayne had a nice bit of "cake" in Norway right before we started to head for the exit and hop on a shuttle to MGM, after we had a few pics taken outside epcot with the big ball we got on the bus to MGM and this took about 10 mins before we were there.

I remember i loved MGM last itme i was here as it was brand new , this time i knew it would be better as there were 2 big new rides opened that i deffo wanted to go on, Tower of terror and Rock n rollercoaster.

By now it was early afternoon as we made our way to the Great movie ride at the top of the street, its just how i remembered it. After this we took in Star Tours, then the back lot tour (whcih was a bit of a letdown as it was shorter than last time) then onto the new boulevard whcih the 2 new rides were located. We could see the tower of terror in the distance as we walked down, at this point Jayne was still coming on it with me so i was well chuffed, but as we got closer she could see inside the ride as the windows
opened and closed and screams yelled out of how terryfying it really was....that was it she'd decided against it and pulled out and instead she sat on a bench just outside both the new rides whilst i went on both, she seemed happy enough chatting to english families while i did the rides.

The Rock n Rollercoaster was a shorter version of the Hulk, the same acceleration but on the flat and not upside loops but this was in the dark, it was awesome so i decided to ride it twice...sneaky hehehe.

After that i met Jayne and told her i was going on the tower and gave her the last chance to come in it with me she deffo hadnt changed her mind after witnbessing the screams for about 15 minutes straight. As i entered the tower the anticiapation was intense i didnt know what to expect as we entered the elevator and got strapped in our seats, my palms started to sweat as we were hoisted up in the dark to an unknown floor then suddenly the doors opened and the car started to make it way down a hallways and down some turns and then stop at a black window, then the music started , the twilight zone music, then the voiceover "you are now entering ...the twilight zone" and at that point the voiceover finished the car dropped strisght down about 15 floors it almost lifted me off my chait the drop was that intense...whhaaooooohhh, it then shot right back up again and dropped again, this carried on for about 4 or 5 times all the time with windows openeing and shutting directly in fornt of you so you could see outside for a split second before hurtling towards the ground. I couldnt wait to get back to Jayne to tell her what it was like, i had to be honest and tell her she would have hated it,
which she would, the drop was just too much, as we were talking she had been talking to an english family with 3 or 4 kids, they then came up tome and asked me if i would accompany them on the tower of terror as there dad didnt want to ride it, so i did, and for the 2nd time in 10 mins i went on it, it was diffrent the 2nd time, i didnt know but thwey have different pattterns depending on what elevator you get in.

It was getting late now and time to get our seats for Fantasmic the end of night light and fireworks show in the outdoor arena, we got out setas about 45 mins before show time, just enought time to get a drink and crisps. The show was well....fantasmic ! took lots of pics altho hardly any came out but it was well worth waiting around for and it was a fitting climax to the last attraction of our fun packed holiday.

We made our way out with the crowds to the shuttle bus stop back to epcot where we would get the monorail back to the magic kingdom ticket center where we got the local bus back to our hotel where it dropped us off right outside yes you guessed it.....the Ponderosa ! one last time having dinner here made Jayne happy, if only they had these type of places in Canada we wondered.

Last minute gift shopping was done and we headed back to the hotel late, it was a fun tiring day and sad really because in the morning we knew we were going home and our holiday was over.

Day 6: Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios

So its our 2nd to last day and we woke up at 8am for our 3rd and last visit to Universal to go on our favourite rides and do the ones we didnt get to do on our first visits there.

Well the camera was totally out of comission today as i left it back at the apartment to dry out and hopefully be be ok for the remaining day at Epcot and MGM.

We got our "free" shuttle from Quality Streets and arrived at Universal by 9am, we headed to IOA first to redo our fave rides, as we got in the park Jayne wanted to go to the loo so i decided to run on The Hulk for a quick spin, i got straight on and was out and back tom eet Jayne within 5 mins, it certainly woke me up i tell ya. We had breakfast at our pastry/muffin/bagel place sat on the patio again and watched people go by, the crowds were way down compared to our first visits here so we hoped we could zip rounds both parks today and do a lot of rides by walking straight on.

We headed by the Hulk again after breakfast where i went on it...again ! (Jayne rolls her eyes hahaha) the ride just seems to get better and gbetter the more you ride it. After Spiderman we headed to Toon land we didnt go any of the rodfes in here as we didnt want to get soaked, once was enough the first time here ! we headed to Duelling Dragons where i managed to drag Jayne on Ice just so she could say she had ridden both, i went on both again back to back.

It was almost lunch now so after making our way round back to the entrance it was time for my last time ride on the Hulk before we left IOA and went over to Universal, Jayne waited outsode the ride for me as i went on, there still was no queue so as i got off the ride i couldnt help myself and snook on it again staright to the front and rode it for the very last time...honest ! as i met Jayne she laughed and could tell i had gone round twice on it as she said she had seen me on the ride the first time and noticed i had taken a long time, busted ! ...but it was fun. On our way out we visited the IOA shop where we saw lots of nice things, i think i might come back later to get some things as i didnt want to be carrying round stuff.

After lunch we headed to Universal and went straight on Shrek 4-D, after we got out we noticed Shrek and Donkey and Fiona having photo opportunities, i couldnt resisit and had my pic taken with Donkey and Fiona the big kid that i am. We made our way the Mummy ride, it was our second time of riding it and it was even better than the first as we knew what to expect, the best ride in Universal Studios by a mile !

We walked further round and went on Jaws (a little lame) then round to the toon area where we went on the ET ride, i remember this being my mums favourite ride and it really is for kids but still its good and takes you back a bit. The weather was starting to get a little nasty as the cluds rolled in and then the heavens opened so as we rode The Mummy for last time and came out it tipped it down, we raced over to where we knew an indoor attraction would be and took shelter in the Horror make up show which filled up 45 mins of our time and wehen we came out the rain had let up a bit. With just little under and hour to kill before the bus came we hit a few stores in Unversal and bought some souvenirs (i also went back to IOA for a Hulk mug and a Spiderman cup for Jayne)

The bus was sort of on time as this would be the last time we would take it..sob sob. We went to Ponderosa (surpride surprise) for dinner where we had a n encounter with a waitress that was , shall we say...quite odd ! she proceeded to do magic tricks at our table and talk about her life story as we ate, we chuckled wit hthe table behind us as they were encountering the same as us, poor girl..bless !

Tonight was big shop night as we decided to buy all our gifts as tomorrow would probably be a late one, we spent a small fortune on tshirts, mugs, tat and jumpers, Jayne was running a bit low on money so i bought a Mickey Sweater for the both of us and very nice they are too.

After a whirlwind shopping trip we hit the sack and prepared for our last day in Florida as we checked the news that another hurricane was on its way just off the coast, it shouldnt hit land tho and not at least till weve gone home, weve been really lucky really.

Day 5: Disneyworld Magic Kingdom

Today is our first visit to Disneyworld on this holiday and we were both excited, its so magical we knew it was going to be another fun day. We woke up at 8 and was outside our hotel waiting for Fiorella to pick us up to take us to Disney (very nice of her). The ride took us about 20 mins in her truck and she dropped us off in the parking lot next to the shuttle tram for about 9.30.

As we got on the monorail to travel into the magic kingdom the memories came flooding back of the first time i came here and how exciting it was, that feeling didnt change as we rode into the station, i love this place ! We swiped our "passes" and got in no problem as we entered the main street area we noticed all the characters that were meeting and greeting and having photo ops, but that was for later ! we went to the hat-ear shop and priced them up to get them later, it had to be done. On our way down main street i got a photopass off one of the official pohotographers so we could get some good snaps of us both together and they were free ! my camera was sort of ok but not 100% but i used it anyway. Cinderellabration was just starting up ahead at the castle so Jayne wanted to see that, i didnt begrudge her that seen as i rode the Hulk like 5 or 6 times.

After that we made our way to the pirates of the carribean before i had my pic taken with captain Hook tho, the ride was empty and we walked straight on it, "yo ho ho a pirates life for me", after that next up was Splash Mountain, Jayne wa stoo scraed to come on this but it didnt half as bad as dudley do right falls, i went on alone and walked straight on, the ride was long but took a while for the big drop at the end, it didnt seem as scary as i thought and luckily i didnt get that wet, a little disspointed with it as this ride was being built in 91 the last time i came i was thought it was going to be spectacular.

Thundermountain railroad was next, we queued up for about 45 mins for this the longest wait we had had the entire holiday, as we got in the car and it started off half way round it started to pur down we got more soaked on this ride that i did on splash mountain, and wouldnt you know it the rain stopped by the time we got off the ride.

We made our way thry frontierland for something to eat and had a nice healthy big sarnie in a wooden cabin resturant there, onto the Haunted Mansion was after lunch i couldnt really remember this ride when last i visited but it all came back when we got on it, it was funny and made us laugh. Waalking into fantasyland the number of kids and prams were growing this was defintalely the most popular for the tiny kids, we went into Mickeys Philharmonic show first, not much of a wait, but wow what a show it was in 3D with great soundtrack and water effects and laughs along the way, a new ride as this wasnt open on my first visit, we were both really impressed by it. Next i dragged Jayne on "Its a small World" its a really tacky ride with dolls from all over the world in it and and the most annoying "stick in your head tune" ever ! i think i was humming it for about an hour afterwards hahaha.

The time was close to 3 so we needed to get our spots for the parade so we made our way thru the castle to main street and the roundabout at the top and got our spots (after an ice lolly of course) 10 mins to go the parade and yes you guessed the heavens opened, bloody typical, everybody took cover we did under the ice lolly stand right behind us where about another 20 people did too, as the parade started they were all in bubbles as not to get wet, a good idea so the parade went on rain or shine, fater it was over we made our way to Tomorrowland, this my fav part of Magic Kingdom, we went on Stichs greta adventure and Buzz Lightyear (where Jayne claims to beat me again at shooting aliens) first (both mainly for kids and fairly lame but fun!)

We chilled out for a bit and went on the monorail around tomorrowland it was nice to rerlax and sit on a ride that took in the sights, after that we went in the carousell of progress, this was an old ride and had been there yonks i remember it from last time, Jayne had never been on before, it was more of a show than a ride but it revolved as each time period went by to see how time has changed throught the ages, it was fun and we came out humming and singing a catchy tune that was also annoying. Space mountain was next, i was a bit nervous about this one as i remember last time i didnt like it but my sister did, this time however i loved it , it was all in the dark and we zipped round corners at high speed it was great !

After that excitement it was finally time to go meet Mickey and his pals, we queued up inside fir a while and we got to the front in another room, there he was !!! both me and Jayne got our pics with him i was soooo happy now i had achieved one of my goals of my holiday. After visiting minnie mouses house (for Jayne) we chilled out for a bit and decided to catch the monorail back to the main entrance to get our ears, ive never been on the railroad before so it was nice, we got our ears with our names on the back (i had chris and not joe) and we also picked up a huge strawberry cookie that was out of world, we munched it as we waited for the railroad to come around again and take us back to the toon area where i wanted to go meet the rest of Mickeys pals. Jayne went for a coffee while i went inside to get my pics with Minnie, Pluto, Donald and Goofy.

time was getting on now before park closing and the fireworks at 9pm, we decided to do Space Maintain 1 more time, as were in the queue we met 2 young girls from Atherton and got chatting to them about rides and stuff in the parks it made the wait go faster and they ended up riding the ride with us. On our way out it was now dark and pouring down, we decided to make a dash for the main entrance as watching the fireworks in this weather would be no fun so we thought we'd catch the ferry over nad watch them from there, we saw a little of them while it poured with rain a bit of a disspaointing end to an otherwise magical day !

We caught the local bus service at the tivcket center at 10pm and it dropped us off right by our hotel, we decided to go to Logas for dinner as it was late we were the almost the last ones in at the end eating, so we ate up and left and headed home after a long fun day filled with happy memories and laughs......and we still had our ears on !

Day 4: Typhoon Lagoon

Well we manage to steal a sort of lie in today as were off to Typhoon Lagoon Disney Water Park. Woke up around 9.30ish and decided to go to IHOP for brekko before the shuttle, IHOp was packed so we went up the road to the Western Sizzler for another all you eat job.

Around 11.30 ish we caught a shuttle to Epcot then from Epcot caught a Disney shuttle to one of thir posh resorts where we weaited for a shuttle to Typhoon Lagoon (were full of bright ideas catching these shuttles and saving money!), the weather wasnt too great today as it started to really tip it dont on our way htre and we wondered have we made the right decision today.

Around 1ish we arrived the the park and got our lockers, by now it had brightened up and we got some beds and then decided to hit the water and the "BIG" wave, it brought back a lot of memories here as i came here in 91 with my mum , dad and suz. I always remeber the great "whooosh" followed by all the screams when the monster wave would be launched.

After the wave pool we decided to do some slides, a few tube slides and 3 body slides. jayne just couldnt wait to get on the lazy river tho and we headed straight for that as soon as she'd had enough of all the "water up yer nose slides", we took the river all the way round, about half way tho i jumped off and wanted to do the death slides, i went on them twice. the real slides to go on tho were the new ones called the "crush n gusher" apparently its the worlds only uphill water slide. I made my way over there and left Jayne on the river, it was a two man raft and the ride is powered by water jets pushing you all the way round the ride, it was that great that after 1 go on my own i had to go and get Jayne off the lazy river and get her to go on this with me, after waiting about 20 mins for her to float round i dragged her on ! she loved it too and went a lot faster with 2 people on it, on the way out tho after our last ride jayne grazed her knee on the bottom of the pool, poor muffin now she has a boo boo.

Around 5ish we had a sit down and relaxed on the sunbeds as the sun was out in full force, my camera was still in bad shape and still had condensation, gutted !

Around 6 the park closed and we decoded to get a cab back to the hotel, we then thought to go shopping and get all our goodies from the Nike outlet as this was our last chance really as our last 3 days were very busy.

We both spent around $80 each on trainers, tshirts, and pants, bargains!! For dinner went to a chinese buffet up the road, we were very dubious but it ended up being one of the best mneakls we'd had all holiday, a great all you eater, with huge ribs and even puddin.

Made our way back to the hotel via lots of gift shops pricing up our disney souvenirs, an early night tonight after probably our most relaxing day since we got here, we neeeded it though to rest our poor feet.

Day 3: Universals Islands of Adventure

Woke up bright and very early as the bus from "Quality Streets" (as Jayne now called it) set of at 8am, we got to Universal by 8.45 even before Islands of Adventure had opened so could take our time getting in, it was 9am by the time we entered the park and took a few snaps outside, it was very impressive, this wasnt built last time i was here and i had heard so many great things about this half of Universal, this was going to be even better !

We strolled through the old port at the entrance to a coffee and pastry shop where we leisurely had breakfast outside, coffee and danish we ate while we watched the crowds zip past us into the park, we have another day here so thought whatever we dont get on today we can do on our spare day.

After breakfast the first ride we got to was The Hulk Coaster !! it looked awesome and huge, you could basically see the structure from all over the park, a big green twisting metal spiral. Somehow and i cant believe i did it managed to get Jayne on the thing ! there was no queue at all surprisgly seen as its one of the main attractions in the whole of Orlando.
When we got to the front we srapped ourselves in the green and purple car, a little nervous as not knowing what to expect, as the cosater pulled away and started the climb the voiceovers were very loud and effects were great, the higher we got we knew there would be a surprise we were just waitinf for it.....and there it was half way up the ride sped from 0-40 in 2 secs uphill in the dark and out of the tunnel right into a twist and down a hill into a double inverted loop....WHOOOOOOOOAAAAH, it was awesome, the longer the ride lasted the more i enjoyed it, in fact it was one of the longest coasters ive been on, Jayne was just shreeking and had her eyes closed all the way round hahaha. At the end the applause rang out as the car headed back to the dock, we staggered out fo the seat with Jayne looking a little like the hulk himself, green ! The photo from the ride downstairs was huilarious, jaynes face was a picture of fear, mine was joy hahaha, we didnt get the picture but looking back i wish we had. My first experience of the Hulk ride, awesome awsoem awesome dosent even sum it up, it would ne be the last time i was going to ride that before the hol was over i tell ya.

After all that excitement we made our way to the Spiderman 3D ride in Marvel land, i read before we got here that this was voted the #1 theme park ride in the world, it was going to be something special to beat the Hulk !
we sat in the car with the goofy glasses on and the ride set off, the 3d effects were fantastic as the car turned this way and that and juddered and span around, the ride didnt really take off till we literally took off ourselves in the car, the 3d effects made u feel like you like we were flying round New York City, being flung this way and that in the air, the final bit was quite something a straight drop down to the ground from the top of a building, it really doid feel like you were falling to your death...that is until spiderman span a web and we landed in it before we splatted on the deck ! wow another great ride it must be said, Jayne loved this one better than Hulk thank god, but it didnt beat the Hulk for me but close !

As we walked thru the Marvel Characters section we got to Toon Lagoon, this was gonna be a wet ride section you could tell from the people walking around drenched from head to toe. We made our may to Popeye and Bluto's bilge barge rats ride, a sort of river raft canyon ride, we sat in the raft and took off socks and shoes as the bloke we met at the hotel earlier told us you will get drenched, indeed we did, but luckily everything was dry. We saw Dudley dorights Ripsaw Falls next but the wait time was over 40 mins so we got a fastpass for it, by the time we headed into Jurassic park land we were almost dry.

This part of the park has a bad memory for me you will know why later. We decided to queue up for the Jurassic Park Rive adventure ride, it seemed fairly tame with a drop at the end not too large...so i thought. as we sat in the big boat i decided to bust out the camera and get some snaps on this take ride, around we went very calm and snapping away, we entere the raptor pen where things started to wrong and the ride got a bit more intense, with all the shouts from jayne saying"chris put the camera now its going to drop" i still thought oh i cant be that bad and videoing the drop at the nd might be good film, so down the drop we went...a laregrr drop than i anticiapated and a LOT wetter than i thought, it was too late by the time i decided to hide the camera up my shirt, as by now i was drenched and so was the camera !! i was gutted to see the camera wet through but didnt suspect any damage as it just seemed to bve the outer casing, took some test snaps and all seemed fine.....

On we went towards Duelling Dragons where we saw this amazing tree made into restaurant, i took out the camera to get a shot and noticed a white blob right in the middle after the pic, i looked at the lens and water had got behind it and was all condensed over...oh shit !!! that ride did more damage than i thought, it was well and truely buggered and would take no more decent pics without the white blur till the last day of our holiday !!! gutted dosent even come close to how i felt. but at the end of the day cest la vie and i just got on with it, put on a brave face and tried not to think about it, it was hard tho. the rides did take my mind off it, as went on the very lame Flying Unicorn (for kids really) jayne enjoyed it compared to the Hulk.

Next it was right next door to Duelling Dragons, forst we rode the Fire one, it was great, a dual rollercoaster that intetwined 2 tracks with 2 different coasters crossing in the middle, after we rode Fire jayne didnt like it too much and decided to go get our gear from the locker whilst i rode Ice by myself.


After this time it was way past lunch and our time for Dudley Doright fast pass was here, we put our gear in the lockers outside the ride, theres no way i was taking my camera on another water ride ever again !!! this was supposed to best flume ride in the world, the ride itself wasnt to greta but it was worth it for the drop at the end, a huge drop with no real restraints in the log.....and yes we got soaked ......again ! more from the buggers at the end firing cannons at us as we made our way to the dock. bastards !

We went back to Marvel land for lunch, while we ate i turned the cam on and had the lens open in the sun hoping it would dry out, didnt really do much to be honest until the battery went in the late afternoon.
From lunch on we really took it easy just relaxing and sitting watching the world go by, well the hulk ride really must have watched itgo round like 100 times hahaha.

We strolled into the kiddie part Dr Seuss land nothing really to go on until we got back to the poseidon area where there was a crowd gathered outside a fountain, when we got closer we noticed the fountain was talking to the kids that were hiddles around it, very funny off the cuff stuff and every now and again the fountain would spit water or as he said a "water rendition" and soak all the kids, very amusing stuff we watched that for at least a good 30 mins.

7pm was fast appraoching and we got a fast pass for spiderman, jaynes fave ride ! on our way to the shuttle park we strolled past a margarita bar and popped in for one sat outside wactching the crowds in the hot sun. The bus was on time tonight and we got a seat, when it dropped us off at "Quality Streets" we had a stroll along the strip for a restaurant and stumbled across the real old town kissimmee, a street lined with bars, shops and locals milling around, it was very busy as it was the evening before Labour Day, we stopped and had a beer outside before we went to Pizza Hut for something to eat.

On the way back to the hotel i talked Jayne into going for a frozen Margarita at Logans the place we went to eat on the first night, we sat at the bar (after jayne got carded) and got talking to the waitress about Canada about green cards etc... when were ready to leave she asked if we needed any Disney Tickets, so we said yeh we did as we were just going to buy our 2 day hopper pass at the gate on tuesday, she explained she worked at Epcot and would sell us her "freebie" tickets for a price way cheaper than gate, we talked and struck a deal to give her $60 each for the 2 day passes, a real bargain as it would have cost us at least $160USD at the gate, we couldnt believe our luck !!! she was a really nice girl calledFiorella who even said she would pick us up from our hotel on the days and drive us to Disney ! you cant get better than that can ya.

A perfect end to a really fun day...now all that i needed to happen was for my camera to get better !

Day 2: Universal Studios

Got up and some ungodly hour like 8am (getting up at 8am on holiday sound daft dunt it !) but we were excited to be going to a park so we didnt care. Made our way over to the Quality Suites for the 9.15 shuttle bus via the petrol station next door called "racetrac" for a coffee for jayne and orange for me.

When we got to the hotel there was 3 families waiting with us , the bus was late..altho 1 did pull up but the driver never announced anything...apparently this was our bus, the guy behind the desk in the hotel told us to run over to the hotel next door as it would wait for us there..just as we got to the driveway the bus pulled out and left us stranded ! bugger !!! after going back to the hotel to rant and rave for a bit (hahaha thats rich isnt it ranting in a hotel were not even staying at) with the other yank family, the hotel provided us with a special minibus to take us there, by the time we got to Universal Studios it was now close to 11am, we got off the bus with the other family and made our way in.

Wow how it has changed since last time i was here in 91, it has a long walkway into a citywalk complex now with shops, bars, restaurants, clubs etc.... looks really plush and stylish, at the bottom of citywlk it splits into 2 , 1 way going to Islands of Adventure the other to Universal Studios, thats where we were heading today, lets see if this place has changed since last time i was here.

Got our tickets outside the gate at the automated machine which i had bought online, very quick and easy and we were in !
the place seemed familier with a big long main street like a movie set, the first we went on was Shrek 4-D, the lineup was surpringly non existent, it was good, got a bit wet in the theatre, the effects was good and it was a good start. The park seemed fairly busy but surpringly throughout the day the queues wernt that bad, longest we queueued was for Men in Black about 40 mins as it broke down and it wasnt even worth it. We got fastpasses for the Mummy ride for 3pm, so we wnt on Earthquake after that, got right to the front and they said it was closed, shit ! typical. After watching a bit of Beetlejuice musical revue we made our way to Fear Factor LIVE, it looked really good and we was right at the front of the queue. Great show, a lot like the telly show, there was seven a bloke from toronto competing.

After that 40 min show we went on Men in Black , i'll skip that part as it was cack (except jayne was gloating cos she beat me in the score where u had to kill aliens) we had lunch then at around 2 ish, a rip off hotdog, crisps and drink for $8 !!! daylight bleedin robbery, it costs us that much for our evening meal. By now it was time for our fastpass into the Mummy, we got to right to the front (after jayne had scared to death walking thru by some mummy extra jumping out on her) no bags were allowed so we had to go back out and put our stuff in some fancy fingerprint coded lockers, nifty technology indeed ! the ride was brill, a coaster in the dark that threw you back then shot off forwards around twists and turns we loved it !!
After that it was past mid afternoon and went over to kids land to see Mr Barney for Matthew and take a pic, wasnt much to see in this part as its geared for the little uns. Making our way round it brought us out near Mels Diner, i remembered this part from my last time, saw a few characters on the street and had my pic taken (my mission was to have as many pics taken with diffrent characters as poss, it wasnt planned it just sorta snowballed and thought it would be funny !)

Went in Terminator2 3-d next, a mix of live action and 3d effects , very impressive but a lot to live up to with the movie. By now it was closing on 7pm time to go and wait for the shuttle back, just time to go on Jimmy Neutron and Twister and the end tho and we popped in a few shops and had a gander and slowly made our way to the shuttle park for 7.15.
It was about 15 mins as the heavens opened. Bus was packed and had to stand to up all way back, jayne got a seat next to a english lady thanks to me by seeing i had my united top on she knew were brits !

The bus dropped us off at our "adopted" hotel, the quality suites and we went for dinner by now it was almost 8.30. We decided on Ponderosa (jaynes fave place) it was an all you can eat buffet place for $8.99 bargoon ! it was weird you had to choose your main course from pictures in the foyer then ordered and paid for it before you sat down, after that it was help yourself to the buffet, the steak was good and we stuffed ourselves.

On way back to hotel popped in a few gift shops for ideas on what to bring back for ourselves, i could go daft here and spend a bomb on disney stuff i tell ya, 11 was closing in and we headed back to the hotel to bed and rested our feet , long day, sore feet, but well worth it, only 5 more days to go of walking.

Day 1: Off we go....

Woke up at 4am all excited but tired and ready for the taxi to pick us up at 4.30, checked in and waited for the flight at 7am, it was on time thank god ! and even better the plane was half empty, i left Jayne watching the movie while i went to the seats behind and had a kip.

Arrived in Orlando at 9.30 earlier than expected, the airport is huge and after walking outside the humidity was unreal, very very humid and hot, yahooo, now were on holiday ! we managed to get a minibus to our hotel for $42USD, nice chap drove us and gave us his card for the return trip, were staying in Old town Kissimmee right on the strip near lots of shops and restaurants.

Couldnt get to our room till 3pm so we checked in dropped off the bags and went next door to IHOP for brekko, huge omlette with some delicious fresh orange juice, Afterwards we checked out a mini outlet mall next to the hotel, they had a Nike factory outlet there, looks like we'll spending some money there before we leave ! went to payless and shoes and got a pair each for $20 i picked up some champion trainers. By the time we strolled back to our hotel our room was ready, it was nice and not as bad as we thought as some reviews were bad on the internet. After relaxing for a bit we decided to go to an outlet mall as this was our only shopping day, we ordered a minibus and went to Lake Buena Vista, 10 mins prior to this the black clouds were rolling in with some wicked lightning strikes, as we got in the cab the heavens opened with torrential rain and the loudest thunderstorm you have ever heard in your life.

After touring the very dissapointing mall, where we got nothing between us (well jayne got a pair of pants) we got a free shuttle back to the hotel and chilled out checking out some freebie brochures on discounts etc.... (on a side note we discovered our hotel didnt have a free shuttle to Universal so were stuck with getting a cab at $55 per round trip each time....that is until i had an idea to check out other hotels in the area to see if they provided shuttles and we could scam it and use theres ! we found one down the street and was going to pass by it on the way to dinner)

It was still slightly raining as we went for dinner, first stop was "Quality Suites" 2 mins down the road to check out the free shuttle, i went into the lobby and got a schedule, it set off at 9am, were in business, now all we had to do was sneak on the thing and we were saving $60 per trip !

For dinner we decided on Bennigans, it was a busy fairly evening being the long w/e, we got seated and waited for a waitress, 5..10..almost 15 mins passed with no one seeing to us ! we then stormed out and jayne handed the menu's back the woman on the door back to her in disgust. We then tried a place called "Logans" nearer our hotel and another streakhouse sort of place (little did we know this place would be very kind to us!) great meal and it was even 2 for 1 drinks, where we had our first frozen margarita's of the holiday, they were yummy and coooooold.

By 11 we were knacked and was time for bed, made our way back to the hotel ready for an early start in the morn and the start of the theme parks.....Universal Studios first stop.

Hurricane Devastation Update Day 4

CNN.com: "'A DESPERATE SOS'

Crowds of survivors at a convention center where conditions are 'unsanitary and unsafe.'Mayor: We are out of resources

New Orleans mayor issues 'desperate SOS'

Hospital halts evacuation after sniper fire, doctor says

Huge crowd stranded at New Orleans convention center

Citizens holed up in high-rises throng to buses

Major buildings 'pancaking' in Mississippi"

We go tomorrow !!!

well its finally here..holiday time !!! my first proper hol in nearly 6 years, cant wait to get to Florida and relax and enjoy the parks, its going to be a funpacked time probably not much time for relaxing but who cares its gonna be good, set your phasers to FUN ! Stay tuned for pics on my return.