Wednesday 5 November 2008

Florida - Day 5

Shopping, Shopping and more Shopping *yawn* :)

Florida - Day 4

Disney MGM or Disney Hollywood as its now called - it was long day :)

We got to MGM early and wandered around until 5 pm - we have decided parks 1/2 days are a better idea as we were completely knackered when we got back :) - I am getting old.

We got to see the
Indiana Jones - Epic Stunt Spectacular - although I missed the finale as Luke had to go pee - I wasn't bothered as I have seen it before. If you get to go to Florida though - go see this its ace. Its essentially a re-enactment of 3 scenes from the first movie (finding the Idol, fight scene in Cairo and getting on the German Plane where the bald headed guy gets ground into mince meat by the plane :)) on a live stage and they talk you through the stunt process. Its that good you get to feel the heat from the explosions you are that close! :)

Next on the agenda was
Star Tours - a ride based on Star Wars :). This was a bit of a disappointment because the ride is very short and most of the interaction is new characters they created for the ride - PAH!. Essentially you board a star ship and fly through space - which eventually leads you to the battle over Endor from Return of the Jedi. This was the only real bit of star wars on the ride.

I attempt to go on
The Twilight Zone - Tower of Terror, we got Fast Passes and got all the way into the ride - I went on with my nephews Nick and Harry. We had to leave before the actual ride as the intro movie before the ride freaked Nick out. The ride is shaped like a Hotel and you wander into various parts of the Hotel prior to the ride. We went into the "dark" and "creepy" study where they showed us the intro movie - and some dick who pretends to be a scary porter - not needed!!! When you actually get on the ride (have been on it before) it takes you up in a lift. When you reach the top - doors open revealing the whole park in front of you and then you plunge to the ground floor - quite scary :) So i was glad he bailed out :)

We also went on the Muppet 3D ride and saw various things wandering around the park which isn't worth talking about :)

Today was my birthday and I also got my PSP and a Baseball Cap and Shirt from the
Florida Gators football team - the cap is ace as I don't wear one and its comfy and shaped differently from ones we get in the UK :) We also went out for a meal and I got a birthday cake:



Before:



After:

Florida - Day 3

We had breakky with Mickey this morning at the Polynesia Hotel - one of the hotels on the park. Luke loved it - we saw Mickey, Pluto and Lilo and Stitch. The later is one of Luke's current favourite movies so he was very excited to see them both.

Julie flirting with Stitch:


Me looking like one of the seven dwarves (dopey):

Mickey!:


I have to admit - it was good value for money - we had a nice breakfast and didn't have to queue for character photos. When you are in the parks you have to queue for ages just to get a photo with one of the characters. At the breakfast you site and eat and they come around to you. You get to see all the characters currently working and they pose for pictures and entertain the kids.

We also visited Epcot after brekky as the Hotel/Restaurant is on the monorail route and easy to get into the parks. Epcot isn't the best of the parks but we went on an interesting ride - "SOARIN'! My nephews even managed to get my 62 year old mum on the ride - she shut her eyes on it from start to finish :)


I was amazed by this ride it was so funny but for the kids - Turtle Talk with Crush (from Finding Nemo). This was an amazing piece of technology also. You all sit in the audience in front of a cinema screen and Crush swims in. He then talks to you all and is animated completely. He asks you questions and you answer and its all animated in CGI - very cool. The guy doing his was was hilarious - all the adults were laughing!!!

We also went on Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Spaceship Earth and Journey into Imagination.

Luke also bought some Spider-man and Batman grundies and refuses to wear them the correct way. There is a large picture of the character on the ass of the pants. But he wants this at the front where he can see - he doesn't consider they are hidden under his clothes :S

Saturday 1 November 2008

Florida - Day 2

Today we decided to have a "quiet" day!

We had a nice sleep in, got up and had a leisurely morning.

We did a little shopping: I picked up a new PSP for my birthday and 2 pairs of Levi's - the later cost 45 dollars for 2 pairs = 22.50 which is an absolute bargain. The last pair of Levi's I got were 40 quid!!! - shows what markup they put on. My sister said the reason is that Levi's in the US aren't the fashion item they probably are in the UK hence the price difference.

We also bought Luke his Halloween costume - Spider-Man. He loves it so much he has worn it all day and night and has gone to bed in it :S

This afternoon - I attempted a swim in my sisters very cold swimming pool - I wadded in up to my knees and then gave up due to the cold shock. I also went with my sister and picked up my nephews from School - which was fun, my nephews were over the moon that Uncle Dave had collected them :)

This evening was very entertaining - we did the Halloween *thing*. It was FANTASTIC!!
In the US Halloween is more involved than in the UK. Everyone gets involved and its a lot of fun. I had a real laugh wandering around the streets, knocking on doors and participating. Luke has a HUGE sack of sweets - he has no hope in hell of ever eating them all. He must literally have a couple of hundred sweets in his bag!

Everyone gets dressed up - the kids love it - we went to houses where gardens were converted into Cemeteries, people sitting on their porches dressed as Dracula and Skeletons. I chatted to loads and loads of people, some people had "adult" treats - I had a beer :) The people were very welcoming and generous :)

Having troubles getting pictures onto the blog from my sisters lappy - but will post some in the next day or so. Have some cool pictures of Halloween to post :)

And now a few pictures :)

Indiana Jones (Nick), Spider-man (Luke) and Random Trooper :s (Harry)
The whole trick or treat crowd: Afterwards (check out the bags full o sweets):

Florida - Day 1

Its actually day end of day 2 - but we were that knackered yesterday blogging was out of the question :)

Anyway... we have been planning a family trip to Florida to see my sister for almost a year now. It has actually been 10 years since I have visited her in the US - so it was about time we paid a visit.

Yesterday was the big day and Luke was as Giddy as a Kipper when he got up - we actually had no problems getting him ready as he was raring to go. We got up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready for the 6:00 a.m. Taxi to the airport. We arrived at 7 a.m. at the airport and proceeded to get checked in.

As we were checking in the lady from Virgin told us some bad news :( - out flight was 2 1/2 hours late.

So we now had 5 1/2 hours waiting in the airport rather 3 - 3 being the standard time to arrive prior to an international flight.

To cut a long and boring story short - Luke was as good as gold - he had loads of fun running up and down the airport. We kept him entertained by giving him frequent trips to the shops to explore.

We boarded the flight around 12:30 and the flight set off around 1:00. As soon as it had set off Luke said "Are we nearly there yet?" :)

Luke was an absolute star on the flight - it was at least 8 hours and we only had a couple of minor tantrums - which was good. We had bought Luke lots of little treats which over the course of the flight we gave him - cars, crayons, figures etc.

I had a good flight - lots of G n Ts (to help with the nerves as I don't like flying), I finally got to see The Incredible Hulk film (which was ace, much better than the previous sham) and I slept through lots of the flight.

We arrived in the US around 7 p.m. and my sister and nephew Nic were waiting for us at the airport and Luke was very excited to meet his cousin.

We travelled home, gave our gifts, had Pizza and then straight to bed - we were all knackered.