My Disney Holiday Day 2 | Universal Studios

We decided to visit Universal Studios for our first day and first park visit as it felt lower key than the Disney Parks. Unfortunately when we arrived the rain was pouring. By the time we'd made the long walk into the Park we were already rather wet.

After battling the rain to Starbucks inside the park and warming up with a coffee the rain was starting to ease off and me, Rob and Brody decided to experience our first roller coaster of the holiday, The Mummy. This is one of my favourite rides so I was excited and looked forward to seeing how Brody would enjoy it. Thankfully it got the thumbs up although despite the attention to deal whilst you work your way round the queue he did get a little bored.

After the obligatory photos at Jaws and taking a moments silence that the Jaws ride is no longer there we made our way over to Springfield. This was an area of the park new since my last visit and one that despite not actually being a viewer of The Simpsons was really looking forward to and I was dressed accordingly in my Krusty the Clown sweatshirt.

With rumbling stomachs it was call for a Krusty Burger. Sadly this was a little disappointing. Served canteen style you see them pull a grey looking burger out of a dish which rather spoils the magic. That aside it was pleasant enough and filled a hole and went rather nicely with my Duff beer. I had to keep these opinions to myself as we left and bumped into Krusty himself. And may I add he loved my sweatshirt!

Moving on it was time to visit Diagon Alley of Harry Potter fan. Again this area is new since my last visit and fun to walk around. I loved the Gringotts Ride although worryingly my niece said the scariest thing about it was Harry Potter! Seeing Kings Cross and red telephone boxes as we walked around was very strange I must say.

My brother and nephew decided to move onto the Transformers ride whilst I took advantage of a nearby smoking area. Next thing we heard the sound of Dora and her parade and Violet dragged my sister in law over. The parade was great fun and seeing Violets face as she met Dora, Diego and friends was touching.

As we made our way round the park we bumped into a few more characters for those special moments, watching Brody and Violet running up for cuddles really is priceless but one of the best was with Bumblebee. As we stood in the queue we waited to hear which song he would pick to communicate with us. It was the Beatles 'Hello Goodbye', appropriate for us Brits don't you think.

Have you been to the Universal Parks?

My Disney Holiday Day 2 | RunDisney Expo 2016

Plans for our first morning waking up in Orlando were to head to the ESPN World Wide World of Sports for the RunDisney Marathon Expo. I love anything 'new' and the whole RunDisney experience was new to me so I was excited to take a look around.

Straight away I remembered how good Disney are at customer service. The Expo as you would expect was so well organised, signage and staff directing you to where you needed to go. The main purpose of our visit apart from somewhere for me to start taking selfies was so that my brother could pick up his running bib to participate in the Donald Duck Half Marathon taking place the next day.

After picking up his bib we took a look around the Expo as there was plenty of RunDisney specific merchandise which my brother wanted to purchase. I wouldn't know but my Rob said that this Expo is much better than it's British counterparts with a better offering of products even outside of the RunDisney remit.

It was great to walk around and see everything from framers offering fantastic ways to display your medals to fashion stores offering items of running clothing which could support your fancy dress preferences during the run.

After picking up my ChEAR Squad pack so I could support my brother on the course, more on that in another post, we got down to the serious business of the runDisney New Balance Trainers. There are numerous runDisney races that take place at all Disney Parks throughout the course of the year and at the beginning of each year New Balance release a selection of Disney themed trainers to purchase. Now these trainers are highly sought after, can only be purchased by marathon runners and limited to six pairs per runner. As you can imagine there is something of a market on eBay for these trainers whatever your moral opinion of this is.

We had been up early that morning to register online in the New Balance Virtual Queue and made our way to the bustling area. Prior to leaving for our holiday I'd given myself a stern talking to about getting caught up in the 'Disney Magic'. It's very easy once in the Disney bubble to suddenly want to purchase everything you set your eyes on only to return home later and question whether the idea to have a Disney themed kitchen was the right one. As such, and particularly as someone who does not exercise nor wear trainers I had an interest only in seeing the Dumbo version my brother would purchase. 

In a matter of minutes my sister-in-law was trying the Ariel version on herself and my niece and I was staring longingly at the Minnie ones. Whilst they loaded up their purchases I was coaxed into trying them and expecting to not enjoy how they looked and with the cost not being cheap (let's just say over £100) I assumed I would be sensible. Apparently not. 

Just buy them everyone encouraged, even the sales assistant telling me even if I didn't wear them I could easily recoup the cost back by selling them on eBay and so I did. And as it happened it was the best thing I did as I ended up wearing them for most of our park days after realising quickly what all that walking around did to your feet.

Violet and Sarah immediately put their trainers on in very cute mother and daughter fashion whilst I took a few more days to warm up to mine.

After our time at the Expo, despite the heavens having opened up it was time to run over to Universal Studios for our first official theme park day. 

My Disney Holiday Day 1 | Background and Travelling

When I returned to work following my recent holiday I asked a friend if they'd missed me. His response was that no he hadn't because every time he'd logged onto Facebook there was a photo of me in 'those stupid Minnie ears'. Whilst I hope you don't feel the same about 'those stupid ears' I'm sure if you follow me on Instagram you'll have been following my recent trip and I hope you will enjoy a series of posts about my Disney travels.

Before I go on there are two pieces of admin to address. First I'm well aware that in the past I would enthusiastically start posting about my trips and then they would disappear. Case in point my Dubai trip last year. I do plan on finishing that series by way of 'throwback Thursday' or similar but where my Disney trip is concerned I do plan to be consistent. I love lifestyle posts and I enjoy writing them but there are often so many photos to work through and edit that they can be more time consuming than beauty ones for example.

Secondly I am referring to this as 'My Disney Holiday' as it was of course very Disney heavy but... In the lead up to my trip and even those previously I'd always say I was going to Florida, or Disney but that trip actually was located in Orlando and included visits to the Universal Studios parks.  I'm sure you get the deal and each post will explain itself.

Today's post or Day 1 will be a little background on my Disney travels previously, the lead up to our trip and reasons for as well as a review of sorts on our accommodation, The Staybridge Suites in Lake Buena Vista as we all know day one of any trip to Florida involves a lengthy ten hour flight from Gatwick to Orlando Florida so there is very little to talk about or show otherwise.

I have been lucky enough to visit Orlando Florida on a number of occasions over the years, with friends, adults, younger family members and my brother. I've always visited as an adult but that has not dampened any of my experiences. Likewise my brother and his family have been many times, this was my sister in law's thirtieth trip as she has been going since a child and during her years as cabin crew for BA. It was even my nieces second and nephews third at their young ages. Yes they are lucky children.

The reason for this years trip was so that my brother could participate in the RunDisney Half Marathon. The timing worked perfectly for my niece Violets 5th birthday and of course who needs an excuse to visit Walt Disney World.

We booked our holiday over a year ago and whilst I dithered at the time due to some upheavals at work I couldn't resist for long. My brother and his family had booked to stay at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel at Disney Springs having stayed their the year before. The location was perfect for their needs and being able to walk over to Disney Springs and pick up shuttles to parks was a great draw. Unfortunately for me a solo traveller the cost was prohibitive. Were my Disney dreams lost? Of course not. With the help of Google Maps I was able to find a more affordable price for accommodation at the hotel next door, The Wyndham Lake Buena Vista.

Whilst I was blogging during my previous trips, in fact my first ever trip very muck kicked off my blogging journey over seven years ago I'd never been really been into the whole travel blogging aspect till this point. I joined Disney Blogger Twitter Groups, discovered The Dibb Forum and realised very soon how seriously people take their trips to Walt Disney World and quite frankly my enthusiasm for Disney travels was very much level 6 compared to others.

Luckily immersing myself in this world meant I discovered that my brothers hotel were undergoing some extensive renovations which were leading to many complaints from their visitors. After discussing with my brother and SIL we decided to look at alternative accommodations and where possible somewhere that would house all five of us.

We decided upon the Staybridge Suites at Lake Buena Vista which I had stayed at some years before with my aunt, uncle and two cousins. Staybridge Suites are available with two bedrooms, sofabeds, kitchens and the like as well as a free breakfast offering and the price was perfect for us. My SIL was happy with the location as our driver and so we booked up.

Our choice worked perfectly for us and I'd highly recommend to anyone looking for an alternative to a Disney resort or villa for their stay. When I'd stayed previously our two bedroom suite had one room with two double beds. Unfortunately that wasn't the case this time and whilst we queried with the front desk they said we had what we booked. It wasn't a big issue, especially for only one week and I was happy on my sofabed, in fact it was quite comfortable that I just slept on the sofa but of course if you're travelling for longer or with a bigger group then having a bed in the front room might prove an issue.

The location of the Staybridge Suites allows you to leave your car behind for the day. Across the road is a Walgreens for any beauty or snack needs, there's a Steak and Shake and lovely Italian to the left and to your right is a Winn Dixie Supermarket and Papa Johns where we visited on our first night.

Every day is a basic breakfast featuring eggs, a meat, some sort of potato as well as some continental offerings and your usual breads and bagels for toasting. Handily they offer takeaway plates and cups if you prefer to pop down in the morning and return to your room to eat. This worked out well for us, whilst my brother enjoyed sitting in the restaurant to eat me and my niece and nephew loved to pop down and fill a plate with crispy bacon we'd snack on whilst getting ready.

Theres a lovely pool area which we didn't take advantage of and they even have an evening social which I spotted one evening and looked delicious with barbecued burgers and salads - all for free.

Returning to the day itself after our long flight which took saw me taking four hours to watch one film due to my niece being my very chatty travelling companion and arriving at The Staybridge Suites we checked in and visited the aforementioned supermarket for some essentials.

Tired and weary from our travels we ordered pizza from Papa Johns, returned to our room, watched some American TV and crashed out ready to start our adventures bright and early the next.

The Magic of Disney - Part 3

As strange as it sounds one of the great bonuses of visiting the US is getting to see movies that are not due for release in the UK for some time - on this trip it was the Disney cartoon, Wreck it Ralph 

and even better was that Brody and Violet had the opportunity to meet its "stars" even if they had to wait patiently for them

There were big hugs for Ralph 

and twizzler hairband wearing Venelope

Doesn't she have the coolest car ever!

The film is fantastic and great fun so do get yourself to the cinema in February when it's released in the UK

The Magic of Disney - Part 2

Time to continue with my more tales from my magical journey to Florida and put your minds at rest that thankfully Brody didn’t suffer too badly from his chicken pox so we just kept him at home for a couple of days with DVDs and toys

Brody’s time at home meant babysitting duties were divided and allowed my SIL and I day out together to Epcot where we both met our favourite characters; Mulan who my SIL hysterically bowed in thanks too

and Alice

Another one of the “child free” days it was a brothers and sisters day out to Universal and Island of Adventures taking the opportunity to have fun on all the roller coasters and visiting Harry Potter Land.

Having already visiting Potter World in the UK I have to admit that the Florida version was disappointing!

The area is very small and thin and whilst there is the usual attention to detail that one would expect there wasn't very much to see beyond a street of shop fronts and a few rides. I hear they're planning to expand the area so fingers crossed it improves but the good news is that us Brits have got it right this time and if your budget doesn't stretch to a trip to Florida get yourself to the local version

The good news was that after his few days at home Brody was back to his oldself and that meant normal service could resume for the rest of the holiday!

I will have another post or two about Florida this week and then I'll be bringing you up to date with all my Christmas festivities!



The Magic of Disney - Part 1

Before my holiday is a distant memory I think it’s time I shared some of the fabulous memories on my blog for posterity.

I’ll avoid a day by day account as well to be frank I bored myself emailing my mum a daily update and gave up after a week but I will spread the posts out of the next couple of days!

So here goes... our holiday began a day early so we could travel to Gatwick 24 hours ahead of our flights departure. This allowed us to check in our bags, secure extra leg room and avoid a crack of dawn start. Once our luggage was on its way we checked in at our hotel for the night. My nephew in particular loves a hotel stay and much fun was had jumping on beds and when we were driving around Florida every time he saw a Holiday Inn sign he’s shout out to us “hotel”!

If you have the funds to allow for this luxury when going on holiday I’d highly recommend it as it certainly takes some of the stress out of travelling. In the morning you have no luggage, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the hotel, shuttle bus to the terminal and then straight through the security checks.

Despite my reservations about a long haul flight with my niece and nephew they were fantastically behaved – even if I spent an hour with my nephew on my lap watching Phineas & Ferb on my tv! My poor SIL had a more difficult time, spending much of the flight across the floor in front of their seats whilst Violet laid out and slept!

Enough about the travelling…. Onto the main event!

Our first couple of days were spent settling in, visiting some of the shops, a trip to SeaWorld and then it was time to visit the Magic Kingdom!

You will not be surprised that this was where the real Disney Magic Moment happened as Brody & Violet met Tinkerbell and her sister Perriewinkle

This was our first character greeting and it (almost!) brought a tear to my eye. We were taken into the Pixie Hollow room and Brody & Violet squealed with excitement at meeting Tink and her sister. The smiles on their faces, the looks of awe at meeting the fairies was priceless. My SIL and I practically skipped out of the room. We were so grateful for the time they spent with B & V to create such a magical experience, playing with Violets dolls etc

Then disaster struck…. This poor little man got chicken pox!

To be continued….

Home away from Home

Typical Florida vacations (I'm practicing my American lingo!) are spent in villas

such as this one which will be my home for the next 2 weeks

You can take a video tour here and listen to a wonderful cheesy voice over which I can't deny just watching now has added to my excitement!

My SIL's brother and I will be fighting over the standard queen bedroom and the Harry Potter themed room!

Although Brody wasn't too happy when he heard he'd be sharing with Violet in the Princess room so we'll be adding some Potter magic to that too!

It'll be lovely to return to the villa after a busy day at the parks to play in the pool and we've a BBQ on order   to assist with meal times

And the best thing - free wifi so hopefully I should be able to continue blogging and keep you all updated with my trip

For now it's just one more day at work to get through and then holiday fun can really begin!