# The Godfather's Live Trip Report, photopass added post #442



## wayneg

The time is almost here, we leave on Friday for our 26th visit to Florida.
This trip will also be a 1st visit for relatives who are travelling with us, Karen's Cousin (Lucy) her DH (Paul) and their DD, our 3 year old Goddaughter (Lily)
Not sure how much time I will get to keep up with the thread but I hope to update most evenings whilst we are out there, I hope some of you will tag along with our journey.
Link to Matt's Blog, his perspective on our trip. http://mathewgillings.wordpress.com/

This trip will probably be our busiest ever:
16 days at OKW on DDP, 
Seaworld, 
Busch Gardens, 
Universal & IOA, 
Hot Air Balloon ride, 
Geocaching in Orlando, Nassau & Castaway Cay, 
Matt visiting the Orlando Sentinel look around the newsroom to meet Editors & reporters, 
4 day cruise on Disney Dream incl Brunch at Palo & Parasailing. DISmeet & FE gifting http://homepage.ntlworld.com/asters/Dismeet Aug 11.htm 
2 other DISmeets http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2621880
Ending with 3 nights at the Holiday Inn DTD
Lots more.

Starting a couple of days early so I don't go without posting the pics below. Myself, Matt & Karen have been busy designing meal invitations (plus other stuff) to give to Lily each day; we pulled 2 or 3 from the DISign threads but made the rest ourselves. 

Invitation we sent her a few days ago through the mail.





Sheets to keep track of our DDP credits, I would never hear the end of it if I had 1 more than Matt





Activity book Karen has made for the plane





Stuff to stick up in the studio & a tag for the pushchair





EPCOT passport





And the meal invites


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## Stitch's Greatest Fa

Those invites are fab Wayne - well done!


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## matty624

Wow! That looks like a busy trip, and really thorough planning! Makes me feel a bit unprepared seeing all those meal invites....
Have a great time, may see you at a Dis meet, but dw is a bit undecided at the moment.
Matty


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## wayneg

matty624 said:


> Have a great time, may see you at a Dis meet, but dw is a bit undecided at the moment.
> Matty



Hope you can make it, even if its just for 5-10 mins to say hello. There were a few last year who were unsure about coming, all were glad they did. Its very informal and great to say hello to people you have spoke to for years.


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## disneyholic family

OMG!!!  those are sooooooooooooooo cool!!!
you guys are INCREDIBLE!!!!!!


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## wayneg

disneyholic family said:


> OMG!!!  those are sooooooooooooooo cool!!!
> you guys are INCREDIBLE!!!!!!



Thank you!!!!
We really enjoyed making them, I think Liberty tree is my fave, Sanaa a very close 2nd. 
Its going to be great seeing Disney with a 3 year old again.


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## Cyrano

I wondered about the title of your thread but can see how "chuffed" you all are sharing this holiday with your god daughter.
Looking forward to yours and Matt's updates and the perspective of your 1st time guests


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> Thank you!!!!
> We really enjoyed making them, I think Liberty tree is my fave, Sanaa a very close 2nd.
> Its going to be great seeing Disney with a 3 year old again.



i love them all!!!!!  

i bet it will be a blast seeing it with her...

i've done a few preparations for my 'kids', but they're nothing in comparison to your masterpieces!!!


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## jns

great design 

have you any done for your door on the cruise ?


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## ChipnDaleRule

26th trip! Wow thats a lot of airmiles 

Love the invitations, might do that for our kids.Its those little exra touches that can make it so much more special.
Look forward to the live reports..


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## dixonsontour

My you've been busy - great job 

Have a fabulous tip, looking forward to the food pics.

I'm sure having you're goddaughter along will make you stop and try lots of new things - if she's anything like my little girl colouring mad you will be sat for ages at every sharpie spot in world showcase colouring in duffy bear!


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## disney_princess_85

A live TR from Wayne? Let me think about it... I'M IN! Love all the invitations etc.


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## jtlover

Cant wait to hear more - especially the Dream trip part - we are looking at next year to go on that ship.

Have a great time


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## catherine

Great job with those invitations!  I'm sure that Lily is going to have an awesome time!  Can't wait to hear more  Hope that you all have a safe flight and a magical trip!


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## orangetiggs

Love it all wayne, going to look into bits like that for my girls, they will be nearly two when we fly.

What is the epcot passport? Ive never done disney with kids so will be totally different for us this year


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## jjk

sounds like a magical trip you have planned, love all the invitations they are amazing.


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## jockey

Wayne, will look forward to your trippie! Love all the stuff you have made for Lily


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## crabbie1

Lovelovelove ur reports. Makes me feel like im there with you. What a lovely thought doing all those things for lily mae. Great memories for her. Hope u hv a fab time the gillings family. Oh give mart a kick up the u know what from me and tell nige to watch his step lookin forward to ur dream reviews. Can u check out the kids clubs wayne? Magical wishes and safe journey.
No dizzy this time?


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## disneyholic family

orangetiggs said:


> Love it all wayne, going to look into bits like that for my girls, they will be nearly two when we fly.
> 
> What is the epcot passport? Ive never done disney with kids so will be totally different for us this year



the passport is like having  a real passport and i think the kids can get them stamped in each country...i think they also sell something like that in epcot...maybe....
plus there are activities for kids to do in each country - craft things....
a lot of kids love doing stuff like that....i think they're called kidcot fun stops or something like that...

this is from allears.net:

Kids may initially think World Showcase is going to be a big snooze for them, but you can encourage their active participation in learning about the various countries by getting them a World Showcase Passport. The passports are sold for around $10 at most stores and carts throughout Epcot, and include a set of country stamps and a big "I'm a World Showcase Traveler" button. As you visit the WS pavilions, your child can have Cast Members at the KIDCOT stations (see description following) stamp the passport and write something in his/her native language.

Did you ever see those brightly colored KIDCOT signs and wonder what they were for? Well, each pavilion in World Showcase (and a few in Future World) features a KIDCOT station specially for the youngsters in your group. At these stations, which usually operate only in the afternoons, there is a small table manned by Cast Members from the various countries. They will talk with children about their native land, engage them in a craft, stamp their World Showcase Passports if they have one, and sign a personal message in the language of the country


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## Tony Toon

Wow Wayne - those invites, the passport, labels and the personalised message from the Mouse himself for Lily are fabby!    I never cease to be amazed at the thought and creativity you put into the details of your hols.    Lily is very lucky to be having her first taste of Disney with you, Karen and Matt - it will be extra special.     Have a fantastic time.   Awaiting your reports with bated breath.  

Mrs TT


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## cantwait!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds great,you're going to have an amazing time,your god daughter is a very lucky girl !!


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## Tinkerbellgal

WOW! Those are amazing, your god daughter is going to have an amazing time! Hope you have a safe flight and a magical trip


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## dixonsontour

disneyholic family said:


> the passport is like having  a real passport and i think the kids can get them stamped in each country...i think they also sell something like that in epcot...maybe....
> plus there are activities for kids to do in each country - craft things....
> a lot of kids love doing stuff like that....i think they're called kidcot fun stops or something like that...
> 
> this is from allears.net:
> 
> Kids may initially think World Showcase is going to be a big snooze for them, but you can encourage their active participation in learning about the various countries by getting them a World Showcase Passport. The passports are sold for around $10 at most stores and carts throughout Epcot, and include a set of country stamps and a big "I'm a World Showcase Traveler" button. As you visit the WS pavilions, your child can have Cast Members at the KIDCOT stations (see description following) stamp the passport and write something in his/her native language.
> 
> Did you ever see those brightly colored KIDCOT signs and wonder what they were for? Well, each pavilion in World Showcase (and a few in Future World) features a KIDCOT station specially for the youngsters in your group. At these stations, which usually operate only in the afternoons, there is a small table manned by Cast Members from the various countries. They will talk with children about their native land, engage them in a craft, stamp their World Showcase Passports if they have one, and sign a personal message in the language of the country



My DD loved doing this last trip when she was 4.

You can buy a passport from any of the world showcase shops - think they are $12.95 for the passport, a badge and stickers. It is navy blue and looks like a real american passport. Or if you are creative you can make one like Wayne.

Pick up a duffy bear on a stick (free) and in each country there is a kidcot stop (basically a table and stools and some colouring pens). The cm will stamp the stick and the child colours a bit of the bear. If you have a passport the cm stamps it and will write in it in their own language. Repeat in every country.

Combines very well with F & W festival.

DD took the passport into school when she got back.


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## wayneg

crabbie1 said:


> Oh give mart a kick up the u know what from me and tell nige to watch his step lookin forward to ur dream reviews. Can u check out the kids clubs wayne? Magical wishes and safe journey.
> No dizzy this time?



I hope they have the beer on ice ready for me, totally unfair them going before me, they rang me the other night, just to make me more jealous I think.
The kids clubs will be fantastic, they are on all the Disney ships. 
Waiting for Dizzy to arrive by 1st class travel (maybe special delivery)


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## Netty

Those invitations are fantastic!!!! You really do have a jam packed holiday!!



wayneg said:


> Thank you!!!!
> We really enjoyed making them, I think Liberty tree is my fave, Sanaa a very close 2nd.
> Its going to be great seeing Disney with a 3 year old again.



We will have Charlie who is now 3 also Lily 8 months so it will be a totally different holiday for us in September! Can't wait to see Charlie's face in magic Kingdom


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## Chilly

Love all the invites etc you've made Wayne they are brilliant. Have a wonderful time.


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## crabbie1

wayneg said:


> I hope they have the beer on ice ready for me, totally unfair them going before me, they rang me the other night, just to make me more jealous I think.
> The kids clubs will be fantastic, they are on all the Disney ships.
> Waiting for Dizzy to arrive by 1st class travel (maybe special delivery)



Yey dizzy cant wait to take him with us. Im sure mart will hv a few beers ready for you.  hv a fab time


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## wayneg

crabbie1 said:


> Yey dizzy cant wait to take him with us. Im sure mart will hv a few beers ready for you.  hv a fab time



The amount I have saved him this year it should be a bottle of Champagne on ice


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## Claire L

Oh wow Lily is one lucky God daughter


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## stitcher3000

Purrrrrrrllllleeeaasssseeee could you be my godfather, ok so I am 39 but I can still act like a kid

Lily is a very lucky young lady, wishing you all a fantastic holiday


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## cliveywolves

Hi Wayne,

Have a great trip and ill see you soon at the end of August for the DIS meet, the invitations are wicked might do some for DD where did you get the templates for them or is it all your own work ???


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## wayneg

cliveywolves said:


> Hi Wayne,
> 
> Have a great trip and ill see you soon at the end of August for the DIS meet, the invitations are wicked might do some for DD where did you get the templates for them or is it all your own work ???



I got a few from here http://s143.photobucket.com/albums/r132/donatalie/Invitations/Character Meals/
Made rest ourselves. Have a look on DISign, thats where we found the above. http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=105


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## wayneg

A few more pics, I am just seeing now why we need 3 cases this trip instead of the usual 2 

Magnets for our cabin door on the Disney Dream.










More stuff for Lily, magnets, pens, bookmark and some pins to trade, I bought loads in the Disney store new year sale at 50p each.





A bag we have made for her.





And finally a pillowcase we made.


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## katiec

Oh Wayne - sounds like you all have a wonderful trip planned 

I lurve all the goodies you have made - your goddaughter is a lucky girl 

HAve a great trip 

Katie x


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## disneyholic family

oh my god Wayne you guys are too amazing!!!!!
not enough of these little icons to express my awe!!!!


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## lin85prest

What a wonderful gesture, Lily Mae is soooo lucky to have you has her godfather.


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## MuxtonMiley

Hi Wayne -looking forward to following your blog-especially when you get to the Disney Dream. Good memories of last years DiS meet at OKW - nice to see you had posted the photos again recently. No USA for us this year- but looking forward to 2 weeks in Lake Garda from 19th.
Your God daughter is a lucky girl - you've certainly made a fantastic effort with all the Meal invites etc.
We are already planning our 2012 trip to Florida - hoping to make it 3 weeks next year and call into New York on way back- DD's desperate to see the Big Apple (make that the shops!!). Drawing a blank on flights at the moment - will be interested to know when you start your planning when you get back.
Anyway - Safe Trip - Enjoy


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## happyj

I think you are  going to have a very different trip this year but such a fun one. Seeing it thro different eyes "wonderful" have a magical time and looking forward to trip report


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## wayneg

MuxtonMiley said:


> Hi Wayne -looking forward to following your blog-especially when you get to the Disney Dream. Good memories of last years DiS meet at OKW - nice to see you had posted the photos again recently. No USA for us this year- but looking forward to 2 weeks in Lake Garda from 19th.
> Your God daughter is a lucky girl - you've certainly made a fantastic effort with all the Meal invites etc.
> We are already planning our 2012 trip to Florida - hoping to make it 3 weeks next year and call into New York on way back- DD's desperate to see the Big Apple (make that the shops!!). Drawing a blank on flights at the moment - will be interested to know when you start your planning when you get back.
> Anyway - Safe Trip - Enjoy



Thank you for coming along last year, I think/hope everyone had a good night.
Next years dates are looking like 12th-14th July to 4th Aug, earlier than usual due to A level results and University placement, I would prefer to go later but its not possible.


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## crabbie1

wayneg said:


> Thank you for coming along last year, I think/hope everyone had a good night.
> Next years dates are looking like 12th-14th July to 4th Aug, earlier than usual due to A level results and University placement, I would prefer to go later but its not possible.



DOH!!! And im going 22nd august next year. Oh and as for the champagne u got bob and no hopeRemember the valentine card performance. Poor wendy. bloomin tight wodd!!!!


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## 2Tiggies

Sorry I'm late 

I have just spent the last 20 minutes staring at all your incredible creations.  Those meal invites are amazing.   They will make brilliant keepsakes in a scrapbook for her to look through when she is older 

I love all the things you have made - absolutely fab!! How did you do the transfers for the script on the bag you made Lily? Is it just iron on paper for light fabrics? I was trying to see the silhouette where the paper meets the fabric and can't so either you used very good quality iron on paper, or you have a little secret 

I'm so looking forward to this trip report. I am especially keen to hear how you enjoy the cruise and of course, the hot air balloon!!!  

Ooh, and it's now midnight so it's officially tomorrow that you leave


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## wayneg

We used the paper you recommended, great quality for a great price(dropped since we bought at £8.39 for 20 x A4 sheets, now £7.29) http://shop.ebay.co.uk/signalinkjet...&_odkw=&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3911.c0.m270.l1313

Yeah we go tomorrow


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> We used the paper you recommended, great quality for a great price(dropped since we bought at £8.39 for 20 x A4 sheets, now £7.29) http://shop.ebay.co.uk/signalinkjet...&_odkw=&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3911.c0.m270.l1313
> 
> Yeah we go tomorrow



wow.....hard to believe it's already tomorrow...

so i get to tag along on your trip for the next 10 days, then we're off....


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## 2Tiggies

wayneg said:


> We used the paper you recommended, great quality for a great price(dropped since we bought at £8.39 for 20 x A4 sheets, now £7.29) http://shop.ebay.co.uk/signalinkjet...&_odkw=&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3911.c0.m270.l1313
> 
> Yeah we go tomorrow



Thanks, I thought you had ordered that transfer paper, but I have only used the one for dark fabrics so it is slightly different.  It looks so effective on the light coloured bags.  

Counting the hours now ...


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## burt

crabbie1 said:


> DOH!!! And im going 22nd august next year. Oh and as for the champagne u got bob and no hopeRemember the valentine card performance. Poor wendy. bloomin tight wodd!!!!



errr excuse me i am listening you know , Wayne i only said to Wendy the other day must get the champers on ice ready for Waynes arrival,but she said its so hot out here she was sure you would prefer a beer - anyway i went to walmart and got you 4 cans of there bargain range but didnt want to spoil you so drank 3 of them   See you soon mate, we had a few hours in magic kingdom today and then a meal at whispering canyon all was very good, but it seems an awful lot hotter here this year compared to last.

Ally well done on the job -told you not to panic it was in the bag


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## wayneg

burt said:


> errr excuse me i am listening you know , Wayne i only said to Wendy the other day must get the champers on ice ready for Waynes arrival,but she said its so hot out here she was sure you would prefer a beer - anyway i went to walmart and got you 4 cans of there bargain range but didnt want to spoil you so drank 3 of them



A few more lessons from me and you will acheive the Honorary Yorkshireman status.


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## disneyholic family

so i guess today's the day!!

have a safe trip!!!!! 

hope to be seeing you soon!!


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## cornish pixie

Hi Wayne & Family wishing you an amazing Holiday and can't wait to hear all about it especially OKW and the Disney Dream We have to wait another year before we follow in your footsteps and was hopeing to attend one of your meets but I see you will be going earlier next year.
Anyway safe trip hope it's magical for you
Take Care
Cornish pxie


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## wayneg

disneyholic family said:


> so i guess today's the day!!
> 
> have a safe trip!!!!!
> 
> hope to be seeing you soon!!



No, tomorrows the day, I posted after midnight saying we were going tomorrow (Friday) 
Just need about 10 customers now to clear up these last few flowers then I can go home and do OLCI.


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## chocolateMinnie

have a great trip - love the crafting on the first page!


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> No, tomorrows the day, I posted after midnight saying we were going tomorrow (Friday)
> Just need about 10 customers now to clear up these last few flowers then I can go home and do OLCI.



fake out...  

well get back to work sir so you can be on your way!!!


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## crabbie1

Thanks hun (marty)X glad ur hvg a good time. Let me know what emily thinks of the kids clubs on the dream


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## loobzuk

love all your preparations, apart from the fact that I now feel very unorganised!  Looking forward to seeing you at OKW.


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## paulh

Make sure you bring plenty of sun cream as it's hot hot hot at moment,
That hot am drinking some water here at the beach At vero
Have a save trip and might see you around
Paul


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## wayneg

paulh said:


> Make sure you bring plenty of sun cream as it's hot hot hot at moment,
> That hot am drinking some water here at the beach At vero
> Have a save trip and might see you around
> Paul



Paul drinking water? get a beer  A bit early for you yet I guess.


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## janeyb

Wishing you and your family an amazing holiday - what a great godfather you are, loving everything that you've done so far for Lily Mae.
Can't wait to read your trip report, always the hightlight of my day when you're away and I put the children to bed, log on and feel like I'm there with you!  Thanks so much for taking the time to write them it really is appreciated. 
Safe trip,
Jane.


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## paulh

wayneg said:


> Paul drinking water? get a beer  A bit early for you yet I guess.



Well it's in a coffee, heat is dry as the humidity not kicked in yet,
On balcony looking out to sea watching the waves crash against the shore sleep in this morning only up at 7.30
Paul


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## wayneg

Business all locked up, packed, checked in all 6 of us online, printed our boarding passes but wouldn't let me print relatives(is it because of child?)
Dizzy Bear arrived this morning, packed his clothes.
We seem too organised this time, just waiting for taxi to collect us at 9:30 in the morning now.


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## lin85prest

That is the bit I hate, all ready to go but have to wait patiently until it is time to leave for the airport.  Have a great time, really looking forward to your TR


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> Business all locked up, packed, checked in all 6 of us online, printed our boarding passes but wouldn't let me print relatives(is it because of child?)
> Dizzy Bear arrived this morning, packed his clothes.
> We seem too organised this time, just waiting for taxi to collect us at 9:30 in the morning now.



well done Wayne!!!!!  

so can i say happy trails now?


have a magical holiday!!!

i'm looking forward to meeting you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Cyrano

wayneg said:


> Business all locked up, packed, checked in all 6 of us online, printed our boarding passes but wouldn't let me print relatives(is it because of child?)
> Dizzy Bear arrived this morning, packed his clothes.
> We seem too organised this time, just waiting for taxi to collect us at 9:30 in the morning now.



Have a fabulous trip


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## jen_uk

Wow those invites are amazing!!!   Hope you have a great flight tomorrow, see you on Wednesday!


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## cazzie

Your invites are amazing  looks like you have a lot planned.

Have a great time and looking forward to reading your updates.


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## Tink2312

Those invites are amazing! Have a safe flight and fantastic trip. Looking forward to reading you live trippie


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## Tinks1984

Ooooo I'm in!! 

Looking forward to following your adventure Wayne & Co!!


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## 2Tiggies

Early to bed for you guys tonight then   Sleep well and we look forward to the live trippie. 

Wayne, only you can start a trip report and have 5 pages of posts and 1500 views before you even get to the airport 

Sleep well and travel safely guys


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## Mrs Doubtfire

Have a great trip Wayne & family 

I am looking forward to your trip report. You have put a lot of effort into all the invites and everything else, but I'm sure you will get as much enjoyment out of it all as your god-daughter will


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## rachelanne

Have a great time, and hope you have a great flight


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## disney_princess_85

Have a fantastic trip Wayne et al. I can't wait for the live updates. 



2Tiggies said:


> Wayne, only you can start a trip report and have 5 pages of posts and 1500 views before you even get to the airport



Indeed!!


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## UKDEB

I'm way too lazy to read all the responses, so apologies if I'm repeating what's already been said, but Lily is one _*lucky*_ girl to have you two as godparents!  It sounds like a fun-packed (emphasis on the "packed") trip.  I'm particularly interested to learn all about Matt's adventure at the Sentinel.  I'd like to say I'll keep up with your live trip reports, but we both know I'd be lying!  I just can't be doing with never-ending threads - I just lose the will to live with them.  Post a separate one each day and I'm there!


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## UKDEB

Oh!  I almost forgot!  Have a FAN-TAS-TIC trip!


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## wayneg

UKDEB said:


> I'm way too lazy to read all the responses, so apologies if I'm repeating what's already been said, but Lily is one _*lucky*_ girl to have you two as godparents!  It sounds like a fun-packed (emphasis on the "packed") trip.  I'm particularly interested to learn all about Matt's adventure at the Sentinel.  I'd like to say I'll keep up with your live trip reports, but we both know I'd be lying!  I just can't be doing with never-ending threads - I just lose the will to live with them.  Post a separate one each day and I'm there!



I have been waiting for your annual complaint  Maybe I should send you a link to each update.


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## UKDEB

wayneg said:


> I have been waiting for your annual complaint  Maybe I should send you a link to each update.


Actually, you may be on to something there!


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## OrlandoMagic

Can't believe your off already, seems to have come round so quick! Hope you all have an amazing time, looking forward to hearing about your time on the Disney Dream!


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## Elise79

Have a great time Wayne, Karen & Matt 

It's taken me 3 days to read this as I kept getting interrupted - not sure if I will keep up 

BTW Read Matts blog - it's great


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## Tinkerbellgal

Have a safe flight today


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## jackieleanne

Have a great time Wayne, Karen and Family. Off to read Matt's blog now. 

Lily has the most amazing Godparents! I love all the packs and goodies you have made for her plus everything you guys have done for yourselfs. May have to use some of those ideas. 

Have a safe journey and a great trip. Can't wait to see Dizzy again too. 

Hopefully see you at one of the meets.


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## london75

Probably see you soon then, there's three flights to Orlando today, I assume the VS175 is overflow from VS075! Never seen that before. Definitely won't help the argument about prices being too high.


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## wayneg

london75 said:


> Probably see you soon then, there's three flights to Orlando today, I assume the VS175 is overflow from VS075! Never seen that before. Definitely won't help the argument about prices being too high.



I didn't see that flight, look out for me. Enjoy your trip.


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## UKDEB

Safe travels!  Look forward to getting those links.


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## loobzuk

safe journey and happy holiday!  Will see you at OKW on Wednesday.


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## london75

wayneg said:


> I didn't see that flight, look out for me. Enjoy your trip.



Thanks, you too


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## jockey

Have a great time guys!


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## Elise79

london75 said:


> Probably see you soon then, there's three flights to Orlando today, I assume the VS175 is overflow from VS075! Never seen that before. Definitely won't help the argument about prices being too high.





wayneg said:


> I didn't see that flight, look out for me. Enjoy your trip.



Its yesterdays VS75 
From Virgins website:


> The following flight matches your search criteria. Please note that all times listed are local.
> Flight number 	VS 075
> Departure date 	04 Aug 2011
> Route 	Manchester (MAN) to Orlando (MCO)
> Scheduled departure time 	04 Aug 11:00
> Estimated departure time 	05 Aug 12:00
> Scheduled arrival time 	04 Aug 15:25
> Estimated arrival time 	05 Aug 15:47
> 
> Additional flight status information
> 
> Due to unforeseen circumstances we regret this flights departure has been delayed overnight. This flight will now depart as VS175 on Friday 5th August. Virgin Atlantic apologises for the inconvenience this delay has caused.



Safe flight Wayne and tell Matt he should half hour less in the uncomfortable seats as it looks like favourable winds with reduced flying time with an estimated early landing!


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## 2Tiggies

Elise79 said:


> Its yesterdays VS75


 
Nightmare for those passengers! Good thing you didn't fly out yesterday Wayne!  (Or should I say, intend to, lol)


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## jesuslovesyou

Have a great time


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## StitchMad

My Dad is happy! We were offered exit row seats upon boarding, free of charge! Take off in a few minutes!


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## dixonsontour

StitchMad said:


> My Dad is happy! We were offered exit row seats upon boarding, free of charge! Take off in a few minutes!



great seats have a good flight.


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## I_Heart_MK

Ooo this is very exciting,love all the amazing piccies! Cant wait to read more, this is really getting me in the mood for our trip now!!! Gotta concentrate on the wedding first.tho! 
Christine xxx


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## crabbie1

StitchMad said:


> My Dad is happy! We were offered exit row seats upon boarding, free of charge! Take off in a few minutes!



Bet you are too matt.Just read your blog about virgin not catering for tall people. They must have read your blog Your up in the air now.Safe trip.


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## disneyholic family

StitchMad said:


> My Dad is happy! We were offered exit row seats upon boarding, free of charge! Take off in a few minutes!



perfect start to the holiday!!


----------



## 2Tiggies

StitchMad said:


> My Dad is happy! We were offered exit row seats upon boarding, free of charge! Take off in a few minutes!



Brilliant!  At least you have somewhere to put your feet now 



crabbie1 said:


> Bet you are too matt.Just read your blog about virgin not catering for tall people. They must have read your blog .


----------



## Cyrano

StitchMad said:


> My Dad is happy! We were offered exit row seats upon boarding, free of charge! Take off in a few minutes!



Sweet


----------



## disneyholic family

i hope we have your luck with seats..

right now DD and i are in the 3rd to last row, which is bad, but even worse, she and i are in the middle middle....
you know how there are 4 seats in the middle section...with an aisle on each side of it...
so DD and i are in the 2 seats in the middle with a stranger on either side of us...
so we don't have any access to an aisle and we have to climb over strangers to get out....and we're at the back of the plane....    

the TA has been trying to get the airline to move us but so far no luck...


----------



## heatherbelle

Have a great trip.  No Florida for us this year, but we will still see the mouse in the Med.


----------



## joolz1910

Have a fantastic trip Wayne. Let me know if you would like another god-daughter - I'm a bit old at 40 though...


----------



## Linda67

So excited to hear all about your trip Wayne
What a lucky God Daughter having you as a tour guide !!!
She will be an expert on Fast Pass and ADRs before she is even 4 years old !!
Have a fab time


----------



## wayneg

A quick post as its now 11:30pm, 4:30am UK & getting a little tired.

Eventful start to the holiday. 1st time with them for 3 years after poor flights with them. Relatives went thru gate to plane no problem but they pulled us to say we had upgrade to exit seat initially refused asked if possible to stay with relatives but they were appolgetic saying the needed our seats for special needs, we accepted to move no problem.
Great seats, more leg room than any biz class or upper class but downside we were near toilet, this only matters at the end of movie cycle or after meal when many want to use the toilets the congregate around this area, didn't bother us but it does others(if paid extra)
Now the fun, 30 mins into the flight elderly man behind me started being ill, after a while they decided to take his blood pressure and a few other tests but they needed to move our seats, they asked if we minded going Upto upper class and sitting at the bar for a while, hmmm let me think, go on then if I must. We sat up there about 30 mins, Karen & Matt eating all the choc squares & crisps off the bar, had a drink each (in glass) this was great until they started bringing out all the food, thankfully we had eaten in Frankie & Benny's and never intended to eat on the plane.
Slight problem now, they were short of room and seats still not ready so they asked if we would go upstairs for a while, we sat in cabin crew seats (there was 1 PE seat available if we wanted but we refused) after 10-15 mins up here the staff were getting concerned about the way we were being treated, in reality after 30 years of travel this was turning into a great flight seeing all the aircraft and having staff running around after us. Member of cabin staff (from Castleford) was then asked by the lady in charge to take our details and offer us something, we were offered a bottle of any drink they had, Champagne, 2 bottles of wine, anything, we opted for vodka, got a litre of Smirnoff. Eventually after about 50-60 mins we got our seats back but the senior member of staff was round a few times asking if she could get us anything, even offered us some cake, we refused. 
After the last 3-4 years of me moaning about Virgin, todays flight was totally the opposite, we saw the best of them, they could not have done anything else for us or to care for the gentleman behind us.
Immigration no problem but luggage soooooo slow. Straight out to the garage with rapid checkin and express, couldn't be any easier, everythinf done online so just hand over the keys, gave us a Chrysler Town & Country fully loaded, sat radio, dvd player, doors (and trunk) open or close with touch of a button, best bit is the reversing camera, see rear of car in full colour brilliant gadget. 
Time for bed now, MK for opening


----------



## tennisfan

Glad you had a safe flight & that they treated you well on the plane Know what you mean about the reversing cameras we have them in the newer ambulances & they are great.

Have a fab time & I look forward to the updates


----------



## disneyholic family

OMG!!  the saga continues!!  they really owe your vouchers, not a bottle of vodka....if they did it right, you'd get coupons for a big discount on your next flight...

i've never been on virgin so i'm not familiar with the plane....
when you say 'sitting at the bar' does that mean a seat without seatbelts?  like a regular bar stool.....if that's true that's actually outrageous that they had you sitting in seats like that....had there been sudden violent turbulence (as happened to me on my last flight from amsterdam) you might have been injured....
and while that could happen any time someone is by the bar, it wasn't your choice to be there..
perhaps i'm wrong and there are seatbelts there...but if not, no american airline could ever get away with the liability of a situation like that..

they really do owe you vouchers....if not a free flight, then coupons on a massive discount plus upgrade....
while it wasn't their fault that the man needed your seat, it also wasn't your fault....and you're paying passengers..

(ok...the lawyer in me will stop now)..

anyway.....definitely eventful!!!!!!!!!!!    

here's hoping that all other events on your holiday are somewhat less eventful!!  

and what?  no pictures of upper class?


----------



## Elise79

wayneg said:


> A quick post as its now 11:30pm, 4:30am UK & getting a little tired.
> 
> Eventful start to the holiday. 1st time with them for 3 years after poor flights with them. Relatives went thru gate to plane no problem but they pulled us to say we had upgrade to exit seat initially refused asked if possible to stay with relatives but they were appolgetic saying the needed our seats for special needs, we accepted to move no problem.
> Great seats, more leg room than any biz class or upper class but downside we were near toilet, this only matters at the end of movie cycle or after meal when many want to use the toilets the congregate around this area, didn't bother us but it does others(if paid extra)
> Now the fun, 30 mins into the flight elderly man behind me started being ill, after a while they decided to take his blood pressure and a few other tests but they needed to move our seats, they asked if we minded going Upto upper class and sitting at the bar for a while, hmmm let me think, go on then if I must. We sat up there about 30 mins, Karen & Matt eating all the choc squares & crisps off the bar, had a drink each (in glass) this was great until they started bringing out all the food, thankfully we had eaten in Frankie & Benny's and never intended to eat on the plane.
> Slight problem now, they were short of room and seats still not ready so they asked if we would go upstairs for a while, we sat in cabin crew seats (there was 1 PE seat available if we wanted but we refused) after 10-15 mins up here the staff were getting concerned about the way we were being treated, in reality after 30 years of travel this was turning into a great flight seeing all the aircraft and having staff running around after us. Member of cabin staff (from Castleford) was then asked by the lady in charge to take our details and offer us something, we were offered a bottle of any drink they had, Champagne, 2 bottles of wine, anything, we opted for vodka, got a litre of Smirnoff. Eventually after about 50-60 mins we got our seats back but the senior member of staff was round a few times asking if she could get us anything, even offered us some cake, we refused.
> After the last 3-4 years of me moaning about Virgin, todays flight was totally the opposite, we saw the best of them, they could not have done anything else for us or to care for the gentleman behind us.
> Immigration no problem but luggage soooooo slow. Straight out to the garage with rapid checkin and express, couldn't be any easier, everythinf done online so just hand over the keys, gave us a Chrysler Town & Country fully loaded, sat radio, dvd player, doors (and trunk) open or close with touch of a button, best bit is the reversing camera, see rear of car in full colour brilliant gadget.
> Time for bed now, MK for opening



Wow - what an eventful flight - thats even more eventful than our diversion into Sanford in May.

I have to say VA staff are the airlines biggest asset - they have always been fabulous to us and when I flew very pregnant (as in 3 weeks off the flying deadline) I had the FSM round to make sure I was being looked after by the crew.

What was it like sitting in Upper? Never seen in there myself - would like a look. 

How was you little God-daughter on the flight?

Have a great day at MK - wish I was there


----------



## UKDEB

Thanks for sending the link, buddy.  I really appreciate it as I'm sure you've got better things to do on your holiday (but don't stop doing it ).  

What an eventful flight!  Must have helped to pass the time, so I can see why you enjoyed it, but weren't there any vacant seats in UC?  I'm surprised they didn't just move you there for the rest of the flight.  Really good to know that you've had a positive experience with VA, though after a few less than stellar ones.  Incidentally, the exit seats always used to be free on the Orlando routes.  Is that no longer the case?  

[To disneyholic family:  Yes, the seats at the bar are bar stools, but it wouldn't have been difficult for them to be moved to a seat with a seatbelt if the need arose.]

Our car in March (an Infinity FX35) had one of those reversing cameras.  I want one on my car! 

Have fun at MK.  Particularly hope little Lily is blown away (not literally, you understand).


----------



## jjk

Wow what an eventful start to your trip, Have fun at MK


----------



## disneyholic family

UKDEB said:


> [To disneyholic family:  Yes, the seats at the bar are bar stools, but it wouldn't have been difficult for them to be moved to a seat with a seatbelt if the need arose.]



sudden unexpected turbulence is just that - sudden.

there is no warning to know to move them.

That is why passengers are instructed to always keep their seatbelts on while in their seats.

on my last flight from amsterdam - right in the middle of dinner - the plane suddenly fell into a very deep airpocket..
anyone who wasn't seatbelted flew up into the air....there had been absolutely no turbulence on the flight up to that point...

the pilot came racing out of the cockpit to see what the damage was...

in such a situation - anyone sitting by a bar would be thrown up into the air and back down....injury would be possible, even likely..

this is what i'm talking about....SUDDEN unexpected, turbulence...no time to move anybody anywhere as you don't know it's coming...it's SUDDEN....

having experienced that flight on KLM, i would never willingly accept an unseatbelted seat...

that virgin put them at risk that way is outrageous (obviously in my opinion) and the fact that they shuffled them about the plane is as well.....while a passenger doesn't have to know that sudden turbulence is possible, the crew certainly does....

they owe them a lot more than a bottle of booze for their trouble....

virgin if you're listening, you should give them 3 free flights...i've upped the ante from just a discount..


----------



## dixonsontour

What an eventful flight - hope the man behind you was ok in the end.

Enjoy MK!


----------



## jockey

Wow what an eventful flight, I am glad they looked after you well. I hope the gentleman who was ill recovered


----------



## PudseyChancer

Eventful start to your trip Wayne, hope you all have a lovely time, am looking forward to reading.


----------



## Cyrano

You fairly had an eventful flight, though it sounds like you were pleased with Virgin's approach.
Enjoy the res of your Hols


----------



## scottish mum

I'm late in joining in but WOW you certainly know how to make the trip very magical for you goddaughter, the invites are amazing. Hope you have a brilliant holiday and enjoy having a little one along with you


----------



## PJB71

Just caught up Wayne, and cant wait to read more about you doing disney with a little one again

We can't wait to take Connie 

Really pleased to hear Virgin looked after you so well, and cant wait for the next instalment


----------



## Mrs Doubtfire

I bet the time flew by on the flight. Hopefully the gentleman behind you was ok on arrival 

Looking forward to my daily fix


----------



## wayneg

Started day at MK. Called in to see Mickey & Minnie with just a line of a few minutes, came out of there then around to the princess line, only about 3 or 4 families in front of us, they all signed Lily's autograph book and had their pics taken. Up Main st calling off at the bakery for a cinnamon roll to go & a free cup of iced water. Up into Fantasyland Philarmagic, Small World, Pooh ride & carousel, time for lunch at the Harbor House, as good as ever.
Thru to Adventureland(Autograph & pic of Peter Pan on the way) we just did alladin ride then heat started taking its toll so we went back to OKW for a swim, Just about getting ready to leave when Mart(burt) & Nigel(DISwolves) turned up. Eventually had to leave to get ready for evening meal at Raglan Rd. 
Never really fancied Raglan Rd but menu sounded good for relatives who prefer more plain food. We decided not to take the car and have a couple of drinks, bad start to the evening about 40 minutes standing in the red hot sun waiting for a DTD bus, I don't really like buses with no wait so after 40 minutes I was not impressed epecially as it was now 6pm, the time of our reservation, and we had all around the resort to go before the journey to DTD. Got there about 25 minutes late but thankfully only 2 minutes before they had a table ready for us. 1st course, a pint of guiness, delicious. Main course we all had different, I had mixed grill, didn't look much for $28 but it was excellent and left just enough room for dessert, I asked the waiter which was the best in his opinion and he said bread & butter pudding, 3 of us went for it, probably one of the best desserts I have had in my life, none of us could eat more than half of it although we all wanted to. Raglan road was a big hit, hope Chef Mickeys is as popular tomorrow.

Harbor house lunch





Waiting for pager to go off at Raglan rd Lily turned into a pint of Guiness.





Bread





Sheperd Pie





Steak





Ham





Chicken with sauce separate and mash subbed with chips.





Childs chicken goujons & chips





Mixed grill





Strawberry & apple crumble





chocolate, chocolate & chocolate





Bread & butter pudding.





Off for some sleep now, Epcot for opening.
PS. Matt had added a few pics of the flight on his Blog.


----------



## skelfbsfb

Wayne glad you are all having a great time wish I knew you would have been at Magic today as we where also there we could have all met up.  Anyway have a great time.


----------



## disneyholic family

40 minutes waiting for the bus??!!??!!    
would the boat have been faster? i don't remember how long the boat takes...

great pictures!!

of course my favourites are the desserts!!!!!!!!  
the chocolate and bread and pudding especially!!!  yum!!!


----------



## fairytale

We had the same initial thoughts on Raglan Road but, after one visit, were hooked. 

Love the food, love the ambience, love the Bread and Butter Pudding 

Annette x


----------



## dixonsontour

Glad you liked Raglan Rd, one of our favourites esp the bread pudding.

40 mins for a bus! We didn't use the buses at OKW last trip.

Next time you go to DTD I recommend the boat from OKW, drops you off very near Raglan Rd - my young DD loved that as did we.


----------



## Cyrano

Wow 40 mins waiting for a bus 
Sounds like you had a good day at MK. Very different from your usual trips with all the character spots. I bet it is great living I through Lily's eyes


----------



## 2Tiggies

Glad you got there safe and sound.  What a flight!! It's good to hear a great review from VA again. I flew with them for years because of the onboard service which of late, I felt was slipping. Yours is the second outstanding report to Virgin's credit in a week. 

 Is the in-room cable internet connection still so slow? (I'm being hopeful here).


----------



## crabbie1

great start to the hols wayne.would type more but iphone connection not good here. fab pics


----------



## wayneg

skelfbsfb said:


> Wayne glad you are all having a great time wish I knew you would have been at Magic today as we where also there we could have all met up.  Anyway have a great time.


Shame we didn't know.



dixonsontour said:


> Glad you liked Raglan Rd, one of our favourites esp the bread pudding.
> 
> 40 mins for a bus! We didn't use the buses at OKW last trip.
> 
> Next time you go to DTD I recommend the boat from OKW, drops you off very near Raglan Rd - my young DD loved that as did we.



Was going to use the bus there as we are right next to a stop, then the boat back but a bad storm in the area closed all the boats so we had to get bus back also.

Pic of Lily 1st night we arrived, no idea how she stayed awake.


----------



## 2Tiggies

That is such a cute picture of Lily!  Has she been wide eyed in wonder at all there is to take in? It must be so different for you going with a little one in tow. You'll probably notice things you would otherwise not have seen.  Hope you're having a great day today


----------



## wayneg

2Tiggies said:


> Is the in-room cable internet connection still so slow? (I'm being hopeful here).



Almost forgot to answer, download speed 1.13Mbps, upload 0.48Mbps. For $10 a day it should be better but its usable with no problem unless Matt decides he wants to upload to Youtube, he will have to leave it uploading while we go out or sleep.


----------



## disneyholic family

Lily is adorable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i bet everyone is just eating her up!!

very interesting cultural difference in our reactions to your flight....
i read your airplane saga to several americans and each one reacted exactly as i did...
yet not a single brit here reacted that way...quite the contrary, everyone here thought virgin did a bang up job...
i always think cultural differences are so very interesting....


----------



## jesuslovesyou

disneyholic family said:


> Lily is adorable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> i bet everyone is just eating her up!!
> 
> very interesting cultural difference in our reactions to your flight....
> i read your airplane saga to several americans and each one reacted exactly as i did...
> yet not a single brit here reacted that way...quite the contrary, everyone here thought virgin did a bang up job...
> i always think cultural differences are so very interesting....



Can someone point me to Matts blog please!


----------



## madmumof2

jesuslovesyou said:


> Can someone point me to Matts blog please!



It's in the first post 

http://mathewgillings.wordpress.com/


----------



## paulh

Shame you had too wait long for the bus, we haven't waited long this time
Were on the iPad have got ourselves a wireless router from target as you cannot plug into it, for us the speed ok.
We always love the bread and butter pudding at raglan.
Your goddaughter must be loving it so far might bump into you 
Were off to poly today to do the speed boats on bay lake
Paul


----------



## jesuslovesyou

madmumof2 said:


> It's in the first post
> 
> http://mathewgillings.wordpress.com/




Thank you , and yes....











I am that dumb


----------



## paulh

Forgot to add about dinning reservation, don't worry about being late as they still keep table even if your an hour or more late
Paul


----------



## jackieleanne

Great start to the trip sounds like MK was not to busy  and you did well to get the characters with hardly any lines.

Lily is adorable.

 about the buses!


----------



## Muffin Top

Have a great time Wayne & Family......

I love, love, love all the things you made..Wish I was that clever!!!


----------



## disney_princess_85

Sounds like you're all having fun!


----------



## Tinks1984

Just caught up now Wayne & co...very eventful flight, glad you all got their safely in the end!  A great picture of Lily with the Guinness 'top' and a very cute one of her on arriving! Has it been different with a little one there for you all?

Looking forward to hearing more!  Off to read Matt's blog...


----------



## Debbyt28

paulh said:


> Shame you had too wait long for the bus, we haven't waited long this time
> Were on the iPad have got ourselves a wireless router from target as you cannot plug into it, for us the speed ok.
> We always love the bread and butter pudding at raglan.
> Your goddaughter must be loving it so far might bump into you
> Were off to poly today to do the speed boats on bay lake
> Paul



Sorry to hijack we've just bought an airport express is that easy to set up in room ???


----------



## Chilly

Glad you enjoyed Raglan Rd, we had a great meal there last year.


----------



## casinocolin

Wayne where are you located at OKW? We loved Turtle Pond when we stayed in 2010.


----------



## Elise79

wayneg said:


> Pic of Lily 1st night we arrived, no idea how she stayed awake.



Great photo - little cutie 

Chloe constantly amazes us how she stays awake when she is in Florida! (She must be fairly close to Lily in age - Chloe was 3 in June)


----------



## wayneg

paulh said:


> Forgot to add about dinning reservation, don't worry about being late as they still keep table even if your an hour or more late
> Paul


I have heard before the systems works for late arrivals


casinocolin said:


> Wayne where are you located at OKW? We loved Turtle Pond when we stayed in 2010.



We are on Millers rd again same as last year.

Too tired to post last night so decided to have early night and do it this morning
Yesterday was in Epcot for opening, did all the 3 big rides & Nemo, introduced Lily to pin trading although 1st CM wouldn't take a pin from us, she said it was too nice to give away so keep it.
Lunch at POR food court, pasta really good as was the carrot cake. Then a bit of grocery shopping while Lily slept in the car. Afternoon a couple of hours by the pool Mart's family arrived but without Mart, sounds like he can't keep up with the pace and had a sleep.
Evening at Chef Mickey's, only our 2nd day Lily is still getting used to characters, hopefully by the end of the 2 weeks she will be confident with them. CM's usual buffet food, nothing special but good enough for all to find somethinf to eat. Ham & beef both good on the carvery and a few nice mini desserts. Lily ate loads, probaby won't eat anything at breakfast now at CP, leave in 30 mins.
After CM'S we went to Poly so they could have 1st monorail ride, expected to then have a boat ride but the rains came down again Paul, Lucy & Lily decided to do a Hula dance to the music while the rain stopped.

POR food court















CM's

























Dizzyhad to be dried after the rain(even though he never got wet)





Hula (not sure how it will look, screenshot from vid)


----------



## 2Tiggies

I am loving those pictures.  That one of Matt and Lily with Goofy is adorable   I also love the one where she is standing with Minnie, with Dizzy safely between them and a reassuring hand holding hers on the other side - bless her!  She's smiling quite happily for the camera though 

I was looking at the pics of the cake slices from Riverside Mill at POR - are they serving the cake in slices there?  It looks so much nicer than the 'cups' of cake they were serving the last few years!  I'm hoping you are going to tell us that this is how the resorts are serving them as standard now ....


----------



## dixonsontour

Another good day. Lily looks very happy with the characters.

The touring style of am in park and pm chilling out then back out for the evening has worked well for us on our trips with DD aged 3 and 4.


----------



## cornish pixie

Great to here your all having a good time and love all the pics, just to let you know I can carry on with my day now I have had an update of what your all up to
Keep it coming take care and enjoy the Magic
cornish Pixie


----------



## Chilly

The photo of Matt, Lily and Goffy is adorable.


----------



## disneyholic family

if you keep feeding that bear all those desserts, he's not going to fit into his clothes!!! 

boy those desserts look YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## catherine

Looks like you're all having a really great time. I'm really enjoying the updates!


----------



## Cyrano

2Tiggies said:


> I am loving those pictures.  That one of Matt and Lily with Goofy is adorable   I also love the one where she is standing with Minnie, with Dizzy safely between them and a reassuring hand holding hers on the other side - bless her!  She's smiling quite happily for the camera though



Agree there is some excellent photos and memories coming from this trip.

Read Matt's blog post so knew that you had enjoyed rope drop at EPCOT.


----------



## skelfbsfb

Its so good reading your reports Wayne as Im having the Disney Blues as just back this morning.  Keep them coming.


----------



## disneyholic family

just caught up on Matt's blog - excellent Matt!!!

so fun to read!!


----------



## wayneg

2Tiggies said:


> I was looking at the pics of the cake slices from Riverside Mill at POR - are they serving the cake in slices there?  It looks so much nicer than the 'cups' of cake they were serving the last few years!  I'm hoping you are going to tell us that this is how the resorts are serving them as standard now ....



They still have cup cakes as well as slices of cake.

Busy day today(again) CP for breakfast into park early so got empty park, saw our friend who works in MK security. food was OK will never understand why people pay the price for it if not on DDP, $104 for 3 incl tip is crazy to me. In over a hour and still only saw 1 character, Karen had a word and 2 more were brought over immediately, Piglet never got to us but we had been in long enough.
Few hours in MK then back to room to get ready for meal at Chef De France. We all enjoyed it, seeing Remy was great. Walk around the world doing kidstops then Walgreens and back to room. 
Tomorrow AK, Mara for lunch, Drinks around the world in the evening with meal at Yorkshire County Fish Shop.

Empty MK




















CP, Mickey Waffles





Chefs De France






































































Lily enjoying a choc bun





Dizzy with France in background


----------



## jackieleanne

With all that's going on your pictures have just cheered me up.

Lily and Dizzy are adorable.

I have also been so tempted by those pictures in Chefs De France that I have just made a last minute ADR for there!  It looks lovely and this is from a very fussy eater.


----------



## Linda67

Wondeful pictures Wayne

I am really enjoying reading along 

I've just been reading Matt's blog, he is certainly a talented writer


----------



## disneyholic family

yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
the food at chefs de france looks positively scrumptious!!  

i love the empty MK pictures!!  i see there's a photopass guy in your picture - was he taking pictures in the empty park?
that's really cool if he is!!

i didn't know remy makes appearances there....i thought he'd left....

we have an ADR there but i think for dinner....i wonder if remy also works the late shift..


----------



## jockey

Great updates Wayne, looks like you are all having a good time especially lily and dizzy!! Been reading Matt's blog too its excellent


----------



## Chilly

The food looks very yummy.


----------



## Tony Toon

wayneg said:


> They still have cup cakes as well as slices of cake.
> 
> Busy day today(again) CP for breakfast into park early so got empty park, saw our friend who works in MK security. food was OK will never understand why people pay the price for it if not on DDP, $104 for 3 incl tip is crazy to me. In over a hour and still only saw 1 character, Karen had a word and 2 more were brought over imediately, Piglet never got to but we had been in long enough.



It's become a bit of a tradition for us to do a CP breakfast on our first morning.    We love being in the park before rope drop and really enjoy the food and the characters.   Must say I'm very surprised at the poor attendance by characters.   We normally take just about an hour and get to the stage that all the characters have been round twice and some of them are on their third round.   This year was no exception.   Bad luck!



jackieleanne said:


> With all that's going on your pictures have just cheered me up.
> 
> Lily and Dizzy are adorable.
> 
> I have also been so tempted by those pictures in Chefs De France that I have just made a last minute ADR for there!  It looks lovely and this is from a very fussy eater.



We made our first visit to Chefs de France this year following a recommendation by DD after her year working in WDW.   Thought it was excellent and will certainly be back.

Loving the trip report as always Wayne.   Some of the holidays we have enjoyed the most have been ones we've shared with people who haven't been before.   Lily's so lucky to have her first visit with you all.

Mrs TT


----------



## VailaTigger

Loving reading your live trippie, and Matt's blog!


----------



## mandymouse

Fab photos Wayne, loving your updates, I look forward to your next one


----------



## wayneg

jackieleanne said:


> I have also been so tempted by those pictures in Chefs De France that I have just made a last minute ADR for there!  It looks lovely and this is from a very fussy eater.


Lily's mum, Lucy is really fussy with eating, basically lives on chicken and chips, doesn't like any other form of potato, rice, pasta or any sauce, both Raglan road & Chef De France have altered the dishes no problem, if you don't see anything you fancy just ask.


disneyholic family said:


> yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
> the food at chefs de france looks positively scrumptious!!
> 
> i love the empty MK pictures!!  i see there's a photopass guy in your picture - was he taking pictures in the empty park?
> that's really cool if he is!!
> 
> i didn't know remy makes appearances there....i thought he'd left....
> 
> we have an ADR there but i think for dinner....i wonder if remy also works the late shift..


All the photopass cameras were there all down Mainstreet stood waiting for everyone to arrive.


Chilly said:


> The food looks very yummy.


Can't complain so far.

Thanks for all comments on Matt's blog, he enjoys his writing a lot, even more when people read it. He got 393 people read it a couple of days ago, a record for him. Only problem with having a Son that understands English is he complains about everything I write, just moaned about last nights post.


----------



## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> Thanks for all comments on Matt's blog, he enjoys his writing a lot, even more when people read it. He got 393 people read it a couple of days ago, a record for him. Only problem with having a Son that understands English is he complains about everything I write, just moaned about last nights post.



hey, Matt - i LOVE your Dad's posts!!! your Dad is the God of live trip reports!!!!!
leave the old man alone!!  

i should add that i'm really enjoying your blog Matt (as i wrote a few posts ago)


----------



## fairytale

Hey Wayne, loving the TR. Its like getting second helpings with matt's also Thank you both.

Can I ask, how are the crowds. We will be there this time next year up to the 2nd September and I'm just trying to gage how bad it will be for us having been spoilt with October Holidays for the past few years.

Happy Holidays

Annette x


----------



## Pegasus928

Just caught up on this and it looks like you have been having a fantastic time - especially Lilly and Dizzy 
Pleased to hear that Virgin pulled out all the stops for you - we have never had a bad trip with them yet and have always got top marks from us for customer service so it's nice to hear others getting the same.
Looking forward to more updates - when you get the time of course


----------



## Cyrano

Up to page 11 already on the TR. This could be the best thread yet Wayne 

I agree about the character meals at WDW. Ours would be very disappointed with the limited character choices. Chef de France on the otherhand looks an inspired choice


----------



## wayneg

fairytale said:


> Hey Wayne, loving the TR. Its like getting second helpings with matt's also Thank you both.
> 
> Can I ask, how are the crowds. We will be there this time next year up to the 2nd September and I'm just trying to gage how bad it will be for us having been spoilt with October Holidays for the past few years.
> 
> Happy Holidays
> 
> Annette x



We have been at rope drop each morning then staying about 4 hours leaving around 1pm, no problems at all with crowds, last ride we did today was Dinosaur in AK, walk on at about 12:30pm. With having Lily we have stood longer in character meet & greet lines than any ride. Longest I think I have seen is Splash Mountain at around 30 mins yesterday but we had fast pass with less than 5 min line.
Just come back for a shower and get changed for drinks around the world this evening but we have had constant rain for a few hours now, not looking good out there.


----------



## dixonsontour

Enjoy your evening


----------



## skelfbsfb

Would love to be there to witness the rain


----------



## paulh

wayneg said:


> Just come back for a shower and get changed for drinks around the world this evening but we have had constant rain for a few hours now, not looking good out there.



Hope it's stays dry for your drinks around the world, looks like it will stay dull but the rain might stay away late in the evening 
Forecast pretty much the same for tomorrow but nice and sunny on Thursday 
Were just having pizza and beers at the quiet pool at the beach club tonight,
If your close by pop in for a tin
Paul


----------



## sandshal

"constant rain" tell me about it Wayne!  Made the trip over to Busch today, arrived at 9.45 and it was hammering down.  Cheetah hunt finally opened at 11.00 then right after the boys had their ride rain stopped play for the rest of the day ...... Absolutely nothing was running so we gave up and came away at 4.30 ....... Didn't even get a chance to use my child swap card, Disaster!


----------



## alibeau

Loving your TR Wayne 

Yep wet wet wet today!  and so we have had a very productive days shopping  Seems to be lots of new shops at the mall at the top of I Drive  (can never remember the names of the malls!!).....

On a brill note, we can see the Disney fireworks (wishes?) from our villa pool 

We have just been chilling for the first few days of our hol, not in any hurry to do the parks yet but pencilled in AK for Thursday 

Not too sad about the rain, providing we get to see some sunshine at some point that is!!! Our girls are enjoying the pool even in the rain 

Enjoy your hols everyone 

Ali


----------



## wayneg

Just got in from drinks around the world, absolutely fantastic night, had a few drinks starting in Canada, Fish & chilps with fireworks in UK, oh and and drink, onto France, another drink lol. All the way around to Mexico for the final one. Thankfully no early start tomorrow, will update with pics ASAP(when sober)


----------



## disneyholic family

hi Wayne!!!

oh..maybe i should keep my voice down....hangover and all....


----------



## jockey

wayneg said:


> Just got in from drinks around the world, absolutely fantastic night, had a few drinks starting in Canada, Fish & chilps with fireworks in UK, oh and and drink, onto France, another drink lol. All the way around to Mexico for the final one. Thankfully no early start tomorrow, will update with pics ASAP(when sober)



Will look forward to it !


----------



## wayneg

disneyholic family said:


> hi Wayne!!!
> 
> oh..maybe i should keep my voice down....hangover and all....



Just woke, not feeling great, going to make a strong coffee.


----------



## cornish pixie

Morning Wayne and crew sounds like you had a good day and night
Anyway hope you continue to have fun and look forward to hearing more. Were on countdown now sail on the Magic on the 20th
By the way thank Matt as well his blog is brill
Take Care
Cornish Pixie


----------



## dixonsontour

wayneg said:


> Just woke, not feeling great, going to make a strong coffee.



At least you are in a studio with a coffee pot and don't have to trek to the food court for some


----------



## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> Just woke, not feeling great, going to make a strong coffee.



i think there's a sermon in there somewhere..


----------



## Pegasus928

I do hope you aren't corrupting Dizzy Wayne.
I can't afford the upkeep of an alcoholic bear


----------



## Netty

Great trip report Wayne and fantastic photos!!


----------



## Elise79

Pegasus928 said:


> I do hope you aren't corrupting Dizzy Wayne.
> I can't afford the upkeep of an alcoholic bear



I hope for your sake Matt was in charge of him last night


----------



## Cyrano

Read Matt's blog where he was predicting a sore head 
Sounds like you had a good night


----------



## 2Tiggies

Pegasus928 said:


> I do hope you aren't corrupting Dizzy Wayne.
> I can't afford the upkeep of an alcoholic bear



  Not only would it be costly, but there are few things worse than a bear with a sore head


----------



## jen_uk

Great to see you and everyone else at the Dismeet tonight   Thanks for the directions, the good news is that we made it back to the hotel ok, the bad news is that we never found Walmart!  We had an exciting diversion past Seaworld and at one point ended up down someones driveway, we then got lost again and ended up back at Downtown Disney and then decided to give up!!!


----------



## wayneg

Another quick post to say DISmeet was a great evening, thank you to everyone who came. Now almost 1am and have to be up at 7am for Seaworld, will try get time tomorrow to post pics and update last 2 days.

No idea where you went wrong Jen. You must have turned off to Seaworld before Walmart.


----------



## jackieleanne

Loving this trip report hope you have recovered from your sore head.


----------



## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> Another quick post to say DISmeet was a great evening, thank you to everyone who came. Now almost 1am and have to be up at 7am for Seaworld, will try get time tomorrow to post pics and update last 2 days.
> 
> No idea where you went wrong Jen. You must have turned off to Seaworld before Walmart.



this is worse than a hangover!!  no Wayne update!!!    

fortunately, we have the magnificent Matt to save us from withdrawal!!


----------



## Elise79

disneyholic family said:


> this is worse than a hangover!!  no Wayne update!!!
> 
> fortunately, we have the magnificent Matt to save us from withdrawal!!



I'll second that


----------



## Floridian Princess

Love your live report our two loved meeting Remy last year in Chefs de France


----------



## Nubbedy

Great stuff Wayne, what a lot you have managed to fit in so far. As I commented on Matt's blog (which is great by the way), it's lovely to see you experiencing a different type of Disney holiday through the eyes of Lily. What a cutie she is! As we are normally in WDW in August, but this year are at home, then I will look forward to your updates and 'sharing' your holiday with you!


----------



## tennisfan

Sounds like you are all having a fab holiday.  Thanks for the updates.  Seeing the photo of the towel animal with Lily reminded me of my mum & dad who have just come back from a cruise with RCL & the housekeeping lady spent an hour with my mum on the last evening showing her how to make them


----------



## Linda67

Sounds like you are all having an absolute blast

It's raining in London today and I could really do with some Florida sunshine so looking forward to the next installment


----------



## crabbie1

Cant sleep after my first night so hvg a catch up. Makes me really wish I had booked earlier. Going 14 months without a disney fix is hard. Amazing pucs of raglan road. Looks small but very rich and filling. I bet its magical seeing it all through a 3 year olds eyes. So innocent and magical. We hv 2 gillings for the price if one now. Two great reports. You two hvg a competitionKeep it coming.


----------



## UKDEB

Just checking in to say I _am_ reading and very much enjoying everything, particularly the photos, so thanks for continuing to send the links. 

We've only been to CP once and that was for breakfast on younger dd's 11th birthday.  She'll be 24 this October!  Anyway, despite what you say about the cost, I'm thinking a return trip might be in order just for the pleasure of that empty park.  Ditto Chefs de France (which isn't my favourite place) just for the Remy encounter!  

Love the photos of Dizzy with France in the background.  Oh, and ALL the photos of Lily.  What a poppet she is.

Can't wait to read about Drinks Around The World. 

Off to catch up with Matt's blog...


----------



## wayneg

Thankfully having Matt's blog it's not as important for me to keep upto date, not as easy this year with the early starts.

Tuesday morning we spent in AK, another wet day, Lily seemed to really like the Lion King show & safari. She was also starting to get more confident with the characters. For lunch we had a 2 min drive around to AKL to eat in Mara.

I lent Dizzy a hat for the safari.







Chick Pita, coffee & cheese cake, Zebra domes & cheesecake





No swim today as it was constant rain, we were undecided about the drinks around the world, waited until last minute and it looked like it was brightening up so we went ahead, turned out to be a nice evening, just drank too many beers we ate at Yorkshire County Fish shop UK, really nice this year.





Mart(burt) Nigel(DISwolves) with Dizzy.





He tried my beer but didn't like it, more for me.





Helped Nigel eat in Norway.





A few went on Test track to end the evening.

Yesterday a bit of a sleep in, went to the Studios, saw new Lights Motors Action with Lightening McQueen, preffered it with Herbie, just felt like a Cars 2 advert in the middle of the show.

Off for a swim now, will try get another 10 mins later for more.


----------



## dixonsontour

Thanks for the update - looks like a good night was had by all!


----------



## disneyholic family

great pictures Wayne!!!! thanks for taking the time to upload them


----------



## wayneg

Back from a swim, red hot out there today. 
A few pics from the Studios incl lunch at ABC. 





















DISmeet in the evening.
Matt & Lily





Matt, Lily & Nigel





Li-sa & husband





Jen_UK & Alex to the right










loobzuk(Louise) in white with DH Jeff, Fozzie Bear(Steve) sat down with Mart.





Carl(dynamite100) DS Lewis, Jen (Scrap Vamp) & Carl










In a rush to get to Yachtsman now so no time to add rest of names, you should be able to work out from the meet thread
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2621880


----------



## cornish pixie

Enjoy the yahtsman , Thanks for catching up with us all keep enjoying the magic and ohh if only Dizzy could talk I bet he could tell us a tale or two re drinks around the world 
Take Care
Cornish pixie


----------



## jackieleanne

Great pictures.  Love the ones of Dizzy around the world. 

Lily is adorable.


----------



## disneyholic family

great pictures!!!!


----------



## jjk

great Pictures, I especially like Alex's choice of t shirt


----------



## Linda67

Wonderful photos Wayne


----------



## Pegasus928

Some great pictures - and it is good to see that Dizzy is having such a great time and meeting lots of new people 

Have you managed to bump into Beth yet?


----------



## jockey

Great pics Wayne. Have been keeping up with Mathews blog too its great


----------



## wayneg

Pegasus928 said:


> Have you managed to bump into Beth yet?



No
Had a look for her in the Studios the other day. She never turned up to the meet.

Before the DISmeet we ate at wulfgang Puck express, as good as ever. My Salmon was fantastic for a CS credit.









































Yesterday was Seaworld in the morning, saw the rays, fed the dolphins, watched the Blue Horizons show, rode Kraken, into the penguins, sealions, around to Dolphin nursery and out for lunch at POFQ,
myself & Matt shared a massive pizza, not often we eat pizza but this one was really nice.
Pic of flamingo nibbling my arm.




















Dinner at Yachtsman, there was a recent thread about dress code, I said last year it was a little more dressy but we ate later, this year an early meal (5:50pm) and it was totally the opposite, very few dressed up, most in shorts & Tshirts.
Service last year was exceptional, this year still good but it was never going to be as good as last time. As for the food, bread with butter and garlic, so good I asked for another basket, steaks fantastic, so tasty paprika fries delicious( I made a mini chip butty) If I could have ths steak with Raglan road bread & butter pud I think that is close to my perfect meal. Desserts were OK but not my sort of thing, Karen 
& Matt's looked better than mine.


----------



## disneyholic family

Wayne, those desserts looks yummy!!
happy anniversary by the way!!!

i can't believe the salmon at WPE - i'm going to have to try to get us over there....amazing looking CS meal!!!


----------



## Tink2312

Sounds like you're all having a great time! I didn't care for the Yachtsman desserts either so I had a cheese platter instead - that was delicious!
Will definitely be making the trip this Christmas for some beneignets (sp) from POFQ as I can see in your photo - not managed to try them yet.


----------



## jackieleanne

Great pictures food looks good. 

Love the Flamingo pic. 

Happy Anniversary to you and Karen.


----------



## jtlover

Lovely photo of you and Karen.

Also lovely photos of Matt and Lili 

What date do you depart on the Dream as we keep watching webcam for the the dream departures?


----------



## juliebro

Just catching up.

Great trip report, Wayne!

Seen the photo of the mixed grill. Not like the ones served here in Lancashire!Are you sure it wasn't just a kebab??


----------



## jockey

Great report


----------



## katiec

I agree - loving the trippie 

Katie x


----------



## wayneg

Yesterday (Friday) we spent a couple of hours in Typhoon Lagoon before going for lunch with friend who work at Disney. Ate at POR, same meals as before so didn't bother with pics. After lunch our friend was going to Cast Connection so invited us along, its 2 shops where CM can buy things from  the parks/resorts at a discount. Last time we were allowed in both shops, now one is CM's only. Still good to look around as well as groceries & merchandise they sell off old stuff like old pictures, office equipment, props etc. Matt bought a DCL ice bucket for $2. Matt also took a few pics as we passed buildings not usually seen.















Evening meal was at Sanaa, a place we have booked twice and cancelled twice after hearing bad reviews, 3rd time lucky. We decided to make up our our mind and so glad we did, I have no idea how spicy people like their food but we have been eating curry's for years and we found some of the food very spicy, especially the Spicy Durban Chicken, it had a real kick with it.
I don't think you should try compare with a UK curry house, its totally different food, we found some spicy some not so spicy but still full of flavour.
Myself and Paul went for starters, Paul had Lamb Kefta Kabobs - with mint chutney, I love scallops so had those, Mustard Seed-crusted Scallops - with a Coconut Cream Sauce. Main course they had wild alaskan salmon with Shrimp & Scallops, even though I should have gone with something more in keeping with the theme of the restaurant I couldn't resist.
The totals if paying OOP were the lowest of any meal we have eaten onsite yet one of the best meals we have ever had, highly recommend eating here.


----------



## Keith Ward

We have been to Disney a few times now and are going again in Sept but I don't think the portions are huge or any more tastier for the price compared to a nice restaurant here in the UK.


----------



## Keith Ward

But to add,we do love Disney and wouldn't holiday anywhere else if we had the choice


----------



## crabbie1

Great reports and pcs wayne. I am so tempted to book Saana but staying at AKL we may just leave it till we get there. LOve the pic of matt and lily.So cute.Glad to see dizzy is enjoying himself. He will need some new clothes if he carrys on eating so much by the time we take him


----------



## disneyholic family

interesting pictures!!!


and now my time has come -  after eons of planning, the day has arrived....
so hard to believe!!!

gotta go get some shut eye....tomorrow we fly...and fly....and fly....and fly....

i'm really looking forward to meeting you all!!!!!!


----------



## fairytale

disneyholic family said:


> interesting pictures!!!
> 
> 
> and now my time has come -  after eons of planning, the day has arrived....
> so hard to believe!!!
> 
> gotta go get some shut eye....tomorrow we fly...and fly....and fly....and fly....
> 
> i'm really looking forward to meeting you all!!!!!!



Have a great holiday Beth

Annette x


----------



## Pootle

I'm late to this party (had a very busy life lately!) .... but will read Matt's blog asap.  I hope you all continue to have a really good time. Love to you all


----------



## disneyholic family

fairytale said:


> Have a great holiday Beth
> 
> Annette x



thanks!!  turning off the computer now....


----------



## crabbie1

disneyholic family said:


> thanks!!  turning off the computer now....



ohh beth just missed you. have a fabbbbbbb holiday.hope all goes to plan


----------



## catherine

disneyholic family said:


> interesting pictures!!!
> 
> 
> and now my time has come -  after eons of planning, the day has arrived....
> so hard to believe!!!
> 
> gotta go get some shut eye....tomorrow we fly...and fly....and fly....and fly....
> 
> i'm really looking forward to meeting you all!!!!!!



Have a safe flight and a wonderful trip!


----------



## catherine

Great photos Wayne!  Really enjoying the great TR. Thanks for posting!


----------



## madmumof2

wayneg said:


> Evening meal was at Sanaa, a place we have booked twice and cancelled twice after hearing bad reviews, 3rd time lucky. We decided to make up our our mind and so glad we did, I have no idea how spicy people like their food but we have been eating curry's for years and we found some of the food very spicy, especially the Spicy Durban Chicken, it had a real kick with it.
> I don't think you should try compare with a UK curry house, its totally different food, we found some spicy some not so spicy but still full of flavour.
> Myself and Paul went for starters, Paul had Lamb Kefta Kabobs - with mint chutney, I love scallops so had those, Mustard Seed-crusted Scallops - with a Coconut Cream Sauce. Main course they had wild alaskan salmon with Shrimp & Scallops, even though I should have gone with something more in keeping with the theme of the restaurant I couldn't resist.
> The totals if paying OOP were the lowest of any meal we have eaten onsite yet one of the best meals we have ever had, highly recommend eating here.



Wayne, are there lots of options for non spicy food as well?  My OH LOVES his spice but he's the only one! 

This looks prefect for a family with one who loves hot food and 1 adult and two kids who don't!  And we LOVE salmon too


----------



## Cyrano

The meal at Sanaa sounded delicious. Curry does not seem to be something that is popular in Orlando. The CM told us when we had curry at ABC Commisary that it was very hot. It was nice but not that spicy hot


----------



## wayneg

madmumof2 said:


> Wayne, are there lots of options for non spicy food as well?  My OH LOVES his spice but he's the only one!
> 
> This looks prefect for a family with one who loves hot food and 1 adult and two kids who don't!  And we LOVE salmon too



I only noticed fish or steak, lily had plain grilled chicken & rice, not a massive choice but I didn't really look. 

Will try update later today, had busy couple of days, fell asleep typing last night after a 4am start with balloon ride.


----------



## jtlover

Sounds like you are having a fab holiday - cant wait to hear more.


----------



## wayneg

Just try catch up a little, I will need a holiday after this trip its so hectic

After Sanaa on Fri evening we went to Old Town but we were a little early for the car parade so we nipped into Celebration. Enjoyed walking around, Matt & Paul listened in on a police officer talking about(and showing) the guns he carries in his trunk.

Saturday was Busch Gardens, still my favourite park, its probably on a par with MK(if not better) for things to do with a 3 year old, better animal exhibits than AK, more coasters than IOA. BG just has everything for me.










































Lunch at zambia Smokehouse. Always eat too much here


----------



## wayneg

After Busch we ate at Garden Grill, Character interaction here still as good as last year, they never seem in a rush like everywhere else. Food is not to everyones liking but I love it, the steak/beef was delicious, ate far more than I should have.


----------



## cornish pixie

Hi Wayne love your photos you all look like your having fun : )
Have been keeping up with Matts Blog which is Brill you and your wife  must be very proud of him . Anyway like I said on Matts Blog Busch garden is not a fav of ours even though we have only been Once !! I think perhaps we should give it another go especially seeing the girls love rollar coasters !!
Hope you manage to relax a little when are you on the Dream ?
Take Care
Tracey


----------



## dixonsontour

Great pics again - balloon flight looked like a fantastic experience


----------



## Chilly

Such cute photos.


----------



## Ware Bears

Enjoyed reading this - what a little sweetie your goddaughter is.


----------



## Linda67

Great photos Wayne

You are certainly packing a lot into your trip


----------



## london75

Hi Wayne, saw you last night in MK probably about 8pm, we're rubbish and were too shy to say hello.  That's just us!  Besides you were waiting for family at the toilets so it felt a bit weird.

Wasn't it a really nice evening, great weather, perfect for the electrical parade and fireworks.


----------



## dixonsontour

london75 said:


> Hi Wayne, saw you last night in MK probably about 8pm, we're rubbish and were too shy to say hello.  That's just us!  Besides you were waiting for family at the toilets so it felt a bit weird.
> 
> Wasn't it a really nice evening, great weather, perfect for the electrical parade and fireworks.



Oh you should have said hi and had a mini dis meet.

How are you doing with your recovery and how is your wife coping with the driving?


----------



## princess jackson

Loving the report, pictures are great


----------



## Cyrano

Enjoying the double helping of Matt's blog and your TR Wayne. 

I like the look of Garden Grill too. Definitely looks one of the quieter character meal spots.



wayneg said:


>



Great photo of Matt and Lily


----------



## joolz1910

Love the fact that you made a chip butty - you can't beat them can you? Looks like you are having a great time.


----------



## london75

dixonsontour said:


> Oh you should have said hi and had a mini dis meet.
> 
> How are you doing with your recovery and how is your wife coping with the driving?



I'm feeling a lot better, nothing like Florida sun to fix things. To be honest i was in desparate need of getting from A to B just before the holiday and there were no public transport options so I drove. It was so easy I've been driving ever since. Still really glad we used caronthedrive though, the airport was a lot less hassle and felt less rushed.


----------



## wayneg

london75 said:


> Hi Wayne, saw you last night in MK probably about 8pm, we're rubbish and were too shy to say hello.  That's just us!  Besides you were waiting for family at the toilets so it felt a bit weird.


I wish you had said hello but I was exactly same as you a few years ago so fully understand how you feel. 
Please try and say something if you spot me again.  


Cyrano said:


> Enjoying the double helping of Matt's blog and your TR Wayne.
> 
> I like the look of Garden Grill too. Definitely looks one of the quieter character meal spots.
> 
> Great photo of Matt and Lily


Because of the way the restaurant is built in a circle it feels very personal, they have plenty of time to interact, no rushing like other places.

Lily wants Matt to do everything, push the stroller, hold her hand, sit next to her, carry her....... so we have lots of good pics of them together.

Sunday morning started really early @ 4:15am to do our hot air balloon ride. We met in a hotel we had stayed in a few years back Radisson parkway off hwy 192. The drove us about 7-8 miles SW knowing the winds were going NE, the launch site was thru Champions gate and out the other side but I was totally lost, they have an arrangement with a biker land owner down there, they can use his land in return for crates of beer and gasoline. A few pics, we all really enjoyed the experience, including dizzy(pilot was asking if he could be Dizzy's facebook friend for free advertising)











Is that a hidden Mickey sun?





View of the Disney area in the distance, Swan & Dolphin, Epcot & Everest all stand out.










Lunch at POR, I had salad knowing we were eating early at Mama Melrose.










Afternoon into the Studios to catch the parade, 10 times better than the Block party, we never liked that one.


----------



## wayneg

Evening met Mart, Nigel & families at Mama Melrose, 14 of us, almost 40 min wait for a table, really busy.























































After the meal we went on ToT a couple of times(we are all on the right with hands up)





We then raced around to Fantasmic, got there about 15 mins to the start.





Trying to catch up, only yesterday and today to do now but we are getting ready for Hoop, no doubt too many drinks to post tonight


----------



## skelfbsfb

Loving the report Wayne, wish I was there. Roll on next year


----------



## amacspad

Hi Wayne and gang! Can't wait to hear about the Hoop, we are booked for the first time, hope u can post some pics when u hav sobered up lol! We leave next tues, cant wait! 

Debs xxxxxxx


----------



## Pegasus928

Great pics Wayne.
I will have to check Dizzys facebook to see if he had a freind request from a balloon pilot


----------



## wayneg

amacspad said:


> Hi Wayne and gang! Can't wait to hear about the Hoop, we are booked for the first time, hope u can post some pics when u hav sobered up lol! We leave next tues, cant wait!
> 
> Debs xxxxxxx



I really need to sober up before I check out the pics and post, another great Hoop night. 
It started off badly, outside a little chaotic compared to other years, then when we got it (upstairs tables)n we were sat 6+6+2, I started re-arranging to 6+8 our server Gloria did not approve, she said "I have been working here 32 years and we know how the tables work best" no way was I accepting 2 of us sitting alone so I said if it does't work I will put it back. It worked perfectly but I think Gloria was a bit put out, 20 mins into the evening before drinks started to arrive for some of our party. At this point I was thinking where is the manager, but I think Gloria got the message that we liked a drink or 3 when we asked for pitchers instead of glasses and keep them flowing. After getting off on the wrong foot with her she was not a bad server, just not as good as previous years, I am sure she appreciated the $107 tip from us but glad to see the back of us.
Better go sober up now to take Matt to the Orlando Sentinel tomorrow.


----------



## Linda67

Really looking forward to your Hoop photos

Hope your head feels OK this morning


----------



## disneyholic family

we're here in mouseland!!

arrived on monday - with an epic story to tell of changing planes in kennedy airport......but i'll write it up when we get back hom..

bottom line is we all miraculously made it to orlando on monday as planned!!!

first night at MK for an hour - just to get our APs and see wishes

then yesterday a full day at the AK - FABULOUS!!!!!!!

great lunch at yak and yeti 

and we got to see the daughter of my best friend from university..

she's a special friend of pluto (also eeyore)..

last night was DTD and then an hour at Disneyquest (it closed at 10, thus the short time)....had a lot of fun as always!!

today is MK - time to catch the bus!!


----------



## disney_princess_85

Looking forward to your HDDR pics! I've just booked this as a surprise for Andrew.


----------



## dixonsontour

disneyholic family said:


> we're here in mouseland!!
> 
> arrived on monday - with an epic story to tell of changing planes in kennedy airport......but i'll write it up when we get back hom..
> 
> bottom line is we all miraculously made it to orlando on monday as planned!!!
> 
> first night at MK for an hour - just to get our APs and see wishes
> 
> then yesterday a full day at the AK - FABULOUS!!!!!!!
> 
> great lunch at yak and yeti
> 
> and we got to see the daughter of my best friend from university..
> 
> she's a special friend of pluto (also eeyore)..
> 
> last night was DTD and then an hour at Disneyquest (it closed at 10, thus the short time)....had a lot of fun as always!!
> 
> today is MK - time to catch the bus!!



Glad you all made it - have a great trip


----------



## wayneg

Monday a steady day, pool in the morning, MK in the afternoon to catch the parade.
Evening meal we had Lily at Kona Cafe so Paul & Lucy could have a meal alone for their Anniversary at Captains Grill, we gave them $21 Disney Dollars($1 to keep if they wanted) to get a drink each.

Kona Cafe was very nice food again just slight tweaks on the menu from last year. Only problem was a bad server, she was wanting to bring out desserts before we had all finished our main course, slow with drink refills and brought the bill with the dessert, worst of all a guide to tipping, that did it, instead of the $20 suggested I left $5, 1st bad service this trip, she was not interested in serving us just wanted us out and get her tip.

We all met up in MK after our meals, did quite a lot while the parade was on and short lines.
I agreed to do the teacups, I will go on any coaster in the world without fear but teacups I cannot handle, Matt spun it so fast I came off feeling ill.

Kona Cafe


----------



## Pegasus928

Nice to hear of someone rewarding service with the tip it deserves. All to often we just pay what is suggested and move on - myself included - so good for you 
I am also with you on the teacups - only I would never have given in and gone on them. Not a chance. No way. 
And finally Dizzy still looks to be enjoying himself - though I am getting a little concerned that he hasn't changed his shirt yet   I hope he isn't begining to smell at all.


----------



## misspickle

great pics wayne, really enjoying reading your report


----------



## janeyb

Great trip report Wayne, good for you regarding the tip!

We have never eaten at the Kona and may well give it a try on our next trip - just as long as we don't get the same server as you, although if she gets another $5 tip she may start to get the message!

I hope Matt enjoted his time at the Orlando Sentinel. looking forward to reading about it on his blog.


----------



## Nubbedy

Glad to see everything is still going well - the balloon flight looked good, and the 'Hidden Mickey sun' is fab, and I can actually see it!

Off to catch up with Matt's blog now


----------



## wayneg

Just a quick post as its 5:30am here, Matt could not sleep due to AS level exam results so we just rang to get them. Now none of us can sleep.
He took 5 exams 
Critical Thinking C
English Lit B
English Language A
Sociology A
Psychology A

The last 3 are what he is continuing onto A level next year so he is very happy right now.

Kenny, Dizzy has different clothes on right now but camera seems to be catching him in that shirt all the time.


----------



## Marl

*WELL DONE MATT* fantastic AS level results! 

Also wanted to say, I am really enjoying this report and Matt's blog.
I also hate the spinning teacups, the Cat in a Hat ride at IOA has the same effect on me too


----------



## Chilly

Well Done Matt 

What's Critical Thinking, i've not heard of that subject before?


----------



## cazzie

Well done Matt


----------



## dixonsontour

Chilly said:


> Well Done Matt
> 
> What's Critical Thinking, i've not heard of that subject before?



Is it what was general studies???

Well done Matt.


----------



## dixonsontour

Pegasus928 said:


> Nice to hear of someone rewarding service with the tip it deserves. All to often we just pay what is suggested and move on - myself included - so good for you
> I am also with you on the teacups - only I would never have given in and gone on them. Not a chance. No way.
> And finally Dizzy still looks to be enjoying himself - though I am getting a little concerned that he hasn't changed his shirt yet   I hope he isn't begining to smell at all.



Maybe Dizzy has been using the free washers and dryers by the pool whilst everyone else has a swim!


----------



## wayneg

Tuesday, shopping day. Matt got new shoes from Clarks, trainers from Converse, I got a couple of shirts from the Disney outlet store. Lunch at WPE again then out to get Matt some sunglasses before going back to room to get ready for Hoop Dee Doo Review.










Lily enjoying the Corn bread, her and Mart ate so much we had to order more.





Everyone seemed to have a good night.




























































On the bus back to OKW, Lily started another sing song, almost all the bus singing.





End of the evening a group shot back at Millers Rd station.





Edit, Kenny note the clothes


----------



## dixonsontour

Looks like a great night was had by all


----------



## crabbie1

Great pics of everyone.Everyone is smiling. 
Well done Matt
Just off to read your lastest on the blogg.Want to know how the sentinel visit went.


----------



## Cyrano

Looks like you all had a fun time at Hoop De Hoop Revue


----------



## katiec

Looks like everyone is having a fab time 

Loving the TR Wayne - thanks for taking precious holiday time to do it 

Katie x


----------



## Sapper383

Looks like you had a great time at Hoop de doo, can't wait to go next month

Well done Matt, fab news


----------



## Chilly

brilliant photos from the hoop de doo, looks like loads of fun


----------



## happyj

Well done Matt.


----------



## amacspad

Hi Wayne, thank you for the fab pics of the hoop de doo, luks great and can't wait to go! Big well done to matt, you must all be made up, now you all can really relax and enjoy the rest of your hols! 

<a href="http://distickers.com/ticker/"><img src="http://distickers.com/ticker/tickers/siwyq8nrw2ifoyj8.png" alt="DIStickers.com Ticker" border="0"/></a>

Debs xxx


----------



## cliveywolves

Well done Matt, :0)
See you at the DIS meet next week.


----------



## Pegasus928

First - and most important - well done to Matt for his exam results. Must be a huge weight off your mind and you can now start to enjoy your holiday to its fullest 
And yes Wayne - I did notice Dizzys clothes   You've made me feel like a nagging Mum now 

Looks like you all had a fab time at the review, must put that on my ever growing list of things to do for the next time we go.
Looking forward to the next installment


----------



## wayneg

Next morning we were all going seperate ways, Karen, Lucy & Lily went off on the bus to MK, I drove Matt to the Orlando Sentinel, Downtown Orlando then dropped Paul off at the Florida Mall to do some shopping, he is the only shopper amongst us. I then went to MK to join the others and wait for texts to collect Matt & Paul.
Probably best leaving Matt to post all the details of his trip to the Sentinel, he is just typing his blog now. 
The editor who arranged his visit lined up a full morning meeting reporters & editors, she bought him lunch and came out to meet me when I collected Matt around 2pm. 
Matt met Dewayne Bevil, I think he wants his job, Dewayne spends 3 days a week in the theme parks for a living, combined with writing would be Matt's perfect job. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/orl-bevil-columnist,0,99422.columnist
On the way back down we collected Paul but while we were there Matt went in and bought himself an Ipad 2. 
Back to OKW to get ready for evening meal at Akershus, Norway.
Wasn't too sure about this meal, turned out to be really nice, although a little rushed, First we got 2 photo's with Belle at the entrance, the meal is an entree & dessert brought to the table but also a cold meat, salad & seafood buffet. Everytime we tried to goto the buffet another princess came around. By the time we had seen the 4 princesses our entree had arrived, we all enjoyed those but then the server(earning her ears) wanted to bring the dessert. I told her no, it was time for the buffet. I then went and got a really nice plate of seafood. I asked for a drink which she forgot so asked again, Karen and Matt said I was abrupt but I had seen her more interested in preparing the bill than bringing my drink. I am sure she will get a lot worse than me to deal with, at least she got her 18% off me. If she was not earning her ears I might have had words.
This was a meal we did for Lily but really glad we experienced it, its very good value for 1 credit seeing 5 princesses & getting a photo included(2 for us a party of 6)


----------



## jtlover

Great photos Wayne

Do you mind me asking which Ipad 2 Matt bought and are they a lot cheaper than here?  Looking to buy one myself in October.


----------



## Linda67

Another fantastic update

Great to see so many smiling faces at the HDDR 

Congratulations to Matt on his excellent exam results; I am off to read his blog now


----------



## wayneg

jtlover said:


> Great photos Wayne
> 
> Do you mind me asking which Ipad 2 Matt bought and are they a lot cheaper than here?  Looking to buy one myself in October.



He got the mid sized one, 32gb Wifi. $637.94 which worked out at £386.16, a saving of £93 on UK price of £479. The wifi version prices are $499(16gb), $599(32gb) & $699(64gb) all +6.5% tax.


----------



## Scrap_Vamp

Can't believe I've been back a week and am only just catching up!  Have just sat and read the thread from the beginning and now need to go and read Matt's blog.

Big congratulations to Matt on those results   I was in school for results day yesterday (first time for three years!) so it is great to hear success stories.

Looking forward to reading about the rest of the trip


----------



## cliveywolves

wayneg said:


> He got the mid sized one, 32gb Wifi. $637.94 which worked out at £386.16, a saving of £93 on UK price of £479. The wifi version prices are $499(16gb), $599(32gb) & $699(64gb) all +6.5% tax.



I was going to buy an ipad 2 when we get over there later this month, untill I got a call from vodafone last week, I dont know if this offer is avaliable to everybody but they offered me, ipad 2 16GB 3g & wifi for FREE yes £0, with a 24mth contract @ £22.40 for the data plan etc. I went for this as i didnt have to lump out £400 up front and it also comes with 3g and data bundle which I wouldnt of got by buying one from the US.


----------



## alibeau

Congrats to Matt on his results, great news 

Love reading your updates and piccies are fab too 

Ali


----------



## jtlover

wayneg said:


> Just a quick post as its 5:30am here, Matt could not sleep due to AS level exam results so we just rang to get them. Now none of us can sleep.
> He took 5 exams
> Critical Thinking C
> English Lit B
> English Language A
> Sociology A
> Psychology A
> 
> The last 3 are what he is continuing onto A level next year so he is very happy right now.
> 
> Kenny, Dizzy has different clothes on right now but camera seems to be catching him in that shirt all the time.



Just seen this part of your report - WELL DONE MATT - really pleased for him


----------



## Tinks1984

I've caught up!!  Massive congrats to Matt on his exam results, great going and now I hope he's much more relaxed and enjoying his holiday! Hope he enjoyed it at the OS too!

Some great pictures of Lily with the Princesses, it looks like she's much more settled with the face characters.

And all that food - wow!  I don't know how you keep up with where you're all eating each day 

Looking forward to hearing more


----------



## wayneg

Hectic few days again, Paul, Lucy & Lily now gone home & EMH in MK last night, got to bed 2:30pm.
Back to Thursday, MK in the morning to see the fairies & Tiana plus a few rides. Ate at Cosmic Rays, no pics just standard CS. In the afternoon we rang Karen's Mum and Lucy's Mum on the Ipad via Skype, we tried a few days back on our HTC Wildfires with no luck but on Ipad it works perfectly, I loaded £10 of credit before we came away, after calls to get Matt's results and these 2 calls(plus test calls I wasted a few pence) I have spent 65p of the £10, still £9.35 of credit.
Evening we had planned to eat at Liberty tree tavern but decided to go online and see what else was available, we felt LTT was very similar food to Garden grill where we ate only a few nights back. The online system gave me 29 restaurants to choose from, we chose Grand Floridian Cafe, having eaten here twice before we knew we should get a good meal. 
Arrived very early (20-25mins) but they seated us straight away. we were not disappointed with the meal, probably my favourite steak of the trip, I had rib eye with garlic fries sprinkled with parmesan cheese, delicious.

Matt makes Stitch look short now.

































































After the meal a look around the hotel to pass a bit of time, rain was really heavy outside.


----------



## Mrs Doubtfire

Well done to Matt on his exam success 

I have to say , the latest pictures from the GF cafe look the best yet 

Thanks for all the updates and enjoy the rest of your holiday.


----------



## Sapper383

The food at the GF cafe looks lovely....what was the name of the desert with the chocolate Mickey???....I want one


----------



## wayneg

Sapper383 said:


> The food at the GF cafe looks lovely....what was the name of the desert with the chocolate Mickey???....I want one



It's the Dessert Sampler, 4 x desserts & Mickey for $9.99 or 2 can share on the DDP. Mickey was solid chocolate.


----------



## Pegasus928

Great pics again.
Did anyone eat the chocolate Mickey - or will it be making it home with you


----------



## wayneg

Pegasus928 said:


> Great pics again.
> Did anyone eat the chocolate Mickey - or will it be making it home with you



Mickey did not last long.


----------



## wayneg

Friday morning we(Myself, Matt & Karen) got to HS for rope drop, can't believe how many still rush around to Toy Story Midway Mania. We were some of the 1st in the park and we had a 10 min line just to get a fast pass. After we got them we walked past to see how long the standby line was, it went all the way on and past the Back Lot tour entrance, no idea how long the time was but glad I wasn't waiting.
This was the end of Toy story line. 





After riding Star Tours(none of us get Star Wars, we just don't understand the hype around it) we went to Writers stop to spend some snack credits, I tried a carrot cake cookie for the 1st time










A few more rides then back to use our fastpasses on Toy story at 11am, then back to get Lucy, Paul and Lily who had been finishing packing and having a swim, now they had checked out of their room they were by the pool. We went for lunch at POFQ then back to the room for showers before the trip to the airport.
Easy drop off of the car & check in, although they did not get the prebooked PE seats that had been booked 11 months. Emotional goodbye then down to Thrifty to collect a full size car, just the same as Dollar(same company) really easy & quick, no line, no hard sell. Got to choose from row of Dollar/Thrifty full size cars which was an easy choice, a nice red 3.5L Dodge Charger, its basic spec after the fully loaded town & country but love it.










Back to OKW to get ready for evening meal at 50's Prime time. Almost changed it last minute but glad we didn't, we had another great meal there. 








































After the meal we went back to OKW to drop off the car, met Nigel, Martin & families at the bus stop and into MK for EMH, came out about 1:30am. all very tired.


----------



## wayneg

Today (Saturday) our last day at OKW, due to late night last night we didn't get up until 9:30am, morning taken up with packing, washing & ironing. WPE for lunch, same as before except Matt who had a meatball & pepper pizza.





Called at Goofy's candy store to use some snack credits, this lot should have been $63.11





Plan was to finish off packing etc then into AK for rides & meal at Yak & Yeti but the rains started again so we went in later just had 1 ride on everest, would have gone on again but they stopped it for some reason.
Yak & Yeti is another place we have put off trying but as with many other places you should try for yourself instead of listening to negative comments. We all had really good meals. 



































We were the last reservation of the day, 5:45pm, park closed at 6pm so it was great to leave to an empty park.





This evening I bought new Nike trainers at LBV outlet then back to room for a few drinks and a little internet time before we go on the Disney Dream tomorrow for 4 days. Dizzy has been getting ready today.


----------



## Pegasus928

wayneg said:


> Dream tomorrow for 4 days. Dizzy has been getting ready today.


 
OMG THAT IS SOOOOO COOL 

He will really look the part in that get up


----------



## alibeau

We also thoroughly enjoyed our meal at the yak and yeti last week 

Loving all your photos 

Ali


----------



## jtlover

Oooooooooooo the cruise the part of your trip I have been looking forward to the most.

Will watch tonight for the Dream leaving the port on the live webcam.  Have a great trip.

Looking forward to hearing about this as we want to go next year.

Have a great time


----------



## Elise79

Great updates 

So will Lucy, Paul & Lily be coming back? I would love to read their thoughts on their first two weeks in Florida.

Also if you haven't forgotten and don't mind would you mind posting when your Disney tickets expire to see if you can use them on day 22, thanks


----------



## jackieleanne

Love the photos especially Dizzy in his cruise outfits. Also some lovely photos of Lily.  

Have fun on the cruise.


----------



## jesuslovesyou

wayneg said:


> Today (Saturday) our last day at OKW, due to late night last night we didn't get up until 9:30am, morning taken up with packing, washing & ironing. WPE for lunch, same as before except Matt who had a meatball & pepper pizza.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Called at Goofy's candy store to use some snack credits, this lot should have been $63.11
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Plan was to finish off packing etc then into AK for rides & meal at Yak & Yeti but the rains started again so we went in later just had 1 ride on everest, would have gone on again but they stopped it for some reason.
> Yak & Yeti is another place we have put off trying but as with many other places you should try for yourself instead of listening to negative comments. We all had really good meals.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We were the last reservation of the day, 5:45pm, park closed at 6pm so it was great to leave to an empty park.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This evening I bought new Nike trainers at LBV outlet then back to room for a few drinks and a little internet time before we go on the Disney Dream tomorrow for 4 days. Dizzy has been getting ready today.





Great pics 
How many credits were all those sweets if you dont mind me asking?


----------



## wayneg

Elise79 said:


> Great updates
> 
> So will Lucy, Paul & Lily be coming back? I would love to read their thoughts on their first two weeks in Florida.
> 
> Also if you haven't forgotten and don't mind would you mind posting when your Disney tickets expire to see if you can use them on day 22, thanks


Half way thru their trip they were considering leaving it a couple of years and returning, by the end they had changed to considering next year. We will see when\if jet lag kicks in

I forgot to post about the tickets, we activated them on our 1st full day the 6th August, Matt called in guest relations to ask and he was told last day of use was August 27th, I work that out to 22 days use on a 21 day ticket. Was same for Lucy and Paul's 14 day tickets, 15 days use.



jesuslovesyou said:


> Great pics
> How many credits were all those sweets if you dont mind me asking?



For the $63.11 we used 15 credits, for the pic I just added the fudge so 16 credits showing, all snacks are 1 credit each.


----------



## joolz1910

Just caught up again. Well done to Matt - you must be very proud of him.

Loving the look of Hoop de doo - I've added it to my list.


----------



## dixonsontour

Some great food pics.

Enjoy the cruise


----------



## Dave_uk

wayneg said:


> I forgot to post about the tickets, we activated them on our 1st full day the 6th August, Matt called in guest relations to ask and he was told last day of use was August 27th, I work that out to 22 days use on a 21 day ticket. Was same for Lucy and Paul's 14 day tickets, 15 days use.



I know i don't post often but loving the live trip report and Matts blog.

We are going next Aug 14 Nights OKW 16-30
We have 14 day tickets so will they last for 15 days?
So if we use them on the 16th we can use them on the 30th

Thanks and have a wonderful cruse!


----------



## paulh

Dave_uk said:


> I know i don't post often but loving the live trip report and Matts blog.
> 
> We are going next Aug 14 Nights OKW 16-30
> We have 14 day tickets so will they last for 15 days?
> So if we use them on the 16th we can use them on the 30th
> 
> Thanks and have a wonderful cruse!



think its one of the weird things about Disney even with an annual you get an extra day.then again where else do you celebrate a year over 15 months
Great reports hope you're not affected by the storms brewing in the Atlantic
Paul


----------



## jtlover

Hi Wayne, Karen and Matt

Watching you go on the ship out of the port right now.  The ship left early, it hasnt done that for weeks.  Bon voyage.  Have a great few days

The camera panned in but didnt see you waving


----------



## marcus.ka

Thank you sooo much for your live TR. 

May I ask you something? How would you rate the new Star Tours as a non Star Wars Fan? We like Star Wars and 10 years ago I also thought that Star Tours 1 was a great attraction. We are thinking of heading to Star Tours right after rope drop.


----------



## catherine

Congrats to Matt, you must be really proud of him! I'm loving your TR, it's keeping me going while I count down to our trip!  Hope that you have a wonderful cruise and I look forward to hearing all about it!


----------



## Tony Toon

marcus.ka said:


> Thank you sooo much for your live TR.
> 
> May I ask you something? How would you rate the new Star Tours as a non Star Wars Fan? We like Star Wars and 10 years ago I also thought that Star Tours 1 was a great attraction. We are thinking of heading to Star Tours right after rope drop.



Hi, We are just back (3 weeks ago but seems like years) and did the new Star Tours A LOT.   The verdict was a big hit.   There are apparently 54 different versions of the ride and you stand a chance of being the "spy" aboard the ship and as such being the target for "Vader" and his forces.   The resulting 3D getaway through varying "scapes" and situations is great fun.   DS said his experience was lessened when sat in the front row at the side although I didn't see much difference.   I personally felt more queasy when sat at the back row in the corner though although I am very prone to motion sensitivity it has to be said.   We found that if you visit the ride early in the morning you can ride twice without much of a queue (often walk on) but it gets much busier as the day goes on.

I'm sure you'll love it.


----------



## crabbie1

jtlover said:


> Hi Wayne, Karen and Matt
> 
> Watching you go on the ship out of the port right now.  The ship left early, it hasnt done that for weeks.  Bon voyage.  Have a great few days
> 
> The camera panned in but didnt see you waving



How do you do that? Are u over there at the mo?


----------



## mandymouse

Here you are as you passed the twopalms webcam Wayne, have a fab time 



crabbie1 said:


> How do you do that? Are u over there at the mo?



There are a couple of great webcams Alyson.  You can see her at the port on the Fishlips webcam or as she passes by at Cocoa Beach on the Two Palms webcam


----------



## cliveywolves

hAVE a great Time hope the naughty weather stays away from you... well and us too we land in Orlando on Wednesday afternoon... Might be a close call....


----------



## jtlover

crabbie1 said:


> How do you do that? Are u over there at the mo?



The one we watch often is www.portcanaveralwebcam.com


----------



## jackieleanne

Have a great time on the cruise Wayne.


----------



## disneyholic family

hi Wayne!!! how fun to meet you, Karen and Matt the other day!!!!

by the way, the tall guy is my husband, the tall blonde is my daughter and the short dark guy is my son-in-law.....
and the tall guy with the beard is my son, and the very very very very short girl is my daughter in law...

and of course, me, the nutty person running around looking for my family at toy story mania - acting appropriately manic!  

i hope you're having a grand time on your cruise!!!


----------



## wayneg

Just been to Senor Frogs, Bahamas. free wifi at the immigration to get back to the ship so a very quick post.
New ship is fantastic, 4 days nowhere near enough to see it all. 
Have board now, post again in a few days.


----------



## crabbie1

mandymouse said:


> Here you are as you passed the twopalms webcam Wayne, have a fab time
> 
> 
> 
> There are a couple of great webcams Alyson.  You can see her at the port on the Fishlips webcam or as she passes by at Cocoa Beach on the Two Palms webcam



Thankyou mandy



jtlover said:


> The one we watch often is www.portcanaveralwebcam.com



Thanks JT.
When are they due to doc backin PC. IM off thursday so would like to see them dock


----------



## jtlover

crabbie1 said:


> Thankyou mandy
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks JT.
> When are they due to doc backin PC. IM off thursday so would like to see them dock



It is usually our time around 10.30 - 11.30 a.m.


----------



## marcus.ka

Tony Toon said:


> Hi, We are just back (3 weeks ago but seems like years) and did the new Star Tours A LOT.   The verdict was a big hit.   There are apparently 54 different versions of the ride and you stand a chance of being the "spy" aboard the ship and as such being the target for "Vader" and his forces.   The resulting 3D getaway through varying "scapes" and situations is great fun.   DS said his experience was lessened when sat in the front row at the side although I didn't see much difference.   I personally felt more queasy when sat at the back row in the corner though although I am very prone to motion sensitivity it has to be said.   We found that if you visit the ride early in the morning you can ride twice without much of a queue (often walk on) but it gets much busier as the day goes on.
> 
> I'm sure you'll love it.



Thank you so much. 
Can you somehow influence or even choose which ride you will get or do you only know once you are seated and the ride has started?


----------



## Tony Toon

marcus.ka said:


> Thank you so much.
> Can you somehow influence or even choose which ride you will get or do you only know once you are seated and the ride has started?



"fraid there's no choice - even if there was, you wouldn't be able to guarantee which ride you might experience.   Rides seem completely random.  Even after you have begun the ride you can't tell where you will finish - which of course makes every time different (in theory).   Enjoy!


----------



## disneyholic family

i hope the hurricane isn't affecting your cruise and that you make it into CC!!


----------



## wayneg

disneyholic family said:


> i hope the hurricane isn't affecting your cruise and that you make it into CC!!



2 things it affected, they cancelled our Parasailing at Castaway Cay, not sure why as it was a perfect day, I believe it was something to do with the company who provides the service and getting to the island. Other thing was we docked back in PC last night around midnight instead of early this morning, I think they wanted to get back into port ASAP.
Just checked in and unpacked at Holiday Inn DTD, glad room was available at 10am when we arrived.
Had a great cruise, some things on the new ship are far better than the old ships but then other things were nowhere near as good, can't believe there is nowhere for a family to sit and have a drink on an evening without flashing lights or Karaoke bashing your eardrums. We love to sit in the Promonade lounge (Magic\Wonder) or Schooner bar (Royal Caribbean) and have a few quiet drinks. On the Dream it was as if Disney wanted to split families, plenty of choice for adult(18+) plenty for kids, we found after the evening show our only option was a walk around & a game of minigolf, oh well saved on the drinks bill(about $50, mostly with meals)
Will post more later.


----------



## jtlover

wayneg said:


> 2 things it affected, they cancelled our Parasailing at Castaway Cay, not sure why as it was a perfect day, I believe it was something to do with the company who provides the service and getting to the island. Other thing was we docked back in PC last night around midnight instead of early this morning, I think they wanted to get back into port ASAP.
> Just checked in and unpacked at Holiday Inn DTD, glad room was available at 10am when we arrived.
> Had a great cruise, some things on the new ship are far better than the old ships but then other things were nowhere near as good, can't believe there is nowhere for a family to sit and have a drink on an evening without flashing lights or Karaoke bashing your eardrums. We love to sit in the Promonade lounge (Magic\Wonder) or Schooner bar (Royal Caribbean) and have a few quiet drinks. On the Dream it was as if Disney wanted to split families, plenty of choice for adult(18+) plenty for kids, we found after the evening show our only option was a walk around & a game of minigolf, oh well saved on the drinks bill(about $50, mostly with meals)
> Will post more later.



Saw the boat this morning at 1.00 a.m. your time so realised it was there because of the weather.  Cant wait to hear more about your experience on the boat.

What time did you get off this morning?


----------



## wayneg

jtlover said:


> Saw the boat this morning at 1.00 a.m. your time so realised it was there because of the weather.  Cant wait to hear more about your experience on the boat.
> 
> What time did you get off this morning?



Got off ship usual time about 8:30am. Just post more here about it http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=42385023&posted=1#post42385023


----------



## nipperlocko

Hi Wayne, glad I met you in the ABC commisary, but so sorry we already had commiments for the Dis meet, on a downer at the mo as was straghit back to work on nights the day we landed back, jut looking through our photo`s on the PC, glad your all having a great time still with your family and god daughter, now the planning begins again for us but will be at least 2013 for our next visit unfortunately. enjoy the rest of your stay.


----------



## nemmie

wayneg said:


> can't believe there is nowhere for a family to sit and have a drink on an evening without flashing lights or Karaoke bashing your eardrums. We love to sit in the Promonade lounge (Magic\Wonder) or Schooner bar (Royal Caribbean) and have a few quiet drinks. On the Dream it was as if Disney wanted to split families, plenty of choice for adult(18+) plenty for kids, we found after the evening show our only option was a walk around & a game of minigolf, oh well saved on the drinks bill(about $50, mostly with meals)
> Will post more later.



Hi Wayne!
Looking forward to hearing your thought on the new ship.
Did Bon Voyage not replace Promenades?  Or rather something along those lines?


----------



## wayneg

nemmie said:


> Hi Wayne!
> Looking forward to hearing your thought on the new ship.
> Did Bon Voyage not replace Promenades?  Or rather something along those lines?



Thats what we were hoping but Bon Voyage was just a bar with a row of high bar stools, no seating. The 1st night we went straight to Bon Voyage after the show and a little look around and it closed at 10:30pm. We found very odd timings for many things, Tow Maters for burgers etc we only saw open once. Only option for a late night snack was Pizza or room service, for a ship with almost 4,000 guests I expected more open later.


----------



## nemmie

Thats a real shame! So no seating other than stools?? Doesn't really compare to the Promenade Lounge at all does it?   At least tell me they had chips and salsa? 

Yeah that does sound odd about timings and things that are open.  Do you think they are still working out the kinks or  ???? 

Overall did you like the Dream?


----------



## Chilly

Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts on the difference's between the new and old ships.


----------



## wayneg

marcus.ka said:


> Thank you sooo much for your live TR.
> 
> May I ask you something? How would you rate the new Star Tours as a non Star Wars Fan? We like Star Wars and 10 years ago I also thought that Star Tours 1 was a great attraction. We are thinking of heading to Star Tours right after rope drop.


Today I eventually rode the Harry Potter ride at Universal(couldn't do it last year but they have now added larger seats) with Virtual rides like this I will probably never do Star Tours again.



disneyholic family said:


> hi Wayne!!! how fun to meet you, Karen and Matt the other day!!!!
> 
> by the way, the tall guy is my husband, the tall blonde is my daughter and the short dark guy is my son-in-law.....
> and the tall guy with the beard is my son, and the very very very very short girl is my daughter in law...
> 
> and of course, me, the nutty person running around looking for my family at toy story mania - acting appropriately manic!
> 
> i hope you're having a grand time on your cruise!!!





nipperlocko said:


> Hi Wayne, glad I met you in the ABC commisary, but so sorry we already had commiments for the Dis meet, on a downer at the mo as was straghit back to work on nights the day we landed back, jut looking through our photo`s on the PC, glad your all having a great time still with your family and god daughter, now the planning begins again for us but will be at least 2013 for our next visit unfortunately. enjoy the rest of your stay.



Great to meet both of you, shame it was only briefly.

A few pics from day we boarded the cruise.
On the way to Port Canaveral





Inside the Port terminal waiting to board.










All aboard!!





Straight for lunch at Cabanas, way better than the buffet on the old ships.





After lunch a walk around the ship.
Kids water area.





Kids slide.





Pool area with Aquaduck going around.





Aquaduck





Dizzy.





1:30pm we were allowed into our cabins.


----------



## Floridian Princess

Enjoying every word and picture of your live trip,DH started reading it all last night and was hooked


----------



## Netty

Brilliant insight into your holiday and fantastic photos Wayne


----------



## crabbie1

Spoilt for choice.Between yours and Matts blog I have a good insight into DDream now. Was suprised there was no where for you guys to have a quiet beer on an evening Like you we like to have a night cap and a bit of peace before bed but at least we know not to go hunting for somewhere. A warm fleece and a baileys on deck I think
Cant believe your time has gone so quick. PLanning for next trip I presume now


----------



## wayneg

After finding our cabin we went to the DISmeet at 2:30pm, I started the meet thread about 18 months ago when we booked the cruise. 4pm lifeboat drill, 5pm sailaway party, rushed back to the cabin so we could all shower for eve meal at 5:45pm. 1st evening was in Animators Palate.

Dizzy getting ready for sailaway party.





Plates





Chairs





All around are screens Crush comes to each area to talk to diners, just like at Epcot but a lot smaller audience.





The food. If anyone wants to know what anything is I will find out.













































Dizzy trying a cocktail.





Show that evening was the Golden Mickey's


----------



## jtlover

The food looks amazing - definitely makes me want to go next year

I watched the ship go off last week, but you werent waving


----------



## Cyrano

looking forward to hearing more about the DISmeet 

Sounds like you are all having a great cruise. Matt has been giving a good account of the differences of the new cruise ship


----------



## Tink2312

The food looks wonderful - that beef dish looked a bit like a roast dinner minus the yorkshire pud 
I'm really looking forward to our first cruise next year - can't wait to step aboard the Dream!
I did notice one thing though - I do hope Dizzy's drink was a mocktail!


----------



## jockey

Great pics Wayne


----------



## Pegasus928

Great pics and updates Wayne.
Dizzy certainly looks like he is enjoying himself - but who wouldn't


----------



## wayneg

Will have to do the last few days when I get home now, sat at MCO waiting for 7pm flight. Don't usually arrive so early but car had to be back for 4:30pm.


----------



## crabbie1

Have a safe flight.Cant believe how quick your holiday has gone.


----------



## jtlover

Have a safe trip home


----------



## Tink2312

Have a safe flight - looking forward to reading about your last few days.


----------



## Scrap_Vamp

Have a good flight Wayne -can't believe you are almost on your way home!


----------



## Netty

have a good flight home and thanks for such a great live trip report!!!


----------



## juliebro

Welcome back. Hope you had a good flight.

Thanks for keeping us posted with your adventures!


----------



## jockey

Hope you had a nice flight home


----------



## janeyb

Welome home.  Thank you for a fabulous trip report and for sharing your holiday with us all.  As ever it was lovely to follow and very informative and helpful.
Jane.


----------



## catherine

Welcome home!  Hope that you had a safe flight and are not suffering too badly from jet lag! Can't wait to hear all about your last few days!


----------



## PJB71

Really enjoyed your TR Wayne, hope you arrived home safely


----------



## wayneg

Arrived home safely yes, just trying to stay awake another hour before bed. Work at 3:30am. Hope I feel upto finishing the TR in next couple of days.


----------



## jtlover

Glad you all got home safe and well.

Poor you having to get up that early tomorrow.  Hope the jet lag isnt too bad.  Lots of orange juice for the next few days then


----------



## dixonsontour

welcome back - really enjoyed your updates


----------



## Nubbedy

Caught up on the end of your trippie - many congrats to Matt on his AS results, fab looking food at GF Cafe, and the cruise looks fab - it's just a shame that DH has sworn never to go on a boat with me again  - seasickness is a terrible thing.


----------



## Dave_uk

Hay welcome back

Just to say I have really enjoyed reeding your TR so thank you!


----------



## Linda67

Welcome Home 

I hope the jet lag isn't too bad


----------



## higgy66

Glad you're home safe & sound.

Loved your live TR - makes me feel like I'm almost there!


----------



## Clare D

Thanks Wayne for letting us tag along too. I have loved reading your about your trip 

Hope work has gone OK and you managed to get up at 3.30am without feeling too bad


----------



## yummymummywales

Hi there, probably a daft question but do you need a reservation to eat at the GF cafe? Or can you just get out at the monorail station and pitch up? Just looking for a few different places to visit....

Thank you!


----------



## heatherbelle

Welcome home Wayne, I've just caught up with everything, as we were away on our first Disney Cruise in the Med.  Loved it and can't wait to cruise again.

Love the pics of the food, you've given me some new places to try next year when we are back at the Yacht Club.

Congrats to Matt too on his wonderful blog and his fab results, you both must be so proud.


----------



## wayneg

Nubbedy said:


> Caught up on the end of your trippie - many congrats to Matt on his AS results, fab looking food at GF Cafe, and the cruise looks fab - it's just a shame that DH has sworn never to go on a boat with me again  - seasickness is a terrible thing.


Shame you suffer with Seasickness, was it just the once or have you tried again?
I thought I had seasickness on our 1st RCCL cruise but since been back on the same boat and other boats no problem so I assume it was a bug I had rather than seasickness.



yummymummywales said:


> Hi there, probably a daft question but do you need a reservation to eat at the GF cafe? Or can you just get out at the monorail station and pitch up? Just looking for a few different places to visit....
> 
> Thank you!


I would always suggest trying to book at any Disney restaurant if possible, even if its just 3-4 hours in advance, call at any guest services and they will book for you, saves hanging around for a table or being disappointed. 
having eaten here twice before we were not doing it this year but we made a last minute change from Liberty Tree Tavern, glad we did as it was probably our best meal of the holiday.



heatherbelle said:


> Welcome home Wayne, I've just caught up with everything, as we were away on our first Disney Cruise in the Med.  Loved it and can't wait to cruise again.
> 
> Love the pics of the food, you've given me some new places to try next year when we are back at the Yacht Club.
> 
> Congrats to Matt too on his wonderful blog and his fab results, you both must be so proud.



Glad you enjoyed your cruise, just looked at prices for next August and they are double this years prices so we won't be cruising DCL in the near future.

Back to our 1st night on the cruise, after the show we had a drink then back to the room and ordered room service at midnight, arrived 12:30am, well its a while since our meal, started to get a little hungry




















Towel animal & chocs when we returned to our cabin





Our cabin door decorated. 





Next day was in Nassau, started with breakfast while watching the rain but it soon cleared up. Got off the ship in the afternoon to goto Senor Frogs, hoped to get free Wifi as they have in other ports but not this one, still a good couple of hours there with a few drinks.






Craig got up on the table to dance 





Nigel & Martin





Matt not quite as tall as the frog.










On the way thru immigration we managed to get a free Wifi connection, anyone would think we had no connection for a month. 





Run out of time again, next post will be the evening meal in the Enchanted Garden.


----------



## jns

just catching up on r report 
what a brill holiday u all had 
thanks for the live updates and all the great photos 
any more of OKW we are going there for a week in Nov any tips 

welcome home 

let the planning begin again


----------



## wayneg

jns said:


> just catching up on r report
> what a brill holiday u all had
> thanks for the live updates and all the great photos
> any more of OKW we are going there for a week in Nov any tips
> 
> welcome home
> 
> let the planning begin again



Don't think we took many of the resort, will check tomorrow.

Ask if there is anything specific you want to know, personally I would not request any area, this year as there were 4 families we all asked to be close together around Millers Road pool (where we were last year) but if we were going alone I wouldn't be too fussed where we were. The best views we have had were probably the 1st year from building 55 overlooking the waterway.


----------



## Chilly

Sounds like a brilliant holiday Wayne, welcome home.


----------



## wayneg

Enchanted Garden meal
Dizzy trying out a new cocktail























































Fountain in the centre of the restaurant





Show this evening was Villain's tonight, must be worst show I have ever seen at sea. Possibly due to it being aimed at the American market, most jokes I did not get, related to US politicians, US TV plus it included characters we did not know.





After the show we tried to find somewhere for a drink and relax, realised unless your are 18+ or want loud entertainment there is nowhere on the Disney Dream. Ended up going to play mini golf, seriously by the looks of this pic.





Castaway Cay next.


----------



## Portugal1000

I am hoping there is a mistake on the DCL website. Last week a 4 night cruise for 3 of us net August showed prices around £1200, now seems to be 3 times the price. Also, inside cabins were available for all cruises in August, now its saying there are none. Do you think this is right?


----------



## wayneg

Portugal1000 said:


> I am hoping there is a mistake on the DCL website. Last week a 4 night cruise for 3 of us net August showed prices around £1200, now seems to be 3 times the price. Also, inside cabins were available for all cruises in August, now its saying there are none. Do you think this is right?



I wish they were mistakes but I fear not. 
Inside cabins come and go, if its the new ships you are looking at they are limited availabilty, more outside cabins on them. One of the cruises I priced up was cheaper in an outside than inside, the virtual porthole is creating demand for inside.
We won't be paying August prices for cruising next year, far too high for me.


----------



## heatherbelle

In the med version the Villan's show, a lot of the jokes were for us Brits.  I loved that show, but my fav one was on the second to last night.  I think it was called Dreams.  It wasn't until I saw the show that I felt I was on a Disney Ship and felt the Disney Magic.  All week I had been saying something was missing and I couldn't put my finger on it, so to speak.

I agree the prices are crazy for 2012.  Have a dummy booking on hold for 2013


----------



## Clare D

wayneg said:


> We won't be paying August prices for cruising next year, far too high for me.



I priced up Disney for 2012 back in May 2010 and even then they were crazy prices. That's why we decided to book with RCL instead as 1) we got a good deal and 2) we got 7 days for less than what Disney were wanting to charge for 4.

It's a shame because otherwise I feel Brits won't get to sample the DCL as we just won't be able to justify spending that kind of money when it costs us a small fortune just to get over to the States in the first place


----------



## wayneg

Clare D said:


> I priced up Disney for 2012 back in May 2010 and even then they were crazy prices. That's why we decided to book with RCL instead as 1) we got a good deal and 2) we got 7 days for less than what Disney were wanting to charge for 4.
> 
> It's a shame because otherwise I feel Brits won't get to sample the DCL as we just won't be able to justify spending that kind of money when it costs us a small fortune just to get over to the States in the first place



Read post #658 I posted last night http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2327473&page=44
I compared DCL to RCCL for next year, as you say we could do 7 nights RCCL for price of DCL 4 nights.


----------



## Clare D

Yikes Wayne that is scary reading  I love DCL but as you say I like you can't justify those kind of price increases.


----------



## BevS97

We had the same problem with wanting a drink,  we ended up on the top deck (deck 13?), there is an outside bar where we could sit but it wasn't ideal.   We tried D Lounge but it was Karoke, and the bar in the atrium was closed but they sent us up on deck.  I think it was called Currents


----------



## Rach78

Hi,
Just wanted to add that I have loved reading your report! Everything sounded amazing. As a newbie here planning my first trip to OKW next october I have loved every installment. I never knew how addictive it could be reading about other peoples holidays! (especially food pictures!) Glad you had a great time and thanks!
Rach x


----------



## marcus.ka

wayneg said:


> On the way thru immigration we managed to get a free Wifi connection, anyone would think we had no connection for a month.



I love this picture. It really looks as if you did not had Internet for more than a month. But I would be the same. I think this is just our time; as soon as you have free internet you get out all your devices and connect. (even so if the last online session is only a view minutes ago)


----------



## wayneg

BevS97 said:


> We had the same problem with wanting a drink,  we ended up on the top deck (deck 13?), there is an outside bar where we could sit but it wasn't ideal.   We tried D Lounge but it was Karoke, and the bar in the atrium was closed but they sent us up on deck.  I think it was called Currents


They must be losing money IMO not providing a nice bar, our drinks bill was next to nothing this cruise, I just used the free diet coke and added my own vodka, last time in the Promanade lounge we would relax there a few hours drinking 9 or 12 drinks a night (between 3 of us) 


Rach78 said:


> Hi,
> Just wanted to add that I have loved reading your report! Everything sounded amazing. As a newbie here planning my first trip to OKW next october I have loved every installment. I never knew how addictive it could be reading about other peoples holidays! (especially food pictures!) Glad you had a great time and thanks!
> Rach x


Thank you, exactly why I take time to do these live trip threads.


----------



## VailaTigger

I too have loved reading your live trippy, and Matt's blog!

Thank you both!!


----------



## Twinkly-Tink

and me Wayne!!! 

We don't even have a countdown for next year yet (though I'm hoping to get one soon  ) and reading your trip report has brought back all the happy memories from our first trip onsite in 2009 at POFQ. 

Can't wait to get planning


----------



## Elise79

Welcome Home! I can't believe how quick your 3 weeks went 

Love the picture of you all at the port checking online with the free wifi - have made a note for our cruise next June 

Did your tickets work as expected on the last day? I assume yes as Matt has posted about you visit MK on you last day but just want to double check before I spend the money on Chloe's ticket


----------



## wayneg

Elise79 said:


> Did your tickets work as expected on the last day? I assume yes as Matt has posted about you visit MK on you last day but just want to double check before I spend the money on Chloe's ticket



No problem with the tickets, we activated them in MK on our 1st full day, 6th August and used them in MK on our last full day 27th August. 22 days use out of a 21 day ticket.


----------



## dixonsontour

wayneg said:


> No problem with the tickets, we activated them in MK on our 1st full day, 6th August and used them in MK on our last full day 27th August. 22 days use out of a 21 day ticket.



That is very helpful as we are going next year with a 14 day ticket for 16 nights - so should be ok for 15 days with it.


----------



## wayneg

dixonsontour said:


> That is very helpful as we are going next year with a 14 day ticket for 16 nights - so should be ok for 15 days with it.



Yes, our relatives had 14 day tickets, activated 6th August same as us, Matt asked in guest relations for the last day they could be used and they told him 20th August, didn't verify that as they went home on the 19th but I can confirm the 21 day tickets can be used 22 days and the annual pass lasts 1 year and 1 day.


----------



## Elise79

wayneg said:


> Yes, our relatives had 14 day tickets, activated 6th August same as us, Matt asked in guest relations for the last day they could be used and they told him 20th August, didn't verify that as they went home on the 19th but I can confirm the 21 day tickets can be used 22 days and the annual pass lasts 1 year and 1 day.



Thank you for help you just save me £30!


----------



## wayneg

Quite a few pics from Castaway Cay so splitting into 2 posts.

We were among the first off the ship to get a spot near the snorkeling area. Dizzy was the 1st to get a seat.
















Got Dizzy and Karen settled then myself and Matt went snorkeling, out there 2 hours. 

























After a quick shower and change we left Karen to go on a bit of a trek, approx 1 mile walk to the other side of Serenity Bay to find a Geocache thats hidden there.





Took plenty of pics along the way as we had never been beyond the family beach before.















More to follow


----------



## wayneg

Serenity Bay, Adult beach.










Castaway Cay runway.










After lunch at Cookies BBQ we went back to the ship to watch Cars 2 3D, should have been Parasailing but it was cancelled.
A few more pics on way back to the ship.


----------



## disney_princess_85

Great pics Wayne!


----------



## Cyrano

Great photos Wayne . Still feels like you are on your WDW and DCL adventures


----------



## Linda67

Brilliant photos Wayne

They really brightened up my Friday morning


----------



## wayneg

Evening meal was in Royal Palace, Pirate menu for Pirate night.





























































A couple of pics from inside the restaurant, they are all very well themed.










Karen bought Remy





FE gifts we gave out to everyone, bag, pen, bookmark, 2x England shirt erasers & large magnet and a Yorkshire pudding recipe.


----------



## Pegasus928

Love Dizzy's bandana 
And a great idea handing out Yorkshire Pudding recipes. Maybe you should stick it on the Pudding Club thread for those of us that have room for a little improvement


----------



## Tink2312

Great photos. Love the FE gifts especially the Yorkshire pud recipe.


----------



## buzz for boys

Hi Wayne 
Where did you get the POTC bandanas from?? My boys need bandanas to finish off the POTC costumes they have and I have looked everywhere it would be good if we can easily get them out there, or was it part of the cruise experience?
Thanks Louise xxx


----------



## wayneg

buzz for boys said:


> Hi Wayne
> Where did you get the POTC bandanas from?? My boys need bandanas to finish off the POTC costumes they have and I have looked everywhere it would be good if we can easily get them out there, or was it part of the cruise experience?
> Thanks Louise xxx


They leave them in your cabin on Pirate night. Never looked for them in Disney.


----------



## juliebro

Great trip report, Wayne, and fantastic photos!

I'll definitely have to work harder on mine next year!

We always forget and start tucking into the food before we realise we never took any photos!


----------



## disneyholic family

the cruise looks like so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## crabbie1

All i can say is wooooowwwwwwww! Fantastic wayne. I cannot wait now after looking at CC. Looks so relaxing.The kiddies tube slide is it free? Where is it? Also how much is the snorklin? Not booked any excursions as our first cruise and want to enjoy the ship. Had a quick chat with mart but it was late so he will fill me in. Lovvve remy. My fav disney film. Great pics and cant believe the room service you can get.
If we like it wayne can we rebook onboard and then if we change our minds cancel? I priced up for 2 nd sept '12' and it was £989 for 3 of us. Not bad tht was for inside. Im sure as u say it will go up. If we do buy dvc and AP this time wanted to keep costs down but will see. Wld only hv flights to buy and food but end august flights will i presume b around £800 each. I will be emailin our dates wayne to get u on the case. Indirect would be fine just dont want longer then 13 hours total each way.
Thankyou for spending so much time and effort reporting. Matts blog was brilliant. He is def a mini me


----------



## wayneg

crabbie1 said:


> The kiddies tube slide is it free? Where is it? Also how much is the snorklin? Not booked any excursions as our first cruise and want to enjoy the ship. Had a quick chat with mart but it was late so he will fill me in. Lovvve remy. My fav disney film. Great pics and cant believe the room service you can get.


If you log into your booking you can see the excursions available, on all the cruises we have done we have only done 1 fishing trip at CC which was brilliant, others on the boat caught barracuda and sharks. 
Many things on CC are free like the slides, snorkeling is free if you take your own gear or you can rent, the hi-vis top is free. 



crabbie1 said:


> If we like it wayne can we rebook onboard and then if we change our minds cancel? I priced up for 2 nd sept '12' and it was £989 for 3 of us. Not bad tht was for inside. Im sure as u say it will go up. If we do buy dvc and AP this time wanted to keep costs down but will see. Wld only hv flights to buy and food but end august flights will i presume b around £800 each. I will be emailin our dates wayne to get u on the case. Indirect would be fine just dont want longer then 13 hours total each way.
> Thankyou for spending so much time and effort reporting. Matts blog was brilliant. He is def a mini me



You can book now to guarantee the price and your cabin(if you want a specific cabin) then when onboard see the re-booking CM who will cancel your original booking and rebook at your 1st agreed price and apply the 10% discount and any onboard credit they are offering or you can wait and rebook onboard(just hope the price does not rise)
Yes you can cancel and get deposit back, see T&C's for exact notice you have to give without losing it.
I don't see the value in DVC myself but we when the 42% OKW & free DDP (and now $150 spending money) deal ends we are more than happy to go back to offsite. DVC to me would be OK with the yearly fee but add the upfront fee ontop I think its too high, just my opinion(I hate to tie money to anything) I know many others love DVC.

Not quite a Mini Me, he understands English, I can only post pics with a few words.


----------



## wayneg

After Pirate meal we went to watch the nightly show which was a ventriloquist who was better than we expected. Watched fireworks then back to room for room service
Next day was at sea and our last day, adults and children split, adults to Palo for brunch children went off to explore the ship and do midship detective agency, you scan a card into the pics around the ship to do various things (more info on Matt's blog)

Pic of our virtual porthole, we tried many times to capture the onscreen characters but they are gone by the time you get a camera.





Kids with Captain Henry





Nice pic of the atrium





Palo, another great experience but I feel they are trying to squeeze too many $'s out of you for it, now $20pp plus we left another $10 additional tip making it $50 for 2, almost paying for the meal rather than contributing towards it. 
Restrooms










Decor





Dizzy










Table setting





Buffet


----------



## wayneg

Won't go into detail with all the food, we ate our fair share. 
After the meal, they had run out of desserts so couldn't take any for the kids (as many do) the server offered to go get us some but we said it didn't matter, later in the day he delivered 3 plates of choc covered strawberries(1 for each family)


----------



## RDP

Great TR, can't wait to try out the Dream!


----------



## Mrs Doubtfire

Great TR and pictures 

Is Palo an upscale restaurant then on the cruise ship, as I have seen it mentioned on a few reports and saw people has to book in advance for it?

Thanks


----------



## wayneg

Mrs Doubtfire said:


> Great TR and pictures
> 
> Is Palo an upscale restaurant then on the cruise ship, as I have seen it mentioned on a few reports and saw people has to book in advance for it?
> 
> Thanks



Yes, on the older ships you just get Palo on the new Disney Dream you get Palo and Remy. Palo is an additional $20pp, Remy $75pp. Never eaten at Remy but talking to our CM friends who have they say the Remy experience is as good as V&A @ GF. We have no interest in eating at either Remy or V&A.


http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/dream/dining/palo/

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/dream/dining/remy/


----------



## disney_princess_85

Your Palo pics are great. We were unable to get a brunch reservation but we managed to get one for dinner. I'm in two minds whether or not to cancel it though, with it being our first cruise. Also, it's on Pirate Night and I'm anxious that we won't be able to enjoy our meal due to fear of missing the fireworks (the reservation is for 8.30pm).


----------



## wayneg

disney_princess_85 said:


> Your Palo pics are great. We were unable to get a brunch reservation but we managed to get one for dinner. I'm in two minds whether or not to cancel it though, with it being our first cruise. Also, it's on Pirate Night and I'm anxious that we won't be able to enjoy our meal due to fear of missing the fireworks (the reservation is for 8.30pm).



Personally I would not miss one of the evening meals for Palo, to me its not worth missing out on the great food thats free(included) to pay $20-30pp. Never had an evening meal in Palo, doubt we ever will but don't mind missing breakfast/lunch for brunch.

If you want Brunch then book it as soon as you board, they keep plenty of tables for the day you board, thats how we did it 2 years ago, could choose any day, any time we wanted, they only release a few for advance bookings. This time we ate a little later 11:30am, it was almost empty, not sure if the increased costs is putting people off.


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## eeyorefanuk

disney_princess_85 said:


> Your Palo pics are great. We were unable to get a brunch reservation but we managed to get one for dinner. I'm in two minds whether or not to cancel it though, with it being our first cruise. Also, it's on Pirate Night and I'm anxious that we won't be able to enjoy our meal due to fear of missing the fireworks (the reservation is for 8.30pm).



Hi, we have just come back from the med cruise - loved every minute of it.

I had booked Palo dinner beforehand and got the Palo brunch on board.

TBH I cancelled the Palo dinner as it was our first ctuise also and we wanted to experience all of the menus.

We kept the Palo brunch and loved it.


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## wayneg

Last pics from the cruise.
Anyone know who this is? we saw him(and his family) in Palo, then numerous times that day, he was everywhere we went and everyone seemed to know him. 





We never saw our stateroom host but we saw this one everytime we went to and from our room, he called Matt his Big Brother, Matt called him Little Brother. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Last meal in Royal Palace again.























































Tonights show "Disney's Believe" was back to Disney best(I really did not enjoy the Villains show) 





Farewell show in the Atrium.





End of another fantastic cruise.


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## Disney_Sarah

wayneg said:


> Evening met Mart, Nigel & families at Mama Melrose, 14 of us, almost 40 min wait for a table, really busy.
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I was the random who came and said hi when you were waiting for your desserts at Mama Melrose! hehe....i knew i recognised people was was too shy to say anything then i though right i am going to go over lol! We too had to wait ages for a table for the two of us....50 mins! lol. Hope you had a lovely holiday and am loving reading your trip report.

xx


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## wayneg

Disney_Sarah said:


> I was the random who came and said hi when you were waiting for your desserts at Mama Melrose! hehe....i knew i recognised people was was too shy to say anything then i though right i am going to go over lol! We too had to wait ages for a table for the two of us....50 mins! lol. Hope you had a lovely holiday and am loving reading your trip report.
> 
> xx



I didn't know who Nigel was talking to until after we went out, I thought you were someone he knew from home not the DIS. 
I thought it was just because we wanted a table for 14 we had a long wait, never expected 2 having to wait so long, it was very busy though.
We had a fantastic trip thank you, all over too fast, now waiting for flights to be released for next year.


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## heatherbelle

disney_princess_85 said:


> Your Palo pics are great. We were unable to get a brunch reservation but we managed to get one for dinner. I'm in two minds whether or not to cancel it though, with it being our first cruise. Also, it's on Pirate Night and I'm anxious that we won't be able to enjoy our meal due to fear of missing the fireworks (the reservation is for 8.30pm).



As Wayne says, wait until you get onbaord. On the Magic you did the change of ressie at DJ rockin bar I think. Don't miss the pirate night whatever you do, its fab.

Wayne, Mama Melrose is now on my list to try for next summer too.  Is it a 1TS or 2TS?  Have you made any plans for next summer?


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## wayneg

heatherbelle said:


> As Wayne says, wait until you get onbaord. On the Magic you did the change of ressie at DJ rockin bar I think. Don't miss the pirate night whatever you do, its fab.
> 
> Wayne, Mama Melrose is now on my list to try for next summer too.  Is it a 1TS or 2TS?  Have you made any plans for next summer?



Its 1 TS, you get 3 courses if doing the Fantasmic package. 
We are considering OKW again 21st July~ 11th August, depending on flights maybe 2 nights offsite 19th~21st July before the 21 nights onsite.


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## wayneg

Our last 3 days after the cruise were at Holiday Inn DTD, used airmiles so only cost me $10/night parking.
Lunch we had at Beaches & Cream, has to be one of the best burgers you can buy. We then walked it off around the World Showcase.















Evening meal at Cheesecake Factory with Nigel, Mart & families. Over 1 hour for a table and then 2 hours to eat, a bit slow but lots of talking so we didn't mind too much, made a change from Disney trying to rush us out. 




















Next day we went to IOA & Universal before our last DIS meet at the Poly. Evening meal was in Sweet Tomatoes with CM friends, no pics of the salad.





Last day was in MK, got there for opening and managed walk on for everything we wanted to do. Lunch in Columbia Harbor House, bit of a shock as we went straight up to order 3 x chicken & fish combos to be told they had stopped doing it, they still do fish & chicken but not mixed.
Looked around the Haunted Mansion new graveyard line, great addition.





Last evening meal at Orlando Alehouse. Our best starter of the trip Zinger Mountain Melt- Chicken Zingers on a bed of fries covered in melted cheeses & bacon bits, don't look at the Nutrition Facts 




















And one of the best desserts you can get, Capt. Jacks.
A great meal to end the holiday.


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## jockey

Wayne Fab pics looked like you guys had a ball... I kept up with Mathews blog too, it was fab! I really need to do a Disney cruise! Your FE gifts were fab !


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## micksn

Thanks for sharing your Disney holiday! It's given us some good ideas for next years ADR's.


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## wayneg

jockey said:


> Wayne Fab pics looked like you guys had a ball... I kept up with Mathews blog too, it was fab! I really need to do a Disney cruise! Your FE gifts were fab !



Martin said the cruise was their best part of the holiday, 
Nigel said it was their best trip to date.
A cruise certainly adds to our enjoyment.



micksn said:


> Thanks for sharing your Disney holiday! It's given us some good ideas for next years ADR's.



Glad it helped.

A few figures from my DDP spreadsheet.
16 nights, 3 adults
CS total $775.83
Snack credit total $183.52
TS total $1,710.92
Total $2,670.27

Average $166.89/day (4 CS credits unused)
Last years average $163.37/day using all credits.


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## howlongtillsummer?

wayneg said:
			
		

> Its 1 TS, you get 3 courses if doing the Fantasmic package.
> We are considering OKW again 21st July~ 11th August, depending on flights maybe 2 nights offsite 19th~21st July before the 21 nights onsite.



Snap we want exactly same dates. Have OKW booked but flights are the next challenge. We were in 2013 this year at OKW - must have been close by again?


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## disneyholic family

dueling TOT pictures:

we have about 10 different ToT pictures, but this one is my favorite (even though there are only 3 of us in this one - DS, DD and me)
DD isn't really scared - she and DS pose each time......(another favorite - the two of them reading a book)...

<a href="http://s895.photobucket.com/albums/ac152/batsheva_lerner/WDW%20August%202011/?action=view&current=DisneyPhotoImage91.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac152/batsheva_lerner/WDW%20August%202011/DisneyPhotoImage91.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


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## wayneg

howlongtillsummer? said:


> Snap we want exactly same dates. Have OKW booked but flights are the next challenge. We were in 2013 this year at OKW - must have been close by again?



You stalking me? 

Great pic Beth, did the other 3 not ride? Matt sometimes reads the park map on pics.


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> You stalking me?
> 
> Great pic Beth, did the other 3 not ride? Matt sometimes reads the park map on pics.



that time it was just the 3 of us - we managed to get all 6 of us on it only once....4 rode twice....and the 3 of us, over and over...

DD, DS and i once rode it 17 times in a row!!   
that was before they changed it to a multiple drop...
it was in the evening, when everyone was in line for fantasmic...
we and another 15 or so people kept running around to get back on.....the entire group of us kept riding it together....we didn't know any of them, but we all just kept ending up together...
DS, DD and me and the rest of this motley crew...

17 times!!! i LOVE that ride!!!!!  my 2nd favorite ride in all WDW!!! most favorite being Splash Mountain!!


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## disneyholic family

here's the one with all 6 of us - the one and only ride with all on board!
we're on the left - the left middle row and the top row the two on the left

<a href="http://s895.photobucket.com/albums/ac152/batsheva_lerner/WDW%20August%202011/?action=view&current=DisneyPhotoImage101.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac152/batsheva_lerner/WDW%20August%202011/DisneyPhotoImage101.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


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## Scrap_Vamp

howlongtillsummer? said:


> Snap we want exactly same dates. Have OKW booked but flights are the next challenge. We were in 2013 this year at OKW - must have been close by again?



How spooky, we were in 2010!  I don't know if we were there at the same time tho?


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## disney_princess_85

LOVE the Duffy ears!



wayneg said:


> Personally I would not miss one of the evening meals for Palo, to me its not worth missing out on the great food thats free(included) to pay $20-30pp. Never had an evening meal in Palo, doubt we ever will but don't mind missing breakfast/lunch for brunch.
> 
> If you want Brunch then book it as soon as you board, they keep plenty of tables for the day you board, thats how we did it 2 years ago, could choose any day, any time we wanted, they only release a few for advance bookings. This time we ate a little later 11:30am, it was almost empty, not sure if the increased costs is putting people off.





eeyorefanuk said:


> Hi, we have just come back from the med cruise - loved every minute of it.
> 
> I had booked Palo dinner beforehand and got the Palo brunch on board.
> 
> TBH I cancelled the Palo dinner as it was our first ctuise also and we wanted to experience all of the menus.
> 
> We kept the Palo brunch and loved it.





heatherbelle said:


> As Wayne says, wait until you get onbaord. On the Magic you did the change of ressie at DJ rockin bar I think. Don't miss the pirate night whatever you do, its fab.



Thanks all. I have cancelled the dinner reservation and will try to get one for brunch onboard.


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## UKDEB

wayneg said:


>


That looks scrummy.  What is it?  We've never eaten at Wolfgang Puck's Express, but I could be tempted!



			
				wayneg said:
			
		

>


Too cute.



wayneg said:


> Is that a hidden Mickey sun?


Fab photo!


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## UKDEB

wayneg said:


> Just a quick post as its 5:30am here, Matt could not sleep due to AS level exam results so we just rang to get them. Now none of us can sleep.
> He took 5 exams
> Critical Thinking C
> English Lit B
> English Language A
> Sociology A
> Psychology A
> 
> The last 3 are what he is continuing onto A level next year so he is very happy right now.


Well done, Matt!  What great news to get while you're on holiday.  I haven't read your blog about the Sentinel visit yet, but I'll go off and find it after I've finished catching up with your dad's report.  I've corresponded with Dewayne in the past and he's a Facebook friend.


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## wayneg

UKDEB said:


> Well done, Matt!  What great news to get while you're on holiday.  I haven't read your blog about the Sentinel visit yet, but I'll go off and find it after I've finished catching up with your dad's report.  I've corresponded with Dewayne in the past and he's a Facebook friend.



He really enjoyed his visit there, yesterday he submitted another article about 9/11. He now wants Dewaynes job
http://mathewgillings.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/day-12-orlando-sentinel-and-ipad-2/




UKDEB said:


> That looks scrummy.  What is it?  We've never eaten at Wolfgang Puck's Express, but I could be tempted!



It is probably my favourite meal at WPE 
WARM TURKEY MELT, CHEDDAR, CARAMELIZED ONIONS, ARUGULA, PORT WINE SAUCE AND
HORSERADISH CREAM WITH SWEET POTATO FRIES $13.50

Its a great place to use CS credits but very expensive OOP, every meal we eat there would be $70-80.

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/casual-dining/wolfgang-puck-express/7983/section-menu

Direct link to menu 
http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/content/files/foodmenu_Disney To Go 4-25-2011.pdf


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## UKDEB

wayneg said:


> I tried a carrot cake cookie for the 1st time


Wow!  I'm gonna be getting me one of those!


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## UKDEB

Everything about the Dream looks fab-u-LOUS!  I've managed to persuade Matt to do a 22 day trip next October/November and there won't be a better opportunity to squeeze in a cruise.  I'll start working on him!

Thanks so much for persevering with the links even when I wasn't posting responses!  It must have been a real pain, especially as you were obviously struggling to keep up yourself on this Lily-centric trip.  I really do appreciate it.

What a fantastic trip, beautifully illustrated - such a boon for those of us languishing at home.  You must really be back to earth with a bump.


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## wayneg

UKDEB said:


> Everything about the Dream looks fab-u-LOUS!  I've managed to persuade Matt to do a 22 day trip next October/November and there won't be a better opportunity to squeeze in a cruise.  I'll start working on him!
> 
> Thanks so much for persevering with the links even when I wasn't posting responses!  It must have been a real pain, especially as you were obviously struggling to keep up yourself on this Lily-centric trip.  I really do appreciate it.
> 
> What a fantastic trip, beautifully illustrated - such a boon for those of us languishing at home.  You must really be back to earth with a bump.



The Disney Dream is better at some things, worse at others. The adult pool is about half size of the Magic/wonder yet about double the guests. 
As I have posted there is no evening bar to relax in like Promande lounge. 
Glass wind barriers on top deck were a hazzard to me, why not make them slide and open up to allow free movement on Pirate night? instead no-one could get thru. After the fireworks we wanted to get down to the drinks station, the steps were blocked I evetually got to the bottom and stopped anyone else going up until they cleared (I should work in health & safety, I hate things like this) 
Surprised how bad some things are designed on a state of the art ship, don't designers spend time on these ships?
On the other hand most of the ship is amazing and well worth a trip if you can.
I think I sent you most links, just the last few pages I have not done. Only took a minute or 2 to send, no worries.
It was a fantastic trip, I now need another


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## UKDEB

wayneg said:


> The adult pool is about half size of the Magic/wonder yet about double the guests.
> As I have posted there is no evening bar to relax in like Promande lounge.


That's just crazy.  I always say that what sets DCL apart is that it caters to the "adults only" demographic so well.  We loved the adult pool, the adults only bars and, of course, Serenity Bay.


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> The Disney Dream is better at some things, worse at others. The adult pool is about half size of the Magic/wonder yet about double the guests.
> As I have posted there is no evening bar to relax in like Promande lounge.
> Glass wind barriers on top deck were a hazzard to me, why not make them slide and open up to allow free movement on Pirate night? instead no-one could get thru. After the fireworks we wanted to get down to the drinks station, the steps were blocked I evetually got to the bottom and stopped anyone else going up until they cleared (I should work in health & safety, I hate things like this)
> Surprised how bad some things are designed on a state of the art ship, don't designers spend time on these ships?
> On the other hand most of the ship is amazing and well worth a trip if you can.
> I think I sent you most links, just the last few pages I have not done. Only took a minute or 2 to send, no worries.
> It was a fantastic trip, I now need another



from what i've read about the dream, it seems as if adults have it worse than they did on the wonder/magic...

was there any adult entertainment other than just bars and drinking?
when we were on the wonder, we really enjoyed the dueling pianos as well as the various parties in the dance bar (can't remember the name)..

just having a bunch of bars isn't having anything special for adults in my view..

we have reservations for the dream, so i guess i'll have an opportunity to see.....

was the carrot cookie from the writers stop (or whatever that place is called at DHS)? 
the guy who took us to our table at sci fi was raving about them...
we didn't have a chance to try them out.....next time!!


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## wayneg

UKDEB said:


> That's just crazy.  I always say that what sets DCL apart is that it caters to the "adults only" demographic so well.  We loved the adult pool, the adults only bars and, of course, Serenity Bay.



The adult pool has a bar area with stools and very shallow water, you can see in the pic some sat in it. The area nearest to us on the pic was always filled by the same group of people so no room for anyone else, the only area to have a dip was the bit in the middle, again mostly filled with people so it was a dip to cool off and out again.


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## wayneg

disneyholic family said:


> from what i've read about the dream, it seems as if adults have it worse than they did on the wonder/magic...
> 
> was there any adult entertainment other than just bars and drinking?
> when we were on the wonder, we really enjoyed the dueling pianos as well as the various parties in the dance bar (can't remember the name)..
> 
> just having a bunch of bars isn't having anything special for adults in my view..
> 
> we have reservations for the dream, so i guess i'll have an opportunity to see.....
> 
> was the carrot cookie from the writers stop (or whatever that place is called at DHS)?
> the guy who took us to our table at sci fi was raving about them...
> we didn't have a chance to try them out.....next time!!



We didn't cruise as adult only so can't really judge them, the District area looked to cater very well for adult entertainment. 
I think they cater very very well for every age group if you split up into ages, what they do not cater for is a family(or families) wanting to enjoy their own company.
Yes Writers Stop, I had read about it on here and had to have one.


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> what they do not cater for is a family(or families) wanting to enjoy their own company.



do you mean there aren't areas on the ship for families to do stuff?  like play shuffleboard or whatever?


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## wayneg

disneyholic family said:


> do you mean there aren't areas on the ship for families to do stuff?  like play shuffleboard or whatever?



There are games, Shuffleboard, minigolf, sports court etc but on an evening we like to go sit in a lounge and have a drink, listen to a pianist, a singer etc in the background and be able to talk/watch the world pass by. The choice was a bar with no seating, lounges for over 18's or a family lounge with flashing lights(I mean whole walls flashing) & kids karaoke, a pic here does not show how bad it was but gives you an idea, the whole room was flashing like this. Mart got the map out after about 3 minutes we could not stand it any longer, also combined with some mental loud game it was my not my idea of enjoyment
This is the only family area onboard.


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## london75

I agree, we found a distinct lack of nice seating areas.  We ended up on the sofas in the atrium for a bit but felt we had to buy something from the bar to stay any length of time.

I don't know if they mean for you to sit in Cabanas but just not comfy enough.

More seating throughout the atrium would do the trick we felt.


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> There are games, Shuffleboard, minigolf, sports court etc but on an evening we like to go sit in a lounge and have a drink, listen to a pianist, a singer etc in the background and be able to talk/watch the world pass by. The choice was a bar with no seating, lounges for over 18's or a family lounge with flashing lights(I mean whole walls flashing) & kids karaoke, a pic here does not show how bad it was but gives you an idea, the whole room was flashing like this. Mart got the map out after about 3 minutes we could not stand it any longer, also combined with some mental loud game it was my not my idea of enjoyment
> This is the only family area onboard.



oh i see what you mean


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## disney_princess_85

wayneg said:


> The choice was a bar with no seating, lounges for over 18's or *a family lounge with flashing lights(I mean whole walls flashing)* & kids karaoke, a pic here does not show how bad it was but gives you an idea, the whole room was flashing like this. Mart got the map out after about 3 minutes we could not stand it any longer, *also combined with some mental loud game it was my not my idea of enjoyment*



Sounds a bit mad!!


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## wayneg

disney_princess_85 said:


> Sounds a bit mad!!



The expressions on our faces in the pic really does show how we felt. We only went because it was advertised as a Disney Quiz, what we didn't reaslise was it was only 3 people on stage with buzzers and a guy asking questions who was way OTT. We expected everyone participating. 
We didn't stay long


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## Tink2312

I'm glad we can go in the over 18 area - I like the look of skyline and 687. Are the alcoholic drink prices comparative to WDW? I find these can be a bit expensive and I'm presuming as a captive audience on the cruise they're probably even dearer.


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## wayneg

Tink2312 said:


> I'm glad we can go in the over 18 area - I like the look of skyline and 687. Are the alcoholic drink prices comparative to WDW? I find these can be a bit expensive and I'm presuming as a captive audience on the cruise they're probably even dearer.



Cocktail of the day is usually around $4.25-$4.50 ($1.5-$2 discount) 
Watch out for the plastic glasses saying DCL on, they charge you about $5 ontop as you keep the glass.
Thats all we bought, will try Google later and find other prices. Far cheaper to take your own onboard, we always take a bottle od vodka now.


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## Tink2312

Thanks Wayne  I think we'll take a few minatures aboard with some beers/ wine. We're not big drinkers (normally we barely manage to get through a dozen beers in a holiday  ) but it would be nice to take in the surroundings and have a few cocktails. That pricing for the cocktail of the day sounds good - no doubt I'll have to buy at least one of the DCL glasses though


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## Pootle

Just checking up to see if you've mentioned what you thought of the Holiday Inn on Hotel Plaza Blvd and don't think I have, so giving you a nudge , also to find out how the PE experience was for you coming home.  You've not put this somewhere else have you and I've missed it - always possible ?

Off to have a look at Matt's blog now to see what he had to say.  I enjoyed your holiday, but not sure a Disney cruise would be for me after all.  Thanks for doing it all.


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## wayneg

Pootle said:


> Just checking up to see if you've mentioned what you thought of the Holiday Inn on Hotel Plaza Blvd and don't think I have, so giving you a nudge , also to find out how the PE experience was for you coming home.  You've not put this somewhere else have you and I've missed it - always possible ?
> 
> Off to have a look at Matt's blog now to see what he had to say.  I enjoyed your holiday, but not sure a Disney cruise would be for me after all.  Thanks for doing it all.



Hi Moira
HI was OK for nothing  I don't think there were more than half a dozen rooms taken, never saw anyone else about. Nice sized room free wireless net, safe, coffee maker, standard HI room just a little larger. Only downside was paying $10/nt for parking but checked my CC statement and they have only charged for 1 night, maybe because we booked 3 seperate nights using our airmiles (1 night in each name) it confused them. So $10 for 3 nights stay was OK, I used miles that were about to expire. 
I joined their free priority club on last day which allowed us to check out at 2pm instead of 11am. Times worked really well then.

PE, I felt the seats were a little on the hard side, maybe because they are new, Matt & Karen thought they were OK, good leg room, nothing like Biz class but better than economy, not sure how they compare with old PE as we have never tried. IFE looked good, not something I bother with, no idea how anyone watches a movie on anything less than a 32" screen. Just listened to music but couldn't sleep due to a girl screaming as loud as poss 7 hours out of the 8, they said she had toothache, never heard a child scream like that for so long. Food was better than I expected and nice to be offered a glass of bubbly on boarding and a Baileys later in the flight, little things make all the difference.  
Probably worth £50-75 each way extra to me, wouldn't pay anymore than that. I enjoyed the extra leg room in economy just as much. I am sure Matt wrote about his thoughts on his blog.

Cruise, I would say try one you never know. I told one of my customers to try a Disney cruise this summer around the Med, bearing in mind he is an accountant, dislikes Disney and not interested in cruising. I expected him coming back and saying he hated it, I saw him last week, he has booked on the new ship next year.

Keep reading Matt's blog, he is enjoying writing it, some days he has had almost 500 read it.


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## Pootle

Thanks for that Wayne 

I don't think we were charged the parking fee at Holiday Inn in Feb; suspect it was quite new then but might have just been an oversight . We paid around £50 when Courtyard (Palm Parkway) was over £70 for the same night (normally pay around £40 after cashback).  It was instantly forgettable but for 1 night was fine.

I was interested in what you said about PE on the Airbus, I'll be trying it for the first time in November (Airbus that is; always do PE ).  I'm really fed up with Virgin's 'requested' seating fiasco this year so may be giving them a miss in future.  Currently I'm competing with you for frequency of visits, having 3 trips in the pipeline; 2 with Virgin PE and 1 Monarch Premium.  Off to Italy next week too 

Best wishes to you all, including MIL. I will try to remember to read Matt's blog more often; he's very good


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## wayneg

Update from our VA flight, due to a medical issue behind us we were asked to spend some time in Upper class, then moved to PE, as a sweetener they gave us a litre of Smirnoff Vodka and the staff looked after us well, even offering to fetch us cake.
Today I just signed for a letter from VA, thought it was something to do with flights I just booked for next year, turns out to be a letter of appreciation/gratitude from VA, Captain & staff and includes £60 of vouchers each, £180 total. 
I doubt we will be able to use them in payment for the flight I booked last weekend(if only they had arrived last week) so looks like we might have to have a spending spree onboard next July.


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## dixonsontour

wayneg said:


> Update from our VA flight, due to a medical issue behind us we were asked to spend some time in Upper class, then moved to PE, as a sweetener they gave us a litre of Smirnoff Vodka and the staff looked after us well, even offering to fetch us cake.
> Today I just signed for a letter from VA, thought it was something to do with flights I just booked for next year, turns out to be a letter of appreciation/gratitude from VA, Captain & staff and includes £60 of vouchers each, £180 total.
> I doubt we will be able to use them in payment for the flight I booked last weekend(if only they had arrived last week) so looks like we might have to have a spending spree onboard next July.



Very nice to do that - good customer service.


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## burt

wayneg said:


> Update from our VA flight, due to a medical issue behind us we were asked to spend some time in Upper class, then moved to PE, as a sweetener they gave us a litre of Smirnoff Vodka and the staff looked after us well, even offering to fetch us cake.
> Today I just signed for a letter from VA, thought it was something to do with flights I just booked for next year, turns out to be a letter of appreciation/gratitude from VA, Captain & staff and includes £60 of vouchers each, £180 total.
> I doubt we will be able to use them in payment for the flight I booked last weekend(if only they had arrived last week) so looks like we might have to have a spending spree onboard next July.



Do you never get embarrassed about the amount of freebies you get


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## wayneg

burt said:


> Do you never get embarrassed about the amount of freebies you get



You are the king of compensation, I am only an amateur.


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## burt

wayneg said:


> You are the king of compensation, I am only an amateur.



I had two good teachers in the art of complaining - You and Nige  Did you sort out your missing picture of the photopass, i reckon if you complain you might get a discount on that aswell


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## wayneg

burt said:


> I had two good teachers in the art of complaining - You and Nige  Did you sort out your missing picture of the photopass, i reckon if you complain you might get a discount on that aswell



Yes, sorted Photopass, they are on their way. Will post a few when they arrive.


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## Disneymad

Thanks for the trip report - I wasn't around the forums when it was Live but just had the chance to sit down and read the whole thing now and really enjoyed it 

I remember after you saw the pictures from my meal at Sanaa last year you mentioned how you'd cancelled a few times because you were unsure it would be your thing and that after seeing my pictures you had no regrets about cancelling. I'm so glad you changed your mind and tried it, and better still that you liked it! 

Also happy to see you got your hands on one of the carrot cake cookies too - they're delish and so huge. I'm taking a ziplock bag with me next time especially so I can nibble some at the park and save the rest for later.

Off to check out the blog too now!


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> Update from our VA flight, due to a medical issue behind us we were asked to spend some time in Upper class, then moved to PE, as a sweetener they gave us a litre of Smirnoff Vodka and the staff looked after us well, even offering to fetch us cake.
> Today I just signed for a letter from VA, thought it was something to do with flights I just booked for next year, turns out to be a letter of appreciation/gratitude from VA, Captain & staff and includes £60 of vouchers each, £180 total.
> I doubt we will be able to use them in payment for the flight I booked last weekend(if only they had arrived last week) so looks like we might have to have a spending spree onboard next July.



outstanding!!!
i was really annoyed by your story of them putting you in upper class without seat belts and giving you a bottle of booze, without proper voucher compensation....
glad to hear virgin did it right!!  a letter of thanks and a token of their appreciation!!  very well done!!!!!!


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## wayneg

Received our Photopass CD's, here are a few I have picked out.


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## wayneg




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## dixonsontour

Lovely pics


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## alibeau

Fabulous photos 

Ali


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## howlongtillsummer?

Totally brilliant!! When are you taking her back?!


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## scottishgirl1

The photos are fab.Love the ones where Eric is talking to her.


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## wayneg

howlongtillsummer? said:


> Totally brilliant!! When are you taking her back?!


Next summer, we will be there 6 days then they join us for 18 days.



scottishgirl1 said:


> The photos are fab.Love the ones where Eric is talking to her.



I wasn't at the meet with Eric & Ariel, I took Matt to the Orlando Setninel that morning. Apparently they spent loads of time with Lily, Photopass took about 10-12 pics she was there that long.


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## catherine

Brilliant photos!  I bet that you can't wait to take her back


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## Sarah28

what beautiful photos


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## disneyholic family

great pics!!!!!!!!!!

where was the princess and the frog picture taken?

we didn't do any of the princess picture lines, as my kids are a bit grown for the face characters....we did a lot of the furry characters, but not the face characters....

only on the last night did i discover that my daugther in law is in love with the princesses!   how lucky that i had made a reservation at 1900 park fare so she could 'meet' cinderella and prince charming...
she was every bit as thrilled to have her picture taken with them as any 3 year old....and to have DS in a picture shaking hands with prince charming..

i guess you're never too old!!


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## wayneg

Tiana has her own area just behind the Xmas shop in MK.

You are never too old for anything in Disney. See below
This time on the photopass CD's they also included quite a lot of stock photos, never have before, added a couple here.


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## disneyholic family

wayneg said:


> You are never too old for anything in Disney. See below



how you've changed!!!!

i'll never forget everything you used to say about WDW Wayne!!!

i think you must have gone to sleep one night and someone stole your body and replaced you with the koolaid drinking version of yourself....

for how many years did i post ad nauseum about all things great and wonderful about WDW, to which you ALWAYS responded how you could take it or leave it....usually leave it..

the Wayne conversion is complete - pictures with princesses!!!


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