So, here we are again!

I had some great intentions, after all it made sense to write a diary of our holiday so that I wouldn’t forget too soon. But between being on dial up, and the sheer exhaustion of a Disney holiday, it didn’t happen.

But you already knew that.

And now the holiday’s over. In fact we’ve been home a week. Doesn’t feel like it, I can still close my eyes and almost imagine I’m there. And I want to be there, it was fantastic.

Not the Disney stuff so much (though that was great) but the warmth, the prices, the choice, the food, the nail bars, the trashy mags, the tv, the smells, the pool, the heavenly mattress on our bed, the car, the excitement, the lack of calls & emails, Dunkin Doughnuts, and Reece’s peanut butter cups.

And here’re some things I discovered on holiday:

Tour Guide Mike is invaluable for Disney Holidays
Being anal is bloody useful for following Mike’s tips
Other people don’t appear to utilise the fastpass to its full potential
I prefer Universal
Wet n’ Wild is a let down
Discovery Cove isn’t
US cars run on one type of fuel (though with varying quality)
They don’t even sell diesel at fuel stations!
Cigarettes are cheap as chips
Food is cheaper than chips
Including eating out
Chips are crisps
If you want chips, ask for fries
Confused? It’s part of the fun!


And more for my memory than thinking you might care, here’s what we did:

Thursday 13th December: recovered from flights – they were delayed so we reached the villa at midnight (or five in the morning as far as our bodies were concerned!) And we did manage a 5 hour shopping trip to Walmart. Where we lost S – and that’s no joke, though with quarter of an hour and five shop assistants we finally found her wandering the aisles (exactly what we’d said NOT to do!!)

Friday 14th: Magic Kingdom, rides completed by midday (thanks to Tour Guide Mike!) crowds drove us out by 2

Saturday 15th: Lazy morning followed with Premium Outlets (didn’t buy a thing as Premium is still premium, and who needs it with Walmart down the road?!)

Sunday 16th: Sat through an early morning storm and bemoaned the temperature drop, Ripley's Believe It Or Not came in useful. Walmart again this afternoon!

Monday 17th: Epcot, again rides completed by lunch, so went back on the trip to Mars three times! I adore that ride – it’s the closest I’ll ever get to space!! The kids discovered you don’t need to be greedy in America – a double scoop ice-cream is too much to finish, hahaha!

Tuesday 17th: Animal Kingdom, P discovers he adores roller-coasters, and the BH doesn’t (I already knew I don’t!) Man then dies riding Everest, doesn’t put P off, but did play on the BH’s mind.

Wednesday 18th: Universal! Bought the express pass as I had no intention of starting to queue for rides – worked brilliantly! Managed both Universal parks in one day (admittedly we were there 13 hours) Spiderman’s the best IMO, Hulk’s the best in P’s, or the Duelling Dragons, he can’t decide; all wonderful. Oh and I must mention Donkey!

You know, Donkey Trusty Steed, from Shrek, usually played by Eddie Murphy, but I have no idea who was playing the one at Universal, he sounded the same but I might have thought it was completely animated if it wasn’t for the conversation he had with P!

To set the scene: the kids race out of 4D Shrek and see a sign telling them to ‘Come this way’ if they wish to meet Donkey and Shrek – which of course they want to do. But the characters weren’t quite out (it was still early) and so they waited, which was okay on this occassion as they were at the front of what became a long queue. Finally Donkey and Shrek appear and my four darlings rush up to get their autographs and pictures taken.

Donkey: So where you kids from?

Chorus: Jersey!

Donkey: Really? That don’t sound like a Jersey accent!

P: Not New Jersey, Old, the original!

Donkey: Old Jersey? Never heard of it!

P: It’s not called Old Jersey, just Jersey.

Donkey (voice rising): I called it Old Jersey ‘cause you said it was Old Jersey!

P (narrowing his eyes): It’s just Jersey!

Donkey: Ok. So is that like New Jersey?

P: No!

Donkey: How’d you know? You been to New Jersey?

P: No.

Donkey: So how’d you know?

P (glaring)

Donkey (voice has risen to point where everyone is watching): So how’d you know New Jersey isn’t like Jersey?!

P (silent)

Donkey: Come on kid, answer the question!

P (eyes narrowed to slits): Don’t talk to me!

P promptly turns his glare towards the camera, and notices the line of people watching and grinning.

Donkey (voice just as loud as could be): Don’t talk to you? Don’t talk to you?! You came to me! Hey kid, don’t you turn you back on me when I asked you a question! Admit it, you don’t know!

P (red faced but starting to see the funny side, faces his nemesis): I do know! It’s NOT like New Jersey!

Donkey: If you haven’t been there, how do you know that?

P (in a stroke of genius. Or not): Wikipedia!

Donkey (with a shrill voice breaking into laughter): Wikipedia? WIKIPEDIA!! Oh kid, you gotta a lot to learn!

By this time people our ‘go’ had long gone, and though people were obviously amused to watch the banter, I hurried P along before I wet myself from giggling so hard! with Donkey muttering curses about Wikipedia as we left!

Guess you had to be there, but it still makes me giggle.


(See how red the boy is!)



Right, my time’s up for today, and I’ve bored you long enough. For today.