Vikki's Blog

Didn’t get the best nights sleep last night. What with the time change everyone was wide awake by 5am at the latest - I’m not sure Ben slept very much at all, but he does seem to be developing a bit of a cold, which didn’t help.

Since this was our first day we decided we’d try out Genie+ today. This is basically very similar to the old fast pass system, except you now have to pay for it But we thought it’d be worth a try. You can buy it from 7am, which is what we did, and booked our first pass (now called Lightening Lane) for the Haunted Mansion.

We took total advantage of being up early and we were all showered and ready to leave the room by 7.30am to get the bus to the Magic Kingdom. The bus wasn’t an especially long wait which was good. The ride round to Magic Kingdom really isn’t very long from Old Key West fortunately. We were attempting to take advantage of the extra half hour early opening benefit for resort guests, so wanted to make sure we were there by 8.30am.

Security has changed quite a lot since we were last here. Now you just walk through the metal detectors without the need for bags being searched. Well, that’s the way it normally is. Unfortunately Anthony got pulled out for a bag check. Seems it was because we have umbrellas in there so they recommended we hold them in our hands when we walk through next time.

It was very speedy getting into the park after that. Then that was it, we were back on Main Street! It had taken us far longer to get back than we expected, but it was every bit as magical as I knew it would be. The new colours on the castle for the 50th anniversary are stunning, it really does look fabulous!

We weren’t sure how they were doing the early entry for resort guests as everyone had been let in at the same time, but there was a sign pointing towards Tomorrowland, so we headed there, had our bands scanned, and we were on our way. We decided that since we were early, and the individual lightening lane for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train wouldn’t have started yet, this would be a good chance to go there. This is a ride that isn’t included in Genie+, instead you have to pay a one off fee just for that one. This doesn’t start till 9am though, and since it’s only 8.30am, we thought we’d chance the standby line. We almost changed our minds as the line looped all the way past storybook Circus and round to the Little Mermaid ride. The sign at the end of the line said the wait was 60 minutes, which we knew would be the shortest we’d ever see it, so we broke our 45 minute rule and got in line. I’m so pleased we did as the wait was actually only 45 minutes after all. The ride was just as good as we all remembered and it was a great one to choose for our first one back in the Magic Kingdom.

It was round to my favourite ride next - the Haunted Mansion! The line was around an hour long in standby so I was pleased we had LL for this (going to use LL rather than Lightning Lane ). It was even bit as wonderful as I remember it being. Anthony is really testing out his new vlogging camera on here too, he’s bought a really fancy one and it’s apparently really good in low light, so we’ll have to see.

As soon as we got out, we tried to book another LL. Unlike fast pass, you can’t choose a time, it’s just the next available. The wifi here really hasn’t got any better since the last time we were here, and it kept cutting out. Not a good thing if they want you to use wifi for things like and ordering food etc. We’ll have to hope it gets better. We did manage to get Pirates of the Caribbean booked for about an hour and a half later though.

Ben had requested Big Thunder Mountain, and at only a 25 minute standby wait, this was a great choice. I’m not sure we’ve ever actually gone in the standby line for this ride, but it was actually pretty good, lots of little details to pick up on, and some really humorous ones at that. The ride itself was brilliant, and it’ll always be a favourite. We discovered that our Mine Train photos had come through but the watermark was still there, which was very odd. After some investigating it seemed that when we went in the park, it didn’t use our 14 day pass - which has photos included. Instead it used a 1 day pass that we were given a few years back and haven’t used yet - but we want to use for our summer trip

After Big Thunder we got a couple of snacks and Anthony headed to guest services to sort out the ticketing problem. We got ourselves a Krispie treat and a giant cookie to share, and walked over to the Tomorrowland Terrace to enjoy them (picking up some cups of free ice water from Caseys on the way). There’s never anyone at the Terrace anymore since the quick service there is so rarely open, but that works out well for us as it’s a great quiet place to go for a bit of a chill out. You also get a great view of the character cavalcades as well.

Anthony got sorted at guest services and we went to our Pirates ride time. On the way we noticed one of the cavalcades was on it’s way, so we stopped to watch that. None of us are parade fans, but these calalcades are actually really good fun, and pretty short, so they don’t snarl the park up for hours. We noticed near us there was one little girl who had a home made version of one of the dancer outfits, complete with props and she was dancing along and totally loving it. The dancers all spotted her and made a huge fuss, which was really sweet to see.

After that we made our way to Pirates. Again, a lot of fun, and we rode in two groups of two so we didn’t get squished into one row! The kids are far too big for that now, but the cast members do like to try and cram everyone on one row if they can!

Ben was really beginning to flag by now, but we’d managed to get another LL for the Speedway in half an hour, so we decided to do the TTA and the speedway, then head back to the resort for a nap.

We did have a rather exciting moment on the TTA when all the lights went on, and we thought we were going to experience our first ride evacuation, but sadly it was not to be. On the Speedway, we breezed past the 50 minute line with our LL and were on the ride within a few minutes. This ride is mine and Ben’s thing. Ever since he was little we’ve had a standing joke about how terrible he is at driving on there’s and now it’s just become so funny that he does it on purpose - well, I think it’s on purpose

Once we were done on there I took the kids back to the resort for a nap, while Anthony got a Lyft round to Publix. Instacart never did work, so thought it was just as easy to go round there himself in the end.

We’d been back in the room for about 5 minutes before I heard the kids snoring! We have booked a LL for the Jingle Cruise this evening at the Magic Kingdom, although I’m not sure if we’ll actually make it.

Anthony got home from Publix and we got everything unloaded and packed away. Quite pleased we did it that was in the end. Cost far less and I think it’s always better picking your own things anyway.

Ben asked if we could go to Disney Springs for a bit, which we did. To be honest, it probably wasn’t the best idea, it was Saturday night so absolutely heaving. Nice to see all of the Christmas decorations though. Only bought a calendar

Back at the resort we realised we hadn’t actually had any lunch, so made some tea pretty sharpish. Ava was desperate to swim again so went back to the pool with Anthony. Ben seems to have picked up a rotten cold, so he stayed and had a bath and an early night. We had booked some more LLs for the evening at Magic Kingdom but we were all pretty done in, with the time difference catching up with us. So we all turned in after what had been a really wonderful first day back in the magic!

As for Genie+, we didn’t get the most out of it today, but I still think it was actually worth it. We waited for three rides in standby, and rode three with Genie, so it did save us time. We could have ridden way more using it if we were doing a full on day in the parks, but that just wasn’t what we could do after travelling yesterday. It still makes me very cross that basically it’s just paid for fast pass - which you didn’t have to pay for, but things change and we’ll just budget accordingly. I think we will use it again, especially as you can park hop with it, but we’ll see.

Part three - the one with rope drop

Poor Ben, he really is full of cold now, didn't sleep especially well, but still insisted he wanted to go out this morning. This was until it was time to actually leave the room, and he decided he'd sit the early start out and try and get a bit more sleep. I did offer to stay with him like a good mummy, but he said he'd be fine. So off we all went to Epcot. Early opening for resort guests is 8.30am-9.30am today, much better than the 30 minutes at Magic Kingdom yesterday.

At 7am sharp I was ready to go, to get a boarding group for the new Ratatouille ride. You could pre populate the app with your group, then just hit refresh at 7am. I did that, and they were all gone! I'd heard it was fairly easy to get - appears not. Will try again in the next round at 1pm.

We got to the park really quickly - again, loving the location of OKW. We were through the gates and in very quickly. Now, this is my favourite park and I know the place like the back of my hand. Well, I used to. Not so much anymore! There's things there that weren't there 2 years ago, and entire buildings missing! I felt very unsure, but I loved it - new things are good!

Our plan was to go to Test Track first, and then Soarin. This is because Test Track has a much lower capacity (this is where it helps having a geeky Ben), so going there first was a good idea. We were one of the first families through and we were on the ride within a few minutes. We all adore this ride! Since the seating is in rows of 3, we never all sit on a row together, until today when we had no Ben of course. We even managed to get on the front row, which was great.

Once we'd finished, we walked round to Soarin, which was a walk on. Definitely made the right call with the order of rides there! We were right at the front of the line, so when boarding began we asked for row B1. This is the perfect row to sit in if you don't want a wonky Eiffel Tower

Once we'd come off we went to Living with the Land. Love this attraction so much. It's so simple, yet the complete embodiment of what Epcot truly is. We then had a message that Ben had woken up and he was on his way, so we rode the Seas ride then met him at Figment. That extra hour or two did him the world of good - as did the cold medicine we'd bought him

We'd intended to go up to the DVC lounge but it wasn't open yet, so stopped by the Pixar film festival instead. To our surprise, classic Mickey was meeting there so we got some photos with him. I think the film festival is a real hidden gem. Fifteen minutes in glorious air conditioning and three adorable short films to watch. Piper is definitely my favourite. The lounge had opened by the time we'd finished there, so headed up there. Love how they do it now. Rather than scramble for a good seat, you're assigned a table. Once seated you're allowed to remove your mask. Drinks are now served for you, and snacks are in a basket which is always available, rather than you having to wait for the trolley to come round. Much prefer this, as do the staff we were talking to about it. They said they hope they keep it that way. Spent a while in there, then it was time to hit the Festival of the Holidays food booths 

Part 4 - the one with some good, and some not so good food

It was lunchtime. We’re in Epcot. It’s the festival of the holidays. This can only mean one thing. It’s food booth time! To be honest, I think this is why Ben came back really, there was food involved, so he’s there!

Our first stop was the Yukon holiday kitchen in Canada. The beef bourguinon took our fancy here. Well, not mine as I’m not a fan of beef, but everyone else seemed very keen. Seems this was a good first choice for them as they all really enjoyed it. The big difference between having food at this festival and at the food and wine festival is that the weather is so much better at this time of year for eating hot food outside In saying that though, it’s been upwards of 30 degrees today, so pretty toasty. However, there’s very little humidity, which makes it so much easier to deal with.

Next was Le Marche de Noel in France. Here we chose the turkey option, with sweet potato and mushroom, bacon and mustard sauce. Sounds delicious right? It was a bit meh unfortunately. Didn’t look particularly tasty and was really quite bland. Not one we’d have again unfortunately.

L’chaim was next, and Ava is a bit obsessed with this one. She absolutely loves potato Latkas, so that was what we went for here. I actually made these with my class a couple of weeks ago when we were learning about Hanukkah, so it was nice to have the Epcot version. They really were delicious, and I love the sauce they make them with. Essentially they are just potato cakes though, so nothing particularly special. Ava was pleased though

Round to the one Ben has been looking forward to next - the American holiday kitchen. Here they have a traditional turkey dinner, with mashed potatoes, stuffing, beans and gravy. We didn’t share one between us all here, we got a couple to share instead. I know this is a simple dish, but it’s such good value, the portion is massive, and it’s delicious! Of all the things at the festival, this really is a favourite. So good! When we’d finished our food, we saw that there was a Father Christmas meet at the back of the pavilion with hardly anyone waiting to see him. So we did! He was wonderful, and when he asked the children what they’d like for Christmas, they said that this holiday was their present, which Father Christmas thought was wonderful. We spent a good few minutes with him, and got some lovely photos.

It was almost 1pm which was the next time we could get a Ratatouille boarding group, so Ben and I went off in search of good WiFi! We bought got our apps ready and I put the atomic clock on my phone to get the exact time. We bough started ma ideally clicking refresh 10 seconds before 1pm As a teenager, Ben clearly has gamers fingers so managed to get the first boarding group, which was great! Unfortunately the call time wasn't until 5pm, but at least we had one.

One more stop along the way, and that was at the Bavaria kitchen. Here we had the cheese fondue and the poem schnitzel. Both of these were really good. The cheese in the fondue was really strong which the kids weren’t quite as keen on, but we really enjoyed it.

By now we’d had enough food, so decided to go round to Test Track. Once we saw the line we changed our minds though Even single rider was crazy long. Went for a visit to the new creations shop instead. I absolutely loved it. More spread out and much more user friendly. I found a lovely Epcot t shirt so treated myself to that.

We were going to go on Spaceship Earth then do a bit of resort touring before Ratatouille,  but the kids were really starting to flag so Anthony took them back to the room and I went to do a bit of touring instead to go and see the resort decorations. .

I hopped a monorail round to the TTC and then walked to the Poly. I stopped for a quick drink (and to pick up some decaf tea bags) and went to chill in the lobby for a bit. The decorations here are OK, but nothing special, so I took the walking path round to the Grand Florodian. This was much more like it! I spent ages here on the sofas in the lobby, listening to the pianist and taking in the amazing atmosphere.

I hopped back on the monorail, got off at the Magic Kingdom and took a bus to the Riviera. This is an incredibly beautiful resort. Didn't have many decorations though. I went outside to the fire pit (which thankfully wasn't lit), sat on a rocking chair, and watched the sun set beyond the skyliner. Bliss!

I took the skyliner back to Epcot. This is such an amazing mode of transportation. The Riviera stop isn't the best though as the cabins are often full when they get there. Fortunately there was only me, so I was on pretty quick. I was riding with two lovely gentlemen and we had a good chat - I got the usual 'we love to hear you British folk speak' thing from them.

I spent a while just wandering around Epcot after that. I decided to take a visit to sunshine seasons to have my favourite dessert in the world - their key lime tart. I was so excited. Excitement soon turned to disappointment. After 20 years of having it here, it is no more! To say I was upset is an understatement. Ah well, I'm sure I'll be able to find a new favourite.

Back to wandering round the world showcase and I happened to come across the Candlelight Processional starting. I've wanted to see this for a while. I'm not a person of faith, but there's something very special about Christmas carols. I managed to get a standing room space behind the wheelchair area and took it all in. I had no idea who the celebrity narrator was, but it didn't matter. It was a truly beautiful show and I'm please I got to experience it. Unfortunately I didn't quite see it all as I had to go back to France for Ratatouille.

Anthony and the kids arrived just in time and we headed to the new area of the France pavilion. Now, we'd seen all day that on the app it said how long the wait to the boarding group was, and how long the queue would be after that. If you're expecting to ride quickly after your boarding group has been called, think again! We were waiting a good 15 minutes in a line just to scan in, and then it was around another 45 minutes in the actual queue. We've already done this ride in Paris, and it's exactly the same. Really enjoyed it. Its very clever, but I absolutely despise 3D, so it's not my favourite.

We decided to stop by the Land to ride Living with the Land at night, so we could see all of the Christmas lights. It really was beautiful and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

As we were leaving, we were fortunate enough to catch a showing of the new Spaceship Earth show. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, as I love Spaceship Earth and I don't like things I love being messed with However, it was incredible! So much more than I ever hoped it would be. We just stood watching it for ages, and taking loads of photos!

Back at the room, we had a quick tea and baths, and everyone turned in early after what had been a really busy day. I really do feel as if we're home now - Epcot just does that to me

Part 5 - the one with another rope drop

Everyone thankfully got a great night's sleep, and thankfully Ben wasn't quite as snotty this morning as he had been so we were all up and ready to go for early entry to Hollywood Studios. This is not a park I particularly enjoy but we've all waited so long to finally do Runaway Railway, we were all so excited.

After the success of yesterday as were at the bus stop about 45 minutes before the early entry time started. We waited, and waited for the bus, and the line got larger and larger! We knew that this would be the same at all of the bus stops, so decided to walk to a bus stop that was earlier in the route, in the hopes we'd actually get on. So pleased we did that as we got on easily. By the time the bus got to our actual bus stop, it was full, and it even missed out the last 2 stops.

We arrived at Hollywood Studios about 10 minutes before the park opened, which was perfect. The entire world seemed to be going to Rise of the Resistance in Star Wars land so we were very pleased we weren't going there!

The line for Runaway Railway was short and we were on within a few minutes. This ride has been open a while now, but due to the borders being closed, we've never ridden it. We'd managed to avoid every single vlog and spoiler for this ride and I'm so pleased we did. It was absolutely amazing! Incredibly clever and well done, and you'd never think it was the old show building for the great movie ride. This is definitely going to become a favourite I think!

The plan was to go to Slinky next as it was still early opening time, but the wait was 80 minutes, so we decided against it. The 15 minute wait for toy story mania was much more like it! I am terrible at this ride and Ben easily beat me Alien Swirling Saucers - better not abriviate that one, was next and I'd forgotten how much fun this was. Thankfully it was a very short wait too.

It's at this point Anthony and the kids went off to do Tower of terror and Rock and Rollrcoaster. This is usually when I hop over to Epcot, but now you can't park hop till 2pm, this wasn't an option. So I decide to suck it up and wait in the 70 minute queue. How I wish for single rider on this!

I did get chatting with a lovely family though. Bless them, they had no idea about how to Disney at Christmas - so I happily assisted Made the wait go far quicker. Have to admit, I was a bit cross with how long the line was. Usually the timing is pretty accurate but I ended up in the line for around 110 minutes, when the queue sign said 70 minutes. It's not even as if the ride stopped either. However, when I did finally get on, it was amazing! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Had totally forgotten how it makes you lose your stomach though

By the time I came off, we decided to go for an early lunch. We'd had a really early breakfast so everyone was hungry. We didn't really want to stay at Hollywood Studios any more as the lines were absolutely bonkers, and since most of the shows didn't start till midday, there was nothing to eat the crowds up.

So we did something Ben's been asking to do for years! He has a bit of an obsession with the bacon cheeseburger at the Art of Animation resort, so we hopped on the skyliner over there so he could have one. This made Ben a very, very happy boy! Also Ava, who had one as well and loved it. I had a grilled chicken sandwich and Anthony had the chilli in a bread bowl. We also had our refillable mugs so didn't have to buy drinks. It was all really good! People do knock the quick Services places here, but this one has been consistently good every time we've come. Also, Disney chips are like nowhere else, and they're so good!

Part six - the one where we get soaked

Lunch at Art of Animation had been really good. We also knew there was a gigantic arcade here, a point not forgotten by the children either! So we treated them to some time in there. I always find the arcades at Disney very reasonable in terms of price, perhaps one of the only things here that is Unfortunately, our favourite air hockey game (the one that has loads of pucks come out at the same time), had gone. We still had fun though.

We thought you’d have a bit of a chill and some pool time this afternoon, but you can’t get a bus from resort to resort, so we had to stop somewhere first. We thought Disney Springs would be a good choice, so we hopped onto a bus there. It was far less crowded than it was the other night when we went. We didn’t have any particular plans, just went for a wander really. I was in the market for a new park bag, the one I have is ok, but I wanted something that was slightly larger. I never used to use a bag at all, as the bag searches at the parks always took forever. So we used to just pop our phones in our pockets and go through the no bag line. However, now security has changed, having a small bag is so much more convenient. Also, with phones getting bigger, it’s hard to fit them comfortably in pockets I also like to make sure I’ve got a couple of masks and sanitiser with me now, which was of course never an issue before.

We hadn’t got in World Of Disney the other day so went in there first. Anthony say a new rucksack he fancied, so thought he might get that later. Now this is always a mistake - the amount of times we’ve seen something and said we’ll buy it later, only to never find it later! Oh well. So we wandered round and saw some nice bits and pieces. We saw that cool soap dispenser that dispenses foam soap in the shape of a Mickey. We reallllllly wanted this, but wouldn’t be able to travel with the soap, so would have had to empty it out. Also, not sure what sort of soap you’d replace it with, so decided against it.

When we left, Ben spotted the churro stand. We all fancied some dessert by now, so Ben chose an Oreo churro here. We’ve got them from here before, and they’re really good! Unfortunately their magic band reader wasn’t working so I had to use my Google pay. Side note on that actually. I’d signed up for a revolut card before we’d left (as it has amazing currency rates) but it hadn’t arrived. I’d hooked it up to Google pay instead, but had never used it before, so wasn’t sure if it’d work. Fortunately it did……well, maybe unfortunately - it’s so easy The churro was really good. Piping hot and fresh covered in Oreo and drizzled with centre flavoured sauce.

While Ben was literally covering himself in churro, Anthony decided he’d go back and get that bag (thankfully), and we walked round to Vera Bradley. My work bag is from there and it’s the best school bag I’ve ever had, it has room for everything and then some! Today I was looking for a small hip bag. I found a lovely one with a subtle Disney print on it so treated myself to it. We were intending on getting the boat back to OKW, but since we were right next to the buses , we went on that instead. Pleased we did actually as it started to rain - and those boats don’t provide much cover in the rain. Another side note here, weather reports here really annoy me. They seem to spend forever telling you what the weather has been like in the last few hours, but there’s always very little in terms of actual forecasting, which is what we actually want to know My weather app had told me it was going to be a bit showery this afternoon, before a storm moved in tomorrow though - so at least we were prepared for that.

Back at the resort, I'd heard that there was a good key lime tart at the quick service, so went to investigate after my beloved one from Sunshine Seasons is no more! Oh my goodness, it was amazing! Instead of meringue on the top, it had shards of white chocolate - which I might even day was better! I'll definitely be getting this again!

I decided to do a load of laundry since we didn’t have many plans. It’s amazing how much laundry 3 people can generate in a couple of days, and I hate a big washing pile, so popped downstairs to put it in the washer. This is another huge advantage of our room location. We’re right next to the pool, which is where the laundry is. Fortunately none of the machines were being used so I got started. Ava came down for a swim so I stayed with her while the clothes were getting sorted. Once again we were the only ones there for the majority of the time.

It was raining pretty steadily the whole time, but I had my cup of tea, and Ava to keep me amused, so I barely noticed. We headed back to the room and had some tea. Our plan for this evening was to go back to Hollywood Studios. When we were here last I never saw the Christmas lights here, and really wanted to this time. I’d also promised Ben we’d attempt the massive Rise of the Resistance line. The idea was to go near to closing, when LL had finished and people were leaving. The bus to get there took an absolute age to arrive. Although I don’t mind the buses, they’re a bit of a pain here. They come every 20 minutes or so, and it then takes another 15 minutes to go round all the other stops on the resort. Fortunately one we left the resort, it was only a 5 minute drive to the actual park.

We were definitely going against the tide going in, as everyone was going out! The showery weather definitely helped. The decorations here are fantastic, very 50s themed, which I really liked. The tree on the lake looked particularly impressive. Round at ROTR, the line said 105 minutes. We were totally expecting this sort of time as we’d been watching it all day. This was probably the only time we’d do it this trip though, so we were fine with it. Ben was getting more and more excited as we walked through and we were shocked when we reached the pre show half an hour later! Now unlike this morning when I’d been cross at the incorrect wait time, this one I didn’t mind. Now, I am not a Star Wars fan at all, and I’ve seen vlogs of this ride - never really paying much attention to it though to be honest. This ride is quite simply incredible! Even to a non Star Wars fan. It’s so clever. You have no idea where to look most of the time as there’s things going on everywhere! I’m a big fan, and would love to ride again, I might even pay attention to the story next time, as I really had no idea what was going on

This was really all we’d come for tonight, but Epcot was open for 2 extra hours for deluxe resort guests, so we decided to brave the rain and head over. So we got on the Skyliner and went over. As we were travelling, the new fireworks show - Harmonious - started. We’ve avoided vlogs of this as well, but when it’s going on right outside your window, you can’t really avoid it We get quickly into the park and continued watching from the international gateway. The fireworks were amazing, but I can’t say I was a fan of the soundtrack - but I’m a massive Illumiations fan, so I miss that really. We couldn’t see the large barge too well, so I’m sure if we had a better view of that, we might have thought differently perhaps.

When it was finished, we were once again going against the tide, as we headed into the park, as everyone else was heading out We didn’t do Ratatouille tonight as we’d only done that yesterday, so we went round to Norway and rode Frozen. Total walk on which was great! I’ve never actually been through the standby line before as we’ve always had a fast pass, but it was really good fun. Loved walking through Oken’s! We decided to avoid Test Track as it was really throwing it down now (doubt it would have been open anyway), so went to Soarin instead. There were literally only 2 rows of people on the whole ride! I don’t know if the rain has put people off, or it’s always this quiet at these extra hours events but I don’t care really - meant we got row B1 We also rode Spaceship Earth before heading out to the bus - which was fortunately there as we got there. We’d only been there an hour or so, and I think if the weather was better we’d have spent far longer - just wandering round and taking photos etc. Pleased we went though.

We got back to the room and peeled our soaking clothes off before hitting the hay.

Part 7 - the one with the storm

Thankfully, after last night's late night, we all had a decent lay in. The storm was definitely coming in though as I could hear the rain pounding on the roof for most of the night - quite relaxing actually.

After some breakfast I took last night's soaking clothes over to the laundry - and got duly soaked again in the process

We had a very uneventful morning, just relaxing really. I took the kids round to the community hall for a while - along with everyone else in the resort it would seem, it was rather busy!

After lunch Ben managed to use his teenager gaming speed again to get another Ratatouille boarding group, and shortly later we set off for epcot. Unfortunately a bus was leaving just as we got to the bus stop, so instead of waiting for the next one, we got on the next bus which was to Magic Kingdom. Since we weren't in a rush we then took the monorail round to Epcot from the TTC. I really love doing this as you get a great view of Epcot - especially at the moment as you can see all of the construction going on.

Test Track had just reopened after the storm so we dis single rider on there. Afterwards we started today's goal - to try desserts at the food booths. We tried a peppermint chocolate donut first. Not bad, but not something I'd rush to have again. It was Ava's favourite though.

Our next stop was Mexico, where we had a wander round round marketplace, and did the obligatory trying on of the massive sombreros.

China was next, we wondered round the shops and took some photos, waving to Mulan who was posing for photos. Hadn't seen any other desserts we fancied though.

Back round to L'chaim and Ben asked to try the pastrami sandwich. Not a dessert but it looked good, so we got that, and also latkas again. Both were pretty decent.

In France we tried the Christmas log which was really good, but teeny! There was a dessert booth where we tried a red velvet bundt cake and a spaceship earth cookie. Both were really delicious. I think the bundt cake was my favourite of the day.

This was perfect timing as our Ratatouille boarding group had just been called, so we headed over to France. The wait to get on was just as long as the other night. I can’t say it bothered us especially, but there were a lot of people who expected that as soon as your group is called, you’d be riding straight away.

We headed out of the park after this, as we wanted to go and look at some of the decorations in the Epcot resorts (and use our refillable mugs to get a drink). All three of the resorts had lovely displays, but I think the Boardwalk was probably my favourite. I loved the tree they had outside on the village green too.

After that, Ben wanted to go round to Disney Springs to see if we could find him some trackies. Those of you who haven’t seen photos of Ben recently I’d describe him as a very, very tall, very, very lanky teen! He’s around 6 feel t tall now and incredibly thin. As a consequence we find it incredibly hard to find trousers that fit him. Uni qlo is one of those places which has trackies that fit him perfectly.

We went down to the Boardwalk bus stop and didn’t have a problem getting on a bus - since there were three of them there! We went to Uni Qlo first. Unfortunately there were no trackies Ben liked. They either had fleece lining, or didn’t have zipped pockets, which was a shame. We had a look in a few other shops, but no luck.

It was getting to tea time, and Ben asked if we could go to D-Luxe burger. We went there a few years ago, and wasn’t particularly impressed, but the boy does love a burger, so decided to give it another go. He had the bacon cheeseburger (shocker), and I had the barbecue burger, and we shared some fries. I have to say, they were delicious. A huge improvement on the last time we went - will definitely be going back there!

After tea we went for a bit of a wander. Ben chose Ava a Christmas present and I found a nice top to treat myself to. We just had a really nice time just waking round and chatting for a couple of hours. We took the bus back as it was getting a bit chilly for the boat.

Another really lovely day.

Part 8 - the one where it's rather chilly!

This morning was early opening at Animal Kingdom - 7am. We decided this would be the day we tried to do Flight of Passage. It always has crazy long lines, so we thought going early might help. Ben woke up ok, ava however was not at all amused

We went for the bus, and I realised I'd forgotten a mask (since I was using my new bag today), so ran back to the room to get one. Unfortunately I missed the bus while doing that so the rest of the family went, and I got on the bus that was right behind them.

We were let into the park dead on 7am, which has been different from the other parks, as they've let in at least 20 minutes before. We joined the hoards heading for FoP and got in line. It looped right back to the bridge at Harambe but moved quickly and we were in the pre show within about 30 minutes - the line really didn't stop the whole time, which was great. Again, it made a big difference that lightning lane hadn't started yet I think. The ride was amazing, every bit as good as I remember.

The wait for Navi River journey was only 15 minutes, so we went straight on that afterwards. I know a lot of people find it dull, but I think it's really lovely, as long as you appreciate what it is, and aren't expecting a big story or anything.

We walked round to the safari and were on within 20 minutes or so. It's a very chilly morning, so a lot of animals on the savanna weren't out, but those that were were having a wonderful time in the cooler weather. We even saw the lion up and roaring, which was quite frankly amazing - never seen anything quite like that before.

We had a wander through the shop in Harambe and Ava found herself some really pretty earrings made out of catalope seeds. Ben was pining for a rollercoaster by now, so we went over to Everest, which everyone loves, apart from me I just can't do the backwards bit. I go on it  occasionally, but not often Instead, I sat in the Kite Tails theatre and watched several of the boat cavalcades come through. This is a favourite spot of mine when everyone else is on Everest. It’s so quiet there and has some lovely surroundings.

The kids decided to ride again after they’d been on with Anthony, so we went to the Joffreys stand to get some hot drinks. Well to get Anthony a fancy seasonal coffee, me a tea, Ava a hot chocolate, and Ben a strawberry slushy We found a lovely little seating area and thought we’d watch the kite tails show from there. For anyone who doesn’t know what that is, it’s basically a load of jet skis pulling massive kites of Disney Characters. The best of it is, how they all regularly crash where they’re not meant to, so we were all very interested to see! It really was quite windy, which apparently is no good for kites so after waiting ten minutes or so after the show was supposed to start, we gave up.

Anthony had found a jumper earlier that he liked, so followed the ‘if you see it, buy it now’ rule and went to buy it before heading back to the resort. We’d managed to do so much this morning, but we were all pretty tired after the early start. We had some lunch and then the boys went to play tennis while I took Ava to the pool. There was another girl her age in there and they spent ages just looking at each other. They clearly wanted to play, but neither would make the first move. Eventually the other girl did and they had a wonderful time!

That evening we went out to Disney Springs (again) for some tea. We met our lovely friend Bee at Blaze pizza and had a great time together. We had considered going out tonight for the deluxe resort hours at Magic Kingdom, but we were pretty tired after our early start, and we’re there tomorrow, so we decided against it, and decided to turn in.

Next time - not sure…….I’m writing this on time rather than being a day behind, so all I know about tomorrow so far is that we’re got to Magic Kingdom

Part 9 - the one where we try Genie + again

Today was a Magic Kingdom day, so we thought we'd give Genie+ a go again. We were online at 7am to book our first one. We'd noticed the Jungle Cruise is having having really long lines at the moment so booked that for 11am. Ben and Anthony were raring to go, so left for early entry time so they could go on Space Mountain. Ava was still fast asleep so I stayed with her. It didn't take too one for her to wake up though so we weren't too far behind them. We got to the park at about 8.40am and made it to the last 20 minute of early entry. We met the boys at Buzz and got a totally rubbish score, as usual!

We were going to go on the TTC next, but it was down, so we went to the speedway instead. I usually ride this with Ben but Ava asked me to this time - apparently to show me what a good driver she was. Erm, I'm not convinced. She did try very hard though, and was concentrating all the way round to make sure she didn't hit anything

Ben asked if we could have a Cheshire Cat Tail, which is basically a chocolate pastry with icing on it. We had one a few years back and wasn't particularly impressed, but thought we'd give it another go. It was actually surprisingly good this time round.

Carousel of Progress was our next stop. This is such a quintessentially traditional WDW ride and we all really enjoy it. The TTC was back up and running, so we went on there next. I was reminded why I have sitting in the backwards facing seats - won't be doing that again. It kept stopping the whole time - we were hoping for an evacuation, but unfortunately it was not to be. One of these days we'll manage it!

Round at Monsters Inc Laugh floor, they'd switched over to a Christmas version, which we didn't realise. It was so funny, and the whole audience got really involved, which was nice. The time had come for our Jingle Cruise ride. We just love this at Christmas and our skipper was hilarious. There was a lady on there who wasn't paying any attention whatsoever, towards the end he asked her to move her elbows in as we were coming into dock. She didn't. So he said "well, you've not been paying attention this whole time,  why start now?" This just had us all in stitches.

We went for some lunch after that - at Caseys. Now, in all the years we've been coming we've never actually eaten there. We decided to take our food over to the Tomorrowland Terrace. We timed it just right as the Christmas parade was coming through and we had a great view for it - without being squished with the hoards of other people that were in Main Street. It was pretty tasty, but I'm not sure I'd rush back, plenty of better places I think.

We had a Pirates Genie+ reservation to go to next. Annoyingly, the actual quit was only 25 minutes, and we'd booked this slot 2 hours ago, so a pretty worthless to be honest. Once we'd used it, we looked to book something else. There were plenty of things we could book within the hour, but they only had 10-15 minutes wait, so seemed a bit pointless. Things like Haubted Mansion etc wasn't available for another 3 hours! So we looked to book at Hollywood Studios, which is where we're thinking of going tonight. We picked a time slot for after tea, as we wanted to go later on in the evening, but when it booked it, it came up a good hour earlier. This is what I don't like about it. You can't choose a time, and when you do choose a time, it often changes it when you click through. Really just not a fan of it so far.

Kids fancied a swim so we headed back to OKW around 2pm. I wanted to see if (on the off-chance) there was an availability for a fireworks cruise. I would usually book this months in advance but since I wasn't sure if this trip would even happen, I hadn't. There wasn't anything available, but I kind of expected that. I may pop by the actual Cruise booth if we're in the area in the next few days. Otherwise I'm sure we'll book one next summer.

We spent a couple of  hours just chilling and after some tea (I finished my pizza from last night - still delicious), we headed to Hollywood Studio. Anthony and the kids rode Tower of Terror and I did Toy Story Mania (all on Genie+). The other people in the car must have been terrible because I got best in vehicle  We had another Genie+ reservation straight afterwards for the Frozen show. I love this anyway, but the holiday tag on it is so much fun. The historians were hilarious as always, and I love it when they put their own little jokes in. We had a final Genie+ reservation for Alien Swirling Saucers which just makes me laugh uncontrollably every time. It's such a cute little ride. We'd managed to get 3 Genie+ reservation here in the space of 2 hours by doing some overlapping. We'd only managed 2 reservations in 6 hours this morning at Magic Kingdom.

We had a snack at Woody's before heading to Rise of the Resistance. We'd done well the other day with going into the line just before park closing. The wait had said 140 minutes and we were through in 30. This time it said 225. It wasn't. We set a timer. It was exactly 59 minutes until we got to the pre show. The ride was superb - I managed to may more attention to the story this time as well, rather than just being petrified trying to work out where the drop was

We exited the ride to an empty park and an empty bus stop. Fortunately one came straight to us and we were home soon afterwards since the driver took us straight to our stop and didn't bother going round the whole resort Was helpful being the only ones on board.

Genie+ definitely worked better for us this evening. We really didn't get good use from it thus morning at all. I think we'll continue to get it occasionally, but if you plan your days round early starts, I'm not sure you really need it.

Part 10 - the one where it’s Christmas Eve

After our late night at Hollywood Studios we told the kids they could sleep in a bit if they wanted to. It was an Epcot day so at 7am we were ready to try for a Ratatouille boarding group. Since Ben’s teenage gaming fingers were asleep still, we were left to do it ourselves Amazingly we managed to get a boarding group, and even more amazingly, it was boarding group one! The estimated arrival window was from 9.40am, which was perfect, as it meant the kids could sleep in a bit longer. I was not interested in that, so hopped onto a bus to go round to Epcot for early opening. I wasn’t really in a rush as I only really wanted to do Soarin in the early opening time. I knew I could easily go on single rider for Test Track.

Soarin had a 30 minute posted wait but there was actually no wait at all and I got on straight away. Unfortunately I was sitting next to a girl who said “mommy, I need to go potty”, in the queue, and kept saying it all throughout the ride. Honestly, if your child (couldn’t have been older than 4) needs to go, please take them! I did think I was going to end up sitting in a puddle on the ride as I was next to her

At this point I got a text from Anthony saying our boarding group had already been called. This was strange as it was only 9am, and boarding groups aren’t supposed to start until 9.30am when the park opens officially. Unfortunately this meant we had until 10am to get on the ride, and the rest of the family were still at the resort. So they got ready super fast and headed over. I went to go and see if it’d be ok to be a few minutes late and they said that wasn’t a problem - useful to remember! Fortunately the line moved much quicker today, probably only about 15 minutes. I think it helped not many people were in the lightning lane at this point.

Afterwards we headed back to the Imagination Pavillion. The intention was to ride Figment but the line was massive, so we just headed up to the lounge instead. It was getting pretty warm out so some air conditioning and drinks were very much appreciated.

Ben wanted to ride Test Track, so I took him over there while Anthony and Ava rode Mission Space. Just before the last speed loop, all the lights came on and we stopped. We honestly thought this was going to be our first ever evac, sadly it was  not to be

This afternoon was spend going round the world showcase, sampling the foods we hadn’t tried yet, and doing the cookie stroll. We also went to see the China circle vision show and the dragon dance which was wonderful. We wanted to catch the new Canada circle vision film too, which was a great update. It still has the Mounties at the end and the song which I love. We also stopped to watch the America show as it has very comfy seats and air conditioning. Ava actually nodded off in that one though

We had some great food as we were going round. I was really looking forward to the Mexican booth, but it was pretty disappointing to be honest, and way overpriced - so I don’t think we’ll be going there again. I think my favourite today was Morocco. They had a bread and dip dish which was delicious. One of the dips was rather spicy to say the least, and watching Ava’s reaction to that one was hilarious! We also had the harissa chicken kebab which was delicious. It had a chick pea and almond salad with it which was wonderful. Fortunately for me, nobody else liked that one, so I got to have that to myself

As for the cookie stroll, that was fun too. My favourite was definitely the crinkle cookie at the America pavilion. We always just share them between us, so you don’t end up in a massive sugar coma!

We spent pretty much all day at Epcot today, which is very unusual for us. We usually go out till about lunch time, then out again late afternoon ish. By the time it got to 5pm we were all exhausted and our feet had had enough so we headed back to the resort for a chilled out evening.

Part 11 - the one where it's Christmas Day!

It's amazing how Santa knows we're not at home this Christmas, he brought some presents to our teeny little 12 inch tree. The children knew this trip was their Christmas present so they weren't expecting lots today. We did get them some presents though of course. Ava got tickets for us to go and see Wicked the Musical in February half term and Ben got tickets to some virtual reality experience thing. We all got some lovely things - all of which we're hoping will fit into our hand baggage to go home!

We had park reservations for Animal Kingdom today. We did this park on Christmas day two years ago when we came as well and it was lovely, didn't feel too manic, so we decided to do it again. We didn't rush there though - didn't fancy doing the 7am early opening today, and got there around 9.30am. We stopped for photos in front of the beautiful Christmas tree before heading in.

The kids and Anthony rode Everest first as it was practically a walk on. The kids rode a few more times in single rider while we went to get some drinks from Joffrey's. We called home and wished everyone a Merry Christmas and caught up on how everyone was spending their day.

We went to see kite tails next. Everyone always hopes the kites will crash, as did we It was actually a really good show, and we all enjoyed it a lot more than we expected. Next was the Festival of the Lion King. I was interested to see what this would be like with all the Covid restrictions. They actually did a really good job. There were no tumble monkies,  and the birds didn't fly either which was a shame. However, we did get to see their amazing dancing which we all enjoyed. Also, Princess wasn't there, which was a bit strange during Can You Feel The Love Tonight. The guy did a great job on his own though. The bass singer and the Gift were also incredible, and whenever the Gift sang I genuinely got goosebumps. It was definitely a light version of the show we know and love, but still worth a watch.

We headed for some lunch at Restaurantosaurus next, which really was very tasty. We even tried the speciality cupcakes, which were delicious. A walk through the jungle trek was next and we saw loads of animals and were very lucky to see one of the tigers close up too. Discovery Island had the winter puppets out again. They're so unbelievably cute and so festive! We particularly love the little family of penguins running around and the seal, who always insists on being stroked - even Ben

After this we decided to head out as we were going out that evening and wanted to freshen up a bit. As with last time, it really didn't feel that busy at all, no more than a normal day to be honest.

We got on the boat for a change for our trip to Disney Springs tonight where we had a reservation for Wine Bar George. The kids stayed with us for a quick drink, then we let them go off on their own for the first time together We'd enabled charging on their bands and said they could do and get some tea.

While they were gone, we decided that since it was Christmas we'd have a bottle of prosecco. We had the mac and cheese bites, the hummus, the cheese board and a key lime tart (has to be done). They were all absolutely delicious! The best thing though was that I'd requested an outdoor table, knowing it'd be perfect to watch the sun set - and it was. We spent a wonderful couple of hours there enjoying our food and the beautiful view. We also rather enjoyed watching the characters in flight balloon blowing around all over the place - even though there was no wind

The kids were very sensible and got themselves barbecue mac and cheese from one of the food trucks and some ghirradelli chocolate to share. They were also looking for a particular Loungefly bag that Ava had been hoping to have enough Christmas money for - and now she did. The other day there'd been hundreds of them, now we couldn't find them anywhere! A very nice lady at ever after jewellery said the only one left was at Port Orleans French Quarter resort and they'd keep one aside for us. So we hopped on a bus over there and found it. So we had a very happy Ava! Then it was back to Disney Springs to get the bus back again to Old Key West before turning in for the night.

Christmas at Disney is a strange thing. The decorations etc are amazing and you really feel the seasonal celebrations. However, Christmas day really doesn't feel like Christmas day. I'm not saying that's a bad thing at all, just different - and sometimes different is good! We really did have a wonderful day though, and I'm pleased we'd booked something a bit different to do in the evening, as it made it that bit more special 

Part 12 - the one with the best bits!

Today was an Epcot day. Anthony fancied going out for early opening today, so I stayed back with the kids as I wasn’t really in the mood for it today.  We joined him a bit later in the morning though and headed right round to Test Track. We did single rider as usual and the wait was only about 10 minutes or so. As we were getting off the ride I heard someone calling my name. It was our friends the Taylor family, who we’d planned to meet up with later but they were literally getting in the car right after us, it is indeed a small world after all

Today our plan was to all choose two of our favourite dishes from the food festivals, with no need to share Anthony and Ava got a bit stuck choosing theirs so ended up sharing the cheese and vegetable bread bowl in Bavaria, the turkey in America, the beef in Canada and the roulade in Canada. Ben went for the turkey in America and the roulade in France. I had the turkey in America and the kebab in Morocco. Bit of a theme there, we all love the turkey in America and it’s just like a proper Christmas dinner!

It was almost time for us to meet our friends so we took a quick spin on Figment before getting together to go up to the DVC member lounge. We had a lovely time chatting together (well Ava did most of the chatting as per usual). It’s been a few years since we saw them so it was great to have a catch up.

We headed back to the resort after that for a swim and some tea before heading back out again for the evening. Anthony and Ben went to Hollywood Studios and I took Ava back to Epcot. We took some photos in front of Spaceship Earth before going on the ride. We walked over to Test Track but the single rider line was actually pretty long so we didn't bother, and went to Soarin instead. The intention was to do this, then the Christmas version of Living with the Land before going to see the fireworks. By the time we came out of Soarin we didn't quite have time for Living with the Land, so went to meet the boys in Italy, where they'd got a good spot to watch Harmonious.

Although we'd seen some of Harmonious last week, it had partly been from the skyliner, and partly from behind a tree in the rain, so we'd not really seen it properly We all enjoyed it, but it didn't quite have the emotional pull that Illuminations did. The water tricks and the fireworks were superb but I just miss the fact that Illuminations was about planet Earth, whereas this was Disney IP songs themed to different countries. I get it, because it resonates more with casual Disney fans but it didn't have the heart that Illuminations did. That being said, I do love fireworks and as per usual, they totally outdid themselves with those. When it was finished we hung around for a while, taking photos and just enjoying the atmosphere of an almost empty park. We were lucky once again in that there was a bus ready and waiting when we got to our stop, and that it was practically empty. Result!

Such a lovely day today. We've not had many late nights, since we've tended to do early mornings, but this really was a wonderful day.

Part 13 - the one where I make the same mistake I always do!

Last night was a really late one so the kids were still snoring when Anthony and I woke up. He said he'd stay with them while I went for MK early opening - although we have told the kids we'll just leave them a note if we both go out one day

I was on the bus and in the park dead on time for opening and thought I'd try and do Jingle Cruise, Pirates, Big Thunder and Hainted Mansion before the rest of the family joined me. However, I'd made a mistake. Early entry was only for Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. Now, I know I've done this best so perhaps next time I come for early opening I might actually remember. I'd missed the boat on getting to 7 Dwarfs early so decided to go on the Speedway instead. I don't think I've ever actually done this on my own, and to be honest, it wasn't as much fun as when I go on with Ben I could tell this was going to be a really busy day when I saw them setting up the extended queue at this time in the morning though!

I went for breakfast at friars nook, and made a bit of a mistake here too. I got the potato barrels with sausage gravy, but then saw for an extra $2 £ could have had them as a meal with a ham and egg croissant. Ah well. With the meal you didn't get the sausage gravy, and I do love that. It's unlike anything  we can get in England so I try and have it here at least once a visit. As I was finishing, the main opening ceremony happened and that's when the crowds multiplied! My plan was to walk round to Jingle Cruise first, but as I walked past Haunted Mansion, the line for that was already pretty big, so thought I'd go there first. Loved it, as always. Went in the shop as well, as they often have some really unique things which I thought I might like - not today unfortunately.

I went round to Big Thunder next, and they already had the extended queue ready there too, so I got in line sharpish. Didn't take too long fortunately. The rest of the family were on the bus by now so decided to pop into the Tiki Room as it's a nice short attraction, but I still think it's a lot of fun - and a very traditional original Walt Disney one.

I met up with the family at Philharmagic. They've changed this since we last came. There's now a Coco scene, and they've upgraded all of the projections. It's a massive improvement and the attraction looks so much better for it. A spin on the regal carousel was next, which is always fun - Ava always likes to name all the horses, I hope that's a tradition she never stops doing.

Winnie the Pooh was next, it said 50 minutes, was more like 15 Then we went to Storybook Circus to get Ava a slushy. We'd told her a couple of trips ago she could have one of their many flavours but had never got round to it. She hadn't forgotten Unfortunately they don't have the massive selection of flavours anymore. The CM suggested a fruit punch and lemonade mix, so she went with that.

After that we went to my absolute guilty pleasure - The Hall of Presidents! I love this so much. I've no idea why, I just really enjoy it. It was nice to see Biden in there, but it was a shame he doesn't do a speech like in the past - just repeats the oath of office.

We decided to head out after that. Considering how busy it was, we actually managed to do quite a lot. On days like this, you just have to be realistic with expectations and do the attractions that aren't the big hitters, which is nice to do sometimes I think.

Back at the room, we had some lunch, watched a few episodes of Friends (since it's always on), and Ava went for a swim - just for a change!

A few hours later, Ben wanted to take me out to Hollywood Studios. This park really is best in the late afternoon/evening, as all the shows etc are open. We started off by seeing the Indiana Jones show, which only opened again a few days ago. There's no audience moments in it now, for obvious reasons, but aside from that, it's pretty much the same as it's always been, and was a lot of fun.

We went for some tea at Backlot Express. Ben unsurprisingly had a bacon cheeseburger (I swear, he'll look like one by the end of this trip), and I had a kids chicken strips meal. Plenty of food for me, and great value as it includes a cookie and a drink.

We saw Runaway Railway only had a 40 minute wait so headed over there next. Such a great ride. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Great Movie Ride, but if they were going to replace it with anything, this was a good choice.

We had an hour till park close. The plan was to do Smugglers Run, which had 35 minute wait, and then get in the Slinky Dog Dash line just before closing. We stopped and took some photos in Batuu. They made Ben look incredibly tall, and me a bit teeny in comparison! Single rider was closed for smugglers run, but we had plenty of time, or so we thought. After 15 minutes the line hadn't moved and since Ben knows that line well, he said there'd be no way we'd get out in time to go to Slinky, so we left.

Ben asked if we could have a Jack Jack Cookie Num Num. He rarely asks for anything to be fair, so let him have one. It was just ok, can't say I was a huge fan.

The line for Slinky said 55 minutes and we got in it just before official park close. The actual line was only 20 minutes though, which was perfect. We got on the front row, which I've never done before. Made it even more exciting as you couldn't see what was going to happen next! That ride really is incredible at night. It's great at any time, but at night, with all the lights on, it's even better.

When we came off, the park was officially closed so we headed back to the room, and to sleep.

Part 14- The one where we go easy

We were on a mission to all get on Slinky Dog Dash this morning, so were up for early opening at Hollywood Studios. The bus arrived pretty quickly and it's not far to Hollywood Studios, so we were in the park a few minutes after it opened. During those few minutes the line had already got to 60 minutes In reality it was about 40 though, and we managed to get on the ride just before the lightning lane people started arriving It was great fun to be able to do this all together - I was very brave and had my arms in the air the whole way round

We went on Alien Swirling Saucers next (I promise, I never giggle at that acronym) and then round to Batuu to ride Smugglers run. We did the single rider line as the main line was 90 minutes already. The single rider line was pretty long too, until we used the secret one that nobody ever goes down - which we'd seen about on a vlog. It's on the left, and is a set of stairs up. Nobody else used it, so we were at the front of that line within minutes - result! I had a couple of young kids as pilots on my vehicle and I don't think I've ever seen thrown around as much in my life. It was a lot of fun though! We decided it was snack time, but the lines for everything were absolutely bonkers, so changed our minds.

I'd been considering getting myself some fancy sunglasses and wanted a general wander round Disney Springs, so I went there while everyone else stayed to do the rides I dislike

I got my own Skyliner car to the Carribean Beach resort, and took the bus to Disney Springs from there. I was on a mission! I'd been saving for ages for some Ray Ban sunglasses, so I wanted to go and see if they had any I liked there. Fortunately they did. Unfortunately there were two pairs I liked. Fortunately they had a buy one, get 50% off offer on, so I got both Next was a wander round Uni Qlo. I fancied some new trackies, and rather liked the fleecy ones Ben had dismissed a few days ago, so got them, and a training top for the gym. I went in World of Disney as I'd been wanting a spirit Jersey but just hadn't quite found a design I loved - and since they're not cheap, I wanted to love it! They released a new 50th anniversary one today, and it was perfect, so I got that too. Quite a successful trip to Disney Springs I thought

Back at the resort, our friend Bee had come to spend some time with us, so we enjoyed a few hours just chatting by the pool. The rest of the evening was pretty chilled. We went and roasted marshmallows and I enjoyed some time on the hammock which was soooooo relaxing. Not liking the fact we only have a few days left now

Part 15- The one where we leave this kids behind!

Today Anthony and I went to MK early opening, without the kids. We’ve not been to a park without them since before we had them, but they didn't want an early start this morning and wanted to spend some time in community hall, so we left them to it.

We were in MK just as they opened and went straight round to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The line was in a similar place to where it was last week when we came. It said it was a 60 minute wait, but was more like 40 ish, which was great. After that we headed over to the Jingle Cruise as the park had now officially opened. The line was huge and said 80 minutes so we decided not to bother. It is a fantastic ride with the Christmas overlay, but we weren't that bothered. Instead we went on Pirates, which had only just opened. The people sitting behind us hadn't been on for a few years and kept a running commentary of everything that has changed, apart from they were incorrect with every single one Personally, my favourite part was when the dad tried to convince his family that the waterway had been made narrower and that all of the characters had been moved forwards so they were closer to the boats. Erm, no

We decided to go round to Joffrey's to get a drink as we realised we'd not had one yet this morning. On the way, the Haunted Mansion had the famous 13 minute wait - which means it's a walk on. Please we went on when we did though as when we came out, the line was around 60 minutes!

We bypassed Joffrey's as they didn't have actual milk - a must if I'm having a cuppa. You can't have creamer in a cup of tea So instead we went to Cosmic Ray's, bought a tea and a coffee and a carton of milk - much better. Spent a good half hour just watching the world go by, which was really lovely. We followed this up with a spin on the TTC.

We headed out after that, with a stop for photos at the castle. I really wanted to go and see the decorations at Wilderness Lodge so we hopped on a boat over there. We got chatting to one of the drivers, who was from London. His son drove the monorail and his wife worked in the bakery at the Contemporary - so definitely a Disney family! He was telling us his wife baked a cake for a celebrity who's in the park at the moment, but made us promise we wouldn't say who it was. It did start a conversation about Disney CEOs though

The tree at WL was every bit as beautiful as I hoped it would be, absolutely stunning. It really is a beautiful resort. We'd had a reservation here last summer that we never got to actually use, but I'm sure we'll stay one day. We went back to the resort via Disney Springs and picked up some cupcakes at Sprinkles. Back at the room we had a mish mash lunch - just using up what we have left. We also got on with packing up. We're moving to Animal Kingdom Lodge tomorrow for 2 days, so wanted to make sure everything was ready to go.

We spent an hour or so in the pool. I think it must have been full of Germans though. All the seats and sunbeds had towels on, and no people with them. Fortunately I managed to find one on its lonesome! After that we headed back out again to Fort Wilderness. I'd booked us a sleigh ride as a Christmas present to everyone and we were really looking forward to it. Our intention was to get the bus to MK, then the boat over to Fort Wilderness. We left our room a couple of hours before our reservation, just to be on the safe side. We waited for the MK bus, and waited, and waited! All the other buses went past apart from MK. One guy (who'd been at the bus stop for 30 minutes) went onto a bus that arrived and enquired about a MK one. They phoned dispatch and said it'd be another 10 minutes. 15 minutes later and one still hadn't arrived, so we hopped on a Hollywood Studios one instead. As we were leaving the resort, we saw a MK one come in. So pleased we got the HS one, as that MK one would have been at least another 20 minutes picking up around the resort before leaving. As we arrived at Hollywood Studios, there was fortunately a Fort Wilderness one waiting that we could get straight on. To be fair, this is the only bus issue we've had since being here, and it was typically at a time we had a reservation

We got to the check in just in time fortunately. The sleigh ride was lovely. It was at the perfect time too as it had just got dark. We went round some of the camping loops and it was wonderful seeing how people had decorated. I don't think I've ever seen quite as many inflatable Disney characters in my life! After the ride we went into Tri Circle D ranch, which has been completely changed, and moved location since we last went. It was lovely visiting all the horses. We stopped at the quick service for tea and had a giant pizza. It was only $18 and easily fed us all. We have had them in the past, but had forgotten just how good they are. We were just in time to then jump onto the boat to go across to the Magic Kingdom in time for the fireworks.

We got a great spot on Main Street, with a fab view of the castle. Unfortunately,  just as it started, a child right in front of us went up on shoulders which was rather annoying - cue lots of people shuffling to be able to see The show was pretty good. The fireworks were amazing, perhaps some of the best I've seen. However, I wasn't a big fan of the soundtrack. It was just film after film really. It didn't have the same sort of emotional pull that Happily Ever After did. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, it just didn't have 'the feels'.

Tonight was extra magic hours for deluxe resort guests and we had every intention of using it. It didn't start till 11pm though and it was only about 8.20pm at the moment. So we decided we’d do things that never had much of a wait, and we’d save the ‘big hitters’ for later when it was quieter. What we hadn’t counted on was the mass exodus of people after the fireworks. The fireworks used to be at park closing, but today they were three hours before. Still, masses of people left when the fireworks did, which was great.

The first thing we did was the Laugh Floor. There was some brilliant audience participation tonight - the best one being the guy who had no idea whatsoever what was going on, and his wife had to constantly nudge him to help him out. This of course had everyone in stitches, including the cast member who was right next to us - she was literally crying with laughter. At the end I said that I wasn’t sure what was more entertaining, her or the show. She said that was the best show she’d seen all day, so good to see someone enjoying their job

We did lots before the official extra hours started, all with very little wait as so many people had left. The only thing we couldn’t do was Big Thunder Mountain, as that had been having technical difficulties all day. When the extra hours started I was so amazed with how much we managed to do, and how quiet the park was. It was a bit like the paid for after hours events (without the food included of course). We did everything we wanted to, even 7 Dwarfs, which only had a 15 minute wait. Most other things we walked straight onto. Towards the end of the night we went on Haunted Mansion, and it showed a 13 minute wait - which is what they do when it’s a walk on. In fact, we were the only people on the entire ride! This was a bit strange in the stretching room and in the queuing area. In the stretching room the cast member (Sara) was hilarious. She still kept doing her spiel, but right in front of us, with a totally deadpan face. When the lights went out she hid behind me, and jumped out to scare us, with a very deadpan “boo”. All the cast members we encountered on there had a lot of fun with their ‘acting’ as we were the only ones they could play up to Our final ride of the night was Small World, and again we were the only guests in the entire building - so we had a row each to ourselves. We could have had a whole boat to ourselves if we’d wanted to

It had just turned 1am after we’d finished that, so we had a slow walk to the park exit. We stopped frequently on the way to take photos though, couldn’t resist! It really had been a brilliant night. During the busiest week of the year, I can’t quite believe how amazing it was - not only between 11-1, but also how quiet it got after the fireworks. A brilliant night. So far the dates for this only go up to March, but I really hope they continue it - we’ll definitely make the most out of it in the summer if it carries on.

Part 16 - the one where we move resort

So today is good and bad. Good because we're moving resort (not that I dislike OKW - I adore it, but we're going somewhere even better), bad because it's almost time to go home. There may of course be cheers at that as my long rambling blogs will be coming to an end - until July anyway

I was very impressed that the kids were up and ready to go by 8am, since we'd not got in till almost 2am due to us being at the extra magic hours. We packed up the last few things and called Bell services to collect our luggage and transfer it over to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We got onto the bus to Animal Kingdom Park, and then over to the lodge. We got checked in and then went to the lounge for breakfast as we're staying club level. Lots of yummy offerings and we filled up before heading out to Epcot.

The lines were pretty huge at Epcot today, but that's to be expected considering the time of year. We went to the seas and to Turtle Talk with Crush. I always forget just how hilarious this is and it's so clever how the animation chats to the audience. Crush was having a great conversation with a little boy who was telling him about how their family has pizza every Tuesday as that's the night it's cheap

We spent the day doing things that didn't have long waits, like the new Beauty and the Beast sing along (which was surprisingly good), the Three Cabilaros, single rider on Test Track etc. I'd managed to get a Remy boarding group, so we did that as well.

We got our room allocation and headed over to the resort around tea time. We found out we had the exact same room we'd had last time! Unfortunately it's a handicapped accessible room, which means it doesn't have the island in the kitchen, or the big shower. However, it's right next to the lounge, which is a great benefit.

The evening offerings in the lounge were really nice. I especially enjoyed the butter chicken. It's great that alcohol is included too Ben realised we only had one more day of park tickets, so wasn't going to waste it, and went off to Hollywood Studios on his own.

As much as I love the OKW Studios, being in a 1 bedroom villa is soooooo nice, loads of space to spread out - absolutely love it! So pleased we have enough points for lots of 1 beds in the summer!

Part 17 - the one with our last full day

It felt rather nice to wake up in the massive bed of the 1 bedroom club level room this morning! Animal Kingdom had early entry at 7am, and we weren’t quite up in time to get there for then - missing out on the chance to do Flight of Passage with minimal wait. Since it’s our last day, we did something we thought we’d never do, pay for an individual Lightning lane. Our budget for the trip was still looking very healthy, so we thought we’d treat ourselves to that later today. Anthony and I still decided to go for early opening though. We rode the Safari, which is always good to do early in the morning as the animals are really active. We got to see the lion roaring again, which was an amazing experience. Not all the savanna animals were out just yet, but it didn’t really matter as the ones that were were very active. All four cheetahs were out wandering around as well, which I loved! After that we went to the gorilla trail and took a wander through there. All of the males were out so we spent ages just watching them and listening to the cast members talk about them.

We went back to the lounge for breakfast after that, which was delicious again, and then headed back to Animal Kingdom with the kids. Being at the lodge is a real bonus here, as the park is literally a 3 minute bus ride away. It was incredibly busy, which wasn’t surprising since it was New Year’s Eve. Everest was unfortunately down, which was disappointing for the kids, so we went to watch kite tails again. We saw the Lion King version this time, which I was happy about as I much prefer those characters to the jungle book ones. Again, it’s a really nice little show, well worth a watch. Ben and Anthony went round to Dinosaur, while Ava and I just had a wander. The Dinosaur line was a lot longer than we expected, so we went to see the bird show while they waited. This is so much better since they got rid of the Up characters. Now it’s all about the birds. My favourite has to be Groucho the parrot, who is a brilliant mimic and knows 6 songs off by heart. He treated us to a few, my favourite being ‘how much is that doggy in the window’, it’s so funny and totally cracks me up every time!

After that it was time for our flight of passage lightning lane time. The wait time was pretty much the same as what you used to wait for a fast pass. The ride was as wonderful as ever. We spent some time taking photos and then headed back to the Lodge. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the balcony, watching the animals in the savanna. The highlight had to be when the baby zebra started running laps while her parents just watched - so cute!

We also had to do our fit to fly tests to come home tomorrow, booooooo! Did have a little blip when Anthony typed in Ben’s NHS number rather than his passport number, but Qured sorted it immediately, so it wasn’t a problem. Ava fancied a swim and Ben another Disney Springs visit,  so did those for a few hours. Ben found a lovely sweatshirt and I got a new wallet, which I've had my eye on for the last couple of weeks

Back at the resort we went downstairs to check out the new year's eve party. It was just a DJ really, so not very exciting, but I'd rather do that than be crammed in the parks. 

At 11.30pm we got the email that everyone dreads - our flight had been cancelled Going home we had booked Orlando - Chicago - Heathrow. I had a feeling this might happen as it had been on the news the whole time we'd been here that flight crews were really struggling due to covid. Just a shame it happened to us! All we got was an email from American Airlines about it though, nothing from BA, and nothing about what to do about it. The call centre didn't open till 8am the next morning, so a sleepless night worrying about it was on the cards!

At midnight we were going to go to the lounge as they were doing new year celebrations, but with the worry about the flight, and Ava falling asleep, we didn't As soon as midnight turned we went to the balcony as there were fireworks going off everywhere! We had an amazing view of several different shows, which was brilliant.

Part 18 - the one where Disney really doesn't want us to leave

We'd not told the kids about the flight cancellation last night, no need to worry them. Anthony and I got very little sleep though. Neither of us sleep well on the plane, so could have done with a good rest, sadly that was not to be.

As soon as we could, we got on the phone to BA to sort out how we'd get home! Was waiting for more than an hour before the phone was answered. When it was, they couldn't hear us, I'm guessing the handset on the room phone wasn't working properly - thank goodness for the speakerphone button! Fortunately the guy on the phone was wonderful,  he even managed to get us on the direct flight, but unfortunately there were only 3 seats left, which was no good to us. He did find us a flight transferring through Dublin instead of Chicago in the end. This was actually so much better than Chicago as we had the long part of the flight to do first now, rather than second. This did mean having to redo all the locator forms and all, which was a bit of a pain. We got all of our remaining things packed up. I was so pleased we had a one bedroom villa here as it meant I could get everything washed before we left and not have much laundry to do when we got home. I called bell services to take the owners lockers to be collected and went to camp out in the club level lounge. We managed to get our favourite spot in the corner, with the couches, which was nice. Between 11-4.30 they don’t have a proper food service, but there are lots of pre packaged snacks and drinks out, and you could ask for things like Mickey Bars etc if you wanted those too.

We’d told the kids of the flight change, and Ava was very pleased as it meant more pool time. Jambo house doesn’t have the best pool in our opinion, but she still loves it, so we went and spent some time down there. While we were there, Anthony was doing the passenger locator forms for Ireland. While doing that he found out that anyone over the age of 11 who is not fully vaccinated need to have a PCR before travelling to Ireland. This would mean Ben as he’s only had one vaccine. We couldn’t find anything that would tell us what the rules were for transiting passengers though. There were links to follow but they lead to nothing. So, back on the phone to BA - and another hour on hold. Anthony was getting a tad stressed by this point, so I took over with the call operator, who really didn’t understand what I was trying to say (Indian call centre). He then said we could move our flights to a direct one the following day but we’d have to pay for them because we’d accepted the Ireland ones. There was absolutely no way that was happening as I told him that we weren’t told of the Ireland entry requirements and nobody seemed to be able to confirm if it was an issue for transiting passengers. He then put me on hold for an absolute age. When he came back he said that for transiting passengers who will be in Ireland for less than 24 hours, the requirements didn’t apply - only requirements for your final destinations. I was sure to take all of his details before hanging up the phone, just in case!

We spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling out in the lounge. I took Ben to the community room at Kidani for a bit as he wanted to play pool. At 4.10pm we went downstairs to catch the Magical Express, or the tragical depress as we prefer to call it. This is the last time we’ll be riding this as it has now officially finished, the only reason we could get it for free still is that our stay started before December 31st.

Upon arrival at the airport, we weren’t actually sure where to check in. Even though our flight was officially with BA, we were now flying with Aer Lingus. We checked in with Aer Lingus, slightly worried still about them asking for a PCR for Ben. We’d done the Verifly app the day before when we had our original flight, but hadn’t been able to do it for our new one. We explained this to the person checking us in, showed them the Verifly confirmation for the cancelled flight, and they just accepted that. I’m not sure if that was correct, but we weren’t questioning it! I did find it odd we were only given boarding cards to Dublin though, not the Dublin to Heathrow flight as well. In the past when we’ve done a connection we’ve always been given the connecting boarding cards too. However, we were so pleased to have just got through check in, we didn’t question that either!

The next few hours in departures were pretty boring, as always. Unfortunately our flight was delayed, which just added to the craziness of the day. The flight finally left about 90 minutes after it should have done. When we were all boarded, we discovered that we were in the row behind the bulk head and exit row…and nobody was in them! So Ben and I moved to the exit row (we did check this was allowed) and Anthony and Ava spread out into the row of 4 that we had. This ended up being really useful as we could all really spread out. We swapped over mid flight just so we could move around a bit. Can’t say I was massively impressed with the seats on this plane, the BA ones were far better. I didn’t sleep at all, but I never do on a flight, so I wasn’t surprised about that. Anthony and Ava managed to sleep for most of it though, which was good.

The flight was a bit bumpy, but not too bad. I hate flying anyway, so to be honest it was probably hardly bumpy at all, I just feel every single one When we landed we loved (once again) that we had no baggage and walked through to the connections desk. It would appear that the reason we weren’t given boarding cards for the connection was that we’d not been booked on it Fortunately the lady at the desk was great and sorted us a flight to Heathrow which only left an hour later, which was perfect. I’d definitely fly through Dublin again though, you literally just walk around the corner for connections, so even if the connection time was short, you wouldn’t have a problem at all. As we approached immigration we had a bit of a panic as the people next to us were having an issue with not having the correct tests……but we were waved straight through, phew! The flight back to Heathrow was only 50 minutes and a much nicer plane than the transatlantic one.

Back in London we realised we’d arrived into terminal 2, and our car was at terminal 5 Took is a while to get there as you have to walk quite a long way, and take the underground (which is free between terminals). Picking up the car was easy, and we’re so pleased we did the meet and greet, rather than the off site parking that we normally do, as it was so quick!

Our next job was to do our return PCR tests. We’d chosen to do the ones where you do them yourself and drop them in a drop box. There was a McDonalds next to the drop box, so just did them there. The drop box was full so I had to put my hand in there and move them all around a bit, so that ours would fit! We also picked up some drinks at McDonalds since we were there.

I’m also very pleased we were flying from Heathrow rather than Gatwick as it only took us just over 3 hours to get home (with a quick loo break on the way). Since it was a Sunday, there was hardly any traffic so it was a pretty clear run. Back at home, the house was still standing, phew! We waited up for the Tesco delivery (had to book one as we can’t leave the house until we get our PCR results). Fortunately I’d booked it for the latest slot in case we were delayed, good job I did!

So that’s it, holiday over If you’ve managed to read all of my ramblings, you deserve a medal to be quite honest! I’ll do a best and worst bits in a few days, but for now, as Mickey says, “see ya real soon” (or in July, when we go back!”