Blissikins' Boo To You CBR Trip Oct. 2015! **Actual TR post AK** Aug. 2017

[Blissikins]

Tuesday: The One Where We Have Rumblies In Our Tumblies, and Delicious Hallowishes Pt. III

After many, many (manymanymany) great big beautiful tomorrows, the carousel started turning again. On with the show! I really do love Carousel of Progress, I don’t know why, it just really makes me happy each time we ride it. Yes, it’s a bit out-dated and the “future” still isn’t quite here yet, but what the heck, I really enjoy it. I think we only did it once this trip though, which is odd as last time we did it 3-4 times. After a longer than usual ride, it was time for more shopping. I love browsing, I love air-con, I swear even if there were no rides at all in WDW I would still go just for the gift shops (Florida State Law: Exit Through The Gift Shop! The guide at Kennedy said that on our last trip, I want it on a T-shirt!). We went in Merchant of Venus and spent a while looking at all the new merchandise that had appeared since our last visit. I found an adorable Jiminy Cricket keyring that I really wanted for my car keys but, sticking to my usual shopping plan, I opted to buy it later in the trip, just in case I saw one that I prefered somewhere else. I have a thing about keyrings, I used to collect them as a child (along with bookmarks, and stickers...Now I’ve added pins into the mix too), now I still buy really nice ones, which I then don’t use in case they get damaged.


Our next FP was Big Thunder Mountain. It’s the one ride that John remembered going on from his trips with his family as a child, and last time we went it was closed for renovations, so we were both really excited to get to ride it at last!! We’d left it a bit late with all our wandering and shopping and the odd trip to the bathroom. To save time and repeating myself, I’ve left out all of the many bathroom visits we (read: I) made during the trip. I’m an over-hydrator, what can I say?! With 20mins to go we decided to go around the castle and make a run for Frontierland. By “run”, clearly I mean “sweaty amble”. As we came to the front of the castle, we stumbled into some HUGE crowds!


I could say that sadly another darn parade got in our way and thwarted our carefully laid plans and months-ago booked FPs, but who would think like that in WDW?! (OK, we came across a LOT of people who thought like that. Including one later on in our trip who thought I was a CM in my Halloween costume and full-on yelled at me because he and his family couldn’t cross the parade route...but I can’t think like that!). Instead, I say YAY!!! We got to see Festival of Fantasy parade!! I’ve seen the parade on Youtube, but I could not wait to see it in real life. I love dragons, and I was so excited to see Maleficent in all her steam-punk fire-breathing glory. We got there just as they closed access to Frontierland, which meant we were pretty much right at the front of the standing people!

Photobucket decided to rearrange my photos for no apparent reason, so if these are in the wrong order, I apologise now!

I love the little mice!

Ta-daaaaaa!

http://s27.photobucket.com/user/hoc...202919583_n_zpskkfz6ole.jpg.html?sort=3&o=189

I love how Flynn and Max are swinging on the same hammer!

Sebastian! Ariel! Flounder circling above! I love it!

I love this little guy!

Derpy crocodile!!

Here she comes!!

She didn't blow fire until she'd passed us by I got the smoke though!

Baby Dumbo!!

Look how excited he is!!

Because there's his Mama!! Also, there's Hyacinth the Hippo. Hyacinth is my spirit animal. Not hippos in general...Just Hyacinth.

There are so many Festival of Fantasy outfits that I want for Halloween costumes. This is one of them!!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chip and Dale!

There's my girl!

"The best way of travel, however, if you aren't in any hurry at all, if you don't care where you are going...is in a balloon. In a balloon, you can decide only when to start, and usually when to stop. The rest is left entirely to nature."

TTFN!

Amazing!! I really loved it, and it was totally worth missing our FP for! The parade was wonderful. We decided that, as we were so close to Main St USA that we would follow the parade and head back to the hotel. It was time to get ready and head back to the park for MNSSHP!

As we walked to the bus we saw people heading into MK in their costumes. I wished that I’d planned ahead and brought my costume with us that morning, but it just wasn’t practical. So, back “home” we went. I even did some ironing! Yes, on holiday! I don’t know how people do laundry when they’re away, I resented having to get the iron out to do four pieces of costume! But, I did my ironing and packed my book, and then we were off for some Not So Scary Fun!

 

[Blissikins]

Hello! It's me, your neglectful trip reporter. Yes, I am still alive.

Remember when I said that I needed to get as much done as possible before December? This is why. Working in retail, Christmas, and "doing other stuff" do NOT mix!

Just to keep you going until I have time for a "proper" TR post, here's a life update and my little(!) Christmas haul from Disney.com.

Well first thing's first, and by far the most exciting news…

WE ARE GETTING A PUPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't had a dog for the last 5 1/2 years, since my first dog Sassi passed away at the grand old age of 13. Here he is:

My puppy! With 13yo me.

With his beloved teddy bear. We took it with us when we went to collect him from the breeder, and it never left his side for the rest of his life (even after that, actually, because they cremated it with him). When we had to have him put to sleep, the vetinary nurse remembered how much he loved his bear and how he used to sleep with it, and tucked it under his paw when she tucked him up on the table under his blanket. Broke my heart all over again.

Gorgeous boy!

For a long time I didn't want another one, then I did and we couldn't afford one, then our work schedules weren't compatible with a pet (yay for responsible pet parenting, however miserable it makes you at the time to be sensible!)…The list went on. Well, now we are in a better place financially and work-wise, and our new fur baby will be coming home with us at the end of January/early February!

The white one is ours!

We have been looking to adopt for months, even before our Disney trip, but the area we live in is pretty much all Staffordshire Bull Terriers, or some mix thereof, German Shepherds or other large breeds in the rescue centres, and our house and garden just aren't big enough for a large dog. So, we made the choice to buy instead.

Speaking of buying…I know that you will appreciate my little Disney haul! I thought I would try and do a haul video. Well. That ended abruptly…


Yup, 9 seconds before I got stopped. :S That went well! My second try got a little further!


I apologise if my shaky camerawork makes you queasy! Fortunately you don't have to experience it for long! I did have a very good reason for stopping the filming though (no, not because I am terrible at it): Disney called! I was so shocked to see a Florida number pop up on my phone (which I was filming with) that I nearly dropped it!

When we were away we decided to collect autographs for a friend of ours who is too ill to travel. She adores Disney, so we thought we'd take some magic home for her. Well, we decided to go one better than that, and had a few of our new friends say hello!

Everyone we asked made such wonderful messages on the spur of the moment that I thought they deserved some special praise for their amazing work, so I wrote an email to Disney, including the video URL. The phone call was from a lovely lady at Disney, calling to let me know that they were able to track down everyone in my video, show it to them and their supervisors and tell them how wonderful they are! She was getting teary watching the video again on the phone with me! She also let me know that she had passed on my compliments about Anthony who checked us in at CBR too, which was good to know.

So as the haul video failed, here are some photographs instead:

Bernard and Bianca!! I loved The Rescuers when I was little (all together now… #R-E-S-C-U-E, Rescue Aid Societyyyyyyy…#) so when I saw this ornament online before our trip, I had to have it. Well, I saw it, didn't buy it, and remembered later that I wanted it. Story of my holiday shopping!! It's a little heavy for the tree, that Devil's Eye is solid, but I have a nice ornament hook it will go on.

My favourite calendar! *SPOILER ALERT* this is the one we ended up buying for my Grandparents. Flicking through the pictures with them when we gave it to them, I decided I needed one too! I love that the gang are wearing their Star Wars attire for May (May The Fourth be with you!). We are big celebrators of the Jedi holidays in our house. Fun Fact: My husband decided to wait until we were sat outside the vicarage waiting to go in and speak to the reverend about planning our wedding to tell me that he had recorded himself as "Jedi" in the religion space on the recent census form. Fortunately that did not hinder our wedding plans!! But ever since we have joked about May 4th being his religious holiday.

How wonderful are these keys?! I plan on hanging it in a box frame by the door, with a photograph from our trip.

Love it. Wish I'd ordered more!

My Mickey Santa hat! I haven't managed to wear it yet, as it's VERY warm! Hats off (pun totally intended) to the people who make it through an entire MNSSHP wearing one of these bad boys. They are seriously cosy!

My GORGEOUS tree skirt!! I fell in love with this at the Christmas shop in Magic Kingdom, but it was so heavy I daren't buy one there and try to get it home. Also, by waiting until I got home and mail ordering it, John had forgotten how much it cost.


I also ordered this little fella! Wow, his ticking is LOUD!! Like, you can hear it over the TV level of loud. I love him though. Actually, the one in the video is my second Cogsworth.

The first one that I unpacked with this haul was damaged, his glass was cracked. It wasn't much, but it was enough that it would have bugged me no end if I kept him like that. I emailed Disney to find out how I went about returning him, and what their policy was on import duty (I paid 20% of the total cost including shipping to get them through customs). They replied to say the new one was on his way, duty free, and to pass the old one along to a charity to spread the Disney magic!!! Instead of just giving him to a charity shop, I listed him on eBay, so he went to someone who absolutely adores Disney, and 100% of the proceeds (£72) went to our local children's hospital charity. Win-win, everyone's happy!

I promise I will be back in the not-too-distant future with a proper TR update!

 

[Chicago Mo]

I don't know why my posts are not posting?!?! Have i angered the Dis gods?

Did have an entire post done and stitch must have eaten it somewhere. and I am sorry. It was quiet long.


anywho lets see if this posts.

So, we made the choice to buy instead.

NO WAY! your getting a BABY!!! what kind of baby is it?!?! They are so precious!
Boy or girl?!?! Come on you must give more information on your new baby!

My GORGEOUS tree skirt!!

I am SO SO SO JEALOUS!!!! I simply adore this pattern!!! really want that tree skirt!

 

[Blissikins]

I don't know why my posts are not posting?!?! Have i angered the Dis gods?

Did have an entire post done and stitch must have eaten it somewhere. and I am sorry. It was quiet long.

Oh no! It did that to me a time or two when I've been trying to post, it's so annoying!

anywho lets see if this posts.

It did!

NO WAY! your getting a BABY!!! what kind of baby is it?!?! They are so precious!
Boy or girl?!?! Come on you must give more information on your new baby!

It's a boy, it was fate...We wanted a boy, preferably white and brown. He is the only boy in the litter, and just the colour we wanted! He's a bichon frise x Cavelier King Charles spaniel. A little more than we'd planned on paying, but there is a HUGE problem with puppy farms over here at the moment so I'd rather pay extra and know that he's coming from a family home rather than a breeding shed. I'm looking at puppy classes already, I'm so excited!! I've never seen a bichon that wasn't super smart, so I'm looking forward to learning lots of new things together (apparently they like agility, so that would be fun to try!). Sassi could do tricks and would work to hand signals (my Mum is disabled and loses her voice a lot, so we taught him to work to visual cues), so hopefully the new little one will be equally as eager to learn!

I am SO SO SO JEALOUS!!!! I simply adore this pattern!!! really want that tree skirt!

It's a good job I had to think about getting it home, or I would have bankrupted us over this pattern in the Christmas shop! I love it! It's so beautiful, classic but also Disney. I can't wait to put my tree up! No, I'm still not trimmed up for Christmas. I had planned to get it done by Dec. 1st so that I could enjoy all my new-found evenings off in front of the Christmas tree…but no. I am too disorganised/busy for that!!

 

[Blissikins]

Happy New Year everyone!

Yes, I'm late. As usual! I hope everyone had a wonderful time.

We certainly did, I worked Christmas Eve but it was an early finish so I was home in plenty of time to finish off labelling the presents and packing the gift bags. Believe it or not, this was our most organised year! Usually we are still up at 3am on Christmas morning wrapping gifts. Not this time! I wrapped things as they arrived (I'm an online shopper...I work in retail but I still have to be thrifty so I buy most of my gifts online. Terribly unsupportive of the trade, I know!).

I love this paper! That's not my gift tag, by the way...I wrap and use Post-Its so I know what's for whom, and then go back and do the ribbons and tags!

Obviously none of my decorations were up by Dec.1st, but they were up a good week before Christmas.

A few of my favourites! I have a thing for kitchy Christmas ornaments.

I made a new garland for our stairs from some bits and pieces I found in the attic, and some Ikea fairy lights.

A couple of my favourite Disney related gifts:

I thought this was so sweet! It has 50 cute cards (with hidden Mickeys punched into them) with a different Walt quote on each one. I thought I might share one a week on my Instagram account.

My friend painted this for me, I love her! She's sat on our fireplace with her friend Cogsworth.

We all live close enough that we can see both of our families on Christmas day, so we started out with my family in the morning/early afternoon and went to John's for the evening. Two Christmas dinners! I thought I might explode! I survived though, and they were both delicious.

My parents' dog Bailey enjoyed his Christmas dinner

and modelling his Christmas sweater!

He does have a tail...It's just a perma-blur on photos as it never stops wagging!


Before Christmas we had one very important countdown to cross off: Star Wars! We had tickets for the 00:05 premier screening at our local cinema. Of course, I dressed the part.

Can you guess which Disney souvenir I am?

Yes...My favourite T-shirt!

Someone from the local paper was waiting as we left the cinema at silly o'clock in the morning and decided that I looked the part to be interviewed for their website!

They got my name wrong, but never mind!

I know what you're all really waiting for is a pupdate, so here goes!

Look at my little boy!

Sampling some dinner...4 weeks old tomorrow.

We haven't managed to get to see him in person yet, but we are being supplied with LOTS of photographs!

If any of you are interested I have started a Disney Saving Club on FB for all of us who are saving up for our next trip. Most are following some kind of 52-week plan, but all are welcome! Hopefully we will keep each other on track and save up for our trips!

Disney Saving Buddies 2016

 

[Blissikins]

Tuesday: The One Where We Have Rumblies In Our Tumblies, and Delicious Hallowishes Pt. IV

Believe it or not, I haven't forgotten what this TR is supposed to be for! On with the Disney goodness!

When I left off we were on our way to MNSSHP! In our room I was so excited as I put my costume on! I had my costume made over a year before our trip, I just knew that if we were going to MNSSHP, I wanted to be Belle. My only dilemma was blue, or yellow? I’m lucky enough to have a friend who is an amazing seamstress and costume designer, and runs her own fancy dress shop, so whichever I chose wouldn’t have been a problem. Then New Fantasyland opened with the fountain, and Gaston’s Tavern, and Be Our Guest…that sealed the deal! It HAD to be the blue.

I couldn’t believe I was finally there, in my outfit, finally heading out to a MNSSHP! My excitement lasted at fever pitch for at least for a few paces. Then I realised how HOT it was outside with long sleeves on! Did not think of that on a chilly spring morning in England when I was ordering my costume! Whoops! We got to the bus stop just as the MK bus pulled away. That was bad timing! We had a fun wait though, watching all the other families in their costumes. There was a Toy Story family, Woody, Jessie (Mum and daughter) and Buzz, a Cinderella family, and one with Elsa, Anna, and the Duke of Weaselton...sorry WESSleton! I was glad to get onto the nice air-conditioned bus when it pulled up, there is no room for a water bottle in a book bag! Getting off the bus and walking towards the bag-check, it was fun to see all of the other costumes, and to say hi to the people leaving the park for the day, who were all admiring our costumes! Quite a few people recognised me as Belle, and I only had one “It’s Ariel!!” which made a change, at Comic-cons over here it tends to be 50/50 whether people will think I’m Belle or Ariel! I always think it’s so exciting when people recognise your character.

John usually skips the bag-check line as he never carries anything, but this time he chose to come with me (I know, rule-breaker!! Sorry we slowed it down by one person). I soon realised why. We got to the front very quickly, and said hi to the bag check guy...who looked very confused to be presented with a book! John was giggling the whole time. The security guy said that it was the first book he’d ever searched, and it was a very clever idea. Thanks, bag-check guy! Up-cycled it myself!

Lots of people had stopped for photographs in front of the park, but as we had another party later in the trip, we decided to skip it this time. This party was mainly for the Hallowishes Dessert Party. We were early though, so we collected our wristbands and treat bags and headed inside. We stopped for a quick photograph with the welcome sign on our way in.

We really don’t have many photographs of that night...I know that’s not what you want to hear, sorry! We were just having such a great time in the party spirit! Plus it was a PITA trying to get the camera out of my book as it was quite intricately packed with a camera, camcorder, phone, purse, Magic Band, tiny first aid kit, etc. Yes, all in that one volume! I really needed a set of encyclopedias! I played a LOT of Tetris as a kid, it helps with the packing!

We went to Frontierland and collected our MNSSHP SotMK cards, pretty much by accident actually as we wandered past the spot and the lady called us back! We headed to BTMRR, but it had a really long queue. No time for that now! We spent a while wandering around, admiring people’s costumes and taking in the atmosphere. Coming from somewhere where Halloween is just really starting to be a big deal, and still nowhere near on a par with how massive it is in America, it was quite the experience! John decided that we had to ride Haunted Mansion at a Halloween party, so off to Liberty Square we went. Liberty Square is my MK blank spot. I can NEVER remember the name of it. “Liberty Island”, “Libertyland”, “Ye Olde Worlde America Land”….Anything but Liberty Square! So if I mis-label it from now on, you know where I mean! On the way past we headed into Memento Mori. It was PACKED! I love that shop. It has the perfect title for a HM-themed shop too. “Memento Mori” literally translates as “Remember that you can die”...There’s always room for one more! I love how Disney add these details. I actually have a very old French book on how to make authentic memento mori brooches/lockets using locks of hair to make tiny flower bouquets, etc to seal under glass in mourning jewellery. I’ve never tried it though! Maybe if I have a major trim in the future I’ll save a few locks of hair to experiment with. Anyway...

Given how terribly busy the gift shop was, I was expecting everyone to have had the same idea about heading to HM, but when we got to the gates the queue for the photo op was longer than the queue for the ride! They were doing Magic Shots by the hearse, and the beautiful spectre of a Southern Belle was talking and singing away on the lawn, it was lovely! We decided to take advantage of the 10min queue and not keep our (ghost) host waiting any longer. As we got to Mme Leota’s resting place I heard someone call out “Hey! Sweet costume choice Belle!” I turned around and there was a girl wearing practically the exact same outfit! We chatted and compared notes as we waited for the doors to open, she was very impressed with the book bag! She had her beast with her and he was carrying all of her stuff for her (which, in hindsight, is a much better idea and much easier on the arms...My arms, anyway! Duly noted for next time!). Soon our host sent his staff to let us in, and we filed into the Mansion. As we headed to the lift I recognised one of the staff. Who’s that girl? Who’s that girl?

It’s JESS!

DISboards Jess. PrincessJess. I was fangirling. I followed all of her TRs and her DCP TR especially was what got me into reading the DIS more regularly. John, of course, had no idea whatsoever who or what I was talking about. I wasn’t sure if it was OK to talk to her when she was in character at work, especially as it was a party and so all the HM staff were all SUPER in character, and we were IN the stretching room already so it might spoil it for other people if I tried to chat with her, but would I get another chance...By the time I had decided that yes, it was definitely her and yes, I probably had freaked her out with my frantic whispering to John the whole time we were in the stretching room, we were being shooed into our doom buggies and it was too late to say anything! I regret my choice, we never saw her again! Boo!

By the time we left the mansion the line for photographs was much shorter so we joined the back of it and waited for our magic shots. We’re terrible at cheesy poses though. You’ll notice that throughout the PP shots! I felt like I had a really good scared face going, but then the guy made me laugh and ruined it. I like how they turned out though.

See what I mean about the poses?! Oh well.

Then we looked at the clock and realised that we should probably be heading to the party. Now was not a time to be fashionably late! The Happy Hallowishes Dessert Party begins at the flagpole, so we had quite the walk. We made it in good time, and got a nice spot.

It felt like we were waiting an age for the parade to start. The Headless Horseman was wonderful! Then we had the odd Phineus and Ferb section...Not the biggest P&F fans! I gave up on trying to take photographs as they were all terrible, but I did get a video:

After the parade there was a mass exodus! If you want the genuine Mufasa experience, stand at the flag pole after a parade when people are trying to leave the park and look up Main St USA! Oh my goodness! Stampede! Fortunately we didn’t have to fight our way back up Main St as they opened a little back way for us party people beside The Chapeau. We were at Tomorrowland Terrace in no time!

Our table was excellent, right at the front! The skull mugs of sweets were for us to take away. Sadly the lantern was not. Though I did see someone stash theirs in a bag, I never managed to see if they got away with it. Why would you steal something like that? If nothing else stops you, perhaps the fact that they have your card details because you paid in advance should ring alarm bells!

Those of you paying attention will have noticed that we ate breakfast quite some time ago...And nothing since. This was John’s master plan to get the most out of the Dessert Party! He managed at least 2-3 trips to the buffet and the same to the sundae cart. I did not. I did try at least one of everything though, and it was all delicious!

It was here that I discovered the secret to the Disney dessert buffet: The cheese plate. Seriously, the cheese is the key. Otherwise everything is so sweet you will never get your money’s worth before you feel too sick to eat any more (if you’re anything like me, that is!). But, if you alternate desserts with a half-cube of cheese, it’s not a problem!

I took a video of the fireworks from the party, I think we had a pretty great view!

Apparently the sundae man is the finest sundae maker in the world. John should know. He sampled his wares multiple times.

After the fireworks were done we decided to head out. The original plan had been to watch the later Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular, but my feet were killing me, we were stuffed with dessert and I needed that sugar high to last long enough to carry me back to the hotel or I would never have survived the trek to our room! I figured the sugar rush would last long enough to stop for a photograph or two though.

What is that sugar-crazed face of mine?! Will someone puh-leeeeeease stop me having pictures taken! I don’t even know what went wrong there. I propose that PP photographers all wear hats with “SUCK IN THAT GUT!” on the front, and have a mirror stuck on their tripods so you can see what the heck your face is doing before they take the photograph!

They told him to pose like Gaston…and me to make the appropriate face!

His outfit actually worked out pretty well, a lot of people thought he was Disneybounding as Gaston. Nope! Just didn’t bother to put his actual costume on that night!

I stayed awake long enough to take some photos of our goodies.

Then we collapsed into bed. We had an early start the next day! Where will we head to next? [/COLOR]

 

[Chicago Mo]

I just adore your costume!
Isn't the party amazing? that parade is just fantastic. the gravediggers are my all time fav!

 

[IowaTater]

Very cute costume and what a clever use of a book! Getting into costume is definitely one of the best parts about the Halloween party.

My DH has the exact same shirt as your DH. Does your DH do the monthly subscription boxes too? I think we got that shirt from a Loot Crate box (maybe?)

 

[Blissikins]

I just adore your costume!
Isn't the party amazing? that parade is just fantastic. the gravediggers are my all time fav!

Thank you! I loved the party, it was so much fun! Halloween is growing in popularity over here, but we don't make nearly as big a deal of it as it is over there. I loved being there to experience it! The parade was amazing too, I love the music, the grave diggers, the villains…All of it! And those HalloWishes fireworks, I think it's a tie now between them and regular Wishes for my #1 Fireworks spot.

Very cute costume and what a clever use of a book! Getting into costume is definitely one of the best parts about the Halloween party.

My DH has the exact same shirt as your DH. Does your DH do the monthly subscription boxes too? I think we got that shirt from a Loot Crate box (maybe?)

Thank you! I really loved dressing up, I hope it isn't affected too much by the new safety regulations.

He does do the monthly boxes! He doesn't actually play D&D, but he loves the shirt design! That was from Loot Crate yes, so far it's his only subscription service. I have signed the new puppy up for one though! They deliver treats and toys through the post.

 

[IowaTater]

He does do the monthly boxes! He doesn't actually play D&D, but he loves the shirt design! That was from Loot Crate yes, so far it's his only subscription service. I have signed the new puppy up for one though! They deliver treats and toys through the post.

I saw the one for the furbabies! I thought about getting the one for our kitty but he has soooo many toys he doesn't play with already. DH doesn't play D&D either but he still wears the shirt. DH got Loot Crate for over a year and loved it but now he gets Geek Fuel, although now he's looking at another one lol.

Thank you! I really loved dressing up, I hope it isn't affected too much by the new safety regulations.

I heard a couple of weeks ago that they've lifted the ban for the races so fingers crossed!

 

[Blissikins]

Whew! What a busy few weeks it's been! Mainly thanks to this little fella…

Meet Baxter, everyone!


We collected him on January 30th, a 5hr round trip, totally worth it!

When we first brought him home…So little!!

It's exhausting, all this new home business.

I love the weird sleeping positions puppies get into!

Can you tell he was excited at finally jumping into his car seat by himself for the first time?! So pleased with himself!

Did you think we had a puppy? Definitely a baby elephant!

"Helping" with the laundry.

Modelling his new collar…

Which of course is a little touch of Disney! I also have a DisneyTails dog tag for him (the one that looks like a CM name tag) but it's far too big for him at the moment!

I took two weeks of my annual leave to spend with him when we first brought him home, so we did some intensive house training, etc, and a few other bits and pieces too. He actually taught himself to sit when we bring out his dinner! I'd been working on "Sit" with him that morning, and when feeding time came, bump! His little bottom was on the floor waiting for me to put his dish down. Such a clever boy!

His first training session is tomorrow night, I'm so looking forward to it (a room full of puppies? And one of them comes home with me?! Heaven!!). However, he hasn't left time for much else for a while! Hopefully I can get back to my TR soon!

 

[Chicago Mo]

oh my puppiness!!! HOW ADORABLE!!! What kind of puppy is he? Besides the cutest?
Everyone on of your pictures of him needs to be entered into the cutest puppy contest!

 

[Blissikins]

oh my puppiness!!! HOW ADORABLE!!! What kind of puppy is he? Besides the cutest?
Everyone on of your pictures of him needs to be entered into the cutest puppy contest!

Thank you! He's a Bichon Frise x Cavalier King Charles (cavachon, some people call them).

 

[Blissikins]

Wednesday: The One With The Clogger and a Very Special Train Journey Pt. I

If you’re only interested in all things Disney, you might want to skip today! Today we were headed for Universal. If you're prepared to head to The Dark Side (hehe!) then come along with us...


I have to confess, I’m a big Harry Potter fan. I didn’t want to be. I fought it for as long as possible. I try not to read what other people are reading because someone always spoils it. I did see all of the films when they came out, because a friend of mine is a cinema manager and invited us to the Friends and Family midnight screenings of them (honestly the only way to watch films is in the middle of the night with free pizza!). So I wasn’t completely out of the loop, but I didn’t actually read any of the books until 2012, when I decided that I’d better make the effort, considering that we had Universal tickets for our first trip. Since then I’ve read the full series (by my reckoning) about six times. I have them all on my iPod and they are my regular escapism lunch break reading when I’m at work. John on the other hand hates Harry Potter, J K Rowling, and anything vaguely connected. But he does love Universal Studios.


It was another beautiful day at CBR, as usual!

I can't get over how stunning CBR really is. We'd seen photos before we travelled, but really, it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever stayed. I love it! Sadly there was construction closing the bridge when we were there so we didn't get to do that pretty walk, but we'll save that for next time! We woke up later than planned after our party the night before, so we hurried to Old Port Royale for a quick breakfast, I had a pastry and John had a Chocolate muffin. We must have been late as they had stopped serving the breakfast options! We filled our mugs for the drive, and we were off to Universal STu


We bought park-hopper passes for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure so that we could ride the Hogwarts Express. I can’t tell you how excited I was about getting to go on the train! This came in very handy, as in all my research I completely forgot to check which nights were the Halloween Horror Nights party nights, when Universal Studios closed at 5pm. Originally we debated John going to a HHN and me going to another MNSSHP, as I HATE anything scary/people jumping out at me. I would either end up traumatised, or freak out and panic-punch one of the poor actors, or more likely both. I didn't want to be banished from Universal Studios for abuse of a zombie, so HHN was definitely a no-go for me. Especially as the theme for 2015 was clowns.

NOPE. Not for me. In the end we decided to both do a second MNSSHP as John didn't want to go without me and knew full well that sending me off for an evening alone in MK would probably lead to me never being seen again. As we had some reservations made and he really couldn't afford to lose me this early on in our trip, we decided it was best to stick together for any Halloween parties.


We parked in VIP parking (well worth the extra $5 in my opinion, especially at the end of the night!), what the heck, we’re on holiday! Normally we would never pay for something like that, but both of us were sore from our long park day the day before. Anything that would rest my legs even a little was fine by me! I do love the trip from the parking lot to the park though...The palm trees and the busy streets below, I don’t enjoy it so much on the way back! We went through bag check, and noticed how young the “veteran” who checked my bag looked (do Disney have special badges for ex-armed forces cast members? I’ve never seen one. I like that Universal do it though). He was definitely quite a lot younger than us. Makes you think.


Every time we get to City Walk, I wonder “who on earth goes through all that fuss, just to go out to dinner or go to the cinema?!” Extortionate parking, the trek to the centre itself, bag check...Seems like an awful lot of effort and expense for a night out! We weren’t there for City Walk though, we had a train to (eventually!) catch! We headed straight to the gates, collected our tickets from the pre-book machines, and went to find a bathroom.

It was SO hot today, and I was really feeling the heat. How many times have I complained about the heat so far?! Sorry! Basically for the duration of the trip, presume I’m about to sink into a melty gelatinous puddle at any second I’m outdoors. That’s where I was at, weather-wise. We don’t get heat like this at home…ever! After finding our bearings and taking a bathroom break, we decided to do something nice and cool indoors, so we went back the way we came, to the Shrek 4D show. No-one could believe that we didn’t do this in 2012 when we went (I think last trip the queue was always full of rowdy cheerleaders in town for some championships or other, so we avoided it like the plague), so we HAD to do it this trip! There was a 20-30min wait, but the video screens were working playing clips, and there were plenty of cool decorations to look at.

The posters crack me up! We are huge cinema nerds. I would pay good money for the “Claws” poster, but sadly they don’t sell them in the gift shop.

The show was really good! Though during the “warm-up” section we had the least excitable group ever...They did NOT want to participate! Boo! Spoilsports! I always worry things won’t live up to the hype, but no, this definitely does. Funny for adults as well as kids, just like the films. Of course, as always, we were respectful visitors to the USA, and followed the number one Florida State Law: Always Exit Through the Gift Shop. I could have spent a fortune in there on my nephew and nieces, but we had promised them Disney goodies so I was saving my money.

Next we decided to join the Minion Army. Next we SHOULD have decided to buy a drink, but we are foolish, and apparently had not learned that long queues outside are not pleasant places, even if the queue is covered. Off to Gru’s we go!

How sweet is this? I love Agnes and her unicorn, they’re my favourites.

We really enjoyed this ride too! I love simulator rides, The Simpsons Ride and now Minions are two of my favourite rides. If you’ve ever played “Minion Rush”, it felt to us just like being in the game, speeding through the factory! And, of course, the obligatory trip through the gift shop, which took forever as I feel a pull to buy anything with that darn fluffy unicorn on it. Sadly though, our budget wouldn’t stretch that far, so we headed out.

My beloved unicorn. Sadly impossible to get a decent photograph. I should know, I spent long enough trying!

There’s one bit of Universal Studios that I have been excited for ever since I found out about it. A little bit of (almost) home from home (we actually live about 3hrs away from London)...King’s Cross Station! Grimmauld Place! The Knight Bus! Harry Potter! (Bonus points if you read “Harry Potter!” in Dobby’s voice). I grew up on Enid Blyton books, so Harry Potter for me is an extension of all those magical, boarding school, adventure, wonderful happy reading feelings, rolled into one. John, as I mentioned, not so much. But, he dutifully trailed behind me, holding things, waiting for the perfect shots, and taking photographs when I wanted to pop out from behind the camera and actually be IN a photograph for a change!

All aboard!!

Now, I have to say, clearly Universal did try their best, and you can tell they aimed for the highest level of accuracy possible, but sadly, we reached the decision that it could never actually be London. There were far too many litter bins, and absolutely no pigeon poop! Or, for that matter, pigeons! I still loved it though! On this occasion however, we were just passing through. We had another town to visit first...and "it’s a He!! of a town! The school yard’s up and the shopping mall’s down! Springfield, SPRINGFIELD!!" I love that song from the All-Syrup-Super-Squishee episode...

Last time we were in Universal, there was just The Simpsons ride. I was amazed to see the rest of the town had sprung up around it! We were hungry, so we set off in search of Krusty Burger! I was a little disappointed with the restaurants, if only because all of the storefronts actually led to the same place, where you joined one single queue to get in, and then chose from Lisa’s Teahouse of Horror, Cletus’ Chicken Shack, Krusty Burger, or Moe’s Tavern counters, like you would in a mall food court. I thought it was a shame that they didn’t keep them all as separate restaurants and continue the themeing into the seating areas. But, never mind.

I got Chicken Thumbs and Tots from Cletus’ Chicken Shack...

and John got The Clogger from Krusty Burger...

We both got “Buzz Cola”, which was absolutely delicious! (Also, how awesome are those napkins?! I brought a stack home as a souvenir!). From what I can tell (spoiler alert!) it’s just regular Coke with cherry syrup, but it tastes so much better than regular Cherry Coke! Much more flavourful. Though Cherry Coke in America is nicer than it is in the UK, it’s still not as good as Buzz Cola though! John assures me the burger was delicious, and I really enjoyed my thumbs and tots (first time I’d ever had tots before! Foreign Food Alert! ). We had planned on getting a Lard Lad donut for dessert, but we were just too full from the clogger and thumbs to eat another morsel. We decided to burn them off with a stroll through Springfield.

Ay Yi Yi! It's Bumblebee Man!

Up Next: Diagon Alley!

 

[KathyM2]

Great update!!! The food looked really good...I wanted to see you try the donut too lol

 

[Chicago Mo]

One of these days I AM GOING TO UNIVERSAL!!!!

 

[Blissikins]

Great update!!! The food looked really good...I wanted to see you try the donut too lol

The food was delicious, I could just have eaten those thumbs and tots last night when I was adding photos to my post!
[SPOILER ALERT] We do pay a return visit to Springfield…Maybe one of these bad boys makes an appearance…

One of these days I AM GOING TO UNIVERSAL!!!!

You should!! My approach to holidays (especially in Florida!) is very much

Both trips we've just had two days in Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, our first trip we did a day in each, and this time we park-hopped both days.

I can see why Disney aficionados might be a bit down on the place, certain bits certainly aren't as polished as WDW and it's probably not as interesting for little kids (yours should be old enough to appreciate it though!), there's definitely less of the magical feel certainly in Universal Studios, but in terms of rides we think it's awesome. Certainly in terms of simulator/sim-coaster-style ride technology it's far and away more advanced than WDW (Escape from Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Simpsons, Minions, etc). I hope for the Pandora ride at AK they take a leaf from Universal's book in terms of ride design/tech. It also seems to come in cheaper for us in terms of food and drink too, as they do refillable beverage mugs (with those international 100+ flavour drink machines).

 

[KathyM2]

Wow that donut looks like enough for a meal for a large family...but looks delish!

 

[Blissikins]

Wednesday: The One With the Clogger and a Very Special Train Pt II


From a nice trip through Springfield we were headed to London.

I was VERY excited...It’s London Baby!!

No-one was in at Grimmauld Place

Or were they?!

How rude! Kreacher was in the whole time!

All aboard! The Knight Bus! The shrunken head is interactive and talks with visitors.

Wizards Welcome!


Here’s a pic-spam of Diagon Alley. It is SO wonderful! The attention to detail is amazing, the signs, the packaging in the stores, the window displays...It’s like walking onto the set of the films. Magical!

We never went in here...You can exchange dollars for wizard gold which can be spent in the shops.

The queues at Florean Fortesque’s were INSANE! I really wanted to try the Butterbeer ice cream, but the queue was out of the door every time we passed. I’d heard that they are sometimes outside with samples, but there was never anyone there when we were.

My love...I adore dragons!

Next: We hit the tracks, and head to Hogsmeade...

 

[DisneyJo]

Loving your report. I'm going to Universal for the first time this year and I can't wait to see all the Potter stuff. I've done the London studio tour which was fantastic!