So busy not had a chance to blog, so here’s a bit of catch up from the past couple days.

Monday

For breakfast we headed to International House of Pancakes or IHOP for short, here’s a little picture of Erin with her ‘create a face’ concoction.

Afterwards we went to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney’s waterparks, we had fun but Erin was more interested in sunbathing and pottering about in the sand than the water or rides which came as a bit of a surprise.

In the evening we went to TGI’s for dinner which was tasty.

Tuesday

On Tuesday we returned to Hollywood Studios and did the Little Mermaid show which was one of my favourites, followed by Beauty and the Beast. Erin was completely mesmerized by Beauty and the Beast and I have to admit there were a few ‘mummy tears’ behind my sunglasses, moments like that make it all worthwhile It wasn’t long before we experienced more ‘moments’ over lunch. We had hoped to go to the sci-fi dine-in theatre where you sit in cars and watch old movies, however the whole place was booked out, which was a blessing in disguise as we ended up at a character lunch with some of the characters from Playhouse Disney. I really shouldn’t but I have to post all the pics, they’re all sooooo cute (even if I do say so!)

After meeting the characters we then went to see them live in the Playhouse Disney Show.

Finally we utilised the Fast Pass system to ride the uber popular Toy Story Mania, a 3D shoot em up game. Erin loved it, and insisted we’d won (Alex won) we weren’t about to burst her bubble! All in all a fab day and the longest queue was 10 minutes for Toy Story

Awake at 5.30 am, an hour later than yesterday, there’s hope yet.

This morning we headed to the very nutritious Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. I’m fully aware that donuts and coffee for breakfast is a treat and not the ‘healthy option’, unfortunately Dunkin Donuts don’t agree, their tagline is ‘America runs on Dunkin’. I’m not sure anyone runs anywhere after going to ‘Dunkin’ which is why we’ll drive thru when we go back for some Baskin Robbins or one of the uber calorific Snickers shakes.

Epcot was our intro to Disney World for Erin and we headed straight for ‘The Seas’ where we had a ride in a big shell to visit Nemo and then we had a chat with crush which was the highlight for Erin, she’s been saying ‘hey little dudes’ all day, unfortunately she wasn’t chosen to ask a question, which she says was “I like flowers”. Okaaay, crush will have been gutted to have missed that one. We also popped upstairs to see a real live ‘crush’ which amazed me, this turtle was hyowj, we also saw some dolphins.

The Disney transport system whisked us away to Disney Hollywood Studios where we did the Jim Henson 3D Muppet Show before heading to the Hollywood Brown Derby courtesy of Sarah. Our vouchers entitled us to a three course meal with non-alcoholic drink. I had a salad with goats cheese and candied pecans, followed by chicken and israeli cous cous with lemon aioli. Alex chose coconut shrimp followed by steak, which he said was the best he’d ever tasted! Erin had a hot dog and fries which she seemed to enjoy, it was the least sophisticated choice on the menu, one of the other options was tempura fish. We both had creme brulee for desert while Erin had an ice cream/jelly sweet/orio cookie concoction. I even had my first strawberry daquiri The whole lot was lovely, a real treat.

We decided to have a chillin out night, not sure Erin heard though, she’s still tearing around the room at breakneck speed.

The Tower of Terror behind us we headed for something to eat and a stiff drink. The Hollywood Brown Derby was our destination and I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so happy to see a strawberry daquiri.

The food, once again, was amazing. I had pork tenderloin, spaetzl (which I’d seen being made on Saturday Kitchen a while back, very tasty), red onion chutney and cider jus.

We weren’t able to sit too long as we had VIP seats for the American Idol Experience! The theatre seats a thousand and it was packed out for the show. The set was amazing, I mean really amazing, you could have been at the real thing. We were at the final show which is in the evening, they basically hold auditions all day and the best go through to the evening show to sing for a golden ticket (which gets you to the front of the queue at any ‘real’ American Idol audition). This sort of attraction is the reason why Disney are one step ahead of the competition, the entertainment they offer within each an every park is so diverse that there really is something for everyone, and not only that but something that you’ve never experienced before. Yes, I was pretty blown away with the whole thing.

The show has all the usual features, the singers, the cheesey presenter, the judges, and the over enthusiastic audience (that was us). Everyone ‘played’ their parts without really meaning to, you get completely sucked in and it all feels so real, even down to the ‘nasty judge’ calling the contestant from Manchester an ‘English tart’ haha, he didn’t mean it ‘that way’ but it was still a bit jaw dropping for the British audience members At the end you get to vote for your favourite and there’s the familiar tense announcement.

Post show we headed across the road for a ‘quick’ drink before heading to Fantasmic. Unfortunately we got caught up in the flaring talents of Craig the barman and didn’t make it to Fantasmic… Here’s a video, especially for Laura and Becky.

When I received my itenerary a week or so before I flew out I was kind of worried about being the only one who didn’t want to do the rollercoasters, or my nemesis, the Tower of Terror.

The first ride Sarah decided to take us on was the Aerosmith Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (one of my ‘don’t think I can do that’ ones). We hovered outside as we established who was prepared to give it a shot, before my brain was in gear I’d already agreed and we were whipping past the queues at breakneck speed, fastpasses in hand. I’d barely had a chance to change my mind and we were at the front of the queue. I vaguely remember demanding to know what was about to happen, Sarah admitted to one loop but refused to disclose anymore (until after the damage was done!)

What can I say, it was the best ride I’ve ever done! (and I have done a few at Alton Towers and the stand up one at Drayton Manor). It starts out with you hurtling from 0 – 60 mph in 2.8 seconds into a pitch black inside rollercoaster with 3 (yes three, think someone has a problem counting!) full loops and blaring music, you get completely disorientated, which is actually quite comforting, I prefer it when you can’t see what’s going on. I can see myself in the singles queue for this one in five weeks time! (all is forgiven Sarah)

Next up was the more sedate Toy Story Mania which is a shooting game of sorts (you’ll see what I mean if you ever have a go). It was a lot of fun, both adults and children can enjoy this one

Onwards to the Muppet Vision 3D, which is lots of fun and ideal for the whole family.

And finally the Tower of Terror, after the success of the Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster I found myself agreeing to it…I figured it would be over in no time if I didn’t like it. Here’s a quick ten second shaky hand video of us approaching the Tower, and yes, that is terror you can hear in my voice…

We fastpassed our way through and just as we were being shuffled into position a wave of panic came over me, I’m not joking, I was on the verge of crying like a baby, it must have been embarassing because Laura was quick to whip out her camera and grab a photo (note to self: never expect sympathy from a fellow blogger, their just after their next big post, disgraceful). We entered what can only be described as a chamber with seats, fortunately we’d already engineered it so that we were at the back. As soon as we were seated I snuggled into Linda – she had a black t-shirt on, I thought if I could hide behind it the horror would be over before I knew it.

And then it began…a 13 floor drop and shutters revealing your terror to the masses, up, down, up, down, up, down….

Okay, so it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected but I’m unlikely to do it again, catch my drift.

Sarah was quick with her Disney fact of, it’s the only ride at Disney World that has a randomizer so that every ride is different…..and that ride was tamer than some of her other experiences. Great, bloody great, there I was thinking I’d been semi brave and that was an ‘easy one’.

Never again

Photo courtesy of Laura