Author: crouchfamilydownunder

As part of our tickets in 1999, the 5 day hopper pass included 2 days in the Disney water parks. I thought that these tickets expired after 14 days of the first use, but when I contacted Disney they told me that there was a water parks day left on each ticket. We had also checked at guest services in Magic Kingdom the night before as the water parks tickets didn’t show in our account on the app. The woman there could see them so we thought we’d make the most of a ‘free’ day out.

We didn’t get there until around 11am and were surprised that the car park was very quiet.

After entering the park we went to locker rental to store our valuables for the day. A small locker cost $10 per day and a large one $15. We then set off to find sun beds.

The ones near the entrance were already taken but the further we walked the more beds were available. We managed to get 3 together plus 3 chairs under a permanent sunshade and had no-one else sharing it with us.

Bethany and I went to check out the lazy river. Here it was known as Cross Country Creek. When we had been before we had had to wait ages for empty float rings to come free but there were loads just constantly floating passed. It showed just how quiet it really was.

We ended up doing a full circuit of the park which took 30 minutes. Part of it went through a tunnel where water fell from the ceiling keeping us cool.

We then decided to do a couple of the chutes. The first one was Toboggan Racers, an eight lane straight slide which you had to ride head first on a mat. We then went on the slalom course – Snow Stormers – which we also had to ride head first on a mat. This was faster and rougher but good fun.

Next we decided to take the chair lift to the top of the mountain and do the raft ride down – Teamboat Springs. We managed to jump the queue a bit as there had to be a minimum of 4 people in the raft and there were groups of 4 or 5 in front of us but a group of 3 at the front of the queue. We were called forward to join a mum and her two small children. It was a great ride with steep banking at the sides. Afterwards we took Cross Country Creek back to our sunbeds.

After a quick break for lunch we persuaded Michael to join us on Cross Country Creek followed by the chairlift and raft rapids again. This time it was even faster as were were 4 adults with Bethany.

By now it was 3:45pm and they had started announcing that they were closing soon. The water parks were only open from 10am to 5pm. As we were heading back to our sunbeds via the lazy river Bethany and I decided to go on the chutes that we hadn’t been on – Runoff Rapids. This involved sitting in a shaped inner tube and holding on to the handles. There were two slides – one open and one closed. We both decided to go on the open slide. There was a huge pile of inner tubes to pick up from, showing again how quiet it was. There was also no wait at the top so we were also able to get straight on and slide down.

After another short trip on the lazy river we went back to our sun beds to dry off and collect our towels and clothes.

It was also possible to rent a Polar Patio which was a private area with seats, sunshades and a cooler or rent an area on the private beach with 2 sun loungers, 2 chairs and a sun shade. This would be a great option for when the park is busy.

As we had been to a Disney water park during the day, we thought we would go and eat at Disney Boardwalk in the evening.

As we arrived the car park was almost full, which didn’t bode well. We had a walk along the boardwalk and tried a couple of the restaurants but they all had a wait of a least an hour so we decided to try elsewhere.

The last time we visited the USA we had eaten a couple of times at Applebee’s and so we decided to see if there was one locally. There was! It was almost in our way home. We drove there and got a table immediately.

There was plenty of choice in the menu and we all found something we liked the look of.

I would say in answer to this question – YES!

My red berry sangria was really good!

I’m sure we’ll be back again.

Today it was the turn of Magic Kingdom – the main feature!

We parked in the massive car park in Zurg 408.

Bethany noticed that all the areas were named after baddies but it wasn’t until we were on the tram to the gate that we found out that the lots were split into Heroes and Villans. The guy narrating on the tram told us to make sure that we got on the right tram back in the evening or “you will end up in never never land because you will never never find you car again!”

We took the boat across to the entrance and decided to come back on the monorail.

As we arrived in the park there was a mini musical procession taking place.

I had managed to book three Fast Passes for Tomorrowland Speedway, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and Jungle Cruise. We had 40 minutes before the first Fast Pass so we set off in the direction of Tomorrowland making a quick stop at Starbucks.

Bethany and I went to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor while Michael ate his Mickey Mouse cinnamon swirl.

Next up was Tomorrowland Speedway – Bethany’s request.

We were all very underwhelmed as the cars only moved at walking pace and were very difficult to steer.

I persuaded Bethany to go on Space Mountain next. It was our longest wait so far and luckily she enjoyed it. Michael waited outside for us and said one family with Fast Passes had managed to go round three times in the time it took us to go once. It shows that Fast Passes really do work!

As we had some time to spare before our next Fast Pass we went on Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – a gentle ride round Tomorrowland giving different views of the park.

Next we went to help Buzz Lightyear battle against Zurg by zapping as many Zs as possible in the Space Ranger Spin. We all had fun but my ride was made a little trying by the toddler sitting on his mum’s knee who was sharing my carriage. He kept grabbing the joystick and spinning us round while we were shooting.

Our next Fast Pass was in Adventureland so we decided to have lunch there.

We walked passed the castle again on the way.

Lunch was hot dogs near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Tortuga Tavern.

The wait for Pirates of the Caribbean was 45 minutes and we had just over an hour before our Fast Pass. Bethany then said “aren’t we going to watch the parade?” I had completely forgotten what time it was so we went to find the parade route. Luckily it started just round the corner from where we were and we managed to get a decent view.

Immediately after the parade had finished we headed back to Adventureland to find that the waiting time for Pirates of the Caribbean had come down to 20 minutes so we joined the queue. It was much gentler than I remembered.

After this we still had 25 minutes before our next Fast Pass so we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room.

One of the birds was called Michael but unfortunately it was too dark to get a decent photo.

It was a little bit childish for Bethany but it meant we got to sit down somewhere cool for 15 minutes.

Our next Fast Pass was for Jungle Cruise. The stand by queue was 45 minutes so we were pleased to be boarded in little over 5 minutes. The ride itself was a gentle boat ride with comic commentary.

Next we headed to Fantasyland to do “it’s a small world” – a must at Disney. Bethany had already done this ride in Paris but didn’t remember. After a minute of the ride she had heard enough!

We were all pleased to see the end of the ride.

After we had used our third Fast Pass I had been able to book another for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We walked over to Frontierland via the pillory and round the lake.

Bethany loved the rollercoaster and wanted to go again but the wait was too long without Fast Pass.

We had been trying to get a Fast Pass for Peter Pan’s Flight all day and there hadn’t been any available. The stand by queue had been between 40 minutes and an hour all day. However as we were leaving the parade a woman stopped us and asked if we were a group of 3. When we said yes she gave us a voucher for a queue jump that they had received but didn’t have time to use. I assumed we would be asked for ID when we tried to use it but we handed it in at the Fast Pass desk and no questions were asked. This was our final ride of the day.

After Peter Pan we made our way through the castle and out along Main Street.

We had already decided to take the monorail back to the parking lot. This took us through a couple of the Disney Resort hotels.

Now we just had to get back to the right parking lot!

We decided to take a break from Disney for a day and check out Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

Before we set off for the park, we went to check out the pool on our complex. It was very quiet and the water was heated so it was almost like getting in the bath!

When we were here in 1999, Islands of Adventure had only just opened and we got free tickets for a second day as they were trying to build interest in the new park. On that trip two of my favourite rollercoasters were here – The Incredible Hulk and Duelling Dragons. Duelling Dragons had been turned into something new but is currently not in use. Hulk is still running and I was looking forward to having a ride.

The parking lot at Universal has a real plus point – it is a multistory car park meaning the car was parked in the shade all day. We parked in Spider-Man zone.

Universal offer 1, 2 and 3 park tickets – next to Islands of Adventure is Volcano Bay water park – for 1 to 5 days. We had planned to spend 2 days at Universal until we learned about the Express option. Universal Express means you can skip the lines on EVERY RIDE (except Pteranodon Flyers, which we were all too big for) once or with Unlimited as often as you want. This seemed like a better option than paying for two days and spending lots of time standing in lines. We also bought the recommended lanyards to carry the passes in to keep them easily accessible all day. Quick extra tip – if you want to travel on the Hogwart’s Express between the two Harry Potter areas you need to buy park-to-park tickets.

We had already downloaded the Universal app and I had handed it over to Bethany for her to ‘favourite’ any attractions that interested her. Once we got in the park we spent a few minutes marking them on the paper map so it was easier to see which direction we had to head in.

We started with Despicable Me Minion Mayhem followed by Shrek 4D. In both cases we skipped 30 minute lines and were able to go straight to the front of the queue.

As we walked to our next ride we happened to come across Gru, Dru, Agnes, Edith and Margot from Despicable Me dancing in the street. A fun show to happen across.

Next was E.T. Adventure. We had done this ride last time we were here but it has been extended. Previously it finished when E.T. escaped from the security forces and cycled across the moon with Elliot. Now we actually went back with E.T. to his home planet and saw some of the other extraterrestrials. I suppose they had to update it some way but to me it spoiled it a bit as we had never seen the other beings.

It was now time for lunch and guess where we headed?

On the way we had a brief look at New York.

And walked passed the Transformers attraction.

After lunch we wandered through San Francisco and passed Crustyland on our way to zap some aliens.

Men In Black Alien Invasion is a moving alien shoot-em-up which the kids loved last time. Bethany had just as much fun but perhaps she didn’t quite hit as many aliens.

After MIB it was on to the main reason for coming to Universal as far as Bethany was concerned – Harry Potter!

We started at the Knight Bus.

Then on to Diagon Alley.

This was obviously where everyone has headed as it was busier than anywhere else we has been. We had a look in Weasley’s Joke Shop and Ollivander’s Wand shop – I can’t say wander as it was a real squeeze getting in and out of the shops. The wait for Escape from Gringotts was around an hour but with our Express tickets we were on the ride inside 10 minutes.

Walking through Gringotts was just like being in the film. It was a pity we had left all our bags with Michael as we weren’t allowed to have loose items on the ride. Lockers are provided free of charge next to the ride. I would have loved to have some pictures of the inside of the bank too.

After traveling down miles into the earth in a lift and then hurtling through Gringotts in a small carriage accompanied by Ron Weasley we made our way back to the surface and exited through the gift shop.

Next was Kings Cross Station for the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade.

As usual the trains in the UK were delayed.

We walked down to platform 9 3/4 and found Hedwig also waiting to board.

The train arrived in from Hogsmeade.

We were able to board and sat in carriages of 8 people.

The journey to Hogsmeade was interesting with views of London and the countryside before dementors boarded the train. Luckily Harry and his friends managed to get rid of them.

We were very surprised to see snow on the roofs at Hogsmeade especially considering the outdoor temperatures.

We made our way slowly towards Hogwarts to go on the Flight of the Hippogriff and the Forbidden Journey.

Again the inside of Hogwarts was familiar including the Sorting Hat. We were amazed by the number of Harry Potter fans who were dressed in full Hogwarts uniform or with cloaks on brandishing wands. It didn’t stop Bethany from trying on a robe herself.

After we had visited the shops in Hogsmeade we headed for Seuss Landing.

Here we did The Cat in The Hat ride – a fun ride through the poem.

We then made our way through Marvel Super Hero Island on our way to Toon Lagoon.

We had a few water rides on our list and as we had done them last time we thought we wouldn’t get too wet. We chose to go on Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges first. Some people getting off looked very wet but we assumed they had been unlucky. Wrong assumption – we all got absolutely soaked through. We made use of the people dryers conveniently located near the exit to the ride but were still very wet.

As we wandered in Jurassic Park we ended up in the shop and all bought dry clothes to get changed into. We intended eating out in City Walk on the way out and couldn’t if we were still wet.

We had a look round Camp Jurassic but unfortunately the Discovery Center had already closed.

Getting so wet put us off going on any of the other water rides and as I was now wearing a dress I decided not to go on The Hulk.

We had been aiming to watch the evening light show at Hogwarts but we still had an hour to wait and we were starting to get a bit cool after our soaking.

We decided to head for something to eat as there would be lots of people leaving after the light show, meaning the restaurants would be busier. As we were leaving the park, we were asked if we would take part in a survey about the park. Bethany was in the age range they were looking for so she agreed to take part.

We told the woman doing to survey about getting soaked and how we didn’t remember it being as wet when we were last there. She said they had definitely upped the water flow and the possibility of getting soaked. She also recommended Raptor Encounter in case we should go again. She said it was great to watch as the dinosaurs appear out of the bushes and scare the kids.

After leaving the park, Bethany spotted Hard Rock Cafe and our decision for dinner had been made. There was no wait and it was everything that we expected of HRC.

After a couple of night time pictures we headed back to the car park.

Now where was it that we parked the car?

On Monday we were all awake relatively early again. In 1999 we had been recommended to get to Animal Kingdom as early as possible as it gets too hot for the animals and they tend to go and sit in the shade. We decided our next Disney park would be Animal Kingdom.

Animal Kingdom is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year so it was very new when we were there last time.

In 1999 we were already at the park as 7:45am as it opened at 8:00am. This time normal opening was 9:00am but the park was open to people staying in Disney hotels from 8:00am. We arrived at 9:15am and the park was already busier than I remembered it being last time. We were parked quite a way from the entrance in Giraffe 42.

We headed straight to the Kilimanjaro Safaris in the Africa area. There are lots of animals to see in the safari Jeep style ride and it doesn’t look like the zoo it really is. There was also a brief moment of worry when we had to drive across an ‘unstable’ bridge, which rocked to one side as we drove across. We saw all the animals we expected and some very close up. Bethany thought it was great.

Hippos including a small calf

Crocodiles 🐊

Tree of life – it stores water in its massive trunk and some animals use their tusks or claws to break open the bark to get a drink.

African cows – I’ve forgotten the actual name.

Giraffes 🦒

Wildebeests

Elephants 🐘

Flamingoes

Cheetah – sitting in the shade

Lions 🦁 – they were just having a nap. Not surprising as they can sleep for 20 hours a day and are more active at night.

Rhinos 🦏

Zebra 🦓

Ostrich and her eggs 🥚 – strong enough for a human to stand on. Goodness knows how the baby chick hatches.

I can’t remember the name of the next bird and it’s not a great picture but I think its colors are great.

After the safari ended we stayed in Africa and went to the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. This is a walking tour through different habitats to see other African animals. The biggest of which were the gorillas 🦍 . Luckily for us they were in posing mode.

On the trail we also saw meerkats, fish and birds.

Our next choice was to go on the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. This area is all about conservation and animal care. You can also get a behind the scenes look at how the animals are looked after.

Part of it is called the Affection Section where you can pet goats, sheep and pigs. When we were there a show called Animal Encounters – It Started With a Mouse was on. It was very informative and entertaining, especially the show steeling pig.

Parrot

Porcupine

Skunk

We decided we need lunch so we took the train back to Harare and headed to Asia next.

We managed to book a Fast Pass for the Kali River Rapids but after lunch we still had a bit of time to spare so we went on another walking tour – Maharajah Jungle Trek. This included more Asian animals.

Tigers 🐅

I can’t remember what these deer were called.

Water buffalo

Birds

The landscaping and attention to detail in all areas was very good.

It was then time for our Fast Pass and after securing all our belongings in the free lockers we set off to cool down on the river rapids. The signs said “You WILL get wet, you may get soaked.” Luckily for us it was more the former than the latter. There were other people on our raft who definitely got soaked.

Animal Kingdom is overlooked by a huge mountain which is where the Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain ⛰ ride is located.

This wasn’t here last time we came so it was on my wish list. Unfortunately not on Michael or Bethany’s. There were no Fast Passes available at the right time but the ride has a single person lane which means you can also skip a good part of the queue. It was a full on rollercoaster experience going forwards and backwards, outside and in the dark as we tried to escape the clutches of the Yeti! I was pleased not to have persuaded Bethany to give it a go as her first rollercoaster experience.

The next area we visited was Dinoland USA and the first attraction we found was Finding Nemo – The Musical. This was a musical version of the film including all the crucial parts of the story acted out by puppeteers with 3D puppets and sections of the film. The singing was all live and it was entertaining.

While waiting for Finding Nemo, we had booked Fast Passes for DINOSAUR 🦖. This was a mixture of pre-filmed and 3D moving models which we moved through at speed with frequent changes of direction. Bethany decided after this ride that she loved this type of ride – from the girl who was nervous as we were lining up!

Bethany then decided she liked the look of Primeval Whirl – a rollercoaster which also span on route. We booked a Fast Pass but it had been temporarily closed due to the thunderstorm that had passed over while we were in DINOSAUR. Bethany went to check how long it would be before the ride opened again. The staff thought only 5 to 10 minutes so we went for a look around the shop.

Unknown to us, Fast Pass had e-mailed us to tell us that the ride wasn’t running and offered us the option of using our pass on other rides instead. I didn’t however see this until I check my mail when we got back to the condo.

Luckily the ride was back up and running within 10 minutes and the queues were very short. Bethany loved the ride and wanted to go again, but as Michael was waiting for us we decided not.

The other rides we really wanted to experience were in the new Pandora – The World of Avatar area. Both the rides – Avatar Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey – had had long wait times all day (between 60 and 180 minutes) and Fast Passes were constantly sold out. We would definitely recommend booking Fast Passes in advance for these rides as so many people had obviously done. If you book tickets in advance online, you can book Fast Passes 30 days in advance and if you are staying in a Disney resort you can book 60 days in advance.

After a quick stop at Starbucks, including the purchase of our first mug of the trip, we headed back to the tram to go back to the car park.

As there were fewer people around I got a better picture of the Tree of Life with all the animals carved into the trunk.

When we got back to the parking lot we had a little confusion finding the car – had we parked in 41 or 42 and on the front of back row? – which was quite quickly resolved and we drove back to the condo.

We had nothing to cook at the apartment so we decided to go out to eat rather than pick something up at Walmart. A neighbouring complex has a sports bar / restaurant on site so we decided to check out Drafts.

It turned out to be a great choice as they were showing a live ice hockey game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. One of Bethany’s favourite players is Auston Matthews who plays #34 for TML. We asked for a table with a good view of the big screen. The food was also good and we chose an interesting starter (appetizer) – Tatchos. Potato bites drizzled with a cheese sauce and sprinkled with peppers, spring onion and crispy bacon.

After the first two periods we headed back to the condo. Unfortunately the TV channel had decided to show the final period of another game so Bethany and Michael didn’t get to see the end of the game but they did find out that TML has won.

Over dinner we decided to give Disney a break the next day and thought we would head to Universal instead. Watch out for the next article!

I appear to have got a bit behind with my blog as we have been busy at the theme parks. We’ve already been to two but I have decided to split the blog or it would be a very long entry. This way you can decide to read one or the other or both depending on which park interests you more.

We all woke up stupidly early considering the traveling we had done the day before. I went out to do my run and got a better look at the complex. It is a mixture of condos, town houses and detached villas. The townhouses appear to have a small plunge pool in the backyard and the villas a full swimming pool.

When I got back we went to the small food shop on site to get some bits and pieces for breakfast. After breakfast we decided on our plan of action for the day.

We decided to go to Epcot first as there were not so many big rides and thought it would be a gentle introduction to Disney World. As the Illumi -Nations light, music and fireworks show didn’t start until 9pm we thought we would aim to arrive around 1:30pm giving us around 7 hours to see Epcot and then watch the show. As we had time to spare, Bethany and I went to pick up a few essentials from the local Walmart supermarket. As usual we were astounded by the size of the store and the range of products sold. I was however a bit frustrated that I could only get skimmed milk in a one gallon container – I would have to drinks hundreds of cups of tea to use it all up! Bethany was pleased to see all her favorite American sweets. I imagine there will be lots in the suitcase when we go home.

Once we had unpacked the shopping we headed out to Disney World. The theme parks are only around 5 miles (8 km) from where we are staying so it was a quick trip to get to the car park.

I was a bit shocked to find out that parking for the day would cost $22 – when we were last here it was $5 per day! The parking lot was well organized, as expected, and we were parked in Create 49. We took the tram to the entrance and headed to the ticket counter.

We hadn’t bought our Disney tickets in advance as I wasn’t sure we would be able to add our existing tickets when we arrived. As it happens it would have been no problem. I told the guy at the ticket desk that we would probably be a complicated case due to our old tickets but he didn’t seem phased. He showed us other old tickets he had already had today. Ours were however the oldest. Luckily for us they all scanned using the card reader, otherwise we would have had to go to guest services, making everything much more complicated.

We bought enough new tickets to give us each 4 days in the parks. We didn’t choose Hopper tickets as our old tickets were Hoppers and if we decided we could use these tickets to visit more than one park per day. From our old tickets we also had 5 unused water park days. Bethany decided to get a magic band for her tickets so she could wear it as a watch. Micheal and I stuck to the normal cards. The bands and cards are necessary to enter the parks and for Fast Pass + at a number of rides in each park. As we hadn’t bought our tickets in advance we hadn’t booked any Fast Passes and therefore just had to join the stand by line at each attraction we wanted to visit.

Currently Epcot has a flower festival taking place so there were lots of Disney characters made from plants and flower displays around the park.

Michael spotted a Starbucks store and headed off to get his daily fix. Bethany and I perused to map and decided we would walk round the World Showcase first.

We walked through Canada first and watched a band playing music and dancing.

Next was United Kingdom 🇬🇧!

We had spotted a fish and chip shop on the map and went there to get lunch. The staff were all from England and promised us that the fish and chips were authentic. We took our food, served on fake newspaper and sat at tables by the lake to enjoy a bite from home.

We were even visited by ducks and serenaded by gulls – just like being at the seaside. The battered fish was really good and the chips were thick cut but perhaps a bit crispy to be real chip shop chips. There was however malt vinegar, Heinz tomato ketchup and tartare sauce to have with it all.

After lunch we carried on round the lake. France 🇫🇷 came next and we timed it perfectly to see two guys doing a street performance. They drew a good crowd and the final stunt was amazing.

After this break was continued through the other countries.

Morocco 🇲🇦

In Japan 🇯🇵 we saw traditional drumming.

The United States of America 🇺🇸

China 🇨🇳

In Norway 🇳🇴 , Bethany wanted to do the Frozen ride but there was over an hours wait and no Fast Passes available all day so we headed back to Future World, via Mexico 🇲🇽 .

Bethany chose our next destination – The Sea. This included 3 attractions, 2 of which were linked to Finding Nemo – The Sea with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush. The third was the aquarium where we saw lots of different fish and sea animals.

After The Sea, we headed next door to The Land. Here Bethany experienced her first ‘thrill’ ride – Soaring Around The World. She was concerned by the description. It wasn’t anywhere near as ‘thrilling’ as she expected, but she did enjoy it.

We then went on Living With The Land which was a really interesting ride about how we can use land better and what research they are doing in the Disney labs to enable more food crops to be grown in smaller areas with or without soil.

This was my third visit to Epcot and I hadn’t been on Test Track so I was hoping to actually manage it this time. The wait times all day had been between 60 and 90 minutes which ruled it out as I was the only person that wanted to do it.

We went across to Mission : SPACE to do the astronaut training ride which was next door to Test Track. During the ride Bethany was the navigator, Michael the engineer and I was the pilot. Not sure those roles played to our strengths.

When we exited we still had 45 minutes before Illumi-Nations started so I asked Michael and Bethany if they would mind waiting while I went on Test Track. The single person queue was much shorter than the stand by line. They decided to go in the Mouse Gear shop to have a browse round. The line moved really quickly and within 5 minutes I was sharing the ride with a family of 4. After so long waiting, the ride itself was a little underwhelming but at least I finally managed to do it.

Our final ride of the day was Spaceship Earth. A look back through history and to the future of Planet Earth.

We then decided to watch the light and firework show from where we had had lunch. Luckily it wasn’t too busy and we got a good view.

After the show and a few final pictures, we headed back to the parking lot.

We chose to walk to the car as there were loads of people leaving at the same time and waiting for the tram. Considering how many people were leaving we got out of the parking lot very quickly and were back at the condo in 20 minutes.

We were all shattered and after a bite to eat we were all soon in bed dreaming of our next day at Disney!

I know that this is not the same as the film with a similar name, but it is how we got to Kissimmee yesterday.

Train into Zurich 🚊, change to train for airport 🚊, flight to Chicago ✈️, change planes to fly to Tampa ✈️, pick up hire car 🚘 and drive to our condo. Start to finish 20 and a half hours!

All started smoothly with the trains running on time although very busy on the way to the airport as it was the first day of the school holiday. After a quick pit stop at Visilab to adjust my sunglasses we went through to departures.

Passports were checked as usual as we headed to the train to the E gates and then checked again to ensure we had ESTAs on our way down to the gate.

Our plane was already waiting for us.

Soon it was time for me to put on my sexy compression socks and board.

I always think the holiday starts as soon as you are on the plane so I decided to start as I meant to go on. There were even mini bottles of Bombay Sapphire!

There were some lovely views on the way over including some stunning tundra landscapes over Canada.

We landed 30 minutes early in Chicago. The queue at immigration wasn’t as bad as we had expected – we had to do the first part ourselves at an automatic machine and then take the print outs to the immigration officer. He was really helpful in explaining what we needed to do to get our onward flight. I had already checked on the O’Hare airport website but it was good to have the info confirmed.

Our suitcases took ages to appear so it was lucky that we had landed early. After collecting our luggage and clearing customs, we handed our suitcases back in at United and made our way from terminal 5 to terminal 1 using the monorail.

Not sure what happened to terminal 4!?

We had to get our boarding passes printed from our phones as the scanner would not accept them at security. After clearing security (slowly) we went to gate B5 to wait for our flight to Tampa. While we were waiting a gate change was announced. We had to go to C29 which couldn’t have been further away from where we were.

The incoming flight was delayed so we ended up leaving around 15 minutes late. They had been two hours delayed earlier during the day so had done well to catch up.

I think possibly terminal 1 is exclusively for United Airlines?!

We had a great view of downtown Chicago as we flew out.

As we started our decent into Tampa we has a bit of turbulence due to a lightning storm. It was amazing watching the lightning from the plane.

We actually managed to arrive 10 minutes early in Tampa and after collecting our suitcases again we went to get on the monorail with everyone else to collect our hire car. Luckily we were the only people renting from National. Alamo and Hertz were jammed!

The drive to the condo was uneventful and Bethany slept for most of it. We arrived at Windsor Hills just after midnight local time (6am Swiss time 😴). After being checked in at the gate house we drove to our block and parked. The condo was easy to find with the directions we had been given. We unpacked the bare minimum and went to bed.

It was a bit strange to have done all our traveling only to find that the bath mat in the condo is the exactly the same as the one we have at home. Good old IKEA!

We are looking forward to starting our theme park adventures!

We are now ready and waiting to set off to the airport. We still can’t quite believe that we will be in Florida this time tomorrow.

On Thursday evening I did my usual magic trick of packing everything my family had put out into three suitcases, with an extra one packed inside for any purchases we make.

We checked in last night to save the hassle of taking our suitcases on the tram and train and to miss the longer queues expected today – the first day of the spring school holidays.

Bethany and I have watered the plants on the balcony and hope that the weather isn’t too warm while we are away.

All I need to do now is pack all the essentials for the journey and the last minute things we forgot to pack in the suitcases – iPad, phone, chargers, book, guide book, hand cream, flight earplugs, numerous pairs of glasses, medication and most essentially tea bags.

Not forgetting our passports and money! 💵 💰

As I’m expecting to be wearing flip flops and sandals much of the time, I even found time to varnish my toe nails!

We have checked what movies are showing on the plane and all have a few we are looking forward to watching.

Florida here we come!