70 to Freezing in 7 hours. A Nov/Dec 2011 trip report. Updated 4/28

[amandaw]

In other news my results are definately out tomorrow

Best of luck for your results tomorrow!

 

[petals]

Best of luck for your results tomorrow!

Thanks I shall let ye know how I get on

 

[blessedmom4]

I didn't know you did DC!!! We it so much I hope to do it again someday! It was a highlight of our trip. We had so much fun.

I will be eager to see your results tomorrow! Saying Prayers!

 

[MEK]

I have always wanted to visit Discovery Cove. It looks so beautiful. I knew they included food, but I didn't breakfast was included. Nice. Can't wait to hear about your swim.

 

[petals]

On iPod in airport so can't post properly but wanted to let you all know i just got my results and passed with the grade I wanted and as I type the song when you believe has come on and i am nearly crying

 

[amandaw]

On iPod in airport so can't post properly but wanted to let you all know i just got my results and passed with the grade I wanted and as I type the song when you believe has come on and i am nearly crying

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

That is fantastic news! So happy for you!

 

[Caretames1]

On iPod in airport so can't post properly but wanted to let you all know i just got my results and passed with the grade I wanted and as I type the song when you believe has come on and i am nearly crying

Congrats!

 

[partyof2]

On iPod in airport so can't post properly but wanted to let you all know i just got my results and passed with the grade I wanted and as I type the song when you believe has come on and i am nearly crying

Congratulations! It is such an amazing feeling when all your hard work pays off.

 

[petals]

I didn't know you did DC!!! We it so much I hope to do it again someday! It was a highlight of our trip. We had so much fun.

Yeah went to see the updated park because hadn't been there since 2005.

I will be eager to see your results tomorrow! Saying Prayers!

Thanks. Prayers seemed to work

I have always wanted to visit Discovery Cove. It looks so beautiful. I knew they included food, but I didn't breakfast was included. Nice. Can't wait to hear about your swim.

Yeah it's unlimited food so breakfast, lunch, then at the bars around there like chocolate bars or cereal bars and chips etc as well to snack on during day.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

That is fantastic news! So happy for you!

Congrats!

Congratulations! It is such an amazing feeling when all your hard work pays off.

Thanks all. So happy with results.. I'm a master of broadcast production now

 

[momabaarjo]

Way to go Emma!!!! All of you hard work paid off, now I really think you should treat yourself with that trip to Disney Paris!!!


You know how I love DC...the Christmas decorations must have already been taken down by the time we got there on the 28th!!! I don't remember them!

 

[petals]

omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg Westlife my band love I was at the concert tonight in Manchester and I had a banner because one of the boys in the band reads them out and i was in the SIXTH row (I have 100s of pics) but he read my banner out I gave him the frumps deer face in return I will find a video on you tube and post it when I can.

Way to go Emma!!!! All of you hard work paid off, now I really think you should treat yourself with that trip to Disney Paris!!!

Thanks and yes I agree.. I was trying to drop hints that someone should bring me as a graduation present at home don't think it worked

:You know how I love DC...the Christmas decorations must have already been taken down by the time we got there on the 28th!!! I don't remember them!

I think some parks put them up late so they prob took them down early. They were only really in the gift shop though I didn't notice any others.

 

[petals]

I was away the weekend visiting my sister and two nieces in England and thought because I have many pictures I'd do a little mini trip report on it.
So Friday bright and early.. well early because it wasn't bright it was 1am I got the bus to the airport with the most talkative bus driver ever. I think he was trying to keep himself awake because he talked to me and another woman who sat in the front seat the whole way up. Momma had told him I was going to see Westlife in Manchester and at one point when I stopped talking he was like Westlife must be gone to sleep is she?! He was nice but it's just a bit strange for bus drivers over here to be that friendly they're normally more on the grumpy side! But anyways got to the airport for 3am and couldn't check in until 4 so went up to food court to sit down and then figured out two things first I had free wifi on my ipod and second my exam results were out online. Checked them and those following above will see I passed so happy I'm a master. I rang Momma and woke her up to share the news. Once I checked in then I headed in through departure gates. Everywhere was done up in the Irish colours because there's football matches going on in Poland called the Euros and Ireland are taking part in it. There was loads of Irish supporters in the airport heading to Poland.

I browsed the shops waiting for my gate number to go up and I found Disney stuff:

Then my ever favourite trip mascot Angel and I did some plane spotting before we got our own flight:

Flight to Manchester is pretty short it's only 45 minutes so I slept for that and soon enough we were landing. I met my sister and nieces in the airport and we headed to their house. It was the oldest nieces birthday she was 14 so when we got to the house she opened her family presents. She got alot of stuff to do with her favourite singer like his face on a pillow case, cards with his picture on them that kind of thing. For her party she went bowling with some of her friends and then three of them stayed over in the house that night.
Saturday all the girlies just hung around the house for the day and then that night I went to my Westlife. Westlife are Irish boyband who I love they're about to call it a day after 14 years but it makes no sense because they are still going strong and sold out 85000 seats for an Irish concert in 4 minutes. But anyways I decided to see them in Manchester because I got good seats for them there. Like seriously super burse of excitement when I saw how close I was to the stage:

The opening to the show is funny. The music starts to built up then you see these four silouettes and everyone thinks it's them and starts screaming like crazy and then they go on fire

But then the fire dies down and you see them at the top of the stairs in all their prettiness:

The show goes four songs one band member talks one more song run off stage change for next set. Kian I thought looked really sad most of the night but then it was the last ever Manchester concert they were going to have.

At one point in the concert Nicky (the one on the end on the right side of that pic as you look at it) reads some of the banners the fans bring to the concerts. He had been bringing some fans up at some of the concerts as well so since it is their last concerts I thought I'd bring a banner and see what happens.. well this happened (warning this gets a little dirty near the end so if little ears are alert save it for later unless you fancy answering questions) Clickie mine was the Irish banner btw!
They also always have a section of the show where they do other people's songs so they had like Robbie Williams Let me Entertain you, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and alot more. It's a great section though because Westlife are known for ballads and sitting on stools or standing still singing them but at the concerts they are a completly different band than the one you might see on television:

So after that they change again and then climb on this thing:

and go all the way down to the back of the arena on that. The arena btw was huge. One of the lads said it held 16,000. When they came back to the stage the sang their version of You Raise me up but before they did they asked everyone in the arena to light their phones up for the song so that this would be their last memory of Manchester well I looked aroudn and almost cried at the sight:

The picture doesn't even begin to capture it. It was amazing and all for four little Irish boys. Wowsers! Anyways they said goodby to the Manchester crowd, disappeared off stage then and came back for the last few songs:

The last song they did being one of their biggest hits called Flying without wings and it was so cool. They basically stood there but on the big screen behind them basically memories from the last 14 years played out. Scenes from concerts, videos they made, even their wives, mothers, fathers, kids and dogs featured in the VT playing: Clickie
It was fantastic from start to finish and they played so long I missed the last train back to my sisters so she had to come into Manchester to pick me up. While I was waiting I noticed that The Lion King the musical is coming to Manchester next year:

We saw that in New York in 2010 it was fab.
Anyways need to split the report because I've to many pics (shock horror) so next day in next post

 

[petals]

So continuing on Sunday we went into Manchester because there was something on called Manchester Day which was basically to celebrate everything Manchester has to offer but there was a parade and music and what not so we went in on time for parade:

After the parade since we were standing beside the shopping centre we figured it'd be rude not to go in and of course first place myself and DN11 headed was to the Disney store:

They had their own English range of characters this time:

I think Daisy in the background of that pic is going why does Minnie get to wear the pretty dress and I don't.
I got a new Vinylmation which is for the 25th Anniversary of the Disney store. The base lights up as well:

We headed for food before we went back to the house but DN14 and I went to look at phone covers first and she spotted this Minnie Mouse one:

Anyways when we went home that night we just watched old videos and then Monday myself and DN11 just lay about the house while DN14 was in school and DS was in work. I finished packing to head back to Ireland. When I got to the airport and checked in the flight was delayed half an hour so I just did some more plane spotting:

and also looked around the shops where I found more Disney stuff:

Soon it was time to say bye to Manchester:

Flight was only 40 minutes back:

Hi Ireland:

It was a fun busy weekend.

 

[jenseib]

Sounds like a fun band. I think my youngest sister saw New Kids on the Block when they were big and she was so excited!

 

[amandaw]

Sounds like a very fun little getaway!

I love the English Disney characters! So cute!

 

[partyof2]

I just cried looking at your concert pics! I am so not ready for it to be all over. I'm going on Saturday and I'm excited but really sad too.

 

[petals]

Sounds like a fun band. I think my youngest sister saw New Kids on the Block when they were big and she was so excited!

It was brilliant. I go a few times to their concerts if I can and every cocnert is different.

Sounds like a very fun little getaway!

It was cool with all the Irish colours up.

I love the English Disney characters! So cute!

I thought they were cute. The Queen Minnie was the cutest.

I just cried looking at your concert pics! I am so not ready for it to be all over. I'm going on Saturday and I'm excited but really sad too.

Aw it was so good. I nearly cried during You Raise me up. I'll cry in Croke Park I'd say. That last concert is going to be a killer!

 

[petals]

Let's play a game. Everyone that posts try name as many Local, community or national radio stations as you can think of. In the meantime have another trip report update thingy:

Day 9, part 2:

So when I left you we were headed off in the direction of the Starfish Cabana I'm guessing because it was time for my Dolphin swim:

They get you to sign some papers about safety and such and then play you a short video educating you about Dolphins and then bring you out to the water in groups of 9 for the swim. The water where the dolphins are is freezing. Like the serenity bay area the water was 85 degrees so dolphin water was cold in comparison. If it was a warmer day you prob wouldn't notice the difference to much. In my group there was eight people from England who were all the one family and me so our trainer, who was called Mike, straight away started calling them team England and me team Ireland. So he brought us all out on the rocks to meet the dolphin and those rocks are super slippy! He aso asked if we wanted a deep swim or shallow swim. They're both the same length but this was a new feature since I last went to this park and remembering the last time I chose shallow. Anyways the first dolphin came over she was called Kyla and he got her to pose for pics and taught us how to fed her and rub her and gave us more information about dolphins like when they swallow fish they push their tongue up which pushes salt water out of the side of their mouths and allows them to actually swallow the fish. So then we got a second Dolphin who was older called Tyler and the trainer got him to do some tricks before we all did our swims:

Again he asked if anyone wanted to change their minds on which swim they picked. He was not shifting me off my shallow swim choice. There was a funny moment here as well because Momma had the bag with snorkel and my crocs and camera in it and I knew I'd put the camera in one of the crocs which were at the bottom of the bag. She was also video taping everything I was doing but I could see her at one point going along in the water and dragging the end of the bag along in the water and I was signalling her to lift the bag up because I thought the camera was getting wet. I said it to her after and she said she thought I was trying to tell her to get what the dolphin was doing lol! The camera didn't get wet either btw only the shoes. Anyways once everyone did their swim he got the dolphin to do a few more tricks including a super soaker goodbye and it was all done and everyone could go warm up once you made it safely across the slippery rocks. I went to buy and underwater camera for laters and then Momma and I stayed on the beach a while longer to watch the Dolphins in a different part of the pool:

The minute you got out of the water a camera-man tried to hoard you in the direction of the area where you buy your pictures but you didn't need to go straight away. After Momma and I watched the dolphins for a while I went back into serenity bay to try heat up and eventually gave up and just grabbed a load of towels and we went back to Laguna Grill because Momma deemed it lunch time:

We grabbed a table outside that had one of those patio heaters beside it and then Momma went in to get her food this is what she came back with:

Once she came back I went in and got my food:

The portions on each plate was small so you could get a few and wouldn't be to full. There was a huge selection as well everything from salads to I think chicken curry as well or something. We also grabbed a few extra bottles of water to bring back to the hotel. (bold I know but whatever it was expensive enough into the park.) The food was all lovely as well especially that chocolate brownie thing .
After that I went to check out my photos. They had taken loads and I was pleasently surprised at the price of them. For 60 dollars you could get three large and two small pics and you could get four different pictures. The two small pics had to be the same pic I don't know why. There was a lot of different photo options and priced. You could order a package that had key-rings except they said they were out of the key-rings that day, there was also a disc you could get with all your photos from the park but I think that would be more worth the money if you had a bigger family. For just me it wasn't worth it because there wasn't that many pictures anyway. You could also order a dvd of the swim but since Momma thinks she got the swim on video (I still haven't got to that tape) I decided just to go for the four photos and the free photo they take when you come into the park. I picked the pictures I wanted and then we headed off in search of the Avairy.
I think Momma went to the locker for something but I waited for her on a bridge and while I was waiting a demon Squirrel came out of the trees. Seriously like he came this close:

and then he started hissing at me! I was there first go away you furry tailed little fuss pot! He might be cute but don't be fooled!!!
I also took this picture:

There was hidden treasures under the water along the Lazy river and you could see part of the Lazy River from where I was.
Anyways eventually Momma came back and we went to look at the birdies. They've made the Avairy alot smaller since I was there in 2005. They give you bird food if you want to feed the birds and a card to try put names to what you see:

They had patio heaters going around the avairy as well that's what the pink bird is standing beside.

Momma was a bit scared they were going to poop on her and she'd have to get her hair wet so we didn't stay long. On the way back towards the lockers we walked along the beach and Momma found a snack bar where she took a few packets of crisps (chips sorry) and cereal bars for later as well.



Next up: Rays and the lazy river

 

[lovethattink]

Congrats!!

Sounds like you had a great time at the concert!

That parade for manchester day makes me think of Mummers Parade meets Macy's Parade from the pictures.

Did you ever have American Smarties? I see "your" smarties in the picture. Yours are so much more exciting, but I can't eat them. My son's loved them, a few years ago funniebunny brought them over here for them.

I know all about those squirrels! They are bold, even when not fed by guests. We have so many squirrels in our oaks. They scold us as we get in and out of the car. The kids playing in the yard bring a symphony of birds and squirrels who think we are invading their turf.

 

[momabaarjo]

What a fun and quick trip to Manchester! I love the Beefeater Mickey...so British!

We took a few things with us to from DC in the way of some treats!