just arrived

[Snowy-girls]

Fantastic pics .Glad you had a great cruise.x.

 

[wicket2005]

Glad you are still having a lovely time. Nothing quite beats sitting outside first thing in the morning in Orlando and knowing it is December/January back home and the weather is freezing. At least you have had a break in the sunshine and the winter will not seem as long now you have broken it up.

Thanks for posting the pictures. I know what you mean about the screeching women, not everyone over there is like that of course, but we came across quite a few. I was thankful they were not in my family.

 

[dc1964]

We spent the morning round the pool and watching premier league football on the TV, it is always bizarre that when abroad we can watch a live saturday 3 o clock game on TV but cant do that in the UK.
It was a very warm day and we set off to do some shopping at 12.
Went to Mall of Millenia where Macys had 1 day sale on, they had loads of reduced designer type clothing so bought quite a bit, got more discount with the extra 11% off they give to visitors.
after that we went to Universal Studios to ride the Mummy, the line said 35 mins so we stood in the queue, i then saw that there was a single riders line
so decided to join it, unfortuneately that line was longer than the normal one so we queued for 45 mins. Ride was ok but not worth the wait, i had been on it before and had obviously forgotten what it was like.
Went to the simpsons ride but queue was 45 mins so did not bother, decided to go to Happy hour at finnegans irish bar, that was a good atmosphere and we stayed for a couple of hours before meeting our friends at Nascar.
Had a bit of a pub crawl then, Bob Marleys was a big disapointment, we bought a drink and went to sit down when a rude waitress came and told us we could not sit down unless we were eating, we had to stand or sit at the bar, i was really annoyed as the place was practically empty of diners, i asked to speak to the manager who appeared 20 mins later very apologetic saying that of course we could sit down and he would speak to the waitress concerned. Too late now...so off to Pat o Briens which was fantastic, duelling pianos and a packed house, i would recommend this place for an evening, get in before the 9 o clock cover charge.
Back home at 10 for a barbecue and relax. Only one day left now then back to reality.

A few photos from Universal

View from City walk bridge

 

[wayneg]

Nice shot over the water. I took some great ones at Clearwater with the sunset, silouette of ships etc but they were pre digi, I will have to get a new scanner some day.

We always do Mummy single rider, never waited more than 10 mins but gave Uni a miss this Xmas so lines were probably crazy there also. About half the time get sat together from Single riders line.

Have a safe flight home, extreme cold has gone today, went out for a 3 hour walk in Brighouse this morning by the canals, bit windy but a lot better temps, up at 5-10c for next 5 days.

 

[wicket2005]

Lovely update. I hate the end of the holidays but that is always a good sign of how much you have enjoyed yourself.

 

[Snowy-girls]

Great update+great pics-shame about the rude waitress.x.

 

[dc1964]

thanks for the comments, glad you liked the pics. Good news abouit the weather wayne.....ah Brighouse canals....just like clearwater.

 

[dc1964]

Just at the airport. Sitting in outbacks looking forward to flight home. Nice airport. Must go beer is getting warm.

 

[Snowy-girls]

Hope you have a safe journey home+enjoy your beer.x.

 

[dc1964]

We decided to go to IOA on Sunday and thankfully thre queues for most rides were 5 mins, which in reality meant we got straight on. We rode the Hulk twice in a row then went to Dr Dooms Fearfall, this said 40 mins so we did single rider and got straight on.
Spiderman next, also no queues, great ride that.
Then had a cold beer sitting in the sun before walking round and doing duelling dragons, again practically no wait.
One downside of the parks is the wait to get in, invariably the automatic fingerprinting machine is failing to recognise the fingreprint which inevitably causes a longer wait.
after the parks we went to Pointe Orlando for a beer with friends and then Olive garden for a nice Mussells Starter and pasta main. Finished the evening off in the pool at the house.....with a beer.
Our final day was spent shopping at Premium Outlets, some great bargains there this week, particularly Ralph Lauren.
We arrived at the Dollar rental place at MCO in good time but the girl would not finalise the bill when we drove in and she sent us to the Dollar desk, for us to find that they wanted another $800 from us, they said the car should have been back on the 5th not the 12th. I explained that there was an error on there part so they dug out the original voucher.....thankfully i was proved correct....so $0 to pay.
Had a nice meal in Outbacks before boarding our BA flight band leaving bang on time, plane was full but after watching 2 films and a couple of hours sleep we arrived back at Gatwick half an hour early, the downside was that we had 4 hours to wait for connection to Manchester. Time passed slowly but once on board we only had a 45 min hop back up north.
Bags came off very quickly and off we went to collect the car at long stay car park....another problem they would not let us out of the barrier as the machine said we owed them £122. We had pre paid the car parking with a hotel stay at crown plaza, 20 mins later the man speaking through the machine finally believed us and off we went back across thye pennines and to home.
All in all it was a great holiday, fantastic weather, above average for the time of the year so we were lucky.
The forcast for next 7 days is not so good though, low 60's in the day and cold at night, shame for our friends we left behind.

some photos

 

[natalielongstaff]

great pics !

 

[wayneg]

Welcome home. I am sure you are glad to be back in Yorkshire.

I have used Dollar for 15 years and on the whole very happy with them but they seem to be getting a little slack recently. Last year they charged my Credit card $173 for an addition driver when I had paid for platinum cover, got it back no problem.
This Xmas when picking car up the guy was useless, so slow, not sure he knew what he was doing, tried telling me about gas policy, taking it back full when again we had prepaid with Platinum and needed to take it back empty.
Heard of a few more also, I am beginning to wonder if they are all genuine mistakes or hoping some go thru unoticed, although can't see how they could get away with yours at $800

I always drive back up from London, as quick as waiting for a connection, getting bags again and driving over the tops but I usually get a good 6 hours sleep on the plane home.

That beer looks good in the sunshine

 

[Snowy-girls]

Welcome home,great pics again .x.

 

[dc1964]

I think the problem with Dollar was that originally i was only booking the car till the 5th , i then amended it to the 12th, they did not look at the voucher correctly showing the amended date, so i supppose they were charging me for another 7 days on the convertible car and maybe a penalty for not bringing it back on time, it was all sorted out very quickly when they dug my voucher out, so it was ok.
I suppose driving is not a bad option from london, we would have been home quicker, one issue for me though is that we like to take advantage of the free drinks on the plane and dont sleep much.

 

[wayneg]

I suppose driving is not a bad option from london, we would have been home quicker, one issue for me though is that we like to take advantage of the free drinks on the plane and dont sleep much.

Something I have never done drink on a plane but next time flying business class and having a taxi waiting for us at Manchester so that could be the 1st time.