Yes 3 weeks to go today

... and you know what that means, time for
Part Two of my Disney World reminiscing. Last week I remembered all the great things we did and all the magical memories of my first trip back in 1998, however it was all based off memory and I had no pictures to illustrate the holiday for you. Well Part One may have been my first ever trip to Disney World but my second holiday to WDW was the most memorable and has some of my most magical memories ever. You see this was Mum, Dad (well step-dad) and Sophies first trip to WDW (and America) and I was so excited to be going back and to be sharing everything with them. So here is Part Two...
WHEN: January 22nd-February 5th 2005 - 2 weeks
WHO: Me (19), Mum, Dad (well Step-dad), Sophie (8 at the time)
WHERE: All Star Movie Resort
THE BACK STORY:
I never thought we would be able to go to WDW, Mum was terrified of flying and therefore we only ever went on holiday to places we could get to by ferry. However one day in 2004 whilst I was hard at work at University Mum phoned me and told me that they fancied going on a big holiday, the first thought being skiing in either Colorado or Canada. So being the compulsive researcher / planner I am I started looking into prices, where to go /stay etc. When I saw the prices though I realised that we could probably get to WDW for not much more, somewhere I had wanted to return to for years. So we got some brochures and found a really good deal with First Choice, 2 weeks in January staying
ONSITE at the All Star Movies. Yes you read it, onsite, not in a basic motel 25 minutes from Disney, but actually within the Disney gates

. At this point Mum got really caught up in the moment and agreed this would be a great idea, Dad was easy to convince, he had always wanted to go to America and loved Disney so was right behind us. It was strange because after the first holiday with Dad I didnt really think that I would get to go back until I was all grown up with my own kids. I thought only rich people got to go more than once, and obviously only rich people got to stay onsite. Wrong, by summer 2004 we were booked to go, I was so excited, I instantly got the Brit Guide and started researching, it was all Mum and I would talk about when she phoned me at uni. Whenever I was home we would take Honey for a walk and discuss all the things we wanted to do, all the rides we were going to go on... all the while Sophie had no idea. We decided to keep it a secret from her until closer to the time, luckily for us she is always in her own little world, we could talk about it right next to her and she would twig. Eventually a few months before we were going Mum cooked a lovely tea and over dessert we presented Sophie with a fun quiz. The quiz asked her questions about her favourite things, whether she would like to see a killer whale and go on safari, and where she would most like to go on holiday... luckily for us she put Disney World. And so we told her, she was soooooo excited, at first she didnt believe it and then she screamed and screamed. We all sat down and watched the WDW planning DVD, just like I had done the first time, and got excited knowing in a few short months we would be there.
THE PLANNING:
Now we had done more planning than my first trip, although that wasnt hard, but we still didnt know that much about Disney World. We read the Brit Guide, watched the planning DVD and got a basic grasp but made no plan and made no ADRs (to be honest we didnt even really know about them). We knew the parks we wanted to visit, we had 2 week Ultimate Tickets for WDW, 7 day Orlando Flexitickets, we had booked Discovery Cove with Busch Gardens, Cirque du Soliel, Arabian Nights Dinner Show and a trip to the Everglades and Naples. We had read about the restaurants and had some ideas of where we wanted to eat but that was as far as our knowledge extended.
Now I know this wasnt my first trip but it was my first trip with Mum, Dad and Sophie (the true Disney lovers), and there was so many places or things we had missed before. Luckily the time went really fast and before we knew it it was January and was time to go.
THE TRIP:
So Thursday night we had a nice pre-trip Chinese together, then Friday morning we packed up the car and drove to Gatwick airport. We checked in to the Gatwick Travelodge where we would be spending the night, we had a great family room which overlooked the runway, perfect

. We had tea at a lovely old fashioned pub nearby and then had an early night ready for our trip in the morning. Saturday morning we were up early to drop off the car, then back to the airport to check-in. We had a nice breakfast at a little cafe overlooking the runway then before we knew it we were boarding our lovely First Choice plane to Disney. The flight was great and we arrived in Sanford at 4pm raring to get onto Florida tarmac. We drove to our hotel, driving under the Disney gates for the first time was just magical

. We arrived at the All Stars and as soon as we got out of the car we knew we had arrived, it just had that Disney feel, smell, magic

. At check in we could hardly contain our excitement, especially when the lady handed us our room cards. We were located in the Dalmation block, perfect for Sophie who loves the dalmations. The room was great, we loved being surrounded by the Disney magic all the time. We wondered to the food court, got some refillable mugs and our first taste of pink lemonade, then Sophie braved the chill and had her first Florida swim. Once we prised Sophie away from the pool we explored I-Drive for a bit so they could get an idea of the area and some sense of bearings. Then bed for our first nights sleep in Florida.
Some hotel pictures:
Look who it is???
In our room
Now Im not going to write a full account for every day as I dont want to bore you. I just thought it would be nice to write about our first day to set the scene a little and show you how magical it really was. However I will enlighten you with the basics of what we did each day and add a few pictures along the way.
Day 2 MGM
This was our first time at MGM and we absolutely loved it.
We started the day with pastries for breakfast from Starring Rolls Cafe which we ate outside whilst people watching.
We managed to fit in nearly all the rides except the Studios Backlot Tour and the parade. Our favourite rides were Tower of Terror (only Dad and I did this) and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We also watched Fantasmic which was amazing, although it was absolutely freezing by this time, something we werent expecting.
We had dinner in the Sci Fi Cafe which was absolutely amazing we all loved the theming and atmosphere and the food was really good too a great first meal at Disney.
For tea we got a few pizzas from Dominos on I-Drive.
Fantasmic
Day 3 Universal Studios
We had our first breakfast at Ponderosa, which everyone loved (and brought back some good memories of my first time).
We did loads of rides at Universal, it was my first time riding Shrek, Jimmy Neutron, The Mummy and Men In Black all of which were great. It was pretty chilly though, I had to invest in some gloves quite different to my last visit where we were practically keeling over from heat exhaustion. We had a quick lunch in Mels Diner.
After Universal we went to Downtown Disney for a bit of shopping and tea at Bongos Cuban Cafe which was very good.
Day 4 Animal Kingdom
Mum had mentioned the night before about Donalds Breakfastosaurus and had managed to get us a booking for the next morning. It was our first character breakfast and it was brilliant, the attentive and funny service, the yummy food (our first try of Krispy Kreme), and the great character interaction.
We had a great day at AK, this was one of the places I was most excited about as Sophie loves animals so much so knew she would love it, she has always dreamed about going on safari more than anything. Of course the park was a big hit for everyone, especially the amazing Lion King Show and the safari, and I finally got to ride Dinosaur. The Pocohontas show, Tarzan Rocks, Kali River Rapids, Dinosaur and Primevil Whirl were all knew to me too.
For tea we went to Rainforest cafe, bad and slow service unfortunately but yummy food.