September trip to the World!

Congratulations on the engagement!:goodvibes
Great trip report! Sounds like you enjoyed loads of things but managed to relax and enjoy the dining plan too- this is the type of Disney trip I'm trying to persuade DBF to go on in 2014!
 
Congratulations on the engagement!:goodvibes
Great trip report! Sounds like you enjoyed loads of things but managed to relax and enjoy the dining plan too- this is the type of Disney trip I'm trying to persuade DBF to go on in 2014!

Thank you :)

Yeah we got everything done that we wanted to do and managed to have quite a lot of pool time too.
 
Day 9 – Friday 28th September 2012 - Epcot Food and Wine Festival

We had a lie in today as we were going to head to Food and Wine in late afternoon, hoping the crowds would have died down.

We spent some time by the pool then took the bus to Epcot around 3pm. It wasn’t as busy as I had been anticipating.

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We read somewhere online that it's a good idea to get a gift card to use at Food and Wine, so we did this. It was a great idea, instead of faffing on with cash :goodvibes

We had some yummy food from all the booths up until the China pavilion, where the heavens opened. We took cover in a gift shop for 20 minutes and when the rain died down, braved it and ran to the next few booths. We found a table and chairs covered by an umbrella and stayed there for a while. Steven kept dashing over to the nearest booths and bringing back the goodies.

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Some lovely food photos!

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– Chicken Curry from Terra booth

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– Jerk spiced chicken drumstick (or at least it was before Steven got a hold of it!) from the Caribbean booth

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– We both had the Grilled Beef skewer from the Argentina booth

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– Shrimp on the Barbie from Australia

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– Crispy shrimp taco and Dos Equis beer from Mexico

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– Swedish meatballs with lingonberries from the Scandinavia booth

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– Mongolian beef in a steamed bun from China (also Tsing Tao beer but no photo of this)

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– I had the seared filet of beef with sweet potato from South Africa booth, Steven had spinach and paneer cheese pocket

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Steven ran ahead and came back with this from Germany as well as a beer from the Poland booth

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And this from Italy

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– Ravioli di Formaggio all’Emiliana

The sun started to come back out as we got to the Singapore booth

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– Steven had the seared mahi mahi and a beer from the Florida local booth

We decided to call it a day after I had a vodka lemon slush in France and waddled over to Mouse Gear and the Festival Centre. Steven bought a few bottles of wine to take home as gifts.

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We went back into the pool for a bit when we got to the hotel – absolutely stuffed!

This was probably the highlight of the holiday for Steven (apart from our engagement, I hope:rotfl:)

We did the rest of Food and Wine later in the holiday, so more food photos to come :)
 


Day 10 – Saturday 29th September 2012 – AK (EMH AM) & Downtown Disney plus T-Rex ADR

Today was our last visit to AK; we woke up at 7.15am and arrived at the bus stop at 7.50am, just missing the AK bus. We had to wait until 8.35am until the next bus came along!! So we pretty much missed our EMH.

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Still, when we arrived at 8.55am we got through the turnstiles quickly and made it to Everest for a fast pass before rope drop. We went to see what the wait time was but the ride was down, no sooner had I said to Steven lets go to Dinosaur, Everest re-opened and we walked straight on.

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After Everest we rode Dinosaur which was also a walk on, then went to It’s Tough to be a Bug. We headed over to Camp Minnie Mickey for the 10.30am Festival of the Lion King show, which was fabulous as always.

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It was then time to ride Everest one final time before heading out of the park at 11.45am. We were the only two on the bus to POR even with a stop to Blizzard Beach on the way.

We took the bus to Downtown Disney for our ADR at T-Rex. Despite the food being lovely, it was just far too noisy for us. For starter I had mozzarella and Steven had onion rings. I had the chicken with beans and waffle fries whilst Steven had the Bone Yard Buffet. The food was nice but I didn’t enjoy the atmosphere, plus we were in the Ice Room. I’m not sure whether it was actually cold but I felt cold – unless the name of the room made me think I was cold :confused3

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- Steven looking quite scared of the huge glass!
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After T-Rex we took the boat back to POR. The boat driver was so lovely and chatty. He was only a young lad but you could tell he really loved his job and was telling us of some funny moments when he’s being driving back and forwards between the resorts and DTD. He was also telling us about some of the animals he see’s on property, despite joking with a little girl that all animals on property are animatronics, including the boat drivers. She really believed him too!

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- New characters in flight balloon :thumbsup2
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We spent the rest of the evening by the pool.

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Really enjoyed your latest updates.

Food and Wine festival looks good, the food you choice looks tasty.

I agree with you on T-Rex, we enjoyed the food but it was too loud lol

It's nice to see the characters in flight balloon back. It wasn't there whilst we were there and event though I would never go on it I did miss taking photo's of it.

Can't wait to read more x
 
Am really enjoying your reports, keep em coming! Did the food at food and wine festival live up to expectations? Which was the best?!
 


Loving your updates so far! It appears that we were both at the poolside at the same time ( at the same pool!) and at Animal Kingdom too!! We missed the early bus too, but decided to take the car, so we walked back to the car from the bus stop and drove up.

Everest has been down most of that EMH morning, we hung around it till about 9:05, then walked on too :D so again we were probably within 100ft of each other! How mental!!
 
Loving your updates so far! It appears that we were both at the poolside at the same time ( at the same pool!) and at Animal Kingdom too!! We missed the early bus too, but decided to take the car, so we walked back to the car from the bus stop and drove up.

Everest has been down most of that EMH morning, we hung around it till about 9:05, then walked on too :D so again we were probably within 100ft of each other! How mental!!

That's crazy!!! We probably stood out like sore thumbs, Steven with his bright red and white Sunderland towel and me with a loud Geordie accent :lmao: :rolleyes1

We noticed the same little groups by the pool each time we were there. Most sat in the same place like we did.
 
Hahaha I was sunbathing next to a Sunderland towel...! That's rather mental :-)

I was entertained by a few of the characters around the pool (for the record I was NOT partof the loud obnoxious Glaswegians that were there!)
 
That's crazy!!!! I had a pink/purple Minnie Mouse towel :) Mental to think we were probably right next to each other!
 
Day 11 – Sunday 30th September 2012 – Downtown Disney plus Planet Hollywood ADR & DHS (EMH PM)

We had a bit of a lie in this morning since we were going to DHS for PM EMH, also we had an ADR at 3.30pm at Planet Hollywood.

We lay by the pool for most of the morning then took the bus to DTD.

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We were seated early at Planet Hollywood as it was empty. I had chicken (again) and Steven had a steak. I had a lovely frozen strawberry daiquiri and Steven had a lager. The food was great and our server was very friendly and chatty.

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After our meal we had a wander around the restaurant, since it was practically empty, and had a look some of the memorabilia on display. We both agreed we would come back to Planet Hollywood next time :goodvibes

The queue for the Jack and Sally meet and greet was huge even before we went into Planet Hollywood at 3.20pm and even longer when we came out an hour or so later.

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We took the boat back to POR from DTD and bumped into the same boat driver from the previous day. He wasn’t driving today though; he was standing on the dock. He recognised us though and said to us ‘weren’t you two on my boat yesterday’ and had a chat with us about our day.

We got back to POR and I video called my sister to keep her up to date with what we've been doing.

At 7pm we took the bus to DHS. Just as we were walking into the park the heavens opened. It poured for around 20 minutes. We took cover under an umbrella outside Prime Time. Once it calmed down to light rain we waded over to Star Tours, I kept losing my flip flop in the floods of water on the paths.

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Star Tours was empty as was Muppets 3D, which we went to afterwards. I thought everyone would have gone on one of these attractions to get out of the rain.

After this we went over to Tower of Terror, Fantasmic had just finished so there were herds of people leaving the park. We stayed down at Tower of Terror and rode a few times until the crowd died down.

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Then we went on the Great Movie Ride where we encountered a very rude woman. She was so disgusting I don’t really want to go into the full details on here. But this spoilt the ride for us (as we were in her row) and those behind her.

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After we rode Toy Story with only a 20 minute wait (I beat Steven, again!).

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We then went back over to Tower of Terror, which was a walk on and decided to leave the park at 11pm. We were going to ride RnR but it was a 45 minute wait, by this point we were tired and just wanted to lie down!

The queue for the bus wasn't too bad either, we had just arrived at the bus stop when a full bus pulled away, we were 4th or 5th in the queue for the next bus though.
 
Sorry I'm a bit late to the party, but congratulations! And it looks like you had a great holiday!

We loved the F&W Festival, and used our snack credits to eat our way round!

Cant wait to hear more! xx
 
Day 12 – Monday 1st October 2012 – Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure

We were up at 7.15am to get dressed and have breakfast before being picked up by Mears transfer bus. Our bus arrived on time at 8.20am; there was only 2 other couples being collected at POR, 1 couple from POFQ and 1 couple at SSR. The driver was lovely and gave us loads of helpful tips and told us about the parks.

On the way we spotted the new Characters in Flights balloon :goodvibes

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Now, I’m not a huge fan of US and IOA, I much prefer Disney and could easily have spent the full 2 weeks at a Disney park but Steven likes them and we both said we wanted to go on the Harry Potter ride again.

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We managed to get IOA done in less than 3 hours. We went straight to Harry Potter, which was only a 10 minute wait, although it felt like it was closer to 30 minutes – still it beats the huge 2 hour wait we had last year. The ride is amazing and I still can’t believe how fab the castle looks and the shops.
Most of the rides were a 10 minute wait at IOA, which is probably how we managed to get through the park in less than 3 hours.

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We walked over to US which was busier than IOA but still the longest we waited for any ride was 20 minutes. We even rode The Mummy twice in a row as there was no line.

What I really loved was the Despicable Me attraction. It’s a bit like Shrek 4D but a tiny bit more advanced.

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Now, last year I had an issue with the people behind us in the queue for The Simpsons ride. The man and the child with him pushed in front of us when we got into the little room before you board the ride and pushed through to get a seat in the front row.

The man wasn’t a small man height wise and width wise – not being nasty but surely he shouldn’t have pushed in front of us and should have some consideration for the people he is around. For example, my brother and dad would sit in the back as they’re taller than me, my mam and little sister, so can see over us. This man plonked himself in front of my dad and mam and blocked their view of the screen.

The same thing happened to me and Steven this year. A man and his girlfriend pushed their way past us in the room in order to get front row seats and both of these people were bigger than us! They also spoke and kissed through the whole thing anyway!!

Are they just incredibly rude or are we too nice? I wouldn’t feel comfortable barging past people, even though I would probably never see these people again in my life, I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to deal with any awkwardness or confrontation as I’m just not that type of person.

The Simpsons ride vehicle is strange anyway because it feels like the seats in the back row are actually lower than the front row. They probably aren’t but it just feels that way. Surely it should be a bit higher than the front row though?

It’s a shame some sort of drama has happened on this ride whenever we’ve rode it as it is a good attraction, but it gets ruined by others.

After this debacle we rode Men in Black then I asked Steven if I had ever took him on the E.T ride, apparently I hadn’t. So off we went to E.T, Steven wasn’t impressed!

We then sat through the Terminator show, which neither of us had done before. Less said about this the better!

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By just after 4pm we had done everything we had wanted to do and were on route back to POR.

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(The man with the push chair is walking right through our 'proposal spot' :cloud9::love:

MK had PM EMH that night, so we powered through and at 7pm headed to MK! We rode BTMRR 3 times in a row and Splash twice. Then went over to Haunted Mansion but on the way Steven stopped for a turkey leg. We then went on It’s a Small World (Steven was pretty much forced onto this ride) then we headed over to Cosmic Ray’s so I could have something to eat.

Afterwards we rode TTA and Buzz Lightyear. We were shattered by 11.30pm and headed back to POR.

I must say the buses back from MK weren’t too bad. Both PO resorts have their own bus stop and tended not to be too busy when we were leaving.

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After a very long day we were asleep as soon as we got through the door!
 
Day 13 – Tuesday 2nd October 2012 – Blizzard Beach & Epcot

Woke up at 9am and decided that as Steven’s foot was better we would go to a water park. I’m not really a fan of water parks (and you’ll see why shortly) but Steven is and prefers Blizzard Beach, so at 9.45am we headed to the bus stop.

It’s always the AK/Blizzard Beach bus that we seem to have issues with. The bus didn’t come until around 10.30am and between this time there were 3 Epcot buses and 3 MK buses, 2 DHS buses and 1 DTD/Typhoon Lagoon bus.

We rented a locker and stuffed all our things in there instead of getting a sun lounger. We didn’t plan on staying for very long, mainly because I hate water parks, also Steven didn’t want to risk hurting his foot by going on any of the big slides.

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We did however have a nice float around the lazy river and went on Team Boat Springs. We then went to the Snow Stormers and went down in a double tube.

I have a slight phobia of going underwater and so was scared of falling out at the end and ending up underwater. I held my nose just in case but we seemed fine. Steven somehow managed to topple over tipping over the ring and kicking me in the head in the process and I ended up upside down in the water.

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This shook me up for the rest of the morning, thinking back it was quite funny, even my little tantrum after I had got over the initial shock. But we left not long after this happened. I did feel quite bad though; however Steven still said he had a good time despite only staying for 2 hours. I think that knowing we were going to Epcot to complete Food and Wine kept him happy!

We went to Epcot around tea time and finish off the rest of Food and Wine and to re-visit our favourites. Yet again, like the last time we were there, the heavens opened.

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Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise on the left & Tuna Poke with Seaweed Salad and Lotus Root Chips on the right - Both from Hawaii

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Frozen Chocolate Nesquick - Desserts & Champagne booth

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Moosehead beer - Canada

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Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Baileys Irish Cream Ganache - Ireland

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Lobster and Seafood Fisherman's Pie - Ireland

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Eifel Sour Cosmo Slush - France

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Chocolate crepe from the Crepe stand :goodvibes

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I think this is - Lamb Meatball with Spicy Tomato Chutney - New Zealand

Having a few favourites again -

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Grilled Beef skewers from Argentina and Shrimp on the Barbie from Australia

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Trick'n Chick'n Curry with Basmati Rice - Terra

In Canada whilst Steven was getting his Moosehead beer, I 'Facetimed' the family back home and updated them on what was happening and showed them what I could of World Showcase.

We battled through the rain with Steven again running off to booths and coming back undercover with the goodies. At one point we were both squished inside one of the phone booths in UK pavilion. The phone rang at least four times but no one hung on to talk.

Once we had made it round to Mexico the sun was shining and the park was getting very crowded. We were happy we had finished Food and Wine and experienced everything we wanted to, even squeezing in some of our favourites from the last time.

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This was our last Epcot visit so we finished up with some shopping in Mouse Gear. We were going to head over to the shop after the Figment attraction but it was closed for the evening. I overheard a photopass photographer saying that the building had been struck by lightening earlier in the evening. This must be the reason it had closed.

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There was no queue for the bus and one turned up straight away so we were back at POR in no time. Once we got back we began the horrible task of packing to come home.
 
Day 14 – Wednesday 3rd October 2012 – DHS & MK (final day)

We were up early for our final park day :sad2: We were at DHS by 10am, crowds were light and most rides a walk on. We stopped off at The Writers Stop again, I had a cookie and Steven had a muffin. We watched Beauty and the Beast again, this time the rain held off so we were able to see the end.

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Instead of going back to the hotel we decided to go straight to MK from DHS. The bus to Epcot came before the bus to TTC so we headed to Epcot to ride the monorail. There was a monorail waiting at the TTC so got to MK quite quickly.

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Once there we went to Splash Mountain for fast passes, BTMRR was closed but there were a lot of people hovering around waiting for it to re-open. We went over to Haunted Mansion and then into Fantasyland where we watched Mickey’s Philharmagic – another habit I hate, people stopping in the middle of the row so therefore having to clamber over families trying not to step on them.

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After coming out of Philharmagic we were about to walk on over to Tomorrowland but I noticed a CM standing by a door that leads to behind the construction walls. Being quite nosey, I had to know what was going on. We walked over and he simply opened the door and let us through without a word being said.

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I immediately realised what was happening – we were testing the new Belle attraction!!! I’ve never been lucky like this before. Knowing too that we wouldn’t be back for a few years, even getting to experience a little bit of new Fantasyland was better than nothing.

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We walked through Belle’s cottage, which is small but cute with a little table and some books and a fireplace. Also there are markings on the wall showing how tall Belle was as she aged.

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We were then let through into Maurice’s workshop. I think there was just over 20 of us in there. We were told that testing could end at anytime so we were lucky to have got in.

I don’t really want to say much more as I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, but it is a lovely little attraction (especially for the little ones) and not normally the type of attraction I would be interested in, but now I’ve experienced it I would do it again. Seeing all the little princesses meeting Belle at the end of the attraction was so cute, it’s so lovely seeing how happy they are and how awed they are by her.

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There was a photopass photographer taking photos through the whole thing and we were all given a photopass at the end but as we weren’t part of the show the photos didn’t interest us as they were all of strangers.

We were allowed to take photos and video so I have photos and a video of the full attraction.

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By the time we had finished it was time to head back to Splash Mountain before our fast passes ran out. After Splash we went over to Tomorrowland and got a fast pass for Space Mountain, as it was around 5.45pm and the return time was 6.20pm. We rode TTA and Buzz Lightyear and visited a few shops in Tomorrowland then sat down and had a drink until it was time to go back to Space Mountain.

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After the bumpiest ride on Space Mountain, we headed back up Main Street stopping in a few shops on the way, for the final time for a few years.

It’s so sad when you’re leaving MK and not knowing exactly when you’re going to be back.

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The bus arrived for POR almost immediately and we headed back to the room to finish our packing, feeling very down in the dumps.

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Day 15  Thursday 4th October 2012  Going home day

I had the worst nights sleep, waking up every hour or so thinking we were going to sleep in and miss our pick up!!!

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Once awake Steven went for breakfast whilst I finished of tidying about and checking we had everything in our cases. Just after 11am we checked out :sad2: We stored our cases then went into the arcade. I got bored of the arcade very quickly and ended up face timing family back home. Speaking with my 4-year-old cousin and my little sister reminded me what I was going home to and I cheered up about going home and seeing everyone :yay:

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Our transfer arrived on time, the bus was packed. We were the final pick up, which I was glad about as I heard people complaining that they had been on the bus for 2 hours.

As we were in Premium cabin we were able to check-in immediately. The scary moment then came  the weighing of the cases  Stevens was bang on 23kg and mine 22kg. Wow, just within our limit!

Security was quick and in no time we were in the premium lounge enjoying free drinks and nibbles.

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The flight home seemed very quick despite not sleeping at all and again the cabin crew were lovely and friendly.

I spent the majority of the flight on my laptop sorting through all the photos and videos and finishing off the draft trip report.

We landed and the cold suddenly hit us, it was wet and windy back in Newcastle - it was also about 6.30am Friday morning!

I got home in time to see everyone before they went to work and school and give them their presents, show off my ring and some souvineers I had bought. Steven went home to see his family, I had a quick bath and did the silliest thing possible - fell asleep from 9.30am til almost 2pm :confused3 I woke up with a banging headache and feeling more tired than I did at 6.30am.

That evening I was going to the theatre to see Oliver with the family. I felt so terrible yawning through it (but really enjoyed it).

My sleeping pattern was very messed up. For the next few days I didn't fall asleep until gone 5am and was waking up at 10am.


It was back to reality.
 
Final thoughts

It was a great holiday. We did everything we wanted to do, didn’t rush ourselves and of course, got engaged in MK!

Although we loved POR, we wouldn’t stay there again unless we had a car. Steven actually mentioned on the flight home he liked the look of SSR :dance3: Woo hoo!

I’m not sure when we’ll be back, with moving and a wedding to plan it’ll probably be a few years.

But for now, here are a couple of our photopass photos :goodvibes

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And that's me done, what do I do now :confused3

Thanks to those who took the time to read this :goodvibes:thumbsup2
 
Hi :) this is actually my very first post on the site. Me and my parter are planning on visiting disney next year and staying in the port orleans or SSR so was lovely reading your report!
How was the weather in late September for you?
Looked like you had a wonderful time! And tried loads of different foods!
P.s congratulations on your engagement!
 
Gazzzwilliams said:
Hi :) this is actually my very first post on the site. Me and my parter are planning on visiting disney next year and staying in the port orleans or SSR so was lovely reading your report!
How was the weather in late September for you?
Looked like you had a wonderful time! And tried loads of different foods!
P.s congratulations on your engagement!

Thank you :-)

Congrats on your first post!

The weather was lovely, only had a few spots of heavy rain around late afternoon on a couple of days but as you can see it didn't stop us!!! It always seemed to be Food and Wine afternoon when it rained. The rain didn't last long either so not too bad. I would go again in September. We've been in May as well and loved May (lovely weather and light crowds like September) but September wins because of Food and Wine and the Halloween party :-)
 

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