I think it's Friday?

 For thIt's so easy to lose track of the days. 

This morning we had a character breakfast booked at the Grand Floridian signature restaurant - 1900 Park Faire. It's a buffet style breakfast, and we got to meet Mary Poppins, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and Tigger and Pooh. Then it was time for more park fun!

Today is our second day in the parks, and we headed off to Magic Kingdom again. It just made sense to be there when we were so close, and the other parks were closer to our next hotel. 

Once again we had 3 fast passes pre-booked, but today they were all scheduled for the morning. First stop - Haunted Mansion. Charlotte has always loved this ride, but this time was petrified by it. She cried a lot of the way through it, and refused to pose for a photo afterwards. :(. James wasn't too sure of it at the start, but was ok once we were sitting in the carriages. 

After that we headed towards Pirates of the Caribbean - much more to everyone's taste. On the way we stopped to look at the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, and promised Charlotte she could come back and climb it. 

We then went and jumped on Big Thunder Mountain. 

We wandered around for a bit then, rode the carousel, did some more Sorceror's of the Magic Kingdom portals, and took Charlotte for a ride on autotopia, since there was only a small wait. 

We then decided it would be good for James to get a proper nap in, so headed back to the Grand Floridian for lunch and a sleep. 

While James was sleeping Wayne and Charlotte went and had a swim - enjoying the pool and water slide, and also the Mad Hatter splash area. They came back to the room just after James woke up and Michelle was outvoted - she wanted to go back to the parks, everyone else wanted to swim. 

So we all headed down to the pool where Charlotte tried to persuade everyone that James really should try the water slide. She was outvoted this time :). Everyone else went down though, it was a great slide. 

We had marshmallows on the beach again, then went and bought some mac and cheese and cereal from the shop for the kids and flatbread for Michelle and Wayne. 

The kids had a bath in the super exciting bathroom with the TV in the mirror - and didn't want to get out! - and then went to bed. Once they were asleep Wayne headed out to watch the fireworks from the jetty. They pipe the music in from the Magic Kingdom so you get almost the full experience. 

We're here!!!

WooHoo! DisneyWorld here we come. 

We decided it would be nice to catch the boat across for our first trip, so after breakfast at the 24 hour food area we headed over to the ferry. 

The Magic Kingdom sits at the top of a large man made lake. Around the lake, in a clockwise direction, is the Contemporary Resort, the Transportation Centre, the Polynesian Resort, and the Grand Floridian Resort. There is a large ferry that runs between Magic Kingdom and the Transportation Centre, and a small one that does a loop from Magic Kingdom to the Grand Floridian and then to the Polynesian. There is also a monorail that does a clockwise loop starting at Magic Kingdom, and a separate manorial that goes directly to and from the Transportation Centre. 

We went down and waited for the ferry - it is quite small, seating about 39 people maximum, but is quite a nice trip. You get to see both Cinderella's castle andSpace  Mountain as you head across the water. 

We got off the ferry and headed to collect our tickets. These were linked to our Magic Bands - personalised bands that acted as room keys, charge cards at shops and restaurants, fast passes for rides, etc. - and we pressed Mickey to Mickey (the Mickey on the band to the Mickey on the scanner), had our finger print taken (adults only), and we were in!!!

Our first set booking for the day was still a while away, so we headed to the fire station to grab some Sorceror's Kingdom cards. This is a cool new game that Disney has introduced - and it's free, which is a bonus. The premise is that Hades from the Underworld is trying to take over the Magic Kingdom and is recruiting all the Disney villains to help him. Merlin is trying to stop him, but needs help. 

When you start a game you get a map showing the location of all the interactive portals in the Magic Kingdom, a set of spell cards for everyone in your party, and your very first clue. You place your band up against the little keyhole and the interactive portal comes to life. You see a scene showing what the baddy is doing (in our case the first baddy we came across was Ursula from The Little Mermaid) and then you either have to cast a spell (choose one of your cards and hold it up to be scanned by the portal), show the Sorceror's sign (the back of a spell card) or chase the baddy to another portal. Along the way you get to destroy minor baddies (like Flotsam and Jetsam), until eventually, after about 4 or 5 locations, you defeat your baddy. Of course, then there's another baddy to get. 

We headed off to Fantasyland to start chasing Ursula down. On the way we stopped for some photos in front of the castle (of course!), and to join in the street party that came up Main Streey to in front of the castle. 

Once in Fantasyland it took us a while to find our first portal, but once we had it we quickly found the next 2, also in Fantasyland. I really liked how you didn't have to go all over the park for one game, so it was something you could easily do with your beer kids without them getting bored of walking from one land to another to another. 

After those portals we headed off for our first scheduled event - lunch! Our first lunch with Charlotte in DisneyWorld 4 years ago was at Crystal Palace, so we thought we'd continue the tradition. The big question was, would James be as scared of the characters as Charlotte was back then. 

We headed in after a brief wait, and sat down. James was excited to see Pooh Bear, but he was a fair way away. Of course, lasttime Charlotte had been so excited to see Piglet, but then wouldn't leave our arms when they came by the table. 

Not long after we sat down and grabbed some food for the kids Eeyore appeared. Success! James wasn't too scared. He was a little apprehensive, but gave Eeyore a cuddle and happily posed for photos. All smooth sailing then. 

We ate lunch in between greeting Tigger, Piglet, and Winnie the Pooh, and then it was almost time for our first ride of the day. Well, after we'd seen the characters once more. :)

We had booked 3 fast passes for today - it was a bit weird booking them 2 months in advance, and was really a bit hit and miss as to what would be popular rides and need them, and what we would be able to ride with a limited queue. Still, off we headed for The Little Mermaid ride. 

It was pretty much as we remembered, and both Charlotte and James really enjoyed it. The next ride was Splash Mountain - about as far away from Ariel as you could get. The weather was about 34 degrees (93 Fahrenheit), but very humid, so we were all very hot and sweaty. Splash Mountain seemed like a perfect idea. 

James fell asleep on the way over, which was good timing as he couldn't ride Splash Mountain anyway. Wayne and Charlotte went on first - and although it's slightly different from the one at Disneyland, Charlotte loved it just as much. Next Michelle and Charlotte went on it. 

We wandered around a bit and then headed for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride. This is fairly new, and we knew we needed a fastpass for this one. James was tall enough to ride this, although eg didn't want to stand up straight enough to prove it. Finally we got through the entrance and on to the ride.

Maybe James knew something we didn't, because he hated it. Roller coasters are not his thing. On the other hand, the rest of us loved it. 

Ride over, and we had to hurry to make our dinner reservation. We realised last night that we hadn't booked dinner at O'Hana's at the Polynesian. It was our favourite meal last time, so we wanted

to eat there again. 

We knew it would be tight, so hurried through the park...only to find that the monorail hadn't been working properly for some reason. The direct to the Ttansportation Centre one was shut down for the afternoon, and there was a massive queue for the loop one. There was a train at the station, but it seemed to be sitting there and not moving.  

What to do? Wait for the monorail or try our luck with the ferry, which also had a queue? We started off in the monorail line, but decided to move to the ferry line. Which took a looonnnggg time. Oh well, not much we could do. There were others who also had restaurant bookings, so we weren't the only ones in this predicament. 

Wayne overheard someone saying that if you were late for your booking they wouldn't turn you away, but you might have to wait a bit until they get you a table. That made us feel better.

We arrived there almost 45 minutes after our reservation, and at first the woman at the desk couldn't find our booking. Oh no. Luckily the guy knew where to look - under no-shows. Ha ha. 

5 minutes later and we were seated and ready to eat. Entree was pot stickers (gyoza) and chicken wings, then there was salad, then main was noodles and meat off massive skewers that the waiter carried to your table - beef, chicken, and prawns. Yum. 

We were all too full for dessert, so jumped on the monorail back to the hotel - to get marshmallows on the beach :)

On our way to the most magical place on earth...

We got up, finished packing, checked out, and headed to Kim's to say goodbye. We only had half an hour to chat, before we had to head to the airport. :(. 

At the airport Charlotte was desperate for mac and cheese from Chilli's, but they didn't do take out, so she had to settle for Doritos instead. Such a hard life. 

The flight was uneventful - and our shortest flight of the whole trip, which was nice. We arrived in Orlando, grabbed our bags, and headed off to the Magical Express.

The Magical Express is Disney's beautiful free bus transportation to their resorts. And we got to use our super you-beaut a magic bands for the first time. We had had them sent to Kim's house so we were all wearing them and able to touch them and watch Mickey go green to wor us in. 

Once on the bus it wasn't long until we reached Walt Disney World, or WDW, and then not much longer until we reached our hotel. For the first 4 nights of our stay we had a booking at the Villas at the Grand Floridian Hotel, one of Disney's flagship hotels at WDW.

We checked in, and bell services walked us and or luggage over to the villas, pointing out the pools on the way. We were taken to our room on the second floor, room 1222, and opened the door to find...

...Pixie Dust! Although we had booked a studio room, they had given us a 1 bedroom. Wow! The room was absolutely beautiful - a kitchen, lounge, HUGE bathroom, bedroom. Charlotte was excited by the bed that pulled down from the wall underneath the TV, and both the kids were wowed by the TV in the bathroom mirror - as in, it looked just like the whole mirror was just mirror, yet one part of it was actually a TV screen. So easy to get them in the bath when they can watch TV. Just hard to get them out :). 

We wandered around for a bit and checked out the pool area with its water slide and Mad Hatter Tea Party water play area. There was a fire pit where the youth counsellors were handing out sticks and marshmallows to toast - yummy. 

We then headed off to find food. After checking out all the options we got a table at the Grand Floridian Cafe - which is much more upmarket than it sounds from the name - and had a beautiful dinner. Wayne would have enjoyed his steak much more, except Charlotte decided she didn't like her meal and proceeded to eat half of the steak. 

We then wandered back to go to sleep, ready to prepare for our first day at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow. 

It's raining, it's pouring...

The first bad weather we've had so far, and it meant a change in plans. We were going to see a farm and baby animals and pony rides and stuff like that, but it was all outdoors. So that suddenly came off the agenda. 

Instead we decided to go visit the Jelly Belly factory. What's not to love about jelly beans!!!

We picked Kim up in our lovely weird car and headed off to the factory. On the way we passed Racine - home of the Racine All American Baseball League team of "League Of Their Own" fame. 

We got to the factory and Charlotte and James were both immediately taken by the Frozen movie playing above one of the displays, and by the seemingly unlimited amount of jelly beans there. Or infinity, as Charlotte said. 

While waiting for the next tour we damples a few of the flavours - the new champagne flavour was yummy! None of us wanted to sample the Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans flavours though - earthworm or vomit flavour anyone???

We jumped on the train for the tour, to discover it was mainly video shown at each "stop" (or pause!) It was still interesting, learning about how they derive new flavours, how they make the middle and the coating, how they sort them so only the perfect ones get put in the packets, etc. 

They spent a bit of time explaining how they perfect the flavours, which made us wonder who was the unlucky person who had to verify the dirty nappy bean taste!!!

We also saw prints of famous Jelly Belly art - Elvis, Queen Elizabeth, the Statue of Liberty etc. 

At the end of the tour we were each given a sample pack of jelly bellys, and then we got to shop!

You'll all be pleased to know that, unlike when Kim and I did the Laverne and Shirley walk at the brewery tour last time, we totally behaved ourselves and didn't embarrass anyone. Well, that, and Max wasn't there to be embarrassed either :). 

After the tour we headed to Walmart for some more last minute shopping. Wayne tried very hard to get himself on the People of Walmart website by 1) wearing his too big jeans without a belt and almost losing them in the middle of the store, and 2) trying on a Tshirt by stripping off in the middle of the store. We haven't checked the website - did he make it???

Our final dinner in Wisconsin was burgers that Scott grilled on the BBQ. Yum!!! We hung out at Kim's for a while, until the kids were almost falling asleep. We said our final goodbyes to Scott and Max and headed back to the hotel to pack and sleep. 

Discovery World

Kim rocked up at our hotel in the morning and we all piled in our weird car to head to Discovery World in Milwaukee. This is a science and exploration museum with tons of cool things to do. 

Scott gave Kim directions on how to get there with the roadworks going on - but we managed to miss the exit and went for a drive over a lovely bridge instead :). 

Once at Discovery World there were some cool things to do, including looking at a massive Les Paul exhibit with not only his guitars, but also things like the recording equipment he invented etc. Les Paul came from Waukesha, not far from where Kim lives.

There was also a very cool aquarium exhibition, with lots of fish and things you could touch. The lion fish was very cool to see. 

At the top of the aquarium was a replica ship you could play on - which was where we discovered James had lost his shoes. Oops. So we tripped off to lost and found to report them, but they weren't there. They asked us what siE the shoes were - like I have a clue about US sizes - so Kim asked the woman behind us in line what size her son's shoes were. The woman thought we were quite strange :)

Next to the ship was an area about pulleys and levers, and Charlotte lifted a 100lb (45kg) stone all by herself. Pretty strong hey!

On the way out we thought we'd check one more time for James' shoes, and the woman told us they'd found them even before we reached the desk. Yay!

We returned to the hotel, said farewell to Kim, and Wayne and Charlotte went for a swim while James napped, then once James woke up both the kids went for a swim. The pool was heaps of fun. 

Then it was shopping time. We hit Target across the road and bought a suitcase and some warmer clothes for the kids (awesome clearance rack since winter was over). We also bought nappies for James - hopefully the brand we chose work out ok. 

We picked up some pizza that Kim had pre-ordered, and headed to their place for dinner and conversation. 

Travelling, travelling, travelling...

Up nice and early this morning to catch a plane to Milwaukee. We headed off to the airport with only a minor panic by Michelle that she'd misread the time luggage needed to be checked by and we were going to miss it. The worry was all for naught though, as the flight was delayed. 

And delayed. 

And delayed. 

For some reason the flight didn't leave Denver, so never arrived. They ended up getting a plane from Oakland - a whole 10 minutes flight away. Lol. So they had to get a crew and pilots etc to fly the plane to San Francisco, just to get off and be replaced by the actual crew. 

We ended up heading off about an hour and a half late, which wasn't too bad in the scheme of things. When we arrived in Milwaukee we headed off the to car rental place to pick up our car. Based on the success of our amazing mini van in San Francisco, we had booked a mini van again, but through a different company. 

Hmm. When you're told "sorry, we don't have any mini vans left, but we have this Ford Transit you can have, it's almost the same," don't believe them. It's not almost the same as a bells and whistles mini van at all. And then when they charge you for a 33 gallon tank of petrol (when you opt for pre-paid rather than trying to find a petrol station on the way home), well that gets very expensive very quickly!

We went straight to Kim's house, where we were warmly greeted, followed immediately by "what type of car is that?" "I've never seen a car like that." Lol. Told you it was weird. :)

We had a lovely dinner of fried chicken, chips (fries), and salad, followed by cooking s'mores on their brand new fire pit which they had built the week before. 

After we had finished eating we thought we had better go check into our hotel before it got too late. We headed over to Delafield and found the hotel - very nice it was too. Our room was only a few doors away from the pool, which made the kids very happy 😊

American Girl

For those of you who don't know what American Girl Doll is, it's an American store that sells dolls. 18" dolls. Expensive dolls. There are 3 main types of dolls at the store - historical dolls, where the doll represents a particular era from the 1700s (or something like that) right through to the 1970s, Girl of the Year, where each year they release a new doll with different interests and attributes (this year or last it was Isabella who likes ballet or something), and the American Girl Dolls who look just.like.you. 

Charlotte bought an American Girl Doll on our last trip with medium length blonde/brown hair, a fringe, and blue eyes. Of course, there is just about every conceivable option so your doll can look like you. 

As well as selling the dolls, and almost every conceivable accessory option (clothes, furniture (a $160 bed anyone?), matching doll and owner clothes, etc.), the stores also offer experiences. 

So, we headed off this morning for lunch. You bring your doll with you, and they have a special seat at the table just for your doll. Your doll also gets a mini tea cup and saucer to keep, which James has had great fun playing with. 

You get 2 courses of lunch (maybe 3?), and once again the kids spent more time looking at the food than eating it. Charlotte was very excited to share her lunch with her doll though. 

After lunch Charlotte took her doll to the hair salon. Mummy totally refused all the up-sells for cleaning arms and legs etc., and just booked the hairstyle. While they were brushing the doll's hair they noticed she was a bit "wobbly" and needed fixing. Luckily that was free :). 

Charlotte was extremely happy wth her doll's new hairstyle, and with the new matching pyjamas we bought her and the doll. Lol. 

We thought that after a busy few days it might be good for James to have a decent nap, so we headed back to the hotel for a rest and to get the packing done. 

Charlotte decided she wanted ice cream for dinner, so we headed off to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for dinner. Both kids ended up with ice cream for dinner, while we had something more substantial ;). 

Friends

Everyone slept in today after our late night yesterday, so we had a quick breakfast then off to the Presidio to meet up with Nancy and Norm. 

We met at the Walt Disney Family Museum, and while waiting for Nancy to park the car noticed that the view of Alcatraz we'd had 2 minutes earlier was suddenly non-existent. The fog comes in THAT quickly. Thank goodness we did the Golden Gate bridge yesterday - when we looked out at it today we could only see the bottom of one pylon. 

The museum itself was excellent. Tons of information about Walt Disney - his life, how he got started, some of his early drawings from school and his first animations (these really cool Alice movies where he had a little girl act as Alice, superimposed on cartoon scenes!)

We also got to see some of the technical stuff he used (invented? Wayne got to read more of it than I did, Charlotte wasn't quite as interested in it all as we were) like the multi-plane camera. 

It was awesome seeing the model of the original Disneyland, and great having Nancy there showing what had changed by the time she was going there. Nancy worked there a few summers when she was in college so has a ton of information about it. 

After the museum it was time to eat, so we headed off to Fisherman's Wharf and Bubba Gumps. 

The sea breeze had picked up quite a bit, and the idiotic tourists had believed the weather forecast where it said it was going to be warmer than yesterday, so we had no jackets or long-sleeves tops with us. We headed into the Bubba Gump souvenir store while waiting for our reservation, and Charlotte chose a hoodie to wear. Clearly we look trustworthy, because the registers were down in the store and they told us to take the jumper and just come back and pay when we finished our lunch. (Yes, we did go back and pay!)

Lunch was yummy - the servings were huge and the food was absolutely delicious. James even managed to eat some garlic bread and some jelly. He is still coughing a lot and not eating much, hopefully these antibiotics kick in properly soon. 

After lunch we wandered back down Pier 39 and grabbed an ice cream on our way to see the sea lions. I didn't notice the smell quite as much this time, but the noise definitely hits you! We still couldn't see the bridge either, but did get a view of Alcatraz this time. 

Saying goodbye to Nancy and Norm, who had a close to 3 hour journey home, we drove past the Full House houses for Charlotte and then back to the hotel. 

We chose to eat at Chilli's tonight (another 20-25 minute wait, which equalled 40 minutes), but unfortunately it wasn't as good this time round. Obviously being busier makes a difference, and some people clearly understand our accents better than others. The Chuck E Cheese guy couldn't understand when I said "all-meat combo" pizza, and this guy somehow mixed up "corn" with "fries". Oh well. 

Once again a long day, and late to bed for the kids. 

Exploring the Exploratorium

Both kids slept most of the night, which was fantastic. It means we've gotten over the time change fairly quickly, waking up at a "normal" hour today. 

After a slow start we headed off for the Exploratorium. It's changed locations since we were last here, but is just as good as we remembered, if not better! The Exploratorium is like Scienceworks on steroids, but a million times better. So many different activities for the kids to do. Everything is interactive, and so much fun. 

James and Charlotte both loved the "Quiet Walk" - a pit of gravel which you had to walk through as quietly as possible. Unless you were James, and then the idea was to run through and jump and make as much noise as you can!  Charlotte did really well, and went through with a best score of 0.6. Of what though, I'm not sure. Decibels?

It really is an amazing place, and like last time we didn't have enough time to see everything. 

After the Exploratoirum we went for a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Charlotte was more excited about hearing there was an old jail in the middle of the bay than the bridge. We got out at the viewing point just on the other side and took some photos. Most of our photos are on the camera, but here is one panoramic of the view. 

James slept through the whole thing, and Charlotte fell asleep pretty much as soon as we got back in the car, so we just decided to drive around randomly and see where we ended up. We drove through the hills of Sausalito, and ended up back on the freeway. 

Wayne accidentally ended up in an off-ramp, following a bus, but luckily a few hundred metres up the road was a Starbucks! First "real" coffee for the trip I think. 

We decided to drive the scenic way back to the hotel, ie not through the city, and drove up through Golden Gate Park and along the coast towards the zoo. We saw a beach car park, so thought we might as well stop. 

It was a very "interesting" car park. Basically a narrow road with people parking on one side...and on the other when there were no more parks. Just after we parked a car pulled in across from us and we were wondering how we'd actually get out!

Anyway, who cares about getting out when we have a beach to play on! After a climb down the steep sand dunes we hit the sand, and the shallows. James got wet and decided he didn't like it, whereas Charlotte loved it and didn't want to get out - if she'd had her way she would have dived in head first and got totally soaked. Luckily we managed to keep it to just her pants. 

When it was time to leave we had to climb back UP the steep sand dunes. Yay! (At times like these I really wish there was actually a sarcasm font.) Once up and in the car we had to figure out how to get out. Luckily about 3 other cars were leaving at the same time, one other which was also blocked in by the car across from us, so they made that car move. 

Once back at the hotel we washed the sand off the feet and headed off for dinner. Charlotte wanted Chilli's again so she could have mac and cheese, but when we got there it was packed. The police were doing a fundraiser for the Special Olympics and it seemed like half the world had come out. We decided that the 30 minute wait wasn't worth it, and headed out again. One of the cops recommended we try Jack's, just up the road. The Special Olympics athlete who was there thought we should try Hooters!

Jack's also had a wait, as did Red Robin. Clearly everyone in San Francisco eats out on a Thursday night. So we ended up at....

...Chuck E Cheese. Yay! (Not.) The food was as ordinary as we remembered it, and Charlotte had as much fun as she remembered. James just wanted to ride in the car and the train rides. "Toot toot car!"

At the end of the almost 2 hours there Charlotte had exhausted her tokens and had enough tickets to get a whole heap of junk. 

That is a little fake green spider in her right hand - apparently she wants to scare everyone she sees. Kim and Aga you've been warned!

James was very happy with the whistle that Charlotte got him. 

Home to bed after a long day! 

Oh - one thing I did forget. The stroller didn't arrive today, so I called the number that they gave me. They told me no stroller had arrived today and asked me for my claim number. I told them they hadn't rung me with the claim number. 

They then told me they had to wait for tomorrow's plane to arrive and they'd check again. I told them that the lady I spoke to at the airport said if it hadn't arrived by today I could but a new one and they would reimburse me. The lady on the phone wasn't happy, but after I re-emphasised that I couldn't do another day without a stroller she reluctantly agreed I could go buy one. 

Not more than 3 minutes after hanging up my phone rang - they had miraculously found it and we're going to deliver it that night. Amazing what threatening to spend their money does 😊. So we got our stroller back. Yay! (No sarcasm font required!)