Aimee and Lauren's 'A Week In The World' Trip- May 2014- Day 2

[xAimeex]

Hi guys. Thanks so much for all the lovely comments on Day 0 and 1! They have gotten me through what has been a tough week! Here's Day 2 and I think it goes without saying now, you're in for a long read!

Day 2- Sunday 25th May 2014- Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney


Lauren and I had both woken up briefly at around 11 and 12 but had turned over and gone straight back to sleep.


As is the norm for us we were both properly awake at 3. Mum and Dad also woke up at 3 having slept through since 9pm the night before when we went to bed.


We all got up for our usual half hour. We went and sat on the end of Mum and Dad’s bed and chatted for a while about our plans later on in the day!


This was the view of the quiet pool at night. We never heard any noise from it even during the day!


By 3:15 Lauren and I decided we were starving so we went back out into the living area to raid the fridge. We decided to have our Mickey ice cream sandwiches that we’d left from dinner the night before hehe. What better thing to eat at 3:15 in the morning! They were yummy as always!



Mickey ice cream sandwich in the middle of the night! Why not?



We turned on the tv and commenced another ritual of ours- watching Stacey and her Disney must do’s! We love her and her excited peppy cheeriness!



Stacey!


By 3:30 we were all ready to go back to bed again!


We all slept soundly until 6 after that! Dad had set his alarm which was a good thing as he actually had to come in and wake me and Lauren up! I’d forgotten to set my alarm and I think we’d have ended up over sleeping otherwise. We had an 8am ADR for Crystal Palace which we certainly didn’t want to miss!


We all got ready and were good to go by 6:45. Dad was the last to leave the room though and by the time he appeared at 6:50 a Magic Kingdom bus drove straight past our block which was quite frustrating.


Lauren and I tend to get ready really quickly and I think that was probably the only thing that our parent’s weren’t so keen on, they prefer to take things at a slower pace in the morning. They did soon realise the benefit of early starts though when they realised how much more we managed to get done in the days we arrived for rope drop!


We made the short walk over to the South Point bus stop and hoped another would be along soon. It was a lovely temperature out luckily! That was one thing we found in May, the mornings and evenings were lovely and cool. We still found the mid-day hours to be as hot as August but first thing and late evening was the perfect temperature!









Unfortunately the next MK bus didn’t turn up until 7:25 and by that point I was feeling a bit anxious about having time to get Main St pics while still making our ADR on time as we wanted to be finished with breakfast for 9am when the park opened to everyone.


As South Point is the second pick up at OKW you then have to drive around the rest of the resort for pick-ups which took around 10 minutes. This was the only downside we found with transport at OKW, it took a long time just to get out. Of course it had the benefit of the bus never turning up full and always getting a seat so we couldn’t complain!


We were finally on our way to MK! We passed French Quarter on the way there and felt a little pang as we saw the entrance!


We arrived at 7:50 which was good but a lot later than we arrived for our early ADR last year so I was a little concerned that Main St might be busier by now. We went through bag check and headed to the turnstiles (if you can still call them that!)


We were greeted by a CM with a clipboard who wanted to check our names to make sure we had a reservation. I couldn’t remember doing this last year so wondered whether they were doing more stringent checks with all the Anna and Elsa madness!


We finally made it on to Main St and I needn’t have worried about it being busier as it was actually quieter than last year! This was the Sunday before Memorial Day and we weren’t really sure what to expect but this day in particular really didn’t seem that busy at all!





We stopped for a few pictures and asked a couple of the photopass photographers if they could take a picture of all of us on my camera. I did feel a little guilty doing this as we decided not to buy photopass/memory maker this trip but the photographers were more than happy to use my camera.














We also stopped for some photos in front of the partner’s statue with the castle in the background and I’m so glad we did as these ended up being some of my favourite photos of the whole trip!








I was a bit worried about how the hub would look this trip with all the work they are doing to it but it was absolutely fine! There was water in the moats and no crane which was my main concern. The only thing we really noticed were construction boards to the left and right side of the hub, of course Disney being Disney had made them look as though they belonged there and were part of the scenery anyway!



You can see the constructions boards in this photo



By this point it was now 8:05 so we were a few minutes late but we were given a buzzer that went off straight away so we didn’t waste too much time!








Our server was called Kip and I think he was Australian but his accent was quite difficult to understand at times which made things a little awkward. He was a good server though and went through all the drinks that were available. I had coke, Lauren had apple juice and Mum and Dad had coffee.


We were seated on the left side of CP today which was the opposite of where we were sitting last year. It’s so beautiful inside! The characters were over on the other side of the restaurant so we had time to go and get our first plate of food!



Our table had streamers on as we were celebrating

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[xAimeex]

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Lauren and I had gone on and on about how nice Pooh’s puffed french toast was to Mum before we went! I also told her she had to try the breakfast lasagne!


Our plates were filled with various yummies! Mum really enjoyed the puffed french toast as did Lauren and I again although I made the mistake of adding the berry compote/sauce on top of one of mine and I didn’t like it, the sauce was nice but it made the toast go really soggy and I wasn’t a fan of the two together. Good job I got 2 pieces of french toast really!


I also got a bit carried away with the breakfast lasagne! Nobody else had touched it yet (to be fair it doesn’t look like the most appetizing option!) so I used the spoon to scoop what I thought was a fairly average portion and ended up with about half a plate full of the stuff! Honestly people must have thought I was some crazed sugar addict (and they would be mostly correct! )


Hey ho, the funny thing is I wasn’t even sure I liked it that much last year! The good news is it turns out that I actually like it a lot! Phew, see always best to double check you definitely don’t like something hehe.



My first plate! Look at the sausages and french toast balancing precariously on top of the breakfast lasagne mountain!


Our other breakfast choices included pastries, fruit, sausages (with maple syrup for Mum and I ), pancakes, bacon, Mickey waffles, potato casserole etc etc all really healthy stuff as you can see!


The only thing that wasn’t good was the corn beef hash which Mum and Dad had. It tasted nice but they both agreed that it was a little grizzly.


Other than that all the food was delicious!






Food glorious food! (Sorry not the best food photos! The last one came out super bright)



The characters soon started to arrive! Dad was going to be the official photo taker as he wasn’t too fussed about meeting them haha.


First up was Tigger! He was fun and bouncy as you’d expect!





Next over was Piglet! He kept moving his head to the side and his ear was in my face haha I had to stand on tiptoes in half of the photos.








We had to wait a little while longer for Eeyore and Winnie the Pooh so Dad and I went up to get some more food.






Our server came over to replenish our drinks and got talking to Dad about sports; cricket mostly I think. They were chatting for ages, most of it went over my head but it did help to pass the time until Eeyore arrived!


I love Eeyore, he’s my favourite Winnie the Pooh character!









Before the server gave us the bill he brought over a cupcake for Mum and I to share and a card each signed by the characters! We ended up sharing the cupcake between the 4 of us as we were so full from breakfast!












Kip signed them too along with a boomerang (I was right about his accent after all haha)



It was getting on for 9 o’ clock now and we could already see the crowds making their way in to the park.


We hadn’t seen Winnie the Pooh yet but we all agreed we weren’t too bothered. So we settled the bill before heading out. We were paying for this OOP as we had booked more ADR’s than we had credits for and we hadn’t collected our $200 gift card from DTD yet.


It came to $106.44 plus tip. Lauren and I paid our share and Dad paid for himself and Mum. An expensive breakfast, yes, but we had a lovely meal and walking down a practically empty Main St is where the real draw lays. It was a fantastic start to the day!

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[xAimeex]

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We had FP+ booked for the mountains today so we didn’t have to rush off to any of the headliners today so we made our way over to Adventureland instead!











It was really quiet over this side of the park so we walked on to Pirates of The Caribbean! We all love this ride!








We checked the wait times on the MDE app and Haunted Mansion had a short wait so we headed over next. We walked through to the stretch room. I adore this ride! Disney theming at its absolute best!












The pet cemetery











Next on our to do list was New Fantasyland! Mum and Dad hadn’t seen it yet and Mum especially was really excited to see it all in person after seeing our photos from last year!

We made our way over via Fantasyland. Mum and Dad were amazed by the attention to detail like the fact that the entrance to it looks like it’s the castle walls of Cinderella Castle!


Mum’s face especially was so fab to see as she was just so happy to be there at last after hearing Lauren and I talk about it so much!








We headed over to Journey of The Little Mermaid as Mum was desperate to go on it. Last year we facetimed Mum and Dad from this ride but it’s not the same as seeing it in person!








It was showing a 20 minute wait but we knew from experience last year that the wait time for this ride was nearly always exaggerated!


Sure enough it was only a 5 minute wait! It was great as always! I do think this ride is lacking an Ariel themed gift shop at the end though hehe.


We headed over to Story Book Circus next to have a look in Big Top Souvenirs! I love the theming of this shop!


Unfortunately Mum had had an allergic reaction to her magic band. We weren’t sure if it was down to the heat but every part of her wrist that it touched came up in a rash whenever she wore it. Lauren and I suggested she buy one of the fabric magic band covers to see if that helped.


She picked a really cute red and white spotty cover! I think it was about $8 but don’t quote me on that. I also seemed to have forgotten to take a photo! Sorry about that.


The cover did work well but the part where the band joined wasn’t covered by the band and Mum still found it irritated her skin. She solved the problem today by sticking a plaster over the part that wasn’t inside the cover. After this though she mostly kept her magic band in her bag and just took it out when she needed it which was a shame.







The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train wasn’t open yet but this was the back of the line of people that were hoping it would have a soft opening today!

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[xAimeex]

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We were in to our first FP+ window now. Lauren and I had FP+ booked for Space Mountain at 10:45 and Mum and Dad had one booked for Buzz’s Spaceranger Spin for 10:50 as Mum didn’t want to ride Space Mountain.


We headed over to Tomorrowland and Lauren and I waited until Mum and Dad were in to their FP time as this would be their first time using it and we wanted to make sure they got through ok.






We were like parents waving the children off to school as we explained about scanning their bands on the Mickey head just like at the entry gate and then watched them go off inside the queuing area!


Once they were gone Lauren and I headed over to Space Mountain. I always feel so nervous before riding this!





The queue was really slow moving today for some reason. It took us over 10 minutes to get on even in the FP line which was a bit frustrating. Also it gave me a chance to think about the ride and that’s never a good thing haha.


We eventually made it on though. I apologised to the guy in front of me in advance for any damage to his hearing haha. Just like the guy in front of me last year, I think he thought I was joking!


We were soon heading off and I didn’t even manage to fake a smile for the ride photo this year!





I’m not gonna lie, I screamed from start to finish! For some reason it seemed much worse than last year and I was petrified haha. I was shouting things like “I don’t want to go down any drops” and “I really hate it”.


Despite all of my shrill shrieking I could still hear Lauren laughing behind me and the guy laughing in front of me every time I shouted. I screamed so much that one single solitary tear fell from one of my eyes haha.


Once it was over and I’d made my escape we headed through to the gift shop to meet Mum and Dad.


As we had decided not to purchase Memory Maker this trip we wouldn’t be able to get the ride photos like we did last year so I had decided to purchase the Attractions + card. It cost about $53 with tax and you can then have any ride photos added to your card. We ended up with about 9 ride photos during the week. I think they cost about $15 individually so if we’d have paid for them all oop it would have cost $135 before tax so certainly a good saving to be made with this card!



Tomorrowland selfie


Next up we headed to Carousel of Progress! We had to wait for a couple of minutes so we watched the video that plays outside of Walt Disney and the Sherman brothers singing Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow!








Lauren and I love this so much and somehow Mum and Dad had never seen it so we were excited for them to see it for the first time!


They both liked it too! They already knew the song as Lauren and I have the park music CD! Mum even joined in when everyone started singing along. There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow… shining at the end of every day! Try and get that one out of your head!


I always love trying to look out for little details like the Mickey Mouse nutcracker that’s on the mantelpiece in the Christmas scene! This year in the Valentine’s section I spotted a card on the table with Sarah’s name on it, its little touches like this that I love!


We were nearly in to our Big Thunder Mountain FP+ so we started to make our way over to Frontierland.








We stopped on the way to watch the Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it parade for a few minutes! I love the atmosphere this parade creates!











We also stopped off in the Ye Olde Christmas Shop in Liberty Square as it was feeling really hot now and we were in desperate need of the air con!







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[xAimeex]

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We carried on walking up to Big Thunder Mountain and went through the FP+ line. Luckily here we walked straight on after having to wait in the FP line for Space Mountain!





Despite having been on Big Thunder Mountain before, Mum confessed before we went that she was really scared of it.


I thought she was just remembering it as worse than it is. I also told her that if someone as wimpy as me can call it their favourite ride then it can’t be that bad haha.


Mum was feeling really nervous as we waited to get on! Lauren sat with her for moral support!



This is the face I usually sport before riding Splash Mountain hehe.



I sat next to Dad. I think Dad must be a bit bigger than Lauren and I though as when we pulled the safety bar down there was still a gap between my legs and the bar so I kept sliding about! I still loved the ride but at one point I shouted “I don’t feel safe”. Honestly I don’t even attempt to be calm and composed on rides! Still my favourite Disney coaster though!



Mum loved it in the end!


We finished here at 11:45. The crowds had certainly picked up now and as Lauren and I generally eat lunch early while it’s still quiet we were suddenly very aware that it was edging closer to 12 and if we left it much longer we’d be eating bang on lunch time.


Our original plan had been to eat at Pecos Bill’s as we love the food and it’s so big that it’s not difficult to get a table. Lauren had read that they’d taken the sweet potato fries off the menu which is a shame as they were her favourite thing on the menu so she wasn’t as keen to eat there anymore.


The rest of us were happy to eat anywhere so we decided to head to another of our favourite MK counter service restaurants, Columbia Harbour House.





As expected it was really busy when we arrived. A CM came around the line and handed everyone a menu to look at while we were waiting. She was called Jill and was very excited to spot Mum’s name on her birthday badge so we took a picture!



Jill and Jill!


The line moved fairly quickly and we passed the time deciding what to eat. As we hadn’t planned to eat here even Lauren and I hadn’t decided in advance what we’d be having haha.


Dad went for the lobster roll. Lauren had the lighthouse sandwich, I had the anchors away sandwich and Mum went for the fried shrimp platter. Desserts were 3 yoghurts and the seasonal fruit cobbler for me. The total came to $65.94 but we used 4 counter service credits.


I was still a little sour about the fact they’d taken the apple crisp dessert off the menu but the cobbler this year actually won me over! Last year it had been peach which I wasn’t keen on but this trip it was blueberry and was a truly heavenly counter service dessert!


While Dad and I waited for the food, Lauren and Mum went in search of a table upstairs.


Once Dad and I had the food we carried the trays precariously up the stairs to find Mum and Lauren.



Mine, Mum’s and Dad’s lunch plus my dessert!



Lauren’s sandwich


It was busier than I’ve ever seen it up there! We’re used to the upstairs seating being really quiet but I guess with it being Memorial Day weekend and also a bit later than we usually eat it was to be expected.


Luckily Mum and Lauren had found a table near to one of the windows that looks out over Haunted Mansion and the Liberty Belle.


We all really enjoyed our food! Dad loved the lobster roll and said it was really good considering it was from a fast food sort of place! Mum also really liked the fried shrimp!


Lauren had the lighthouse sandwich which has hummus and tomatoes in it. She’s had it before and loved it and it was just as good this time!


I had the anchors away sandwich which has tuna in it. The bread on both of our sandwiches was toasted which was nice. I’d usually go for something fried here so this was a bit of a change for me but I really enjoyed it! Having eaten such a big breakfast it was nice to have something a little lighter!


I’m also pleased to report that the lemonade Lauren had this time was completely normal! Last year it was so super sweet that even I couldn’t drink it!


We finished her at about 12:40. We had a FP+ booked for Splash Mountain at 1 but it was HOT out now and Mum and Dad especially were feeling pretty tired and Lauren and I didn’t want to push them too much so we decided to head out instead.


I of course was gutted about this as if you’ve read my previous trip reports you’ll know that I just love Splash Mountain and look forward to riding it every trip! (If only there was a font for sarcasm!)


Hehe so yeah there were certainly no tears shed from me! I think Mum was secretly quite glad about it as well!







We headed back towards Main St. Mum and I stopped off at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlour to use our first snack credit on a coke float to share!





We all headed over to the Emporium to have a look on the way out. Lauren bought some really cute pyjamas. They were about $35 I think.











I was planning to buy a Dooney and Bourke handbag this trip so I wondered over to the shops on the other side of Main St to have a look in the bag shop (I’m sure it has a name but I have no idea what it is!) They didn’t have the one I wanted so I decided to leave it until we went to Downtown Disney later.


By the time we’d all finished browsing it was 12:55. We headed over to the OKW bus stop but a bus didn’t turn up until 1:20 which was slightly frustrating as we were all flagging now but we were soon on our way.












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[xAimeex]

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We made it back to OKW at 1:45. As I said earlier the South Point bus stop is the 2nd stop so we didn’t have to sit on the bus as it went around the whole resort!


We headed straight back to the room and collapsed in to bed for an hour.


I woke up first and decided to try out the Jacuzzi bathtub! This was one of my favourite things about staying in a villa at Old Key West, the bath was amazing! It was the perfect way to relax after a morning spent walking around the parks!


The others decided to try it too so by the time we’d waited for the bath to empty and refill for everyone it was gone 5 by the time we were ready to head out to Downtown Disney.









Any excuse for a Minnie Mouse hair ribbon!


We left the room at 5:15 with the plan of walking over to Hospitality House to catch the boat over.


When we got there though a DTD bus was just pulling in at the front of HH so we decided to get on that rather than wait for the boat.


HH was the last pick up so we headed straight to DTD. We arrived at 5:30 and decided to have a look in a couple of shops first.


Our first stop was the Christmas shop! One of my favourite shops in WDW!





We buy a decoration here for our Christmas tree every trip so we had a good look round but we couldn’t find one that everyone agreed on.


I was also on the lookout for some decorations for my little honorary nieces. They went to Disneyland Paris a couple of years ago and bought back these lovely glass baubles with tinkerbell inside for their tree.


Unfortunately last Christmas when they got out the box of decorations for the tree, one of these had broken and the girls were really upset. I’d decided before we went to make it my mission to find them some similar decorations to make up for the broken one.


I knew I wouldn’t be able to find the same one that they had had but I was really pleased to find a similar style bauble with a glass slipper inside rather than Tinkerbell!


They were so gorgeous and I knew the girls would love them!





I spotted some on display that had been personalised and I knew that would make them even more special so I went over to the personalisation desk to fill out a form to have the girls names added to them!


They weren’t going to be ready until 9 and we weren’t planning to stay that late so I decided to have them shipped back to Old Key West to collect in the gift shop there! We don’t often use this perk of staying onsite but it certainly came in handy with these!


With the personalisation and tax the total came to $38. They were worth it though as the girls were so pleased with them and can’t wait to put them on their tree this Christmas!


As I was waiting to pay I got chatting to an American family. They asked where I was from and it turned out that the Mum had spent her summers in Brighton as a child with her Grandparents so we chatted about the pier and the lack of sand on the beach!


As we had spent a while longer in the Christmas shop due to my purchases we decided to head straight to Earl of Sandwich next.


It was busy as you’d expect but no busier than it normally is. Lauren and I already knew what we’d be having after experiencing the holiday sandwich last year! It’s total sandwich heaven!


Mum and Dad had decided to share a philly cheesesteak sandwich as Mum wasn’t that hungry. Dad ended up finishing the rest of Lauren’s sandwich as he was still hungry. I didn’t have any leftovers to offer him as I’d eaten all of mine up .


Puddings were chocolate pudding, fruit jello and a chocolate cupcake!


This along with fountain drinks came to $37.18 but we used 3 counter service credits.














After we’d finished eating we headed over for a quick look in Once Upon A Toy followed by Tren-D where I bought a cute Minnie Mouse t-shirt. It was about $35 as most of the Disney t-shirts tend to be


















The Disney Co-Op still hadn’t opened which was a shame


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[xAimeex]

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Our next stop was World of Disney as we needed to collect the $200 gift card that came with our booking. We had to collect it from the information desk which was over in the jewellery section if I remember right.


Mum and Dad had decided to give the gift card to Lauren and I, how nice are they!


So we agreed on a place to meet up again in about half an hour and off Lauren and I trotted to go and get the gift card.


Well this was our first mistake!


We found the desk pretty easily and I showed the CM the voucher for the gift card we had received with our paperwork.


All was fine and dandy until the CM asked which of us was S *our surname* and could she see our photo ID!


Of course, the booking was in Sean’s name so he needed to be present to collect the gift card.


Lauren decided to go off and try and find Dad. We’d only been in there a little while, he couldn’t have gone far, right!


Honestly if you’ve been, you know how big this store is and how easy it is to get lost in there! I was pretty sure it was going to be a good while before I saw Dad or Lauren again hehe.


I was also concerned that Dad wouldn’t have any photo ID as we don’t carry the passports around and he doesn’t have a driving license in which case we’d have to leave the gift card for the night. We weren’t due to come back to DTD until the end of the week and we needed the gift card before then to cover the meals Lauren and I weren’t using credits for.


By some miracle Lauren came back a few minutes later with Mum and Dad in tow! I couldn’t believe she’d managed to find them so easily! A second stroke of luck was that Dad had photo ID in the form of his season ticket for the train! They accepted this without any problem which was a relief!


We were given a gift card with Olaf on and the CM joked that we were lucky to have that one as it was the only piece of Frozen merchandise we were likely to come across in the store haha.


With the gift card drama over I set off on my other mission for the night. Finding a new handbag!


The Dooney and Bourke bags were in the same section as the information desk but they keep them hanging up behind the cash registers for obvious reasons.


I’d already had a look online and fallen in love with an over the shoulder bag with lots of landmarks from the parks. They had that one in stock luckily but I also spotted a second one that I hadn’t seen online.


It’s this one here.


I fell in love with this one too so I asked to have a look at both.


It was really hard to decide as I didn’t want to make the wrong decision on a bag I was spending so much money on.


I eventually decided to stick with my first choice as it really represents the parks so much and that was what I loved about it in the first place!






I love it so much!


It cost around $190 with tax so not cheap but it was the one thing I’d decided to treat myself to this trip and I’d actually set myself a budget of $250 so really I was coming in under budget!


My Mum couldn’t believe I was spending so much on such a small bag but she agreed it was lovely!


It does look small but there is plenty of room for a phone, purse, keys, make up which is all I really take out with me. I’m so glad I went with this design though as it makes me smile whenever I look at it!


With my bag purchased and the gift card collected we left World of Disney and headed over to look in Basin and Arribas Brothers. Just as we arrived at the latter it started to pour with rain and by the time we left we could see lightening in the distance so that put an end to our plan to get the boat back to Old Key West.


We headed over to the bus stop via a quick look in the Art of Disney shop until the rain had stopped.


We got to the bus stop at 7:30 and luckily a bus turned up after 5 minutes. We stopped off to collect people from the Pleasure Island bus stops and then we were on our way. The roads in and out of the DTD area were rammed! There was a traffic patrol car parked up on the curb, I guess to keep the situation calm. It was the Sunday night of Memorial Weekend though which I think was adding to the weekend traffic.


For some reason the buses back from Downtown Disney to Old Key West take a different route around the resort bus stops (I’m not sure if this is all the time or we were just unlucky). We ended up being the second to last bus stop which meant we didn’t make it back to the room until 8.


We came in and watched TV for a bit. The great thing about being in a villa was that Mum and Dad had a TV in their room and we had one in the main living area so no arguments about what we were watching.


At around half 8 Dad and I decided to wander over to Hospitality House to fill up the mugs and grab some big bottles of drink to keep in the fridge from the general store.


We grabbed a big bottle of coke and water and then a couple of bags of crisps. It seemed like such a long walk back carrying the heavy bags and all the mugs but as there had been rain it was lovely and cool out which helped.


We watched a bit more TV when we got in before eventually falling asleep at half 9 as we had another early start tomorrow!


Thanks for reading x

[w3dal]

Another cracking day and report

[Guest]

Ah what a lovely day! Love your purchases! I have that bag design but the biggest one and Disneyland :-)

[Bellasmummy]

Sounds like a great day.

We were caught in the rain that evening at DTD as well, it was our last night and the first rain we had the whole two weeks.