Okay, I'm really back now!

Hello again!

Goodness it's been a while. I do apologies for not keeping this up like I said I would when I started. I've really let myself down. But I am determined to keep this going, I am also trying to keep a personal diary at home too. Wish me luck on that one!

So, my holiday! It was fantastic. One of the best holidays I have ever had.

We (myself, mum, aunty Mary, uncle Ian, cousin Alan, aunty Mo and uncle James) went to Orlando, Florida to celebrate my uncle James' 50th birthday. It was he who decided where to have his big birthday vacation and I cannot tell you how happy it made me when he said he wanted to go to Florida. I dearly love America and feel very lucky to have been to several States on vacation over the years, but Florida holds a very special place in my heart. The first time I ever went to America with my family, I was 6 years old and could barely control my excitement at the thought of going to Disneyland. Since then we went 6 more times with the last visit in 2003, a little over a month after my father passed away. His death was sudden and completely shocked and devastated my family. Our holiday had been booked for 14 of us to go, but I had reservations about going this time. I had just turned 15 and was still in a very bad way after losing my dad. I am an only child none of my friends had lost a parent at such a young age so i felt very alone and frightened. I didn't really want to talk about his death as it was too painful, and I liked to pretend he wasn't really dead. The reality was too hard to accept. The last thing I wanted to do was to share a villa with my dad's grieving family in one of my dad's favourite places in the world (he too was a big kid). But no-one listens to you when you're 15, all I kept getting from people was 'it'll be good for you and your mum to get away', 'you'll feel better when you are over there'. They were wrong. I hated it, I cried myself to sleep every night and everyone became irritable to me. I'm quite a sweet tempered person and only really lose it if I am provoked beyond belief, but on this holiday I became a ticking time bomb. I didn't enjoy that holiday at all, and after I got home I fell into a very deep depression and gained a lot of weight. I didn't have nice memories of that holiday at all, it almost scarred my memories of Florida...until 2012.

We arrived on Sunday July 29th at Sanford Airport at about 13:30. We had flown from Glasgow airport in the afternoon. We were not seated on the plane together unfortunately due to taxi trouble (not only was our taxi late, they also sent the wrong size of taxi - but the main thing is we got there!). I was seated next to 2 older women who I believe were friends, not relatives who were meeting up with people in Orlando. They were very nice to chat to whilst we sat on the run way. As soon as the plane was cruising through the sunny sky, they both whipped out their 50 Shades of Grey while I pulled out the iPad and watched Superman I-III. It was a very pleasant flight, except for a worrying half hour where an elderly gentleman passed out and a doctor had to be called to take over the situation. I never did find out what happened to him but I did thankfully see him get up and walk back to his seat by himself.

No-one enjoys baggage claim, whether you are starting or finishing a holiday but this time it was quite pleasant for us. Due to our late arrival at Glasgow airport we were the last people on the plane which meant our cases were the first off. So after collecting our bags first we headed straight out of the airport, where the heat hit us like the opening of an oven door, across the street to pick up our rented vehicle for the fortnight.

Our rented car. I nicknamed it The Road Warrior (ref to Frasier)

We arrived at our villa, in Haines City. It had 2 master bedrooms, one double room and 3 twin rooms, 4 bathrooms, a dining room, 3 lounges, a garage and a swimming pool with jacuzzi. It was spacious and luxurious. We really landed on our feet with this one.

Every single day we were at a theme park, we managed to get a great deal on 14 day theme park tickets, meaning for the entire holiday we could re-visit any theme park as many times as we wanted.

On the second day, we went with The Magic Kingdom, quite possibly my favourite place in the whole world. It takes me right back to my childhood and I still get the same excited feeling in my gut every time I see Cinderella's castle. Hell, I get excited being on the monorail!

Can my smile get any bigger?

This is not a park for rides though, there are 3 fabulous roller coasters (Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain, we did them all twice), all other rides and shows are aimed at younger children (especially It's A Small World). During this visit to The Magic Kingdom, we had an encounter with a rather famous person. I know you're all assuming it was THAT mouse...although we did see him, the famous persona was in fact Tom Cruise! Tom f***ing Cruise with his little daughter. I couldn't believe it was actually him! One of my all time favourite actors and he was right in front of me!! Had Mr Cruise been on his own, I would have asked to have my picture taken with him as he is very well know to be generous with his time for his fans. But as he was there taking his little girl to Disneyland for the day I did not think it was appropriate to bug the man, so I just watched him walk past me. But I had to take a picture of course ;-)

Tom Cruise with his daughter in The Magic Kingdom

Our third day was spent at Sea World, it was one of the warmest days during our stay. It's been such a long time since I was last in Sea World that it seemed new to me. although all the same shows were there e.g. Shamu, Clyde and Seymore and the Dolphin Show. I've never been an animal lover, but I absolutely adore sea creatures, I find them beautiful, peaceful and fascinating. Take me to a zoo, I'm miserable. Take me to an aquarium, I'm in heaven. As well as all the fish tanks to absorb there are fantastic rides here too. The best and most unusual of them all was the Manta. This was not here the last that I was so I was eager to go on. Thankfully the queue was not that long, and I went on with my cousin, 2 aunts and my uncle (the other 2, mum and uncle Ian held the bags). We get to the front of the queue and sit in our seats. Like all roller coasters, you then need to pull down the harness and buckle up with your seat belt. Unlike most roller coasters, your feet are then clamped into place and you are then pushed forward so you are looking at the ground as the ride starts it's decent. It's the strangest feeling as you get to the top of the track. Then your breath catches in your chest as you plunge from the drop then go on your back then upside down and round again. It gives you the feeling that you are flying. It's exciting and slightly sickening but one of the best experiences of my life. I would highly recommend to anyone who has always wanted to fly!

The Manta in action.

On the fourth day we went to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney's water parks. This was a new experience for me as I have never been to a water park before. When we went years ago I would have loved to have gone as I was a very strong swimmer as a child and absolutely loved the water but neither of my parents could swim and my dad was quite scared of the water so we never ventured to a water park until now. And my goodness it was worth the wait, we had a fabulous time, except for my cousin Alan who didn't seem to have any luck when it came to water parks. The first thing we went on was the Lazy Lagoon which is a slow moving river that pushes to smoothly about a mile around the park in a big rubber ring. Alan, who didn't realise how shallow the water was, jumped through the rubber ring, scraped his knee on the surface and broke his toe with the force of the fall. We had literally only been in the park for 10 minutes! There are plenty of water rides there, again we were very lucky that the queues were not too long. Although word of warning, the bigger the water slide then the more likely you are to get a wedgie and water in your ass. not very pleasant. And lest we forget, in between rides and queuing, always make time for an ice cream. Just make sure you are clear on which ice cream you are ordering or you can end up with the wrong and most expensive order!

Uncle James asked for a tub of Ice Cream and accidentally ordered a bucket of Ice Cream big enough for 7 people. Strangers were actually stopping him to get a picture of the bucket!

Day five was spent at Busch Gardens for all of us except my mum. Busch Gardens is mostly a theme park for roller coaster lovers which my mum is not. So she had a relaxing day by the pool on her own while we headed out down the highway. This place is just non stop full of rides and Safari animals. The most spectacular ride of all was one called the Shikra (we re-named it Shakira by the end of the evening as no-one could remember it!). Another one with a heavy, steep ascend. I was especially worried about this due to the fact I was sitting in the middle seat of the third row which, I was informed is specifically designed for the 'bigger' rider. Suffice to say I had a bit more room than I needed for such a fast loopy ride. When you get to the top, you are dangled over the side for a few seconds completely vertically so you can see where you are about to drop, when we did I jumped out of my seat and was thrown from one side to the other. It was fantastic!!! I loved it so much, I went straight back on again and in the same oversized seat. I paid for it in the morning though!

My arm the morning after the night before on the Shikra. I was covered in bruises after being flung about in the bigger seat!

Day six and all seven of us are off to Universal Studios, one of my favourite parks. I feel right at home here, I'm such a big movie geek that the sight of fake movie sets and props excites me in ways most people could never imagine! All of that accompanied by the soundtrack to Universal Studios most iconic films (most of which were composed by the legend that is John Williams) and bumping into famous movie characters! Heaven!

Alan and I with Doc Brown. I'm sure we will see him again at some point in 2015 ;-)

Universal, I'm glad to say hasn't really changed that much since we were last here. The new ride that I was most excited about was the Rock It, a long winding roller coaster which plays the song of your choice on the mp3 player sitting in front of you. I decided to go for Bring Me to Life by Evanecence, a strange choice for me but there wasn't much to go for in such a short space of time before the ride starts. It did offer a new experience for me too, the ascent on this ride is completely vertical, you are lying flat on your back all the way up to the top and then dropped. It was fast and thoroughly fantastic. Highly recommended. The best ride of the day for me was quite a controversial one. I am a massive fan of Back to the Future and was quite upset when I heard it had been replaced. It had been one of my favourite rides from our old visits and I was upset to think that we wouldn't be on it, until I was informed that the ride was still there, but now it belonged to The Simpsons! As a life long Simpsons fan, I couldn't wait to get on it. The queue was pretty long, but the hundreds of classic Simpsons clips that were played as we waited made the queue more and more pleasant. We finally got on the ride and I never thought I would say this...it was better than Back to the Future. I laughed my ass off the whole way through it, it was fantastic. And to top all that off, we then took a trip to the Kwik-E-Mart and treated myself to a can of Duff and a Flaming Moe. The child in me was buzzing. My father, who was also a big fan of The Simpsons would have absolutely loved this.

Krustyland now replaces the gone (but not forgotten) Back to the Future Ride.

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? I doooooooooooooooo!

We picked a fantastic year to come to Universal Studios as they are celebrating their 100th anniversary. At the end of the evening they put on the most fantastic water show featuring fireworks, water features and the best clips from 100 years of cinematic magic.

From one movie studio to another, day seven was spent at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The last time I was here it was called MGM Studios and my goodness it has changed. Upon entering the park the first thing you see is the iconic blue wizards hat worn by Mickey Mouse in the Disney classic Fantasia. Again, i'm all giddy walking down the fake movie set streets (I get so sucked into it that I still look both ways when crossing over the fake sidewalk over to the other side of the fake street!). Two fantastic rides, the Hollywood Tower of Terror and possibly my favourite roller coaster of all time (along with the Pepsi Max in Blackpool) Aerosmith's Rocking Roller Coaster. We went on this twice, the first time Sweet Emotion was the song of the ride. A great song but a bit slow for a Roller Coaster. The second time was better as we screamed our way through Love in an Elevator. Amazing!

One of the best rides ever!

As well as the 2 rides and movie sets, Hollywood Studios also delivers the Backlot stage tour, live Disney shows and live stunt shows. But if there is one thing this Disney Park does, it gives the best night time spectacular in Florida. Fantasmic is a show that features Mickey Mouse as the main hero up against every Disney villain there has ever been. Through fireworks, waterworks and music Mickey saves the day and brings out every Disney character with him on Steamboat Willie. Breathtaking!

A sight that would bring tears to the eyes of any Disney fan.

By the 8th day we rested. Getting up every morning at 7.30am and leaving at 8.30am to go to a park for 12 hours then get home for 11pm can really take it out of you. So we decided to have a long lie and laze around the villa before heading our to Epcot in the afternoon. Epcot is often criticised for being a bit dull and too educational to have fun, but I hadn't been in 18 years so I was willing to give it my best shot, even if other members of our party were not. Epcot is great for character greetings. We met Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Goofy and Chip 'n' Dale. Apart from Goofy, I am now taller than all of the characters. It's so weird, I don't ever remember them being that small! But height makes no difference, mentally I am still the same 6 year old girl that couldn't wait to hug Mickey Mouse the first time I ever clapped eyes on him.

The man of my dreams

Day nine and we are back to the normal 12 hour shift at another theme park. This time back to Universal Studios and across the water to Islands of Adventure. I have no memory of going to this park before but apparently I have been, but new stuff has been added. We started in Marvel's Super Hero Island, here we went on The Amazing Spiderman and Incredible Hulk rides and wondered around all the souvenir shops. But the highlight of the day, and of the whole park was Harry Potter land! I've never read the Harry Potter books but I adore the film franchise and the sight of Hogwarts was surreal! The Harry Potter simulator ride takes place in the school so you have to queue (for 90 mins) through Hogwarts. During this time you can watch the pictures on the wall talk to each other and talk to you, have a look around Dumbledore's office until you get to the ride where you sit on a broomstick and ride with Harry through the school. After this we then headed out to the other ride, the Duelling Dragons, then we were off to Honeydukes to buy Pumpkin Juice, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean and a Chocolate Frog. The Frog was delicious but the juice was disgusting and those beans...like they are in the film, completely vile. I only ate 3, I started off with mud, then earthworm and finally vomit. I drew the line at the last one. I washed all the down with a refreshing cup of Butter Beer which was absolutely delicious! I'm really sad about the fact that I can't walk into my local pub and order one. Butter Beer is non-alcoholic by the way!

Enjoying my frozen Butter Beer.

Day ten was spent at Animal Kingdom, my least favourite of all the Disney Parks. As I said earlier, I am not an animal lover by any means and this park is dedicated to the love of all animals. I did enjoy the Lion King and Finding Nemo shows and I very much enjoyed the Everest ride but all in all, it was a lazy day for me mostly spent at the bar in the Africa section listening to the wonderful African houseband whilst everyone else went to look at the animals. I'm glad I went (mainly for the character greetings) but I shan't be returning to this park on my next trip to Florida.

The highlight of my day, cuddles from Eeyore!

Day eleven was more relaxing, we were off to Blizzard Beach, Disney's other major water park. I was thrilled to discover that they too had a lazy river, accompanied by reggae and christmas music as you floated along. This park is absolutely stunning with it's christmassy glow and blue water. 

It looks cold, but it really wasn't!

Alan suffered another fatality, this time on the Bobsled ride. You lie face forward on a mat and bob from side to side until the reach the end and skid across the water. Alan came off with a black eye and red knees! He survived though! After we finished all the big rides and had something to eat, I spent the rest of the day by myself floating in my rubber ring along the lazy river. Absolute bliss!

My nick name for the rest of the holiday was 'Rubber Ring Taylor'.

By day 12 the family group had split, the official reason being due to different interests. Mum, aunty Mary, uncle Ian and cousin Alan wanted to shop. Myself, uncle Jame and aunty Mo wanted to drink! So before the  shopping began, the first group kindly dropped us off at Epcot at 11am to start our pub crawl in the Canada section of the park. As we three made our ways through the pubs we met characters along the way. In each of the little countries stands characters who originated from fairytales/folklore of that specific place. For example, in the UK we met Mary Poppins and Alice from Alice in Wonderland. In Germany we met Snow White, in France we met Beauty and the Beast, Marie from the Aristocats and Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty etc. It was so exciting to see them and to talk to them too, they can come across as patronising as these actors are trained to talk to everyone (and I mean everyone) like they are five years old. And the more drunk I was getting, the more I was answering them like a five year old!

Me and aunty Mo with Mary Poppins. Spit-Spot.

With Princess Aurora in Paris

With Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco

We had dinner in the UK, not because we missed good British food, but because you don't need a reservation to eat there! We all had huge steaks followed by more delicious cocktails. We then moved over to London to watch 'The British Revolution' who played superb cover version of British rock music frrom the 60s to the present day.

The band and their British groupies!

We had such a fantastic day, I just wish the park was opened longer!

Day 13 and the group is back together again and off to Aqauatica - Sea World's water park which features water slides through aquariums! Amaze-balls!

Aqautica has, quite simply the best water ride i've ever been on - fast moving water!!! You put a life jacket on and you are flown through this tidal wave around the outskirts of the park. I think it might actually be better than the lazy river! Our day here was cut short when the lightning started. At any water park health and safety force you out of the water and place you in secure areas until the weather passes. Sadly it didn't so we left early but having had a fab time! Alan's only injury was a wedgie on one of the water slides, but it did hurt his balls!

Alan with some new friends. You can see the slide tube in the background that goes through the aquarium.

Our 14th and final day, we went back to Typhoon Lagoon to relax and prepare us for the long 8 hour flight that would be taking us home in less than 24 hours. What a fantastic holiday. We never wasted a minute. I would do it all again in heart beat. I really hope this wasn't my last visit to Florida, but if it was, it was a hell of a way to end it!

Mum and I at the airport waiting to go home!

I feel like i've been typing for hours. I'm off now, but I will be back

Peace and Love

TT