paul riley

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 7 – Wednesday 12th August - Hollywood Studios

Admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:00:00 -1000

This entry has been written from the view point of someone who has never been to any Disney theme park, not even Disneyland Paris.
It is also my first holiday in the US, and although I have spent two weeks in eastern Canada, I expect that the experience will be very different.
I would also like to point out that this holiday is being spent with my pregnant wife and two children under the age of ten, and so it is very unlikely that we will be experiencing any of the major thrill rides, which to be honest is no loss as far as I am concerned anyway.

After spending a couple of hours back at the villa, we decided to take advantage of the parking ticket we had already paid for on the day and eat out at one of the Disney parks, and the decision was made that we fancied some Art Deco dinning at Disney Hollywood Studios.

A quick note parking at any of the Disney parks (that's Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios) costs $12 per day. However should you decide to visit more than one park in a day, or return to a park later in the day there is no additional cost.

We arrived at Hollywood Studios late afternoon, but felt that it was a little to early to have dinner, instead we decided to catch at least one attraction before hand, the attraction chosen was the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.Read More...

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 7 – Wednesday 12th August - Epcot

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:00:00 -1000

This entry has been written from the view point of someone who has never been to any Disney theme park, not even Disneyland Paris.
It is also my first holiday in the US, and although I have spent two weeks in eastern Canada, I expect that the experience will be very different.
I would also like to point out that this holiday is being spent with my pregnant wife and two children under the age of ten, and so it is very unlikely that we will be experiencing any of the major thrill rides, which to be honest is no loss as far as I am concerned anyway.

The 7th day of our holiday in Florida, and I woke up suffering. Although we had been pretty much on top of applying sunscreen since we had arrived, the combination of water, and being out in the sun continuously had resulted in me getting burnt, how much I would find out on the morning of day 8. So the first act of the day was a quick visit to Publics and the purchase of some after sun, back at the villa, once the after sun had been applied it was just a case of keeping fingers crossed.

Having already done the other main Disney parks at least once, we decided that this was the day to do Epcot, the park with the large iconic golf ball structure, and so plans for the visit where put together, as to what we would like to see on our first visit.

Despite the trip to get the after sun, we again managed to get to car park at Epcot nice and early, and soon found ourselves though the entrance and looking across the monuments, up towards Spaceship Earth. Read More...

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 6 – Tuesday 11th August

Admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:29:00 -1000

After a busy day on Monday at the Animal Kingdom, and because we had promised the kids, we decided that Tuesday we would take the kids to one of the two water parks at Disney World. Looking through the guide books we had with us, it seemed that Typhoon Lagoon was the less extreme park of the two and the one most suited to younger children, so we may the park our destination for the day.

Walt Disney World Resort - Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park

On arriving at the park the first difference you find from the main theme parks is that the car parking is free, I suspect that this is intended as a mechanism ensure that the park does not get too over crowded. The next difference is that because the car park is smaller that the main park car parks there are no trams shuttling you to and from you car.

As with the entrances at the main parks there is a bag check and then the turn styles, and once through you follow the footpath up and over a small hill to the main changing/lockers area, keys for the lockers are paid for at the gift shop. Read More...

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 5 – Monday 10th August – Animal Kingdom

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:00:00 -1000

Having had a successful day the day before, we decided that the fifth day of the holiday we would approach it in pretty much the same way. So once again we packed a backpack and left the villa early, only this time Disney's Animal Kingdom was our destination. This, like Hollywood Studios, is located to the south of the Disney World area, and we arrived and were at the gates by about quarter past nine.

Walt Disney World Resort - Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park

Once though the gates we had our first attraction already planned out, the Kilimanjaro Safari, which is pretty much at the other end of the park to the entrance.

The park itself is, like the others, divided into sections that radiate out from the central Tree of Life feature, and the safari is located in the Africa section. One thing we immediately noticed about this park is that it seemed hotter and more humid, which I think is in part down to the dense vegetation probably stopping all breezes, which in turn are not able to blow any of the humidity away. Read More...

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 5 – Monday 10th August - Afternoon

Admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:00:00 -1000

From the exit of the safari, Pangani forest exploration trial is pretty much next door, and gives you a chance to see even more wildlife, but this time on your own two feet, this is much more like a zoo, although one in Africa not the UK. The animals on display here are a mix of primates (monkeys and apes), small mammals (meerkats) and birds. Compared to the Safari this is very much more low key, but worth the visit.

As you wander around the Africa section you will hear what sounds like a steam train periodically tooting its horn, this we found out was the train that took you to Rafiki's planet watch. This part of the park is very much an educational attraction, enlightening the visitors to the work done by Disney in the area of conservation.

To get to Rafiki's planet watch you take the Wildlife express train, a train in which you sit sideways and view parts of the safari park and the areas behind the scenes where the animals welfare is looked after. Read More...

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 4 – Sunday 9th August - Afternoon

Admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:00:00 -1000

We wandered back to the main central area, mainly to refocus and regroup, and noticed that some of Disney's characters were out on a meet and photo opportunity session, this was something we had all but overlooked in or plans for the park visits. Unfortunately we had missed the opportunity that time but the characters are out regularly with times and locations detailed on the Times Guide, so we took the chance to eat, it was already lunchtime pretty much, and our plans to keep our energy levels up appeared to be working.

Finding ourselves by the Chinese we thought we'd do the Great Movie ride, none of us knew anything about it but the rating in the guide book we took with us indicated that it would not scare the children. The queue for the ride took you past a number of movie artefacts before you passed through a 'cinema' showing trailers for a number of very famous films of yesteryear. Read More...

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 4 – Sunday 9th August - Startours

Admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -1000

Star Tours has apparently been at Hollywood studios for at least twenty years and is a ride inspired by Steven Spielberg's blockbusting movie series Starwars. As you approach it you first notice the full size AT-AT looming over you and an entrance to a rebel base below it, at various times during the day (refer to the Times Guide) a show is put on in front of the rebel base where children can train, under the tuition of a Jedi master to become a Jedi warrior.

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 4 – Sunday 9th August – Disney Hollywood Studios

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:00:00 -1000

Saturday evening heralded a flash of inspiration, the days so far had started slowly and by the time we had got to the parks we were all starting to feel the effects of the heat and jetlag, what we hadn't remembered was that our body clocks were running five hours ahead, and the days don't start too hot, so the logical thought is go early to the parks and return home in the afternoon.

Day 4, we decided would see us visit a park we hadn't yet been to, and what also turns out to be one of the closest parks to the villa, Disney Hollywood Studios. We packed a backpack with water, fruit juices, sandwiches and snacks, another thought was that we should eat little and often to keep our energies up, and headed of just before nine.

As you leave the 192 and join World Drive you find the turning for Hollywood (was MGM) Studios peals off to the right, and the parks greeting sign arriving just after the main Disney World arches. As with the Magic Kingdom parking was a breeze, the park has six car parks each given a different name, in the case of Hollywood they are aspects of entertainment (stage, television etc.), and a tram shuttles you from the car park to the gates of the park.

Tip
So that you don't forget where you parked you car, after parking the car walk to the end of the line that the car is parked in, and using either your digital camera, or preferably the camera on your mobile phone to photograph the row details painted on the ground. Each row has the name of the car park and the row number, as shown below.

One final thought, you will probably be driving a hire car so take a photo of it's license plate (registration plate), so if you confronted with an entire row of identical cars, you'll know which one is yours.

The entrance to the park consist of the same two elements as the Magic Kingdom, bag search and turnstiles, but rather than the mid-west theme from the turn of the century, it very art deco of thirties Hollywood. procession through these is as efficient as the Magic Kingdom and soon you find yourself looking down Hollywood Boulevard toward Mickey's sorcerers' apprentice hat, everything oozes thirties Hollywood and for a moment you feel that you could be in California with the palm trees reaching up into the blue sky above.

As with Main Street, the shops welcome you in to explore and enjoy, though here there is more of a movie theme than the Magic Kingdom. You'll also notice that Disney have cleverly sprinkled references to various movies in the architecture, most prominently 'Who framed Roger Rabbit?'.

As with Magic Kingdom the park is centred around an iconic Disney image, in the case of Hollywood it's Mickey's sorcerers hat, which also acts as the backdrop to the regular High School Musical show. To the left is Echo Lake which was home, at the time of our visit, to four main attractions, auditions for this years American Idol and an American Idol experience, the Sounds Dangerous radio show starring Drew Carey, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, and the Star Tours ride.

Walt Disney World Resort - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Note
This is an early version of the article and may, and probably will change as the rest of the articles written about this holiday are completed. If there are any mistakes you feel I have made please leave a comment and I will try to resolve them in future revisions.

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 3 – Saturday 8th August – T-Rex

admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:03:00 -1000

Very quickly we discovered that T-Rex is a sister restaurant to the Rainforest Cafe, which if your not already aware of is a chain of restaurants whose interior is made to look like a rainforest, hence the name, and comes complete with animatronics animals that periodically move and make noises of the animals they portray. The chain is very popular, even having two restaurants in Disney World, one Downtown, one in the Animal Kingdom, and the T-Rex takes the same approach but with dinosaurs, so as you enter the building your come face to face with a life size animatronics tyrannosaurus-rex who periodically roars at the customers as they wait to be seated.

If the Rainforest Cafes are stunning, T-Rex will take your breath away with dinosaurs all round the restaurant and one part made up to look like a glacier, complete with the bones of an unfortunate creature trapped in the ice. As well as the dinosaurs doing what ever dinosaurs do while you eat every 15 minutes there is a reminder of why they are no longer with us, as the place is lit up by a meteor shower that sends the dinosaurs into a state of panic, perhaps they knew what was coming.

The food at the restaurant is everything that you would expect from such an establishment, after all you have to back up the show with good food otherwise your customers would eventually stop coming, however be warned this place is not cheap, enjoy it as a treat.

T-Rex // EAT SHOP EXPLORE DISCOVER

Before leaving T-Rex, we returned to the shop for a number of reasons, the first being the archaeological dig where the children can, free of charge, uncover a dinosaur skeleton in a sandpit, this may not appeal to all but to the right age group time can be wild away as this entertains them. The second reason is another successful chain of stores that has branched out into all things dinosaur, Build-a-Dino.

Build-a-Dino is a sister store to Build-a-Bear, which if your a parent you will know is a very popular location for children's birthday parties. The difference, and you probably have already worked this one out, is that instead of building a teddy bear, the kids build a cuddly dinosaur. The process is the same for both stores.

Select the dinosaur you want to build.
Have it stuffed at the stuffing machine (during which phase you can choose to have a heart, and or a growl inserted.)
De-fluff the Dinosaur.
Add optional accessories and clothing.
Register the dinosaur.
Pay (sorry this is not optional).

Build-A-Dino®: Home Page

By the time we had finished building the dinosaurs we felt it was time to head home, and although our youngest was not ill, she was still finding it hard to coupe with the holiday.

Paul Riley - Kick Back and Relax - Disney holiday - Day 3 – Saturday 8th August - Morning

admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:00:00 -1000

With obvious indications that the kids had struggled on their first full day in Orlando we decided that our second day should be relatively low key. Breakfast was out at Perkins, a homely restaurant whose core business is cakes and pies, service and food was above what we had received at Denny's the day before but still not sparkling. With nothing else planned for the day we took another trip into Walmart and then settled down for an afternoon back at the villa by the pool.

By late afternoon we had got restless to do something Disney again, but bearing in mind how ill our youngest got the day before, we felt that it should be a dinner and then home, so this really only left one option that would fulfil all requirements and that's Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney if you don't know is a large shopping and restaurant area within Disney World itself, where you can browse the shops, before having a meal at one of the numerous restaurants there, and unlike the parks themselves you can park there for free.

Walt Disney World Resort - Downtown Disney

We arrived at Downtown quite late in the afternoon and felt that we should eat as soon as possible. We had seen a number of restaurants as we arrived but one that immediately caught our attention was T-Rex which we made a quick beeline for. When we arrived there was already a bit of a queue forming outside, however it was obvious to us all that this place looked as though it was somewhere worth waiting for so a booking was made and we entered to browse the shop adjoining the restaurant area.