Train Ride

Picture for the day because I'm trying to post on here more often.

Finlay and I taking a ride on Planet at MOSI:

Toddle Waddle

Yesterday, Finlay and I participated in a local Toddle Waddle to raise money for the Meningitis Trust. Sadly a truly epic storm broke not long after we got to the park so we didn't get to walk that far, but the kids did run across it once and the mummies ran home to avoid getting too soaked - I ended up hiding under the entrance to a parking area one street down with another mum, we'd have drowned running the few hundred feet home.

I've not seen the total raised by the group yet, but Fin has raised about £40 which is really great, they're even going to be in the local magazine. Here's some pictures of him and the group before the rain came down.

If these pictures brought a smile to your face, please consider donating something to your local meningitis charity. Thank you!

24 Books in 12 Months - UPDATE

1. Kingdom Keepers 1: Disney After Dark - Ridley Pearson

2. Kingdom Keepers 2: Disney At Dawn - Ridley Pearson

3. How to Love Safely in a Science Fictional Universe - Charles Yu

4. The X-Files: Whirlwind - Charles Grant

5. The X-Files Graphic Novel - Frank Spotnitz Et Al

6. From The Earth to The Moon - Jules Verne [IN PROGRESS]

7. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging - Louise Rennison

8. American Gods - Neil Gaiman [IN PROGRESS]

Lily's 3rd Birthday Party & A Trip to Reddish Vale

This week saw my niece Lily turn three. As we were taking a trip to my mum's house, and Wendy would be there with the girls so mum could take Izzy to "Dancing on Ice" at the MEN Arena, we decided to have a little party for her.

Traditional party food of crisps, rolls, mini sausages rolls and chunks of cheese and sausage on cocktail sticks.

Lily admiring the cake she picked at the shop, it was covered in garish pink icing, oddly gelatinous "jewels" and lots of sprinkles. The princess on top lit up, it was like a plastic and icing version of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.

I'm not sure who was most excited by this present.

Once the food was finished and a few presents unwrapped, the girls set off back home with Wendy and we got Finlay off to bed.

The next day we decided to take a trip to Reddish Vale, a local park that we frequented when I was a child but haven't been to for well over a decade. It's also the home of Mr Bloom's Nursery from CBeebies.

We took along some bread to feed the duck like I used to do when I was a kid:

Then I took Finlay down to where the river has stony banks. It's one of the few places I can remember going with my dad so I'd always wanted to take him there. He loved picking up the stones and throwing them into the water.

We set off for home shortly after as Fin was getting very tired and fractious, all in all we had a great weekend though.

24 Books in 12 Months - UPDATE

1. Kingdom Keepers 1: Disney After Dark - Ridley Pearson

2. Kingdom Keepers 2: Disney At Dawn - Ridley Pearson

3. How to Love Safely in a Science Fictional Universe - Charles Yu

4. The X-Files: Whirlwind - Charles Grant

5. The X-Files Graphic Novel - Frank Spotnitz Et Al

6. From The Earth to The Moon - Jules Verne [IN PROGRESS]

7. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging - Louise Rennison [IN PROGRESS]

Latest Layout

24 Books in 12 Months - UPDATE

1. Kingdom Keepers 1: Disney After Dark - Ridley Pearson

2. Kingdom Keepers 2: Disney At Dawn - Ridley Pearson

3. How to Love Safely in a Science Fictional Universe - Charles Yu

4. The X-Files: Whirlwind - Charles Grant

5. The X-Files Graphic Novel - Frank Spotnitz Et Al

6. From The Earth to The Moon - Jules Verne [IN PROGRESS]

24 Books in 12 Months

I decided on my 24th birthday (which was October 9th 2010) that I would attempt to read 24 books whilst I was 24. It doesn't sound like that many but when you average it out it works out to one book every 15 days, which is tough when you have a toddler to look after, a blog to maintain, a house to run and university deadlines every few weeks.

I started out well enough but a series of illnesses over Christmas has put me way behind schedule with everything. I just finished my third book, a good four months into this project. Regardless, I intend to plough on and decided I would keep track of the books here.

1. Kingdom Keepers 1: Disney After Dark - Ridley Pearson

2. Kingdom Keepers 2: Disney At Dawn - Ridley Pearson

3. How to Love Safely in a Science Fictional Universe - Charles Yu

4. The X-Files: Whirlwind - Charles Grant [IN PROGRESS]

I will repost this with each new book. Wish me luck!

Christmas Tree

Loving my new instagram app for my iphone.

My New Year

I've decided to restart this blog as a precursor to taking on more writing opportunities in the new year. To begin, I wanted to write about my thoughts on education and learning.

I believe that when it comes to education, there are two types of people in the world. Some, like my husband, do their stint in school and then leave happily to enter the working world. Whilst my husband never actively hated school, once the time came for him to leave he was happy to do so and the thought of carrying on to university never crossed his mind. Don't get me wrong, this group will take the education they truly need quite willingly, my husband spent his twenties studying part time through his work in order to qualify as an accountant; but to them education is simply a means to an end and never something to be done simply for pleasure.

Then there is the other group, the one to which I and my sister belong. My sister once said that she wanted to be "an eternal student" and I agree with her philosophy. To me the idea of hitting a point in life at which I stop studying as I’ve learned enough is abhorrent. I cannot imagine a time at which I will be happy to say I have learned enough for one lifetime. I’m always keen to learn something new, even if it is a “silly” little thing like how to fold towels into animal shapes or wrap a present beautifully.

Attending a bricks and mortar university was impractical for me at the time I completed my A-levels and so I chose to study with the Open University instead. I'm now rapidly approaching 6 years of study with them (including study breaks dictated by necessity) and still enjoying the thrill of choosing my next course. In addition to this more formal education, I frequently enjoy taking short courses in other topics that take my interest. For my birthday this year, my husband bought me the newest edition of Photoshop Elements and I have enjoyed hours on end reading online tutorials and learning new tricks with the software.

There is a giddying thrill for me that comes of discovering new knowledge and finding ways to use it. Just this week, a favourite TV quiz show was discussing the shape of the Earth and I cannot express the joy I felt in knowing that the shape was in fact an oblate spheroid before the host announced this to the contestants.

So in 2011 I will be continuing my studies as ever. I am currently enrolled on a geography module at university and have just completed online short courses in restoring old photographs and putting together a family tree album - both of which I need to continue work on. Add this to ongoing interests in improving my photography, cross stitch, scrapbooking, writing, cake decorating and countless other skills and I imagine I won’t be short on fun activities next year!

Children & Phones - A Glorious Combination!

I just called my sister's house and had a fantastic conversation with her 5yr old daughter. This is how it went:

Izzy: Hi?
Me: Hi Izzy, it's Auntie Sophie
Izzy: Do you want to speak to mummy?
Me: Yes please.
Izzy: Well she's too busy holding Lily so she'll call you back later. Bye. *puts phone down*

The Sims 2: Queen Live at the Rainbow!

My first attempt at a Sims music video.

Trip Report Day 7 (Disneyland & L.A.)

Once again we are up early but today I have a problem, I can’t walk. The last few days have obviously taken a toll, my feet are still swollen so much it takes 10 minutes to get my shoes on, the air turns blue and every step is like standing on red hot needles. (Just to give you some sense of scale here, I’m writing this report on January 30th 2008 and my feet are still recovering from the damage that weekend and the following few days would cause.) Scott runs upstairs to tell his parents to head into the parks without us. He gives them his mobile phone - can you spot the trouble this may later lead to - so we can call them and keep them updated and brings breakfast down to the room. I’ve swallowed most of a box of Nurofen by this point. We give it 20 minutes and I’m just about able to walk, albeit very slowly and still in a lot of pain. We load our bags into the car where they join Linda & Graham’s cases and check out of the hotel. We can leave the car in the lot all day thankfully so we cross the street and make it to Disneyland for the second day.

As we walk up Main St, attempting to call Linda & Graham every few minutes to no avail, Mickey is leading the Big Band down the other way so we wave and watch the marching.

We get to the castle and stop to take pictures. As we are doing so, a very kind lady sitting nearby offers to take one of both of us so we thank her a lot and get our shots.

We head to Big Thunder to get a Fastpass, getting worried now as we still can’t get an answer out of Scott’s parents. If it reaches lunch time, Scott will have to go back to the hotel to try and find them as we’d agreed if they hadn’t spoken to us by then to go back there. We decide to try something else instead, texting them. Neither of them knows how to send a text but we figure if “new message” appears on the screen of Scott’s phone and shows up as coming from mine, they could at least figure out to press the “open” button and get the message. It’s about 10am now so we tell them to meet us at the exit of the Haunted Mansion at 11. As we are walking towards it, my phone goes off; it’s a blank message from Scott’s mobile. We take this that they have at least read the text we sent them.

On our way to the Mansion we pass the Sailing Ship Columbia which looks magnificent.

The Haunted Mansion looks even better today in the sunlight. The Imagineers have done a truly wonderful job decking it out in its holiday finery. The crowds have really begun to appear now so the queue is getting very long, we see the positive side and use the time to get some great shots of the Mansion.

Because of the queue, the ride takes longer than we planned and we are a few minutes late exiting, but we quickly spot Linda & Graham sat on a nearby bench. They haven’t done much, just wandered around taking in the scenery. Our Big Thunder fastpass is almost upon us so once again we split up, agreeing to meet at the Partners statue at 12. Me and Scott take a slow walk to Frontierland, it has to be as the crowds are now becoming unbearable.

(New Orleans Square, the queue for Pirates is making up most of that crowd)

We use our Big Thunder fastpass and take a slow walk back to the Central Hub, stopping for some photo opportunities as we’re in no rush.

As we sit at the hub, next to a turkey leg cart, I notice something unusual in the flower bed behind us, a cat!

A few others notice it and soon there’s a small group of people watching. A wandering cast member comes over to see why a crowd of guests is staring intently into a flower bed. She tells everyone that Disneyland has a large family of stray cats that live in the grounds but that it’s rare for one to sit out so brazenly in front of everyone, normally they lurk in shadows and scavenge dropped food. Disney allows them to live there as they keep the rodent population under control. This particular cat lives nearby around the Tiki room area.

Linda & Graham haven’t arrived yet. I want to see the original Enchanted Tiki Room which is just around the corner. Scott’s sure his parents won’t be interested so he waits by the statue and I go off to see the show. I arrive in time to see most of the pre show in the gardens which is a lovely touch. The show itself is much longer than I anticipated and lovely in a slightly old fashioned way.

By the time I get back to the Partners statue, Linda & Graham have arrived. The park is heaving so we decide to leave and exit down Main St to get lunch across the road. We walk out past the car parks and take some pictures, including one of a special paving stone by the entrance.

We end up at the Dennys just by our hotel. Scott gets grilled chicken, Linda a salads and Graham the meatloaf. I just get an ice cream sundae as I’m not feeling that hungry and I’ve always wanted to try one but have always been too full after eating a meal.

After our meal we decide that Disneyland is far too busy for our tastes and none of us can really be bothered trying to fight our way through the crowds. We are near L.A. after all so we decide to spend the afternoon driving around and seeing what we can spot, before setting off for the airport for our overnight flight to Orlando. We have a few potential ideas in mind, the first of which is to visit the Queen Mary which is over in Long Beach. We head back to the car, wave bye-bye to Disneyland, set up the SatNav and head off back to the open roads.

Long Beach is quite easy to find thanks to the SatNav which guides us straight there. En route we spot the Goodyear blimp hovering above us, we also see Knotts Berry Farm in the distance and the coasters look scary even from several miles away, especially the Xcelerator which stands out in a class of its own. It has always been a dream of Graham’s to see the Queen Mary and soon we arrive at the car park. The ship is absolutely enormous and is moored next to a Russian Scorpion submarine for some reason. We soon lose Graham who is off in a world of his own snapping pictures so we leave him to it.

Near the ship is a mailbox painted to look like R2D2 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. I had read about these special mailboxes back in the summer but forgotten all about them. There was no list given of their locations so it was up to the public to discover where they were. Having never expected to see one it was a lovely surprise.

After recovering Graham, we get back into the car and go for a drive down the Pacific Coast highway, another dream of his. I get my first real look at the Pacific Ocean which I have never seen before.

We pass through Newport Beach and several other small towns before stopping at a lesser known beach somewhere to stretch our legs and take a short walk on the sand.

By now the evening is starting to close in so we walk back to the car (now with sand on our clothes) and head north to Hollywood. The smog blanket of pollution covering L.A. is quite scary to behold as we drive down the 6 lane freeway towards it.

The SatNav is set for Sunset Boulevard but when we arrive the whole place is a dump, nothing but tacky tourist traps and smog. We stay in the car as the parking doesn’t look so good but from there we see the famous Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood sign off in the distance and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A wrong turn also allows us to spot Universal Studios and the Hollywood Tower apartments which bear a striking resemblance to the Tower of Terror. It’s too dark to photograph anything from the car really but a stop at traffic lights lends me the opportunity to get one shot of the legendary Hollywood & Vine intersection.

It’s getting dark so we make our way slowly to Los Angeles International Airport which we find with relative ease. We drop the car off at Dollar and board the rather scary free shuttle bus to our terminal. On arrival we find a quiet corner to organise our bags before checking in on our Delta flight to Orlando which is due to depart at 10.20pm. At check in we discover, annoyingly, that Scott’s case is slightly overweight. Rather than messing about trying to rearrange we just pay the excess and put it down to lessons learned.

We make our way upstairs to security which is quiet as it’s getting late. Scott goes through no problems but when my bag is scanned the officials tell me there’s a problem and it needs to go through the X ray again. I panic wondering what I’ve left in there as I continue to put my shoes on but luckily my bag comes through the machine with no more questions; I guess the squished teddy bear in there must have looked a bit funny! Linda comes through ok but Graham’s bag also gets pulled up for a second scan, unfortunately he won’t be as lucky as I was. As his bag goes through again, the x-ray operator signals some others to look at the scan and Graham is asked to go to a separate area so his bag can be gone through by hand. By this point Linda is starting to panic and Scott & I are slightly concerned too. We sit off to one side watching the bag check happening near the X rays and luckily, about 10 minutes later, Graham comes over to us, bag in hand. Apparently one of them had left a large bottle of perfume in the bag which flagged the security up as it was liquid. The security guard found it, checked it and, thankfully sent Graham on his way with nothing more than a stern warning. They are both upset and angry and so, after spotting a place to sit and leave our bags, Scott and I make a hasty exit to give them some alone time.

We go to the El Cholo cantina and order some drinks and are soon joined by Graham who also needs a stiff one to calm his nerves, Linda just wants to be left alone for a while to clam down. Ad we drink, a kid knocks its drink out of a pushchair causing a small spill on the main concourse. We see the dad tell a staff member and this creates the most farcical comedy sketch I have ever seen in my life. One of those incidents it’s impossible to explain to anyone who wasn’t there, the actions of the janitors are now comedy gold dust in our family. Let’s just say the clean up of this tiny drink spillage took 30 minutes, an *entire* roll of kitchen towel, a mop, a broom and two members of cleaning staff.

After the laughter had died down, we realised the flight had been delayed by an hour or so. Scott and I decided to share a pepperoni pizza from the California Pizza Kitchen before joining Linda & Graham near our gate to read, and play poker on my ipod until our time finally rolled around.

The plane was tiny, just 6 seats across with the aisle down the centre. We were on the very back row with one person on the row in front, which Linda opted to take. The whole operation felt very much like going on a car drive with your dad, harassed looking stewardesses trying to get all the non English speaking businessmen to sit down, put their seats up properly and pay attention. It did help that it was Jeans for Genes time so none of them were in uniform, leading to the causal madness of it all, the plane had even started to taxi before half the passengers had sat down! Eventually we took off for our red-eye flight down to Orlando where 8 days of Disneyworld fun was waiting for us.

The Moon

I took this last week through the viewfinder on my telescope. Yes it's blurry but at least you can see it's the moon instead of a tiny white speck in the sky like all my lunar pictures beforehand. I'm happy with it considering I was shooting down a tiny viewfinder hole and having to hold the camera myself.

Eventually I'd like a better set up so I can do some decent astro-photography but that woulkd require a much better telescope at least and funds don't allow for such frivolities right now so pictures like this will have to do.

A random post about Jinx

Just thought I'd share some pictures I found with you all. May I introduce the stupidest cat on Earth, our cat Jinx. Here he is relaxing on the sofa with Scott:

In this shot he is attempting to chew through part of the cat stand/play centre:

And finally, just proving his foolishness once and for all:

Enjoy!!!

Trip Report: Day 6 (Disneyland, CA)

Up early so we have time to get our free breakfast at the hotel and still be in the parks early. Jeans and cardigans are the order of today as it’s still pretty chilly; open the door to be faced with sheets of rain pouring down. We run to Linda & Graham’s room to meet them and then onto the breakfast room. The selection is pretty good considering it’s free, a few choices of cereal, oatmeal, toast and some pastries along with tea, coffee and juices. I grab some toast, juice and a doughnut and we discuss our plans. Despite the rain we’re still heading for the parks, hoping the rain may actually deter some locals and it may be less crowded. After eating we nip to the gift shop en route and buy some rain ponchos before heading across the street with a small army of other multicoloured ponchos.

The original Disneyland Park opens at 8am today, California Adventure at 10am so we head to the original park first. We join an enormous queue but are through in about 10 minutes (the cameras stayed in the bags until lunch time for their safety as it was raining really badly). We emerge onto Main St, stop and burst into laughter.
“Somebody shrunk the castle in the wash!”
It really is tiny in comparison with Florida and doesn’t seem to grow much as we get nearer. The plan of attack is to head straight for Adventureland so we head to Indiana Jones, only to find it’s closed for the weekend, oh well. Next up is Pirates of the Caribbean which we walk straight onto, Scott reminds us to appreciate that is it will be rare this weekend. The ride is far longer than the one in Florida as we all knew, I think it’s much better but Scott prefers the Florida one.

Nearby is the Haunted Mansion which is currently under its holiday overlay. Outside looks amazing with all the decorations and inside is even better. The overlay works perfectly and everything is just incredible, I wish the ride was longer so there was more to enjoy. Scott and his parents didn’t know about the overlay and are equally impressed by it all, even despite Linda & Graham having never seen the movie.

Next we take a detour to Tomorrowland as the others want to ride Space Mountain. I’m not too keen on the idea so I head to Star Tours instead to check it out instead; it’s exactly the same as Florida. When I come out there’s no sign of the others so I go to Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. This is mainly the same except the queue is different and the guns can be picked up and moved about, unlike the thumb destroyers back East. When I’ve finished the others are waiting, they enjoyed Space Mountain, saying it’s like a slightly stepped up version of Florida, nothing like the crazy upside down Parisian version.

The queue for the new Nemo submarine voyage is already stretching all the way around the lake and is several hours long so we put it down as a lost cause and join the end of the Matterhorn queue instead. It takes about half an hour but we’re soon off on our bobsled journey. I’m a bit wary of it but find myself enjoying it, although we all decide that sharing the sleds is a little too cramped. I’m the only one that noticed the water touchdown and wrapped myself in a poncho when we boarded, much to the annoyance of the others who are now somewhat damp. I point out that we queued past it and it’s their own faults for not noticing!

It’s just gone 10am by now so we start making our way out towards California Adventure, passing through Fantasyland en route. I spot Mr Toad’s Wild Ride and it has a short queue so we head over to it first as I never got the chance in Florida. It’s a typical dark ride but quite scary when it descends into hell, a bit harsh punishment for speeding really! We exit Fantasyland under the castle and head straight over to the California Adventure Park.

First things first and it’s around to the Tower of Terror to grab some fastpasses for later. They have a long wait so we head to Monsters Inc, Mike & Sully to the Rescue! There’s another reasonably long queue but there are plenty of notice boards, pre show ‘safety’ videos and other things to look at including a giant cartoonish vending machine selling yummy treats like “Primordial Ooze”, “Bag O Calories” and “Sugar-Salt &Fat”. The ride itself is a typical dark ride with you helping return Boo to our world, however there is an impressive effect in the factory floor with mirrors creating the impression of an enormous room filled with rows of moving doors as in the film.

We head around the park anti-clockwise, managing to just avoid the High School Musical show which will follow us from now on. Eventually we get to Paradise Pier which is honestly anything but, especially in the grey, wet and miserable day we’re having.

The others want to ride California Screamin’ so I take the bags and entertain myself by taking some pics of them in the queue and on the ride and by talking to the other people lined up with cameras who are too sensible to join their parties on the coaster.

By the time the gang get off the ride, slightly damper than before they rode due to the drizzle, it’s time for our Tower of Terror fastpasses. I join them in the queue despite having zero intention of riding this horror show again and make a hasty exit around the back as they board their elevator of doom. We regroup at the photo viewing area where I am highly amused by their picture, even more so by the group doing Charlie’s Angels on the opposite side of the elevator.

We’ve arranged Tower of Terror before lunch as it seemed the intelligent decision so we’re very hungry by now and head to the Taste Pilot’s Grill near Soarin’. We all get burgers as it’s traditional in a Disney park and enjoy them very much. During the day I’ve noticed lots of people wearing “1st Visit” badges so I briefly excuse myself and make a quick trip to Guest Relations where I pick up 4. Whilst there I also get a birthday badge for Linda who’s birthday it will be next week in Florida, this one I hide at the bottom of my bag. I get back to the restaurant and present the badges to everyone, they are thrilled and we wear them the rest of the weekend.

We make our way back to Paradise pier, taking pictures along the way.

I want to try out the Orange stinger as I’ve heard good things from people who have been surprised how good it is.

Graham joins me but the others get ill on spinning rides and opt out. The reviews were right and we both come off raving about how surprisingly good it was.

We eventually get back to the Pier and have another look around. Linda & Graham want to ride the Sun Wheel in one of the non-moving baskets so they join the queue while Scott & I opt to stay on the ground.

While we wait we have a look around the nearby shops and I buy a zip up jacket. Linda & Graham board the Sun Wheel and enjoy their slow trip around.

When they get down we all decide we’ve had enough of California Adventure and head on out. Linda & Graham decide they need a rest and opt to head back to the hotel for a while, meeting us later in Disneyland. We grab a few pics outside the California Adventure Park before heading back into Disneyland.

The entrance to the Disneyland Park is covered in Disney characters made from pumpkins and in front of the station there is a giant Mickey head made from pumpkins and flowers.

Inside the park, on Main St, the pumpkin theme continued.

The miniature castle hadn’t lost its amusing impact the 2nd time we saw it, it looked much better without the rain though.

We headed to the ice cream parlour for a snack and ate outside as the temperature was starting to increase a bit now. As we ate, the parade came past in a perfectly timed coincidence.

We then headed off to Frontierland for a go on Big Thunder Mountain as I knew it wasn’t open in Florida during our trip. The ride felt a little longer than its Floridian cousin and the track is laid out in a perfect mirror image of that one. We then went to Fantasyland and rode on Pinocchio’s Daring Journey as we were trying to do anything not found in Disneyworld. Once we finished, we walked around Fantasyland getting some pictures of other rides.

We just had time to do one more ride before meeting up with Linda & Graham again so we joined the queue for the Storybook Land Canal Boats and had a quick ride. This is a simple boat ride around an outdoor canal surrounded by miniature buildings from various fairytales and Disney movies. However many ducks were sleeping on the banks which kind of ruined the sense of scale slightly!

Also going around the canal was the Casey Jr Circus Train which we have ridden at Disneyland Paris.

We met back up with Linda & Graham and took a good look around the castle area, discovering a beautiful wishing well with sculptures of Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs and the song “I’m Wishing” playing in the air. Also nearby was a tiny little sculpture of the bluebird of happiness which could so easily be overlooked.

As the sun sets, we head to Toontown, getting some pictures of the castle en route as it takes on a magical golden hour glow.

Toontown is one of the few areas at Disneyland which is astoundingly better and larger than its Disneyworld counterpart. It is enormous, filled with characters houses, shops and several rides. We were mostly interested in Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin but as it had a 50 minute queue, we opted to take some shots before the day faded, before joining the line.

We join the line for Roger Rabbit which is pretty much 50 minutes as given on the sign. The ride is good but not spectacular. When we exit, we head for Tomorrowland. The parade is on so we make a short about turn and use the Train for the trip instead. Once at Tomorrowland we head for Buzz Lightyear as it has a short queue.

Once we’ve ridden we split up for a while. Scott & I are hungry and, after a short search of Tomorrowland eateries which are all heaving, we head for Frontierland and the Golden Horseshoe saloon. The queue is short but, due to inefficient staff, takes ages to progress through. Eventually Scott gets served and we share a portion of mozzarella sticks and fries which are so enormous that we can’t finish them. During our meal we are sat by one of those magic pianos that can play itself and are amused by the constant stream of children standing, entranced by it.

We meet back up with Linda & Graham and check out the shops on Main St. There’s still quite some time before the fireworks so we take a circuit tour of the park on the train, taking in the famous Grand Canyon & Primeval World dioramas on our journey. It takes longer than we expected and as a result we only just make it back to Main St station before they begin.

“Remember… Dreams Come True” is by far the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen at a Disney park. The show is narrated by Julie Andrews, as herself, and for the first half tells the story of the creation of the park. The second half is clips from the attraction audio of many rides from the park, including Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Enchanted Tiki Room, Splash Mountain & many more. As a Star Wars fan, nothing will beat the impression of hearing the Star Wars theme music blare out across Main St followed by the sounds of X-Wings & Tie Fighters soaring just out of sight above you as lasers and fireworks go off all around the park!

After the fireworks, the others head back to the hotel but I wait and catch the train over to New Orleans Square to have a look around.

Fantasmic’s second show is just starting so I see part of it through the trees. Despite the late hour, the queues are still enormous so I head out. I nip to Downtown Disney to pick up the book I saw yesterday before walking back to the hotel. I barely make it as my feet now feel as if they are exploding with every step. I collapse in the room and literally peel my socks off as my feet are bright red and swollen. Tomorrow is going to be fun…