Hollywood Studios

This was the first Disney park we visited during our holidays, out plan was to take it easy and not rush as we knew we'd come back to this park the next week as we had dinner tickets for the Fantasmic! evening show.We arrived at 10am late by park going standards, the guide books will tell you to be there at least 30minutes before opening which this day was 8.30 but we weren't in a rush and choose not to have a plan for the day.

Planning wise I referred to Touring Plans site here and had downloaded their app, Disney has free wifi in their parks but the signal can be flaky. The Touring Plans site go hand in hand with the guide books I bought and can be use to form a timed guide to the parks which can save you waiting time, and really who likes to wait?

TIP: When you've parked take a picture of where your car is, most of the time sections are named after Disney characters.
TIP: Connect to Disney wifi and download their app. I find it useful to have different apps downloaded in case there's a problem with any and play on them before hand so you know how they work.
TIP: When entering any park go to guest services and pick up a park map and time schedule for the shows, parades and events, you will need these. You can also get first time, birthday, celebrate and every other occasion badges to wear around the park.
TIP: Download Instragram if you don't already have it, as it's brilliant to use to send pictures home, if you lose your camera or in case your camera runs out of battery(quite a few of my blog photos are Instagram due to this). Like wise grab a Disney camera man and get him to click away, he'll give you a photopass you can hand to any other Disney camera man which will store all your photos for you to view online and buy if you want. This is great as a backup if you lose or break your camera and if you ask them they'll take the same picture if your own camera

The park centers around main street which looks like Hollywood boulevard in 1930s, the street scapes and set designs are wonderful but I barely got time to look as I was dragged along by my children to the massive Mickey magic hat from Fantasia. The hat makes a brilliant photo opp and good meeting spot if you split from your group which as there was 10 of us was quite likely. Once off from main street everything sprawls out hiding around corners and behind sets. 

We started with the Indiana Jones stunt show and it didn't disappoint. A full on show with massive moving set pieces, it pans out as a movie set with the actors showing you how each stunt is performed. They have 3 set pieces from the first Indy film,the boulder roll,the village kidnapping and the plane exploding.  It was a bit loud for Lucas at times, but the live action and explosions had us all rapt. 

An amazing show and a great start to the day.

Then we wandered over to the Star Tours/Jedi Training section to try and get my Nephews booked in but at 11.30 all slots for Jedi training were already taken. The Star Tours ride next door had a 40 minute wait so we used our fastpass. This is a extra you can get on your tickets which allows you to book a time to come back, when you come back at your allotted time you get to queue jump. With Star Tours booked we wandered off for dinner of huge huge pizza, dressing covered salad and fries, which we got from Pizza Planet(like the Toy Story van) we probably only needed half of what we ordered ass potion sizes are bigger than the UK.

After lunch we went to see The Muppets in 3D, okay I pushed for this one as I love The Muppets. You were ushered into a pre show room with the characters doing a sketch on the TVs overhead, these gave the kids a chance to cool down, this area is full of cool boxes which Maisie had great fun reading what props were in them. The show is set in a grand theatre just like the TV show and even had Statler and Waldorf  in attendance. We loved this show, and loved the effects and 3D parts were a little loud and scary for my 4 year old but we all came out laughing.

Then it was our time for Star Tours, this is a 3D simulator ride based on the pod ride in Phantom Menace, the ride takes you through different stories each time so I think you'd have to ride it a lot to get the same one. At this point I'd like to say my Mother In Law was spoken to quite rudely by a cast member as she'd put her fastpass away and it was needed again, there was no need and it spoiled the magic of the place which had been great till then.

We continued to the ride which you have to pass lots of robot and alien characters to get to, and boarded the shuttle. My kids were both scared at the beginning, but it was a great ride, I heard them whoop, weeee and cry a little during the action shots which made my brain hurt and tummy lurch in places. However when we exited they both said they wanted another go.

Even better they asked if we can watch Star Wars soon too, ah the force is strong. Buying Star wars toys for Lucas may have also helped.

TIP: Get a first time badge from guest services, cast members will know it's your first visit and hopefully not expect you to know everything.

TIP: Do not expect every cast member to be full of Disney Magic, they are people doing a job and no one can be great everyday, not even in Disney.They are also mega safety jobsworths, so expect to be told off a few times for standing in the wrong place or sitting on the wrong things.

We decided it was time for an ice cream if only to sooth Granddads nerves, as I think motion sickness got to him on Star Tours. 

As you can see the kids were eager to point out all the things they saw along the way.

After ice creams we got to watch the Pixlar Parade Countdown to Fun which featured floats and casts from Toy Story, Bugs Life, Incredibles, Ratatouille, Monsters Inc and Up.

The music was bouncing and the characters were great dancing along giving high fives to the children, if was lovely to watch them so engrossed.

 

I was impressed by Mr.Fredrickson's dancing skills. 

 We were done for the day but what a great first day it was.

Friday I'm in Love

With: holiday planning

In one week, yes one week, myself, Husband Stu, 2 kids, in-laws, sister-in-law, her Husband and their 2 kids are heading off to Orlando. Ten of us, yep ten, are going for 2 weeks of sunshine, Gators, Disney and more sunshine. I cannot wait. We've been trawling books and websites for months now to chose what things will suit all ages and I think some things are still been fixed on.

We've been to Orlando before as a group, but we didn't have kids then so didn't go near Disney. Sticking to Seaworld and Discovery Cove, of which we're doing again as they're amazing. We do have Disney tickets this time though and I think the kids little heads may explode with excitement when they finally see Cinders Castle.

With: Neil Gaiman's Radio 4 production of Neverwhere.

I've always loved this story of the world below, of the people who fall through the gaps of society and time. What more, look at that cast line up a geek could explode from such amazing casting all in one place. You can hear it on the BBC Radio4 site HERE.

With: Monsoon turning 40 years old.

I feel lucky to have a job in retail where the company tries hard to care for their staff while keeping great ethical standards. It's been lovely looking through all the old images of different campaigns, having worked there 9 years I remember quite a few of them personally. 

I think Sophie Dahl was one of my favourites, she looked very womanly I especially loved the Winter campaign she did, well with that cardi who wouldn't. I didn't buy it at the time as it sold out so quickly and I always thought about making myself one someday.

Jodie Kidd didn't seem to model a lot of our clothes but did become patron of The Monsoon Trust.

The latest campaign features another 40 year in Yasmin Le Bon joined by her daughter Amber, her style seems to work well with the Heritage clothes line. Most of which I want in my wardrobe now.

With: Lastly I'll leave you with a wee clip of the Doctor Who Prequel, I'm mega excited for the return of The Doctor but I'll be holiday when it starts, eek. However it will be great to recover from jet lag with a pizza and 3 episodes in a row instead. I'm all about the silver linings.

Happy weekend what ever your plans.

Going Down To Christmas Town

I've long since loved these little Christmas villages that fill shop windows and mantle pieces of more organised Christmas decorators. There's lots of styles out there, paper ones which light up, traditional looking house to the really fanciful sorbet colour ones, they're not something we see a lot in the UK. 

I absolutely love them, and as we have a lovely mantle to fill this year, I hope to create my own little house village. 

However with presents to buy and a BIG family holiday to save for, I don't have a lot of money to spend on these beauty's.

I can however afford this gory lot, 5 old style little decorative houses taken from a charity's donation only box, costing the grand price of £2. 

I already have paints, brushes and more importantly glitter. I think I can make these the start of my village. 

I do have some training with doing this style of painting as I used to work for Border fine Arts painting ceramic animals all day, but I especially love the idea of something that used to be treasured being precious again.

My favourite so far is the centre house has it's taller than the rest and has a perfect Christmas style tree next to it.

Are you making your own Christmas decorations this year? Which is your most treasured decoration?

Amanda.x.

Alnwick Castle

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.

The second largest inhabited castle in England, it's been the home to the Percys, the Duke of Northumberland's family for 700 years. 

The castle featured as Hogwart's in the first 2 Harry Potter films. 

It now runs Harry Potter themed weekends for children, although lots of adults seemed to be enjoying them.  They have lots of different events all year round.

Maisie, Lucas and Daddy and Ben got to do some broomstick training with the castles resident wizards.

 Maisie was a natural, getting to fly and making her broom float no problem

There's a part of the castle called Dragons Quest which if you have nervous or young children you may want to check it our first before taking them through, it's very old style haunted house. 

There was so much to do in the grounds that we never got the chance to go round the main house inside.

 There was a magic show performed by Hagrid and Harry, but my 2 were too busy with the games arena. There was a chance to dress up, make ceramic tiles, make a wizards wand, fight a knight game and drawing your own shield. All the castle helpers were dressed in period dress and really seemed to enjoy their jobs. 

 We didn't get to visit Alnwick Gardens this time as we were shattered, but will definitely make a point of going next time. 

As a family of four it cost £36 pounds so it's not the cheapest entry fee, but that price does include an unlocked ticket which allows you unlimited return visits for a year. More information on prices for The Castle and Alnwick Gardens can be found here.

 This is one venue which will defiantly be a family favourite for years to come.

Amanda.x.

Watchtree - Winter

Watchtree is a local nature reserve, but one of those places that although I knew were it was I'd never actually been there.

It's always the way that you forget the beauty that's just on your doorstep.

During the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2001 Watchtree became the final resting place of many infected cattle, the site was chosen due to it's proximity to many infected farms, but also for its bedrock geology that would prevent further contamination from the buried cattle.

It's story could have just ended there, leaving the site a barren wasteland, however the ecological consultants assigned to the restoration of lands after the outbreak choose to turn the space into a community asset and a positive feature to local wildlife.

In 2003 Watchtree became a nature reserve, water areas were created with wildlife in mind, huge areas reseeded, 80,000 trees planted to enhance local woodland and create extra habitats.

They have educational programs for  school visits and run Watchtree Wheelers and cycle group for people with learning or physical disabilities. 
This amazing site is free to visit but has a donations box.

When we visited the site it was a cold frosty but clear Winters day, most of the ponds still had ice skimming the top of them. 

Maisie and Lucas enjoyed running around the wide open pathways of the site, trying to spot any wildlife which was unfortunately in hiding for us most the time. Maisie took to hiding in the wooded area while Lucas and I looked out for the Guffalo, of which we didn't see any.

We did however find this awesome wooden spider in the wooded area.

These insect holes are all over the site providing homes for little beasties, quite a lot had spiders in them when we were looking, and I think we may make some of these for our next garden project.

Maisie was map holder while we were there, she has her no one is listening to my command face on here, and took around the site to find the hides which look out onto various wetlands and feeding areas for birds. We saw a few sparrows, a finch and some ducks. The hides are very comfortable, with carpeted seating and one has a telescope too much to the children's delight. They all had posters inside to say which animals and birds were in that location.

The area is also the site for several wind turbines, I know that they get a lot of stick for being ugly and a blot on the landscape but I'll admit I find them hauntingly beautiful. Stood underneath one listening to it slow thrum thrum sound was a simple kind of peace and meditation.

I think will be regular visitors to this wonderful site, and hope to do another Spring time update. You can find out more about Watchtree Nature Reserve here.

Amanda.x.

Photographs courtesy of Stuart Ryan. 

Harry's Rocks Coastal Walk - Dorset

This was our walk along the coastline towards Harry's Rocks, it was quite a long walk for the kids, but they did a great job.

  We had some true British holiday beach weather but as usual it didn't stop the children having fun.

My Hubby Stu made his mark by leaving some amazing balanced stones behind us.

We were amazed to see people walking across this tiny strip of chalky land to get to the bigger rock, not something I was going to risk.

I think is was as close to the edge as we got but some people were sitting with their legs dangling over, this was a lovely walk and well worth seeing but with 4 small children and 2 dogs my anxiety levels were quite high  while the edge was in sight.

Happy and safe holidays,

Amanda.x.

The Blue Pool - Dorset

There are some places we visited in Dorset that need a special mention, so I'll do some separate posts on them, one of those is The Blue Pool and Tearooms in Wareham.

The tearooms have been open since 1935, the pool varies in colour sometimes green, sometimes blue, it's actually a huge clay bowl which has filled with rainwater.

The site has 25 acres of woodland surrounding the Pool full of various wildlife and flora. 

It was an amazing tranquil place, even with our 4 children and 2 dogs added to it.

They have trails for different abilities through the woodland, and a wildlife trail for he children. Hidden in the trees near markers were ceramic owls, red/grey squirrels and woodpeckers for them to spot, they were very hard to spot as we had some difficulty and only Ben(aged 6) completed the task, with the rest giving up to run through the woodland, Lucas was very excited just to find the markers.

I was amazed at every turn, finding smaller ponds teaming of frogs, fish, and dragonfly's, the latter were huge and a beautiful array of colours.

 Oh look can you see an Owl?

Entry to the site costs £5.30 per adult, £3.20 per child between 5-14 or £13.80 per family of 4, making it a very reasonable day trip out.

The park also boasts 3 play parks hidden in the woodlands, which even with my kamikaze son flinging himself from the roundabout, were a great addition to this old but glorious beauty spot.

Happy Holidays,

Amanda.x.