LAST DAYAT HARD ROCK! [USA Time: Mon, 27th Sept 2010]

This was a sad day to check out of the Hard Rock Hotel - the staff were great and we had a very cruisy time staying and enjoying the benefits of on site accomodation.

Today Hollie went for a swim and I updated the blog a  little. We have been having difficulty using the Internet as we could only access it from  downstairs in the lobby or by the pool. This has meant getting back late then not being able to go online while in our room.

So after some lunch headed 25minutes further down the line and checked into the Disney Downtown Holiday Inn. Lovely and clean and newly refurbished -and way cheaper than Hard Rock Hotel!

After a one hour rest we headed off to the Magic Kingdom on one of the shuttle buses that serve the Hotel.

It takes about 20 minutes to Magic Kingdom Ticket and Transportation centre and from there you catch a Monorail which takes you into the actual heart of  MK.  Feels like a bit of a mission but it is airconditioned the whole way and offers respite from the ever constant heat!
We arrive at 4pm and go hard with as much as we can fit in before 9pm.  We manage most of Adventureland with a walk-through of an awesome replica of the Swiss family Robinsons treehouse home and jump on board a ride through the Pirates of the Carribean with Jack Sparrow!
It is soooo hot today and we are really feeling the heat - can't seem to get enough relief but continue on. At 8pm is the Main Street Electrical parade which is outstanding - Disney really know how to put on a spectacular show - it winds its way through the pathways of the magic Kingdom with thousands and thousands of people along the sides watching with awe. At 9pm the Wishes Night time spectacular starts - an amazing 20 minutes of fantastic fireworks to music - makes Brooklands Bowl Xmas fireworks look exceedingly amateurish!
We bolt hotel bound onto the Monorail and catch the connecting bus and manage to reach our Hotel room by 10pm - knackered! But what a great day.
Photos below:

The view down to the pool from the 11th floor at Holiday Inn

Exceedingly patriotic American Eagle as the finale!

No Magic Kingdom is complete without a pretty Castle!

Ahhhhg we are falling behind!

We are having such long days and such an awesome time, we get back to our hotel and fall into coma instantly then wake up and do another HUGE day!

Inside Harry Potter's Castle!

We had Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe

Outside Poseidons Fury - an awesome animated show with fire and water

Our third day at Universal studios was a combination of both sides of the park and a chance to do our favourite rides again and again if we chose - a few more pictures to show ourexploits ...
Highlights of today were definitely going inside the Harry Potter Castle to do the Forbidden Journey ride - wow what a breathtaking ride - too scary for Hollie and I just about coped - special effects nothing you could ever imagine - FANTASTIC!
 The next day we leave Universal Studios and head for Disney about 20 minutes south.
See ya later...

Universal Studios - Day two (Sat 25th)

ORLANDO ROCKS!

Wow what an awesome place!  the Hard Rock Hotel is awesome and worth every expensive cent!
We had our first day at Universal Studios today - Islands of Adventure, and of course Harry Potter was

first on the list! Amazing full scale replica of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade - fantastic.  We went on the Hippogriff ride twice but the much bigger ride of the Forbidden Journey just too daunting for Hollie and I to try!

We went into honeydukes-the candy store , in there we saw Bertibots every flavor beans, chocolate frogs,

acid pops,and the staircase of lollies to name a few of the heaps of stuff in there.  We went to Zonkos the joke shop, and saw extendable ears, sneak a scopes, pygmy puffs, jelly eyeballs, fake eggs, and so many cool things!

We had our lunch in the Three Broomsticks  - and experienced Butterbeer - very sweet and frothy but quite yummy.  We also tried Pumpkin Juice - interesting combination of flavours and of course very sweet!

We went into the Owl Post where the walls were covered in notebooks, Owls, writing paper and of course - Wands! 

After a big fix of Harry Potter we went to each of the other sections of the Islands of Adventure.  Highlights were the Jurrasic Park River Adventure, and the Pteranondon Flyers.  We also enjoyed Toon lagoon where we went on the Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges - a raft ride on swirling white-water rapids - awesome and not a stitch of dry clothing on your body when you finished!

While we were still totally drenched, we went on the Dudley do right Ripsaw falls, a log flume ride with a gut wrenching drop and speed through even more water - fantastic!

We enjoyed Seuss Landing -a few rides here but also a feast for the eyeballs! check out our pictures!

So much to write about and more pictures to show than we can put on our blog - will show you more when we return.

We ae on day two tomorrow and off to the other side of Universal Studios - will post more tomorrow.



SAN FRANCISCO!

Hi All!
After a long 12 hour flight from Auckland to San Francisco we arrived after very little sleep on the plane, but an easy flight otherwise.  We arrived late in the afternoon but with enough time to catch the BART train transport into San Francisco downtown and catch the cable car on the Powell Line which took us down into Fishermans Wharf.  It was a gorgeous sunny warm afternoon and we had dinner in a funky restaurant with the local seafood - prawns and scallops! Yummy!  We then went back to the hotel and had a six hour sleep before we got a shuttle back to the airport at 4am! 
We then caught our short flight to Orlando via Denver which was flat and desert like!

BabyBot on the plane San Francisco

San Francisco Cable car

This bread was at a famous bakery in Fishermans wharf and was made into all sorts of shapes - teddies, alligators, and turtles!

This is babybot the robot. He will be our holiday mascot! We shall take him everywhere on our holiday!
HOW WE GOT BABYBOT : Today we were at lunch with our good friend Maree.We were going through the stuff she had made since we last saw her.She showed us babybot and some other toys.I adored babybot and Maree said i could have him!So now he is part of our travelling group!

18 DAYS TO GO!!

We are counting down the days now until our big overseas adventure!