Disney Summertime

This week's Disney Blog hop theme is Disney Summer time.  Quite fitting for us as next summer we will be in Disney!  I can't wait!! 

I went shopping in Asda last week and they have some really lovely Disney summer clothes for Children. I couldn't help getting Amelia a little Minnie Mouse swim suit.

She will look so cute in it, walking around Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach!  It will also keep her safe from the sun which is an added bonus.

We went to London on Wednesday to see Peter Kay at the O2 arena.  It didn't start until 7:30pm and we got into London at 12pm, so we had a few hours have a look around. Our first stop was Oxford Street to see the new Disney Store that opened in May 2011.  It is the largest Disney Store in Europe and it set out over two floors. When you walk in there's an amazing 28 foot high castle which you go through to get downstairs. The floor is glittery and the whole place is just magical More information about the store can be found here.

There were so many toys in there that I have never seen in any of the Disney Stores closer to where I live.  They had huge Special Agent Oso cuddly toys which Amelia loves and I could have spent a fortune on the clothes in there for her.  I particuarly loved this swimming costume which I may be tempted to buy for her in the future.

The merchandise in the store is widely catered for tourists and there are many London themed toys and collectibles, such as Mickey Mouse's dressed as Palace Guards and "I love London" Mickey mouse T-shirts, etc.

There was even a huge Mickey and Donald dressed as Palace Guards which Paul and I took photos of each other standing next to.

Me and Donald

Paul and Mickey

Here is a You Tube video of a tour of The Disney Store for those who may consider going there.

Dreams really do come true...

I just thought I would share with you the  bead my Husband bought me for my birthday from the kids this year.  It was my 30th, so it is quite special to me. It is a sterling silver Chamelia bead for my bracelet from their Disney range.

I can't wait to wear it. We could only have dreamed that we would be going to Disney next year, so the sentiment on it is quite fitting.

My Favourite things...

I've only been to Orlando once, so i'm sure this list will get longer by the time we go again next year, but I thought I would share a few of my favourite things about Florida.

Firstly the food!  We had some lovely meals out last time.  Tona Roma's was a big hit with us.  The three of us had a 2 course meal and drinks and it only came to $20.

The snacks over there from Walmart were lush.  I've never seen such a vast variety of biscuits or "cookies" as they call them over there.  We loved Chips Ahoy!  Another big favourite of mine was Pepperidge Farm's honey goldfish and Hershey's Bliss chocolate bar.  It just melted in my mouth! 

The BBQ pulled pork sandwich at Busch Gardens was AMAZING! Can't wait to get another one of those when we go back.

I loved the people. Other than the security staff at MCO, everyone was so friendly.  We particuarly liked the guy at the car park booth in Seaworld who told us to have a "Whale of a day".  A nice touch we thought.

The smell of Florida.  It really does have a distinctive smell which greets you at the airport as soon as you step off the plane.

The atmosphere; the sense of excitement and freedom, knowing you can go anywhere at any time and have a good time without worrying about the stresses of everyday life and be guaranteed a good time wherever you go.

Roa's Rapids at Aquatica! Hours of fun!

Discovery Cove.  An amazing day and a once in a lifetime opportunity! Loved every minute (apart from the thunderstorm).

Clyde and Seymore show at Seaworld.  Possibly more than Believe.

There are so many more but not enough space here to list everything!!

Disney Blog Hop

Welcome to those of you stopping by on the Disney Blog Hop, sponsored by Babes in Disneyland Blog!  Today's theme is "Disney Firsts" which is a coincidence as this if my first time on the blog hop! :-) 

Well I must be the baby of the Disney blogging family as my Disney First will actually be going to Disney for the first time!  It will also be our first time staying in a villa. We stayed in an appartment last time we were in Florida and only had FlexTicket Plus tickets, so we missed out on all the mouse action!

The thing I am looking forward to the most is seeing Cinderella's castle for the first time.  I think I will well up a little bit and totally get caught up in the magic! I cry watching You Tube videos of toddlers meeting their favourite Disney characters for the first time, so I dread to think what I'll be like when Amelia first meets Minnie!  I blame it on the baby brain, although Amelia is 13 months old now so I can't really use that as an excuse!

It will also be my Son's first time to Disney and my Daughter's first time to Florida so we all all very excited to say the least!

Looking forward to more Blog hopping!  If you're new to my blog, please feel free to follow it as I don't have any followers yet :-(

We're going on a new plane!

We just found out today that we will be flying on one of Virgin Atlantic's new Airbus A330-300 aircrafts when we fly out to Orlando on 19th May 2012.  Paul is really looking forward to this.  Unfortunately we'll be on an old Boeing 747 when we come home, but apparently the IFE sytem's are being updated by the beginning of next year, so hopefully our flight home will be better than the last one.  The IFE was down on both flights last time which was a very tedious flight home to say the least.

New Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330-300

Interior Airbus A330-300

We can book our seats on 30th June, so only a few more weeks to go.  We're also going to do Twilight check in the day before we travel in the hope that we can get seats in the bubble on the way home.