Pre-Trip A first, a last, and a galaxy far, far, away... (Now with bonus London TR!)

BEE IS GOING BACK! BEE IS GOING BACK! BEE IS GOING BACK! ​

So, this title might be a bit misleading. There are actually several firsts planned for this trip, and a semi-first. But "A first, another first, yet another first, a sorta first, and a last" doesn't roll off the tongue (or fingertips) so well.

For now, I'll leave you with the cast.

Me (Bee): 30
DW (M): 30
M's mom (MIL)
M's dad (FIL)
M's brother (BIL): 27
My brother (Jay): 24

And a countdown!
Our next trip  

EDIT: Now we're doing a Passholder preview and going down early for two nights, then flying home, then proceeding with our regular trip as planned. So, here's THAT countdown:
CRAZY PEOPLE DO A PASSHOLDER PREVIEW  

 

[Darstarr]

That is one BIG stinger!!!

 

[MinnieM123]

Intrigued by the photo of Carnaby Street. Is that a landmark now? I know that back in the 60s & 70s, the London clothing style scene (from what I've read) came out of that area. Carnaby Street was often mentioned in articles, etc. Are there many clothing stores on that street now, or is it just more of an iconic landmark? Love the attractive sign that hangs over the street.

 

[bee]

That is one BIG stinger!!!

All the better to...sting you with??

Intrigued by the photo of Carnaby Street. Is that a landmark now? I know that back in the 60s & 70s, the London clothing style scene (from what I've read) came out of that area. Carnaby Street was often mentioned in articles, etc. Are there many clothing stores on that street now, or is it just more of an iconic landmark? Love the attractive sign that hangs over the street.

I think it's both! There are still lots of clothing stores, including both international brands I recognized and some I didn't that might be local or only European.

really enjoy the pics from london
covent garden during christmas time was such a special place in time for me

Thank you! We visited Covent Garden on our last day and really enjoyed it!

 

[bee]

Disney Update!

My brother has booked All Star Sports for August 28-September 1! Many jokes were made about the acronyms of both that hotel and a certain ride in Toy Story Land

He is hoping to upgrade to a moderate later when/if discounts come out but we don't think that's very probable given GE and Labor Day.

 

[12in12]

So fun to see your pictures of my home town.

 

[bee]

not sure if you went to Oxford but at the museum on campus you can see lewis carrolls original manuscripts for alice in wonderland...

also the pub in oxford ,The eagle and the child is where jrr tolkien and cs lewis did their writings. they serve a wonderful bacon sarnie as well

No, we only saw London this time. Hopefully next time we get to go to the UK we'll get to see a few more places!

So fun to see your pictures of my home town.

 

[bee]

Day 3, cont.

The next stop on the Beatles tour was Abbey Road Studios, which was actually pretty close to our hotel.

And yes, we saw THE crosswalk, but it was rush hour and we did not want to stop traffic trying to take photos crossing it! M had a photo of just the crosswalk so if I remember I'll get it from her and post it.

On the way back to the hotel...

Back in the room...

If you don't know, at many European hotels you have to put your room key in a little slot on the wall to turn on the lights, so you don't leave the lights on and waste electricity when you leave the room. Apparently, though, it doesn't have to be the key, because I accidentally put my Oyster Card in and it worked.

We had dinner in the lounge again.

Banana in the hallway...

Since it was M's birthday we needed an official birthday dessert, and her favorite is tiramisu, so we went down the block to Tesco to see if they had any.

And they did!

Sunset from our room!

 

[bee]

Day 4: Friday, May 24

Our lounge breakfast had several different jams, preserves, etc. Today I tried bitter orange marmalade:

We took the underground to our destination...

Shakespeare's Globe!

We had tickets to a matinee of Merry Wives of Windsor. This is one of my favorite Shakespeare comedies, partly because it is so operatic (mistaken identities, disguises, secret love, etc.). There are several operas adapted from Merry Wives and I sang Anne Page in one of them a few years ago.

Inside the theater:

We had excellent seats near the center and really enjoyed the show! The production was updated to the 1920s with original jazz-inspired music played by a live band. The actors were fabulous with great comedic timing and we were laughing the whole show!

Afterward we visited the shop and got quite a few souvenirs for ourselves and others. This was for me:

 

[LadyBelle]

Loving the London TR! I thought the room was super cute!

 

[bee]

Back to Disney news...

WDW just increased the cost of our AP by $225/person!! Glad we bought ours two weeks ago!! And the original plan was to wait until next week, right before our FP dates.

 

[dizfan917]

Kevin was waiting to buy his... whoops. dang it.

 

[LadyBelle]

There looks to be increases all across the board - I've seen resort parking go up as well. Getting ready to weed out the "ruffians" as @wdisney9000 prefers. Even DVC members are not immune to the increase.

I'll just remain a poor visitor every other year.

 

[youngdeb]

Wow! Dodged a bullet on that one! That's a huge increase.

 

[bee]

Loving the London TR! I thought the room was super cute!

Thank you!

Kevin was waiting to buy his... whoops. dang it.

Booo. Are you by chance a Sam's Club member? Apparently they are still selling APs for the old price.

There looks to be increases all across the board - I've seen resort parking go up as well. Getting ready to weed out the "ruffians" as @wdisney9000 prefers. Even DVC members are not immune to the increase.

I'll just remain a poor visitor every other year.

And just yesterday some were saying how "generous" Disney was for the bring-a-friend and water parks promotions...

Wow! Dodged a bullet on that one! That's a huge increase.

That would have been $450 just for the two of us. I can't imagine having a family of 4 or more and being hit with this.

 

[wdisney9000]

There looks to be increases all across the board - I've seen resort parking go up as well. Getting ready to weed out the "ruffians" as @wdisney9000 prefers. Even DVC members are not immune to the increase.

I'll just remain a poor visitor every other year.

"Riffraff"

 

[LadyBelle]

"Riffraff"

Got it.

 

[NessNewt]

"Riffraff"

"Street rat!"

 

[Tuvalu]

The To Or Not To bank is THE CUTEST!!

 

[krisri18]

"Street rat!"

"I don't buy that"

 

[dizfan917]

why, yes. YES we are Sam's Club members!! and Costco...