The Ferrets Florida funtime

well its finally here ladies and gentlepeeps.I am sitting in the departure lounge at our tiny island aiport wiating to go :-)
Off to a great start as we only have bloney Gok Wan on our flight (first autograph and we haven't even left Guernsey yet.
There may be some more updates whilst we are vactioning but am taking a notebook to keep tabs of everything to fill this out properly when we get back.
Thats all for now folks
 
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Mr Ferret 75

Mr Ferret 75

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday 18th

Disney's Hollywood Studios today and that can mean only one thing... STARWARS WEEKEND :D
Right from the off we noticed how extra busy it was.good luck to anyone attending the future weekends as this one was at a quieter time of the year.We took the stroll around and see what was going on option to start with.After this we headed over to the darth Mall for some event specific merchandise.This is located outside the park in a specially erected tent that you access through an opened gate just to the right of the RNRC queue entrances.There was only a few minutes wait to enter here and it was very crowded.At one point Donna got fed up of being knocked around and proceeded to say "calm down its only bloody starwars" :eek:
The queue to pay was actually longer than the queue to enter.Once we had purchased what we wanted(my wife bought more starwars merch than me :D) it was coffee time so back to the Hollywood tower coffee cart.ths is a great location for a rest up as it seems never to be too crowded and there is plenty of shaded seating available.We opted for a hazlenut latte and Blueberry muffin each.Whilst relaxing we opened our starwars vynilmation that we had bought . I managed to get Han Solo and one of the Red Imperial guards.Donna got an Ewok and emperor Palpatine.We found out a short while later that the emperor was the chaser. However the one that Donna really wanted was Wicket and she managed to trade straight away with someone who had said ewok.He seemed a bit bemused that she would trade the chaser so easily but it wasn't what she wanted so having it was no biggy.
next up the motorcade.
 
Mr Ferret 75

Mr Ferret 75

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Original Poster
We parked ourselves behind a group of ECV's (who said they were good for nothing).and watched the motorcade go past .. lots of characters and storm troopers of all colors.
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Jedi Mickey
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R2D2 gets a re-spray
Didn't really recognise all the "stars" in the cars only Jeremy Bolloch (Boba Fett) and Ray Park (Darth Maul).
Having sweated away for a good 45 minutues (the weather was scorchio) we headed to star tours via a drinks cart.
The line for Startours was only 10 minutes (yet TSMM was 110 minutes during a SWW ??????? ) so we hopped on the shuttle one last time.
We then wandered around checking out both the dark and the light side taking photo's of the characters around.
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Those were the droids we were looking for ???
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New strategy ... let the wookie win !
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Hanging with the dark side
We then headed back to the resort and our own shuttle for an emergency trip back to the mall to get a few items that we had forgotten (someone needs to get a mop for that 18 car).Then it was down to the golden corral for tea and a Dunkin Donut's coffee to take back to the hotel (we don't like Dunkin coffee).
Back at homebase we 99% packed the suitcases so we didn't have to panic pack them tomorrow.
 
Bethypoo

Bethypoo

Well-Known Member
I'm diggin' the pink R2D2. I went to SWW the first day and the line to get into Darth's Mall was so long. So, I upgraded my pass to hopper(thank you nice CM at POFQ) and went back early Sunday morning. One of the CM's in the mall told me the wait got up to 5 hours on the first day. Yikes! I'm glad you didn't have to wait that long.
 
Mr Ferret 75

Mr Ferret 75

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Bethypoo said:
I'm diggin' the pink R2D2. I went to SWW the first day and the line to get into Darth's Mall was so long. So, I upgraded my pass to hopper(thank you nice CM at POFQ) and went back early Sunday morning. One of the CM's in the mall told me the wait got up to 5 hours on the first day. Yikes! I'm glad you didn't have to wait that long.
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Must have just timed it right as it was only 5 mins tops to get in :D
 
skellitterixx

skellitterixx

Member
Bethypoo said:
I'm diggin' the pink R2D2. I went to SWW the first day and the line to get into Darth's Mall was so long. So, I upgraded my pass to hopper(thank you nice CM at POFQ) and went back early Sunday morning. One of the CM's in the mall told me the wait got up to 5 hours on the first day. Yikes! I'm glad you didn't have to wait that long.
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The pink R2 unit's name is R2-KT! She was named after the designer/creator's daughter (or so I've heard!) She's one of my favorites!
 
englanddg

englanddg

One Little Spark...
"R2-KT was created in 2005 to honor Katie Johnson, a very special little girl who tragically passed away from brain cancer on August 9, 2005, at the age of seven. Her father, Albin Johnson, is the founder of the 501st Legion, a Star Wars costuming fan club that performs charity work around the world. Katie had a special wish: to visit Walt Disney World. Through the generosity of the Make-A-Wish Foundation®, Katie's wish was granted. Then one more special dream came true. Katie's sister, Allie, was inspired one day while watching Attack of the Clones, in which R2-D2 watches over the sleeping Padmé. Allie thought how great it would be if Artoo could watch over Katie while she underwent treatment, and for the droid to be named "KT" after her sister. The R2 Builders Club made Allie's idea a reality by creating a unique R2 unit especially for Katie. The 501st Legion approached Hasbro with the idea of producing a figure to commemorate R2-KT."

My goodness...feels...so much feels...
 
Mr Ferret 75

Mr Ferret 75

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Sunday 19th
Magic Kingdom
Once we had arrived we headed straight to Buzz Lightyear as we had not done this yet.I managed to get the top score within about 2 scenes so spent the rest of the ride aimlessly shooting at stuff.However the camera's had broken so couldn't get proof :mad:.
Next up we took a stroll down to the circus to meet 4 out of the fab 5 (we had met Mickey at MGM).With only a short wait time to see each character it went really well and we had a great interaction with all of the characters.Back round to the Little Mermaid and hopped on a clamshell with again a minimal wait.On exiting we decided to sample LeFou's brew (would be rude not to).Very nice.
Onwards to the Haunted Mansion still looking good inside and had the obligatory crying kid in the stretching room.
When we headed on over to buckle our swashes but found they were exiting people from the queue (ride down people ride down).After a bit of a mooch we found ourselves over in tomorrow land when it started to drizzle so we hit up Cosmic Rays.The place was packed and there was a queue to get into the lounge where Ray was singing... We found a balcony area overlooking the castle still had quite a few empty seat so parked here to watch the people doing the "rain panic".
Once we had eaten we headed via the hub (and past this cheery chap playing in the puddles)
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Boing splash :-)
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Better a rainy day at MK than any day elsewhere.
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Castle in the rain.
Over to The Hall Of Presidents .
Once this show had finished we decided to wait out for the 3pm parade right in the area outside the Christmas Shoppe.The rain had passed and the sun had come back out so it was a nice pleasant wait,
The parade duly rolled past and we realised we had chosen a great place to watch from as there was no-one opposite us so the characters all tended to come past and wave , hi 5 , indicate that they would like to scratch Donna's Tinkerbell Tattoo off with his hook :eek::eek:
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Well spotted Captain but it aint going nowhere.
After the parade had finished we took leave of the park for a few hours to re-charge for the evening and recycle my trainers .... Waterproof they are not .
 
Mr Ferret 75

Mr Ferret 75

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Original Poster
We returned to the magic for just after 9 pm.Only carrying my wallet we strode straight through the no bag line and into the park.It felt a bit weird not having a bag of any sort.We headed straight up main street so i could get a last corn dog fix :oops:.We then watched the castle projection show and Wishes from just in front of the Crystal palace.
After this it was around into Adventureland for a walk on Jungle cruise .Love this ride after dark as it really changes the experience.Next up Pirates (hopefully).What ever was wrong from earlier had been fixed and all we had to wait was the time it took us to walk the queue.
One thing from this holiday that shocked us was that we didn't encounter any flash photography on the rides :eek:
We then headed back to our new favorite spot to watch the late night Main Street Electrical Paradeinto .
This parade was possibly the most fun one i have experienced for a couple of reasons.
1.All the parade performers seemed to be more fun (not sure of the right word to describe it)
2.We had an awesome cast member that appeared from out of the shop.He got the whole area clapping to the music , woooing repeatedly and he loudly interacted with all the on parade performers who then interacted with all around him as well.:D
After the parade and with slightly sore hands we went to It's a Small world.Nice update since we last rode.
Next a quick swim over to Ariel and with a walk on we did this one last time.
As we were well into the Extra Magic we headed on over to Frontierland and Big Thunder.
Next up . Big Thunder then on to ..Big Thunder followed by a quick spin on Big Thunder and a ride on Big Thunder .... Finally we went on over to ... Big Thunder :D.Yes that's right folks 6 times on the trot with the only injury sore ribs from laughing so much . We did one complete trip on the train with our eyes firmly closed and that was a wild ride indeed.We were going to attempt number 7 but the park was closing so we headed down Mainstreet one last time :(.
Back on the bus we finally got back to the resort at about 1:45 am :eek:.
 
Mr Ferret 75

Mr Ferret 75

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Monday 20th
:(:(:(

After the late night we were up for 7 am to load up the wagon and check in for our flights (boo).Once fully loaded and a room check was done to make sure we hadn't missed anything we checked out of our home and headed for Downtown Disney and the Virgin desk.We Checked our bags all the way to Guernsey :D and got our boarding passes for the international flight and also the domestic flight the next day.Very impressive service.
With the flight not being until that evening we went to EPCOT for one last hurrah.
After entering we headed straight to the land pavillion to Fast Pass soaring and then hop on (it was only a 5 minute wait so seemed rude not to).
Whilst waiting for our FP we decided to have breakfast from the cafe here . Once we had quenched the hunger pangs we did soaring and then Living with the land.
Once out of the land we went to Test Track and with it being a 110 minute wait grabbed a FP for 1-2pm.Back across the plaza once more we went to say goodbye to Nemo and friends and grab ourselves one last whiff of skunk to take with us.
We decided to grab ourselves an Agent P adventure phone on the walkway to the world showcase.The CM looked a little bemused by two tattoo'd hooligans wanting to play this game .
We solved the Norwayanator problem and moved on to the Japananator Quest.Finally finishing with the U.K.anator. This is a complete re-jig of the Kim possible game and all the bits are the same just with a different thing on the phone.If you have kids and haven't done the Kim Possible one it is cool but if you have i would try and do ones you didn't do as the little ones might get bored.
We dropped the P.H.O.N.E off in the UK by posting it in the red letter box ( where else).
One last coffee from our regular cart later and we were heading out of WS.We took the oppertunity to grab a photo with Duffy and Donna bought a Flower and Garden Duffy .
 
Mr Ferret 75

Mr Ferret 75

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
Original Poster
We headed over to Test track for our fastpass and got as far as the part where you get given an rfid card.There was a queue there waiting as there was a minor delay.We decided not to wait as we didn't know how long this was going to take . We turned around and gave back the RFid card and went back out the line.We gifted our fastpasses to a couple who had just seen the 120 minute wait for standby. As we headed out of the park we heard that it had just gone down until 7pm :eek:.Hope they managed to get a replacement time for our gifted passes.Quick stop in front of the golf ball for a photopass pic or two and it was off up to the airport.
We arrived with plenty of time to spare and handing the hire car back was no problem.Once up the escalator to heaven (never seen one escalator go so high) we went through security and waited airside for our flight.
We were travelling back to Blighty on Barberella.Once onboard we were treated to an hours delay as there was lightning and they couldn't finish loading the plane until it passed.
We had a good flight back (once the bickering couple next to us had gone to sleep :rolleyes:).Upon arrival back at Gatwick we cleared immigration and headed to cafe Giraffe for a full english breakfast.
We went through into airside after this and had a good mooch through the duty free picking up some perfume Donna had liked on the way out and a couple of thank you gifts i had forgotten.
Our afternoon flight finally rolled around after only 1 costa visit and 40 minutes later we touched down in Guernsey to see our taxi (my Dad) waving from the airport window.
All in it was an amazing trip of firsts and we can't wait to go back again.I will put some more general observations and extra photo's up on here as things are remembered .
Thanks for taking the time to read all of my ramblings and hope it wasn't too boring.
 

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