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We planned to start our adventures in Peru in the mountains of Huaraz, what we didn`t know was what the journey would entail. Faced with a journey of 24 hours by bus including one border crossing, this was going to be epic. Now epic, bus journeys and retired more relaxed bunnies do not go together well in my book, so it was decided we would bunny hop our way to Huaraz stopping first at Chiclayo, then Trujillo, finally arriving at Huaraz. First the border crossing, I diligently read everything online, safety, what not to do, how to do it, corrupt border crossings, you name it, I read it. the truth? Peasy !! more easy peasy orange squeezy than anything I was expecting. We departed Cuenca at 9pm, expecting to be at Chiclayo by 9am (ha, we actually arrived at 1.30pm). At 1am we arrived at the border crossing. 2 buses in front of us, so we sat on the bus, and waited. A very long time granted, but there`s nothing difficult about sitting on a bus. Around 2.30 am we got off the bus taking with us all our on board bags, at the same time the bus staff removed all the luggage from the hold. We queued in the border crossing building, got our passports stamped to leave Ecuador, and moved to the next booth to have our passports stamped to say we had arrived in Peru. And that my bunny friends was as scary/complicated as it got. We had to grab our bags and put them through a security scanner as you would an airport, but that didn`t take long, and by 3.45 every bunny and all the bags were reloaded onto the bus and we were on our way to Peru. Chiclayo, we eventually arrived here 15 hours after leaving Cuenca. Just a quick stopover so unfortunately I cannot comment on the town of Chiclayo. Food,(nearest cafe) Netflix and sleep were the only things on our mind. 15 hours on a bus was a bit hard work. The younger bunny generation make it look easy, but for us older retired bunnies, we tend to need to fidget a bit more, and stretch aching body parts. Early morning saw us on the next bus to Trujillo. 5 hours later and we arrived at what looks like a pretty city, but alas this was another city with a priority of food, the large and well advertised restaurant of El Rincon de Vallejo, provided our evening meal, and the Hotel Jorge Chavez, our bunnybeauty sleep. The hotel promised us breakfast in bed, that was a first, but alas the early morning breakfast tray consisted of cool black coffee, a fruit juice of unknown origin, 2 bread rolls (no butter) and jam. Planning on arriving at our destination of Huaraz today we set off for the bus station nice and early (unfortunately not quite early enough), and goofed. The bus to Huaraz left twice a day, we had just missed the morning bus so now had a wait of 10 hours until the evening one at 10pm.. Cue quick google search found ourselves heading for an impromptu day at the beach at the nearby town of Huanchaco. Very pleasant indeed. Not a sandy beach, but clearly an easy going beach town popular with backpackers and locals alike. Big shout out to the Chocolate Cafe, a pitstop of perfection. Back to the bus station for an overnight bus, and Huaraz our destination. Huaraz Mrs Bunny found the journey here very difficult. With a pitch black view from the window, and an inability to see the road ahead, the bus took on the persona of a wild mouse rollercoaster. (or for any Disney fans, a slower paced Space Mountain) Not only were we climbing through the Andes, we were also on a multitude of switch backs. This bunny had a green face and a belly that threatened to make food reappear by magic. Add in the altitude headache and I for one was not a happy bunny. We arrived as dawn was breaking, dropped our smallest bunny at the busiest hostel in the town and headed for own which was a slightly more remote hutch. We were welcomed by a lovely host, who showed us to a box room housing a single bed, and an old shelving unit on which perched a 1970s box tv. If you could kindly wait here a few minutes whilst we prepare your room, were our instructions. Given how ropey we both felt, we quite happily perched on that small bed and even managed a catnap, desperate as we were for rest and sleep. A short while later she returned and invited us to join her on the terrace for a hot drink.....I cannot deny it, that hostel roof terrace view was just spectacular. The altitude was a killer, but the view, wow. Add a tiny cute puppy called Laya, who was wearing fluffy pjs, and we thought we had hit the jackpot. Until we were shown to our room. Turns out, that tiny box room with the single bed, zero space and 70`s tv, was ours! Only now it contained a double bed. Gutted was an understatement. Booking.com what have you done to us! " 2 double beds, flat screen tv, shared kitchen with electric kettle, bathroom with bath and shower" where are you !!? Long story short, was a festival weekend and the hostel was overbooked. We were offered a reduction in price, and we made the decision to suck it up and deal with it. the bed was comfy, the small tiny roof ceiling height window, wasn`t too big to be draughty, the shelf unit with cupboard was useful and the private bathroom had a shower with hot water. winner. Then we found the kitchen. Truly you couldn`t make this up. The fitted kitchen as per the photos, was actually the kitchen in the hosts private apartment, and the shared kitchen/ours was a wooden hut on the roof. But you know what, we came to love this place. Sometimes first impressions need to be shelved, and Mr Bunny does like a culinary challenge. The Mountains of Huaraz . Huaraz sits in a valley surrounded by some of the most spectacular hills and mountains and is known for its superb hiking trails. Hiking here had never been on my bucket list, and being there at such high altitude meant it would be a non starter for me even if I had wanted to hike. Im finding as a retired bunny, my need to climb every mountain has been surpassed by more relaxing itinerary Our super fit smallest bunny took herself on some some glorious hikes see miss.tiff.travel s for more information, but one hike, the famous and utterly spectacular Laguna 69, was a must do for Mr bunny and little miss.tiff. They set off at 4am, leaving on a bouncy bus for 3 hours, followed by a 4 mile uphill challenging hike to the Laguna 69. I saw the photos on their return, and for once, Instagram is absolutely 100% accurate. that laguna is every bit as blue and beautiful as every picture you see. I had to admit I was a little jealous and sad that I was physically unable to see this for myself, but I am so proud of the efforts of my bunny family. Huaraz the town. In my opinion this is a town to be used as a base only for hiking, or in my case, for sitting on a roof top terrace under beautiful cloudless skies with a cute pup and a good book for company. It is not a pretty town at all, in fact I would go so far to describe it as slightly run down, scruffy, dusty, and with a lot of air pollution at ground level due to the extreme age and condition of most of the cars there, coupled with the terrible state of the roads. Would I recommend it? If you like your hiking, absolutely. If hiking isn`t your thing, I would probably give it a miss. Lima A tale of 2 halves, from Huaraz to Lima, a bus journey of around 8 hours, but this time, with recommendations from hostel guests, we discovered the bus company Cruz del Sur. Game changer! Every other bus journey we had made we had either travelled with whoever shouted the loudest, departed at a time when we wanted to go, or was the only company we found at the bus terminal. Now, Cruz del Sur have their own bus terminal, and their own schedules and for us it was like travelling business bunny class instead of regular hutch seats. We didn`t find them particularly expensive, just on a par with everyone else, but the buses are beautiful and so much more comfortable. If only we had found them sooner :-( . Knowing we had booked accommodation in Miraflores, we knew we had to disembark at the second bus station. And so we travelled from Huaraz. Passing desert landscapes, tiny village, smallish town, and more desert landscapes, and more, and more and still more. So much land, so few people. Until that moment when a small shop was next to a larger shop, next to a street, next to full blown neon lights, a beautiful and huge city. Lima really did seem to arrive out of nowhere. For 3 bunnies who really enjoy the green country side, after our time in Huaraz, Lima arrived like a cool drink on a hot day. We thought the first side of the city, ( as viewed from the bus) was pretty special, but travelling another 30 mins to the second terminal and the area of Miraflores we felt quite giddy. Our hostel I want to describe as the little house from Up, just at that bit prior to the balloons when the little house is surrounded by high rise buildings and blocks of flats. It was a 2 story building painted orange, with arched windows and a small garden, totally out of place within the area, but oh so perfect. (So perfect in fact we returned to stay here again, but more about that later). Less than 5 minutes from the promenade and the Pacific Ocean, and 15 mins walk from the centre of Miraflores, we couldn`t have had a better placed hostel. True we took more than 15 taxis during our stay to reach other parts of the city, but as hostels go, Great Partners is perfect. Sunday, a perfect day. Bright, sunny and warm, we geared up for a walk along the beach front. (Actually the road runs along the beach front, the promenade itself runs for around 6 km along the cliff). There are many different parks and green spaces along the promenade, we watched dogs at the dog park play (all wearing coats or jumpers of course as seems to be the norm in Peru), boys at play flexing their muscles and rather nice bods on the climbing frames/gyms, people playing tennis, brave bunnies floating around in the air on paragliders, wet bunnies flopping off surf boards, and the skinny bunnies in their micro leotards and earphones jogging. (not sure why, but hey ho, each to their own). Such a perfect day. Monday came and we found out that we had seen Lima weather at its best. Apparently Lima is notoriously grey, cloudy and chilly, at least during the winter. Chilly has to be a description best used loosely, the locals wore jumpers, puffy coats, scarves, some wore t shirts and loose jackets, us brits wandered quite comfortably in just our t shirts and jeans. Take our hostel, it was difficult to tell what difference opening a window made, the ambient temperature inside and out were pretty similar. There are archaeological ruins in the centre of Miraflores an easy walk from the hostel. Afraid I`m no more a ruins fan than I am of birds, we did a guided tour but all I managed to glean from said information is that this big pile of bricks, shaped a bit like a pyramid are made of mud and have sat here for around 1000 years. Yes, its interesting, but as far as archaeology goes, I far more enjoy seeing the collected artifacts than the piles of bricks left behind. (See Larco Museum). Day 3 found us at the Larcomar Shopping Mall. I am in need of a long sleeved thin jumper, but this was not to be the place to shop. Very tiny, situated on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, Larcomar consists of mostly super expensive shops, and a cinema, but it was there that we found the Tanta restaurant chain. Oh Yum. The food looked superb, but so did the cakes. 3 guesses which we had. So ends our brief time in Lima, but we are to return.... Huacachina . I proper had to stamp my little bunny feet to persuade Mr Bunny that this was a place worth seeing. He was very much of the opinion that our destination of Atacama later in the trip would be much the same, so why do we have to go here?. His little bunny nose waffled in frustration, but Mrs Bunny won the draw as usual. A short bus ride from Lima (about 4.5 hours) and we arrived in Ica, from there to Huacachina is the shortest bunny hop ever, literally just over the sand dune, (or round the sand dune if you are driving) you could walk if needed, but that is only recommended on weekends and holidays, and for bunnies without heavy backpacks. We caught our first glance at the oasis of Huacachina just as the sun was going down, and an instant apology from Mr Bunny ensued. He even dared to say those 3 little words we all crave, You Were Right. The tiny town oasis of Huacachina is picture postcard perfect. It was hard to tell that first evening just how much we were going to enjoy our brief stay there, but morning came, and all was revealed in a blaze of glory. What you see is what you get, it really is that tiny. The only natural oasis in South America (yes, it is natural, but yes, it is also topped up by hosepipe as and when required) Huacachina is also surrounded by the biggest sand dunes on the continent. And sand dunes mean only one thing, tired legs, dune buggies and sandboarding!! (ok, 3 things if you want to be picky) The morning of day one we paid our tourist tax (no ticket, no dunes) and duly climbed the tiniest little sand dune ever, just to get a giraffes eye view of the Oasis. From that view point we also found all the ticket sellers for dune buggy rides, and the dune buggies themselves! Oh wow. They come in all sizes from small and cute, think small children and pregnant woman, to full on adventure types with roll cages and bull bars. We each knew there and then that this was a must do activity. We also knew that we wanted to go armed with cameras, go pro, buffs, glasses, jackets, water, and a private buggy driver who would respect our individual needs. Back into town, we found a tour guide with impeccable English to ensure no misunderstandings, and one hour later we had a private buggy tour booked, leaving at 4.30pm that day so that we would also catch the sunset. Excited was an understatement. We stressed that whilst we or rather Mr Bunny could endure a lot, we didn`t think his back surgeon would condone a wild buggy ride! Turns out the buggies need driving at a certain speed (super fast) simply to get up the dunes. We have never had as much fun ever, we traversed those dunes so fast, we had the ride of our lives. To compare, the "Adventure Buggies" were flying over dunes, driving down massive dunes, with hard speedy landings, whereas we just went flat out keeping all 4 wheels on the sand. Sandboarding next! Who knew. We hadn`t realised that we had body boards strapped to the back of the buggy. One biggish dune and down we went, then up a second smaller one, finally boarding down a third. Not a sport I could do all day long, at least not without a sandwinch, not to eat, but to hoist my bunny butt and its sandy board back up the dunes, what a leg killer! Finally as the sun started to go down, we were driven at full hop to the highest dune our driver could find to watch a perfect sunset. What an amazing couple of hours. Once the sun set, Myself and Mr Bunny waited whilst our little bunny was taken on a wild ride around the dunes, we heard the screams of laughter from quite some distance away. Day two. Mr Bunny quite fancied the wine tasting tour. Who knew Peru made wine? Turns out they don`t, well not much anyway. He described the vineyards more like small fields, where wine is only produced in March. Still, he had fun, and enjoyed the small wine samples offered. Whilst big bunny did wining and dining mini adventure, bunnies two and three had a picnic at the waters edge. Huacachina is all about dune buggies, sand dunes and sandboarding. To be honest, there isn`t a lot else to do. You cannot even take your picnic onto the dunes without paying the tourist tax again. (disclaimer, yes you can from the road or further afield, but I am referring to the immediate area around the oasis) You could if you so wished exert a little effort by hiring a pedalo to enjoy the lake, or even hire a small boat that came with its own rower if you didn`t fancy any more leg work, but other than that, and eating/drinking/late night Karaoke, im not sure what else there is to do in the immediate area. A tour to Paracas could have been an option, but when it is described as Peru`s mini Galapagos, we figured we would just stick to our memories of the real place. Day 3. Another day that wasn`t to go as planned. It had been my intention to get a taxi to Ica, a bus to Nazca, and take a flight over the Nazca line the same afternoon. But the bus company I researched, and I think what the tour guide tried to tell me, but I failed to understand, was that the buses don`t leave Ica in sufficient time to arrive at the airport before the flights stop for the day. My bus times were either 2.30am getting in at 5am or left at midday arriving too late. Time for another organised tour!. Nazca. Picked up at 7am by car, with a 4th person, we were driven to Nazca by a lovely tour guide who talked continuously for the whole 2 hours 30 mins journey. Our ears ached, but his information was enlightening and interesting. Including facts such as his two children were representing Peru in a maths competition in Malaysia. (well done kids!) He himself was an ex cycling champion, and that asparagus grows 15 cm in a day and can be cut twice. He also drove like Nigel Mansell. To say our journey was hair raising at times would be an understatement. I could tell you that we stopped at an aqua duct, but truthfully to me it was more rocks and water. The museum dedicated to Marie Reiche was a little more interesting, despite the fact that all the original artifacts dedicated to her life had been stolen and what we saw were copies. Marie Reiche is the German woman who spent a lifetime studying and mapping the Nazca lines. A truly incredible feat given the sheer size and area that they cover. So, to the airport. This may have been a bucket list experience for me, but it still didn`t calm my overwhelming nerves or fear. Oh my bunny knickers, what on earth was I thinking! Those planes are like oversized remote control toys, flown by geeks in anoraks on Sundays afternoons, and you want me to go in that !!! Insult number one, we each had to be weighed. Humph. If those scales are accurate I`ll plait fog. Anyway, turns out Mr and Mrs Bunny cannot fly together. Mrs and Miss could, but Mr Bunny would be going in a separate plane. Once we boarded our respective planes it was clear that this didn`t really matter. Its a bit like riding a super cool rollercoaster, your friend may be next to you but you each enjoy the experience on your own. Mine and little Miss plane was super tiny, I sat in the front, little miss at the back. You each wear headphones so that you cant hear the screams...I mean so that you can each hear the commentary of the co pilot, and we were off!. We had been given a map of what we would see and where to see it, on the ground or on a mountain side, or on a plateau, and the plane would first fly so that everyone on the left could see, then did a wide circle to back track in a way that everyone on the right could see the shapes. The plane and the terrain were both terrifying and fantastic at the exact same time. The Nazca lines are incredible. I never knew just what an immense area they covered. There are shapes, and patterns, animals, birds, a cat, a `baby dinosaur` and lines. Perfect straight lines that go on for miles, yet nothing of which can be seen from the ground. The flight lasted 35 mins which seemed to be the limit of most people on board. I think any longer and the bags located in the seat pockets may well have come into play. For someone who hates flying, I am so proud of myself for managing to overcome this fear long enough to fulfil my dream of flying over the Nazca lines. Mr Bunnies experience of the lines was very different to mine. Their co pilot failed to give enough information as to where to look for the shapes so he missed seeing quite a few, and their plane was a small jet shaped plane, more modern looking than ours, so they had to bank further so that the passengers could spot the lines at the wing tips. For any bunnies out there wanting to experience the lines from above, make sure you stamp your little bunny toes and get the information prior to take off. Return to Lima We returned to Lima with the intention of staying in the same hostel, Great Partners, it ticked every box including comfy bed, hot showers, decent price, why go hunting for anything else?, and also to visit the must see tourist spots that we missed first time around. These included the `famous` water fountains/water park, Lima Zoo, Larco Museum and Barranco. The fountains and the park were nice, nothing spectacular, but it passed a pleasant evening. Lima Zoo, for a zoo tucked away in the City Centre, it wasn`t bad. They do have a large array of the more unusual animals and birds, but personally the animal enclosures are far too small, and lack stimulation for the inhabitants. It was sad to see the walking path in its entirety for 2 full grown tigers. Sadder still was the very small aviary housing the worlds largest bird, the Andean Condor. For a bird that can soar at heights of up to 16,000ft his cage was pitifully small. I just hope he was a rescue bird with a story to tell. We did meet the real life Paddington, aka the Spectacled Bear. They were fun, and their play space a little better than most. Larco Museum. A very pretty museum, with an equally pretty (and expensive) restaurant on site, most definitely not your average museum cafe. The museum itself is unique in such that it has many of its archived artifacts in visible floor to ceiling glass cabinets. Much as I like seeing old artifacts, once you have seen one old vase with an eagles head, the other 155 start to look pretty similar. The more precious artifacts, gold jewellery and other fine objects are displayed with the decorum they richly deserve. If you chose to visit with younger bunnies, especially those under the age of 16, you may wish to skip the erotic pottery exhibition, but for older bunnies it was quite fun seeing the artifacts depicting you know what....and not just the what, but the where and the how !! Barranco, in order to appreciate this district we opted for a free walking tour. Have to admit though, we were very glad it was a free tour, for if we had paid to be shown just one square block in the district of Barranco we would have been stamping our bunny feet with the greatest of displeasure. In a nutshell we covered the Bridge of Sighs or Punta de los Suspiros, (hold your breath as you cross and make a wish), a little artisan market, buy the Picarones! yummy yummy, a bridge tunnel covered in wall art, and an advisory of the best (or as it turned out for us the worst) restaurant in which to eat. Walking tour of Barranco? Pah, go yourself, you will see so much more. By the way, the best restaurant serving the local speciality, Cow Heart, meat on an skewer, was voted a resounding failure. ( I wont reveal the restaurant name as that would be unfair, they were very busy, but with a local clientele). Perhaps Cow Heart is an acquired taste. There was nothing about the taste or texture of this traditional dish that floated big bunny`s boat, and he is usually a proper meat foodie. Mrs Bunny had chicken, and corn on the cob, but nothing at all like the yellow sweet corn we are used to at home. to say we were disappointed in our choices in what was advised to be the best restaurant, would be an understatement. With our time in Lima at an end, it would be true to say we were a little sad to be leaving. Lima, we have loved you. Cusco From Lima we opted to fly to Cusco rather than endure a 21 hour bus ride. such a good decision. What a fantastic flight, the scenery was just fabulous, watching mountains out of both the left side and right side of the plane simultaneously, hitting the deck as we landed at the airport whilst still viewing said mountains was quite special. Take a deep breath everyone, Cusco, we are here. Located in the middle of the Andes Mountains at an altitude of 3399 metres above sea level, Cusco really does quite literally, take your breath away. Everything you read about visiting Cusco implies that it is simply an overrun tourist city, a place for which a couple of days will suffice, and the starting point for Machu Picchu. Where on earth do people get these ideas? Cusco is just beautiful. We loved every minute of our time in Cusco. We stayed for an extended period of time for a couple of reasons. Acclimatising, we aimed to give ourselves 3 days to adjust and adapt to the altitude. We then needed a further 4 days, allowing little bunny time to walk, sorry, hike the very challenging Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu. A hike of some 4 or 5 days covering a distance of up to 46 miles. We then spent a further 2 days at Aguas Calientes/Machu Picchu, before returning to Cusco for a further 2 days, giving glutton for punishment little bunny a chance to visit the Rainbow Mountain (for full details of these hikes, visit miss.tiff.travel s) Personally Mr and Mrs Bunny had seen enough photos of Rainbow mountain to know that the vivid colours as portrayed via Instagram or other adverts were a little exaggerated. We really didn`t find it necessary to endure more long drives and high altitude to take photos of coloured mountains with a multitude of other tourists. Cusco . What a beautiful old city, so very different to anywhere we have been. cobbled narrow streets, winding paths, large open squares, tourist shops galore, Cusco has a lot to offer. Yes, we did find ourselves overwhelmed by the hassle of the street sellers, most, but not all understanding that No, really does mean NO, and not yes I want to buy something I neither like nor want... but they are friendly and their pressure selling is a genuine need to make money. Many of the items are very nice, but so is your money, and if you don`t want something, be firm but kind with your rejections. The main square of Cusco, Plaza Mayor is a fabulous place to people watch, or even watch a parade,(we saw three in our brief time there). There are many balcony restaurants dotted around the square, and all have great views. We had a personal favourite, it faced the old cathedral and was situated in one corner. The food was pleasant, the coffee ok, the beer was cheap, the tea tasted like smoked sausages, but the view and the hospitality made up for everything it lacked. When you cannot cope with the altitude, have no desire to hike or go on endless days trips or face the barrage of street sellers, or the endless tat of t.s. shops these restaurants make for great bolt holes. Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley Where to begin? The biggest bucket list destination of our entire 5 months South America trip. To sit at home and see pictures of Machu Picchu in all its enigmatic glory, perched high in the Andes Mountains, built by the Incas, and knowing that there was a chance I could go? What a dream. We planned our entire first half of South America around this special place. What I didn`t expect after endlessly researching how to get there, was how easy and relatively cheap it is to visit. It is no harder to visit MP, than it is to visit the Eiffel Tower. From the moment you enter Peru you are battered with tours to Machu Picchu (MP) day trips, two day trips, 3 day tours. Every single tourist shop flaunting pictures from every angle, fridge magnets, t shirts, mugs, cups, plates, toys, pin badges etc of this wonderful place. Truth be known I became quite sad and disillusioned. The MP of my dreams, was a quiet, special, remote, and unique place, not a glorified over booked tourist destination. The reality prior to my visit, and especially in and around Cusco, bordered on a disappointment that such a magical place be treated with such irreverence, to an overwhelming excitement that I really was going to go and see it for myself. Even acquiring tickets for your circuit of choice (do your homework bunnies) is not the nightmare people insist it is, unless you want circuit 2 classic which is booked up months in advance. We purchased 2 tickets, for Circuit 2 lower, twenty days prior to our visit, peak season. You buy the tickets online, being careful to use the correct official Ministry website www.machupicchu.gob.pe you must then purchase the transport of your choice. MP, or rather its closest town of Aguas Calientes, (AC) is accessed by train only. There are many trains each day, and you can choose between IncaRail or PeruRail. You could choose to pay £1000s and experience the very beautiful Bingham Luxury trains, or simply take the cheaper, but still fabulous Peru Rail bus to Ollantaytambo, then the train to AC. All buses go via Ollantaytambo, and all trains take the same fabulous 27 miles route through the Sacred Valley from there as well. We opted for the very beautiful Peru Rail vistadome train/coach, with a return journey in what we thought was going to be a normal train carriage, but turned out to still be a vistadome carriage, with just a few less trimmings. The return Bi Modal transfer was approx £57 ppew. The Journey. Still apprehensive about the over commercialisation of Machu Picchu, and how the journey would pan out, my fears of en mass cheap coaches leaving busy bus stations, filled with chatting tourists, backpacks and cameras quickly abated as we approached the Peru Rail Railway/Bi Modal Station. Greeted by a smartly dressed railway host we were escorted quietly to the most beautiful waiting room with its peaceful ambience, tranquil sounds of the Beatles music played on pan pipes, the smell of roast coffee, comfortable chairs and carpeted floors. Guests were appropriately dressed as befits the majesty of Machu Picchu, and suddenly I felt calm and relaxed. We were escorted across the railway lines to the small but smart little transfer buses, the whole process of transferring people immaculately organised. On board the coach for around 2 hours of the most glorious scenery, we finally arrived into Ollantaytambo. Whilst we were not given chance to view anything of this small town as we were briskly escorted to the soon departing train, I have a feeling Ollantaytambo is a place that we could quite happily have spent (and dearly wish we had) several days. The train the station, the feeling of excitement is almost palpable. Every aspect is exquisitely managed, from the railway station cafe to the boarding of the trains. You are left in no doubt of where you need to be at any given time. Of course you will always find one set of `those` people, the instagrammers who believe a place belongs solely to them, the overly loud person who thinks everyone and their dog should listen to their conversation, and the travellers who are convinced you need to take oversized suitcases to every destination.... (get a life people!) We all boarded the trains to the sounds of Inca chanting and bells, as dancers whooped and chanted along the trackside and we were off. The Sacred Valley. No amount of research or videos could have prepared us for the majesty, serenity, peace and vistas of this glorious train ride through the Sacred Valley. We had eyes on stalks as we surveyed every inch of the views through our multitude of glass windows in our beautiful railway carriage. The extra few dollars spent choosing this particular carriage was more than worth it. Truly Magnificent. Any other words would diminish the beauty of this valley. It truly does seem sacred and unspoilt. As the train joins the river side you are treated to the scale and sheer size of the rocks and boulders with which the Incas had to work. Even the river itself offers a taste of beauty. Every now and again we caught glimpses of the hardy trekkers and their devoted porters ( our own little bunny included) as they traversed on foot the paths the Incas made before them. We salute you. For twenty seven miles and one and a half hours of spectacular scenery we wended our way through the mountains to the town of Aguas Calientes and the valley home of Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes. From the sublime to the ridiculous. This town is the epitome of tourist central. As soon as you disembark the train the mass commercialisation hits you full in the face once more. Aguas Calientes serves only for tourist to sleep, eat, drink, shop, and to catch the bus (or walk) to Machu Picchu, which thankfully cannot be seen from this blight on the landscape of The Sacred Valley. A slight miscalculation in my timings put us in the town for 2 nights. With better planning and a little knowledge, one night is more than sufficient. There are pockets of beauty within the town itself, but nothing compared to the journey you have already done. Purchase yourselves a return bus ticket up the mountain, the shop is well sign posted and easy to find, 12 dollars ppew. And now, with tickets in hand, eat, sleep and awake fresh and excited at 4.30 am, your visit to Machu Picchu has begun. Machu Picchu. The bus queue, which you simply cannot miss as it winds down the street by the river, starts at around 4.30am, with the first bus leaving at 5.30am prompt. Your tickets and passports are scanned as you queue, and the boarding is fast and efficient. The little buses are boarded quickly and leave immediately. The speedy journey up the mountain takes around 25 minutes. As you depart the bus, clearly signposted Banos( bathrooms) are in front of you, with very clear indications that there are no toilets within MP, nor will you be allowed to back track or leave/re enter once in this sacred place. We had planned to arrive at dawn, to see the sunrise over M.P. Alas mother nature, or in Peru ,Pachamama will always dictate the weather. We arrived onto the classic viewpoint, a cloudy morning meant that we were unable to view MP in all its glory, but instead it did give us a very atmospheric almost eerie view of the sheer height and splendour of this amazing place. Due to new regulations and visitor numbers, the authorities have produced `circuits` limiting numbers of people to certain routes, and guiding people along on well marked but very specific pathways avoiding hot spots and overcrowding by maintaining a strict one way system, but this does actually work. There were many many people at MP, but at no time did we ever feel crowded or rushed. The guides are knowledgeable and respectful, giving you sufficient time in each place to talk and discuss the building and daily life of the Inca people of MP, before moving on as the next group arrived. We never overlapped, nor did we ever have to jostle for space. Is it everything we ever dreamed of? Oh yes. Very much so. It was also very respected and with zero tolerance for noise or silliness. Once more I felt at peace, knowing that Machu Picchu was truly respected for the sacred place that it is. I feel proud, privileged and humble to have been able to fulfil my dream and tick off yet another bucket list item that is Machu Picchu. Salineras de Maras and Moray A short trip away from the centre of Cusco brings you to these 2 places. We were picked up from the main square of Cusco at 8,45, driven for around one hour to a nearby town where we had a short but interesting demonstration of textile making, (why has nobody marketed that plant shampoo?, I have never seen dirty wool wash so clean with good old Persil..one quick grate of a certain plant, add water and wash, voila, pure white wool, was amazing!) anyway, every good demonstration( attentively watched by 3 nosy alpacas), has to end in a shop and this tour was no exception. A wonderful shop granted, but like any tourist tour shop, just a little overpriced. A note of consternation, the pens in which we had our little demonstration had a small run to the side of us containing little guinea pigs, they looked ever so cute and tame, I couldn`t help wondering if they knew they were destined to be spit roasted..... We continued onto Moray, which is an old Incan ruin of unknown purpose. It is thought that they served as agricultural terraces as it does have an irrigation system. Looking down on the site from above it was hard to appreciate its true size and scale, but when you note that your average sized person would have to climb, not step from terrace to terrace, the scale becomes pretty impressive. From Moray to Maras, only a short drive away further into the mountains, and suddenly you are confronted with the mountain side view of Salineras de Maras, the Salt plateau. A truly impressive sight. Over 4700 salt pools cascade down the mountain side, each fed by natural hot water spring that has flowed through the mountain for over 110 million years. The salt is collected on a monthly basis and each salt pool can produce over 150kgs. The amount of salt produced by these salt pools is quite staggering, 4 million kgs per year has been the estimated production. That`s a lot of salt if you ask me!

Galapagos. A bucket list experience, and one that we were the most excited about. I have watched Master and Commander, I had that same feeling of excitement that the doctor did. Big bunny is an animal lover, and little bunny was about to land in Instagram heaven, follow her @ miss.tiff.travel s. We flew from Quito to San Cristobal Island, via Guayaquil, and landed in paradise, granted my wild imagination far exceeded the reality, I really had expected scrupulously clean buildings, and streets, zero litter and picture perfect town, but the reality is a living town, with everyday people going about their every day business. It is so clear that once upon time the local population wasn`t expecting the deluge of tourists that it is encountering today. Was I disappointed? Not in the slightest. San Cristobal is just raw and beautiful. Yes, you are going to encounter building works and litter, and why? Tourism. It comes at a price. Take the photos and leave only footprints, everything about that statement applies here. From the moment we landed all we saw was the raw beauty, spoilt only in places by the every expanding need to accommodate tourism The road was less than perfect, we loved it. There was building taking place, we accepted it. We saw the wild animals, we respected them, their privacy, their space. they were here first. Who didn`t? Tourists, not all I assure you, but we saw more than one silly bint with a camera and a ` I`m going kiss a seal because you can`t and shouldn`t but I`m going to anyway because it looks good on my insta` attitude * disclaimer I am not and I emphatically repeat NOT referring to my little highly respected miss.tiff. If you cant be bothered to respect the delicate balance that is the Galapagos, stay away. Rant over. San Cristobal. Yes, you can fly direct. The cutest little airport ever. You can see the entrance, exit, both sides and the baggage claim without moving your feet. Our room was less than 5 mins away from the airport, we could have walked but the taxi driver was just so obliging. Yes, I know about the carbon footprint etc, but our bags are heavy, it has been a very long day and the taxi drivers need to earn/eat as much as we do. We dropped the bags at our room, locked up and left again. We only have 4 days on this amazing Island and we were not for wasting any time. Are we here on a budget or are we planning to splurge? Budget. I assure you. First place, walk and explore the town of San Cristobal. Nothing prepares for you more for this beautiful island than this pretty little town. And seals. Everywhere. When the huge signs at the airport warn you to keep more than 2 metres away from any animal, I wish they had mentioned "watch your feet" the seals/sealions literally lie anywhere they chose. In the road, the gutters, park benches, on the beaches, on boats, in the middle of the narrow path you are walking down  cue seal stand off.  they are everywhere, how many photos did I take? 100s of course! We walked slightly out of town to the Interpretation centre, it was free to enter and was the start of many different walking trails. We aimed for the one that ended at a beach. Beach, Pelicans, Seals (seals or sealions or both, we never could quite figure out which was which) delicately scented Paradise is the best way I can describe it. To sit on a beach, with beautiful clear blue water, surrounded by these amazing and charismatic animals was a dream come true. You chose your spot, keeping to the two metre distance rule, and there you have your own little spot in paradise, fabulous right up to the part when Stuart the Seal decides your patch of sand is way better than his. You move. Not him, Shift. Now. Its his sand, his beach, and he knows it, you common little human, shift your little bunny butt right now. Do the seals smell? yes. yes they do. very much so. My little .1 bunny said I shouldn`t mention this, but I cant help it. My poor little bunny nose was assaulted all afternoon, little bunny and big bunny have no sense of smell, so they were in blissful ignorance of my poor traumatized nose. Would I sit all day on that beach again? Of course I would, id just bring a small scent bottle and apply it frequently. Our day ended at a beach bar with hanging seat hammocks, before making our way to the town beach with the best sunset. The sunset was 6.15pm according to Google, so at 5.45 we plonked ourselves on said beach and waited. and waited. Everyone else seemed to think the sun set at 7.15, which it did, but we didn`t question it. The reason why will come later. Day 2. El Junco/Tortoise Sanctuary/Beach. We took a taxi, (we were initially quoted $80 but we agreed on 60 as all research online had suggested that $60 was the accepted fare for this trip. El Junco, first stop. the largest freshwater lake in the Galapagos, with a great view. Unless of course it is completely shrouded in mist and you cant actually see anything. What does it look like? I don`t know, because... Next stop, the Tortoise Centre. We arrived to an empty car park and a desk with one man and a piece of paper. Had we pre booked? No, we hadn`t as we couldn`t find any relative information online. Never mind the guide said, pay your taxi driver 10$ each (?) and I`ll take you on a personal tour now. That suits. San Cristobal Tortoise Sanctuary. Absolute joy of a place. The guide spoke beautiful accented English, was funny, droll, informative and clearly loved his job. We learned so much about tortoises that trip, and they were everywhere. They were in a free, but protected environment, they could wander as far as they liked, but given their food was growing all around them, they stayed close by. From the Tortoise Centre, we then went to Punta Chino, or Puerto Chino beach for 2 hours of paradise. Day 3 found us back at the Interpretation Centre, this time heading for the snorkelling cove of Muelle Tijeretas. A small but slightly crowded decking area served as the jumping in point for swimming. Calm clear waters and more seals! You can try as hard as you like to avoid them and to stay the required 2 metres away, but if they want to come and say hello to you in the water, they will. Santa Cruz Island. We had ferry tickets booked for the 7am crossing with instructions to be at the dock at 6.15am. We were there. Nobody else was. Silent. Dark. Still. How odd. Eventually the harbour master came to us and asked our business, we pointed to our watch and said 6.15 for 7 am Ferry?, to which he laughed and pointed to his watch. 5.15. Yep, we just spent 4 days on San Cristobal, having not adjusted our watches to Galapagos time. Hence the sitting on a beach waiting for a sunset that was an hour later than we thought. Well at least we got to see the Sun rise! The ferryboat, more a large speedboat with seating for 30 ish people than an actual ferry was exceptionally comfortable if you`re into boats and water. This bunny is not, so the 2 hour crossing was a miserable affair. Bunnies and boats just don`t mix. Puerto Ayora. The largest town on Santa Cruz, actually the only town, unless you count the tiny 2 or 3 house villages scattered along the road from town to airport, and a compete contrast to Puerto Moreno on San Cristobal. A much bigger town, and quite the maze. Definitely not as pretty as Puerto Moreno, and with a lot less seals. Our first stop was the Darwin Centre, rated as the finest tourist attraction/conservation centre on Santa Cruz. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement. We had most definitely been spoilt by the Tortoise centre on San Cristobal, the Darwin centre, with its insistence that everybody has a guide (to stop tourists picking up/stealing tortoises...What!!!!) whilst excellent, was a poor comparison. Our group was large, the guide spoke very limited English and was very difficult to understand, and the whole experience was an unenthusiastic tour of a tortoise conservation centre delivered in a of matter of fact mumbling monologue. What they are doing there is exceptionally brilliant. The Giant tortoise, or Tortuga Grande has had a traumatic history, and the Galapagos sanctuaries are doing an amazing job restoring their rightful place on the islands. Don`t miss the Darwin centre, our experience was probably the exception rather than the norm. Day 2 Tortuga Beach. Without doubt a long long walk, but not difficult. A well paved path meanders from town to beach. You cannot get lost. Go prepared with water and food if required, as there is nothing at the beach but sand, sea, seals, sharks and Darwin finches. Delighted to say no cafes, no beach huts, no silly banana boats, just pure white unspoilt beaches and beautiful waters. Tortuga beach is just so picture perfect, apart from the fact that you cannot and should not swim there due to the exceptionally dangerous currents. Never fear, just a short walk up the beach and take a right and behind, I cannot describe it any other way, but behind the wild sea shore of Tortuga Beach, is Tortuga Bay. A perfect little millpond bay of crystal clear waters, small hammerhead sharks, and an infinite number of Darwin finches. the cutest, and nosiest little birds you will ever come across. If you do not fancy the long walk back, there is a water taxi that calls by for any wanting passengers.  Day 3. little bunny fancied a boat trip, whereas us two older bunnies did not. For $35 little bunny did the Bay Islands trip, a 4 hour trip taking in lava tunnels, shark snorkelling, blue footed boobies and Iguanas. follow the trip @ miss.tiff.travel s . Whilst waiting for the boat to appear we watched a huddle of Pelicans quivering at the dockside, on closer inspection, the Pelicans were watching a fisherman carve up a freshly caught yellowfin tuna, and their excitement was palpable. With little bunny on her way to the Lava tunnels etc, Mr and Mrs Bunny took the opportunity to take the challenge of walking through town, with a mission to find coffee, cake, beer, and no TV. This was the day England were playing Holland, and 2 footy mad people wanted to watch it on catch up. Day 4. Not the driest start to a day, so instead a very leisurely breakfast, a walk into town for some window shopping, then as the day got brighter, we caught a taxi to Playa El Garrapatero. In our short but perfect time in the Galapagos we had only spotted one blue footed booby, and El Garrapatero was our last chance to see this elusive bird. A perfect beach, yes, a blue footed doofer with a beak? nope, we lucked out on that. There was a chance we could have spotted one from the kayaks that were available from the beach, but 2 chubby bunnies and a little bunny with a very expensive camera didn`t think it was worth all the effort. Leaving day . With a plane to catch in the afternoon, we got a taxi to the airport, via El Chato, about $10 each, more Tortoise! you simply cannot have enough Giant Tortoise photos. The Tortuga here are amongst the biggest on the Islands. And they are allowed to `run` using the term loosely, wild. No boundaries, no fences, these fabulous reptiles, can be seen in the fields as you drive to El Chato, on the roads, near the trees. For a bunny more used to seeing sheep and cows in fields, spotting giant tortoises in the wild made me proper giggle. What an amazing end to a bucket list dream destination. But Wait !!! What`s that? After arriving at the airport, taxi, boat, bus.. we spotted our last elusive animal, another reptile, the land Iguana. $300 unaffordable trip to see them, or free at the airport. Galapagos, you are beyond amazing. A dream come true, and one we shall all treasure for a lifetime. May your shores remain ever pristine, and let not tourism spoil your magic.

Why wouldn`t Halloween start in August? This is America after all, home of all things Halloween. (technically Halloween started in Ireland and was taken to USA by the emigrating Irish, but Hey Ho lets skip that part of history) This crazy `party` at Magic Kingdom see the MK dressed up for Halloween from mid August onwards. Orange is the new Black. Pumpkins are everywhere and the entire theme is Halloween. Personally I have a great loathing as a brit for this singular one night `celebration` it is just over commercialised. Halloween decor hits the shops around mid July, and goes on right up to to the 31st October. I do however love Disney, and never miss up an opportunity to take part in a bit of dressing up. Even sweeter reason to visit the MNSSHP , being the supressed chocoholic that I am, it is one over the top night when you get enough candy thrust at you to open a small sweet shop. Party tickets, which you buy on top of your already expensive park tickets, start at a fairly eye watering sum, and increase in price upto the actual date of Halloween. August offers cheap er tickets. The `party` starts at around 6.30pm, when everyone with a party band enters, and everyone without is shooed out. No band, no ride, no food, no parades, and Disney cast members are highly adapt at saying `no` to anyone who out stays their welcome on party night, without a paid band. The Characters are out in force in their special Halloween costumes, ghoulish treats replace ordinary fayre, ghostly drinks, and special lighting all enriches the overall experience. You could say the wait times for rides are less, with less people supposedly in the park, but it is still very very busy. Everybody tackles the party differently, some people are there for the treats, (us) , some go for the special foods, some for the characters, some to ride at a quieter time. We always find it difficult to do everything, and tend to prioritise candy queues over character queues. We went in fancy dress, as we have done for every MNSSHP in the past, one year Woody and Jess, another as Genie and the Sultan, but this year it was the turn for Mr B to dress as the Mad Hatter, whilst Mrs B did her best to be the white Rabbit. Mr B always looks amazing no matter what costume he chooses, whereas Mrs B tends to feel a little shy. No idea why that matters, because one thing is very very true, when at Disney, absolutely nobody whatsoever bats an eyelid at anything anybody wears. Little B looked amazing as Esmerelda. We had a wonderful evening, and even the weather behaved itself. If anybody asks me `would you recommend it`, my answers would be multi level. It is exactly the same park by day. The same rides. If you are happy and willing to pay a very large sum of money just to see characters in special costumes, perhaps an extra nice parade, eat exactly the same sort of foods, (and pay for it) but with `Halloween touches` then Yes, go and enjoy yourselves. If however you see it as a night in the Magic Kingdom just to get a whole bucket load of sweeties and a few quieter rides don`t bother, it would just annoy you. If you love dressing up, Go! and do it in style, If one of your party is the type that won`t even wear a Mickey Cap, don`t bother. Dress up, Have Fun, and until the next time, its thinking caps on for us debating our next costumes.

I hope you are sitting comfortable with a drink in hand because Disney is my happy place and this blog could be long. I will endeavour to make it interesting and hope to inspire, not bore you. As per the Universal Parks, I will talk about our experiences at Disney rolling every park day into just 4 separate blogs, one per park. We spent 14 days at Disney, staying on site at the Caribbean, and only left once to visit a non park, Disney Springs. We love Disney, we love its pure blissful simplicity, the way it morphs you back into childhood fantasy and the ability to just be a kid again, leaving your cares and worries behind you as you board a flying elephant, meander through the mine of the seven dwarves, laugh at the terrible jokes on the Jungle Cruise. We pander so much to the whims of spoilt children of the modern day, that it is pure joy that we too can ride as adults the attractions of films that made us so happy as we grew up. I am not going to bore you with cost, the crowds, the busy times. If you are going to, or have been to Disney, you know all that. It is expensive. Period. It`s popular, so it`s busy, deal with it. I can tell you when to go to experience less crowds, but with the crazy amount of know it all`s online all wanting to brag about How to do Disney, just take a peep there. My only suggestion to anyone is this. Stop Overthinking It. Learn your lightening lanes. Learn how to navigate the App, (annoyingly useful) don the most comfortable shoes you own, even if they are falling apart, comfy? Wear them! All the ridiculous must haves that people post online will just make you miserable. If it doesn`t fit into a bum bag/fanny pack, you don`t need it. Naturally I am only referring to adults. Shout, rant, get cross, I frankly don`t care, but I go to Disney as an adult, and do all I can to avoid being there when surplus kids are in attendance. Perish the thought of visiting during school holidays. This would be our 9th time going to WDW, so not exactly yearly Disney travellers, as we do like to let things change a little in the years we choose not to go, never mind the fact that we harbour a desire to see much more of the world (see rest of blogs lol) but this will be Disney Park number 5/7 in our attempt to Global Disney in one year. Our chosen accommodation. It was quite by chance that Caribbean Beach came onto our radar. A room is just a room, that has always been our mantra for Disney, if you do not plan to spend time in the resort, why pay for an expensive resort? a bed is a bed. Book the cheapest hotel (personally that is All Star Movies for us) and use the provided transport to ferry you to and from your chosen park of the day. Alas, one year we left it too late, found A.S.M fully booked and Caribbean the next cheapest. Ho hum, not exactly cheap, but with flights booked and tickets purchased, we had no choice but to commit. What a great accidental find! With the utterly superb skyline just a few minutes from your door, suddenly the ability to access Epcot in one direction, or Hollywood Studios in the other with the least amount of fuss or wait time made a huge huge difference to our days. I make no secret of the fact that I have very little patience for adults who feel everyone should listen to their conversation or whingy whiny kids moaning about why they have to go to Magic Kingdom again and not stay by the pool instead, so the chance to avoid long bus journeys of yakking adults and over excited kids and just board a quiet little gondola on my own with Mr and Little B by my side made for such peaceful, pleasant ways to start each day. Even when you do need to board the bus to Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom, somehow those buses are less busy and make for a pleasant journey. (time of year applicable I presume) The downside of the Caribbean Beach, depending of course where exactly on site your room is, could be the long walk to the dining options. Getting the resort mug and acquiring a hot drink is one thing, but if the walk is long then the drinks tend to be a little too cool by the time you return to the room to drink. (apologies for such a tiny grrr) Magic Kingdom No matter where you stay or when, starting with the Magic Kingdom is my must do. From the moment that bus arrives with its destination `Magic Kingdom` written in lights, my excitement builds. You pull up to the bus stop at the MK, pile off, and there it is, the grass fronted garden, with Mickey Mouse head in flowers, sitting slightly higher than ground level, sneakily hiding the joys within. The station entrance with the large clock tower and the lettering in gold, Magic Kingdom. The train that used to bring the Disney Characters and herald the start of a new Disney day is no more, I am secretly hoping that it may be due to ongoing building work, I do not know, and harbouring a hope that it returns once again. No more do they dance and welcome you to the Magic Kingdom either, cant say that I miss the family of the day gimmick, but I do miss the Fire Chief proclaiming `Welcome to the most magical place on Earth` Instead the little preshow has been changed to a very efficient entry system instead with electric bag scanning (gone are the days of security staff with pokey sticks) and a swifter entry to one of the best places on earth. Choose to enter left or right, it doesn`t matter, I feel my grin grow as I emerge through the tunnel into Town Square. I cannot tell you just how much younger I feel the second I stand in Town Square, its as though the real world no longer exists, my problems disappear, and the child in me shines bright. Safe to say I probably know every inch and shortcut in the entire park, but not for one moment do I ever stop looking. Everywhere you look is a nod to Walt Disney, a theme, a smell, a taste, a picture, it may be the same, look the same, but it never is the same. Each visit is different, today we chose to board the little bus that ferries just a few people at a time up Main Street to the Castle. We have seen this bus in previous years, but until today had never ridden it. From our slightly elevated position on the top deck of the bus, we were able to appreciate the upper floor window quirks and references of the Main Street shops. We saw the Dapper Dans, singing group, passed the many photographers capturing that photo of `us in front of the castle` that people treasure for years, remembering the smell of the popcorn wafting around them as they posed, holding out their hand whilst not knowing why, then receiving said photo to find Tinkerbell stood on their hands. Trust the magic. Whilst I can talk about each ride in turn, instead I will tell you about our journey around the park (multiple visits rolled into one). We usually choose to bear left into Adventureland start our day with Robinson Crusoe. Afraid we cannot bear the idiocy of the parrots in the Tiki Tiki room, oh dear Lor, are they utterly boring and silly or what! We keep trying and hoping that the show has improved, but nope, same old bad. It may be original, but desperately requires an update or better still replaced with something so much better? I may love every inch of Disney, but even my love of everything Disney cannot include these silly birds. Passing the flying carpets of Agrabah, the sole purpose whilst trying to enjoy this great silly ride is to position your carpet right in the line of sight of the camel that `spits`. One nil to Mr B here. Jungle Cruise, best biscuits can be found on the ride, Ginger Snaps and don`t miss the Backside of Water IYKYK. Pirate time next with the Pirates of the Caribbean, we met Captain Jack Sparrow in person as he emerged from his cabin, drunk as always, I snapped the best photo as I placed myself a little too close causing him to `whoa` in character as he avoided my person as he swayed characteristically on his way to the saloon. The ride itself is great fun, not a patch on the supremely amazing ride at Shanghai, but for an original, still a lot of fun. Onwards and upwards to the new Tiana`s Bayou Ride, the former Splash Mountain. Incredibly silly and sad why they had to reimagine this once great ride, but I have to admit the rethink is superb. Pure Disney magic and sublime attention to detail, the little things make the ride special. Shame about the original, but super replacement. I wish I could tell you about our ride on Big Thunder, but this is still closed for what must be a massive refurbishment given that it has been closed now for many many months. Also closed is Tom Sawyer Island, the riverboat, and gone is the water. That huge expanse of water, completely drained! You stand and look at this massive area and think, how the heck did they do that! Pity with all the land that Disney owns they couldn`t keep the lovely Liberty Bell, but I believe this whole area is to be transformed into Cars Land. If it is themed as well as the new Tiana`s/Splash Mountain, I don`t think anyone will be disappointed for too long. Another recent refurbishment, The Country Bears. Nobody can deny this had really run its course, with songs so old and corny they were almost cringy. This was the attraction you would visit to rest a while, or even nap. Now? We actually loved it. It was modern, funny, appropriately up to date, and very enjoyable. Hall of Presidents. Way too meh for us, sneaky little hushed boo to the orange coloured one, but still a good place for a few daytime zzzzs. Haunted Mansion, oldie but goodie. We three bunnies squeeze ourselves into one doom buggy and this in itself provides with us with a huge amount of hilarity. Personally I feel this ride lends itself for some new state of the art and modern updates. Nothing overly scary, after all mustn`t upset little people, ( yes, yes you can ! lol) but something could be done to improve and bring this dated attraction to life. Fantasyland, the busiest area of the Magic Kingdom and not without good reason. With some of the best rides in the Magic Kingdom this area naturally attracts the attention of young families with small children (who brings kids to Disney? typed with tongue in cheek humour and a smile :-) Philharmagic, quite probably one of the best 3D cinematic films ever, so so good, love the addition of the Coco scene. fly to NeverLand with Peter Pan, I`m sure Nana used to hover above her kennel? Board a boat and travel the world on `its a small world` after all, its a small world after all, bet your singing now, . Dumbo, a ride so popular that Disney dug out their original mould and made a second set of flying Nellies. A timed entry for tots and a play area to while away the time, if needed, this is a huge favourite of ours. Incidentally, did you know that Dumbo is the only ride to appear at every Disney Park? (and the fact that Dumbo is the only Disney character that doesn`t speak?) Snow White, and the ride that causes more kids to cry than any other? something about the Old Witch that freaks them out. Winnie the Pooh and the honey pots, followed by a ride on the Mine Train. We rode them all. Teapots whether you spin fast or slow its just easy and fun, Goofys Barnstormer, why not? short, sweet, purely for kids and ridden by just as many adults being kids. Next stop Autopia, cars that possess no sense of direction, that you swear you can manhandle into behaving, then realise you cannot, and its a crazy bit of driving fun especially if Mr B drives off first and you try like heck to catch him, no bumping allowed if you do, but its still fun to try. We managed to miss visiting Aerial this time, not quite sure how, we seemed to walk by and never swerve to ride. I will assume it is because we are aiming with purpose to ride the very brilliant, super quick, Tron Motorcycle. A few years old now, but the newest of all the Magic Kingdom rides. (brand new, not refit) This bunny here used to ride a motorbike many moons ago and this is the closest feeling I will ever get to feeling the thrill of a bike one more. Tron will be frequented often. Longest wait times, quickest ride time. Odd to think how so many people happily wait for up to 90mins to experience a ride that lasts around a minute or less. That`s Disney. We have recently downloaded a game app that we have seen a number of younger people playing in the queues, and its a gamechanger. Called HeadsUp, it is a game of mobile charades and provided us with endless fun and laughter as we queued for any ride over 45 minutes. You try acting `sitting on a toilet` in a public queue when folks around you don`t realise you are acting out a charade, just too funny. Possibly the only attractions in Magic Kingdom that we actively avoid are The Laugh Floor, we really do not like the idea of being singled out to act out an action and said action portrayed for all to see on screen, all the bunnies are made most uncomfortable by this. We also avoid Space Mountain. Once the best rollercoaster in the park, I really do feel this was completely ruined by the makeover a few years ago that spoilt this once great ride making it now something bone shaking, neck rattling, back pain inducing, headache guaranteed and just a non starter. I know it was so much easier on the body as my mum rode it on our first visit! if my mum rode it now, god bless her, she would have met her maker a heck of a lot quicker. Why on earth did they have to make it so much faster and in total darkness? Are we really the only people who think its now a ride not worth the pain? Even little B avoids this now saying she cannot cope with the spine jarring turns. In the area of Space Mountain you will also find Walt Disney`s very own creation, his Carousel of Progress. One viewing per scene is always enough, and probably no more than two visits in a holiday, but still a great show and I would think especially good for multi generational families, those visiting with grandkids, apologies, I do forget people can be grannies in their 40s now, but I`m referring to people in their 70s, bringing their families with youngsters I bet this would be a fun recollection from the oldest to youngest. Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin was also closed for a refurb this visit, another ride to look forward to when it re opens. There are so many more rides, attractions, scenes, shows, parades, fireworks, food, characters, I could go on forever about the joys of the Magic Kingdom but for fear of boring you I shall leave it here, and say, just once. Go. Experience the Magic.

Hollywood Studios, formally MGM, the park that used to have the big blue Sorcerer Hat icon, now long gone. This park has changed massively over the years. Anyone who says, Yeah I went about 10 years ago, wouldn`t recognise the place now. Admittedly the Indiana Jones show has barely changed a word or stunt in all that time, but most other attractions have changed one way or another. Tower of Terror is now the Hollywood Tower, and is now the Icon for the park. The park has become one of our favourites, even more so when you can be in bed at 8.30 and at the park entrance by 8.50 such is the advantage of living on the sky liner route. Not saying that i`ve ever still been in bed at 8.30am at Disney, but you catch my drift. Again, efficiency is the new word for entry, and with the huge huge crowds attending the parks nowadays, the days of the Rope Drop are actually a thing of the past. H.S opens at say 8am for all guests with early entry allowance, you enter and walk to your chosen first ride of the day. At that point you then start to queue. Each ride has its own specific ride time, and a start of line is usually a short distance from the ride entry. This is a nice and more orderly system than the mad and silly people running like crazy through the parks to get to their ride of choice. Hollywood is maddeningly tempting, which ride first? Thrill seekers tend to veer right for the Hollywood Tower, whilst families with squawkers (pet name for small kids) tend to make a beeline for Slinky Dog, Star Wars fans invariably target the extraordinarily temperamental Ride of the Resistance. Decisions, decisions......... It would be lovely, especially for anyone visiting any of the Disney Parks for the first time, to be able to enter a park and just meander leisurely from moment one, savouring every second, but alas, Disney has a sad reality. It is Busy, exceptionally busy! You really do need to prioritise your rides, and get there. Beeline. (Unless of course you really do not mind spending time in long lines) For us, Slinky Dog tends to win. It has the slowest turnaround, and the longest lines all day. Tick off Slinky, and you should still be able to briskly walk to the Ride of Resistance (ROR) prior to the mass of people arriving for the official 9am Park opening. And relax. You may even consider breakfast options now as it is more than likely you skipped breaky to make the early entry on time? Hollywood, great park, but very hit and miss on the food options. We have had some great food options here, and equally some pretty poor ones as well. Once we have ridden Slinky and ROR in Star Wars, we tend to hover around here and get the Ronto Wrap, posh words for what is technically a sausage butty. Now, careful people, cos if you drink Tea, not coffee, you are pretty stuffed. They do not serve Tea!! I mean really? Boston Tea Party and all those shenanigans and they don`t serve tea?? Say what? More annoyingly you cannot ask for hot water either if you just so happen to have your own tea bag. Starbucks serves tea, back at the park entrance, as does the outlet in the Dino near the water, but with Starbucks mowed out and appallingly slow, and Dino opening at 11, you ain`t getting no cuppa for breakfast. Leaving breakfast behind, we can now really start our day. That usually means heading back to the park entrance and effectively starting again. Hollywood Tower, its time to check in. We have stayed there so often and never fails to please. You just have to turn a blind eye to all the cobwebs and dust, accept that the library has a tv, no chairs, and that the lifts are utterly appalling, but put aside all that, its just a fabulous experience. Rock n Roller Coaster? hmmm, with one bunny having back problems, one with terrible motion induced headaches, this ride tends to be missed. New this year, a Villain Show sits next door to the Rock n Roller coaster. Brilliant. Cannot tell you why as that is the whole point of the show. Each show is different and very well executed. Head off back to Toy Story Land now. Invariably the wait time for Slinky is probably running at 90mins or more, so happy in the knowledge that we managed to tick this off early, we head next to the super cute Alien Saucers. This looks so tame, yet is so much fun. Whirled around in your little buggy being driven by a little green alien, ooooo you are the chosen one..... we giggle like a couple of bunnies on a first date. Toy Story mania next, flex your muscles, put your 3D glasses on, and prepare to shoot! 4 people in a car, two facing forward, two backwards, you are on a track armed with a fixed pull string gun, and plonked in front of a 3d shooting gallery. Grab the cord and pull pull pull pull as fast as you can to launch balls at plates. Your arm will be dropping off by the time the game ends as you continually pull pull pull pull to launch those balls faster than your opponent. Not entirely certain why Mr B beats me consistently, perhaps his arm is a little more used to the pulling action....hum te tum. With Toy Story morphing into Star Wars, you can now spend as much or a little time as you like wandering this incredible themed land. It is pure Star Wars. Every inch, every step, nothing is overlooked. The music, sound effects, aircraft landing noises, droids squeaking, droid tracks, Stormtroopers marching around, for heavens sake do not get in Kylo Ren`s way as he takes no prisoners, and you will be told to remove yourselves. Little B and I found ourselves taking Go Pro video outside Oga`s Cantina when Rey ran past, she paused, begged us not to tell the Storm Troopers in which direction she was heading, asked if we had seen BB8 and to keep secret the location of the resistance rebel base, then ran off. We felt quite bemused, but as she was quickly followed by 3 Storm Troopers diligently and fiercely chasing her , `Where is Rey` they asked of us, right in our faces...we just gulped, pointed, and indicated direction of travel. Sorry Rey, we let you down. A couple of years ago, whilst in line for ROR, we were accompanied by guests in superb Star Wars costumes. They spoke not one word to us, but conducted an entire conversation amongst themselves in the language of the films. Not just for a short period either. for the entire experience! It was a little OTT, but they were delightfully committed to their love of Star Wars. They would have looked pretty silly riding Slinky, but in Star Wars they were the DB. BTW, for any fans, the Millennium Falcon is parked here, and rides may be taken. 6 people per cabin you each chose a `job` Pilots, Gunners and Engineers. Our Pilot that day was appalling and we crashed several times, but Engineer Bunny here got us back in the air pdq and saved the day. Pure Disney Magic. Near to Star Wars was the area dedicated to the Muppets, the Italian restaurant (quick little story here. My very first visit, outside this restaurant we met the sweetest little old man, with tattoos covering every inch of his wrinkled tanned face, Disney tattoos, every character you can think of was on his face, I politely asked to take his photo but he declined, said I could look as much as I liked, but please don`t take a photo, a happy memory) Pizza Planet was also around here, and other small shops. This year this whole area was in the process of demolition, hurrah, no more Muppets! Never, ever a favourite of mine, so personally I wont miss this, and I believe a whole new ride experience devoted to Monsters Inc is on it's way. Looking forward to this in the future. Weather played a huge part in our visit to Orlando this year, and affected us often. Lightening in the Area? Woof. Stop. Closed. Every ride, some indoor, mostly outdoor, stop dead. This included the Indiana Jones show. Cant say we were overly disappointed as it really has not changed a jot in 20 years. We dined at the Prime Time Cafe. A 50s mums kitchen restaurant, with simple easy food, No phones on the table please, Elbows off! Set the table! Mind your Manners! everything said in great humour and all said to inflect the theming of the restaurant, this is `mums kitchen diner, and you will eat up and behave` that sort of thing. Great food, good for a laugh, a little expensive, but we knew that. This year we had chosen 50s Prime Time as it gave us priority seating for Fantasmic. Each visit, we queue and wait for this show, it starts early and the standing at the end of a long day is tiring. The chance to `twofer` suited us well. Food and Pre booked seats with no waiting. Box ticked. Fantasmic is always a nice end to the day at Hollywood, but another new cinematic show is located outside the Chinese Theatre which houses the new Mickeys Runaway Railway Ride. Projected onto all the buildings is a montage of all Disney films and is amazing. One a live action film, the next is Animation. Fantasmic or Cinema? Much as I love Fantasmic, the projection films were a great alterative. Mickeys Runaway Railroad. Bit of a sore point, ditto the film in the nearby theatre. Starting with MRR, why on earth have they chosen to draw Mickey and Minnie, Pluto and Goofy, in such a terrible way? Very 2d, flat, and utterly awful. The same Mickeys are used on the clothing designs, and its just terrible. I am going to assume that I am not the only person to dislike this new drawn version as I`m sure I saw less clothing with these terrible designs. The Ride itself is very good, a great idea, good effects, just such a terrible shame that the imagineers swayed away from the much loved portrayal of Mickey. I asked a cast member whilst we were there `Why the new image of Mickey?` The reply was something about being drawn to match the new Mickey in Asia. Well personally I thinks that is hogwash given that we were barely able to see any image of Mickey whilst in Asia, never mind this daft flat version. This same awful Mickey is also shown in cartoon form at the nearby theatre. Quite probably the worst cartoon we have seen that had Mickey as a main character. Frozen singalong. Never thought that we would enjoy a show like this as much, but we did. The new and reimagined Little Mermaid was equally good, and an excellent improvement on the show that closed several years ago. Quick visitor tip, don`t be too keen to be at the front of the queue. By chance, the theatre had filled with not a single seat left for us, but given that it was bouncing down we decided to wait here, undercover for the next show, staying dry. First in, means moving right to the very far end seat, and thereby not able to see the full effects of the show. Little disappointed but saw enough to not feel the need to queue again for a later showing. For all its little quirks, Hollywood is a great theme park and one where we would spend many happy days. Epcot E.p.c.o.t Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow, to give it its full title, should I feel, be treated as two very separate spaces. Epcot has changed and expanded quite massively over the years, I could quite happily go and spend many happy hours treating both these wildly different areas as very separate entities. Technically there are four areas, not two, Celebration, Discovery, Nature and the World Showcase, but with C elebration, D iscovery and N ature covering one large portion of the park, and World Showcase another, two sums up the park area well. Once upon a time you would wander around the Discovery area, tick off the few available rides and attractions then pace about waiting for the World Showcase to open at 11am. Not so much anymore. There are so many more attractions in C.D.N to be explored and enjoyed, Epcot just lends it self to be the park that you could choose to spend long leisurely mornings at, afternoon of relaxing (perish the thought) then the following day, relax, (shudder) and visit Epcot World Showcase starting in the late afternoon into the evening. C.D.N Afraid I have bypassed, and will continue to bypass the extremely nauseating Mission space ride, and head instead to the fabulous Test Track. Yet again this wonderful space has been reimagined, and I have to say definitely for the better. Years ago it was a noisy garage workshop, then it became a more refined car of the future wait line, with a (sorry) slightly pointless waiting exercise of screens on which you had 2? 3? minutes (either way too long) to build your own car. choose the shape, colour, wheels yadda yadda yadda, whilst all the time my mind was thinking how many grubby fingers had used these screens prior to us. Not a fan. You then boarded the car you had `built` and test tracked it. A goodly amount of fun, but a bit silly. This years update has abandoned the silly screens, changed the waiting/queueing to a quieter sleek area devoted to the future and improvement of cars energy and power usage, and ditched the holding area all together. Now its just queue and ride. The actual ride is much the same, but the focus is very much `the future`. If you are lucky or is that unlucky, I cannot decide, to get a ride with no in car audio, mention it to the cast member and you get the chance to ride again right away. We did this, and though infinitely better with audio, whizzing around the outside test track part is fun with or without words. Guardians of the Galaxy is the latest ride at Epcot and quite brilliant. Endless amount of queuing interspersed with enough screens and `lookies` to keep you occupied, and a fabulous ride at the end. This bunny can just about cope with the spins of this ride, and the ride personally lasts exactly long enough for the nausea to stay abated. 10 more seconds and it would be Hello Breakfast, but right now, its perfect. Soarin, in the Land area. `Hello Patrick` (IYKYK) these bunnies tend to be a bit smug when we say been there, done that, climbed that, seen that, (damn, shame we couldn`t fit that into our trip @Iguazu) and Wow, we gotta go there, we love Soarin, swinging feet or no swinging feet, its a great flying experience. Living with the Land, Mrs Bunnies favourite easy ride, but one that Mr Bunny rides and naps on. One of the better rides if your are a fan of spotting those hidden Mickeys. The Land is a great place for breakfast, a lot of good choices, and they offer tea :-) Water attractions next? then head to the Seas with Nemo, and from there into the aquarium area for the fish, sharks, Turtle talk with Crush, Manatees etc. Still more? then onwards into the `Ball` itself, and the slow but personally I think interesting, Spaceship Earth. I have no idea whatsoever why it is called Spaceship earth, when it starts in the stone ages, but hey ho. You end up in `Space` so maybe that`s the connection. Still wanting more? How about the Journey of Water with Moana? or maybe you want to play with Goofy? Meet Mickey, or even go on a Journey of Imagination with Figment. My dear American friends and readers, somebody needs to enlighten me as to what on earth the draw of Figment is! The ride is just terrible and pointless, even with Disney`s modern policy of political correctness and futuristic thinking, this ride is just awful! I am sure he could be a very cute dragon, so why not make him so and improve this silly ride. There is still much more to be seen and done, but it is time now to head over to the World Showcase. World Showcase. Another huge area that has changed and improved massively over the years. I hadn`t quite realised how much until I was looking back through old photos and noted the differences. Decision number one, Do you walk clockwise or anti clockwise? Do you start in Canada or Mexico? This year in particular we walked the World Showcase with new eyes. We have visited so many of the countries over the years, but this year we could add both China and Japan to our new found knowledge and suddenly the structures meant a whole lot more to us. Himeji Castle !!!! We have seen you with our own eyes. One day we will visit the World Showcase and Canada will be the next country that hopefully we will see with fresh eyes. Little Bunny had the one up on us here, after all she did have the pleasure of visiting Canada last year. We love the food of the World Showcase. Quite gutted this year that the Food and Wine Festival hadn`t yet started, but what we missed from the extra countries, we made up with from the existing ones. The three bunnies had a difficult time finding food we particularly enjoyed around the world, and with Asia being our last long term stay, we were ready for some great food. Apologies Asia, but afraid we are not fans of your cuisine, call us odd, call us crazy, scratch your heads and shake with disbelief, but yep, these Bunnies definitely have western bellies. The World Showcase is one of our favourite walks. Go for a 1.2 mile walk? No thanks...Fancy a walk around World Showcase? Sure thing!! Fancy walking back to Mexico? Yep, why not! We walk miles at a time as we wander the showcase. Maelstrom has been replaced with Frozen, Ratatouille now resides in Paris. Whilst both are excellent, The Rat Ride is VR and again a non starter for Mrs B. Such was our craving for some `English food` all of a sudden the lure of the Yorkshire Fish and Chip shop was too great. Oh wow, did we enjoy those fish and chips! Have we eaten there before? nope. 15 months around the real world, and it was a must. We truly love Epcot, and with so much more to see and do, both in the Land and around the World Showcase, no surprise it is a park set to repeat.

We would usually spend two full days per park at Universal, but for a shorter blog I shall condense the parks into once only events. We choose to stay at one of the nearby resorts, one that offers higher prices but includes unlimited Fast Pass as the norm. We have tried other stay scenarios, eg just Disney, and catching buses to Universal, I drive and either taxis or hotel transports to, but paying the extra to stay in a nice hotel with fast pass, has been worth its weight in gold when it comes to easy access, short walks, great transport options, early entry and short wait times. In previous years we have entered the park at Opening time, in an attempt to avoid the long entry queues, but this year, we opted for leisurely start to our days starting with Universal Studios Of the two Universal parks, this one has far fewer rides, if any, that command long wait times. The longest wait time was for the utterly horrific Rip Ride Rocket, which I am delighted to say has been now been retired and disassembled. Quick back story. This is a ride that I avoided on each and every previous trip. Just couldn`t pluck up the courage. Then last year, decided to go for it. Threw caution to the wind and boarded that appalling beast. Within seconds of the ride starting my head was being buffeted like a flag in a tornado. I suffer badly with headaches to begin with, but this ride darn near killed me, such was the `shaken brain` symptoms. When the ride halted I barely made it off, such was the pain of the headache. A rather silly, but sympathetic ride operator thought I was scared and tried to get to me think happy thoughts, whereas her more clued up associate just nodded and said `I`ve only been on the ride once and I swore never again`. This year, long queues formed to ride the darn thing one more time before its demise. Personally? Good Riddance!! So, R.R.R commanding the wait times, what else is there? Minions perhaps? on either side of the road are two Minion adventures. One is a shrink to minion size and virtual reality, (not done as I hate VR, but good so I`ve been told) and the other `ride` is quite possibly the most pointless shooting game ever! You get a shooter, stand on your given circle on a moving walkway, then point your silly light gun at targets around you, woo hoo yawn, boring None of the bunnies have any inkling what the targets are, just point this daft looking laser gun at pretty lights and....well..take your pick as to what you chose to do next, Personally I just go for the air conditioning and take zero interest in whatever else I am supposed to be doing. Looking around it would appear that I am not the only person muttering the words, `what we supposed to be aiming at?` Ironically this ride replaced Shrek 4D, which granted had run its course here in Florida yet happens to be the brand new just opened ride at Singapore, go figure. Jimmy Fallon next, another VR, another no go ride for me and next onto the Mummy ride. Getting quite old now, but its still a lot of fun. I have some very happy memories of this ride, non more so than the time I was walking the queue line for the first time with my dad. He was utterly enthralled by the whole attention to detail, so much so, he turned to me and said,` this is just incredible, everything is so lifelike, even these statues, and made to `boop` this one statue between the eyes. Alas this `statue` was a real man, a cast member dressed in authentic Egyptian robes, who rapidly protected his eyes with a loud `BOO`!! oh my goodness I have never heard my dad scream so loud!! It was utterly hilarious, particularly as so many people witnessed both actions, the `boop` and the `BOO!`...I swear I can still hear the echoes of laughter that peeled around that day. Bypassing Diagon alley for now, the next ride is yet another abysmal ride, great title, shockingly poor ride. Fast and the Furious. Haven`t met anyone who came off that and said, that was great. No one. Ever. Such a shame when they remove good rides and replace with such horrors. Men in black? Another shooting game, but you got to admit shooting aliens from a seated moving vehicle is always good for a laugh. An oldie, but goodie. I deign to give the next area dedicated to the most over rated cartoon character ever any form of acknowledgment, but if you fancy throwing up on yet another VR ride, Simpsons will do that for you here. Used to be the Back to the Future ride, and was just as nauseating then as well. A small nod to the ride exists outside, with the original De Lorean Car, if lucky you may get to meet Doc Brown, as we did. To give him full credit, we tried to tell the actor we had met the real Doc Brown aka actor Christopher Lloyd the previous year at the comicon, but he stayed in character, and declared, yes, that was me, you saw me! A new area has just just been built in place of the old Woody Woodpecker playground. Very much aimed at a younger audience, this area has a nice feel to it, and is themed by a certain big fat panda who likes his Kung fu and Noodles. Possibly the oldest and most love it/hate it ride is also here. ET. Mount your bike and soar over the forest on an ET hunt. Such a simple ride, yet I never tire of it. Something about the smell of that forest is very comforting. The last area of the park is the one I skirted past earlier. Diagon Alley. this area is truly magnificent, the theming just impeccable. However it`s a whole lot of area ,and just one ride. Escape from Gringotts. Plenty of Harry Potter themed shops, get your butterbeer or ice cream at Floreans, or lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. Such a great area, especially for fans of Harry Potter. I could tell you so much more, like about the way, not the when, the dragon shoots real flames from the top of Gringotts, but why spoil the adventure?. Arrive by the Hogwarts Express from Islands of Adventure, don your cloaks, be it Slytherin, Hufflepuff or the mighty Gryyfindor, (trust me you wont be the only one) to achieve the most realistic `Potter` experience. With the addition several shows and side shows, I feel Universal Studios whilst a great day out, is showing definite signs of age and desperately needs a huge injection of new and exciting. The animal show for example. Same script/tricks for the last 10 years at least? Lets just hope whatever replaces the awful RRR ticks a few much needed boxes. Get rid of the idiotic Fast and Furious, do some imagineering and once again Universal will be great. Transformers, another ride I forgot about, because again its yet another VR. I know people will be calling me out that I missed lots of other great features of the park, but hey ho, why spoil all the fun? Islands of Adventure This has to be one of my favourite Universal Parks, yet when I think about it, there is very little here that I can actually ride. Ditto at Singapore. We spent the whole day there as well, yet I spent more time watching rides, than riding them. I just love the whole atmosphere of a theme park. If it moves, I get a headache. Hence the avoidance of most rides. I do however jump on the occasional ride and suffer the consequences, now and again a ride can be easier than it looks. The best ride by far (and I can ride it!) is Hagrids Motorcycle Ride. This ride is the reason we wake at silly o`clock. Breakfast quickly, and head to the park on the very first transport. It is, the only one of two rides that open early, (the other being Velocicoaster) and does not accept the Fast Pass. The queue times of this ride average between 90 and 180 minutes all day long so if you want to ride, come early. Early as in early entry for all certain hotel guests. best update ever.. As of 2025 Hagrids Motorcycle Adventure will be included in the Fast Pass. We did not know this in advance of our stay, and celebrated when we did. You have no idea what a huge difference this one feature made to our day. With no reason to rush to Universal Studios at all, and now Hagrids Motorcycle available on Fast Pass at Islands of Adventure, wow! Leisurely breakfast, 10 am arrival times, saunter through the park at leisure, no speed walking alongside 1000s of other guests all aiming for the same ride, just a pleasant easy relaxing start to the day, and the choice of route. We were able to enjoy Doctor Suess Land, yep, kids rides through and through, but we love it, without having to skip through on our way to get to Hagrid. There have been no major updates to anything at IOA in the last couple of years, the last new ride being Velocicoaster. For that reason it feels like comfy slippers to us, the only major noticeable difference being the increase of crowd levels, and the lack of clothing... I am not entirely certain what the economic changes have been regarding the dynamics of Orlando, I just know that going back to 2004/5/7 16 to a degree, the majority of visitors were persons from North America. We enjoyed listening to the many varied accents. Now, it feels so much more diverse, with many more world travellers, eg Caribbean, Porto Rico and other South American countries being represented. We have no objections to the diversity of travellers, why on earth would we? but we do wish they were a little friendlier....Is `Hello` really so difficult? to freelys say `Great T shirt` to someone wearing a particularly unique `themed t shirt` without the sneering visual response of feeling you had just insulted them. People, its a compliment! As for the lack of clothing. Yes, of course you can wear whatever you like in the heat, but knickers are not shorts, and bras are not suitable cover alls particularly in a family orientated park, and especially not when you are a little more endowed than Mrs Average. On some people, it felt one step close to nudity and was very uncomfortable to witness. The Rides of Islands of Adventure Hulk dominates the skyline, the big green monster of a rollercoaster. Big Bunny actually loves this rides, and rides it often, whereas Little B often passes out for a brief moment, (a google search suggests one particular twist and loop has high G forces, and brief losses of consciousness are common) She no longer rides the Hulk, like me choosing to avoid the stresses. Dooms Fearfall? An easy drop tower, shoot up, slow fall down. Even scaredy bunny here can just about manage that one. An extra lap lock would feel more comfortable, but the restraint is very secure. Spiderman. A VR ride, but with more movement. I can manage this one, knowing it well enough to know when to keep my eyes closed. Personally I think this is getting a little dated now and the much shorter wait times would probably suggest other people think the same. Kong Island next, pretty awesome VR ride, but very very different to any other vr ride. make sure you duck in time or that Dinosaur will eat you! Try and nab yourself the end of row seats for a better ride experience. Wet Rides next. How odd that the last time we were here we rode both the wet rides frequently, Dudleys Ripsaw falls especially, but in 2025? we didn`t feel like we wanted to. Before I carry on around the park, I must talk about one huge difference we noticed this year to any other year. The lack of Backpacks. In previous years almost everyone had a backpack, rucksack, cross body or similar. Anyone without a squawker in a buggy that is. This year? quite the opposite. To see a backpack was rare. Smallest bum bags, or for the American reader, a Fanny Pack, or a very small cross body were very much the norm. With a huge emphasis on reusable water bottles, or bring your own refillable flasks, there was a distinct lack of people carrying these. I have always carried a bag in previous years, and brought a flask. The reason for the change of heart ? Quite probably the ridiculous charges to hire a decent sized locker in which to put said items that is required of you on most rides. The locker charges are scandalous Mr B was quite fed up of the never ending clawing at his pocket. No point me quoting dollar prices here since when does anything remain static? few dollars here, few more there, soon adds up, and when you consider the cost of park entry to start with?? This year Mr B made the decision that we were going as hands free as possible. No flasks, no cups, no change of clothing for the wet rides. That, was the single reason we opted not to ride the wet rides. In the past we carried water shoes to spare our day trainers, and dry shorts to ease the discomfort of soggy bums in wet shorts. Sure they dry...eventually... As for the drinks? Water fountains are available for a quick mouth rinse, tastes pretty meh but serves a purpose. Cold Iced Tap Water is available for free at any quick service venue, and when we finally wanted a rest, we sat, relaxed and enjoyed a cold drink of choice. Passing by the great Jurassic Park themed area, the dinosaur water ride, flying dinosaurs for younger guests, the discovery Centre, and the very good, but quite vicious Velocicoaster, you pass into a weird area that is oddly Moroccan (ish) The very excellent Mythos restaurant is located here, and was the destination that day for our evening meal. Voted best theme park restaurant for many years running, I decided it was high time we tried it. This was another first for us, and though the food was excellent and different to most other venues. Was it worth extra expense?. Yes and No. If you are a foodie with a good budget and fed up of the usual offerings around the park, then Yes, you would enjoy it here. It would tick a lot of boxes. If you are not a true foodie but want a belly filler, then I would still say Yes if your budget allows for the extra costs, but if you are budget conscious, then tbh your not particularly missing out. The two large theatres still remain empty, if memory serves, one was Sinbad the other Poseidon`s Fury, as does the extremely huge stadium near Spiderman. I don`t believe that space has ever had a use. Such a waste of park space, especially in a park that is in dire need of New. Given the extraordinary high entry prices, food prices, lockers and gimmiky TS, I highly doubt lack of budget is the reason behind the lack of `new`. I dare say something `Epic` is draining the budget... Suess Landing. Such a bright colourful fun area, and as I stated earlier, a favourite. We ride everything here, its all tame, silly, no straight lines, cute pastel colours, nothing to fear and just easy. Except the carousel, both the bigger bunnies have realised that maybe our hips don`t stretch as wide as they used to, causing each of us to adopt precarious riding positions to accommodate our creaking bodies. Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, we love you both. Exceptionally quiet this year, with far lesser crowds than of late, but as I hinted earlier, maybe there is an `Epic` reason for this.. Epic. The newest theme park in the Universal World, and deserving of a short blog of its own. The Adventure continues.

Seaworld During our time on I Drive, we visited Seaworld twice. Always a favourite despite its controversial ideas, we enjoy the mix of animals and rides. This year however I found Seaworld a little challenging. Take Atlantis. This ride used to be an all time favourite, I`ve ridden this ride back to back on multiple occasions in years gone by and loved it. We came here two years ago and this ride was absolutely abysmal. How can this iconic ride be so bad? Non of the animatronics worked, no lights, no quirky seahorse, no audio, just a boat following a track through a building that was quite frankly showing serious signs of age and was in places even falling apart. We said there and then that this ride should be ended forever. Last year, it was closed for refurbishment. So happy! All the signs pointed to a new Atlantis, rising from the depths. We couldn`t wait. The reality? Its been partially repainted and ...and...well sorry, but Seaworld, you really need to tell your visitors what changes you actually made, because as per the previous year, still no animatronics were working, no seahorse, no story, your building is still falling apart, the drinking fountain in the queue line is nothing short of disgusting, and the actual ride is just as jerky and uncomfortable as it has ever been. Ride it if you must, just know that it is not the ride of old. Kraken. My very first big rollercoaster as of 2004 and I loved it. This time however, two out of three bunnies came off with banging headaches and a resolve that once was enough. Twenty One years ago it was a a great ride...Now? with its many thousands of turns later, its a vibrating head banging ride once and leave it at that. Penguin Trek!! Now surely that has got to be a brilliant smooth ride? New last year, a ride that emulates the speed and glide of a penguin must be pretty special. Nope, not for me it wasn`t. I think the ride designers were trying to add too much detail, in particular a vibrating track to chatter your teeth to convey a sense of cold. Smooth it is not. We rode this twice, and found the front to be smooth er , but not as sleek and silent as perhaps it could be. Mako. Now this ride is pretty awesome. I cannot tell you just how scary high it is, because I could not bring myself to open my eyes at the top but I can tell you that the whole effect is smooth with plenty of air time, long waves of track and a sense of freedom as you ride with just a lap bar type safety feature. I thought this would freak me out, but I was pleasantly surprised at how safe I felt. Not a favourite for Mr Bunny, but little B managed to ride this 5 times. Pipeline. A stand up surfing coaster. Hit this one first thing in the morning as the turn around for this ride is painfully slow. I actually quite like this ride, its fairly smooth, got a couple of decent moves and is just the right length. Quite the Baby Bear ride for me. Not too high, not too long, just about right. There are other rides at Seaworld including Icebreaker (never tried) and a couple of water rides to name a few. Another favourite part of Seaworld used to be Wild Arctic. The old stationary or moving `aerial` ride has been removed and a new Soarin` type ride has been added called Odyssey. This is an aerial view of all aspects of the arctic, but personally this bunny found it entirely nauseating. Soarin at Epcot is easy, Odyssey requires motion sickness bags if you are of that disposition. Definitely a once only for me. Wild Arctic is a tired grubby vastly different place to the place I once enjoyed so much. Seaworld, where are you spending the vast fortune you are making on entry tickets and overpriced food? , because its not going on your exhibits! What a tired, dirty lack lustre place this has become. With little to no changes in the past 20 years, this is another area of the park that requires a huge overhaul. The glass windows, blah, so filthy, scratched and smeared by goodness knows what. Whilst having the Polar Bear was both sad and exciting a few years ago, his loss is great. Not convinced more penguins is the answer still they are better than the grumpy leopard seal of late. Talking about penguins, whatever happened to the huge inspiring `Empire of the Penguin` exhibit? A large part of the park dedicated to the Penguin. The penguin enclosure of old was to be replaced by a whole new state of the art land, a trackless ride, and a superb penguin viewing area. Yes, the penguin exhibit has been built, but the trackless ride almost a non starter, now replaced by the Penguin Trek roller coaster, as previously described, which ends with a walk through the penguin exhibit which quite frankly is the coldest smelliest most uninviting enclosure ever built. The rest of the `Arctic Area` of Seaworld is just a dirty mishmash of buildings trying to `theme to Arctic` but personally I think it fails miserably. Some of the food options are ok, but don`t get me started on the awful service or crazy drink selection. Does anyone remember the old Clyde and Seymour show with the mime as the front of house?   quite possibly the funniest, most entertaining show I have ever watched involving animals. A few years ago they changed it` s persona to an `education show` and it was dreadful, and now? Well quite honestly none of the bunnies have ever witnessed a show quite so bad. I cannot even begin to tell you what it was supposed to be. One idiotic over excited clown trying to be funny (failing miserably) and a second person so uninspiring with the lousiest script ever, that I cannot remember a single thing to describe this 15 minutes of ridiculous and tedious waffle. Last, but not least I should mention both the dolphins and the Orcas. No matter how `educational` how they dress it up as `conservation` you cannot escape the fact that these are very big fish in very small ponds. (yes, I know they are mammals) All the bunnies watched the show with feeling of conflict. One of us has seen Orca in the wild, two have seen these same Orca in this small pond two years ago. Hearing the commentary of `born here` was just sad. Sentenced to a life of living in the confines of this small pool v the worlds oceans? Yes, it is the same for zoo animals, but when does an elephant or koala traverse thousands of miles. Last but not least I have to mention the hall/restaurant eating place called Seafarers Grill. Of all the places to eat at Seaworld this has to be the most disgusting. The kitchen area is fine, as is the food to a degree, but if you choose to eat indoors, be warned, it is the most filthy place imaginable. The carpet is frayed, worn, dirty, a trip hazard and deplorable. The tables have probably never been deep cleaned since day dot, and as for the floors underneath the tables, lets say its better if you just don`t look. I swear the table at which we sat last year had the same mouldy burger still glued to its table leg. The reality of Seaworld is a far cry from its glossy picture perfect website, and whilst families will probably love Sesame street area, glossing over other areas of the park, the more discerning visitor will see its true colours. Gatorland Situated around 30 minutes from I Drive in the Kissimmee area of Florida, Gatorland has a reputation of being the best place to see Alligators up close and personal. They have around 2500 gators of all different ages, and colours. It was fun seeing so many alligators all in one place, they really are quite silent and disappear like ghosts in the water, quite eerie. Certainly made you think twice about what kind of water you are surrounded by. The main show was called Jumperoo, and here endeth my liking for the place. One huge pond filled with the largest gators, 2 exceedingly silly men and a speed talking commentary aimed to enthuse anyone under the age of 5. In a nutshell, first one silly man made a gator jump for its chicken dinner, then the other guy took a turn. It was neither exciting nor fun, it was just a little odd seeing big Gators teased into jumping up for their food. Made all the worse by an audience of mainly local residents of the country whooping and hollering cheering on these two fools doing the feeding. As little bunny, said to me earlier that day, I`m just too English to understand the need for all this silly shouting. Volcano Bay I had every intention of us visiting every water park during our stay but a couple of factors changed that plan. Starting with a visit to Volcano Bay. This is the new (ish) Water Park related to Universal, replacing the old Wet and Wild. From the moment we arrived we were overwhelmed by its sheer size and somewhat confusing walking paths. We were each given Tapu Tapu watches (soon to be phased out so I wont elaborate too much) that had some sort of use for ride queuing, I cannot actually say what use they had as none of us tapped anything. Ride queues...wow...this is a water park and they have rides with 3 and 4 hour wait times? bonkers! Two bunnies attempted a raft ride but were continually overlooked because they were not a full group, nor could they join others due to weight distribution. How silly. They spent far too long on a very hot day standing around waiting to ride. Little B attempted a raft ride but the operator failed to understand she was solo and she had to wait for a second person. The floating river was nice enough, but not enough fun to make me want to spend more than an hour max. All in all our experience at Volcano Bay was less than pleasant. Too big, too crowded, too much walking and terrible food. Even the sunbeds were placed in long rows with very little space between each bed. None of us are in any hurry to return here. 4 hours and we had had enough. Other Water Parks, Aquatica, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon   All on our list of places to visit. Non of which we did. We were so put off by the crowds at Volcano Bay, we couldn`t muster up the enthusiasm for any other water park. I have however been to the two Disney Water Parks on previous occasions, and enjoyed them both. Typhoon Lagoon being the favourite. This holiday, wet just didn`t seem to be on our list of must do. From our stay on International Drive doing all things different, it was time to pack up and head to Universal Orlando. Universal Studios. Islands of Adventure. Epic. I think a new bunny blog is in order for these parks to do them justice and to spare your eyes from yet more reading. Adventure is Out There, let the blog continue....

Where to start. Such a strange park at the moment with a little too much development in progress. A good thing to be sure, but is it a park that we would choose to spend many hours at? Yes, we could normally, but not this year. As it stands at the moment, there is a little too much recreating going on. As you first enter the park the paths lead you past various small animal enclosures. But what animals? Where are they? Are they even in there? These spaces are not overly large (neither are the animals that supposedly live there) but they all appeared deserted, animals on holiday or hiding from the heat? After getting lost several times, and taking multiple detours, (Animal Kingdom you are notoriously difficult to navigate), we finally made it to the Safari. Lot of fun as always, great display of animals in what is the single largest area anywhere in Walt Disney World. Today the giraffes were playing `hog the road` and led to endless delays. We find admiring these long legged beauties from afar is wonderful, but the closer they get, the bigger they get and suddenly their cuteness becomes a little overwhelming. The animal directors approached them in a specially designed shoo vehicle, basically a mobile food truck for giraffes and our tour continued. After the safari we walked the Tiger enclosures, and unlike previous years found them a little tiring. Is it the area, or are these bunnies genuinely just tired in themselves? We do feel that some Disney parks are a little overwhelmed at the moment with the huge amounts of reimagineering that is ongoing and perhaps these smaller areas are starting to suffer a side product. Am sure a well trod path will occur at any animal enclosure, but these paths here, especially in the Tiger home are a little too pronounced. Time to rejig the living space perhaps and offer these stripy puddy tats a new route to pace about in perhaps? Animal Kingdom lost its Jungle Jammin` Parade a long time ago, probably when they realised there were far too many visitors and not enough room, and like the other parks, the rope drop with Mickey and Friends in their safari clothing is also a thing of the past. There are not that many rides at A.K, with the most recent attractions, the very beautiful area of Pandora and the rides being two of just a few. Everybody raves about the beauty of the Pandora ride, and the ride wait times reflect its popularity. Once again, Mrs B fails to see the appeal here as having ridden it once, was profusely nauseous for the rest of the day. If you love the film, then riding a banshee may just be your vibe. Next new ride is the Navi River Ride. Exceptionally sparkling, but utterly over rated and whole lot of waiting for what is essentially just a boat ride. Do not get me wrong, the theming is so pretty, but its just a boat ride, and absolutely not worth waiting more than 20/25 minutes for. I personally think you could experience the same sort of thing sat in your bath, in a darkened bathroom, light a couple of candles, wave around a torch and listen to some soothing music. Sorry for the lack of enthusiasm, but its far too naff for me. Dinoland used to have a few rides, but I think Disney got the feeling that these had also run their course as this whole area is set to be levelled very soon to make way for a whole new Encanto themed land. Sad to see the end of Dinosaur, but never the same since they made the T Rex more of a side attraction than a full on scare fest, boo sucks to you wimps, this ride is more a spine rattling ride around a dino museum rather than an adventure. Exceedingly sorry to say Au revoir to the TriceraTop Spin, akin to Dumbo at Magic Kingdom, I do enjoy these simple flying rides, and this cute Dino ride was no exception. Everest is the other adventure, a rollercoaster around the Himalayas, with a glimpse of the ever elusive Yeti. Great ride, couple of quirks, bit shaky, but doable. Mrs B here took help with the backwards section of this ride (and incidentally Hagrid`s Motorcycle Ride) from an unexpected source, the film Maverick of all things. I watched the pilots flying with high G Forces and I adopted their posture, and found that by holding my breath and breathing out slowly helped me cope with the backwards motion. No idea why it helps, but it does. Two great shows at A.K, Lion King and Nemo the Musical. I have seen both numerous times, to the point where I am word perfect. Lion King, a very good show, and I can see why it is popular, but having seen it so often I am now bored watching same same same, absolutely not one word or action has been changed over the years. Cramming a 1 hour 29 min movie into a 20 minute show, still gives you 1hour and 9 minutes of play time to incorporate or swap a few scenes surely? Nemo, replacing the superb Tarzan show of years ago (phwoar, that Tarzan was a pure hunk of joy to watch) but now we have a fish....hmm...anyway, Nemo. Well thought out, colourful, great songs, true to the story and with changes! This was a slightly different show to the one we watched last year which was nice to see. Bugs life, the show under the Tree of Life, another casualty of progress. I used to enjoy this quirky little take on a bugs life, but Disney feels that this has run its course and is now in the process of being rethemed into Zootopia. Must say I am quite looking forward to this new show. Animal Kingdom, what delights do you have left for me? Flights of Fancy bird show perhaps? or what about a ride to Rafiki`s Island? With lightening in the air and the bird show reduced to only 5 minutes of talking parrots instead of a full informative show about various birds, I chose to go visit Rafiki. The train there is a little side seater allowing you some good views of the behind the scenes workings of what is an actual Zoo. Animal Kingdom may be rides and animals, but these animals are very well cared for, and a lot goes on behind the scenes. My ride took me past the rhino enclose, where I spotted a rhino wearing what appeared to be blinkers and earmuffs, Rhino sized of course, but with no explanation as to why, I satisfied my personal curiosity by imagining he was off to the spa for a little bit of puff and pander. Rafiki`s Planet watch, incidentally no longer visited by Rafiki himself, or any other character for that matter, not entirely sure what there is to see there anymore. A few glass windows show you behind the scenes of real bugs and creepy crawlies, brrr shudder, not a fan and a drawing class, teaching you how to draw one of a choice of Disney Characters. If the character that moment had been someone other than Timone, say perhaps, Thumper or Eeyore, I may have tried to stay and participate. I think, though I did not go and look, there is a petting zoo in the outdoor section of this area. You can, or could, buy appropriate foods for these small animals, goats, etc. Other than these few exhibits, Rafiki`s Island was a done and dusted visit for me in 10mins flat. A.K. I am just not feeling the love for you this year. I missed Eeyore by the doors, Tigger and Pooh by the Lake, Chip n Dale walking around in their cute Dino Outfits, Ivy, the lady who blends into the trees with her great camouflage, in fact, there was a distinct lack of any Disney characters in all the Parks this year. Too hot? Too crowded? Who knows. A nice side story, an expensive mistake, and a successful internet plea. Mr B purchased himself a very nice blue shirt that had luminous effects under certain light, he got it from Pandora and wore it just once prior to leaving WDW. Once home, this shirt was inadvertently put in the tumble dryer and shrunk massively. He was so disappointed and I felt guilty. I put a plea out on the Facebook Disney for Brits group, and a nice kind soul offered to replace this shirt if it was still available. It was, quick exchange of pennies and address and a brand new shirt arrived 3 weeks later. Animal Kingdom, I may have grumbled and dissed you a little this year, but would I go back? Of Course !! With all the activity, building and reimagineering, I can only think that next time it will, once again, be the special place that it once was.

The brand new theme park from Universal. It was started just 5 years ago (?) and finished this year on 22nd May. To say this build has been watched via the internet with great trepidation and excitement would be an understatement. Every update has promised something spectacular. We were truly exited especially when we had booked for Florida and would be there when this park would be open, fresh and new. Yes, we were fully aware that the queue times would be horrific and with just one bite of the cherry to experience the park we did our research quite well. When I say one bite of the cherry, unlike every other park when you get multiple entry days, with Epic you get just one chance. Epic is built around `lands` of which there are 5. Harry Potter. How to Train Your Dragon. Nintendo. Dark Universe. Celestial. I will start by saying that the whole park was a challenge. Not overly big but with a huge amount of detail, much of which I have to say went way over our heads. Never been a Nintendo fan myself, I have heard of Mario, but I couldn`t tell you what the characters were. So mushroom heads etc went way over my head. Dark Universe. Frankenstein? personally I feel this is such a dated character. The theming is excellent if you like black and dark, How to Train your Dragon. We found our best rides here, but again without knowing the films it was a nice area with little to no understanding of what we were actually seeing. Celestial Park, how this can be described as an `area` is beyond me, as it consists of a Carousel and not a great deal else. Harry Potter Ministry of Magic. This was the area I was most looking forward to seeing, the ride (more about that later was utterly amazing) but the area?? What exactly does Parisian decor have to do with Harry Potter? Beautiful granted, but anti climatic? very . All aspects of the park are without doubt stunning and superb, but very odd in some places. Take the Nintendo area, we could quite easily have missed our best ride of the day simply because we didn`t see it. It was only by chance that by wanting to walk a different route we came across it. Naturally if I had glued my eyes to my phone app and wandered about everywhere phone in hand, I may have found it, but I do not spend my life nose glued to a phone. Writing my blog a few weeks after our return from Epic, I am actually struggling to recall anything particularly wow about Epic. 3 hour queues, broken down rides, excessive crowds, poor options for eating and drinking without some horrific wait times all served to dampen the experience. Take the Harry Potter. We ran to that knowing it had the worst wait times, and got on within an hour. I wont regale you with the queue details, except to say that it is jaw dropping and worth the wait. I found the ride once we actually got there a bit odd, bit too much VR for me, but the visuals are undeniably second to none. The M.O.M is simply stunning, but then you emerge from this unbelievably amazing set, to Paris. And it gave me the exact same feeling you get when you leave Disney (Universal) and hit reality. Paris?? really?? Not even as though the shops had anything interesting about them, lest of all anything truly magically Harry Potterish. The show offered started with great promise, but even that rapidly lost our interest. Dark Universe, no idea. I remember it being black, with yet more rides that were consistently `down`. How to Train Your Dragon, another 3 hour queue, due to multiple down times, you wait, shuffle, ride breaks, you sit. rinse and repeat. Yes, the actual ride was one of the best, but could we ride it a second time? Nope, why? Broken down of course! Donkey Kong, another 2 hour wait, awesome ride, great effects, but little B riding in the back of the mine cart was completely unaware of any of the track `defects` the bits where you think the track is missing or broken but isn`t, gives you a huge amount of laughs and makes the whole ride fun. She missed all that due to the poor design of the cart. Little B had no idea that the track itself was part of the ride. Could we ride it again? Nope, 3 guesses why! Star Dust Racers. Two winding, twisting, super fast racing rollercoasters that are just plain crazy. the ride itself was as the park name suggests `epic`, but both bunnies were groaning just wishing it would end. I may have given the second track a go at the very end of the day when my headache had subsided, because with the `one bite of the cherry` ticket what other chance would I get? but hey guess why we didn`t........ Incidentally we could only choose one of the two racing rollercoasters at the start of the day as, yes, you have guessed, the second was `down` Tragedy would strike this particular ride just a couple of weeks after our return when a guest with mobility problems rode this lap belt only ride and would pay for the rides crazy speeds and turns with his life. My sincerest and deepest heartfelt condolences go out to the family of this young gentleman. I truly hope, with hand on heart, that your desire to ride that day allowed you to soar with the angels . We watched the How to Train Your Dragon show, for something so well advertised and hyped, we were looking forward to this. Of course when the show starts with `Toothless will not be appearing due to technical difficulties` the feeling of here we go again somewhat overshadowed our experience and opinion. Epic, your park has been open barely 3 months, and your down time is just appalling. Eating and drinking. Where? when all you want is a quick drink, having to walk quite some distances to find anywhere that just sold drinks without a queue was crazy. We were there in the high heat of August, the crowds, expected, were phenomenal, yet they couldn`t cater for anyone just wanting a drink? We tried to eat at the Nintendo cafe, I forget the name, we waited 20 minutes outdoors, no shade (a frequent recurring them for all online complaints about Epic) to then enter the building...and join yet another queue, this time for a further 40 minutes!! No thanks. We walked away hot, cross and disgruntled. With yet another long wait elsewhere we did eventually have a fairly decent meal at the isle of Berk area. Epic is and could be awesome. But until they iron out all the downtime, have rides that work consistently, provide shade seating, quick service drink stands, and simply accept that they have to make extra, even if only temporary, arrangements for the extra guests there simply because its new, I for one will be staying away.

Kennedy Space Centre  This was very special day out. We took Uber rides there and back, with getting there far cheaper than the peak time return ride, not a lot you can do about it, but a little annoying to pay $50 there and $90 for the exact same ride back. Kennedy is everything you would expect and was a truly interesting day out. Whilst it is still very much a working environment, the whole site lends its self beautifully to past and present space exploration. We were advised to take the bus tour first, which we did, and saw the original launch pads amongst many other things. There is a lot to take in at Kennedy and I admit to being a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of exhibits and reading. A lot of reading. The bus out to the launch site was swift and organised, coming back was a different story with a whole lot of people standing around waiting to return to the main exhibit halls, watching empty buses pass us without stopping. (reason unknown) This was the only part of the day that could have really spoilt things. As it happens, we were amongst the first to arrive at the pads. With none of us particularly astronaut or space obsessed, we very much enjoyed watching and seeing things, but didn`t particularly stress about reading every single article, just the bits that looked more appealing, so luckily for us we were at the very front of the long bus queue and only had to endure 2 empty buses before we boarded. There was very interesting talk about the actual rocket launch back indoors at the main entrance area. The very knowledgeable guide walked us the whole length of the rocket stopping at various points to explain the workings of the rocket, and was quite brilliant , right until he said "and then"...."and then"...."and then" the first 20 mins of the talk was great, but the last set of "and thens" was just a little too much information. We had been told about the good stuff, and I would have been happy to leave it there, but he droned (pardon the pun) on and on and on..zzzzz Please shh, let me go look at other stuff! I don`t want to elaborate too much on the tour of Kennedy because I really do think it is a place to go and see for yourself. It is respectful, interesting, informative and brain numbingly clever. There was a very short and exceedingly interesting video showing where they repeatedly suggested `anyone can cook` ..whoops, sorry, that`s Disney....`anyone can be a space scientist` and all my less than scientific brain could think was, I cannot even rewire a plug! Busch Gardens This was once a favourite park with a multitude of animal areas and easy to navigate theme park rides, but it is now another park leaning heavily towards rides and away from animals. As a non Florida or even American resident, my experiences of any parks are at sporadic intervals. What was so enjoyable in 2004 or 2016 is now the same ride but 20 years older. The rides are tired. The three biggest Kumba, Montu and Sheikra whilst still good rides, are becoming very headache inducing body vibrating bone shakers. This was made all the more evident by a singular ride on the new Phoenix Rising, a simple but great ride. We may have ridden others but far too many rides had downtime with weather also becoming our enemy. The savannah train frequently had 35 minute wait times, (why is there only one train?) The animals were mostly hiding in the shade, and the tigers had decided to sleep in. We may have seen a hippo but given the disgustingly filthy glass around the exhibits, it was hard to say. Like Seaworld, this is another park that needs a really good overhaul. Then it rained. Have you any idea what you can do at Busch Gardens when lightening is in the air, and rain strikes? Nothing. Nothing is what you can do! From 3pm until 7pm, we did nothing but wander aimlessly waiting until it was time to catch the bus home. I presume the painfully boring ice skating show may still run, good for a sleep if nothing else. Personally we were gobsmacked at the end of the day when our bus driver asked if we had seen the show, and then went on to say how much he loved it. We bit our tongues quickly as quite frankly it bored the pants off us. We will go back to Busch Gardens, but we will go back with the knowledge that it is not the animal orientated park that it used to be. Disney Springs For anyone who hasn`t been to Florida in the last 20 years, you would not recognise this area. The extensions and building here has been quite phenomenal. Very little is left of the original area, but the expansion is excellent. Still three areas, Marketplace, Dining, Shopping, but each area is much improved. Apart from the Rainforest cafe area. That has not changed one iota. We chose to spend a whole day at Disney Springs wandering at leisure, in preference to the short evening visits of previous holidays. It was nice feeling relaxed with time on our bunny paws to pause for coffee or snacks, meander slowly around the many shops, and work up an appetite for our chosen dining experience, somewhere new to us all, the Raglan Road Irish Bar later that evening. I cannot begin to list the sheer number of places where you could dine, but, do as we did, and follow DFB on You Tube for ideas. That is a superb vlog of all food Disney, and they really, really  know their food. From that vlog we drank the best milkshakes, ate the most delicious cakes, sampled the very best chocolate, and would have queued for the best cookies in Orlando at Gideons Bakehouse had we not felt stuffed to the gills. We had to save room for the meal! The food choices at Disney Springs are just too many to mention. Ditto the shopping. Not mall size, but certainly a sufficient variety of shops to satisfy everyone from mums eyeing up a smart new outfit, dads at the Star Wars, Marvel, Coca Cola or maybe Lego Store? to the best Disney store around in which any child could find something to make them happy. The only type of shopping that is missing, is a shop that could sell Disney T shirts, (or any kind of clothing) with characters other than Stitch. I got so fed up of every Disney souvenir and t shirt being Stitch related! Give me a shop with Pooh, Eeyore, Max from Tangled, Thumper, Oliver, Aristocats, Hercules, Tinkerbell, Goofy, Baloo or Nemo to name just a few, or what about the many quotes from the man himself. eg If you can dream it, you can do it. There are so many lovely t shirts being worn in the parks, but non are available in the immediate vicinity. As for the lack of cute vests? Middle of August and we could buy thick t shirts by the 1000s, but not one cute cool vest could we find! Come on Disney, keep up! Raglan Road was our chosen venue to eat. Not a lot wrong with the place, but if you are going for the entertainment, make sure you request a table with a view of the stage. Our first table offer was in a room where we couldn`t even see the stage, never mind hear any music. The Irish girl singers were good. As were the dancers, but I couldn`t help thinking that these girls appeared a little fed up and seemed a little ` here we go again, stick on the false smiles girls`, It must be so so hard trying to muster up vibrant sparking enthusiasm multiple times per day, day in day out. Wonderful as they were, this is the type of act that would thrive in a loud, beer soaked bar of happy revellers, not as it is, casual drinkers and diners clapping briefly in between mouthfuls. Food was delicious by the way. Medieval Times/Dinner Show. I have seen this advertised so many times during my previous holidays in Orlando, that along with the other places I have not seen before, Gatorland, Kennedy for eg, I added this to the list of must do`s. Its a fairly short drive to the `castle` in which the show is housed, and looks quite fun with its flags and turrets. On entry you are given your appropriate coloured crown for the price you paid for your ticket and escorted into the main hall to wait for the call to be seated. There are many themed souvenirs available to purchase, but who really needs plastic tiaras, fake crowns, ornamental tankards or wooden swords? I did not see many purchases being made with most people giving the T.S. a cursory glance prior to heading to the bar for a pre show drink. The `King and Queen` wander around in their medieval costumes, talking in character, and generally giving the place an authentic feel. A call to the feast is announced with the tables being filled in an orderly fashion according to the six colours that represented the various knights. We were seated in the Green section. The show commenced and I have to say it was very enjoyable. Each table colour had its own Jester who tried to encourage his people to shout the loudest for their knight. Our table jester was a little half hearted, and we actually agreed with little B that the rather handsome Blue Knight would be getting a few additional cheers from us, rather than our weedy green knight. Jousting, sword fighting, horse displays were all very entertaining. The food served was hot, cooked and most enjoyable. Eaten with fingers of course maintaining the medieval theming. A little on the expensive side, but for an alternative evening out, we did enjoy it. A do once perhaps, but a good do once.

Yes, absolutely, we are back in our most favourite place ever. No matter how many wonderful places we have been around the the World, and all the amazing things we have done, Orlando in Florida is our true Happy Place. With monetary considerations our only deciding factor, I could have chosen any date to fly to Orlando, so for that and no other reason I decided to throw caution to the wind and book us a whole month here. It was always our intention to finish our amazing round the world trip here, and this particular destination was saved, booked and planned for moons ago. This was not a whim destination, or a where can we go next, this is our happy place and the place we wanted to share as a bunny trio for one last adventure. * Be warned, this is going to be a whole lotta Disney/Universal waffle with almost all things Theme Park related with just a couple of exceptions. I shall try and keep things brief, but this is Mrs Bunny, and Disney is my thing. With time on our hands, we chose to split up our residences and enjoy various other Florida adventures that we have not done in the past. Spending 11 days on a very quiet International Drive, we had time to spend around the pool doing a weird thing called `nothing`. We then went to Kennedy Space Centre, Gatorland, Busch Gardens and Seaworld. Disney Springs for a whole day, not just a speedy evening and also paid a visit to Volcano Bay water park. Each adventure was a singular relaxed event, a leisurely breakfast after a short lie in (for die hard rope drop Disney fans, a lie in is unheard of) followed by an unrushed taxi ride to each destination. I admit to being first in line at Seaworld, but it was only a 10 minute drive away. Each evening we were back in our wonderfully cool air conditioned bunny hutch for tv dinners from Walmart and a very very long tv (not netflix) movie. (9 minutes of movie followed by 4 minutes of adverts, rinse and repeat) International Drive We have stayed here on many occasions, always in the same accommodation, the very comparatively cheap, cheerful, centrally located Avanti, or for older readers, the old Best Western, and I have a hunch the Econolodge? It suits a purpose. No frills practical room with very comfortable beds. We have a fridge, coffee/tea maker, drawers, bath, shower and large TV. The pool is very nice, sufficient sunbeds with towels, a hot tub, and pool side bar and cafe. What else do you actually need? Years ago I would have added several things, like Ponderosa Steak house almost next door, Wendys (or Friendlies?) I cannot remember which, the shortest walk away, and a whole lot of interesting shops, fun restaurants eg I Hop, Ice Bar, (yes, still there but very laxy daisy) Ben and Jerrys, TGI Fridays to name a few, but now? Just so many empty buildings, all our favourites have disappeared with TGI`s vanishing in the last 18 months. Icon Park seems busy enough, but the old busy International Drive has long gone. A taxi driver told us he used to cringe when asked to take a fare to I Drive, describing it as a huge parking lot, but now he referenced it as a speedway. To say there has been some pretty intense new building work would be an understatement, the development here, not actually on I drive itself, is quite phenomenal. The latest of course being the brand new hotels around the latest Universal Park, Epic. Add that to the many huge hotels around Universal and Disney , and its bye bye International Drive. Orlando itself is also experiencing a huge population boom. Self explanatory as to why the parks are just getting busier and busier. To avoid overly long blogs, I have split the various places up into multiple shorter, cup, saucer and single biscuit length blogs, rather than mugs and munchies.

Prior to continuing with the blog and the journey in sequence, I feel compelled to type an interlude to explain my long absence. No Internet. Could I get internet with a decent connection whilst in Florida? Well Mrs Bunny here couldn`t, which made me feel quite Grumpy. I tried every which way I could, I even went `To infinity and beyond` to gain a connection but alas, For the `First time in Forever, nothing was going my way`. I had to sit back, switch off the laptop and just enjoy the show. For any Disney/Universal or Orlando fan, or anyone just curious about what a whole month of fun looks like, I assure you the next blog will tick that box. Internet however dodgy or slow around the world, Yes. America?...No. Go figure! Right now I am on borrowed internet, and speed typing. Probably explains the fat finger typing errors and slightly waffling paragraphs as I try to marshall my head full of thoughts into a comprehensive and hopefully non too boring blog. Are we home yet? Yes, yes we are. But guess what....No internet here either. Apparently cancelling your every household subscription is a doddle, `Cancel the Internet` ? Sure thing, poof, gone. Ah, 17 months later you want to reconnect? Afraid there is a 6 week waiting list! Have you any idea how much of every day life is internet driven? Yes, of course I could use my phone but my once decent network has failed me. I totally understand the actions seen in many films of walking around with phone in the air trying to grasp any floating signals.... So what does it feel like to be home? Strange, very strange. But also odd, emotional, depressing, comforting, quirky, bemused and a little sad. Prior to leaving and packing up the whole house into boxes we had little idea of how overwhelming reconnecting with all our all belongings, and living back in the house would be. Our first job however prior to any unpacking would be to rediscover the colour of the front door under its myriad of dust, dirt and cobwebs. My very fine idea of keeping our window cleaner employed in our absence ensuring the house remained tidy looking and lived in, fell quite flat when I omitted to ask him to wipe down the front door on occasions. Beautiful clean windows, front door buried in cobwebs....humph. After a couple of days of little more than endless brews, rest ,sleep and recollections, we started to take stock of the condition of the house. For the most part a good clean, vacuum and spider removal, would suffice to restore most rooms to their pre-trip condition, but we had mould in many places. How does mould grow on places that were scrubbed within an inch of their lives prior to our departure? Doors, furniture, pans. Maybe there is a science secret that I failed to acknowledge. I do know however, that every surface was scrubbed and anti bac prior to leaving. Yet, shoes left in cupboards had to be thrown away, ditto rucksacks. Anything packed into a box, survived its hibernation trouble free. A lesson now learned for future trips. Unpacking. The first job was to fully unpack our hardworking and over stuffed backpacks. It was quite liberating to be able to dump everything into a washing basket, we have a shiny new washing machine all of our very own, so exciting, no more hand washing, sourcing laundry services or handing over our clothes to strangers praying we would see them again. Equally to be able to relocate certain items straight to the bin having vowed that I never want to see or wear them again was quite satisfying. We then unpacked our America Disney bags, laughing that we managed more daft souvenirs in 4 weeks then we had collected in the previous 16 months. Naturally nothing that went to USA was discarded. A whole raft of washing and drying later, and there it was for all the bunnies, our clothes for 17 months of travel laid out on the bed. The first things to add to these piles were the contents of the boxes we sent home. Warm clothes. Oh the added joy of reconnecting with favourite leggings, warm jumper, best coat, the extra underwear and t shirts because we took too much. The three of us refilled our drawers, and revelled in having so many clothes available to us. I then retrieved the box labelled `last worn clothes` . Ok, no problems here, favourite dungarees, Mr Bunny`s jeans, comfy dossing pants, Mr B`s fleecy jumper and his quirky lion t shirt, Mrs Bunny`s super comfy well loved white t shirts, both long and short sleeved. So many clothes!! Then I found the clean laundry leftovers, more clothes. I delved a little deeper and found yet another box labelled `clothes`. Suddenly the fun of having extra choices of clothing diminished. Each box depressed us further. For seventeen months we had dipped into our bags, found sufficient clothes, washed underwear, socks daily/every second day, and always felt we had enough choices. I would like to think we looked clean and smart enough? Yet all of a sudden the reality of the life we had left behind became a smack in the face of frivolous spending. I bought pjs on the road, I loved them. When they required a wash, a spare t shirt sufficed. At home I found yet another box marked `Nightwear`. A whole box, containing nothing but nightwear? Yet another box labelled `underwear`..... Is it possible to have too much? Yes. And still the boxes kept on coming. Not just labelled Mrs Bunny, Mr Bunny had just as many boxes as I. Shirts. Mr Bunny was such a smart, fun, shirt wearing diligent worker, but 35 shirts? Whilst he took great pleasure in dumping the whole lot in a box ear marked for the charity shop, it was a sobering experience when we recall the purchases. Nothing cheap for my Mr B, yet the will/want to market and sell so many surplus clothes eludes us. We are now both retired and wish to leave behind our lives of old. We get excited now by silky sports branded clothing that requires no ironing yet looks so tidy. Walking casuals gives us a buzz, the words quick dry and breathable are quite the turn on. At least eight boxes of surplus clothing now reside in the bedroom waiting for the right moment to redistribute them. Other household items also found themselves unceremoniously dumped in boxes as well. Kitchenware being the main target. For at least twelve months Mr B made us creative and inventive meals with the food implements we had available. If the room/kitchen yielded a fish slice, fried eggs were a go. A sharp knife and we could add an onion to the food. A potato masher was luxury (cheap cutlery is not an advisable substitute) A wooden spoon meant a `hurrah`, no more burning fingers on hot spoons. We purchased one apron, one spoon, a spatula and a bottle opener on our travels. We came home to several boxes of cooking items, how many stirring utensils? casserole dishes? enough to cook and feed the kids at the local school ! And still we had more... Ornaments. There is only one rule in our house. You can have it if you love it and it must have a place. No home, no purchase, no matter how much we like it. We only made the mistake once, and that set of 4 blasted elephants haunts us, bought without a home in mind and fit nowhere. Too nice to dump, too darn big for anywhere we have. They move from pillar to post and invariably end up on a windowsill somewhere tucked behind a curtain. Rediscovering our boxes of ` ornamental treasures` was actually a joy. Each item is a memory, a story, a reminder. They all had a home. All except one. Sorry Buddha, but we got so heartily sick and tired of seeing your image in every guise possible, it's time for you to depart. Without even unwrapping it from the protective bubble wrap, this annoying icon was dumped, replaced with a favourite Bunny ornament. The next casualty of surplus was our cushion collection. Oh dear heaven how many sodding cushions!!! From beds (all 117 of them worldwide) that mostly yielded one pillow each, to rooms that seldom even had chairs never mind a chair with a cushion (certain hotels and cute hotels excepted) to suddenly being in possession of 30 plus cushions???!!! Even little bunny who is currently residing at our bunny hutch for a short while, politely and firmly refused to add a single cushion to a bed that already sports 4 super bouncy feather pillows. I tried adding a `decorative` cushion to our bunny bed, but one week later I am already ready to chuck the darn thing out of the window. Surplus. Just in Case. Maybe. These words are rapidly being erased from our vocabulary. Nope, cant do it. I have tried. Mugs. The last unopened box. It reads `Favourite Mugs` and you know what? I cannot think of one single mug that could possibly be in that box! In Argentina Mrs B purchased two matching blue thermal mugs with lids, and they were the best buy ever. He will never admit it, but I bet Mr B secretly wished that he too had purchased one of those mugs for himself. For us girly bunnies who love hot tea, they were the best. Decent sized mugs with thermal qualities, and lids for outdoor use, what`s not to love? Mr B managed with whatever piffling little cup any property supplied. We used our cups every single day we had a kettle, but now? I have a box full of `favourite mugs` and not a single recollection of what they are and zero willpower to just send the whole lot to charity I think this is my kryptonite. Mugs. I must add that we did leave the smallest selection of crockery available prior to leaving, just one of everything in a box (with the kettle of course) The need for extra mugs doesn`t exist. Huge shout out to my dad here. Not only did he diligently monitor our mail, he also welcomed us home with a large selection of breakfast goodies. He thought of everything and that basket of goodies just made me cry. Bread, butter, jam, crumpets, cereal, bananas, oranges, tea bags, coffee, sugar and milk. What a hero. The only remaining items that are left in storage now, apart from `favourite mugs` are trees. Artificial trees. And with the exception of one bare surface where a small plant would look very nice, I have absolutely not a single clue where any of them used to reside. Not one. I have no intention either of placing any of them somewhere `just because`. I guess my storage has just become a tree house. My final reality of home is the quiet absence of my mum. My lovely mum passed away whilst we were in Australia and the family decision that we were not to come home under any circumstances made the loss more bearable due to lack of visual reality. I hadn`t seen her for almost seven months, with the exception of whatsapp calls, so the harsh reality of absence did not hit me until I returned home, entered my parents home, and found the silence deafening. Seeing my dad standing alone, without my mums presence was too much to bear and the reality of loss hit me hard. Her empty chair. Her slippers tucked out of sight. No vocal reminder of why she bought a certain picture, a tale she told every time I arrived at the house. The smell of her perfume as I went into her untouched bedroom. The reality obscured by travel, time and distance. I refuse to end my blog on a sad note. Entering their kitchen is the reason (not the only reason of course) we made the hard decision not to return home. Pin Badges. My mum and dad loved to travel, mostly by cruise ship, but coach tours, personal holidays and day trips, and no matter the destination, a Pin Badge was the Prized Souvenir. Such was their love of holidays, travel and sightseeing, their pin badge collections are in the 100s. Together they saw the world, and together they blessed our trip, encouraging us to go see the places they had seen, to live our dream to travel as they had lived theirs. There is never a right time to leave anyone. When you get older, when the house is paid, when you retire, when the kids leave home, after the kids are married, when the grandkids grow up. Now. Your time is now. It may be the hardest decision you ever make, but make it, and go live your dream. I lost 5 people during my time away. Ages ranging from 84 to 25. You never know when the clock stop ticking. Be Brave. Make the decision. Normal blog service resumes soon as our date for Wifi installation looms large. All things Florida, and clues as to our next wild ride. Happy thoughts, Mrs Bunny x