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

Our world tour is nearing its end, with Dubai chosen to be the final destination. (Truth be known we do actually have a final final stop, but as part of our round the world trip , Dubai is our last awesome adventure). I knew in advance that we were heading to Dubai in the worst possible month, July, average temperatures in the high 40s, and that these bunnies were going to cook, but that couldn`t be avoided. Not sure however if I was prepared for the cost of Dubai.... With the temperature scale hitting record numbers I decided that touring Dubai would not be an option. Just the thought of getting taxis or buses here there and everywhere made me hot, tired and grumpy. I had to weigh up seeing the the sights of Dubai in punishing heat, or keeping it simple and ticking off the just the biggest icons. And what is bigger than the Burj Khalifa? We had hoped to add the Dubai Frame and the fountain show to our itinerary, but not every plan comes to fruition. Picked up from the airport by Uber, we set off for the most spectacularly stunning, hottest ride to date. Personally this bunny had eyes on stalks looking out of every window to catch the first sight of the Burj Khalifa. I knew we were only around twenty minutes from the airport, so surely I must be able to see the worlds tallest building without too much trouble? I was wrong. I am not entirely certain the last time I was surrounded by so many architecturally beautiful and amazing looking, tall buildings. Oh my golly gosh who designs such buildings! To say Dubai is almost futuristic would be an understatement. Then to my right I saw it, but how can it be? Surely it was bigger than that? Why does that little building resemble the Burj, nooooo! this cannot be! Turns out it can. We were surrounded by so many buildings of such incredible heights, the beautiful Burj could quietly dodge and hide at every turn. Even turning into our stunning apartment complex knowing the Burj was walking distance away, it still refused to present itself to us. To be as close to the Burj Khalifa as possible I had found the bunnies the most spectacular little bunny pad imaginable. Bookingdotcom could you possibly, just this once, live up to every photo with supreme accuracy? Yes, Yes you can, and even better, just once, excelled as well. This stunning little...little?...probably bigger than my own bunny pad in the UK truth be known, was situated on the 42nd floor (yikes) of two identical towers quite literally within walking distance of the Burj. Oh my goodness did we strike gold or oil, or what! This stunning apartment was on a corner and had the most breath taking panoramic views. Two balconies with grass underfoot and comfortable chairs, and there, right there, no neck craning, leaning, or obstruction, stood the Burj Khalifa in all its stunning glory. The Burj Khalifa stands majestically within its own area. Once you enter its domain it is only then you can appreciate the sheer size and scale of this monumental iconic structure. From the ground it quietly hides, biding its time until you reach the spot where you just stand in pure wonder and awe. Even the large mostly unobtrusive walls go unnoticed for a while, until the moment you realise, the fountains were being refurbished. Oh, we were gutted. We had chosen not to look too much at Dubai wanting to see it with our own eyes, but we did know that these fountains are amongst the best, if not the best, in the world. And closed. Our disappointment rapidly dissipated however as we entered the Mall, and the public entrance to the Burj. (We had already been quietly and politely turned around by security as we accidentally wandered the grounds of the private residential entrance, maybe the odd Ferrari or two roaring up the drive should have alerted us sooner..) The Dubai Mall, situated underneath the Burj is unbelievable. We thought we had been in some special buildings, but goodness me, this was just stunningly beautiful. We chose not to venture too high, as with all the best will in the world, these bunnies were not quite ready for the pure elegance, style and opulence that so many of the patrons exuded with little effort. Three bunny backpackers, just didn`t quite fit the mould. We did however purchase ourselves some sneakily reduced priced tickets to enter the lift to the next world. Standing on our apartment balcony on the 42nd floor, we were so high. Our next lift ride would stop at level 124. With surprising speed we were raised to the viewing point, and stepped out into space. Mrs Bunny who doesn`t generally have a head for heights, took several moments of gluing herself to the building, before the wobbly bunny butt subsided and she was able to hop forward towards the balcony edge for a better look. The platform was open to the elements, but the glass walls surrounding the platform were clearly extraordinarily substantial. 124 floors above ground level, yet looking up, there was still another 40 plus floors above us. With a 360` degree view, we could walk around the whole platform. We looked for, and found, our incredibly tall apartment block, which now resembled the size of a child`s Lego brick. And my first impression of the Burj Khalifa was that it was smaller than I thought?? Ha ! With all our photographs taken, and memories stored, once more we returned, almost literally back to earth. To the men and women who designed and built this building. I salute you. As I said earlier in my blog, we had planned to visit the Frame next. Truthfully, after standing on top of the world looking down, way way down on said Frame, we suddenly didn`t feel the need to see it any closer. Our next hotel has a bit of a back story. Many months ago I remembered about a certain amazing hotel in Dubai. We were actually in KL at the time. I showed it Mr B with a certain degree of trepidation and hope, and knowing it would make a fabulous end of trip stay, together we made the decision to cash in the chips so they say, and booked ourselves a 4 night stay, in `that hotel`. We kept little B in the dark, since I know that from being a very small bunny she had longed to stay at said hotel, same name, different destination. We still gave little B her chance to do the what and where of Dubai, keeping up pretences, but coming to the end of the trip I made noises about keeping things free, or as cheap as possible (in Dubai? chance was a fine thing) Time and time again she dropped hints and suggestions about `that hotel`, we could just visit the lobby? They have a waterpark? It took this mummy bunny real strength of character trying to keep a poker face. As we were to check out of our 42nd floor apartment at 10am, Mr and Mrs B embarked on a rambling conversation of how long we would have to sit in reception, that our new room was very different (hum te tum) to this one, and not everywhere has luggage storage. Oh we played the game of `Keep the Secret` so very well. Mr and Mrs B then suggested to little B, that whilst we had 5 hours to kill, did she fancy going to `That Hotel` and having a look around in the public spaces...... Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai. We duly called a taxi, loaded up all our bags and headed off to Atlantis. Mr and Mrs B were just so excited, little B was equally excited but for very different reasons. And then ARGHHH!! the taxi pulled up, and security guard stuck his head through the car window and requested our room numbers. Room number Sir! Room number? This was not how we planned to drop the bombshell on little B, so we said, No, no room number, we are just visiting. Our taxi driver huffed and puffed, saying Not staying? you didn`t say, visitor entrance is not here. He duly drove us round the corner, and dumping our bags on the pavement left us at the visitor entrance. We entered this jaw dropping hotel with all our bags, and instantly knew we had made the right decision. Atlantis is utterly stunning. Even this general area for day visitors was a vision to behold. With sparkling eyes, little B got out her go pro and started filming. This, that, down there, grabbing as much video as she possibly could. We knew we couldn`t keep the secret much longer. At a corner of the most beautiful hotel corridor you have ever seen, she raised her go pro once more, but this time Mummy Bunny gently placed her bunny paw on the camera, and whispered, `You don`t need to film it all now, you have 4 days, this is our next hotel. Together Mr B and I had pulled off the best kept secret ever, and the tears flowed copiously. With the secret now free to share, I admit that we are staying at the Atlantis Hotel, The Palm, Dubai. Bags in hand we headed for reception and couldn`t stop grinning. Our room is located in the west wing, and on the 12th floor. The view is just amazing, and the room, I know to some of the clientele staying here, it just another hotel, but for 3 bunnies who have endured just about every kind of room and accommodation going, this was, and is, very very special. Atlantis is without doubt the most amazing hotel we have seen, and we do admit to having stuck our bunny noses in several good looking hotels around the world. The attention to detail is just exquisite. Themed within an inch of its life around the lost underwater world of Atlantis, this hotel just exudes rich detail. My descriptions couldn`t begin do it justice, so I hope a few photos will help. Splendid or not, what we hadn`t expected were the prices. Yes, we knew it was going to be expensive, but there is expensive, then there is `you are kidding`. We assumed by the number of Ferraris parked at the front, Russian guests weighed down by gold chains, and handsome Sheiks in their pristine Abaya, that to them a price list was a mere token of information, whilst to these 3 budget conscious bunnies, choosing a bottle of water for £8 each because it was the cheapest drink made our eyes water. Breakfast is around £15 each, for a bowl of granola. Coffee is £8.50 per cup, as is tea. An average no frills meal for 3 at the most `average` restaurant ran up a bill of £100. We declined the dessert at £13 per portion. Three drinks tot up to £30 per round. With the average daily temperatures reaching the high 40s, the need to drink copiously is essential, thankfully the room water is free, and our flasks were purchased to serve a purpose. We don`t wish to be frugal bunnies, but at the end of a very long trip, the prices here are a little eye watering. There are quite a number of shops here at Atlantis, they are located in an area called the Avenues. Tiffany is one of them. Need I say more? We spotted a well known UK shop brand, WH Smith, and had a giggle. It stocked a tiny portion of well known English chocolate brands, such as Mars bars, but at £5 each, the need for a chocolate fix rapidly diminished. With four days to relax and explore the joys of Atlantis, I feel we have tried our best to enjoy the most relaxing areas of the hotel, aka, the free bits. We could have chosen to dine at any one of the exquisite Michelin starred restaurants, of which there are a few, but alas, our frugal wardrobes did not contain items to match the desired dress code of ` elegant and smart` darn.... Then there were the spa treatments, nails, eyebrows, massage we understood and dithered about booking but we drew a very firm line at `IV Treatments` the Underwater Yoga classes, Face Art Botox sessions , the Red Light Laser Bed and Microneedling whatever that heck that may be. I think these three bunnies are a little more down to earth enjoying life as it comes, not as pampered spoilt bunnybrats. Aquaventure World. Labelled as the worlds largest waterpark, this was a favourite of ours. We are entitled to enter free as guests of the hotel, but the park itself is open to paying day guests. With daytime temperatures akin to a hot oven, we relaxed on the lazy river on large rubber rings. Whilst enjoyable, the occasional rise up a moving ramp lowering slowly down the other side into rapids was fun, it was also brief. The water flow was a little too slow moving at times and more than once we found ourselves exerting more energy than we could spare trying to move our floats along. Mr B and little B managed to hoist their little butts up the tower to ride the tube rafts, but both felt that the constant flow of Fast Pass riders made the wait times tediously slow. At a different time of year I feel this could be a really good waterpark, but the incredible heat coupled with pathways on which you could have fried eggs was a little overwhelming for us. The cooler, deeper pool near the hotel beckoned us day on day. The Lost Chambers Aquarium. An Aquarium like no other. Day guests can see part of the aquarium wall, but hotel guests are able to view the most stunning glass wall to an undersea world of epic proportions. Like every inch of the hotel, the glass is spotless. All day long an endless stream of children and adults alike place their hands on the glass to feel a part of the ocean in front of them, and not a single fingerprint remains. That glass is cleaned inside and out quite possibly as many time as the floors are. The bunnies are well used to grubby glass and poor cleanliness of Busch Gardens and similar, but here? Nothing is left marked. This pristine window offers an unblemished scene of underwater fish life, from sharks to rays, from eels to shoals of serious looking silver fish. Then you have the actual aquarium. Now, this bunny can name less fish than birds, so please accept my apologies when I say the fish are big, small, colourful, still, fast, sat on shelves, tiny with orange stripes with little blue ones darting about nearby and just about everything else in between. There are no information boards to mar the ambience, just a beautiful vista of the joys of the underwater world. There was also a large tank of bouncing jelly fish that were quite mesmerising. With an exceptionally large budget, a luxury wardrobe, a penchant for all things expensive, a gourmet palate, the desire to be pampered to the extreme, and a flair for adventure (Balloon rides, Helicopter, Jet Bikes) then Atlantis is the most perfect destination hotel, a playground for the rich, a showground for those who want to be seen. For the more discerning and budget conscious bunnies, Atlantis is here for you as well. Three nights, or even two, would be more than enough time to give you the chance to experience this very special hotel. Research the restaurants thoroughly, decide on your preferred cuisine, and with a little hindsight you too could dip your little bunny toes into the life of the hotel Atlantis, the Palm, Dubai. Now is the time to say goodbye. The three bunnies have completed their Round the World trip and alas home beckons us once more. There are more adventures planned for the future, including one just days away. The three bunnies will be venturing forth together for one last blast of Disney fun lasting a whole month, and I shall endeavour to write about what we get up to there in the near future. On our return however, little bunny will return to work, whilst Mr Bunny and I figure out how to balance a life of retirement and travel. To the readers who have followed my bunny blog, I do hope I have inspired you, hopefully made you laugh or even just given you ideas. Thank you for sticking with us.

Welcome to Sri Lanka, an island that has been on Mr B`s bunny list forever. Of all the places we knew we may or may not visit Sri Lanka was a constant. Oddly enough though, it was the one destination of all the multitudes of You Tubes that we watched, that we researched the least. As I sit here typing this blog, more fool us.... Sigiriya From the offset we always knew that we were going to tour Sri Lanka by rented TukTuk. Mr B made all the necessary arrangements to acquire himself a Sri Lankan Driving Permit, but unfortunately a last minute hitch occurred when he realised that his International Permit was only valid for 12 months, and had expired. The excellent company from where we hired the TukTuk (tuk-tukrentals @Negombo) aided us in acquiring a new one. Abu -The Tuk Tuk Day one, leaving Singapore/landing into Sri Lanka. The adventure began before we even left the airport at Singapore. A WhatsApp message came through from our first hotel, would we like a driver to pick us up at the airport and bring us to the hotel? Always a huge help, we confirmed immediately, Yes Please! ` Excellent` was the reply, followed immediately with `Do you mind doing me a favour and purchase me 4 bottles of whiskey from the duty free for my birthday next week, and I shall pay you on arrival?` Mrs Bunny always and forever suspicious was all for saying absolutely not no way, but on Mr B`s insistence that this could actually help us, we said Yes. Let me hasten to add, the Duty Free shop was through the immigration and just prior to leaving the airport on the Sri Lanka side. We duly landed into Sri Lanka which I personally found to be quite a stressful and slightly intimidating airport, purchased the whisky (@$240!!!) and judging by the numerous people doing the same, realised it was the norm, then we could not see/find our driver. Not a single sign had our name on it. Mrs Bunny asked a guard if she could leave the airport to find the driver outside, only to have a jobsworth armed security guard scream at me that I could not return back into the airport! I kept gesturing that my family was still inside, but he was quite loud and insistent, that I was moving no further. Lucky for me, Mr B and little B, wandered towards me, and I towards them, until we met in the middle and the first guard waved jobsworth away. Reunited, we walked out together and paraded the length of this most chaotic, loud, bustling, hassling airport concourse until our driver finally made an appearance. Yes he paid us for the whiskey. Sri Lanka you are a challenge. Taxi to the Tuk Tuk office please. We booked a large car, a Mini arrived ! There are no mini`s anywhere we have travelled, yet we manage to hire one here and now. Having divided up our luggage into smaller bags in preparation for our long trip in a tuk tuk with the tiniest amount of storage space, yet also needing to transport our biggest bags for storage, this little tiny car appeared when we had nine pieces of luggage plus Little Blue (our food bag) to relocate. With everything plus ourselves squeezed into a car the approximate size of a small fridge, we consoled ourselves that at least the office was only a mile away and our discomfort wouldn`t last. Ha! We must have had the only taxi driver in Negombo who couldn`t find the office of the biggest TukTuk rental company in Sri Lanka. 30 minutes and three very hot cross bunnies later we were finally evicted from this hot box on wheels with a curt, `just down there`. Never have 3 bunnies been more grateful for a kind face and those three little words, `want a drink`? The fun begins. Only Mr Bunny has the driving permit, (not that he would have allowed either of the other bunnies to drive anyway) and so it was Mr Bunny who was lead away to be taught how to drive a tuk tuk, by a woman whom I personally think had more knowledge of driving a toaster. Mr Bunny is a careful, considerate attentive little bunny who strives to do exactly as he is told, and whom quite clearly listened diligently to his driving instructor. After leaving the compound with the two other bunnies huddled in the back, it didn`t take Mrs BackseatBunny long to beg the question, `who taught you to drive, a woman?!!` (sorry fellow lady drivers, but in the heat of moment it was the best I could think of) I have a hunch that my lovely bunny will chuck me out of the bunny hutch tonight as I put pen to paper and say that the first few hours of a passenger in that tuk tuk where the longest in my life. Mr Bunny followed those driving instructions to the letter, as we clonked, jumped, juddered, screamed, kangarooed and darn near killed the gearbox before we had even left the city. Seated like a prim banker, a grip like a rings gymnast and the ignorance of a tone deaf pianist, my lovely bunny who can drive a car with the most exisite driving skills, proceeded to torture our poor little tuk tuk for the next three hours as he got to grips with newly learned skills. The panic was evident, the terror palpable and the scarefest was real. Launching a newly qualified tuktuk driver straight onto the streets of Sri Lanka was scarier than anyone could have imagined. Quite frankly the traffic is horrendous, with the worst culprits being the numerous coaches with drivers who are quite probably taught to drive during a demolition derby, then put on the streets with the instruction, just do the same out there and you will be fine. No lines, no traffic lights, overtaking on both sides, stop where you want, whenever you want, no indicators, bicycles, pedestrians, cows, kids and my brake lights don`t work so what? In my defence, my nerves were a little strained due to the fact that I drove a motorbike for several years, and every part of my wrists and fingers were itching to grab the gear change and change gears a lot sooner than Mr B. Hence the `who taught you to drive question`. Sticking rigidly to his script, Mr B did 10mph in first, reaching twenty change up, thirty and into third and so on. With every part of the tuktuk feeling like a motorbike, it took all my strength and a whole lot of lip biting, to refrain from yelling Change Up!! no no no, don`t change yet! and a very tense grip knowing that the tuktuk was about to lurch due to a mistimed or clumsy gear change. In defence of Mr B, the gear shift was temperamental, the ratios a little bizarre and the gearbox a snooty little madam. Several hundred kilometres later, Mr B grasped the feel of Abu (our tuktuk) and our journeys though still fraught, are at least a little smoother. Just need to address the actual width of Abu now and all will be good in the world. The journey begins. Whilst we could not change the dates of our visit, we could change the destinations. July is monsoon season in the west of the island, and we were advised that the east coast would be far drier and nicer. We had originally planned to head straight down the west coast, then north, maybe as far as Sigiriya, then back to Negombo. This would be the most touristic route, but hey, we can adapt. Stop one was at small hotel on a lake edge. No frills, just an old colonial house, single story, used to be English owned, but now owned by the present host's grandfather. Like many of our stops around Sri Lanka, this was just a one night stay breaking up a long journey. We ate at a nearby restaurant and started our learning about the nuances of Sri Lanka. Men for instance, are everywhere, but woman are few and far between. Our entire restaurant was male, with Mrs and Little B the only females onsite. We observed our first Chipmunk. We had our second cold fried eggs for breakfast, the first we thought was our two minute tardy lateness to the table, but a second time? Day two saw us heading to the sacred area of Sigiriya, where we landed and immediately found the key to the room of our previous hotel. Groan. Aside this, what a lovely little place Sigiriya is. Little bunny learned that big scary monkeys invade balconies, whilst Mr and Mrs B had a tree house type bunny hutch with an outdoor bathroom. Showering whilst looking up at the clouds was a little odd, not to mention being observed on the loo by a friendly local bird. Our host teased us by saying elephants were known to wander in the fields just behind the tree house, but to our chagrin we couldn`t even see the nearby fence by night never mind spot an elephant. Bah! Sigiriya is a huge mountain of rock with a temple on its flat summit. It is a sacred area, and it is treated with respect. Little Bunny paid her respects by climbing to the summit up its 1200 steps, while Mr and Mrs B toasted the temple gods with glasses of cold milkshake from the bottom. We were taken on a tuktuk tour around Sigiriya with a guide who drove our little Abu, (without grinding the gears or kangaroo hops, just saying....) as only the official guides were allowed to drive onsite. It was interesting to a point, but quite frankly my practical bunny brain just wanted to rewind the clock several thousand years and say to the numpty who thought that building a temple on top of a huge rock was a good idea, `you do know you are being a bit of a pompous twit`?. Sigiriya is long gone relic of old, only stones and stories remain. The food in the town was quite pleasant, but once again, a mostly cold hotel breakfast was served. Our lesson for Sigiriya was learned far too late. The reason for all the elephant safaris? Elephants are mainly found in the north. Darn. This bunny was planning a southerly jaunt to Yala, from a coastal stay nearby but that`s a lesson for later. East coast adventures. Following a very straight road all the way to the coast, we landed at the town of Trincomalee and the first of many challenging stays. With Booking.com never having let us down before, I was to quickly learn that here in Sri Lanka, `fab location` means miles out of town `amazing hosts` refers to pushy but pleasant hotel owners. `Superb` means better than a tent. With each destination requiring two bunny hutches, I always aim to acquire similar with great reviews. Baby Bunny hutch number one on Trincomalee turned out to be in the very centre of town and far from anything even remotely `touristic`. The description of her hotel was tenuously accurate. Yes, it was on the beach, but a fishing boat beach. Yes, it did have a `good location`, if local shops selling new buckets or raw fish was on your wish list. Whilst non of us mind this, life is so much easier when we can at least read a menu, and perhaps even have half a chance of something a little easier on the palate. With the second bunny hutch located 3km away on the main beach, a proper tourist beach with sunbeds, little B moved closer on the second night and normal serviced resumed. As both properties had had disappointing first impressions, we very nearly moved on after just one night, but decided to stay instead and see if we liked being beach bums for a few days. Turns out we did. The beach was clean and easy, the sea was nice, the beds were free and the beach bar and its staff close and attentive. Our lesson here was to know that the grass isn`t greener down the coast. We did tour the town a couple of times by tuktuk, I forgot to mention this. Our hosts kept suggesting we should go see the Fort, the Deer park, maybe Marble Beach or even a temple...please No! No more temples. We did visit these places, but our enthusiasm for these places was as extensive as this paragraph. Yes, thats a beach. That is a deer. Are those the walls of the Fort? (entry £12 each, lets not bother) Pasikuda/Kalkuda Looking forward to more of the same in the coastal town of Kalkuda, we again had two supposedly perfect new hutches, both in` excellent locations`, and again this was proven to be incorrect. Bunny hutch number one was so far out of town she would have needed to catch a taxi to reach the nearest shop and an organised tour to visit the beach. We didn`t even pause to glance inside such was the remote location and instead zoomed right past to hutch number two. This pleasant little pad was on glance so much nicer, but unfortunately full all except for the cutest little room with an amazing view over the beach and sea. (why was it empty we wondered) To cut a long story short, whilst the hotel was actually quite lovely, little B earned herself a new name, Snow White. If it moved, it paid her a visit. The chipmunk was cute, but alas everything else was less than. Possibly the reason the room was still empty on arrival? Mr Bunny was renamed Grumpy after spotting a rather large, and fortunately non poisonous snake right opposite our ground floor balcony. It took me a little while to understand why Mr B was so agitated as for quite some time the only words he uttered had 4 letters and began with F. Mr B does not approve of snakes. Beach life here was a little more challenging than at Trincomalee, the beach next to our hotel was utterly beautiful, but had zero shade and no facilities. It was refreshing to see such a beautiful long beach unspoilt by a blight of hotels, but for bunnies wanting a touch of shade and relaxation, maybe a hint of being spoilt this was not the beach for us. Grateful for having our own transport, we sought directions and found the public beach further afield. With no amenities or shade again we took a quick scoot to the left, offered the pool lifeguard a sneaky `bribe`, and secured the bunnies three comfortable sunbeds with towels and use of the pool in a rather nice, quiet hotel complex. Three days there and we were on the move again. Arugam Bay After driving for what felt like an eternity of nothing but tiny fishing villages, local towns and incredible landscapes, we knew we were arriving into somewhere very different when the tiny shops selling fruit, crisps and potatoes morphed into gaudy shops selling Surfboards?? Surfer dudes, board shorts, bare feet, bare chests, skinny girls in barely there bikinis, blue faces? Never quite got the blue face thing, I can only assume its a type of heavy duty sun protection, but suddenly, after driving through endless lovely little localised villages, this little town of Arugam Bay had a totally different vibe to anywhere else we had been. Gone were the amazing and wonderful beaming smiles of the delightful Sri Lankan people, and instead we were in a town of miserable faced young pale skinned people, with their know it all demeaner and bragging attitudes. (endless overheard conversations are always in the vein of been there, done that, seen, it.....at 25?) Guys, girls, seriously, you are just starting out, give it a rest! The Sri Lankan people are the friendliest people we have encountered anywhere on our travels. They beam at you with faces that light up with pure joy as you wave and shout `hello` , but tourists? Good grief people, Smile for heavens sake! Time and time again we meet the most frosty faced people, all with one thing in common. Tourist. We bunnies smile at everyone, we say Hi, we wave, we try hard to be polite and accommodating to the lovely, but occasionally pushy restaurant owners, but other tourists, most especially the younger end? Rude. Ignorant. Is it really so hard to just smile, say hello or thank you, but no thank you? Truth be known it has been the norm for most of Asia. But against a backdrop of the most wonderful friendly people, the rudeness and blatant disregard of culture and modesty is both embarrassing and shameful. Arugam Bay is a long singular street catering purely for tourism, not too many t.s shops I was glad to note, but many many restaurants and drinking establishments interspersed with accommodations, hotels and hostels of every kind. The food wasn`t particularly exciting, mostly simple offerings, but we managed. Nutella was available everywhere, not that we partook of any. We spent most days at the pool of a local hotel, paying them for the privilege. The beach was tried once to ease the financial burden of overpriced drinks and cold food offerings, but we quickly came to the conclusion that it was better to pay pool prices, than be swarmed by the aggressive crows that haunted the beach areas. Yala National Park. A lesson learned too late. Yala was a long, long way away. It was expensive, and the chance of seeing wild elephants was slim. Our host informed us that we could go to Yala and maybe see the Water Buffalo (of which we have seen plenty) birds..(not our thing) maybe leopards (possible, maybe) but his enthusiasm for us seeing the wild elephant was meh. We chose to decline in the hope of seeing elephants, as per a friends personal video sent to us during our time there, on the way to Ella, our next destination, our next lesson to learn the hard way. After 14 days enjoying the wonderful east coast with its lovely weather, endless sunny days and blue skies, it was time to start our journey across country back to the west coast. Remember I said that I didn`t do a lot of research? And that lessons were learned? Turns out not appreciating the geography of Sri Lanka was also a big mistake. On the map we had earmarked endless waterfalls, and scenic places., and had plans to visit as many as possible. First stop Ella. Yet another booking.com failure. Let down again. 9,1 rating? how can we have possibly arrived Mr B? This is a run down roadside restaurant, empty fridges, piled up chairs, no visible food, halfway up one heck of a steep mountain road. Yep, that`s the place. Two days we spent driving up and down that very beautifully scenic road, but no matter how nice the views, it was a road driven by crazy bus drivers, too many lorries, endless tuk tuks, and was incredibly stressful. If we wanted to eat, we had to drive. The `restaurant` owner offered to cook, but having spent 15 minutes of our arrival time looking straight into the `kitchen` whilst waiting for the room to be prepped, was enough for a polite but firm refusal. Ella. The town itself came as a big surprise. It was a lot bigger than we were expecting, and clearly a long established tourist town. A very multi cultural and mixed age town, quite unlike the young surfer type of Arugam Bay. A singular long winding uphill street filled with a multitude of all things tourist. The whole area of Ella centres around one thing, and one thing only, the stunning 9 Arches Bridge. Surprisingly easy to reach by tuk tuk, we set off very early on morning two to catch the passing of the 9.45 train as it crossed the bridge. We could if so wanted, have caught the train, and the rental company would have relocated the tuk tuk for us, but the train prices were a little steep, and insider info informed that the road criss crossed the railway taking virtually the same route, at least for a few miles. I think for a little while yet, the paths to view the train crossing will remain cute, rustic and challenging, but I predict that the rapid growth of tourism will spoil the charm as more and more people visit, demanding better roads, parking, ts shops and viewpoint restaurants. The trend is already there, but for the moment they are mostly unobtrusive. Onwards and upwards, quite literally to Nuwara Eliya. Lots of lessons learned the hard way again as we made our way to the town. We climbed the mountain, and climbed some more. We didn`t stop climbing until we reached an altitude of almost 1800metres asl. As we climbed these extremely steep roads, higher and higher, we started to notice trousers...a hat...a coat..a fleecy jumper....and still we climbed. These three unprepared bunnies, shivered our bunny butts off as we started to venture into the clouds. Did we know that the centre of Sri Lanka has mountainous regions? Did we heck! When we finally arrived at the town of Nuwara Eliya, we were frozen and attracting some very strange looks, sat huddled in the back of a tuk tuk in our shorts and t shirts. Sunscreen at 10am, furry blankets by 3. We wish we could have spent more time in this town, because as we drove through it, we may just as well have been in the Lake District (Cumbria, UK). Large stone built hotels, boating lake, pony rides, cafes, many English place names, eg The Blackpool Hotel, Langdale, Edinburgh, it was surreal, even had the correct weather! But we were frozen, ill prepared, and with zero warm clothing. Naturally little cold fish bunny had brought leggings and a fleece, but the two older bunnies had nothing. We parked at our out of town hotel, begged some blankets, and retired to our beds with hot tea and netflix. We left the next day, still wet, still foggy, still cold, and headed next to a hotel that from the day I first booked it, i was so excited to be staying at. Please. Please booking dot com, please let it live up to the expectations. Located at Hatton, which thankfully was at a lot lower altitude and just a touch warmer, this hotel was pure joy. Situated at the top of a valley, looking across at the tea plantations, this superb hotel was everything we could have hoped for. (Tea Hills Bungalow) The two bunnies had the most wonderful room with two double four poster beds with duvets, real cosy duvets, furniture (let me elaborate, we had a dressing table with stool, a larger table with mirror, a chaise lounge with the squishiest mattress topper, so comfortable, a mirrored glasses cabinet, three high stools, a couple of other smaller tables for baggage and a wardrobe.) The bathroom had a shower cubicle with mat, and a fluffy foot mat, a separate sink, and joy, a bath! A real bath, with hot water a plenty. Huge wrap around towels, and scented toiletries, oh wow, such a contrast to our previous rooms of late, and barely any more expensive. If that sounds good, well little B had it better! She really did win the room this time. On a higher floor, little B got a little palace room, with a single four poster bed, gold drapes, beautiful wooden furniture, stunning view, and a bathroom made for a queen. Standalone roll top bath, with gold free standing taps. Cue, one soggy bunny for the next 4 hours as she revelled in not just one hot bath, but treated herself to a second later that evening. Such was her enjoyment of said bath, she didn`t even mind when I knocked on her door, getting out of said bath, to accept the chocolate that I had been carrying, and which had finally hardened. Oh what we would have given for a second night here. We did try, but alas our little Abu had to be back in his own bed much too soon. Waving goodbye to a perfect hotel after just one night, we continued down the mountain, until we finally reached sea level once more, and the town of Kitugala . Bye bye nice cosy duvets, hello again you miserable single flappy sheet and air con. Talk about down to earth with a bump! The hotel served a purpose, and was clearly a local favourite, despite the fact that we were the only guests for the night, The entire reception area and restaurant, was very smartly decorated for a wedding party they were expecting the following morning, and the bustle of arriving caterers, food preparations and flowers kept the staff busy. We debated about staying and seeing the bridal party, but in the end the pull of the road and the need to get going made us leave prior to their arrival. Negombo. Our final destination for Sri Lanka. We dropped off Abu, reunited with our big bags and set off for our last hotel. I cannot comment about the town of Negombo as to be quite honest the batteries of these three tired bunnies are very, very flat. The hotel serves a base. We have no plans to go anywhere, or do anything. Catch up with You Tube, Blog and sleep. Play cards and just stop to catch our breath. Sri Lanka has been amazing. Challenging, but amazing. Elephants. We never did get to see a proper wild, free elephant. Our hearts did a jump in Sigirya as we spotted one walking towards us. With a fat tourist sat on top. I decline to comment, but said tourist got the gist of my anger, and I hope they felt guilt or fell off, I care not. Elephants are not tourist playthings. Our second elephant stood patiently in some ones garden. Tied to a stake. No friends. No herd. Wrong on every level. Was he rescued at birth and lovingly restored to health? I know not his story, but tied to a post? So sad. We next saw two elephants walking through a town. We were so excited until we realised the elephant number one had chains around his feet. Elephant number two was made to bow in front of the temple. His feet were free, but he had rows of massive chains around his neck. Again, without knowledge or understanding, we were saddened. Why are elephants so revered, they feature in all the temples, but are then bound in chains? Our last host gave us some insight, and partially renewed our faith that at least some elephants do live a free type of life. He explained that the elephant is so special, and where an elephant is required to participate in a festival, he is kept in a free roaming area until he is required to parade. The parade can be stressful, and to prevent the elephant getting angry and frustrated, he is chained for safety, and the weights slow his movements. We cannot deny that the atmosphere in that village was electric. They clearly loved that elephant, chained or not. It is not our culture or religion, we have to respect that. We were all glad to hear some evidence from a local, just how special the elephant is. These are not the Elephants paraded around for tourists money as per Thailand. Here it is just a little different. Dogs. There is a dog factory in Sri Lanka, somewhere. There has to be! Dogs, one size only are everywhere! You cannot move or drive anywhere without seeing Muttley walking, sleeping, lying, dodging traffic, sat on scooters, pavements, doorsteps and hotels. He is everywhere. They come in every colour, but only one shape and size. We never got to see the dog factory, but I swear its out there somewhere! Our time in this beautiful country has come to an end. Sri Lanka, you have the most amazing people, never before have we come across a nation of people who have made us feel more welcome. Thank you so much for your kind hospitality. One day, in the right season, we shall return. (with a jumper just in case....)

I did mention in my previous blog that we had to return to Malaysia to pass time before heading off to our next big destination. Singapore was our destination of choice. Yes, we have been before, and not that long ago, but there were just a few things we wanted to see again or visit for the first time having missed the opportunity first time around. The Zoo. Pretty sure you went to the zoo last time I hear you say...yes, yes we did, but Singapore Zoo is huge, and separated into many different components. It turned out to be a misunderstanding on my behalf that I thought we had missed the biggest part of the zoo first time around, as we seemed to wander the zoo in no time at all leaving me to think maybe we did see almost everything first time? We did see a few super cute animals, and for the first time in our zoo travels came face to face, (almost literally), as she wandered onto an external viewing platform for feeding time, a tree kangaroo. This may sound a little bizarre, but the tree kangaroo really is the cutest little thing you will ever see. Think oversized squirrel, crossed with a wallaby, and et voila. A tree kangaroo. We said hello to a rather matter of fact orangutan, but other than that we just wandered this very pleasant and lush green zoo until it was our own feeding time, when we sat eating watching the almost free roaming gibbons watching us as we ate. Universal Studios. Situated on Sentosa Island, we really wanted to visit Universal Studios first time around, but time was not on our side then and choices had to made. Not this time however. We booked our tickets and to Sentosa we headed. We travelled directly there by taxi, rather than duplicating our previous mode of transport, the cable car and arrived as the gates were starting to open. We were a little concerned by the sheer number of people heading through the gates, but like smoke they all but vanished. Vanished to where we do not know, but poof, and they were gone. Being old hats at popular theme parks, we marched with the crowd to the newest ride in the newest land. Minions. This part of the park was due to open the week after we left on our first visit, so everything was brand new to visitors and locals alike. Not being a fan of motion simulator rides, this was a no no for Mrs Bunny, who chose instead to ride the carousel. Between the ride queue for Minions, 20 mins, and the carousel, 10 mins, you would think that we ticked off two rides within the first hour. Wrong. You have never encountered a more disorganised system for getting people on and off rides, ever. Big bunny and little bunny despaired at the ride attendants who couldn`t fill ride carts, with the simple phrase, you two line 2, you two line 3. Oh no! Their description of Asian tourists waiting until the very last second to decide who was riding with who, but I want to ride with them, and I don`t want to ride alone, kept me amused for several minutes as we all recalled the superb efficiency, no prisoners, (you will sit there) of the Florida theme parks. By return, they listened with jaws dropped, as I explained that despite every pink or purple `bug` horse on the Carousel having a do not use sticker, at least 3 people per carousel round made a bee line for said `bug` having to be turfed off and lengthy explanations given. The long queue got longer by the minute, and every carousel turn went around with more than half the `horses` (bugs) empty, due to the lack of organizational skills of the operator. We knew then that it was going to be a long day. Resigned to this fact, we backtracked to the most ordinary cafe/coffee place we could find which just so happened to be Starbucks, and had a pleasant relaxing breakfast watching the crowds. Refreshed and fed, we set off once more to see what Universal Studios Singapore had to offer. After Minions land, we came to Shrek, and far far away. Was so odd finding a whole area devoted to Shrek and Puss in Boots, when the exact same ride in Florida has been removed due to lack of interest. (changed to Minions funny enough) Exact same ride. IYKYK. "Please continue to the end of the row filling all seats" fell on deaf ears. Perhaps people didn`t understand English?, but when the entire film is in English...... again we despaired. I cant remember many ride names, but `Puss in Boots` suspended rollercoaster next. Queued for one hour. ride lasted 15 seconds, my have pushed to 20, but I kid you not, up, across, round, down, stop. Barely higher than your average 5 storey building maybe, and people were screaming! Tame? just a bit. Universal Studios Singapore occupies the tiniest footprint of any park we have been to and we found that rides we recognised had been adapted to take up a much smaller area. Eg The Mummy. Same elements, half the ride. One wild and twisting rollercoaster turned out to be two, think duelling dragons, but downsize to duelling pocket snake. They ran as two separate rides, but intertwined with each other. Quite a clever design if you ask me. Maybe one exception was the Jurassic Park Water ride. That did feel like a full size ride with some very good elements. All in all we thoroughly enjoyed our full day at Universal. Yes, its tame compared to Florida, everything is much smaller, the food is very much Asian orientated, so don`t be thinking your going to get a break from Asian cuisine into park food junk food, your not. The American Diner had elements of burgery things, but still with the Asian twist. For a tiny park we managed to fill a whole day. Walking a different path, we took to the waters edge on day three. We previously missed seeing the Merlion, the iconic symbol of Singapore, so this was our chance to try again. We had actually started our day at Battle Box as recommended by Daddy Bunny, a history buff, but alas we should have booked a slot prior to arrival, and as such we were only left with a short 2.30 tour or nothing, given that it was 10am, nothing is what we chose. One overpriced bakery breakfast later at the bottom of the hill from Battle Box, we then walked the river banks to see the Merlion. We took all the silly photos as you do, water in the mouth, catching the water etc, then continued along the riverside in the direction of the Gardens by the Bay. Along this walkway are some rather nice hotels, in front of one of which is a statue dedicated to Ghandi, whose ashes were partially scattered at the point in the river. Prior to entering the Gardens we walked once more through the beautiful, air conditioned, mall of The Marina Bay Sands Hotel. As malls go, this one is pretty special. Pretty special priced shops as well, so unless Gucci or Chanel is your go to everyday shop, then I would probably say its a window shopping type mall. Gardens by the Bay. So beautiful we just had to come again. We chose not to visit the Cloud dome and the Flower dome again having been there done that to both on our previous visit, but we did want to see the light show again. After a meal at the Nest cafe, we purchased tickets for the main Tree, and headed to the top to watch the sunset over Singapore, and then viewed the light show from our elevated position. Whilst not quite as good as watching from the ground, due to the fact that you cannot see the lights of the biggest tree whilst standing on it, it was a great visually entertaining show looking down. On our last day we headed for the area of Orchard Road, this is the shopping area and has many malls. Oddly enough though non of us seemed to be in any mood to wander through yet more shops. Our bags are full to bursting, too heavy, and at this point in the trip we want for nothing. We did find a great underpass that took us along a very long air conditioned road out of town, but coming back to the surface all the bunnies were tired hot batteries burned bunnies. We had done Singapore and all the major sights pretty well on our first visit, and without wanting to spend copious amounts of money finding yet another trip or sight, or taxi, we decided a room picnic in an air conditioned hotel room ticked all our boxes. We had some planning to do for our August adventure, and picnic /planning suited us all. We love Singapore. It is clean, smart, (expensive) and very enjoyable. Will we come back?, maybe not for quite some time, but yes, one day we will. Two short stays. Two short blogs. Normal service resumes next month :-)