Sunday: Epcot

We spent the day in Epcot and it was perishing!

You now have to queue three times to get in - once to have your bag searched, again to buy a ticket and finally to be able to show your ticket to be allowed in!

We went on old rides and new ....

The word 'Christmas' seems to be on Disney's forbidden list!

We inevitably went on the 'Frozen' ride - after queueing for quite some time ....

Chinese Dragon Lion

Singers from the good old days in period costume - and they were signing too!

American Civil War tableau from "The American Adventure"

Candelight Processional with Kurt Russell (aka Mr Goldie Hawn) as narrator

Upmarket pigeons at Epcot!

Washington DC is made of gingerbread!

Saturday: Disney Springs

What was Disney Marketplace has since been rebranded as Disney Springs and the complex has also been extended.

We were there in the light, in the twilight and in the dark and it was a very pleasant place to be.

Display at the entrance to Uniklo

All made of Lego!

When we were almost back at the house, we called into Walmart at Cagan Crossing / Cagan's Crossing / Cagan Crossings (the Americans seems divided as to exactly what it's called!). There they had blue poinsettias!

Saturday: Florida Mall

Graeme couldn't wait to get to Dillard's to see what lovely trousers they were selling at a good price and he wasn't disappointed when he came away with two pairs of longs and one pair of shorts!

We found their Christmas decorations more than a little underwhelming but still managed to spend the best part of 3 hours there!

Santa's Grotto

Ummm, is that it as far as decs go?!

I've heard of BOGOF but not BOGTF!  Wht on earth is the Yankee Candle shop thinking of?

Giving Way to Local Wildlife When Driving

We had to stop until these little dears had crossed the road!

Our Car

We had booked a medium sized family car but were persuaded to upgrade a little.  When we went to the pick-up point the assistant pointed to a row of SUVs and said to choose whichever one we wanted.

They did say they did a KIA Sorento, but we couldn't find one so upgraded to a Hyundai Santa Fe.

Honest Abe lives on!

Friday - Busy Day!

After a pretty full on, busy day we ventured out for the evening and enjoyed the various excitements of Aldi near Clermont and Uncle Kenny's BBQ.

Have a look at the menu here.  Remember that a dollar is worth around 75p.

It had to be pullled pork with "slaw"!

Heading back out on Day 1

Though we were tired we ventured on out to Gator's, Dockside on Cagan's Crossing ....

Needless to say we had some boneless chicken wings with sauces ranging from sweet chili to smokey BBQ, ranch, sweet BBQ and blue cheese.

We've arrived!

We set off from Worksop at 5.15am and had a steady procession over the Woodhead Pass and on into Manchester.

It was staggering to see the various traffic jams on the Manchester motorways as we headed for the security park and all this before 6am!

The airport was fairly quiet and the departures board surprisingly thin, so we grabbed a bacon sandwich and a coffee and then took up residence by the departure gate.

We were able to check in straightaway and we did finally get through security after Graeme was thoroughly frisked with hands and sensors - and that was after going through the cubicle where you have to stand feet apart and with your hands above your head - while Elizabeth had her cabin bag totally taken apart!

We had reserved seats in row 27 but were bumped to row 45 - to even out the weight on the flight as the aircraft was barely half full!  Trouble is we wanted to be as far to the front as possible to avoid engine noise and we ended up with engine noise!

We moved off the stand on time, but then spent 40 minutes taxiing and waiting at the end of the runway before we were able to get away.

Taking off was interesting with Storm Caroline having its final say and slewing us across the runway as soon as we were airborne! The flight did seem long and there was a lot of turbulence at times, but the cabin crew served an almost continuous round of food and drink and, with the on-board entertainment plus what we were able to watch from our tablets made the time pass.  The length of flight wasn't helped though by the fact that we seemd to be flying at 475mph rather than the usual 550mph, even when the jet stream can't have been affecting us.

In-flight offering on our outward journey

So we landed 30 minutes late and headed for immigration.  Yes, there was a long queue, but now they have automated machines to let you in so we jumped through that new US immigration hoop and moved on - only to join another very long queue to then go through the normal old-style immigration process!  The only difference when we saw the immigration officer was that only Graeme had his photo and fingerprints taken for the second time, but all passports were stamped and, after 90 minutes since we had left the plane, we had finally arrived in the US!

 We caught the airport rail shuttle to collect our bags and headed off through the terminal building to pick up our rental car.  We upgraded to a Hyundai Santa Fe - home from home car-wise! - and headed off along the Bee Line to the US192 - the good old Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway - who was he, I really must find out this time - and also John Young, who also has a main highway named after him.

The driving as as easy as ever and we found the house without too much trouble. Local houses are decked out with Christmas lights and our house is in a very quiet area.