The Background

For Kristine's 21st Birthday we decided to do something special and take her to Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida for a couple of weeks. This was something that Kristine had always wanted to do - and we were more than happy to help her dream come true!

The holiday was booked in the early part of 2001 - but Kristine's 21st Birthday was not until August. What a nightmare trying to keep that secret, but we managed.

Although the idea of the holiday was for Kristine, we decided that it would be nice to take my children too (Thomas had never been to Florida before) and it would be make it more of a 'family' holiday. It would be a nice way to bring Kristine closer to all of my mob, and to get to know each other better. Of course we couldn't do this without my eldest, Gemma, so we invited her too. This meant also inviting her boyfriend (couldn't leave him behind), then we thought "How about Mum?" so she got added to the list. Phew - from a small holiday trip this was turning in to a mob outing. We booked the house (a magnificent, beautiful 6 bedroom jobbie with pool and jacuzzi) and got the flights and park tickets organised too (all via Virgin Atlantic).

The Hanger On

In conversation with my mate Pete he threw in the line "Can I come?". I asked Rachel how she felt about this (we had already been to Vegas with Pete and knew he was good company) and she said "Why not" - so now we were TEN. Good job we booked a huge house! It was no problem adding Pete to the Flight etc. (we booked so early), so job done.

The Journey

We decided the easiest way to get us all to the airport was to hire a taxi firm with a LARGE van. This worked very well. They were prompt, friendly and got us to the airport (and picked us up on our return) with no problem.

Flights were very smooth and uneventful, the only scare we had was at Gatwick airport on our way out. We had all gone through the security checks, body searches (no joke!) etc. and thought we could relax when the tannoy announced that Mr. Steve Calkin should report immediately to the Security desk. Easy to panic and think weird thoughts at this point, but in fact it was lucky for me - somebody had handed in my credit cards and drivers license which had fallen out of Rachel's bag when it went through the x-ray conveyor. Phew! That could have been a major disaster. No shopping and no driving either (hang on - that could have been a bonus, see below!)

The Truck

In order to get around in Florida you must have a car (obvious - this is America where most people are too fat to walk anywhere). To get all of us around I thought it made sense to have one car. Anybody wishing to "do their own thing" could hire their own vehicle, but on the main we could all travel together and only pay once to get in to the parks. The problem with this idea was that we needed a "car" big enough for 10 people and their luggage. We got one. It was huge. It was a truck, but it did the job brilliantly. Nobody saw me whisper a silent prayer and wish myself luck as I got in this beast for the first time at the airport. A nine hour flight is not the best preparation for driving such a large vehicle - with the added responsibility of carrying all the people you love - that's why I was also wearing a nappy. In actual fact it was a breeze to drive and we had no problems at all during the two weeks (apart from minor unscheduled detours due to the crap road signs on American roads). View Truck and House - use BACK to return here.

The House

Rented from AJ Villas this was truly a "luxury" home. Massive inside with 6 bedrooms, two separate family areas, each with TV and a fabulous master bedroom with en-suite which of course Rachel and I shared. Lovely. The actual home we rented was in Crescent Lakes and was fairly well located for all the Theme Parks. 25 mins from Disney and 35 from Universal / Sea world.

The Parks

Anybody who has been to Florida will tell you how much fun, and how tiring, the parks are. Everybody has their own favourite too. My personal favourite of the Disney parks is MGM Studios. There is a lot to do here and something for everyone. Animal Kingdom is still too new to need much more than half a day to visit, and Epcot has always been my least favourite and also needs only half a day. The Magic Kingdom is exactly that. Magical. It is definitely the favourite for the younger children and for anybody (Kristine!) that wants to meet the characters. We had a brilliant character breakfast with Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto followed a couple of days later by a character evening meal with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore. Brilliant fun. Tigger is Kristine's favourite and she was getting quite desperate as she had missed him at the Animal Kingdom. It wasn't until the final day, and then by sheer fluke, that I spotted that there was a character dinner with Pooh and Friends. Tigger had to be there so we booked it and "made her day".

Busch Gardens is approx 1.5 hours drive from Kissimmee but is well worth the trip. It is easy to do this in a day and the park is varied and superb fun. This was where Rebecca conquered her fear and rode one of the big rollercoasters for the first time (Kumba - excellent ride), and Thomas too had his first go at a rollercoaster that performed a loop (the Scorpion).

The ultimate fun park for adults has always (in my opinion, and my daughter Gemma's) been Universal. They have added another park to this site called Islands of Adventure and this is just BRILLIANT. Colourful, lively with superb rides - the only criticism is that there is not much for the older members to do - my Mum found this park more boring than the others. As for me and the rest of our party (children included) this park has the absolute best ride we have ever been on. Spidey 2. Fantastic fun and extremely clever you just want to keep going on it again and again. It mixes a 3D cinema with a simulator ride and puts it all on a moving track. Hard to describe, harder still to see how they've done it, it is the dogs donuts. When Spiderman jumps on the bonnet of the car you know he is a drawing, you know you are being fooled, but he is THERE - the car reacts exactly as if someone has jumped on the bonnet of your speeding vehicle. And the final scene where you are plummeting down between the sky scrapers is breathtakingly real. Gemma had raved about this ride having been to Florida last year. Now I know why. Go there, do it.

Eating Out

Eating must be one of the favourite things for Americans, based on the number of restaurants and fast food chains and the size of a large proportion of the people (jeez they are BIG). We had fun trying out a number of 'usual' places - IHOP, Waffle House, Pizza Hut, Uno but our favourite was the Ponderosa. This is an all you can eat buffet restaurant which cost us an average of $100 for ten people to eat. This included the buffet (very nice), plus a 'real' meal (e.g. 16oz T-Bone, Pork Chops, Salmon, Various Chicken etc. all with either jacket potato or fries), plus free refills of all soft drinks, ice-cream and cakes finished off with coffee. Incredible value and very nice food.

The Weather

We Brits always talk about the weather. I expected to be able to say 'scorchio' for each day and leave it at that but February didn't live up to this. We had two days of solid rain, the second being accompanied by quite a cold wind, a few days of bright sunshine and chill wind, and the rest of the time we had warm or (if we were lucky) quite hot days. The best day (weather-wise) was the second Tuesday when we went to Busch Gardens.

Funny Stories

The last thing we expected to see in America was a veggie shop. It must have been the first (and last) attempt. The words "dismal" and "failure" spring to mind. I'm not surprised tho' - veggies are a pain in the posterior (sorry Ma).

If anybody tries to tell you about some incident with a trolley that is supposed to have happened to me in one of the Supermarkets - trust me - it's not true. They are saying that I decided to do my usual "surfing" trick (where you take a run up, rest your hips on the handle bar of the trolley and then lift your legs splayed out behind you as you ride the wave). They are saying that the American trolley, being smaller and weaker than our local Sainsburys, collapsed in a heap in the middle of the aisle with an almighty CRASH! throwing me to the floor and depositing all the goods (beer) on the floor. They are saying this, but you know it's not true - I'm not that daft. And if you hear Rachel singing "For he's a trolley good fellow" then thump her for me!

What would you do for a bet? Supposing you had been drinking wine for a while and some members of the family were playing in the pool. Would you jump in, fully clothed? Well Mum did - for a bet of $50. That's how it went but I reckon the money was irrelevant. The wine however, and the fact that Mum is stark raving mad, played a huge part in this madness. As for Rachel - no excuse really. Just mental.