Busy, busy, busy so no time for sick humour, religion or rants on this blog and an extended one to cover the rest of our time in the parks.
Up and out early, usual drill, this time we’re off the Universal Studios.
The parks not crowded, apparently Florida rug rats have gone back to school. Not long queues for the rides and there’s a great area for kids to play in with climbing frames and ball parks. Of course we have to do the ET ride.
The Bourne Identity stunt show is very impressive.
Back home by 16:30 for some pool time for the kids and some beer (Pilsner Urquell one of the very few decent beers sold in this brewers wasteland) and wine for the adults.
No parks today so we get a lie in. K&F are having a day at the mall – can you believe it?
No mall for Wendy, I’d rather spend a day in a supmarket with Wendy. Instead we take the grandkids to play crazy golf. Jasper loves it; Beatrix is ok but gets too hot; Esther has a meltdown for no apparent reason and throw her dummy in a swamp.
Then it’s an evening in with no alcohol and kids running riot.
Esther, just three years old and she takes an iPad to the toilet with her!
Up at the crack of sparrows yet again but Animal Kingdom doesn’t open until 09:00. Could have had a lie in.
Safari is the first and best ride of the day. Then have a good day around the park. Hot and humid. As always the kids enjoyed it.
It’s Universal Islands of Adventure today. Hot and humid, draining. Wendy and I don’t do many rides as were tending the girls while the kids do the white knuckle rides. Take them to most of the kiddy rides and shows. Kids and grandkids enjoy it but for us it has to be the worst park and we’re not looking forward to a second visit. We finally escape by 16:00, totally drained. Then it’s the journey from hell home in rush hour traffic with the satnav taking on a hellish magical mystery tour.
Rug rats run riot after tea. A pity my hearing aids are working.
A quiet no alcohol evening in catching up with Outlander.
The traffic lights around here are a nightmare. You could die of old age just waiting for them to turn green. Traffic is just hell on earth. How do they cope with this daily hell. This has to be the worst city we’ve ever endured. Never again.
Usual crack of sparrows ordeal.
Off to Epcot for the day. Wendy and I are doing a leisurely stroll around the lands sans grandkids. It’s hot and humid. The rest meet up with Rachael and do their own thing with the kids.
Finish at lunch time for a change. Traffic is so much better. Then a leisurely afternoon while Wendy and Fiona go for a shopping trip in hell at Walmart – that’s what you get when you don’t wear your pyjamas to Walmart along with the crazy people.
Kurt, Jasper and I set off to the train station to catch a free train to a a basketball game. Traffic is the usual hell and just to make life even more miserable and difficult all the roads around the train station are closed off due to a Halloween street party. End up parking on a street.
It’s our first basketball game. Orlando Magic at the Amway Centre in Orlando. Certainly fast moving and not boring. Great stadium and junk food. Finally get a decent hot dog with all the trimmings and a soft pretzel, can’t believe how much salt there is on it. I love salt but I needed at least 10 of the $5.50 bottles of water – can you believe that price.
You’re probably wondering what’s this photo for? Well look closely and observe. Yes, both shoelaces are undone and he’s a teenager. Care to guess his occupation? Simple, he’s one of those 10 year old moronic programmers I keep ranting on about who has no common sense and is incapable of tying his own shoelaces. Beware, they shouldn’t be allowed out and certainly not allowed anywhere near a computer.
Typhoon lagoon so chance for a lie in.
Hot an and sunny. Can’t cope with sun bathing sit in the shade. Wave pool is ok. And have couple of trips around the lazy river with the kids.
Quiet evening in after Wendy and Fiona Walmart yet again – the super market from hell.
3 kids all to ourselves at islands of adventure today. Untold joy. We’re reporting Kurt to the RSPCG. We’re abused grandparents.
Kurt and Fiona get a free day to them selves to ride the white knuckle rides – Fiona birthday present.
I tackle the spider man rides with Jasper just about below my pewk point. Seus land is great for the kids. Then we catch the train over to universal studios. First ride is the Simpson ride with Jasper. Never again for me. Jasper loves it.
Birthday cake for Fiona and donuts for Jasper.
An alcohol free night and some more outlander.
Crack of sparrows start, then off to Hollywood studios. First stop Star Wars Rise of the Resistance, one of the best rides. Can you believe a 90 minute queue and then it breaks down so turns out 120 minute. Crap customer service with hardly any information on progress and didn’t even inform us when it had been fixed. Not even marks on the wall as to how many minutes from ride. But it is a great ride, well below my pewk point.
The park is heaving with folks, probably because it’s Halloween. Need to fit razor blades to the front of the push chairs, should at least sever the Achilles heels of anyone in the way. On top of the crowds it’s hot and humid, and the queues are horrendous, even for the kiddy rides and shows. Wendy and I settle down for a relaxing coffee while the rest go Mickeys shooting ride. By which time we’ve all had enough and escape at about 14:00.
Kids go trick and treating. Come back with all of two sweets and 25 cents, not exactly an unmitigated success. Mind you on the plus side we have no kids begging at our door.
When they finally get the kids and grandkids to bed we finish off the last of Outlander.
Outlander has to dispel any theory of American TV being prudish. More sex, nudity and gruesome violence.
Never thought I’d complain about sex scenes but 25% of an episode with a Claire in a languid sex scene, just too long. Then they add her daughter Bree to to the sex scenes and you’ve got the potential for 50% of an episode being taken up with lackadaisical sex scenes – boring – but at least they emphasise their best breast, the right side.
Well Kurt and Fiona need a rest from the parks, the parks, queues, heat and humidity drained them, no stamina. They’re spending a relaxing day at the house with the kids. Wendy and I, the geriatrics, take Jasper to Typhoon lagoon. Have a great time with him, wave surfing, lazy river and water slides. Surprising how exhausting it is but we survive.
Quiet night in. Well never really quiet with the kids around but we just laze around.
Magic kingdom today. Lazy morning, kids enjoy the pool.
Set off in the afternoon. Hot and heaving. Long wait times but kids get quiet a few rides in including Buzz Light year. Wendy and I resort to chai latte’s. Then after pirates of the Caribbean the heavens open up whilst we wait for the enchantment laser and firework show, pretty impressive show just a pity about the boat 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high made of gopher wood floating past. The things you do for kids.
End the night with a well deserved whiskey night cap – Basil Hayden Toast it’s awesome, very mellow.
Another lazy morning, kids in the pool and Fiona gets her fix with a walk to Walmart.
After lunch we’re off to Hollywood studios to catch the first l performance of Fantasmic. Watch the Indiana Jones show followed by Mickey’s run away train ride. Then we join the queue for Fantasmic, can you believe the queue extends all the way back to the entrance to the park. What is even more disturbing if the number of adults with no kids who are in the queue, bizarre, must be mentally retarded. Kids must represent about 3% of the audience really in the minority. At least parents have a valid excuse for tolerating this abuse. We start queuing at 17:45 and get in the theatre about an hour later. Then it’s a further wait until the show starts at 20:00.
Kids chicken out today. No stamina again. So it’s a lazy morning for Wendy and I.
After lunch we take Jasper to typhoon lagoon again. Wendy has to sit out, no bikini, but Jasper and I have a great time in the wave pool, lazy river and on the slides. He’s never any trouble, full of laughter, joy and never shuts up. Loves telling jokes and riddles.
Panda express for tea with a quiet night in while the kids pack ready for leaving tomorrow.
Well it’s been an exhausting but awesome 17 days and we’ve survived it. How lucky can we be to get to spend such quality time with our kids and grandkids. To see their faces and joy as they meet the characters, enjoy the rides and the shows. To see Jasper skipping ahead with eager anticipation and happiness to get to the water slides will be a memory I’ll never forget. All very expensive but worth it. Such awesome memories.
Now for the rant. Yes, awesome to spend such great times with the kids but Disney has lost the plot. Rip off $20 per person per day to jump the queues, creating a second class standby customer; the queues were diabolical; parades and shows were all cut back. As for Orlando the traffic and delays at traffic lights were unbelievable. People could die of old age waiting for the traffic lights. Disney never again and Orlando never again, I think we’ve had the best of it in previous years rampant greed has taken over.
It’s iguana dropping out trees weather. I thought Florida was supposed to be warm. We all really screwed up on the clothing today, need to check weather forecasts and dress accordingly. Fortunately by 11:30 the suns out and it’s warm enough.
After a long day we get home about 17:30. All very tired with feet ready to drop off after 6 hours on our feet walking and queueing, but we’ve all had a great time. Just a delight to see the kids faces and share in their excitement.
Up at 06:00, out by 07:30 to pick up a free parking pass from P&K and then drive to Hollywood studios. New tactics are arrive early to get closer parking and early benefit of shorter queues.
Meet P&K and the rest of the kids at the diner. Then we’re off to explore the rest of the park together. P&K and I split off to do Rise of the Resistance in Star Wars. A 50 minute queue but what an awesome ride. Who dreams these up and a low peak limit. The kids and grandkids go off and do their own thing. Meet up again P&K and Kurt and Fiona do the Rocking roller coaster. A pretty full day and awesome day without too many meltdowns.
Beatrix has been sick in the night so we cancel Typhoon lagoon. How will Kurt cope with a deviation from his precision schedule?
Then we drive down to the boardwalk for a gentle stroll around the lagoon, pleasant and relaxing. Followed by a drive to Disney Springs and a rather stressful stroll around there. It’s heaving and will be avoided in future.
Up at 06:00, out by 08:00 and drive to Epcot. A pretty full day at Epcot until 15:00, manage to do most of the rides, and then we have the joy of a trip to Publix. Yeah, shopping, just what you need after a full day of parks, heat, walking and queuing.
Home for a quick cup of tea, shower and change before setting off to dinner with Kim and Phil at their Winnebago. They also kindly invited the kids and grandkids, but he grandkids get so tired and grumpy that Fiona didn’t want to expose anyone to their meltdowns – Esther had been a nuclear reactor meltdown and nightmare today.
Have pizza, then sit and watch the parade of trick or treaters drive by in their decorated carts and then Phil takes us a drive around the awesome Halloween displays – see photos.
Great evening observing how the Americans do Halloween on a trailer park, as always in a big way. Enjoying yet another aspect of American culture. Incredible.
A real pity the grandkids couldn’t join us as it would have been awesome for them to see and Phil was very kindly planning on hiring a cart to drive then around in, but they would have probably either been asleep or crankier than a bear with a sore head. Instead Wendy and I had the pleasure of a pleasant adult evening, with great company and no rug rats.
Up at 06:00 for the usual drill and get to Epcot for 08:15. Wow, a new record, but worth the effort.
Do World showcase Plant Earth and then Kurt, Fiona and Jasper dash off to do Guardians of the Galaxy. I pass, sound too pewky for my tender constitution.
Then we manage Soaring , followed by a Frozen boat ride and photos with Elsa and Arnia. Wendy and I enjoy the big drumming in Japan and a stroll around Japan. Finally escape for a nice early departure followed by swimming at home.
Somehow K, F and Wendy manage to find an excuse to go to Walmart. Just for a few things, somehow it gets spun out for an hour. Moral of that is never go shopping with Wendy. I get left with the rug rats who gorge themselves out on Oreo’s and crackers. Moral of that is never leave the rug rats with me, I let them have what they want.
Pretty lazy start to the day as my easy bike ride doesn’t start until 10:00 now that the weathers a tad cooler.
Off clay pigeon shooting with Mike. Wow, I finally seem to get it, 17 out of 25, my highest score yet.
Morning spent packing and loading final boxes to go into Mike’s garage lock up.
Joy, up at 04:00 for that awful drive down the mountain to SLC arirport. It’s bad enough in daylight but in the dark it’s even more daunting. Drop the Turo off at the economy parking lot. All seems to go very smoothly. Would definitely use Turo again but would go for a more luxurious model. This one was very basic and Wendy was uncomfortable on longer trips. Not impressed with a Honda Civic.
Up early for a hike with Mark. Finally crack how to do an easy hike up Skid Row and along Prospector in under 8 miles. Come back down Jeep Trail which turns it into a 3.2 mile / 450 foot elevation well shaded hike. Added to my repertoire.
A lazy day with nothing planned. Wendy has the squatters, probably from some dodgy shrimp from the Chinese.
Lunchtime I finally conquered PC Hill and down into Round Valley. Sunny but not too hot.
Start the day off leading an Easy Hike. Fortunately, it’s cool enough now for a 10:00 start so time for coffee and fake news.
I barely remember, the street party we had for the Queen’s coronation. We had jelly, a real treat in those post-war days with rationing still in place, and you took your own spoon with coloured cotton around the handle so that you could identify it.
Lazy start to the day, followed by a stroll with Wendy up to the library to return my books – Hamilton now on my Kindle, only a quarter way through it.and then around lunchtime Mike and I take two bikes and 4 boxes of our stuff over to his lockup. It’s massive.
Early (09:30) hike with Mark around that trail off Morning Star Drive to see if it’s any good for a easy hike. Apart from trespass (miserable gets – needs a mass trespass) sign it’s a rough and over grown hike not up to easy hike standards.
Up early to lead a hike around Snowtop. My favourite hike, the views from the very top give an awesome 360 degree of PC and the mountains.
Lazy afternoon. Caught the bus up to PCMR. Plenty of crowds there, some long queues and very hot in the sun. Ideal training ground for Disney so tempted to join one of the 1 hour queues, who knows what for, in the blazing sun.
It’s Labour Day which in PC becomes Miners Day. And yes, you guessed it, there’s a parade. 
We go with Mike on the bus up to the parade. Can you believe Mike’s lived here all these years and never been to it. The parades bigger and better than Coalville’s but they don’t throw out sweets and goodies like at Coalville, our grandkids would have been a tad disappointed.
Fury after fire brigades spend £17,000 of taxpayers’ money on decorating engines in LGBT rainbow colours
Yet another scorcher. 
Tea out on the balcony and as usual the Deer come to visit. 
Here’s to remembering our Queen. A great Queen who devoted her whole life to the task and did an awesome job of it. Such a pity we don’t have the politicians these days with the same degree of dedication and integrity.
First full day of the peace and quiet, the silence is deafening. Wot no daughter-in-law, wot no grandkids. I’m sure we’ll start to miss them.
Then we’re off to the theatre. We’d never been to a heavy rock concert and it was a tad worrying when we sat down that Ruth handed out earplugs. Anyway we survived although my Apple watch did get distressed at the noise level – turned my hearing aids down. A great evening with awesome company, always a great time with R&M and a whole new experience.
Set off on an exploratory hike with Joe up to the two lakes above Jeremy Ranch – Flying Dog trail – having finally found the start point. Turns out to be 5.5 miles, all up and then all back down. Lovely hike, plenty of shade but too far for an Easy Hike on top of which the lakes are no more, more like two sad depleted ponds. Not even a duck would be seen dead in it. Not a patch on my memory of it nor my 2017 photo. No doubt it’ll be blamed on climate change. Joe survives and we finally get back to the car.
Wendy’s off to the CC. I set off for an exploratory walk up Dubois and down Collins Trail. Not a bad walk, plenty of shade with 500+ feet uphill.
Fiona and I take Jasper for a short bike ride. 
Early start to the day as we’re off to Hoggle Zoo. By the time we’ve herded the kids it’s a 09:30 start.
It’s a lovely little zoo, we’ll laid out and just enough of the important animals to keep the kids happy. At least during the morning most of the animals were active, it was only after lunch that you got to see less of them. Hardly saw anything of my favourite the Red Panda. All in all a good day the kids loved the splash park and play area as well and were well behaved, although like us they got a bit hot and tired towards the end. 4 hours in that heat is more than enough.
In the evening we go out for dinner with N&H to the brew pub. Burger was good but a poor choice on the menu, very trendy and noisy.
Up at the crack of Sparrows to lead an easy hike around the RTS trail.
Take Jasper for a short bike ride.
Up early to lead a bike ride from Maxwells to the White barn with Fiona. Not exactly an exciting ride but a healthy turnout.
Then it’s off to the Kamas Lions gun club with Mike. Fiona’s going to give clay pigeon shooting a try. Mainly because it’s a reason to escape the warring kids. Mike’s got a 20 gauge shotgun that’s slightly lighter and with less kick for Fiona. On her first round she get’s a bit dejected as she only gets one. But, the tuition and a blacked out pair of glasses to deal with her left eye dominance pays off, in round 2 and she gets 10, including everyone of the last 5. She loves it and will no doubt come next time she’s here. Even singing the praise of it to Kurt and Wendy. Tells her she needs to try it.
Lazy start. Finally get all the kids ready, like herding cats, and then we’re off to bowling at Heber with Mike and Joe. All 3. Kids love it. I can see when I get back home I’ll have to start taking Beatrix with Jasper and I.
Drop everyone off at Silver Lake so they can take the kids a ride down on the free lift. Then Fiona and I take Jasper a ride down to the White barn in the blistering afternoon heat – must be mad.
Up early for a trip out to the parade at Coalville. Easy to park up and we get our usual spot outside the petrol station – regulars. Kids just love it. Bags and bags of sweets, as the kids scurry everywhere to retrieve the copious sweets thrown, including a beach ball and Fiona even gets another tee shirt. As Jasper says “the best day ever”.
Then we drive to the Park City library for a water fun day with water slides and other amusements. Free food, free drinks, free books and free beach balls. Amazing. Just one of the many reasons why we love Park City.
What a fun filled day we have had.
Mike comes round for dinner, complete with his giant awesome tiramisu and a bottle of limoncello he’s made. It take ate least a month to mature and tastes awesome, what a bite it has. Fiona loves it to. He must be mad to come to the war zone, but just loves being with the kids.
Consider this. Twitter gets away with banning a sitting president – Trump – and yet still allows terrorist, jihadis and the Ayatollah Khamenei’s access. Says a lot about big techs political agenda.
Wendy’s off to the CC. I go on a walk with Howard. It’s another one of his bucket list items, a walk from Sundance up to Stewart Falls. It’s a pretty tough walk due to the trail being so rough. Uphill all the way to the falls and then thankfully downhill all the way back. Still searching for that circular walk that’s down hill all the way.
Up early again to lead an easy hike around trailside. That pain in the ass women, who shall remain nameless, but we all know who she is, turns up on the walk. And yes, she’s still a pain in the ass. And what’s more she’s threatening to come on tomorrows bike ride. Sadly Fiona gets the benefit of her inane diatribe. 
Howard picks Fiona and I up for a walk to Blood Lake. It’s quite an arduous walk, we go counter clockwise and at least it’s a scramble up a rock face, better than having to come down it. Certainly not an easy hike.
Took the kids to the fair. What a rip off but the kids enjoyed it. Esther got to ride on a horse, as promised. Beatrix rode the Ferris wheel, but didn’t look too happy about it at first. Jasper won a toy playing basket ball and went on the Tornado, after which he felt sick for half an hour.
Dropped kids off and Kurt and I went to Best Buy for his Wyze cameras and then to Smiths for Pizza’s. Of course I got the wrong one for Wendy, which she bitched about. Can’t ever do anything right.
Lazy start then take Kurt down to the airport, he’s going home, 3 weeks peace and quiet. How will he cope.
Set of for a exploratory hike with Joe and Fiona. It’s a gorgeous blue sky morning with some low lying mist adding to the beauty. 
I’m sick to death of the dog turd brigade. Too damn lazy to clear up after their dog. Spoils it for every one especially kids who just want to play on the nice grass. Time these owners had their noses rubbed in it and then made to clear it up. It’s disgusting anti-social behaviour.
Off to explore a new hike, Fink Again. Finally find the trail head and it’s an ok 3.2 mile hike all uphill to mid point and then all downhill, but no shade. Considering I didn’t start to 12:00 and it was a blistering hot day again it wasn’t too bad, nice breeze.
Up early to lead an easy hike from Silver Lake on mid-mountain to the top of Town Lift and back down on the lift. I’ve been on slow hikes before but this had to be the tortoise special. Sadly one of the guys fell so minor cuts to deal with.
No, I don’t believe it does have air conditioning. I can see if another car is available. Yes, good news, there is, it is a Volkswagen Touran. Now technically that is an upgrade so we would need to charge you the slightly higher rate of €65 a day for that. This would also mean cancelling your existing booking for the Nissan that we said is not actually available. Unfortunately under the pre-authorised payment system there are no refunds, but we will be able to resell your original booking to a different customer and so make ourselves extra money.
You’ll need to hire a seat from us. As you did not book in advance we’ll have to charge the “over a barrel special” price of €35 a day.
Now, just looking at the current state of your children I’d definitely recommend that you take our additional family friendly cover, at a cost of €25 a day to save the additional cost of deep cleaning the car.
Now sir, there is no need to get quite so grumpy. There are dozens of people behind you in the queue watching.
Up early again to lead an easy bike ride. 16 hard mile undulating ride. Done it many times but forgot how hard it was – may be something to do with being 3 years older.
Fiona Oakley, Joe and I then go down to the Kamas Lions Gun Range for some target practice. Fiona’s nervous but does great with a 9mm automatic. Some great groupings.
Lazy start, my only lie in this week.
Just need to get Wendy the recipe For a Utah scone and a deep fat fryer – expensive.
