Jumping the Pond

[Soarin08]

Your narration of your trip is just awesome! And I love all the photos so much.

[Sleepy90]

Nice photos once again! The hippo is really cute Looking forward to the evening at the MK ~ hope it was cooler for you...

Oh dear I'm going to have to disappoint you, we left the camera in the room that night and traveled light. Guess I didn't know we had a Sub photo monster lurking.

[Amy]

Nice photos once again! The hippo is really cute Looking forward to the evening at the MK ~ hope it was cooler for you...

Oh dear I'm going to have to disappoint you, we left the camera in the room that night and traveled light. Guess I didn't know we had a Sub photo monster lurking.

ACK! No photos?? I'll have to use my imagination then...sigh...

[Soarin08]

I love all the photos! They look like professional work! It's incredible.

You saw the camera lenses and tripod. I'm pretty far from a pro. But thanks anyway. I like the pics that get posted. Well most of them.
They lose a lot when they get reduced for the posts. The full size originals are fantastic on a high def 32" TV.
You have seen how long I take to get a picture. I'm not good at rushing.

Not rushing makes photos turn out even better. That's a good thing.

[Joe90]

For all those missing pics, here is one of the previously mentioned School Uniform.



and a close up of the badge. It all looks much more shiny than it actually is. (and I mean that not in the Firefly shiny way Geek alert.)

[Amy]

Nice! Thanks for sharing Joe
I've only seen the first Harry Potter movie ~ but the scarf and tie sort of reminds me of that in a way...I bet you both looked very nice all dressed up in your uniforms!

[Soarin08]

School crest, reminds me a wee bit of Gryffindor... how fun!

[Sleepy90]

Hahahaha you guys crack me up, and to think we were wearing that when Harry Potter hadn't even be thought of. Griffindor is burgundy and gold but I know what you mean.

[Soarin08]

It's the lion-ish creature there on the patch that brought me to mind of it. Is that an animal in particular? It's rare to see school crests in America short of at those high-end snobby private schools.

[Sleepy90]

It's the lion-ish creature there on the patch that brought me to mind of it. Is that an animal in particular? It's rare to see school crests in America short of at those high-end snobby private schools.

It is a White Lion. Joe may know more about it he was at the school a lot longer than me I just did the last two years there. High end and snobby it most definitely was not.

[Sleepy90]

Olympics are over well all bar the closing ceremony which is taking place at the minute, so back to business.

Yesterday we managed to get a reservation for the Garden Grill this evening. We have never dined at a character dining before so this will be something new to us.
We head down to publix to collect some snacks for the next couple of days, then we head over to All Stars to collect the who goes where and when list for the next two days competition. Now I have you all confussed I may as well tell you we will be at the National High School Cheerleading competition for the next two days. Prelims and semi finals on Saturday at DHS and Finals on Sunday at the newly named HP centre which used to be the milkhouse at Wild World of Sports.
List collected we head back to the room and decide to spend the afternoon ambling round the two resorts we head over to Riverside first for a spot of lunch and then slowly wander round the loop here is a couple of shots from the Riverside path on the way back to French Quarter.





Once back at French Quarter we slowly amble round all the gardens taking pictures as we go. This is the garden at the back of our block.



The we move to the block next to ours, got to love the little froggies.



A couple of pics of the architecture something Disney does so well.





Then through the avenues



to the garden at the far end of the resort.



Now for the picture that we think may be the best of all in the resort, the view from the foyer to the pool. Watch out that alligator is eyeing you up maybe he is ready for a spot of lunch.



My we know how to skiddle a day away we need to head back to the room and collect things and then we are of to Epcot to meet Soarin.

We had decided to meet at Spaceship Earth but true to form we were both a bit early again and actually met in the car park. Into the park and on to Spaceship Earth while we were getting seated Joe leaned over from the back and changed our narration to Japanese. Never mind everyone knows what they are saying anyway.
We then head over to Test Track but as we are arriving it starts to rain and although it is not to heavy we don't really want to get trapped in the ride this close to our reservation so we skip it and head over to the land, After riding the boat ride we are still a little early for dinner so head over to the seas and when I said a little early that is exactly what I meant we rode the clams and then had to head straight back for dinner.
The Garden Grill is a very nice place to eat the food is good and the restaurant rotates around part of the land ride, Chip and Dale were great and we also had Mickey and Goofy visit the table again we did not take any pictures until this little beauty turned up.



Sorry pictures just go out the window when we are eating unless it's something different. Soarin tells us it is a red velvet cake. To me it is a ladybug and a very tasty one at that.
We leave the restaurant and head downstairs to Soarin ready to stand in line, as if by magic a man appears beside us and asks if we are going to the ride. YES we certainly are and then he hands us three fastpass tickets that are just ready to go. After thanking him we head straight on to the ride now normally we would not be this lucky so I put it down to Soarin.
After the ride we head out to World Showcase to get a spot for Illuminations and Soarin says the view from Germany is very good if you can get a spot by the railings ,so that is where we head for and sure enough we get a good spot. While standing waiting for the show to start Joe goes into picture mode and takes one of the UK.



and Canada.



this one is a bit fuzzy because it is blown up a bit.



We were going to stay for EMH but it was drizzling with rain so we decided to leave after Illuminations.

To anyone going down to WDW if you get the chance to do the parks with Soarin then you really should do it, she is a mine of information on Disney and really super to spend time with. I really hope she is still around when we go back in February and is up for some more park hopping with the crazy brits.

As stated before we will be out of action for the next two days so see you all Monday.

[Amy]

Cheerleading competition? Did you know someone competing?
The resort photos are really lovely ~ we've never stayed or visited that one yet. Looks beautiful! And the pre-Illuminations show pics are quite nice!

Soarin tells us it is a red velvet cake. To me it is a ladybug and a very tasty one at that.

Very nicely said Sleepy

...up for some more park hopping with the crazy brits....

I think you said the magic word there ~ Brits I hope Soarin' is still down there when we next get there ourselves

[Sleepy90]

No Amy we did not know anyone competing it is just something we enjoy doing. The first time we saw it was about six years ago and we went to DHS on a Saturday. We went to Indiana Jones and a lady said it was closed but we could go in if we wanted, I thought strange woman she wants us to go and see something that is not running, and then she told us about the cheerleading competition. The rest is history we were hooked from day one.
There are a few teams that we have got used to seeing in the finals over the years and the coach of Bob Jones very kindly gave me his varsity lanyard a couple of years ago. I did not want to ask any of the girls for theirs as it is a memento of the time they competed but we happened to get talking to his friend in the stands and he asked if I could have it.
We really enjoy the atmosphere and have got used to what is good and bad over the years. It has become part of our holiday and is part of the reason we go when we do.

[Amy]

No Amy we did not know anyone competing it is just something we enjoy doing. The first time we saw it was about six years ago and we went to DHS on a Saturday. We went to Indiana Jones and a lady said it was closed but we could go in if we wanted, I thought strange woman she wants us to go and see something that is not running, and then she told us about the cheerleading competition. The rest is history we were hooked from day one.
There are a few teams that we have got used to seeing in the finals over the years and the coach of Bob Jones very kindly gave me his varsity lanyard a couple of years ago. I did not want to ask any of the girls for theirs as it is a memento of the time they competed but we happened to get talking to his friend in the stands and he asked if I could have it.
We really enjoy the atmosphere and have got used to what is good and bad over the years. It has become part of our holiday and is part of the reason we go when we do.

Fun! I have seen a few competitions on tv and it looks like it would be fun to watch. My friend's oldest has been a cheerleader for 2 years now and would love to see something like that I'm sure

[Sleepy90]

Fun! I have seen a few competitions on tv and it looks like it would be fun to watch. My friend's oldest has been a cheerleader for 2 years now and would love to see something like that I'm sure

If you think she might be interested tell her to check out varsity.com. It has videos of all the competing teams at the nationals. Being a cheerleader she probably knows all about the site anyway but you never know.
I decided to check and see if there were any Michigan teams and there were a few but nobody has attended since 2006 not sure why they stopped but I did notice that there are no qualifying competitions in.Michigan.