Orlando

Our Villa in Orlando is lovely, all the comforts of home plus we have our own pool. Its nice to be able to step out into the patio and take a dip. I've developed a technique of being able to float on the lilo with beer in hand without spilling a drop - although not when Meg is about!

On Sunday we went to Universal Studios. We had a great time, we met up with Gru and the minions, Shrek and donkey, The Simpsons and E.T. you forget how tiring it is walking round.

We went on as many rides as possible but gave the Harry Potter Escape from Gringots ride a miss with a 3.5 hour wait time.

We settled down to watch the parade at 7pm and went to get a drink, as I came to pay I realised my wallet with all the cash and credit cards was missing.

We retraced our steps from the last time we'd used it eventually ending up at the gentile ET ride. "It can't be here" I said to Alison, "this was like going on a Mary Poppins merry go round", but we went through the motions of asking. Everyone was "no, nothing has been handed in", but one of the staff looked down into the tracks, and there it was, unbelievable. Turns out that E.T had lifted it with that boney finger of his and was waiting to stick it in his back pocket after closing, he probably needs the cash for all these phone calls home! I have to apologise to all the people who had to wait for an extra 10 mins while they closed the ride to get my wallet, if it had been me I'd have been cursing like mad! What a relief, now I can get that beer I'd been waiting for.

The first ride at the entrance to the park is a roller coaster with a vertical climb and then a loop with a combined cork screw. As I get older I am getting more nervous about going on these rides, but of course Meg loves it. We skipped past it on the way in but there was no escaping on the way out. As I looked up, I really didn't fancy this one bit, so Alison had to do it, while I waited with Ellie. They hadn't been gone long before reappearing. The ride had been closed, damn I could have got away with that and kept macho pride in tact!

Monday was a rest day and Tuesday we went to see Mickey Mouse at the Magic Kingdom. We managed breakfast at IHOP first, my thinking was that with all the walking I was about to do I'd burn off all those calories during the day!

Disney does have that little bit of magic, Universal has the best rides but you can't beat the mouse for that special touch. Had a great day and managed to get on loads of rides. We flopped in bed about 1am.

Rest day Wednesday although shopping has been mentionend!