5th Jan - We decided to have a relaxed day before the onslaught of the Disney madness and so stayed and pottered around the villa.Unfortunately the promised better weather did not really come and although it was a lot warmer than it has been the last few days it was still cloudy and there were even some spits of rain when we got up.Kirsty updated the blog and then made use of the free international calls we have from the villa by ringing her parents and sisters in Barnsley, her friend Anita in Alnwick, her friend Claire in Peterborough and her friend Jenny in Rotherham.All were surprised to hear from her ringing all the way from the U.S. but were thrilled that they could chat without any time constraints.Kirsty then made a Sunday dinner which she had promised and we took a photo for proof so that her mum and friends will believe that she does, very occasionally, cook!

6th - We headed to the coast for another day at the Kennedy Space Center.The main reason for this was that the astronaut encounter was with someone we have met on a previous visit here, Al Worden.He is a very entertaining speaker and we have, on a previous holiday, had lunch with him at the Space Center, but this time he was doing a talk on his experiences of going to the moon in 1971 (unfortunately for him he was the one who had to stay in the spacecraft and fly round the moon for three days while two other astronauts he had gone with got to land and walk on the surface) from the training they were given before hand to the actual experience of lift off, as well as practicalities of what they were allowed to eat and how they went to the toilet.We also had another go on the new Space Shuttle Experience, as we are aware this is the closest Ralph will ever get to a launch!We ended the visit with an official NASA briefing on the latest situation with the manned Space Shuttle Atlantis which was meant to go up at the beginning of December, and found out that it has now been delayed until at least 7th February so there is no way we will be able to watch it from the Space Center as we had hoped as we have to move on out of Florida.It's a real shame but it seems we are back to having to watch it on T.V.

7th - Our first Disney day and immediate confusion.Disney's MGM Studios has changed its name, as from today, to Disney's Hollywood Studios.Half of the signs had been changed over and half hadn't, as it was the first day of the change, and the staff (or cast members as they are called at all the Disney parks) were having difficulty with it too, using both names as they forgot and then remembered about the change.Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park based on films and t.v.Everything is totally realistic and, as well as the awesome rides such as Rock and Rollercoaster starring Aerosmith and the Hollywood Tower of Terror, there are also loads of shows.One of Ralph's favourites is the Extreme Stunt show which uses cars, motorbikes and jet skis to show how many of the chase scenes in movies are filmed (he misses being legally able to drive like an idiot - but his colleagues probably don't!)One of my favourites is, in contrast, the Muppet 4D show, starring Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and a special guest star, Mickey Mouse!Every Disney park, apart from Animal Kingdom, has a evening show, and we believe that Hollywood Studios has the best.It's called Fantasmic and is a spectacular show using images projected on water spray to tell the story of Mickey Mouse and his very active imagination.It also uses fire, wonderful music and fireworks and is the best show we have seen.Anyone going to Hollywood Studios cannot miss this, its one of the best things from all four parks.

8th - Our second Disney day led us to Animal Kingdom.This is a theme park based on animals around the world and so is arranged into continents such as Asia and Africa.When you are in these sections, everything is so authentic it is like you are actually there.They have great rides and one of the best is the Kilimanjaro safari, in which you take a jeep and drive round acres of land to see all the animals they have living there as if it was wilds of Africa.We saw giraffes, white rhinos, hippopotami, gorillas, Asian tigers, monkeys and hundreds more.There are so many animals all over the park but Ralph and I were particularly thrilled to see an anteater, something we had never seen in the flesh before.There are also another two rides which deserve a mention; the Dinosaur ride in the Dinoland section and the Everest ride in the Asia section.We love the Dinosaur ride so much we went on three times!It takes you back in time to try and find a dinosaur to bring back for scientists to study but, shock, it all goes wrong and you end up getting hit by a meteor strike and struggling to get away from meat eating dinosaurs.Fabulous.It throws you all over the place!Everest is a rollercoaster set inside a fabulous mock up of the Everest mountain, in search of the yeti.It takes you at huge speeds forwards before stopping and sending you backwards and is great (if you like fast rollercoasters!).We finished the day by heading back to The Rainforest Café and enjoying another lovely meal there.

9th - Happy 47th birthday to my dad!!!Our third Disney day and we headed to the jewel in Disney's crown, Magic Kingdom.Everything about this park is magical, even getting there is total fantasy.You have to take a trolleybus to the main entrance and then you get a choice of how you wish to get to the actual park, either by monorail or paddle-steamer.We went with the monorail option as it can be slightly quicker if the boat is not in.We have however been on the boat before and seen Goofy jet-skiing past, nothing is too much at Disney!The first thing you see when you get off the boat/monorail is Cinderella's Castle, and its beautiful.We headed straight to our favourite ride of all time, Space Mountain, a rollercoaster in the dark.It is really fast and throws you round bends and down dips that you have no idea are coming but, because it doesn't go upside down, you are not strapped in but simply sit with your legs out in front of you.We went on Space Mountain three times in the day, we just cannot get enough of this ride!Of course the park has lots of other rides and shows separated between the 6 sections of the park - Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Main Street U.S.A. and Mickey's Toontown Fair and some of our favourites include Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh's Adventure, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Thunder Mountain Railroad (runaway train) and Splash Mountain (log flume).This is also the park where you can have a private audience with Mickey in his house - exciting!At night this park either has a huge firework show (which has to be seen to be believed) or a light show parade with all the Disney characters, depending which day you go.

10th - Our fourth and final Disney day was spent at the last park, Epcot, which was the brainchild and dream of Walt Disney himself and stands for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow.This park can really be split into two parks, one which has all the rides and is sort of science based, with themes such as energy, innovation, imagination and communications.Our favourite ride here is called Soarin' which lifts you so your feet dangle from the chairs you sit in and takes you over the scenery of the West Coast of America, including the smells as well as the sights.The other section of Epcot is centered around a lake and is called World Showcase.Here many nations, such as Germany, France, America, Morocco, Norway, Mexico etc have their own section and that section is exactly how it would be to be in that country.Everything is totally authentic and it's hard to remember you are still in a Disney theme park in Orlando. It should be tacky and an 'American view of the world' but it isn't, its really done well.France has French music playing, a fantastic replica of the Eiffel Tower which you can see from anywhere over the lake, they only sell French food and all the staff (cast members!) are from France.It's the same for every country represented.The United Kingdom has shops which only sells British goods such as Winnie the Pooh merchandise, Beatles memorabilia, Tetley teabags etc.They also have a band stand from which a Beatles tribute band called The British Invasion play and are hugely popular, especially with the Americans.The place is set out like a British village with old red telephone boxes, pearly kings and queens, a pub called the Rose and Crown serving British beers and traditional pub grub, a fish and chip shop (though don't go there as the chips are terrible!) and staff from all over the United Kingdom.Kirsty's favourite countries in the world showcase are France (no big surprise there as its set out like Paris and has the most amazing food), Morocco (so realistic) and China (they have a great restaurant there which does a great set menu for a great price and its delicious).Epcot also had a great evening firework show called Illuminations which you just have to stay for if you are there.

11th - Today we packed up our things from the villa and got ready to leave Orlando.Even though we love Disney as much as we do we are both ready to move on, as we have been in the U.S. for three months now and we have only managed to see the East coast!We are ready to continue our adventure and so its full steam ahead for the South and West coasts of America.We discussed heading to the West coast of Florida to a place called Tarpon Springs.This is a place where lots of Greeks settled for sponge diving and therefore the place is entirely Greek.All the food sold is Greek and Greek is the most commonly spoken language - a bit like being back at the World Showcase in Disney's Epcot really!However, we have been to Tarpon Springs before on holiday and it meant travelling quite a way South to eventually head north, so we instead decided to take on the 300 mile drive to Florida's capital, situated in the north of the state, Tallahassee.The guidebook has told us that there is nothing much to do here so it is basically a stop over before continuing our journey tomorrow.However the journey was not entirely uneventful as Kirsty got pulled over for speeding (no surprise there) by the local Sheriff's department and got handed a citation, which is basically a fine of $191.50, for the offence.The great thing over here is that they don't have a points system as they do in the UK and therefore there are no points to be added to her licence - especially good news as her licence is just clear of the points she obtained 3 years ago in the UK!We were going to ask the Sheriff's if we could take a photo of them for our blog but we thought that might be pushing it a bit!! We rounded the day off with a really nice hotel for £20 per night and I went out and bought a guitar for £25 because, after getting rid of my guitars only three months ago, I'm getting the shakes. It was hardest in Nashville and Memphis when, hearing all those new musical genres, I was desperate to start playing new styles. Poor Kirsty has to put up with a minstrel to follow her along now!