Hi Everyone,

For all lucky holidaymakers who are in Florida in March and they enjoy St. Patricks Day celebrations the place to be is at Downtown Disney. The Patrick’s Day weekend live band performances are at the Pleasure Island stage.  The Wyndbreakers, a great pub-rockin’, guitar pickin’ Celtic band will get you in a foot tapping mood. We thought they were brilliant last year. Then the traditional Celtic band have their own twist on popular lrish tunes. There is lots for all of the family with include face-painting, stilt-walkers ,and there are loads of St. Patrick’s Day souvenirs handed out.

Just along from here is the Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant. they have their own Party going on. This year they are having a Four-Course  Luncheon. It includes a Culinary demonstration in the restaurant’s Grand Dining Room. Chef Kevin Dundon is going to demonstrate how he creates each course you will be having, including a Loin of Traditional Irish Bacon with IrishMist Glaze. You must pre book for this event if you want a table.

In addition to the four-course showcase meal over the weekend there is plenty more to enjoy. On March 15 and 16,  Murphy’s Law and The Irish Rogues will be live on the patio, with Creel performing on the Main Stage from 7 p.m. with special guest appearances. On March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, the doors open at 11 a.m. with Creel on the main stage from noon. Irish dancing will be performed throughout the day from The Raglan Road Dancers & Watters School of Irish Dancing. Elevation, a U2 Tribute Band, will be on stage from 10 p.m. There will be compititions for the children to get involved in and lots of giveaways all day. There’s a $10 cover charge for adults. Children under 12 are free. There is no need to pre book just walk on by and straight into the festivities.

Hope you can make it, sadly we won’t this year,

Happy Holidays,

Mary & larry

Since buying our villa 12 years ago we have flown to Florida 2 or 3 times every year. This can be expensive if you are paying for the whole family so we always shopped around for the best deal.

Sometimes this meant taking a non-direct flight, entering the US via an airport other than Orlando. There are of course pro’s and con’s to this, the main advantage for us as a family of four or five is the price. It can work out much cheaper than a direct flight. The main disadvantage is that the overall flight takes longer and there can be time spent waiting in yet another airport. You do clear immigration though so that when you do arrive in Orlando you are straight through.

We have flown with Delta via Orlando and other airlines via Chicago and New York.  On the return journey through Chicago we thought we were going to miss the connection and ran like mad through O’Hare airport only to discover that there is actually a one hour time difference between Orlando and Chicago and we had plenty of time!

One Christmas our in laws came with us and arranged their own flights via Paris. They got back to France to a sudden winter snap, their flight to the UK was cancelled and they had to take the Eurostar, then a train to Doncaster. After being picked up there they had to get their car back from Manchester, not a good experience and they were still in their Florida clothes!

Most of our flights have been direct with Virgin. When our children were younger they would love getting up at stupid o’clock and heading off to Manchester airport. They would be armed with games and things to keep them amused on the 9 hour flight.  Nowadays we almost always have our own seatback TV on the transatlantic flight and depending on the aircraft you can often choose which channel you watch. It helps to pass the time, for me it’s a tedious journey but worth it in the end.

The flight home, well that’s another matter. I can never sleep on a plane no matter how tired I am. The only saving grace is that the flight is slightly shorter.

Rumoured Test Track Refurbishment

Test Track ride at Disney’s Epcot look like updating their excellent ride. They are planning it will be closed from April 15 to September 21, 2012 for a complete rework.

As part of the refurbishment, the pavilion will be sponsored by Chevrolet rather than General Motors as a whole and the existing Test Track vehicles will be replaced by Chevrolet inspired models. Back in August 2011 a few new sleeker cars were spotted on the tracks wearing Chevrolet badges and Tron inspired graphics. Our Grandchildren love this ride or should we say the experience, so any changes can only make it even more awesome.

Mary