May 2017

This May was definitely a very mixed one - I feel as if I've been through both extremes of high and low this past month.
On the downside, I've been finding the side job more stressful lately. Granted, I've only been doing that job twice a month since the end of February, so I'm not as used to it as I would be if it had been a continuous regular job, but all the same I just feel at times that it's more difficult than it should be. Maybe if I'd been able to get work 16 years ago and gotten used to having a job, this wouldn't be an issue. On that same note, still no luck on the job front. I wish someone would just give me a chance so that I can get used to it, or better yet, have the opportunity to do my artwork for a living (I can dream...)
As I've said before, I try to avoid the news, because of all the tragedy and scaremongering that makes up 99% of it, but there was one story I couldn't avoid, and that was the incident at the Ariana Grande gig in Manchester - absolute horrific, and as a Brit it struck far too close to home. I can't even begin to make sense of why someone would want to willingly murder innocent people...sometimes I really don't know what this world is coming to anymore. I just hope the victims of that tragedy are in a better place now.

It doesn't seem right to go from that to talking about all the positive events that happened this month, but as the saying always goes, life must go on.
There was one clear highlight this May. Last month I mentioned that me and my wife got our honeymoon booked - on May 9, we flew down to Orlando, Florida to stay at Walt Disney World for 3 nights. This was actually our second time there, the first time was in July 2013, and we liked it so much that we decided we had to go back for our honeymoon, and just like the first time, words can't do justice to how much of a blast we had. We visited every single park this time, went on many rides, met characters, saw some spectacular fireworks, made many memories, and above all, spent quality time together - it was an experience we'll remember for a long time. Click here for a more detailed account of our time there.

As always, I'll leave with you some artwork - a dragon character that I've had in the works for some time now, named Lambton, who I intend to make a supporting character in the Fyfe & Sparkplug comic, so consider this a first look at him.

Summer is on the way - hope there will be brighter days for June, and I don't just mean the weather.

Walt Disney World - May 2017

On May 9, 2017, me and my lovely wife finally got the chance to go on our honeymoon, and it was well worth the wait. We decided to revisit a place that we enjoyed so much the first time we visited back in 2013, a place where we could spend quality time with each other and just forget about our troubles for a while - that place was Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Day 1 - 09/05/2017
An early start for us (5am!). We'd driven to Windsor Locks the night before to stay the night at a Hampton Inn, so that we could be right next to Bradley Airport, our departure point. Taking advantage of the hotel's airport shuttle, we had the usual security proceedure, which we got through fairly quickly, before having a fair amount of time to wait and grab some food before we boarded our flight. The flight itself was pretty uneventful, and as well as seeing some awesome views of the Eastern Seaboard, including a good look at the Maryland and South Carolina coastlines, we got to take full advantage of the in-flight wi-fi (I'd never been on a plane with wi-fi before, for the record). It was a 2-and-a-half hour flight, but it felt more like a short hop.
Once arriving at Orlando Airport, we made our way to the Magical Express coach, and about half an hour later we arrived at our hotel for the trip, the Caribbean Beach Resort. We were a little confused at first because we were dropped off at a small building called the Customs House ("Is this it?"), but we soon learned that there was a resort bus that took guests to the different sections of the hotel. Aside from a couple of parts of the hotel being under construction, it was a very nice place, with a Caribbean island theme (if the name didn't already give that away), a lake surrounded by the hotel buildings, plus a small island in the middle with a playground, and an open air pool. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we took some time to have lunch and take in the scenery, before we got the call to head to our room, which was in the "Aruba" section. It was very comfortable and had a homely island shack feel to it - plus sliding bathroom doors!
After unpacking, we then jumped on the bus and made our way to the first park of the trip, Epcot. Stepping back into Epcot brought back all the memories there from the first trip, as well as reminding us of the places that we didn't get teh chance to check out the first time round - one of those places was The Seas with Nemo & Friends, which housed an aquarium featuring many different marine life, including clownfish, turtles, stingrays, manatees and dolphins. Speaking of the dolphins, we got to watch a demonstration of their memory abilities, and it was very impressive to watch.
Next up was The Land pavilion, which contained the ride Soarin'. I was nervous about going on it, as I heard it involved being suspended from a height, but it turned out I had nothing to be nervous about it, in fact we both thoroughly enjoyed it. After that it was time to revisit my favourite Epcot ride from the previous visit, Test Track. It didn't quite go to plan however, as halfway through, the ride broke down, leaving us stuck in a tunnel for about 15-20 minutes. Thankfully the problem was fixed, and we got to enjoy that crazy high-speed section at the end. 
It was then time to take a walk around the world - the World Showcase, that is, which was just as fascinating as last time. We paid a visit to the Biergarten restaurant in the Germany section, where we were paired up with three other couples for a German buffet. I can't say either of us were crazy about the food, although I can now say I tried pork schnitzels. However the company more than made up for it, we were chatting away about our plans for the trip as well as some Disney World history - I was actually quite sad to say goodbye to them, knowing that none of us would probably ever meet again like this. There was also a live German oompah band, and they certainly got the kids moving.
Epcot's landmark is of course "Spaceship Earth", and it was only fitting that we should take a ride on it for the first time, it was an interesting look at the history of communication, and I found myself thinking it was quite impressive how they managed to fit all that ride inside a giant dome.
By this time night had fallen, so we decided to head to the United Kingdom (not the real one sadly) to find a place to watch the spectacular "IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth" fireworks display on the lake, before my wife requested that we go to the Norway pavilion to do a character meet-and-greet with Elsa and Anna from "Frozen" - needless to say, it was very popular. We finished up Epcot by quickly paying a second visit to The Land (it was nearly closing time) to ride on the very informative "Living with the Land" boat ride.
We finished off our first day by chilling in one of the hammocks at our hotel, with a view of the lake and the stars, and I'm not joking when I say we could've fallen asleep right there and then. 

Day 2 - 10/05/2017
Started the day with some breakfast at our hotel, from a handy little market shop in our set of buildings. I caught sight of some of the hotel's resident wildlife in the trees, namely geckos - it was quite unusual to see a place where geckos and squirrels hang out in the same habitat.
Then it was for a refreshing splash at our second park of the trip, the Blizzard Beach waterpark. In 2013 we only got to check it out briefly, however this time we made sure to explore the entire park, and as well as taking a ride on the chairlift to the top of the "ski slope", my wife encouraged me to take a ride on the Teamboat Springs raft ride, and I'm glad she convinced me to! We then took things easy on the Cross Country River before taking a dip in Melt-Away Bay and jumping those waves. After a quick meal and getting dried off, we attempted to check out the mini golf course next to Blizzard Beach, however we'd forgotten to bring some coupons that would've gotten us in for a discount. Still, we got to have a look at the course anyway.
The Florida heat was very overpowering, so we took a quick breather back the hotel before heading back to Epcot to take a couple of rides on the monorail to our third park, the most famous park of them all - where else but Magic Kingdom? Just like Epcot, all the sights came back, and it was just as crowded as ever too. Our first stop was Frontierland, to take a ride on my favourite Magic Kingdom ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and it was just as awesome as the first time. Then it was off to Fantasyland, where we jumped on my wife's favourite Magic Kingdom ride - you know the song. "It's a small world after all..."
We also took a short ride on Goofy's Barnstormer at the Storybook Circus before taking the steam train back to Main Street USA and hot-footing it to Tomorrowland, where we took the tour on the PeopleMover, which decided to pull a Test Track on us and stop momentarily inside the Space Mountain ride, thankfully the wait was much quicker this time.
Then it was time to make our way to Adventureland to join the Jungle Cruise, where we took a riverboat trip through a jungle, complete with gorillas trashing a camp, bathing elephants, natives attacking us and a spooky temple, not forgetting the pun-tastic commentary from the tour guide.
Unfortunately at this point the Florida heat had become too much for my wife, so we took a lengthy breather and downed some much-needed drinks, before we made our way to Tony's Italian Restaurant for our dinner. The food was great, as was the service, and the restaurant looked really impressive too. Did I mention it was also themed around "The Lady and the Tramp"?
We then had to move quickly to find a good spot to watch the "Wishes"  fireworks display around Cinderella Castle. We previously saw "Wishes" in 2013, and it was once again amazing to watch. It was especially poignant this time round, as it was the second-to-last performance - "Wishes" has now been replaced with a new display, but at least we can say that we got to see it twice.
Things got a bit chaotic following "Wishes", as we had to try and make our way back to Adventureland while all the crowds were making their way out of the park (it was closing time, but as we were hotel guests we were allowed to stay in the park a bit longer due to the extended 'Magic Hours'), but we eventually made it, and I got to take my debut ride on the famous "Pirates of the Caribbean". This was a ride my wife really wanted us to experience, and we certainly did. It was mostly a boat ride through scenes of a pirate story, including a certain Jack Sparrow, however there was one point with a fairly big drop into the dark, and we did get a little drenched!
We finished off our Magic Kingdom experience with a second ride on Big Thunder Mountain, plus a ride on the newer Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which had some nifty theming and some cool wobbling cars, and also had an encore of "It's A Small World" before saying goodbye to "The Happiest Place on Earth". Needless to say, we were canny tuckered out that night.

Day 3 - 11/05/2017 
Our third day in Orlando was the hottest day of the four, but me and my wife didn't let that stop us one bit. Park #4 was Animal Kingdom, which seemed to be more crowded than Magic Kingdom! There, we visited Dinoland USA and took a ride on Dinosaur (that dinosaur face coming right at you at the end threw me for a loop!) and Primeval Whirl, before taking a walk through the Asian village, where we dared to take a ride on the Expedition Everest rollercoaster - I can now say that it's the most intense rollercoaster I've ever been on, I was feeling the Gs on that 80-foot drop! Following that excitement, we took a walk on the Maharajah Jungle Trek through some temple ruins, and saw various wildlife including birds and bats, before getting absolutely drenched on the Kali River Rapids ride - it was actually refreshing with all that heat, and a much tamer ride compared to Everest. We then made our way to the African village, where we had a meal at the Tusker House Restaurant - it was also a character meal, so we got the chance to take pictures with Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Daisy Duck and Donald Duck. Then we finished up our Animal Kingdom adventure with a walk along the Gorilla Falls trail, where there was more wildlife to see, including zebras, gorillas, and to my wife's delight, meerkats. (She wanted to take one home.) One attraction we didn't get to experience was Pandora, the Avatar themed land, as it wasn't open at the time we visited, however we did get to see it under construction, and it certainly looked impressive.
With the blazing hot temperatures, we decided it would be a good idea to go and chill back at the the hotel for a while, that ceiling fan certainly felt good after all that walking in the sun. We also took the opportunity to take a dip in the hotel pool, which was warm, had a couple of slides and a lively atmosphere including a live reggae band.
It was then time for park #5 - Hollywood Studios. By the time we got there it was dark, so we got to see it in all its neon-lit glory. We didn't go on any rides there, it was mostly just checking out the sights - there was absolutely no way I was going on the Tower of Terror, sorry thrill fans! However we did have another character meet-and-greet, and continuing the "Frozen" theme, it was no less than Olaf the snowman. And aye, I told him that he gave warm hugs.
The highlight of Hollywood Studios was the spectacular Star Wars themed fireworks display, featuring projections of famous moments from all the Star Wars films, complete with not only fireworks but lasers and pyrotechnics (we felt the heat from those jets of flame). It was a great way to end our time there.
After a lengthy wait for a bus, we then took a late night trip to a previously unexplored area of Disney World, a shopping district known as Disney Springs. Most of the shops were closed, however we still had a walk around, looking at some of the eye catching shop fronts (most notably the erupting Rainforest Café volcano) and having a meal by the boardwalk. There was also a tethered hot-air balloon ride there, and even though we didn't have time to take a ride on it, it was still cool to see.
We ended the night chilling in the hotel hammock under the stars one last time, and this time we did doze off for a little bit - we were starting to get the "going home" blues, but there was still one more day left.

Day 3 - 12/05/2017
As with any final day of a holiday, it felt very bittersweet, but me and my wife absolutely made the most of the time we had left.
After packing up our stuff and bidding farewell to Aruba, we checked out and decided to make a second visit to Magic Kingdom, where Big Thunder Mountain and It's A Small World both got another ride out of us, before my wife used her powers of persuasion to get me to agree on riding Splash Mountain. We first experienced that 50-foot drop in 2013, and it was just as fun again second time around. We then took our final ride on the Tomorrowland Speedway before saying our goodbyes to the Magic Kingdom.
One quick bus ride later, and we were back in Disney Springs to check it out in the daytime, but especially to have a meal at the T-Rex Café, which can best be described as "the Rainforest Café, with dinosaurs." The food wasn't bad, and neither of us could keep our eyes off all the animatronic dinosaurs inside the café.
We still had time to check out one final park, and this was a park we hadn't previously visited, the Typhoon Lagoon waterpark. We braved the Crush 'n Gusher slides, not once but three times, on all three of the different slides; rode the rapids on Miss Adventure Falls; chilled out on the Castaway Creek for a little while; rode three different rapids rides (Gangplank Falls, Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls) and got attacked by the giant waves in the wave pool. Typhoon Lagoon was a hit, and a great way to end our time at Disney World.
Then it was time for the moment we'd been dreading - the going home part. After a frantic two-bus ride back to the hotel, we hopped back on the Magical Express coach for the half-hour drive back to Orlando Airport. (The coach driver waited a little longer for us because our bus back to the hotel cut it very close, can't thank him enough.) After the usual security drill, we chilled at our departure gate with a meal, while I took the opportunity to plane-spot. 
The return flight was a little more eventful than the flight down to Florida, and not in a good way. Firstly the announcement for boarding was somewhat quiet and late; secondly it was quite hot on board the plane, the pilot explained to everyone that the plane had been undergoing maintenance for the last few hours, and as a result the air conditioning wasn't working properly - and they chose to announce this after the plane had started taxiing for the runway. Not really something a nervous flyer wants to hear. Lastly, the flight was quite choppy in places, especially over the Carolinas, and needless to say I didn't take that too well, as airplane turbulence is what makes me nervous about flying - I'm glad my wife was there to help keep me calm. 
Thankfully, we made it back to Bradley in one piece (after landing I heard a couple of passengers remark "I thought we weren't gonna make it", I sure hope they were joking), and after all of the excitement of the past four days, we certainly got a good night's sleep that night.

Our time at Walt Disney World was just as fun, action-packed and memorable as that first visit, and not only did we make so many memories, it was also a wonderful way to spend our honeymoon.

You can watch our videos from the trip here:
Walt Disney World - May 2017 #1
Walt Disney World - May 2017 #2
Walt Disney World - May 2017 #3
Walt Disney World - May 2017 #4

You can also check out my photos from the trip here:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskX4GMjp

P.S. Me and my wife want to give a special thank you to my wife's parents and close friend for helping us out with the honeymoon, we really appreciate it and cannot thank you enough.