Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts

Saturday, March 19, 2016

The Tea Monologues | Disney's Hollywood Studios

Afternoon, all!

Hollywood Studios has changed rapidly over the last few years, with even more changes to happen!



The main entrance (above) and the main walkway into the park really feel very Hollywood to me. Obviously I am basing this on the TV view of Hollywood style considering I have never set foot there outside of the Disney version. I am clearly not very well travelled. 


I am still yet to go on the Tower of Terror... But I love standing to watch the doors open and see the lifts plummet! I will go on this one day, when everyone else decides they aren't too scared of it...


 I adore the Great Movie Ride! This has had a new sponsor since I was last here, as you can see by the below shot, it is now sponsored by TCM. As sceptical as I was, I quite enjoyed the added scenes at the final part. Even if, obviously, there was a slight Frozen takeover.



Clearly Frozen Fever is still spreading like wildfire! 

Frozen Summer fun was in full force in its last few days whilst we were there. This involved Olaf's Summer Cool Down. As much as I did enjoy the film when it came out, there is only so much Frozen craziness you can take *echem, Maelstrom, echem*. Sorry, I appear to have developed a cough.





Although I do miss the Sorcerer's Hat, I love the fact that the Chinese Theatre is back to being the main focus of the park. It is such a lovely building (and of course, houses The Great Movie Ride). You can also find a few of Mickey's friends hanging out around here.



 I first saw Lights, Motors, Action in Disneyland Paris in the early 2000's. Not so surprisingly, Disney announced it would be closing to make way for Star Wars land. At least, as far as I am aware, there are no plans to close the one at Disneyland Paris, so it will still be an available experience.

I am not sure on the addition of Lightning McQueen, but I guess that adds something for the younger ones in the audience. 




This was the first time I had ever done Rock n Roller Coaster as it had a very short queue. So much so that we managed to get back on a few times.


Back to everything Frozen! 

It would appear the normal parade was binned in favour for a new smaller Frozen spectacle. Although I am gutted to see the normal parade go, the Frozen one wasn't too out of place, although I am not sure on that Kristoff. 



In place of the American Idol Experience (I never saw this so not too fussed) is the Frozen Sing Along Celebration. 

I was typically expecting to be unimpressed. For me, the narrators (or storytellers) made this show. They were funny, and there were parts in there for the adults to have a giggle at. I quite enjoyed it. 

Yes, I sang along.




 To end the evening, we saw Fantasmic. 

It is still as awesome as usual. 




As part of the Frozen Summer Fun, Hollywood Studios had fireworks set to the Frozen music (much alike the same style as Wishes in Magic Kingdom).

These were actually really good. However, I was stood next to the bloody traffic light on the main path that dings every 3 minutes. Silly mistake.


It even snowed!


Although we didn't manage to get this in on our first day in Hollywood Studios, we went back to do Pixar Place.

I still love Toy Story Mania and I cannot wait for the added track!


What trip to Hollywood Studios is complete without a bit of Pizza Planet and a bit of the Muppets?! I will be intrigued to see if they do anything with the refurbishment of Pizza Planet. It does seem a little dated now. I would personally like to see it resemble the one in the films a lot better.



Besides the likes of Indiana Jones and Beauty and the Beast (which I did see), there isn't particularly much else in Hollywood Studios at the moment.

There are rumours of another rename (sigh). To me it will always be Disney's MGM Studios, but whatever they call it I am sure will be fine.

I am looking forward to seeing the developments of Hollywood Studios in the next few years. I just really hope it doesn't lose the old feel, and become too Star Wars orientated. Only one way to see, I guess.

Until next time.


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Tuesday, July 02, 2013

RIP to the 19 firefighters killed in Arizona

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the fire in Arizona, USA which has claimed the lives of 19 firefighters.

The fire started after a lightning storm on Friday (June 28) in Arizona, USA as has so far destroyed 8400 acres of land. Approximately 1000 people have had to vacate their homes, and 200 houses have been claimed by the fire.

I have left it a few days since the news broke to write this post as I am still finding it very difficult to write.

My heart really goes out to the families of the firefighters who have died in this fire. As a daughter of a UK firefighter, I know how scary it can be when they go off to a call, but I cannot even begin to comprehend the pain and emotion these families are going through at the moment. Some of these men are so unbelievably young; they didn't get the chance to even start their lives properly. 

I read an article today on the Daily Mail website about the last conversation between Juliann Ashcraft and her husband who was attending to the fire, Andrew Ashcraft. I hope that she would not mind me writing this post. Her husband had been continuously texting her throughout the day to inform her that he was OK, until he stopped texting. I won't lie, I was in tears after reading that article. He leaves behind 4 young children. I am refraining from putting pictures of her and her family up on my website as I believe this would be a breach of their privacy, and I would not want to affect them at this sad time. You can read more about her story by clicking here.

Each of the men who died in this fire, in my opinion, died heroes. Now you may dispute this, but I think anyone, no matter how little someone may think their existence may be, is a hero when they put their lives on the line daily in order to save the life of someone else. These men were trying to extinguish a fire, despite being caused naturally, was destroying the lives of thousands of people. It is completely unarguable in my head that these men did absolutely everything they could to keep the residents of the Arizonian town safe, I find it very sad that in this circumstance that it then involved them losing their own lives.

The emergency shelters that the men had put up in order to protect them from the fires unfortunately did not save them from the fire, nor could the helicopters. It has been reported that when the bodies of the men were found, some where inside their shelters whilst others were outside, suggesting that the fire has overcome them very quickly.

This has been the biggest incident claiming the lives of firefighters since 9/11, and is the deadliest blaze for firefighters in America for almost 80 years. The entire crew for this city was claimed by this fire, apart from one survivor who is in a critical condition.

To anyone who wishes to say that the firefighters must have been in the wrong (I have seen several comments surface on the internet saying this), I would like to say that firefighters are trained to the highest of standards, and they were undoubtedly following the safety protocol here, and that is was the unpredictability of the fire which in fact claimed their lives.

Fire Chief Dan Fraijo has been quoted saying "we grieve for the family. We grieve for the department. We grieve for the city. We're devastated. We just lost 19 of the finest people you'll ever meet".

Residents of the town have been since laying down tributes and flowers outside the gates of the fire station since the news broke on Monday. I sincerely hope, for the memory of these men, that they are rewarded for their bravery in some way. These men deserve the highest of commendation for their sacrifice. I don't care what anyone else says, they really do deserve that.

Over 1000 people gathered on Monday night in the gymnasium of the university in Prescott, Arizona in memory of the 19. President Obama has called the men heroes, and has since deployed other crews to help as the fire still continues to burn.

Here are the names of the 19 men who were killed:
Andrew Ashcraft - 29
Robert Caldwell - 23
Travis Carter - 31
Dustin Deford - 24
Christopher MacKenzie - 30
Eric Marsh - 43
Grant McKee - 21
Sean Misner - 26
Scott Norris - 28
Wade Parker - 22
John Percin - 24
Anthony Rose - 23
Jesse Steed - 36
John Thurston - 32
Travis Turbyfill - 27
William Warneke - 25
Clayton Whitted - 28
Kevin Woyjeck - 21
Grant Zuppiger - 27

Writing so many names is horrible. I will not be putting pictures up of these men.

Reading and having to write about something like this makes me really appreciate the fact that after over 20 years in the fire service, I still have my dad safe and sound. I couldn't even tell you how scary it is every time I know my dad is out on a call, and there is always that horrible little voice in the back of your head saying "what if he doesn't come back?". Just thinking about that really gets to me, so knowing that these people are currently having to go through that is so heartbreaking. 

My thoughts are with the families affected by this. So many of the firefighters were so young too, which is really sad, many of them not even in to their late 20s. 

I know that firefighters knows when entering the profession that it is dangerous, but nothing can prepare anyone for this sort of thing. Fires on this scale are unpredictable and completely uncontrollable. I hope that the families are getting all the support that they need, and that someone honors these men in the highest possible way.

There are currently investigations under way to figure out what could have caused these deaths, and there have been suggestions of wind gusts being investigated. 

Approximately 250 firefighters are still battling the fire, and around 18 other hotshot crews have been deployed.




I welcome all comments on this post, but if there is one negative comment on here about these men or the circumstances you will be reported and blocked for the foreseeable future from this site.

Monday, June 24, 2013

I am planning a world tour!

Hello there, buddies!

Random post incoming! 

This really is random and has nothing to do with anything that I usually write on here but I thought I should tell you anyway.

I am going to travel the world, yaaay!

I am planning a World Tour with +James Martin (BlogGod), +Vikki Lamb (if she wants) and possibly +Ryan Steppel (Mr Milk) (if he so accepts this mission) where we will be visiting almost every country in the world.

I know, we are crazy. We won't be doing hotels or any of that crap, we are talking proper backpacking round the world. How bloody awesome is that!? 

I have just spent about 3 hours putting together a list of all the cities and countries we want to visit. 

Now this will take us about 5 years to save for, and we are looking at taking about 2 years to do the travelling, give or take 5 months.

Here is a list of AALLLLL the countries I am going to be visiting (in no particular order):


  • Slovakia
  • Spain
  • Italy
  • France
  • Sweden
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Tahiti
  • Finland
  • Poland
  • Croatia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • Netherlands
  • Switzerland
  • Portugal
  • Chile
  • Ecuador
  • Brazil
  • Argentina
  • Bolivia
  • Madagascar
  • Main Africa
  • Egypt
  • Zimbabwe
  • Morocco
  • South Africa
  • Australia
  • New Zealand
  • Fiji
  • Thailand
  • Singapore
  • Turkey
  • Israel 
  • Cambodia
  • Malaysia
  • India
  • Vietnam
  • Indonesia
  • Dubai
  • China
  • Jordan
  • Korea
  • Japan
  • Sri Lanka
  • Cambodia
  • The Bahamas
  • USA
  • Canada
  • Costa Rica
  • Hawaii
  • Mexico
  • Cuba
  • Guatemala
  • Russia
  • Antarctica 



I did tell you it was a lot of places! These will include about 100 cities in total, so there is A LOT to do. 

If you live in any of these countries and know of anything absolutely awesome we should do then do please comment below!

Thank you for reading, don't forget to subscribe and follow me on everything to your right.

Speak to you laters,

Toodle-oo!



Saturday, June 22, 2013

My bucket list - things to do before I die

Hello there, buddies!
Ok I am going to tell you aaaallll about my bucket list! This list could grow with time and it is something I will definitely be coming back to all the time so keep an eye out! I also think I will tick things off as I go along.


Be prepared because some of them are going to be ultimate fangirling.......


Feel free to comment in the box below all about your bucket list, or things you think I could add to mine!



1. Move to New York

2. Live in Sydney

3. Raise loads of money for Cancer Research 
ü

4. Travel the world

5. Break a Guinness World Record

6. Get my dream job

7. Live in London

8. Have a theme park all to myself for one day

9. Graduate uni with a good grade

10. Visit Walt Disney World 10 times

11. Go on safari

12. Sky dive

13. Bungee jump

14. Get retweeted/followed by Tyleroakley (Tyler Oakley) 
ü  

15. Get retweeted/followed by Danisnotonfire (Dan Howell)

16. Get retweeted/followed by Amazingphil (Phil Lester)

17. Get retweeted/followed by MarcusButlerTv (Marcus Butler)

18. Get retweeted/followed by Pointlessblog (Alfie Deyes)

19. Get retweeted/followed by Jacksgap (Jack and Finn Harries)

20. Meet all of the above!

21. Get my blog recognised 
ü

22. Make YouTube videos

23. Climb a mountain

24. Make a scrapbook with loads of memories in it 
ü  



25. Get married

26. Have kids

27. Buy my first house

28. Move out of home 
ü  

29. Kick my caffeine addiction

30. Visit every Disney park in the world

31. Personally save a life




32. Road trip across the USA

33. Get retweeted/followed/favourite'd by Tanyaburr (Tanya Burr) ü

34. Go to Comic Con International in San Diego

35. Get retweeted/followed by Sprinkleofgliter (Louise) ü

36. Kick my Nandos addiction

37. Get paid to write/blog


38. Have an out-of-the-box job

39. Meet someone ultra famous

40. Help complete someone else's bucket list ü



I think that will do for now!


Don't forget to use the media buttons to your right! Comment below all the things you want to do before you die too!


Toodle-oo!