Countries, Culture, Europe

Leave royals in fairytales

An insight on the jamboree that is the Coronation of Charles Windsor in Britain by a German grandee beloved in these parts… leave royals in fairytales.

Of course Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, was more diplomatic.

But he did concede that in his home country people viewed far-off royal spectacles as fairytale or Hollywood.

Germany, like many of the 159 republics in the world, has emerged from monarchies.

While keeping and showcasing palaces for tourists who love a fairytale.

Gold Swan

Disney look bad: New Schwanstein

Neuschwanstein in Bavaria falls into that category.

With the castle on a hill so dazzling Walt Disney that he copied it for Disney Castle.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria had a thing for swans as well as other pecadilloes and he put that stamp on everything around the New Swan Castle.

And most importantly in his bedstead.

But alas he was unable to avail of it all, dying before it was all finished.

And we imagine his passing was a thing of over-the-top theatrical and balletic beauty, a la a dying swan.

Here for the beard: And the beer

Of course, Neuschwanstein is far from the only once-royal palace which still draws the visitors…

More than 61 million people have visited since 1869.

And more than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer.

Including this refugee from the Munich Beerfest who worked off his hangover by excitedly running up the hill. 

Very Versailles

Grounds for optimism: Versailles

Versailles was the jewel in the French crown but once the people of France decided that it should be used for the state rather than some bling for their king it became a much-visited tourist spot.

While its own people can enjoy the great works of art and settings with free exhibitions and displays.

And so until October 31st, you can enjoy the musical gardens and the Great Musical Waters in the gardens and groves.

Every Saturday evening from 10 June to 23 September, Friday 14 July and Tuesday 15 August, discover the Gardens in the evening.

With the The Night Fountains Show.

While the Sculptures and Mouldings Gallery in the Small Stables is also free to you and me from 12.30pm to 6.30pm every Saturday and Sunday.

Your carriage awaits

A-mazing: More Versailles

Now if you’ve been looking through your fingers at the UK royal show today.

You’ll have witnessed the slowest vehicle in London, the royal carriage.

Guess what though… in Paris you can get up close and personal for free.

Located in the the Great Stables , the Gallery of Coaches is open every weekend afternoons from 12.30pm to 6.30pm.

Of course all of this is run by us, and not by royal decree, or when we say us it’s really the French people.

Viva La Revolution

Come in: And enjoy the rooms

And a reminder of who is in charge is brought home to you in the Royal Tennis court, the birthplace of French democracy.

All of which is linked to an important episode of the Revolution. Every weekend from May to October from 12:30pm to 6:30pm (last admission at 17:45).

Of course, it will be likely a long, long time before it’s Game, Set and Match for the British monarch, if at all.

But for the day that’s in it wouldn’t it be better to leave royals in fairytales and enjoy your favourite Disney film.

 

America, Countries, UK

Rydell High and other cool schools

Sandy will always have pride of place above my bed in my childhood home where in my imagination I went to Rydell High and other cool schools.

Because we all know that the sole purpose of school is to get into trouble and get the girl.

And Sandy, aka the dearly departed Olivia Newton-John, was every schoolboy’s dream in 1978.

I’m Sandra Dee… licious

And so it was an unexpected highlight of my trip to West Hollywood and LA to be driven by Rydell High on my StarLine Tour.

What tales those walls at the Venice High School could tell, though Greaseheads already know where the real Danny and Sandy live…

In Radnor High School, Delaware County where director Randall Kleiser was schooled.

From Cumbernauld to Springfield

British education in the Seventies were a little less cool, more Gregory’s Girl and Grange Hill than Rydell or Ridgemont High.

Gregory’s Girl bucked the sassier American school film model with a quintessentially Scottish geeky innocent homespun charm.

And it put a new town on the map… what’s it called? Cumbernauld.

It’s hard too to countenance from the 2020s just how threatening Landin boys Tucker Jenkins and his pals seemed to Seventies parents.

It actually all went off (in truth just fat ties not buttoned up) in the site of St Audrey’s School, Hatfield, Hertfordshire outside London.

Take it as read: The Daily Prophet

Of course class-ridden Britain is defined by its private/boarding schools and comps.

JK Rowling’s world is very much the entitled one… magic, yes, if you have the money.

You can see Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Great Hall too in Hertfordshire at the Warner Studios’ Harry Potter tour.

And while that is more film set, obvs for the whole world Universal’s Harry Potter World is where it’s at.

Side by side with The Simpsons’ Springfield Elementary School… now that is magic.

My, my American Pie

Cherry on top: The other Jim

There are those, of course, who have dipped their toes in both, private and comp, most famously Inbetweeners’ Will.

And there and American Pie’s East Great Falls High were more akin to me and my pals than even our school.

Complete with bullshitter… I was more Simon.

Where there’s a Will: There’s a Briefcase Winker

The Inbetweeners’ Ruislip High, London in fairness probably would get you down.

While East Grand High, Michigan and a lakeside beach nearby and Tara is far more alluring.

Now while, of course, East Grand High remains closed to everyone but the other Jim and his pals…

My American high

NY’s finest: The Big Apple

This Jim though did have his day in an American school when I was invited to spend time in my cousin Eddie’s NY school.

One day was enough to bewilder my new classmates who thought I was from Mars after I opened my mouth.

But even Martians have their admirers (exotic, you see) and a couple of girls took a shine to me.

Not that Eddie told me, saying after that he was only being protective. Thanks Ed.

A would happen Ed’s brother Danny would make a name for himself in John Adams High School, or after school, or back in school (bear with me).

And another Danny

Harley credited: My cuz Danny

As Harley Keiner in Boy Meets World which we were assured was Philadelphia but was really Walt Disney in California.

Mind you Grease had already shown California must be the best place to go to school.

Because it’s the home of Rydell High and other cool schools.

 

America, Countries, Culture, Deals, Europe

What happened to the Mini Ms Mouse?

Did you see how Stella McCartney togged up Mickey’s lass which makes me wonder… what happened to the Mini, Ms Mouse?

Now nobody’s doubting Sir Paul McCartney’s daughter would have made it in fashion on her own.

Dublin housewife chic

Nightwear: Or any time wear

And, of course, nobody would mistake me for a fashionista but this Minnie Mouse does more like a north Dublin housewife or Killing Eve.

In her pyjamas and supermarket shoes.

Rather than in her iconic red and white polka-dot dress.

Macca and Macca: Paul and Stella

Minnie’s makeover is all part of the 30th anniversary celebrations for Disneyland Paris.

Whether it will make a blind bit of difference to excited kids (and big kids) when they meet their favourite characters we’ll see.

Because the most important thing is that Disney retains its place as the Happiest Place on Earth.

Twitter trolls

Hi-ho: Or low-low Peter Dinklage

You see it is being excoriated on the Twittersphere as The Wokiest.

Now let’s examine some of these brickbats…

And the Peter Dinklage-led complaint that Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is dwarfist.

Yes, it’s a caricature but they are portrayed as happy, hard-working and fraternal.

A little problem

It’s off to work they go: The Dwarves

Maybe Prickly Pete would prefer us to see dwarves portrayed as defensive as I witnessed myself.

When I bumped into them drunk (them, not me) in the pub My Father’s Moustache near His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen.

Historical characterisations of Disney films have also been put under the microscope.

And The Aristocrats, Lady And The Tramp and the Jungle Book are all now carrying disclaimers.

Song in our heart

It’s A Wonderful Day: With Disney

While The Song Of The South has been removed from streaming services.

That movie famously spawned James Baskett’s catchy Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah song.

Which we were treated to on the first morning of our Disney trip in Orlando.

Give it a lash: With Minnie

When Minnie arrived with her pals Mickey and Goofy.

And most importantly (and here’s what really matters most) hugged us.

And I defy anyone to gurn when that song is playing.

Your hand Ms Mouse

I don’t know whether I’d ask What Happened to the Mini, Ms Mouse?

But I’d hope she wouldn’t object to me kissing her hand.

We found this deal… four-nights, five-days, two-parks stay at the Hotel at the Hotel Cheyenne for mid-February.

In Woody’s Roundup Standard Room with one double bed and one standard room for under a grand (£977.44).

America, Countries, Deals, Europe

Bonjour Mickey enfin

For those who have missed out on a summer holiday the mid-term break takes on extra significance… so it’s Bonjour Mickey enfin.

Mickey et amis have been waiting patiently for nous retour at Disneyland Paris.

And our old friends at Click&Go are bringing us back together again.

Click, you’re on camera

Minnie break: With Ms Mousr

Click&Go have three nights at Disney Santa Fe for a family of four departing October 23 with flights from Dublin.

And that’s a saving of €287.92. And tickets for the park are included.

All of which allows us to reflect on an American in Paris, Monsieur Mouse.

An uneasy alliance

Yes, it got Goofy: With ma pal

Mickey isn’t typical in being an American embraced in France.

With a frosty relationship having built up in Gaul land towards the Americans over the years.

It wasn’t always the case.

The French stood four square behind the rebels during the American Wars of Independence.

And George Washington’s great friend, the Marquis de Lafayette is honoured in his city Washington DC.

With his statue in Lafayette Square within sight of the White House.

Sons of Liberty

Laddie Liberty: In New York

The French and the Americans revelled in their self-proclaimed status of trailblazers of liberty.

And the French gifted the Americans the Statue of Liberty to mark the 100th year of American independence.

The Americans repaid the generosity in twice coming to France’s aid over two world wars.

Over to Donald

I am not worthy: With Donald at Epcot, Florida

So where did La Bromance go wrong?

Well, it may very well have been the fault of an interfering Scot (no, non moi).

But Groundskeeper Willie out of The Simpsons who called the French ‘cheese-eating surrender monkeys.’

On account of them not supporting the US in their invasion of Iraq.

Not that things got petty or anything for the then Republican Chairman of the Committee on House Administration.

Bob Ney renamed the menu in three Congressional cafeterias Zut Alors.

A common language

Magic Kingdom: Fireworks

Thankfully our favourite animated figures act like grown-ups.

And Mickey, Donald and their pals chose Paris to set up their European home.

Perhaps it’s the common language they share.

Bonjour Mickey enfin.

 

 

Countries, Cruising, Culture, Europe, Ireland, UK

Something written in the heart of Denmark

Here’s something written in the heart of Denmark. Who’s to say if he once was an ugly duckling but the world flock to Copenhagen now because of Hans Christian Andersen?

I meet an old university pal Tom off my cruise ship.

No, not by The Little Mermaid which is some way out from Copenhagen’s main square, but by Andersen’s statue.

Red and white dynamite

Once upon a time we…

No, you don’t want to read our story but Andersen’s and Copenhagen’s which are, of course, so richly entwined.

Hans was an only child, schooled in Elsinore, yes that Elsinore made famous by a certain prince.

Hans across the water

But it was to the sophisticated capital of Denmark that he made his life.

As first an actor and then a prolific writer of salutary children’s and adult books.

He took up residence in Nyhavn which is the big hub of Copenhagen today and a magnet for tourists.

You can’t help feeling his fairytale world all around you in Copenhagen’s chocolate box buildings.

Fancy a twirl?

A royal city

Probably because you’re in the Tivoli Gardens.

It was opened in 1843 and is the world’s second oldest operating amusement park.

And was the inspiration for Disneyland.

Swinging time at Tivoli Gardens

The best view that you can get of Copenhagen is from the 80m swing-carousel Star Flyer, one of an abundance of thrill rides in the park.

Twirling around with only air, the park and Tom and Sarah below I feel like one of Hans’s characters.

And there in the distance is my ship to whisk me off to a far-away land.

Street entertainment

And my little mermaid wants a swim.  

Yes, just something written in the heart of Denmark.

And for more scribbled on a ship on the way to the fjords with MSC…  

America, Countries, Ireland, Music, UK

Donald Duck Day is a quacker

Eider expect your party is in full swing already because… Donald Duck Day is a quacker.

Our beloved Donald first waddled onto our screens on this day back in The Wise Little Hen.

And oh boy, oh boy, oh boy… we’ve been loving his company ever since.

The Four Cabbaleros

I first met The Original Donald when another was trying to steal his shade back in November 2018.

He Disney half look good

Donald was wintering where we all want to make for, Florida.

While, of course, Donald has homes all over the world.

I am not worthy

And I followed him from Orlando to Anaheim.

And danced away with the Three Caballeros.

Of course while today is about the Donald I’ve taken my duck fun wherever I find it.

The Duckmaster

So when the Duckmeister invited us to the Duck Parade in Memphis, well I was there in double quack time.

Rib a dub duck

I’ve been hooting my quacker today, lining up my Northern Ireland Hastings ducks in a row and getting ready for my party.

So don that duck suit, waddle around the house and watch your Donald Duck films.

Me? Being of the Scottish variety be celebrating with my people, the McDuck clan.

The McDucks are, of course, from a rich lineage going back to the ancestral home of Dismal Downs.

Near the village of MacDuich somewhere in Rannoch Moor.

The McDucks

With the main duck on The Walk of Fame

We owe it all to the union of Hortense McDuck and Quackmore Duck and gave us the genius creation of Scrooge McDuck.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I’ll get a smile out of old Scrooge.

On this day because Donald Duck Day is a quacker.

 

America, Countries, Europe, Ireland, Music, UK

Green Lighting megamix around the world

It’s one of those annoying Government buzzwords so let’s claim it back with a Rainy Days and Songdays Green Lighting megamix around the world. Our favourite songs with ‘green’ in the title and the countries where they transport us.

Wales boyo

Green, Green Grass of Home, Tom Jones, Wales: Down the road I look and there runs Mary, hair of gold and lips like cherries.

Now I dare say most homes have green, green grass unless you live in a very hot country and the land is baked brown. But this just feels Welsh.

That is until you get to the rest of the song and realise that it’s a man on Death Row dreaming of home.

Maybe, Mary had a narrow escape after all. We, though will just imagine it as the beautiful Welsh valleys.

Green Cash

Forty Shades of Green, Johnny Cash: Arkansas and Ireland: The legend is that Johnny was inspired to write this County classic when he looked down from the plane at the patchwork fields of green of Ireland.

As a recruiting call for Ireland our pals at Tourism Ireland would have been proud as in true singer style Johnny namechecks everywhere on the Emerald Island.

Quite who the girl from Tipperary town with the lips like eiderdown is Johnny would never say, perhaps because June would have killed him.

Green Burns Country

Burns Cottage, Alloway,Scotland. https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/robert-burns-birthplace-museum

Green Grow The Rashes O, Eddi Reader: Burns and Ayrshire: The sweetest hours that e’er the old poet and ploughman prowler spent were spent among the lasses O.

The old rogue Burns was pure rock’n’roll and could pen a lyric and a tune which is probably why he is held in such high regard by the greatest singer-songwriters of the latter half of the 20th century.

With Bob Dylan, no less, crediting the Scot as his greatest inspiration.

And Henry VIII I am

Greeensleeves, King Henry VIII/Ralph Vaughan Williams, Berkshire: And another old lothario here with King Henry VIII said to have written this for Anne Boleyn.

What better tune then for an English rose to walk up the aisle to in her home county of Berkshire.

My Scary One has lost her head plenty of times since… but that’s been with me.

Vini Verde

Night at the opera: In Prague

La Boheme, Giuseppe Verdi: Prague: No, a non-green tune didn’t slip through. Giuseppe Verdi would actually be Joe Green in English.

The Milanese Verdi had the support of Gaetano Donizetti from nearby Bergamo whom he visited in Vienna which, of course, was the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

And that included Bohemia, or the current-day Czech Republic where the thing to do when you’re in Prague is take in a production at the opera house.

Poppies and Green Fields

No Man’s Land

The Green Fields of France, The Fureys and Davey Arthur, The Somme: And in the mud of the Somme the soldiers’ minds would drift off to some verdant pasture and memories of precious moments with a loved one.

Every nation sacrificed its most promising generation in No Man’s Land but for those from the furthest outposts of Empire… well, it just seems to be all the more pointless to modern sensibilities.

Eric Bogle, a Scots-born Australian, explores the pyschological cost to one survivor ‘young Willie McBride’. And it was all the more poignant after I’d seen the statue of the Scots soldier in northern France.

And another one to make you cry

Memphis Blues

Green Onions, Booker T. & the MGs: Memphis: In the home of the Blues, Memphis, Booker T & the MGs came up with their signature instrumental tune.

The story goes that the Stax house band were waiting around for the Sun artist and rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley to turn up and developed the song.

And why Green Onions? Well Booker T. Jones self-deprecatingly said it was because green onions were the nastiest thing he could think of and something you could throw away. We never would.

Ol’ Green Eyes… well, Blue, but!

Little Green Apples, Frank Sinatra: New Jersey and New York: And a lot more digestible with this old standard covered by all the crooners.

But of all the crooners, none compare with the Boy from Hoboken, New Jersey who made it there in New York, and elsewhere.

And just like Johnny Cash from another song, Frank does his best to include the whole country, in this case America.

So a shout-out to Disneyland, Doctor Seuss in Springfield Massachussetts.

And Indianapolis where it don’t rain in the summertime and Minneapolis where it doesn’t snow when the winter comes. All of which it does to

Beret good

Ballad of the Green Beret, Sgt Barry Sadler/Dolly Parton: Take your pick, the clean-shaven All-American Boy, soldier turned actyor Barry Sadler or Miss American PIe herself, Tennessee’s Dolly.

Either way it’s flag-waving, Americana. And even if you don’t know the song you’ll recognise the tune.

Particularly if you’re a fan of Celtic FC who famously play in green and white hoops and who have adapted the song and lyrics into a favourite fans’ song With a Four-leaf Clover on My Breast.

The evergreen Cliff

Green Light, Cliff Richard, India, England, Portugal and Barbados: And there are few more wholesome and clean-cut than Our Cliff.

The evergreen Cliff belts this one out from the Seventies.

The Peter Pan of Pop who was born in India, grew up in England, and has had homes in Portugal and Barbados, though he is selling up in Bim (and yes I’m interested).

When it gets the Green Light.

 

 

 

 

 

Africa, America, Countries, Europe, Music

Rainy Days and Songdays my Oscars favourite songs

In no particular order, and for the day that’s in it, it’s Rainy Days and Songdays – my Oscars favourite songs.

It was something daring, I guess, to award a Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 1934.

But it was probably a dancing shoe-in for Hollywood superstars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ The Continental.

Dance away

If Fred and Ginger were around today then they’d glide easily down the fabled stairs of the Dolby Theater.

But they are there out front in the Walk of Fame.

All of which we can channel, and which every waiter dreams of aspiring too, in Los Angeles and his environs.

The Continental is one of my Oscar favourite songs and set the standard for every Best Original Song to come.

And in truth for every Over the Rainbow and White Christmas there is a Chim-Chim-Cheree and an I Just Called To Say I Love You too.

Gong with a song

The standard is off the chart which is why the usual Fab Five becomes a Top Ten this week for My Oscars favourites.

10 When You Wish Upon A Star, Pinnochio (1940): 

Pure Disney, and what’s wrong with that.

But this is the craftmanship of Florentine Carlo Collodi so let’s give the Tuscans a shout-out as ‘anything your heart desires will come to you.’

Take it away Cliff Richards as Jimmy Cricket.

9 Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, Song of the South (1947): 

One of Disney’s more forgettable films and ‘containing outdated language’ though I just dwell on the Deep South music.

James Baskett’s deep anthem is about as happy a song as you’ll ever hear.

And in a cutesie overload Mr Bluebird’s on James’s shoulder too. Everything truly is satisfactual!

8 Three Coins In The Fountain (1954): 

No me neither, nor the singers Clifton Webb, Dorothy McGuire and Jean Peters who each sang the titular song.

But anyone who has ever been to the Trevi Fountain in Rome will either hear someone singing it there while throwning coins over their head into the water.

Or they will be encouraged to do so.

Singing Cowboys

7 Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969):

And if you love the Wild West  then you’ll love the scene where Paul Newman (Butch) and Katharine Ross (Etta) mess about on the bicycle in Utah.

And Burt Bacharach’s velvety lyrics and BJ Thomas’s smooth delivery set it all off.

6 The Time Of My Life, Dirty Dancing (1987): 

The beauty of a good song is trying to recreate it in your bedroom which is what hairbrushes were made for, although Patrick Swayze’s quiff just came naturally.

But if you truly want to channel your inner Johnny and Baby then you’ll want to get out to Lake Lure Inn & Spa in North Carolina.

And have Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes on the boom box.

5 The Streets of Philadelphia (1993): 

You’re probably exhausted after that (I know I am) so let’s slow it down with the Boss’s evocative and powerful Streets of Phladelphia.

Of course, the actual streets of Philadelphia aren’t as gut-wrenchingly emotional as this song and are actually fun-packed as this vid shows.

Better still if you go to Philly the City of Brotherly Love, and find out for yourself.

Drum roll please

4 Born Free (1966): 

And another to pull on your heartstring with the story of Joy and George Adamson, played by real-life couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers.

They released Elsa the Lioness into adulthood and released her into the wilds of Kenya.

All of which brings back warm memories of meeting our lioness out in the Eastern Cape in South Africa.

And yes, I sang Matt Monro’s classic in my head then… I didn’t want to stir my lioness.

3 White Christmas, Holiday Inn (1942):

Many of us are probably unaware of Irving Berlin’s inspiration for the best-selling song of all time (I was).

Berlin, a Jew, who didn’t celebrate Christmas had all the more reason to get maudlin on December 25.

His three-week-old son died on that day in 1928. Bing Crosby gives it a timeless uplifting feel.

2 Over The Rainbow, The Wizard of Oz (1939):

And the ultimate in what Daddy’s Little Girl so beautifully puts it, a Happy Sad Song.

And layering on the sentamentality it was the first movie my Dear Old Mum saw in her nearest big city, Derry.

She recalls the switch from black and white to colour seemed like magic to an 11-year-old country girl.

A country girl like Kansas lass Dorothy.

And the winner is…

1 Moon River, Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961): 

Tiffany’s in New York is no more magical than any other jewellery store methinks.

But perhaps that’s because I’m an alpha male bloke, while Breakfast to me is a bagel.

Put them together though and Breakfast At Tiffany’s carries you off to a wonderful escapist world.

It’s the adventurer in me andyou had me Audrey Hepburn at ‘there’s such a lot of world to see.’

So these are my Oscar favourite songs. Now what about you? 

 

 

America, Countries, Europe

New Year fireworks… let’s have fun in ‘21.

Baby you’re a firework. Come on let your colours burst – Katy Perry

And boy did those colours burst, signalling that the world wants to have fun in ’21.

The Middle East led the way with the celebrations with some real actual human beings gathering… at social distance.

And rock gods Kiss even performing in Dubai.

Now New Year’s Eve is always going to be a challenge in crowd containment and resources.

But it is a depressing admission that we in the West can’t trust ourselves, and others, to social distance, or meet in pods.

Now, I love an oul’ firework any time of the year, so as Katy says ‘you just gotta ignite the light and let it shine. Just own the night.’

Dresden takes back the sky

Drum roll… in Dresden

Dresden: And Dresdeners have more reason than most to be wary of their sky lit up above them.

The older generation still talk about the red sky, the Allied bombers’ firestorm which razed their beautiful city to the ground at the end of the Second World War.

The resilient Saxons went on to rebuild their city, the Florence of the Elbe, brick by brick to the grandeur it is today.

The light show on the Elbe was the backdrop for the closing night of the German Travel Mart.

And a magical reminder of how light kills darkness.

Take me to the DC ball park

Me, George and my Travel pal Issy

Washington: They love a firework in DC… and that’s just a Donald Trump barbecue.

They put on firework displays for all their VIPs which meant the delegates at the American Travel fair, IPW.

At the Washington Nationals’ ball park.

Home run!

Disney get any better than this

Acting all Goofy

Orlando: And whatever you’re doing around 9pm of a night in Orlando then stop it and look up at the skies.

For that’s when the lights go on above The Magic Kingdom.

All of which you can see from your Four Seasons balcony. Magical!

Or Mickey in Da House

Anaheim: And in Disneyland too in California where Mickey, Donald and the gang like nothing better than a light show.

Mickey runs his own show which is in effect one of just a number of extravaganzas around the resort.

With Star Wars and Harry Potter getting in on the act.

America, Countries, Culture, Deals

Mucky Mouse jokes and a Disney New Year

And what’s the difference between Walt Disney and Bing Crosby?

Bing Sings but Walt Disney.

My Dancing Dad jokes didn’t land with my party, probably my Scottish accent, nor my cruder set of Disney gags.

Minnie and Me

But then I did make Mickey, Donald and the gang smile on that Visit Orlando trip to Disney World and also out in Disneyland in Anaheim in California.

I know what you’ll say, it’s painted on, but Mickey and his pals have been working hard throughout Covid to ensure Disney remains The Happiest Place on Earth.

I’ll tell you what else will make you smile. This Walt Disney World deal.

Gooding about

Four nights free and 14 for seven tickets for Spring and Summer.

Stay at Disney’s Coronado’s Springs on selected dates for four nights free worth £872 on your two-week holiday.

Then there’s the 14-day Ticket for the price of a seven-day for most arrival dates in 2021 including Memory Maker worth $199.

And you can also boost your budget with a free Disney Gift Card per booking, loaded with $200 spending money.

The Don and Me

And here’s the indicative price offer…

That’s £974pp, and savings (£872) for a two-week stay arriving between July 14 and September 12.

That’s for two adults and two children (aged 3-9) sharing a Standard View Room at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort.

And Disney’s 14-Day Ultimate Ticket for the price of a seven-day ticket.

Now something else to make you smile… the roll-out of the vaccine.

MEET YOU ON THE ROLLERCOASTER